Christmas Spirit!

It has been a fun week seeing the children prepare for their Christmas concerts and performances in their holiday outfits and Santa hats. Art this week has been full of Christmas activities like snowglobes, snowflakes, cookies and reindeer ornaments. 

Many of the children have been occupying themselves at Junior OSC with Christmas colouring sheets. With Christmas just around the corner, the popular colouring sheet to colour this week seems to be one where they can fill out wish list for Santa, so they have been showing the staff all the fun stuff they hope Santa will bring them for Christmas.


Hope everyone has a wonderful winter break!


Pearlena

Seasons Greetings

With the holidays creeping up on us quickly, we at West Richmond have been hard at work making things festive. Many of our arts have been holiday oriented as well as even some of our snacks. The art projects have included baking reindeer cookies and Christmas coloured pin-wheel cookies. The crafts we have done with the kids have involved snowflakes, snow globes, and many different types of tree ornaments.
With all the seasonal spirit going on here, at West Richmond, I  decided to ask the kids what they thought about  the holidays. I know that their favorite  part of the holidays are decorating  the Christmas tree, opening presents, making gingerbread cookies, and the party crackers that go "crack". The kids here are ready to bring on the holidays!

ELIMINATOR

Hello Junior OSC family and friends,

 

On Thursday December 11th, the rain unfortunately prevented us from going outside and playing at the park, instead we went to the gym and played the game Eliminator. In this game each team tries to shoot balls into the other teams’ hoop and score points. The first team that gets three points which is three balls in the hoop wins. You also have to try to avoid being hit by the balls because if you do you have to go to jail and can only come out when another player on your team throws a ball and hits the post behind the other team.

Mentioning the game excited and pleased many children in the group. This was a game where the children played against the leaders. Near the end the game, the leaders got a little help from a parent who assisted us as we faced the passionate and fierce group of children. I was impressed with how well the children played and the amazing effort they made. They were so determined to beat the leaders and really gave it their all. It was nice to see the children working together as a team and trying to help free their teammates from jail and not being focussed on strictly scoring points. When a child was hit with a ball and sent to the jail they were never in there long because their teammates always helped to free them quickly.

 

Everyone had a great time and I’m looking forward to the rematch.

 

Erin

FUN WORLD

"WATCH OUT!"

On November 28, the Gilmore and Dixon students had a pro-d day and those attending junior OSC went on an outtrip to Fun World. For some, this outtrip was their first with junior OSC and more importantly, it was their first time on a school bus. Many of them described it as "one of the best days of their lives, especially since there were no seat belts." They had a great time at Fun World and behaved so well that once we got back to the centre, we awarded them each with a moustache sticker. Thanks to those who came out with us and we hope everyone had fun !

Cheers,
Vanessa.

"Ready, Aim, Fire"

Silly Putty Goo

This week, many of the children had lots of fun doing a science activity with Cory! When asked what they thought about his ‘Silly Putty Goo’ experiment, some of the answers I received included “Super Cool!” and “Totally Awesome!” We are so glad that the kids enjoy the afternoon activities offered at Junior OSC. Here is the recipe for Cory’s Silly Putty Goo if you want to try it for yourself at home! 

 

Ingredients: 

• Elmers glue
• 2 disposable cups 
• Food colouring
• Water
• Borax
• Spoon to mix
• Tablespoon to measure

 

Steps: 

1. Fill one cup with water and add 1tbsp of borax; Stir. 

2. Fill the second cup with about one inch of glue. 

3. Add 3tbsp of water to the glue and stir. 

4. Add a few drops of food colouring to the mixture and continue stirring. 

5. Add 1tbsp of the diluted borax to the glue mixture then stir well. 

6. Watch the slime form! 

 

Cheers, 

Vanessa. 

Marble Mania

            This week we are very fortunate to have the revealing of a new toy set at West Richmond OSC. It is amazing how many kids love to play with marbles, roll them, pass them around and best of all make a marble track for the marbles. We tossed out our old broken plastic marble set in exchange for a new wooden marble set. I found these sets of blocks were a bit challenging at first because there were no connecting pieces like the plastic set. It only has blocks that stack on top of each other. As the kids started to build, they quickly understood how the blocks and marbles operated. After a few breakdowns from the blocks they started to get the hang of it, and before I knew it they had created some amazing marble tracks.

