Horse Project - Visit a Horse

The other day we visited Hilary at the Therapeutic Riding stable to 

see real horses and their home.

Yes they do live in a barn.

So what does the barn look like inside?

Each horse stall has a door.  Each door is split in half.

The top half has a window that is covered with chicken wire

The bottom half has an X design on it.

We got to meet two horses and see what they sleep on

which is saw dust.  We also learned that they also pee on it too.

Which made us laugh.

But Hilary told us that the saw dust soaks up the pee and they can scoop

it out to keep the stall clean.

 And speaking on keeping things cleaned, Hilary showed us some of the brushes

they use to keep the horses cleaned.

One is soft for brushing the body.

And another looks hard but it is flexible and is good

for brushing all the mud off their legs.

We also learned what horses eat.

Hilary let us help prepare two buckets of food for their horses.

First she showed us the grain they eat. 

(It looks like the wood pellets in our small world play)

The children each took a turn adding a scoop to the buckets.

Then we added apples.

I'm glad we have been playing with apples at school so now

we can use them in our horse play too.

Next step is to start building our horse barn.

Project Planning - Next Steps

Another way I learned if there was enough interest to continue with

our horse project was to do a survey.

Every morning the children sign in by placing their picture on a board 

that has a question.

This week's question is "Do you like horses?"

During the first three days this week about 75% showed that they liked horses.

Seeing that there is a high interest I set up our next question:

"Where do horses live?"

The children were asked to draw where they thought horses lived.

Some said farm but most said barn.

We now have some base drawings to build a barn.

But one more step before we do.

We will visit a real horse stable.

Parachute Play with Grand Friends

Parachute play with our grand friends.

The children loved the play and the grand friends loved watching them.

Introducing Horse Play - Our First Project

Our first project of the year is around horses.  

Some children showed an interest in horses last year but we didn't have

time to explore it.

Since we are a drop in program and new children are attending I wanted to see 

if there was still interest so I set up a small world play.

As the children played I encouraged the grown ups to ask them what they

know about horses and what they want to know.

We kept a list for future parts of our project.

It is very apparent that horses are still an interest 

as I watched the very young to the oldest children play.

At the end of each day I would find different scenarios,

evidence of the children's imaginations.

Buddies Share Orange Shirt Day

Last week our school participated in Orange Shirt Day recognizing the harm the residential school system did to children's sense of self-esteem and well-being, and as an affirmation of our commitment to ensure that everyone around us matters.

"Every Child Matters"

is the message that we will convey to all our children.

We started with our big buddies.

After sharing Phylis's story and why we wear orange

the children were asked to draw pictures of themselves.

 This was our first time together this school year so this activity gave the buddies

an opportunity to learn a little bit about each other.

And for some of the oldest and youngest students in our school to become comfortable together.

Once they finished their pictures they hung them on a bulletin board in the hallway.

The whole school can enjoy our board and add their own picture.

Looking forward to another year of buddying with Ms Smith's class.

Selling Apples

Last week I shared the children's play with picking apples.

The day after that post a parent donated two big wardrobe boxes

perfect for dramatic play.

I just had to do a couple of cuts and folds to create two market stands.

We added cash registers and the children were busy buying and selling.

The younger children were interested in climbing in and out of the box.

And hoarding.

I encouraged a couple of the older children to create signs for the boxes.

Each morning the market stands wait ready.

Each morning the children pick their roles of buyers or sellers.