Dear StrongStart Families,

Here we are at the end of the 2019/2020 school year.  This school year was very unusual to say the least and challenging for us all. I hope this post finds you healthy and well as we say goodbye for the summer, although I wish I could have said goodbye to all my dear Strongstart friends in person.

I am proud of our StrongStart graduates who will start Kindergarten in the Fall of 2020. It has been my privilege to be another person in your corner all these years, watching your children grow and learn.  Best wishes for success in school, I know your children will have a great year in Kindergarten; meet many new, and keep old friends; learn and have fun together.

Rest assured, our school will do the utmost to help your child transition into school and meet all their needs. I know your children can’t wait to go to school. I know some of you might worry or ask: “Is my child ready for Kindergarten?” – they are, and our wonderful Kindergarten teachers and other supportive staff are ready for them!

Thank you to all of you, the parents, caregivers and grandparents for being part of our StrongStart family. Thank you for your trust and partnership in teaching your children together. Together we have built such a welcoming and supportive community and I am grateful for that. I value our connection and relationship as much as I appreciate my relationship with your children. Enjoy watching them grow and change over the summer.

As you all know, our school district is tirelessly working to support our children and community. Please stay connected with the Burnaby School website for updates about StrongStart:

https://burnabyschools.ca/strongstart/

​During the summer OUR StrongStart blog will not be updated, but you can still check out posts you may have missed. My last post before the summer was a video of me singing Alphabet March and A-Hunting We will Go.

Hopefully the weather will warm up so we all get to spend a lot of time outside, still keeping the safe distance, exploring nature. I know I will, with my family, appreciating what our wonderful city has to offer.

Happy Father’s Day to all of you wonderful fathers and grandfathers, you are tremendously important people in your children’s lives and your love and care for them makes a world of difference!

Stay safe, be kind to one another and your community and have fun!

Much love to all,

Ms. Lillian

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Dear StrongStart friends,

Singing and rhyming are so much fun! For those of you who want to know what children are learning : when we enjoy singing and rhyming with our children we are also helping them hear smaller word sounds (phonological awareness). Singing silly songs, reading nursery rhymes, chanting, telling jokes and riddles, they all help children hear and be aware of how the language we are listening to is made up of words and words are made up of smaller sounds. This will help them on their road to getting ready to read.

Join me in marching and singing The Alphabet March  (adapted from Higglety Pigglety: A Book of Rhymes published by Houghton Mifflin Company and singing our well-loved A Hunting We will Go rhyming song.

CLICK HERE for a video.

Happy singing and rhyming!

Ms. Lillian

Dear families,

We have a big group of future Kindergartners and I have been getting questions about how to support children to learn to write their first letters.

As I mentioned in our ABCs All Around Us post, learning letters and all other activities on the road to learning to read and write have to be fun and meaningful to young children. Children learn so much while playfully exploring letters in hands-on, fun activities.   Learning to write as well as learning to read are developmental processes that don’t happen overnight and children should not be rushed! You can rest assured knowing that you are already doing many things to support them.

Writing development starts at home with opportunities for children to use a wide variety of materials (crayons, chalk, paint, markers, fat pencils) for mark making (scribbles, lines, shapes, drawings etc.). When we offer variety of interesting, unusual materials and tools children learn to use their hands in many ways. Their brain is developing too, preparing them for many more complex tasks and jobs. When we provide opportunities for children to develop fine motor skills (play dough, clay or other sensory doughs, drawing, painting, cutting, treading etc.) they develop strength in their hands and wrists and different grips. Picking up small items, using small tools (Q tips for painting for example) will help them use their hands/fingers properly and effectively in the future. Other everyday activities are helpful as well, things like buttoning shirts, pulling zippers, using chopsticks, utensils, and so much more!

Children need to have a purpose to write, so try suggesting that they draw a picture for their grandparent(s) or a card for their sibling. When they play store, restaurant, doctor, offer pads and pencils for pretend writing lists, “prescriptions” etc.

Researchers tell us that producing letters helps children recognize them. Children see and feel the shape of the letter and experience the physical motion of making it. What better way to make a meaningful connection for a child than his/her name. If your child does not  yet know how to write their name, you can try writing it in big letters with chalk and looking together for a fun materials  to “produce” the special letters of the name. These fun materials can be playdough, paint, cheerios, small rocks, beads, sequins, rice and anything else you imagine! Next they can move on to mom’s name, their brother’s name, etc.

To explore lines you can use pipe cleaners, party beads, yarns, hair twisting curlers (as seen on the collage bellow in : MIA), gardening ties (as in Rob).

Hope you find these activity ideas fun and helpful on your child’s journey to writing their first letters.

Ms. Lillian

Join me in singing the song “Five Little Monkeys” and reading Noisy Animal Peekaboo!

Noisy Animal Peekaboo is published by DK Publishing, written by Dawn Sirett and illustrated by Liza Lewis.

CLICK HERE to watch the video.

Dear StrongStart families,

At StrongStart we have had many opportunities for messy and sensory play. Those explorations were always well-loved by everyone, from very young to older children. Sensory play is very important for brain development, it prepares the brain for all sorts of learning down the road and it is also calming. Through sensory play children learn about the world around them. They develop their problem solving skills, fine and gross motor skills, and hand eye coordination. Sensory play builds language and social skills and helps with math and science skills though hands-on experimentation, exploration, and manipulation.

An easy at-home sensory play activity is play dough!  Make sure you involve your children into the process of making of the play dough as it is a wonderful opportunity for math and measuring.
Sensory play builds confidence as children decide where to take their play and use their imagination and materials without worrying about the end product – it’s the process they enjoy!  To extend their play, you can add some additional materials such as animals to make it dramatic play as well.