 

I think I see some engineers in the future…

 

Corey

 

WRCC



 

Remembrance Day

Last week I decided to ask the kids what they knew about Remembrance Day.
I started off by asking them, "What is Remembrance Day?" I received many blank stares, but among the stares were replies such as:

"Because a soldier died."

"Soldiers who fought to protect this Canada land."

"When we wear the poppies."

"It's all about remembering everyone who fought in the war for us."


I next asked them, "Why is it important to remember the war?" Many of them had the right idea:

"Because the soldiers fought for us"

The last question I asked was, "Why do we wear poppies?" Here are a few of the many good answers:

"As a sign of respect."

"The poppies grew for the war and they help us remember."

These answers conclude some of the knowledge the children have about Remembrance Day.

- Aislinn

Happy November, families!

This past week has been dedicated to gearing up for Halloween before the big day. This week was packed with pumpkin patch visits, lugging around their hand-picked pumpkins, potluck classroom parties and Halloween themed arts and crafts. I decided to do some fun treat bags to get the kids' imaginative juices flowing. I gave the kids a small paper bag each to decorate, and most importantly - they got a bowl of treats to fill their bag. But these weren't ordinary treats, these were ghost poop (marshmallows), zombie brains (berry gummies), monster scabs (Cinnamon Toast Crunch), and witch's warts (chocolate chips). We finished off our treat bags with some curled ribbon to seal our bags shut so the kids could add them to their post-trick-or-treating stockpile. 

Until next time!

Sara E 



***

Happy Halloween from the OSC Circus!

 

What are you going to be for Halloween?

With Halloween right around the corner, many of the kids have been excited thinking about what they are going to wear for Halloween. I wondered how they were able to choose their costumes with such ease, so I asked some of them this question: What are you going to be for Halloween, and why? Here are some of the responses I received.

 

Annabel: Elsa, because I like the movie Frozen.

Isaac: Spiderman, because he has web powers and no one will know it’s me.

Vlad: Vampire, so I can freak everybody out.

Connor: Ghost, because I have a ghost costume.

Nyah: Princess, because I like pretty dresses.

Toby: Grute, because he’s my favorite character and he's funny.

Noa: Witch, because I wish I could fly with a broomstick.

Zev: Zombie rock star, because I like zombies and rock stars.

Alarii: Big fat pumpkin, because I like to be silly with my costume.

Jackson: Mario, because he saves Princess Peach and takes care of Luigi.

Keira: Wildstyle, because she is my favorite character in The Lego Movie.

Cameron: Little Red Riding Hood, because she’s cool.

Jillian: Witch, because my mom said so.

 

            It’s great to hear all the creative ideas for Halloween and we can't wait to see them in person.  Hopefully you will have time to come in and check out the staff because our theme this year will be CIRCUS!

 

Stay safe and have a Happy Halloween!

 

Corey,

 

Meet Katrina!

Hi OSC families and friends,

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was so nice to relax after a busy start in September, and now we’re ready to jump head first into the 2014-2015 school year!

Now some of you may have seen me around both Junior and Senior OSC. As many of you don’t know much about me yet, I wanted give a quick introduction about myself.

My name is Katrina Cabrera. I am 17 and currently a grade 12 student at Richmond Secondary School. I have volunteered with children ages 7-17 through tutoring programs and weekend camps. Some of my hobbies include reading, indulging in good eats, and dragon boating.

I was introduced to this lovely family at West when I started volunteering at the Summer Daycamps back in 2012. Since then, I realized how much I enjoyed working with children. I truly enjoy being a part of their lives. When I was offered an assistant leader position this past summer, I was so honored. I’m thrilled to be a part of this community, while learning and growing along with the kids.

On that note, please don’t hesitate to introduce yourself to me or any of the other staff. I am looking forward to meeting and talking to all of you! 

Cheers,

Katrina

Thankful for Cookies!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than with more FOOD.  I decided on a simple sugar cookie recipe to roll out and cut into pumpkin shapes. Topped with orangey-red sprinkles for authenticity of course... now they look like 'real' pumpkins.

For families who aren't already familiar with how we run baking at Jr OSC, here are a few rules we implement:

• Always wash our hands before and after baking, and immediately after handling eggs. 
• We generally open just ten spots for baking activities to ensure the kids who've signed up get a fair chance at stirring, pouring or kneading. 
• We also like to keep track of who signs up each time we do baking so that a new group of kids can sign up next time. 
• With regards to taking turns stirring, the kids have come up with a fun way to keep track. They sing a song tailored to baking, to the tune of "Row Your Boat" and it goes like this: "Stir, stir, stir the bowl, stir it 'round and 'round, stir it once and stir it twice and pass it to a friend". Each child stirs for the length of the song and when the song cues them to pass it to a friend, they pass the bowl to the person beside them. Genius, really. 

