winter | Eco-Kids Preschool

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Rectangle & Rectangular Prism



NUMBER

20 & Recap

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

Writing and Phonics: The Squad practiced their letter sounds and names by reciting the alphabet. We then introduced a new word family (ab family). The children placed their sound buttons and then matched the word to the picture. We have been working on sound blending with the Squad- ensuring that they are able to hear d-a-b and then connect the sounds to say the word entirely. This takes practice and we encourage you to break 3 letter words up at home and practice sounding the letters out to your child.

Mathematics: This week the Squad continued working on number lines and bouncing to each number. They are getting the hang of this concept. It is very important that the child is able to recognise the numbers 0-10 so that they can correctly add the numbers together. We encourage you to practice number recognition at home with the Squad.

Creative Art: This week we designed our own report envelopes. We also created a ‘mini bonfire’ as a team in class – the girls were in charge of collecting the sticks and the boys gathered the stones.

FunFit Sports: Coach Trevor played T-Ball with the Squad this week. They learned to wait to see the ball being thrown and then swinging the bat. Well done.

Cooking: This week was all about fire and ice, we used our bonfire to burn our marshmallows and then squeezed them between two Marie biscuits. They really enjoyed this.

Wishing you all a lovely midterm break!

Have a wonderful Mid-Term break!

Dates to Diarise

8 July: Back To School

11 July: Haircut Day

12 July: Reptile Day

18 July: Nelson Mandela Day

27 July: EcoKids Concert

8 August: Pyjama Dress Up Day & Break Up Day

9 August: Public Holiday (National Women’s Day)

12 August: Holiday Club Starts

Lots of love

Teacher Carla, Teacher Hayley and the Smart Squad Assistants

Our Squad!

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Rectangle & Rectangular Prism



NUMBER

20 & Recap

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

Our week was filled with quite a few different and fun activities! We did a combination of cooking and art this week where we made colourful and glittery ice-cubes that we froze with ice-cream sticks. Once frozen, the Crew then used them as paint ‘brushes’ and painted a rainbow. They really enjoyed this activity and had to be told at time to stop otherwise they were going to paint straight throw the page. LOL

We also did a beautiful ‘Still Life’ painting project. We loved them so much that we have decided to keep them for art Expo. The Crew had to paint the Snowman and fire that was displayed in the front as you came into the school. We placed the display in front of the Crew and instructed them to paint what they saw. Stunning work here Crew we got so see some real artists come out!

Another amazing little art activity we did this week was a cloud with rainbow rain, stamped with bingo stamps. This was another stunning art piece that we will be keeping for Art Expo.

This week we learnt about another 3D shape, rectangular-prism. The Crew coloured in and we put together the shape. It really helps the kiddies remember the shape when we have made it.

Concert practice is coming along really well and we have some super enthusiastic Crew who have taken practice really seriously. We cannot wait for Concert and to show off all our hard work and awesome songs as normal!

Reports will be going out today with your child’s portfolio of their worksheets from the beginning of the year. Enjoy going through all their hard work and seeing their progress throughout their journey in the Curious Crew class so far. We look forward to the months ahead to really make them count in getting your child Grade R ready.

Have a wonderful midterm break and we will see everyone on the 8th of July.

Our next theme: Reptiles

Have a wonderful Mid-Term break!

Dates to Diarise

8 July: Back To School

11 July: Haircut Day

12 July: Reptile Day

18 July: Nelson Mandela Day

27 July: EcoKids Concert

8 August: Pyjama Dress Up Day & Break Up Day

9 August: Public Holiday (National Women’s Day)

12 August: Holiday Club Starts

Lots of love

Teacher Clarissa, Tegan and the Curious Crew Assistants

Our Crew!

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Rectangle & Rectangular Prism



NUMBER

8

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

The Happy Hoppers have been working extremely hard this week.

We spoke about Winter temperatures and how cold it can get and different clothing we can wear in winter like boots scarfs, gloves, and jackets. We discussed warm foods to eat like soups, stews, and curries. We also spoke about activities we enjoy doing in winter. Some of the Hoppers told us what they like to do in Winter like watching movies.

We did a fine motor activity where the children had to take round stickers and paste it over the circles on the pictures of gloves, scarfs, or a winter jersey. For our main art activity the Hoppers did some straw painting where they had to use a straw to blow paint to make a fire and underneath it they used their index fingers to paint the logs of the fire.

At FunFit sports Coach Trevor played some cricket with the Hoppers and taught them some batting skills which is super good to improve their eye-hand co-ordination, laterality, and their general ball skills.

Yoga this week was also a blast they warmed up with a body boogie song and went on to Foot Rolling. Our prop for the day was a drumstick, they had to sit in boat pose and by using their feet and core muscles they rolled the stick forwards and backwards.

