Our playroom has three main areas for the children to explore during free play:
Blocks & Construction
Dramatic Play
Table top activities
"School" materials (such as sand paper letters and color tablets) are introduced during "school time" and are slowly integrated with our table top activities to give children the opportunity to work with the materials during the day.
Lunchroom
The children eat all their meals seated at the table. They are responsible for setting and clearing their own place. Snacks are available in the room all day for the children who tend to graze throughout the day. The children will have various meal time responsibilities including pouring their own drinks and wiping down the tables.
Library
Our library serves as our meeting room and reading room. This is where we discuss our plans for the day, conduct our story telling, and circle time every morning. We also use the library for our structured learning time and whole group activities. This space is open during quiet time in the afternoon for the children who no longer need afternoon naps.
Boot room
Each child will be given a locker in the boot room which they are responsible for. They will have hooks for their jackets and baskets for their shoes.
As an educator
I have been working in the child care and education industry for over ten years. I started working at a day care as I completed my undergraduate degree in Education at the University of Alberta. Upon graduating, I spent six months in the Philippines volunteering in a pre-school and developing a Reading Program for the pre-school children who lived in the under developed areas of Metro Manila. This was my first foray into the classroom and the wonderful world of emergent learning. This experience taught me the value of education and the importance of providing different avenues of learning for all children. When I returned to Canada, I accepted a position teaching in a Catholic high school in Fort McMurray, Alberta. There I experienced the joys of structured education, worked with some fantastic friends, and taught awe-inspiring students. I brought some of those students on a volunteer trip to the Philippines to meet my first set of students and hopefully take back some important life lessons.
As a parent
I have two wonderful children of my own. A very talkative two year old and an extremely attentive four month old. My daughter is the recipient of all my current teaching strategies. I have adopted the Montessori approach to early learning in our home with a focus on the prepared environment and learning of life skills. We also dabble in art, listen, sing, and dance to a lot of music, and read a lot of books. I am a strong advocate of child directed learning within a structured environment.