On a side note I found this cute pinecone turkey craft that I wanted to do with the kids as well, but just never got the chance. Feel free to take a look at the link and try it out at home! http://apumpkinandaprincess.com/2011/11/pinecone-turkeys-and-winner.html

Take care!

Sara

***

What's your favourite thing about school?

We posed this question to some of our children this past week. Here's a sampling of responses.

Nyah: Meeting new friends.

Christopher: Recess!

Alarii: Learning new things.

Angel: Dancing.

Toby: Going to the gym.

Connor L: Colouring cookie jars.

Téa: Playing games and doing art.

Savannah: Everything.

Adriana: Seeing a circus show in the gym and playing with the toys.

George: Puzzles.

Crystal: Playing with the house.

Malia: Writing stories.

Grace: Every kind of art and computers.

Noa: I don't...probably art, probably school, probably...I don't know!

Interesting perspectives after a couple weeks in. Without a doubt, "meeting friends" was the most popular sentiment amongst the children surveyed. This lends support to the idea that the social development of our young citizens is just as important as academics. After all, what good is knowledge without conscience?

Until next time,

Jason & Dustin

Sunny Start

Though the start of September didn't include the start of school for our OSC children, we still had the opportunity to explore and learn. One of those opportunities was checking out the new Terra Nova Adventure Playground! Fortunately, the dry and warm summer weather continued, making our hours spent outdoors convenient.

The children were able to test their climbing skills on the natural-looking play structures, develop lung capacity by running around the open spaces and connect with the local flora and fauna. The park was so fun, we actually visited it on two occasions within two weeks. No doubt we'll be back sometime soon!

Long lines to enter the treehouse.

Found a new friend!

Nice view of the airport across the river.

Cheers,
Dustin

Goodbye Jr OSC Grads

We said farewell to our Jr OSC Grads with a celebration on June 20. The ceremony included cake, a certificate and a few kind words spoken by some of the leaders about each child. 

Cara B- Cara’s sweet nature and outgoing personality will help her move into Sr. She always has a new trick at the playground to show all the leaders.

Hugo H- Hugo is thoughtful, independent and loves being in the middle of all the Beyblade battles.

Rowan K-  Rowan was a force to be reckoned with in any sport he played but never takes playing sports too seriously. He always puts having fun above winning.

Adam B.W.- Adam joined us halfway through the year and his easygoing personality helped him fit right in as one of the boys.

Niko M- Usually found hanging out with Rowan, Adam and Hugo, he always seemed to make the groups laugh with his jokes and creative mind.

Leo S- Leo’s come out of  his shell a lot at JR since his kinder days, now he always has something to say that cracks everyone up.

Xander W.M.- To the untrained eye Xander may come off as shy, but with his friend Leo he loves to laugh and make Leo laugh as well. Xander always has something interesting to say when alone with the leaders.

Logan T- Logan’s determination and bold personality gives him the potential to be a good leader and friend as he heads off to Sr OSC. He always makes his thoughts know to his peers as well as the leaders.

Jaelyn W- Gentle and caring, Jaelyn was a great role model for many younger girls. With her ability to convince leaders to buy girl guide cookies, she is sure to be successful in the future.

Joanna F- Known as “Jo-jo bean” by her friends, she always brings a kind and positive energy, which helps her get along with everyone. She is usually found at the art table or playing games with her friends Jaelyn and Emily N.

Alexander S- Alexander only comes to OSC a few days a week but whenever he does attend, he wastes no time getting into the action of the park or gym. His friends include Rowan and Hugo.

Cole V- Cole has as many friends as he does Pokemon cards. He is always smiling and has a good sense of humour with both the leaders and kids.

Alden C- Alden’s friendliness & inclusions of all his peers makes him a good role model and will smoothen his transition into the Sr OSC. He is usually found in the gym or park and loves playing hockey or soccer whenever possible.

Peton H- Not only is Peton graduating grade 2, he is also graduating from the Jr lego table to the Sr pool table. Good luck Peton. We will miss your awesome Lego and Keva block creations.