We have really been working hard and are looking forward wo our Mid-term break.

Have a wonderful weekend and break.

Have a wonderful Mid-Term break!

Dates to Diarise

8 July: Back To School

11 July: Haircut Day

12 July: Reptile Day

18 July: Nelson Mandela Day

27 July: EcoKids Concert

8 August: Pyjama Dress Up Day & Break Up Day

9 August: Public Holiday (National Women’s Day)

12 August: Holiday Club Starts

Lots of love

Teacher C, Teacher Yolandie and the Happy Hoppers Assistants

Our Hoppers!

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Rectangle & Rectangular Prism



NUMBER

8

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

Winter is well and truly upon us, which gives us so many opportunities to explore this awesome theme. This week we explored Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice! A theme of extremes.

We played with a lot of ice and examined what happened when we put the ice into water, placed it in the sunshine, put salt on it… It was so interesting! Obviously our Bugs were not going to pass up an opportunity to put the ice in their mouths, either! Haha!

We had lots of conversations about fire and fire safety, what it is used for and how it’s actually quite dangerous, even though it is so beautiful, and we must always stay far away from fires and anything that can make a fire – like a heater, or matches and lighters!

In winter, our children told us that the weather gets very cold, and that we have to wear long tops and pants, and put on jackets and beanies to keep warm! We use gloves and extra blankets and scarves so that we can keep the cold away! It is fun to drink hot chocolate with marshmallows and eat yummy warm soups! We are all very lucky to have enough warm clothing and a nice warm bed to sleep in at night!

We spoke about how, in Benoni, it really hardly ever snows, although it does happen sometimes. We do get frost on the ground – which according to our Bugs, is because of Jack Frost, hehe! – in the mornings and sometimes, there is fog and mist that we can’t see though! Frost is fun to walk on and goes “crunch crunch crunch!” under our feet!

Friday book character dress-up day was so much fun! These kiddies all looked amazing dressed as their favorite book characters!

Reports have gone out, and we hope you enjoying reading about your kiddos adventures at school. If you have any questions regarding reports, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Have a wonderful, relaxing, mid-term break, and we can’t wait to see all of our Bugs back at school for the second half of the term!

Please remember to send beanies AND sun hats back to school, and label jackets please, as jackets always almost come off after playtime. Have a happy and safe weekend everyone!

The Next Theme Is: Reptiles

Up next for Show and Tell: Deandre and Lalyn

Have a wonderful Mid-Term break!

Dates to Diarise

8 July: Back To School

11 July: Haircut Day

12 July: Reptile Day

18 July: Nelson Mandela Day

27 July: EcoKids Concert

8 August: Pyjama Dress Up Day & Break Up Day

9 August: Public Holiday (National Women’s Day)

12 August: Holiday Club Starts

Lots of love

Teacher Gemma, Teacher Ash and the Busy Bugs Assistants

Our Bugs!

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Triangle & Pyramid



NUMBER

3

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

We had the most amazing last week of school before mid-term started! This week, we explored fire and ice, learning that fire is hot, hot, hot, and ice is cold, cold, cold. The Pups understood these ideas perfectly. We also learned about opposites, which they picked up so well, making me super proud of them.

For our art project, we made adorable polar bears using stuffing for their fur, and the Pups knew exactly where to put the stuffing on the bears’ bodies. We also worked on our art expo projects during this busy week. The Pups had fun with fine motor activities, sitting together on the carpet and enjoying threading exercises, showing off their amazing skills once again.

For Yoga this week we did:

Foot Rolling

Our prop for the day was a drumstick, we sat in boat pose and by using our feet and core muscles, we rolled the stick backwards and forwards.

First we rolled the stick with hands on our knees, then behind our back and lastly with our hands on our head.

Even with all the learning, we practiced our concert songs and dance moves for our upcoming performance. It’s so impressive how well the Pups can move their little bodies! We ended the week with some fun activities, which I shared in a video on the class group. This was truly the best way to wrap up our week!

I hope you enjoy reading the Pups’ reports. I am incredibly proud of how they have developed into wonderful little individuals since I first met them at the beginning of the year! I’m so excited to see what the rest of the year has in store for us as a class. I love each and every one of you!

I hope everyone has an amazing mid-term holiday!

Have a wonderful Mid-Term break!

Dates to Diarise

8 July: Back To School

11 July: Haircut Day

12 July: Reptile Day

18 July: Nelson Mandela Day

27 July: EcoKids Concert

8 August: Pyjama Dress Up Day & Break Up Day

9 August: Public Holiday (National Women’s Day)

12 August: Holiday Club Starts

Lots of love

Teacher Monette and the Playful Pups Assistants

Our Pups!