Here are few new play dough recipes for you to try at home along with some ideas about how to use them.

Ooblick

Needed: 1 box of cornstarch, 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water, few drops of food colouring.

Add water to the cornstarch until it is semi-firm. When it becomes dry, simply add more water to soften again. Watch it change from solid to liquid (science!).

No Cook Play Dough

Needed: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, food coloring.

Mix flour and salt together. Slowly add the water, oil and a few drops of food colouring. Knead the dough and keep it in a Ziplock bag in the refrigerator.

Hair Conditioner Play Dough

Needed: 1 part (1 cup) hair conditioner, 2 parts cornstarch (2 cups). Mix together and knead.

Cornstarch is a bit dusty. It is best to put the bowl in the kitchen sink.

Mud Play Dough

Needed: 4 cups flour,  1 cup cocoa powder, 5 cups water, 2 1/2 cups salt, 3 Tbsp cream of tartar (you will find this amongst baking supplies at the supermarket), 10 Tbsp oil.

Mix dry ingredients in a large pot. Add water and oil. Cook at low/medium heat until mixture thickens and pulls away from the sides of the pot. When you pinch it, it should no longer be sticky. Remove from pot. Knead until smooth.

Homemade Kinetic Sand

Needed: 1 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup corn starch, 1 Tbsp cream of tartar, 4 Tbsp of water, food colouring, medium bowl, whisk.

Pour baking soda, sugar, corn starch and cream of tartar in a bowl. Mix well.

Add few drops of food coloring to 1/4 cup of water (that is 4 Tbsp). Add half of water to the mix and mix it using a whisk. Add remaining water, mix with the whisk. The texture will be like a snow. Place in the fridge. Store in ziplock bag in the fridge.

Enjoy and please don’t forget to share your photos with me!

Ms. Lillian

Dear StrongStart families,

I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather and doing spring activities outside. I am also hoping that you are still finding lots of time to read with your child.

Reading is one of the most important activities you can do together. It is never too early to start reading; cuddling with a book at bed time not only builds a routine, provides comfort and creates memories, but it also builds a habit for a lifetime.

Spending time with your children telling stories, singing and reading books and also talking about them are important ways to help your child get ready to read.

Read, Read, Read Your Book
Tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Read, read, read a book
It will help you grow
The more you read every day
The more you will know.

Read, read, read a book
Books are very cool
The more you read every day
The better you’ll do in school.

Check out this wonderful little video from the Burnaby Public Library with tips on home reading, Welcome to Kindergarten .

Don’t forget to join us for our Zoom Storytime on Tuesday, June 9th at 10 am with our special guest Jamie, the children’s librarian from the Tommy Douglas Library.

Ms. Lillian

Today I will be reading  “Wake Up, Farm”,

written by Melanie Joyce and illustrated by Jonny Lambert,

published by DK Publishing.

Click HERE to read along with me.

I will be also singing a song “When Cows Get up In the Morning”, so sing-a-long with me.

In our StrongStart at springtime every year we usually do some planting and sprouting.

This other day I found a load of popping kernels at home, the kind you use to make popcorn. I decided to try sprouting and planting them as an experiment. I wasn’t expecting that popping corn would sprout!

I used two sheets of paper towel sheets soaked with water. I put one in a bowl, then I put a handful of corn kernels on top and covered it with another scrunched wet paper towel. I put the bowl in my window sill. I was lucky we had a few sunny days, to my big surprise, after a couple of days I saw that kernels sprouted!

After I left them few days longer the sprouts became bigger and longer and some grew light green leaves as well.

When I visited our StrongStart Centre, I planted them in one of the planters (closest to our picnic area). I wonder what will happen? Will they continue to grow? If you are walking by our Centre, look in the planter pictured here and let me know. Take a picture of any flowers that are growing too.

At home, you can sprout beans, chick peas, mung beans (these are the easiest to sprout), you can also sprout seeds and nuts, some you can eat raw, some you will have to steam or cook. It is so healthy and easy. Please note that sprouted corn is not good to eat either raw or steamed.

Basic How-to sprout seeds and nuts:

Wash very well, then soak the nuts or seeds in water. Soaking times vary depending on the variety.

Drain, rinse, and put them in a jar. Cover the jar with something that allows for air flow, but will also protect from bugs and dirt. Sprinkle with water twice a day until they begin to sprout.

Search the internet for more specific instructions regarding food safety.

Enjoy!

Ms. Lillian

Dear StrongStart friends,
I hope you had fun learning about print in the community from our previous post. I would like to invite you to look for symbols and signs in yiour neighbourhood.

Every transit (bus) stop has a sign, a nice opportunity to look at the numbers there. What bus is stopping there? The one we take to go to…

Some symbols or traffic signs are made up of only pictures. Ask your child: What do you think this sign means? They are not studying for a driver’s license so accept the answer they give you if it is “a man crossing the street” or “daddy walking”. They are learning to make meaning from print.

Once they understand that lines across a picture in a sign means “no”, they will have fun finding ‘Parking’ and ‘No Parking’ signs, ‘Stop’ or ‘No Stopping’ signs, ‘Bicycles Allowed’ and the sign ‘No Bicycles Allowed’.

Children usually learn ‘Stop’ signs first and from then on they will always remind you to stop when you see one together!

Remember, learning to read is a developmental process that takes time, but children can learn many things that will help them on this journey before they enter school.

Ms. Lillian

Dear StrongStart friends,

I know that, unfortunately, some of you can’t join us for our Tuesday Zoom storytime. Here is one of your favourite songs “The Stars in the Night”. Please click here to sing with me.

Keep singing and reading together!

Ms. Lillian