Tori P- Tori proved to be a great asset during “drama club”. She adapted into different roles quickly and was even able to help others improve their skills. She would often impress her friends with her Italian speaking skills on the bus from Gilmore.

Emily N- Her accepting personality and maturity gained her the respect of all her peers and her willingness to try new things will ease her transition into Sr OSC.

Jeremy- Jeremy’s energy & goofiness will definitely be missed. As he joins his older brother Jason, Sr OSC is in for a special treat.

Malia D- Malia’s nurturing and enthusiastic presence was found in every activity she participated in, especially “drama club.”  She is also a ‘Star Wars’ genius.  

Best of luck to all the graduates as they continue their journey at Sr OSC.

-Emmett

Strike days!

The public school strike days came up quite sudden for us staff at West Richmond and many parents too. Though they were planned quickly they gave us an opportunity to join both our senior and junior programs together. West Richmond was sure packed those days. I know the younger children loved having the "big kids" to hang out with and many of the children from the older program seemed to love reminiscing about the times when they ran the junior program. Even though the day was thrown together last minute it was really awesome to see how well it worked despite the wide age range.

-Aislinn

Pro-D at West

Although it is sometimes a daunting challenge to plan an entire day in the community center, the day tends to fly by. Many of the children see this as a chance to spend more time with their favorite toys, games, or leaders, and look forward to taking part in more time consuming activities unavailable on a regular day.  We get a chance to visit the park, the turf, the gym and to make yummy snacks like oatmeal cookies. Oftentimes we adjust the day based on what the kids suggest, and this is how half of our room became a “museum.” One activity that is quite difficult to fit into a normal day is face painting. There is something very exciting about having an animal, design, or favorite cartoon painted on them, and many kids wait almost patiently for a chance in the chair. Although there are always requests for the usual designs such as butterflies, or cats, recently we have been having more difficult and/ or unusual requests. Logan and Cole have become used to my “thinking” face as I try to figure out requests such as “I want a robot arm that is controlled by a panel,” or “veins like a strongman.” An even more challenging endeavor has been the recent Pokémon revival, and trying to figure out not only what a “krookodile” is, but how I can possibly draw one on Alden’s arm. This past pro-D way definitely a fun one, and was a reminder of the summer days to come.

Gemma.

Stars in the Making!

Hey folks, hope everyone is having a great spring so far. Lately we have been taking full advantage of the good weather by going outside whenever we can. As some of you may have heard, I have started working on a short film called, "The Mystery of the Missing Lunchbox." The film is about a child's lunchbox that goes missing, but upon finding it they notice that instead of the food being inside, they come across something most unexpected! The film will star some of our very own jr celebrities and most enthusiastic performers. I will update the blog when it's all done. Enjoy the rest of your long days of sunshine! 


Peter Sammarco 

¡Feliz cinco de mayo!

¡Feliz cinco de mayo! 

A popular Mexican holiday, adopted by the United States as well (why not, it's another reason to eat, drink and be merry) is celebrated to commemorate the Mexican victory over the French in Puebla, Mexico. But ultimately, it's a celebration of Mexican heritage. 

The word piñata struck some excitement in the kids when I announced art, but to their disappointment and their parents' delight there was no candy involved. These were more like 'pull' piñatas; we decorated an empty toilet paper roll with streamer, covered the bottom side with tissue paper and taped some ribbon to the tissue paper which would be where the treats fall out from. They filled their piñata with 2 prizes from the prize bin, small enough to fit into their TP roll, and of course sequins and glitter to jazz it up. I made one myself, so that I could demonstrate what their piñata might look like when they pulled on, releasing all the glittery, sequiny mess. What's good fun without a little mess? Seems to be an ongoing theme for my art activities... But if they're having fun, I am too!

- Sara

Integration Art Days!

 Ever since the Grade 2's have began the weekly integration day at Senior OSC, Tuesdays have been pretty quiet at Junior. Couple that with the fact that this past Tuesday was beautiful (well, not cold and not rainy) and you've got a very quiet art table. With only a handful of kids signed up, we decided on two simple spring crafts. We tried our hand at tissue paper flowers. Not much to it, but very cute. We used tissue paper and streamers and kind of just folded, crunched, and layered our 'petals' until they looked like a flower. We moved onto butterfly paintings which is just how it sounds! My initial idea was to suggest that they only paint one half of the butterfly and then fold it onto the other half to demonstrate the symmetry of a butterfly's wings. HOWEVER, I don't think that made sense to most, so they just painted the whole butterfly, which was totally fine too.

