Glebe Reggio Centre
276 Sunnyside Ave K1S 0R8 Ottawa, ON, Canada

Preschoolers and Toddlers alike, join Miss Michelle and Miss Aurora in our Butterflies and Bumblebees Creative Movement Dance Class

And we're back!!! School set to reopen Monday, July 6th! We can't wait to see all of our beautiful students and teachers back in action!

What does Tuesday dance class look like at the GRC? Here is a sneak peak: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=425991358332350

We had such a great trip to Saunders Farm this week! Pumpkins, a hayride and lots of other fall activities made it such an exciting day for the little ones

Join a preschool where students learn! We offer a strong curriculum, a caring environment and loving teachers. Now accepting applications for January 2020 for infant and preschool age groups. Apply today! Email [email protected] 613-236-3000

Those who are familiar with the difficulties a daycare might face know that the most challenging part is finding the right teachers:professional, loving, creative, but besides that we also require love for academics as we believe in education through play. And we are so eternally thankful for the GRCs pedagogical staff. Last week our kids spent a day at a farm in a beautiful setup created by our teachers. They learned about the animals and their babies, places they eat ...and sleep at, each animals role at the farm, dangers from wild animals, life and works of a farmer, they sang farm songs and answered questions. What is a fence? Its just like a gate, said Eliana. Then they exercised team work and moved the farm to the wall so they can play with it anytime. The children took it seriously as a team project and loved to play the role of creators. Education through play, we say Yes! See more

What a wonderful sunny day we had yesterday! Spring is finally here and our students are happy to experience the really warm days. We organized a farewell to winter party and the children helped to melt ice and extract their own little dinosaurs and real roses! Their little fingers experienced the touch of cold and warm, hard and liquid, learned about the process of melting and could distinguish if the ice was thin enough to break with some pressure. They got to examine peta...ls as the roses were extracted from the ice castles. They got to keep their own dinosaurs. And all this while practicing pincer grip! Look at how funny and creative these kids are as they are saying goodbye to winter! P.S. And as we know our teachers cant resist an opportunity for creativity. Look what they inspired the kids to create our of their dinosaurs!

Dear parents, We are happy to announce that we are back to our weekly posts to keep you informed and updated on the life at the GRC. And first this year, we want to thank you for making our Christmas Potluck a beautiful lasting memory that warms us up these cold winter days. We are very thankful for your trust and all the positive feedback you left in the survey. ... The children were all proud of themselves presenting their dancing skills they learned at the weekly ballet class with Miss Michelle and we were even prouder of their success! We also hope that you enjoyed the sugarless banana cornbread from our menu and took advantage of the Christmas photo zone. As for Mr. Neil, he truly enjoyed the role of Santa handing out the small craft kits and he hopes they ended up as cute Christmas creations! We are now looking forward to the next potluck in May! Bring your family members and if you would like to participate in organizing the event or activities - we are always supportive of community spirit! Yours, GRC

Can't wait to see everyone at 2PM sharp today!

Playgroup happening tomorrow - even if it's freezing cold and freezing rain! Hot tea and cookies for all!! (Ok, maybe just milk for the kiddies!!)

Playgroup tomorrow at 2PM! Looking forward to seeing everyone and enjoying some adult conversation about life with our little ones!!

Playgroup Cancelled Today!! Stay warm and indoors! We will resume next week!

Drop in play group today running from 2PM-3:15PM! Enter through the Makin' Moves side door and come up to the third floor. Cost: $2.50/family, light refreshments served, open to ages NB-4

Today we invite you to take a culinary journey together with the GRC. These are four meals that our children ate in past few days: 1) Chicken stir-fry (chicken breast, broccoli, carrot, corn, pepper, cremini mushrooms, peas), stir-fried to retain vibrant colours and thus vitamins in vegetables. Served with steamed rice and halved grapes on the side. ... 2) Beef Chili (beef, peas, carrots, whole kernel corn, green beans and lima beans, tomato sauce), delicious freshly baked cornbread and melon on the side 3) Spaghetti with minced meat and homemade sauce, bread infused with extra virgin olive oil (unheated and thus preserving the highest nutritional value) mixed with a bit of minced garlic (natures anti-oxidant), with a side of fruit salad (apples, pears, halved grapes and melons) 4) Delicious and healthy cheese and spinach quiche (cheese, spinach, sweet bell peppers, onions, eggs, milk) with a side of a fruit salad. All meals are accompanied with fresh organic milk and we take pride in providing 90% of organic fruits and vegetables (when reasonably possible and in season), along with organic honey. The children are taught table etiquette and take their used dishes and utensils into their toy sink (or food tray) for a clean up after meals. Filling our little tummies with wholesome goodness, The GRC

