All Early Years – Groups

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

We love sorting and counting natural materials. Today we expanded this to bring paint to the woods to paint the treasures we found earlier in the day!

Babbling Brook Daycare – May 9, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

It’s always a delight to be able to bring the guitar and shakers back outside to the sunshine and grass! With all of the work we have been doing in the garden, we sang “The Garden Song”.

Babbling Brook Daycare – May 9, 2023

Landmark 11 (Celebrate each Season)

Each season brings such wonderful opportunities here! This spring we are watching and documenting the lilacs daily. We are extremely excited for the purple flowers, and this nature study is offering us a chance to lean into patience and quiet noticing. The leaves have just begun to unfurl, and the bushes in the sunniest spots have produced what looks like “mini lilacs” of the deepest purple. We are joyfully spreading dandelion love! This is always such an enjoyable task and indeed a staple of childhood.

Babbling Brook Daycare – May 9, 2023

Landmark 10 (Grow and Eat Food)

We planted in our garden box out in the back of our play yard to hopefully be able to grow our vegetables and eat them together or send them home to share with their families! We made our little signs and started them off with some water. We will continue to observe and see if there’s any signs of sprouting and keep them hydrated by watering them every day when needed.

Strath Maclean Child Care Centre – Junior After school – May 9, 2023

Landmark 2 (Animal Friends Monthly)

One of the children found a worm when they were digging on the playground. The children were excited to take turns holding it and feeling it wiggle in their hands. To extend on this experience we used cooked spaghetti noodles to make worm tracks with paint on paper.

Peterborough Daycare – May 1, 2023

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

We went outside the daycare with the children and noticed all the dandelions growing in the grass. We picked them and put them in some water for our classroom. The next day we used them to stamp in paint and make dandelion prints. It was interesting to see the different petal designs and impressions the flowers made.

Peterborough Daycare – May 3, 2023

Landmark 5 (Garden/Care for Animal)

Metamorphosis. Such an interesting process. We’re thrilled to be observing the process of caterpillars becoming butterflies. We have been taking notes each day as to what’s changing and being curious about the transformation. The children are eager for when the chrysalis’ will get relocated into a new home where we can study even closer. When the butterflies emerge, we’ll then get to feed them and care for them. So fascinating!

Lakefield CNS – May 15, 2023

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Today we were frog hunting. We found one! We observed and discussed why this was a good or not good place for the frog to live, and how we could help protect its home.

Room 194 Millbrook SC – May 15, 2023

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

Today we made a collaborative art piece. The children decided they wanted to make a flower.

Room 194 Millbrook SC – May 17, 2023

Landmark 5 (Garden/Care for Animal)

Today one of our children noticed all the flowers in one of our books. When we went outside we took a walk past our playground to the open field with lots of dandelions. The children had their own bucket and picked lots of flowers. We brought them back to the playground and added them to our mud kitchen. The children loved transporting them and using them for imaginative play!

Pearson Child Care – May 16, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

We talked about insects. What they are, what they do, and where they live. How do we know it’s an insect? If it has three bossy parts and six legs.

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – May 17, 2023

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

We read the Grouchy Ladybug and talked about its features! We then did a follow up activity and used a clipboard and did a direct drawing of a ladybug after learning about them.

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – May 18, 2023

Landmark 5 (Garden/Care for Animal)

Since we have been talking lots about flowers in the Toddler room we went out and planted our gardens today! First we did a story time with Raffis book “Everything Grows” and talked about how our plants will grow. We then went outside and started to plant in our garden troffs. The children helped to make holes in the dirt and plant the bulbs and vegetable plants

Pearson Child Care – May 19, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

We read and learned about bees today and how important they are.

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – May 19, 2023

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

We learned about bees and then drew one using our magic clipboards

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – May 19, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

We read the Very Hungry Caterpillar. We talked about how caterpillars grow and what they eat.

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – May 23, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

We used these special butterflies to sing the Butterfly Song:
5 little butterflies flying near a door
One flew away and then there were 4
Butterfly, butterfly happy all day! Butterfly, butterfly fly, fly away!

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – May 23, 2023

Landmark 2 (Animal Friends Monthly)

Today we got to explore more animals from the Peterborough Zoo. The zookeepers told us some interesting facts about each one but what was really amazing was when we got to the peacocks. The male peacock had all his feathers open wide to see. We followed up with a painting activity for the children to make their own peacock. We remembered what colours we saw from the tour and used our hands to make feather prints and spots.

Peterborough Daycare – April 14, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

Today during outdoor classroom time, students were really creative with the “magic paint” (water). Instead of using the paint brushes, they made all kinds of shapes on the wall and ground by throwing the water in different ways. It was so interesting listening to them talk about their process and describe the water shapes they made.

Queen Elizabeth K1 – May 1, 2023

Landmark 5 (Garden/Care for Animal)

We just started thinking about our veggie garden and talking about seeds. A student brought in some pumpkin seeds and asked if we could plant them. We were amazed to see how many seeds sprouted over the weekend! We will do some measuring and recording of their their growth.

Queen Elizabeth K1 – May 5, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

We read Waters by Edith Newlin Chase and Ron Broda. The kids couldn’t believe that the artist made the picture by painting and cutting paper. They look so real! In Waters, we follow the path of water as it begins as snow in the mountains, becoming a baby brook, and later a wide river flowing in to the sea.

Queen Elizabeth K1 – May 2, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

The Water Hole by Graeme Base is a simple story about all the living things that live near or in water and need it to survive. The children enjoyed looking at the detailed pictures. They cheered when it rained in the story and all the animals came back!

