Educating Risa

Today was Gareth’s final ocean-themed playschool class, “A World Down Under.” We parents came to pick up the kids a few minutes early, so the kids could perform a little song routine for us. To the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”, we listened to and watched “the fish in the ocean go swim, swim, swim”:

“the octopus in the ocean go wiggle, wiggle, wiggle”:

and “the squid in the ocean go squirt, squirt, squirt.”:

Then it was time to get their “graduation” certificates:

and pick up any remaining crafts that had not yet gone home. We had a few to take. An underwater world (made with sand, shells, and coloured water in a glass spaghetti sauce jar, wisely glue-gunned shut):

a paper-plate fish:

a sand- dollar:

and an alphabet-pasta’ed dolphin. Can you tell Gareth is quite fond of glitter?

This was probably Gareth’s final playschool class of any type, as next fall we are registering him for homeschool, which begins in grade 1 in Alberta. These playschool classes have been among Gareth’s favourite, and he did 4 different sessions: Rainforest Safari, Tumble Rumble, Dino Dig, and A World Down Under. They’ve been very well done, with plenty of games, crafts, songs, stories and activities each week. The teachers often brought in real items to heighten the children’s interest in the natural world, like last week when when some real sand dollars were examined, or during the Rainforest Safari class, she brought in a small sample of food grown in a rainforest for the kids to try (pineapple, coconut, and chocolate were the faves). I know Gareth will miss these classes, but it is time to move on to other things. I wonder what new adventures he will have come fall?