Sensory activity you can do at home! With Christmas approaching, we want to share this Christmas sensory activity that will keep your little ones entertained for a surprisingly long time, its easy to make at home and will last. Sensory activities are instrumental for early childhood development because: ... Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brains neural pathways, which lead to the childs ability to complete more complex learning tasks. Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction. This type of play aids in developing and enhancing memory Sensory play is great for calming an anxious or frustrated child This helps children learn vitally important sensory attributes (such as hot, cold, sticky, dry, hard, soft and etc.) We have taken white beans, green lentils and rice (infused with food colouring for a red colour effect), added some drops of Cedar wood essencial oil to activate the sense of smell and add a naturally pleasant Christmas spirit, added muffin paper cups, little wooden frogs and Christmas Tree cones (made of simple white styrofoam cones covered with painters tape attached inside out for stickiness). The children had an absolute blast and completely engaged themselves in the activity. Christmas trees were decorated, cupcakes baked, frogs excavated and little noses engaged in enjoying the lovely cedar wood aroma. We used magnifying glass to study details of beans. When it was time for clean up, it made for a good fine motor skills activity - trying to pick up all those little beans and lentils from the floor! It also helped the children to relax and settle down before lunchtime, and then a delicious lunch followed...but that is a whole new post! Creating Christmas spirit for our little precious students, GRC

Sensory fun! (See the next post for insights and information)

Fighting the flu: challenge accepted! As Christmas is becoming very real, so are the chances for a flu. Guidelines for our parents:...Continue reading

Meet: Monkey Rock Music classes at our centre! Today we will tell you about one more exciting activity for our students. To complement their weekly ballet classes we have invited our trusted friends, Monkey Rock Music. You have probably already heard of their program. We are huge fans of Monkey Rock and have enjoyed a long relationship with this company as they continue to expose our children to music through fun. Neuropsychologists believe that every small child should be in...structed in music because it performs a delicate tuning of their neural network this is of great benefit, and does not depend on them becoming professional musicians. Music teaches children to pay attention to details. They learn to identify which sound is higher and which is lower, which sound is shorter and which is longer. This is preparation for reading, writing and further complex cognitive tasks. We have chosen Monkey Rock Music for the task because it is a fun, entertaining and creatively participatory music program. Their primary goal is to instil a love of creating and experiencing music with the number one priority of children having fun. They use plenty of repetition (which is critical for children to learn and engage with the material) along with continual, gradual introduction of new material. Most songs in a given class are sung by the instructor and played on guitar, allowing the instructor to always be in amongst the children, and there are plenty of percussion instruments for children to play. Most importantly, Monkey Rock Music does not use any prerecorded music. (For more information please see the website of our colleagues and friends https://monkeyrockmusic.com/about/ ) Keeping our children tuned, Sincerely, The GRC

Ever wished to have daycare and professional ballet classes in one setting? Check, granted! We continue a set of posts to introduce you to the life of the Glebe Reggio Centre. Today we would like to tell you that we are proud to present a unique opportunity of a dance studio within a daycare. "Makin' Moves Children's Dance Theatre" offers a weekly ballet course for our students in a professionally equipped dance studio on the third floor of our building. Our little swans are ...directed by professional instructors headed by Miss Michelle - a qualified Ontario teacher that holds a degree in dance. Michelle taught dance at the fine arts high school, Canterbury, and has run her own studio for 7 years now. Classes are performed in a framework appropriate to the age group and include dynamic play and pretend (cats and mice), partner dance, ballet movements and preparatory exercises with the ballet stand. Children are thrilled to follow their movements in large floor-to-ceiling mirrors on both front and back walls, it promotes self-awareness and imagination. At a certain point they ask for a tutu to become a real swan and we have them handy. We have opted for ballet classes as it provides the following benefits for our students: - promotes motor development which is instrumental for early development of children. To learn more about the importance of gross motility please see our informative post dated October 25, 2018 (https://www.facebook.com/glebereggiocentre/photos/pcb.343279) - boosts coordination and balance - improves ability to listen to the music and produce moves in synchronization which engages and stimulates certain mechanisms in the child's brain - grants positive emotions - teaches grace in movement and gout, reduces clumsiness - partner dance teaches to interact with other children and follow instructions simultaneously Our parents save their time as they no longer need to drive to extracurricular dance classes somewhere else and they may now spend more time together as a family. Life nowadays is so busy parents strive to have quality time with children and we are happy to make it just a tad easier. With love to our children and respect to your time, GRC

Remembrance Day: How to talk to your child about war? In 1914, Canada had a population of about 8 million and 650 thousand were involved in the First World War. That means every 10th Canadian took part, every 100th died and every 46th got injured. Twenty years later, during the Second World War, Canadas commitment to fighting fascist regimes proved total and unflinching. Every 11th Canadian (a figure of 1 million!) enlisted to serve in the theatres of war. Over 45,000 died ...Continue reading

Teaching Compassion Community is an important aspect of the Reggio Method and there is no better way to teach children about the world than through personal experience. With Christmas around the corner, we took the opportunity to teach compassion to our preschoolers. Miss Kelly held a small lesson on the joy of sharing with less fortunate children and explained how a simple act of generosity could make someone on the other side of the world, very happy. The preschoolers each... filled a Samaritans Purse Box and some left a beautiful note inside. Showing children that their personal actions can make difference and change the world for better helps to raise self-confident, capable and compassionate human beings. Thank you to our dear parents for participating and empowering our kids! The GRC added the necessary shipping donation per box and the boxes have been taken to the distribution center to begin their long journey. Who knows where they will end up? We can only imagine. Thank you for making this world a better place for all children! Yours, The GRC

