Stage One Theatre School: For over 40 years, WCT 's Stage One Theatre School has been the home for theatre education for young people in our community. These classes build confidence, and teach collaboration and communication skills. There is a space for every child in this fun and engaging program geared towards all skill levels from ages 4 -18! Stage One runs year-round, with after-school programs, week-long camps, special workshops and even performance opportunities.
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As of last week we are 100 days smarter! And boy were we busy learning so we can be 200 days smarter. We made crowns, we played games and puzzles, we tried to write 100 words, find things 100 cm long and we are working on adding 100 fish to a giant fishbowl. We did 100 seconds at stations in the gym and played with 100 Lego pieces. We read 'Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten' and some other books about 100 and made plenty of connections. It was a great 100th day of Kindergarten!
The time to begin preparing children for the challenges and demands of the future is when they are young. Children are curious and excited learners and it is our responsibility as parents and educators to create learning experiences that tap into that natural curiosity and excitement. This includes not only supporting emerging skills in reading, math, science and social studies, but also the 21st century skills of critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity, technology literacy, and social-emotional development. Children need to begin to develop the early foundational skills that will help them reason, think creatively, analyze data, and work collaboratively in the future. And Global Schools Play Day does just that. Every year we have such a great time on Global Schools Play Day and so do the children. Play is at the heart of how children learn. We see so many of the 21st century learning skills being practiced although the Team is unaware that they are doing more than play. All day long they negotiate, collaborate, problem solve, create, think and use so many more skills that help build foundations for learning and thriving in the real world. What a privilege it is to witness Team Awesome strengthening their skills to become our future leaders and citizens of our society!
Have you ever seen such a great display of grit, determination and perseverance?! Team Awesome was awesome at skating! If there was a gold medal given for perseverance and sheer grit, every member of Team Awesome would have received one. It made our hearts sing to see the sheer determination from those new skaters on the ice. It also made us a little ashamed of our own lack of similar joyful determination when learning something new and difficult. Many of the children had never been on skates (as evidenced from the spaghetti legs and slapstick falls) and spent more time getting up than they did actually staying up. And some of those falls were hard- there might have been bruises. But not one single child asked to have their skates taken off early. Not one of them complained or cried or whined. And every face had a beaming smile despite the difficulties some of them were having staying on their feet, much less actually moving. And a big thank you to those parents and family members who were able to come with us. It makes activities like this so much easier when there are extra adults to help out. We are so proud of Team Awesome!
What is love? What are the things that you love the most? If we could see inside your heart, what would we find there? These are the questions we asked during the Map of My Heart activity. We began with an amazing book called My Map Book by Sara Finelli. In My Map Book, Finelli inspires us to think about maps in a whole new way with wonderful images of maps including: “A Map of My Dog,” “A Map of My Day,” “A Map of My Stomach,” and yes, “A Map of My Heart.” With Valentine’s Day approaching, we wanted to discuss the theme of love and friendship with the children. To get them thinking about love, we focused on Finelli’s heart map and talked about what we might find in our own hearts. The finished pieces so charmingly represented all of the things the children hold dear – and we learned even more about what kinds of things/ experiences are really important to them. |
