Circles of Friends #1 - How does friendship work?

This week the Water group began to explore the concept - function of friendship.

I asked the children how does friendship work? Most of them had a puzzled look. To help them process this idea, we brainstormed together. Below are some of their thoughts:



Andrew: Friends sing together because it makes them feel good.
Mila: Sometimes friends cry together.
Pippa: Friends swing together.
Natalya: Friends help each other because it's caring.
Peter: Friends play together because they can have fun together.

They agreed that friends sing, play together and help each other. Everyone said they feel happy when they are with their friends but Aiden mentioned that sometimes he gets mad at his friends or his friends get mad at him. To help the children understand this idea, I read the book Matthew and Tilly by Rebecca C. Jones to them. When I finished reading, the group was silent with serious expressions on their faces. Below is our dialogue:

Natalya: They said 'sorry' to each other and they're friends again.
Aiden: Yeah! They were mad then they said sorry and then they're friends again.
Mary: Is it okay for friends to be angry at each other?
Enxin: Yes, it's okay. They just need to be by themselves and then say sorry and play together again.

We expressed our thoughts of a friend through poetry.

Camping Day (August 21st)

"What do people bring when they go camping?" Anamaria asked the children.
"A torch (flashlight)," said Aston.
"Marshmallows," said Rocco.
"Tents," said Hao Hao.
"Chocolate milk and camping bags," said Julia.
"An ax and a list of the children so that they don't get lost," Isaak added.

The teachers also reminded the children the necessities like water, first aid, fire, extra clothes and snacks.

After our discussion, the teachers and children gathered our camping equipment and camped out at the back of the school. The weather was perfect! Not too hot and not too cold. And to top it off, we had s'mores and hot chocolate.

BBQ day (July 25th)

What a food feast we had today! In the morning, the children cut up the fruit that everyone brought to share. Just before lunch time, the children helped set up the charcoal for the grill and cooked the chicken dogs. "It's delicious," the children said. After a bit of play time outside, the children patiently roasted marshmallows over the grill. They loved it! But it didn't stop here! After rest time, we had more fruit and the muffins from Alfie.

Thanks everyone for bringing fruit and treats to share!

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.