Congratulations Grade Twos!

Congratulations to our grade two graduates! All of us at Junior OSC wish all of you the best in your transition to Senior OSC. We know that each of you will have an exciting and fun time as third grader. We will miss all of you very much.

Congrats!
From all the Junior OSC staff.

Grade 2 Graduation Speeches:

 

Aidan: Aidan’s fun personality and willingness to learn and try new things will definitely be missed at Jr. OSC. We will never forget his passion for building Lego structures and marble tracks with hall his friends.

Andrew: At Jr. OSC, Andrew could always be seen reading a book, playing board games or hanging out with his best friends, Angel and Mr. Pickles. He has a great sense of humour and has made lots of friends here.

Angel: Angel’s maturity, leadership qualities and humour will always be remembered at Jr. OSC. She often signed up for afternoon art or baking, and never passed up on the opportunity to do nail polish with the leaders.

Connor: In the afternoons we always looked forward to Connor’s curiosity and enthusiasm. Whether it was asking about snack, or the day’s activities, Connor always wanted to be in the know and was excited for whatever was in store for him.

Dariusz: Dariusz’s outgoing personality and friendliness makes him a good role model for the other children at Jr. OSC. He never passes up the chance to have a hearty breakfast in the morning and always volunteers his help to the leaders.

Emilia: We will never forget Emilia’s love for drawing, colouring, running around at the park or playing with her good friend Kiera. Her kind personality makes her a very lovable individual, especially between her peers.

Emily H: At Jr. OSC, Emily H could always be seen holding a Beanie Boo wherever she goes. She has such a creative mind and we hope she continues to grow her passion of the arts, as she transitions to Sr. OSC.

Kaden: Kaden is one of the most active and athletic individuals at our program. He is always at the park or in the gym and his excellent sportsmanship made the activities fun for everyone.

Kiera: Kiera’s mature and inclusive personality was a great asset at Jr. Her enthusiasm for all the activities she participated in made her a lovable individual between the leaders and her peers.

Leah: Leah’s bold personality gives her the potential to be a strong leader and friend as she transitions into Sr. OSC. She always brings a positive energy into the room and loves to make new friends.

Livia: Outgoing and energetic, Livia never gave up the chance to play in the park with her best friend Kiera. She always has a new trick at the playground to show the leaders.

Nick: Although Nick is newer to the program, he had no problem fitting in right away. He was always seen playing quietly with the Keva blocks and his many friends.

Noa: Noa’s positivity and creative mind made her a unique individual at Jr. She was always seen with a felt pen, or pencil crayon, in her hand working hard on her next creation.

Owen: Owen is a well-rounded individual who loves playing with Lego and marble tracks with his friends Aidan, Trenton, Chris and Kaden. He always made his group laugh with his jokes and fun-loving personality.

Sean: Sean’s outgoing and caring personality made him a role model amongst his peers. He is never afraid to say what’s on his mind and was always sure to look out for his friends and younger brother, Jackson.

Toby: Toby has a great sense of humour. He is also very thoughtful and independent which will help him through his transition into Sr. OSC. His love for board games and building Lego structures will be missed.

Slime!

Imagine for a moment, you have in your hand a ball of green, sticky, slippery, squishy, slime. You take your other hand and you gently put it on top of the slime ball, cupping your hands, surrounding the slime. You hold it, you look at it, and you feel it; then, all of a sudden – YOU SQUISH IT! Immediately the slime oozes between your fingers, splatting onto the table beneath your hands. You pull your hands apart and what's left is little green bits of goo stuck between your fingers, stuck on your palms, and the rest all over the table.

We did a fan-favourite for science day at Junior this past month. Together Aislinn and I tag-teamed and made slime with the kids. We used the usual mixture, water, Elmer’s white-glue, borax and some food colouring; however, we added in some sparkles and giant sparkles for that extra flair.  Kids got to choose from tiny fairy like sprinkles, to larger gold and silver ones. They were also allowed to put in some fun shaped sparkles that looked like stars, hearts, and leaves! We organized the activity so that each child would get two plastic cups. One cup would have two lines on it (for glue and water), and the other had one line for only water. We gave each child a cup with one line first, then a ¼ teaspoon or a 1/8 teaspoon. Depending on the number on their spoon, they either added one scoop or two of borax to their cup of water, then stirred until there was almost nothing left. Next, the kids were given their second cups with two lines. In this cup they poured white-glue to the first line, and then filled the cup with water until the second line. After, the kids got to stir the two liquids together, watching them combine into a thick white water. Then they chose two colours of food dye to add and mix in, along with their choice of sparkles. The final step was to pour the white-glue and water mixture into the cup of water and borax and then stir
! When the mixture was done, the kids had sparkly coloured slime to squish and enjoy.

