Fairies and Magical Beings #1 - Dragons Around the World

European dragon 

Chinese dragon

Currently, the Unicorn group is exploring about dragons around the world. We are looking at the form (the understanding that everything has a form with recognizable features that can be observed, identified, described and categorized) and connection (the understanding that we live in a world of interacting systems in which the actions of any individual element affect others.) 

African dragon

We found out that there are many stories are about European and Chinese dragons and a few about African dragons. To help the children learn about the different continents the dragons are from, we sang the song Tell Me the Continents.


Tell me the continent,
tell me the continent,
tell me if you can.
There's North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Please remember Australia, 
Please remember Antarctica.
Tell me the continent, 
tell me the continent,
tell me if you can.

Next the children compared the different dragons. They noticed that European dragons have wings and big bodies; Chinese dragons have no wings and long bodies; and African dragons look like both European and Chinese dragons except some of them have two heads. Also European dragons are usually evil and greedy and the Chinese dragons are symbols of power, strength and good luck.


In the end, the children dramatized being a baby dragon.

Teddy Bear Picnic (July 13th)

DJ Jack

The children had a lovely teddy bear picnic today. We walked to the picnic area near Camosun and 33rd. The children had a snack and some brought extra food to share with everyone. Jack was our DJ for the day, he played music from Rocco's stuffie while the children enjoyed their food. After we had our snacks, we went on an expedition through the forest. Many children wanted to challenge themselves and picked a hard route to explore. When we returned from our expedition, the children were famished! Time for lunch!

Little explorers

The Goofies

Unicorn Group's Magic Chant

The Unicorn group gathered together and came up with our magic chant. It goes like this:

Unicorn, unicorn,
make it magical.
Horn, horn, corn, corn, torn, corn, horn! 

We also made magic horns to go with our magic chant.

Unicorn group - Friendship Essential Agreement

Since there is a group of new children at Creative Minds, we decided to brainstorm some ideas about friendship and routines of the day with the whole group. We asked the following questions:


1) What does it mean to have and be a friends?
2) What does it mean to have a good time at Creative Minds?


Then when the Unicorn group gathered, we came up with a Friendship Essential Agreement. The children know to respect and follow each criteria. In the end the children sealed the agreement by gluing a paper doll and signing their names under the doll. 

Plentiful Plants #7 - A Tour of Owen's Garden

Pulling a lettuce out

Planting 

Looking at the herbs

The children had a wonderful time visiting Owen's garden yesterday. Bronwyn and Owen gave us a tour around their lovely garden. They showed us the different types of lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, and many others. They even got to pick some lettuce from the garden and help Bronwyn plant some new ones. The children asked why there were flowers in the vegetable garden and Bronwyn explained that they need the flowers to attract bees and butterflies to pollinate the plants.  Owen was really eager to show us their compost bin. The children were really surprised to see the inside of the compost bin and Bronwyn opened the bottom flap to show the rich soil that formed from all the decomposition in the bin.

After the tour, the children had a snack made by Bronwyn and Owen. They made chive biscuits with the chive picked fresh from their garden. The children loved it!

Thank you Owen and Bronwyn!

Plentiful Plants #6 - How We Share the Planet

Looking for decomposers in the forest

In connection with our transdisciplinary theme How We Share the Planet, the children looked at the different parts of the food chain. The children learned producers, consumers (carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores) and decomposers. They understand the importance of each link and if one level is removed from the food chain, it can have disastrous results.

Alligators are carnivores

Herbivores!!!

Plentiful Plants #5 - Plant's Life Cycle

Mango seed

The children looked at a plant's life cycle. We talked about the plant starting off as a seed, which germinates and grows into a plant. Then the mature plant produces flowers, which are fertilized and produce seeds in a fruit or seedpod. The plant eventually dies, leaving the seeds which germinate to produce new plants. Next, we examined and tasted different fruit. The children were amazed that some of the seeds looked very different from what they had in mind. For example, some children thought that a honeydew only has one big seed and a mango does not have seeds at all.

honeydew seeds