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Rectangle



NUMBER

3

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

The Pups had so much fun exploring this interesting and fun theme! We started off the week by doing an amazing “water colour” painting with food colouring and an ice block! The children loved to touch the ice block which we used as a brush and explore the different sensations on their fingertips! The idea was to drag the wet ice block over drops of food colouring on a piece of paper. The water from the ice block made beautiful patterns with the food colouring and afterwards, the children sprinkled salt over their creations to make it look even more interesting and unique. The salt brought out the true colour of the food colouring to create truly spectacular patterns and paintings.

We did some concert practice. Singing, dancing and having fun.

On Wednesday morning we spent a fun time playing with balloons (and practicing to blow them up!) and then we played with our playdough to exercise cold fingers! Teacher Cecilia made a snowman for all the pups to see an example of what they could make out of salt dough. We then let the children create exactly what they wanted, and we are so proud of the results! The children had an absolute blast making their salt dough snowmen. They are all so unique and we have decided to keep them for our art show.

The children had a great week learning all about winter, although they know all about what’s cold and what’s not, so they were able to tell us so much this week! We are very proud of how well they are all talking and growing up so nicely. Well done little Pups!

Next week’s theme: Remember we are on Mid-term break next week but when we come back our theme will be: Reptiles.

Have A Wonderful Mid-Term Break! ... Keep Warm! ... Safe Travels To Those Going Away!

Dates to Diarise:

3 July: Back to School

5 July: Reptile Day

7 July: Hearing Tests (details to follow soon)

12 July: Haircut Day

15 July: EcoKids Concert

18 July: Nelson Mandela Day

21 July: Eye Screening

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Fun Activities To Keep Warm!

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Rectangle



NUMBER

20 & Recap

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

Moral conscious theme: Open-Minded – We have been going through the IB principles of a learner and this week we focused on what it means to be open minded. This means that we try new things and that we are able to take chances and not let fear get the better of us. We gave them examples of stepping outside of their comfort zone and trying new foods or sliding down a slide that they were once afraid of.

Writing and Phonics: This week we wrote sentences for our ‘ap’ words that we went over last week. The children are really focusing on keeping their letters inside the lines and writing smaller and neater. We are proud of them. We also went over letter names and sounds by playing a game with match the sound to the visual picture of the letter. They did really well with this.

Mathematics: We have been trying to assist the Squad with understanding the before and after concept. We completed another worksheet using the number line so that they were able to visualise the numbers before and after.

Creative Art: The Squad constructed their very own bonfires using stones, sticks, paper and glue. It is so wonderful to see how differently the children see things and how they build them – it ensures that every art piece is individualised and unique.

Music and Cooking: For cooking this week we went over different temperatures for different foods. What is the correct temperature for the oven when baking? The Squad went into the function room for Music this week, Teacher Katy played the piano, and it was so much fun. We also let the children play different instruments.

FunFit Sports: This week the children dribbled around cones and picked up a ball in teams and then dribbled around another set of cones. They also chased each other around the field. They enjoyed this so much.

Wishing you all a lovely mid-term break and see you when we return.

Have A Wonderful Mid-Term Break! ... Keep Warm! ... Safe Travels To Those Going Away!

Dates to Diarise:

3 July: Back to School

5 July: Reptile Day

7 July: Hearing Tests (details to follow soon)

12 July: Haircut Day

15 July: EcoKids Concert

18 July: Nelson Mandela Day

21 July: Eye Screening

Lots of love

Teacher Carla, Teacher Hayley and the Smart Squad Assistants

Fun Activities To Keep Warm!

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Rectangle



NUMBER

20 & Recap

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

This week , the Curious Crew class had so much to chat about in our theme discussion and Morning ring. We spoke about what winter means to us , and how do we know it’s winter . We spoke about the different clothing we wear , the different food we eat , and what we do in our homes to keep warm. We also spoke about what happens to our temperature during winter , and what happens to our environment and surroundings on cold mornings. 

We also focused on our phonic letters , as well as our counting. And we are so proud of how well everyone is doing regarding their counting. 

For art this week ; we made the most beautiful icicle, using silver glitter , and boy this came out beautifully! We also finger painted a fire flame using red , orange and yellow paint. This was by far their most favourite art activity yet. We then used sand and sticks to incorporate a 3D art for the week. . 

Yoga Day! 

This week we used our senses to guess what was in our mystery bag. 

Each yogi got a chance to feel around in the bag, with their eyes closed, and select 1 item to squeeze, feel, shake, smell. The yogis then had to describe the item using textures, hard or soft, shapes, what it’s made of etc.

Heart matters

Learning about our 3 different brains we have in our bodies 1. Head brain. 2. Heart brain 3. Gut brain , and teacher Hela explained that out head brain is where we use our brains to think and process our emotions and how we learn etc. 

We used our fist , to demonstrate our brain , and the different sections of our brains and what they control. 