Here’s the recipe below!

Materials:

-          Liquid Glue (1/2 cup)

-          Water (1/2 cup)

-          Food Colouring

-          Borax (1 tsp)

-          Water (1 Cup)

-          Two Plastic Cups

We scaled the recipe so that it could be made for twelve kids, then divided the total amount so each child had their own, smaller, proportion that would fit in the disposable cups we had.

Steps:

1.       In one cup, mix ½ cup glue and ½ cup water together, add food colouring and sparkles.

2.       In a different cup, mix 1 tsp Borax with 1 cup water, until the Borax is dissolved.

3.       Pour the water-glue mixture into the Borax-water and stir together.

4.       Keep mixing until the slime has been formed; you can kneed the mixture together to try to get as much water as possible – if there is left over water, don’t worry just pour it out!

And now you have your own slime!

Enjoy,

Katie

Clay Creations

This week at Jr Osc I let the kids imaginations run freely using clay art. They loved getting their hands dirty, squishing the clay through their fingers and creating whatever popped into their heads. That's what always makes clay art a popular activity. I started by giving them the basic colours of clay like red, yellow, blue and some others. As soon as they realized they needed more colours to create their masterpieces that's when they started getting to work. They experimented with a bunch of different colours with everyone helping out to figure out what colour they imagined would be created.  It was awesome to see that if one person made a colour they didn't need they would share it around the table for other kids to use. By the end of the day all the clay had been used up and everyone with a unique creation to take home.


-Corey

Sand-wiches

It seems like May has been bringing in the showers, but the staff and children have been ready for any weather. With spontaneous showers happening lately the kids have been great with being flexible about where they play. But of course, they love to be outside in the fresh air, especially with the sand toys. Many kids have been hard at work in the sand pit creating water tunnels that link to one another. They are always welcoming other children to dig with them, as they have realized that the more people that are helping the more tunnels they can make. By making all these sand tunnels, it has given them access to water so that they can make “sand food” to serve the busy workers. They have made pies, pizza and even smoothies to share with their friends.  But of course, they are only pretending to eat the sand food, since it is not that appetizing. Even when the leaders have to put away the sand toys for the day, the children can’t wait to play with them the next day so they can continue building their masterpieces.

Pearlena

Kids Korner

With the sun shining bright and the weather getting warmer, I wondered what our kids like the best about summer, so I proposed the following question:

What is your favourite part about summer?

Angel- "going swimming"

Andrew- "I'm going to Mexico"

Max- "my birthday"

Isaac- "going swimming"

Noa- "when school starts again!"

Theodora- "going on a hotel"

Savannah- "I don't know"

Tea- "no school"

ZiShen- "soccer"


Some good answers indeed, I am definitely looking forward to the amazing field trips we will be attending.

This is also a perfect time to remind everyone to start packing water bottles and sunscreen!

Thanks,

Jason

Retreat Getaway!

On May 1st, the staff from both Junior and Senior OSC went to Loon Lake for our annual staff retreat. We all had so much fun from attending multiple training sessions to canoeing to morning hikes. Our training sessions taught us tips on planning summer in-days, how to work with children with challenging behaviours and finding more ways to incorporate physical literacy into our profession. Coming back from the retreat, I felt like my coworkers had built a stronger relationship with one another and being able to create this strong bond with each other had allowed us to perform to our full potential in the daycare setting.

Thank you, Dustin, for being part of a team that planned such an amazing weekend. We'll never forget it !

Cheers,
Vanessa.

Meet Lindsay!

Hi.  My name is Lindsay and I am an assistant leader in both Junior and Senior OSC and currently in Grade 12 at McMath. I have been working here since November and am thoroughly enjoying it.

As the weather is getting nicer, we are enjoying being outside more and more. At Jr. OSC, one of our favorite games to play at the park is ball tag. This involves one person trying to hit the other players with a soft dodge ball. One problem we often encounter with this game is that not all of the kids play by the same rules, as they come to OSC from different schools. Sometimes this means that there are two games of ball tag being played simultaneously. The other day on the park this is exactly what happened, and when trying to combine the two games they came to a crossroad. There was too much chaos to enjoy playing the game. The kids readily agreed there was a problem, and although leaders were present, the kids sat themselves down and had a conversation about what needed to be changed in order for the game to go on. After some conversation they came to an agreement on which rules were going to be used and the game went on happily for the duration of our activity.

This was a great reminder for me that the kids do not always need a leader to intervene when a problem arises, proving they are very capable of solving the problems they encounter if given the time and space to do so.

 

Thanks,

Lindsay