Ready Set Learn

Ready Set Learn is an initiative by the Ministry of Education to support children’s early learning and to help families make connections with the school system and local community agencies.  In our district the StrongStart Facilitators help plan and implement Ready Set Learn events in all the elementary schools.  I participated in three this week.  Here is a glimpse of what was planned.

The activities were planned around the book “What a Treasure!”            

After reading the story to the group the families rotated through several centres. 
         
One centre was to retell the story using pictures on a magnetic board.

At each centre a tip sheet was provided for parents to take home.  These were copied from a parent’s handbook that the ministry use to provide.

Numbers
 

         
This activity encouraged recognition of the numerals as well as counting.

Books
  
Various books about treasure were available to enjoy.

Play
 
               
An opportunity for the parents to observe how their children interacted with the props provided.

Getting Along with Others
 
     
The children and parents took turns playing a matching game.

Talking and Singing
 
          
We were listening to the songs that I recorded into qr codes.

Healthy Snacks
 
      
Snack time incorporated literacy and numeracy skills by recognizing the shapes of the ABC pretzels, by sorting the fish crackers by colour and counting the raisins and orange sections.  Another focus was on independence by encouraging the children to try to peel the orange themselves.

At the end the children could pick a book to take home but first they crawled through a tunnel like the mole in the book.
  

The pictures for retelling the story and for the matching game were found here.

Man in the Moon Snack

We have been singing an old Scottish folk song called Aiken Drum.
So this week we used moon biscuits to make our own Aiken Drum
                           to eat.
  
The moon biscuits are cheese scones.  I found the recipe at bbc Good Food.

        
Food choices for the facial features were raisins, cheerios and mixed
vegetable (peas, corn, carrots and green beans).  The vegetables were
not the top choice to add to their man in the moon though.

We sang the song as the children built their Aiken Drum.
“There was a man that lived in the moon, in the moon, in the moon.
There was a man that lived in the moon and his name was Aiken Drum."
      
"His eyes were made of cheerios, cheerios, cheerios.  His eyes were
made of cheerios and his name was Aiken Drum."

"There was a man that lived in the moon and his name was Aiken Drum."

Scan the qr code to hear me singing the song.  If you don't have a smart phone or ipad you can copy this address and paste it into the search window at the top of your screen.
http://www.recordmp3.org/gmAs9.mp3

Rocketship Blastoff

We finally got a BIG box to finish our rocketship.
              
We wrapped the box around the slide then started adding features
                  from recycled pieces.

               Windows and control switch board.
  
                       We played for a bit.
  
       Then made costume pieces; booster packs and helmets.
                           Then played some more.

                     Next came lights
    
   and hanging planets to help us pretend that we are flying in space.


     Today we added arms for collecting rock samples
 
                          and continued playing.

QR Codes

I’m very excited to have learned how to embed audio
                 recordings in a  QR code. 
          
I’ve recorded myself singing songs that we use in the program and
attached the qr code to the lyrics.  By using an ipad or smart phone
the parents, grandparents and others can take the piece of paper
home and play the recording for their child and themselves to learn
the song.

You can try listening to my recording yourself by using a qr scanner
app, like RedLaser.

You can learn how to do your own by visiting Interact Cafe.

Step by Step Creating

      Last week we moved our workbench to the art area. 
  
      The week started with a child who wanted to make a sign. 
   He sawed the wood into two pieces then hammered them together. 

              
He painted it and as it was drying he worked at he easel with his mom
learning how to print the letters.  I watched how they worked together to
sound out the word ‘stop’.  Mom would paint a letter and he copied it.
                 
But when he tried to paint STOP on his sign, he realized that the
              wood was too small.


He made a larger one.  By then other children were interested in what
                 he was doing and started to build.

 
      
All week I observed children learning how to use different tools;
saw, screw driver, hammers and glue gun.  I watched as the grown ups
became comfortable letting their children explore these adult tools.


     
Moving the work bench in to the art area encouraged the children to
work their project from start to finish, making it a fuller experience.