Queen Elizabeth K1 – May 3, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

Birds, bats, butterflies, insects and bees are called pollinators because they drink the nectar from blooms and transport pollen from plant to plant. This important job pollinates the plants and helps them reproduce heathy seeds and strong plant growth. To extend on this learning, we decided to bring some plastic bugs outside to role play with. Some of the bugs had ribbons attached to them so we decided to put them over the tree branches to pulley them up to the maple blooms in the tree. This became a fun game pulling the bugs up and down from the tree.

Peterborough Daycare – April 27, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

Today we made spring flowers out of yarn. Everyone got to choose a colour and practice the skill of holding a fork while wrapping the yarn around the end of the fork. Once the yarn was secure with a pipe cleaner we could then use scissors to cut the loops. This was the fun part where we got to watch the flower bloom into a full flower!

Peterborough Daycare – May 5, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

We read All the World by Liz Scanlon and Marla Frazee. It is a beautiful and simply written story that shows all the connections between people and the earth and people to each other. The children enjoyed finding new things in the pictures and hearing the rhyming words.

Queen Elizabeth K1 – May 4, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

In the book On Meadowview Street by Henry Cole, a child moves into a new neighbourhood and discovers a single flower in her yard. She decides she needs to protect her flower and she creates a wildflower preserve. Soon her yard fills with all kinds of flowers, insects, and birds. The students had a discussion on how they take care of the living things in our school yard.

Queen Elizabeth K1 – May 8, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

As another connection to our seed investigations, we read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. The students made so many connections to our learning as we read this book, especially the cycle of the seasons and what things plants need to survive.

Queen Elizabeth K1 – May 10, 2023

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Camp Kawartha visited us. Glen and Emily showed us how to make Gnome homes for Larry the Gnome. We used the nature area and had a great time exploring and learning

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – May 12, 2023

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

We have been watching the tree in our yard everyday. We have watched the budding process, the beginning of blooms and now in full bloom with some blossoms starting to fall off

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – May 12, 2023

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

We celebrated our mums today by creating Fairy Gardens with them! What a beautiful day to plant, paint, and embellish little gardens we will bring home to enjoy all season long. It’s so beneficial to be able to enjoy the outdoors as a community and we wrapped up our morning with a trail walk with our mums and siblings.

Babbling Brook Daycare – May 13, 2023

Landmark 3 (Exercise Senses Daily)

Easton and Adeline were so excited to see this massive puddle and they tried to amp up their speed by running and jumping so fast to jump into the puddle and make the biggest splash they possibly could!

Strath Maclean Child Care Centre – Junior After school – May 4, 2023

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

We were finally able to get a full hour outdoors to explore!

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – May 8, 2023

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

We had so much fun playing, building, and creating outside today with all the new loose parts that were collected from the community for our school wide Earth Play for Earth Day. It was amazing!

Queen Elizabeth K1 – April 27, 2023

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

The kindergarteners enjoyed being bees during a special virtual visit from an educator from Bee City Canada. We learned that bees are really messy eaters and they get pollen all over themselves! That is how they pollinate flowers. Our Bee City educator provided an exceptional program. We highly recommend it!

Queen Elizabeth K1 – April 27, 2023

Landmark 2 (Animal Friends Monthly)

Students have been learning and investigating pond life. We took a walk and visited a local pond where the students were excited to see two mallard ducks. They enjoyed watching the ducks as they searched for food. They were able to observe firsthand how the ducks moved in the water. We had lots of wonderings and talking about what we noticed at the pond.

rfdowneylgk – May 2, 2023

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

The little drizzle of rain did not stop the Outdoor learning time today. Both kindergarten classes enjoyed exploring outdoors today. With the wet weather many of them found worms!

rfdowneylgk – May 3, 2023

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

We played in the meadow exploring nature and looking for changes to the area. While there we noticed a little flooding and had some fun in the water!

Room 194 Millbrook SC – May 2, 2023

Landmark 8. (Nature Art Weekly)

Using our own recycled binoculars, we went exploring things in our yard that were pretty and not pretty

Kawartha Heights Room 3 – April 12, 2023

Landmark 2 (Animal Friends Monthly)

After seeing the peacocks at the virtual zoo trek, Jaxon created his own peacock feather art with play dough.

Kawartha Heights Room 3 – April 17, 2023

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

Earth day in room 3. We read the The Earth book by Todd Parr and created earths from loose parts

Kawartha Heights Room 3 – April 21, 2023

Landmark 4 (Favourite Place Weekly)

Our toddlers went on a walk to explore our community today. We saw lots of animals, flowers and heard the wind and felt the spring sunshine!

Sunshine Daycare – April 28, 2023

Landmark 15 (Garden, bird feeder, insects etc.)

Morning nature math-finding, counting, and ordering snails and snail shells! Some are empty, some are not. Some are big, some are small. Some are colourful, some are faded.

Babbling Brook Daycare – May 2, 2023

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

The earth’s invitations to play are always perfectly curated to the friends interests, challenge them just enough, and continue day after day, season after season. Today the friends found a large log.

Babbling Brook Daycare – April 14, 2023

Landmark 11 (Celebrate each Season)

A sign of spring. We went for a walk through the woods and the children noticed that the trees have buds on them. The one child said the leaves are growing!

CELC-Peterborough – April 19, 2023

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

We drew a picture of our own parks and talked about all that we have learned about the earth and how to protect it.

Kawartha Heights Kinders2 – April 20, 2023

Landmark 3 (Exercise Senses Daily)

Kelly McIllroy’s Kinder Class from Roger Neilson went exploring on a spring day using their senses. They had a wonderful time taking pictures, making tiny parks, painting the trees with magic paint and playing games. We also did a rainbow walk, as we looked for all the colours of the rainbow along the way to the park.

Think Outside with Nature Nancy – April 20, 2023