WE STRIVE TO SEE THE WORLD FROM A KIDS-EYE-VIEW
Bellwoods Playschool uses a child-centred, socially conscious pedagogy to engage young children in social and artistic thought and action. Using what the city has to offer, we empower our students with the knowledge to be socially and environmentally responsible citizens while they develop into explorers of their urban landscape.

WE THINK OF THE CITY AS OUR CLASSROOM
A valuable aspect of the Bellwoods Playschool program is to empower children as navigators of their city. We journey on regular excursions, by foot and by public transportation, to art galleries, museums and cultural events, as well as markets, parks and city landmarks.

WE KNOW ITS TAKES A VILLAGE

Our Playschool runs on a model that links a range of artists together to engage and inspire children. We like to bring in different perspectives and actively pursue a diverse teaching staff. As such, professional educators and artists trade chalkboards for personal anecdotes and textbooks for real life experiences. Together, they create an atmosphere that is at once intellectually stimulating and deeply personalized.


Our Community

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Contact Photography Festival

Over the last couple of weeks we checked out some photography exhibits at the Contact festival, including a few at the Mocca Gallery and "Animal Perspectives" at the Kapisanan Philippine Centre. The boys chose out favourites, talked about colours and identified subjects in each of the series. We learned about how different photographers have their own styles and choose a theme when putting a series of photos together. We also learned how some photos can be set up or captured candidly and can have people, scenes or things in them. Another great thing about the Mocca Gallery is the courtyard they have out front. It is perfect for playing shark attack and the statue of the enlightened men make for a great storytelling spot. The kids also love pointing out the gargoyle at the top corner of the building, watching us play.

They wanted to see an exhibit showing men on horses in Afghanistan, but when we arrived, the Kensington market gallery was under construction. They still enjoyed having a peek at the construction work and the chickens that were in the distance, on the premise. They especially enjoyed free cupcakes from Cora's Kitchen (free for mini cupcakes for kids!) and the apple pie we shared from Wanda's Pie in the Sky.

Recording Session II

We had our second recording session for our song, Dancey Dance Floor. Our music teacher explained the basics of recording and we heard our almost completed song. Watch out for our world release of this new Dance Floor hit!

Another Mutu Inspired Collage

This is our second project inspired by Wangetchi Mutu. We took images from National Geographic magazines and put them together to form creatures. We also incorporated some sea glass that we found at the beach, sparkly paper and ribbon. We finished the work with some Japanese ink. Some of the kids are still working on theirs but will be posted soon!

Recycling is Fun

For Mother's Day we recycled some of our old paper. We ripped up the old paper, took turns blending it up with a little bit of corn syrup and lots of water. We added some sparkles and flower petals to make it look extra beautiful. We rolled some of the water out and left our sheets out to dry. The next day, we had new paper! The boys really enjoyed this one and want to do it again.

Some Things We've Been Up To

We have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Here we are on our story log:

We are almost finished with our Anansi. Yes, teamwork!

We finished our fort. Horray for more teamwork!

All work and play make for a tired day. Here we are having some down time.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Dancey Dance Floor: Recording Session 1

We started recording our new song with our music teacher! The boys were excited to use equipment that they don't normally get to handle. They also liked singing into the mic. The bass line and some singing parts were prerecorded then the boys sang their parts in and jammed over top of it. They added some percussion and synths, which will be edited and put into place.



Recording Session 1 for "Dancey Dance Floor" from Bellwoods Playschool on Vimeo.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Little Green Thumbs

Our basil, sunflowers and mix of edible flowers are doing very well in the greenhouse. The children are good at using the moisture meter to determine which plants need to be watered. Using the 'hug test', they are also very much into determining whether a tree is young or old. It took 4 little guys and 1 bigger person to wrap our arms around this one!


A Very Good Day at the Beach

Skipping Stones

Just Hanging Out

A very good walking stick

Ducks!

When a ladybug lands on you its good luck.

Building a rock city

Rock climbing