Teacher Hela then used a little doll house ,and little puppets , she explained that the house demonstrates a house in our brain , with an upstairs and a downstairs , dividing up our different emotions, that we process throughout our day. 

This was a wonderful and creative way to demonstrate on our our brain works together control how we react in situations. 

May we have the most blessed and warm midterm break next week ! May everyone be safe and enjoy their time at home. 

SCHOOL WILL CONTINUE ON THE 3rd OF JULY 

Next theme : Reptiles 

Have A Wonderful Mid-Term Break! ... Keep Warm! ... Safe Travels To Those Going Away!

Dates to Diarise:

3 July: Back to School

5 July: Reptile Day

7 July: Hearing Tests (details to follow soon)

12 July: Haircut Day

15 July: EcoKids Concert

18 July: Nelson Mandela Day

21 July: Eye Screening

Lots of love

Teacher Clarissa, Teacher Ash and the Curious Crew Assistants

Fun Activities To Keep Warm!

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Rectangle



NUMBER

8

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

We eased into this week with a theme discussion about our seasons and the type of temperature we get in each season. We also discussed the kind of clothes we wear in winter.

We tapped into our creative side and made a melting snowman. These turned out so cute. We started with painting the melting snowman’s body. Once it had dried, the children stuck buttons on as eyes, a hat, a carrot nose and some wool for a scarf. We looked for little twigs we could use for the snowman’s arms.

On Monday, for our FunFit sport session with coach Trever, the Hoppers were divided into two teams; each team had to zigzag in and out of cones, hop to a big tub of balls, get a ball and hope back and throw the ball into a bucket. The team with the most balls in the bucket within five minutes won. They enjoyed this activity.

On Tuesday, for yoga, they used their senses to guess what was in a mystery bag. Each yogi got a chance to feel around in the bag, with their eyes closed, and select 1 item to squeeze, feel, shake, and smell. The yogis then had to describe the item using textures, hard or soft, shapes, what it’s made of etc.

We made delicious hot chocolate with mini marshmallows on Wednesday for our cooking lesson. This was a big hit!

Friday was by far the best day ever! Book Character Dress Up was a hit with high excitement levels, filled with a lot of fantasy and laughs.

Have a lovely mid-term break! We will see you on Monday the 3rd of July.

Have A Wonderful Mid-Term Break! ... Keep Warm! ... Safe Travels To Those Going Away!

Dates to Diarise:

3 July: Back to School

5 July: Reptile Day

7 July: Hearing Tests (details to follow soon)

12 July: Haircut Day

15 July: EcoKids Concert

18 July: Nelson Mandela Day

21 July: Eye Screening

Lots of love

Teacher Kate-Lynn, Teacher Katy and the Happy Hoppers Assistants

Fun Activities To Keep Warm!

Winter, Temperatures, Fire and Ice



THEME

Winter, Temperatures, Fire & Ice



COLOUR

Grey



SHAPE

Rectangle



NUMBER

8

j

LETTER

Ww – Winter

Winter is well and truly upon us, which gives us so many opportunities to explore this awesome theme. This week we explored Winter, temperatures, Fire and Ice! A theme of extremes.

We played with a lot of ice and examined what happened when we put the ice into water, placed it in the sunshine, put salt on it… It was so interesting! Obviously our Bugs were not going to pass up an opportunity to put the ice in their mouths, either! Haha!

We had lots of conversations about fire and fire safety, what it is used for and how it’s actually quite dangerous, even though it is so beautiful, and we must always stay far away from fires and anything that can make a fire – like a heater, or matches and lighters! For our fire art, we use tinfoil dipped in red, orange and yellow paint to dab beautiful fire onto a page, and then collected sticks from the garden for the base of our fire.

In winter, our children told us that the weather gets very cold, and that we have to wear long tops and pants, and put on jackets and beanies to keep warm! We use gloves and extra blankets and scarves so that we can keep the cold away! It is fun to drink hot chocolate with marshmallows and eat yummy warm soups! We are all very lucky to have enough warm clothing and a nice warm bed to sleep in at night! We spoke about how, in Benoni, it really hardly ever snows, although it does happen sometimes. We do get frost on the ground in the mornings and sometimes, there is fog and mist that we can’t see though! Frost is fun to walk on and goes “crunch crunch crunch!” under our feet!

Friday book character dress-up day was so much fun! These kiddies all looked amazing dressed as their favorite book characters!

Reports have gone out, and we hope you enjoying reading about your kiddos adventures at school. If you have any questions regarding reports, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Have a wonderful, relaxing, mid-term break, and we can’t wait to see all of our Bugs back at school for the second half of the term!

Please remember to send beanies AND sun hats back to school, and label jackets please, as jackets always almost come off after playtime. Have a happy and safe weekend everyone!

The Next Theme Is: Reptiles