The JKK program at RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Patrick made an exciting discovery while exploring the Infant/Toddler playground, a group of baby bunnies hidden quietly in the bushes. The children gathered carefully around the area, using gentle voices and curious eyes to observe the tiny animals in their natural space. This unexpected visit sparked many conversations and questions. The children wondered where the mommy bunny was, why the babies were hiding, if bunnies live underground, and what baby bunnies eat. As they shared their ideas and theories with one another, they were building communication skills, expanding their vocabulary, and learning through meaningful social interactions.

The children demonstrated empathy and care as they discussed how to keep the bunnies safe by giving them space and staying calm nearby. Together, we talked about how animals need habitats that provide shelter, food, water, and protection. This real-life experience helped the children make important connections between living things and the environments they depend on to survive. Talking about animals and their habitats supports children’s natural curiosity about the world around them. These conversations encourage children to ask questions, think critically, problem solve, and develop a sense of responsibility and respect for nature. Experiences like this also help children build environmental awareness and deepen their understanding of how all living things are connected.

This meaningful encounter connects beautifully to the principles of How Does Learning Happen? The children were actively engaged in a sense of Belonging as they worked together to share observations and ideas. They demonstrated Well-Being by showing empathy, kindness, and care toward the baby bunnies. Through their questions, discussions, and theories, the children expressed their thinking and strengthened their communication skills, reflecting the foundation of Expression. Their excitement, curiosity, and inquiry highlighted the foundation of Engagement, as the children explored and learned through a hands-on experience in nature. Moving forward, we will continue exploring habitats through books, discussions, nature walks, and creative experiences as we build on the children’s growing interest in animals and the natural world.

This month was filled with exciting hands-on experiences that helped the children learn through creativity, exploration, movement, and cultural celebrations through these exciting activities:

• Rainbow Pride. The children decorated beautiful rainbow crafts using splashes of colors while celebrating kindness, diversity, and inclusion.
• Nature Walk and Clean Up Drive. In celebration of Canadian National Environment Day, we explored our outdoor environment and worked together to puck up litter, learning simple ways to care for our planet.
• Ocean Sensory Play. The children explored an ocean-themed sensory bin filled with sea creatures and hidden “garbage”. They enjoyed rescuing the ocean by removing the trash and talking about keeping our waters clean.
• Water Tube Exploration. The children poured water through tubes attached to the fence and watched it travel down into the containers below. They then used the collected water to water our plants, learning about cause and effect, teamwork, ad caring for living things.
• Water Day. The children explored the water tables using cups, containers, funnels, and other materials to pour, scoop, fill, and experiment with water while building their sensory and early science skills. They also had an exciting time playing and dancing under the refreshing spray of the water hose in the playground.
• Muddy Adventures. The children had fun exploring muddy car ramps and playing with oobleck using their senses to discover different textures, experiment with movement, and enjoy messy, hands-on play.
• National Indigenous History Month. We explored a large tree branch and transformed it into a collaborative art piece by painting it and decorating it with beads, feathers, and other loose parts collected from nature.
• Health and Fitness Day. We stayed active by doing Zumba, stretching, jogging, and outdoor exercises while discussing how movement helps keep our bodies healthy and strong.
• Philippines heritage Month. The children experienceed Filipino culture by trying on traditional Filipino costumes and ear cuffs, and playing Filipino games like "Tumba Lata" and "Sikop".
• Spring Social and Graduation Preparations. We practiced and proudly recorded our original graduation song, performed a dance on stage, and decorated our graduation hats In preparation for our special celebration.

Throughout these experiences, the children worked together, expressed their creativity, explored different textures and materials, investigated how water moves, cared for plants, stayed active, and learned about caring for the environment and appreciating cultures. they also built confidence by practicing for their accomplishments with their friends.

These meaningful experiences supported the children's social, emotional, physical, creative, and cognitive development. Through play, exploration, and collaboration, the children strengthened their curiosity, problem-solving skills, and confidence. they learned that everyone belongs, that small actions can help protect our environment, that water Is an important resource for living things, that staying active keeps us healthy, and that exploring different cultures and Indigenous perspectives helps us appreciate the diverse communities and natural world around us. As we wrap the school year, we are proud of how much the children have grown In confidence, curiosity, and kindness.

Welcome to our June newsletter! This month, the Preschool 2 classroom at RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Patrick centered around the beautiful themes of love, friendship, and celebrating our families, perfectly tying into Pride Month and National Indigenous History Month. These concepts are all about understanding that we live in a world filled with amazing, unique families who love and support us. We consistently used the magic of colours, rainbows, and hearts to show that just like every colour of the rainbow is special, each one of us is special too! We talked about how even if we have different favourite colours, we can all be wonderful friends. Our daily story times brought these lessons to life; we read three books all about the diverse beauty of families, including Stella Brings the Family, Families Share Values, and A Family is a Family is a Family, alongside books focusing on kindness and our connection to the environment, such as On Our Nature Walk and The Wonder You See.

​Our hands-on activities this month were packed with colour and cooperative fun! To explore Indigenous culture, the children teamed up to paint a vibrant orange poster. The children also loved expressing their creativity through multi-coloured handprint painting and watercolour rainbows, exploring both bright combinations and stark black and white designs. Friendship and fine motor skills came together beautifully as we used beads and pipe cleaners to create special friendship and family bracelets.

​One of the absolute highlights was crafting our own rainbow heart wands! Because each wand is completely unique, they became a beautiful, tangible reminder of how special every individual child is in our classroom. By choosing their own wand colours and decorating their hearts exactly how they wanted, the children got to express their personal creativity and celebrate their own favorite colours. What makes these wands extra magical is the personal touch on the back; having their own smiling faces glued to the wands brought an immediate sense of pride and belonging to each child. When we attached the ribbons and started dancing, the room truly came alive! The children loved waving their wands, watching the ribbons dance through the air, and seeing their friends' faces spinning around. It was a joyful, sensory-filled way to celebrate our friendships and show that while we are all wonderfully different, we can all dance, play, and shine together as one big, loving community.

This month at RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Patrick, the toddlers enjoyed a creative sensory experience using watercolours, droppers, and cotton pads in a sensory bin.

The toddlers explored how colours moved and mixed as they squeezed watercolours onto the cotton pads using the droppers. This activity supported the development of fine motor skills as the toddlers practiced grasping and squeezing the droppers. Many after seeing a demonstration of how to use the droppers, quickly got the hang of it. Dante was first to squeeze a large amount from the droppers followed by Augustus and Robbie, quickly covering their cotton pads in colourful combinations. As we had more join the activity, we pretended the cotton pads were ice cream by stacking the cotton pads into a pyramid inside the sensory bin and then decorated the ice cream with the watercolours. Many pretended to lick their imaginary cones, while others repeated “ice cream” as they decorated the cotton pads.  

The toddlers also engaged their curiosity and creativity in the activity by experimenting with different colours, observing cause and effect, and making their own unique colour combinations. The toddlers showed excitement as they watched the cotton pads absorb the coloured water and noticed changes in the patterns and shades they created. Zoey seeing all the liquids absorbed as she added her watercolours, became curious to see what would happen as she squeezed the cotton pads. Grasping them in her hands she began squeezing each pad out. Lily, seeing this, began following and squeezed her cotton pads out creating a large stack of squeezed cotton pads.

Throughout the activity, they demonstrated focus, problem-solving, and sensory exploration while engaging in meaningful hands on learning. It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm, creativity, and growing confidence as they explored colours and textures in a fun and engaging way!