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

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Award Winning Song

Daniel and a mix of kids from all the groups wrote and recorded In The Forest over the holiday. Some of our kids used it in a neighbourhood amateur filmfest and guess what?! The Jurors invented a category just to recognize the original score! The beautiful little award statuette of a bird will live in the our playschool room for everyone to admire.


In The Forest
By: D. Lee + Playschool Kids

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Us in the Winter

Drumming with Muhtadi

We spent the afternoon at the Spadina library, looking at books and learning all about the Djembe with Muhtadi. We had a lot of fun singing songs with him too!

TTC Pros



Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Lion dance

Some pics from trips and activities we did in January!

 Arts and crafts
 Playing dress up



 City Hall
 In the Mayors Office
 Council chambers at City Hall



 Trip to Chinatown to celebrate the Lunar Near Year!


 A lion dance to welcome the Year of the Rabbit.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Other Notes from January Fun

We went to the Museum of Inuit Art and learned about Inuit culture and folklore. 
We had a few field trips, including one to City Hall where we saw the
Mayor's office and had a private tour of council chambers. 



We also went tobogganing and played out side a lot. We went to the library and took out a
documentary about the Arctic. 



As for cooking, we made yummy brownies and small individual pizzas.

An Update from the Dance / Drama Department

In January we focused a lot on Arctic animals in drama and dance. We
played Arctic animal charades a lot ( they loved it). We also explored
different ways of manipulating and molding our bodies and voices to
create different animals. We learned about the Arctic weather and
geography and in dance class incorporated Arctic weather and geography
in a movement  game. 
In Dance/ Drama we also  focused on exploring
tempo, speeds and levels, spatial awareness and group concentration.

In February we will start putting together a choreographed movement
piece that will incorporated movements created by each member of the
group. We will also focus on learning  break dancing and a Chinese
new year dragon dance. In Drama we will continue to explore group
awareness, character development and story telling.