Though it was a quiet day at Junior OSC, there was no shortage of fun nor creativity!

- Sara

Butterflies!

"Would you like some cookie with your icing?"

My over used, not-so-funny joke during our cookie decorating activity this week in celebration of Easter.

I know that baking and decorating sweets will always make for a messy but enjoyable art table at Junior OSC and as Easter was nearing, why not! Sorry parents, I know, as if they weren't already going to be spoiled and 'tummy-aching' from chocolate this long weekend. Instead of baking cookies, I went ahead and baked some really quick flower shaped sugar cookies on my own to create a blank canvas for our little Picassos. Some white frosting mixed with neon food dye, sprinkles and a handful of skittles were all we needed to occupy them for a whole half hour. Unsurprisingly, some kids preferred a 3:1 icing to cookie ratio - AKA a whole lotta icing, while others were more conservative, carefully icing each petal a different colour. 

- Sara

Decorating each petal

Cookie artists at work

Sprinkles!

Slopping on icing

How we imagined the cookies would look

How they actually look

Keeping track of which cookies belong to whom.

Bring out the Looms

Rainbow looms are one of the most popular recent trends in OSC. There are endless combinations of patterns and colours, and with every new creation the kids only seem to like them more. Recently we dug out looms that were relics from my own childhood, and yarn looms began. A surprising number of kids instantly took interest in these instantly, and very soon all twelve were occupied. This activity has attracted boys and girls from all age groups, some very unexpectedly. Some of our greatest enthusiasts include Logan, Emily and Keira. 

-Gemma

Using some teamwork

Different sizes

Tangled yard, a loomer's worst nightmare

Our art cart ever since the children discovered looming

City of Blocks

The Keva blocks have been a hit since first introduced to both Sr. and then Jr. OSC, and almost every kid has devoted a good chunk of time to building various structures at some point. This interest has only grown for many children, and has resulted in the invention of a variety of games. Some of these games include designing marble tracks to race marbles, or building towers that can withstand a strategically thrown object. We were all impressed one day when a group of kids took it upon themselves to organize and build an entire Keva city.

OSC Tower

The core crew of this endeavour included Logan, Peton, Andrew, Sean, Adriana, Toby, Noa and Leo. The city they built included buildings contributed by many children, such as city hall, OSC tower, main road, and many unique houses and scenery. They collaborated on this project from 3pm until about 5:30, which is a long time considering everything else happening around them, and all of them were extremely proud of their City of Blocks. 

-Gemma

An aerial view

Dungeons & Dragons

Hey Folks, Peter here with an update on Dungeons and Dragons at Junior OSC. Our quest is still going strong. More kids have joined the adventure since I last wrote a blog. D&D is a role playing game where the children's actions have immediate effects on the game. So, for example, if a player decides to freeze the lake, it may or may not change the outcome of the story, which I have created. I've been trying to reward good behavior in the game by giving extra points to children who use their 'abilities' for good, and also help their friends in the game by sharing items like health potions. The stories I've been using are mostly made up, but I've taken parts from Disney movies as well as Greek and Aboriginal mythology to make it really interesting for the kids. Here are some of the things the kids have said about the game:

"I like the snakes" - Mia, Fire Fairy

"Finding treasures" - Vlad, Red Robot Guy

"Using powers like Fire Breath" - Justin, Dragon Guy

"Getting new powers!" - Alarii, Wizard

"When monsters come out!" - Nyah, Fairy

That's all folks, cya soon!

- Peter Sammarco

Fossil Fun in Science Club

Dinosaurs are an ongoing interest for most kids, so for Science Club we took this interest and looked at it in a different way. When asked how people knew about dinosaurs the kids quickly came up with the word fossil, and when asked what a fossil is? The replies were varied and the group came up with responses like “Dead Dinosaurs,” “Rock shapes,” and “Bones.”

After a discussion about how fossils are made, we went on to make our own using a simple recipe involving coffee grinds. Not surprisingly one of the highlights of the entire process was the kids passing around the coffee to smell, and making faces while exclaiming “EWWW,” or “GROSS,” followed by much laughter.
Everyone went about making their fossil a different way. Some, like Emily, spent the entire time meticulously printing a single leaf, others, like Trenton, made as many prints as possible on the fossil surface, and Camryn even designed a scene on top of their fossil before leaving the prints behind. Take a look at some of our creations.

-Gemma