How do small children perceive time? Last Sunday we moved our clock one hour back as DST ended and most regarded it as a good extra hour of sleep. But what is time to our kids? We are leaving in 15 minutes!- you say to your child. We are leaving ! the child hears. Yes, its about as effective as speaking Ancient Greek to her/him. Young babies come into a world that is a chaotic kaleidoscope of new events. Creating a consistent and predictable sch...Continue reading

Does your child feel scared? Fear not! Here's how to deal with childhood fears: For older children Halloween is a colourful holiday filled with candies, costumes and decorations....Continue reading

Creating Memories Its been a busy week for sure! Besides the Halloween celebration, our two-week project has been completed. We had two fall-themed photo sets and each child enjoyed sitting on the pumpkins for a personalized photo shoot. Next, they had a chance to create their own photo frame and our preschoolers even practiced their name-spelling. Now these packages with memories are going home, dont forget to pick them up in your cubbies!

Warning!!! Spooky cuteness in this post! On Wednesday we hosted a lively Halloween party full of jumping lions, dinosaurs, flashes and princesses! Things then naturally calmed down in anticipation of the home-made snacks. The eclectic crowd settled down for a story time in the company of a cheetah teacher, an Indian princess and a jellyfish or should I say "Kelly-fish?" Miss Kelly-fish was the hit of the party. This luminous and wobbly creation was then passed on to a student... and collected two bagfuls of neighbourhood candy! We are so proud to have creative teachers in our centre! Thank you to our wonderful teachers and parents for this beautiful and productive fall season! Yours, Glebe Reggio Centre

Fine or Gross Motor Skills which is more important for development? Movement is Life, we are all well aware of that and motility is exactly what it means. To do something, get there on time, write it down, sew it on or make a quick run for coffee - we utilize motility. Undoubtedly you have heard of fine and gross motor skills, but where is the division line between these two notions? Gross motor skills are walking, rolling, leaning down, crawling, running, jumping and suc...Continue reading

Mommy, Daddy, who am I? And, by the way, we had a Navaratri festival yesterday! For toddlers, the foundation of self-awareness is already being laid. In fact, Prof. Katz of University of Colorado found that babies as young as six-months of age stared significantly longer at photographs of adults who were of a different color than their parents. Young children are actively learning "what is me" and "what is not me" and by age two, they recognize and explore physical difference...s. By preschool years children have learned to classify and tend to sort based on color and size. Natural curiosity will lead to questions about differences. You may find yourself embarrassed in a supermarket by their finger-pointing and commenting about hair texture, eye shape, skin color or clothing. Rather than trying to hush your child, take the opportunity: he/she is intrigued by the difference in the way people look and behave and wants to make sense of who he/she is in the context of an ethnic group, culture, religion, language and familial history. It will introduce concepts of anthropology, history, religion and geography. There is no better exposure to other cultures than fun, interactive and personal encounters. Here at the GRC we had a unique first-hand opportunity to recreate a mini-Navaratri Festival thanks to Miss Nazneen and Miss Neera. It is a major seasonal Hindu festival that lasts nine nights and celebrates the victory of Good over Evil, filled with classical and folk dances and legend reenacting. the children were absolutely amazed by the whirl of colorful fabrics, joyful dances and eye-catching table decorations. The absolute favourites were bracelets and personal bindis! It was a day of great fun for everybody, a carnival of joy, music and colours in an educative setting. While we do the job of promoting cultural awareness and respect at the Reggio Centre, no activity is as powerful as the role model of a childs parent. When struck with an inconvenient question in a supermarket next time, provide a brief, objective response and explain what the person is capable of doing given his differences as opposed to what he is not. Lets bring up culturally sensitive and respectful people together as a community!

As we talked about traditions this week, lets watch them in action in our classroom. Miss Nazneens mom used to serve food in these little woven plates at family dinners. They became a living testimony to the wonderful time spent together as a family and Miss Nazneen kept them through years. As little M. brought fall leaves into the classroom one morning it was decided to combine both the fall leaves and the woven plates. And we watched childhood memories together with M.s ...drive for nature exploration creating lovely fall art! At the GRC, we also observe the tradition of sending an art creation home for holidays and these fruity harvest wreaths were proudly presented by the toddlers to their families on Thanksgiving. Create traditions and cherish them!

Family traditions are building blocks in your kids world! Me, mom and dad always.When I was a child we used to. On Sundays the whole family. No doubt each of you holds memories of heartwarming family moments. Every time you begin a story with these words, you are actually talking about family traditions. These traditions may have been proudly carried through generations but they could have also been as simple as routine household tasks that created a sense of unity and im...portance for family members: -Family dinner on Thanksgiving -Yearly trip with your dad to choose the juiciest turkey -Going through old family photos -Board games on Thursday evenings -Grocery shopping on Sunday -Tidying the house up together -Annual kayak trip -July camping weekend That is a small sample list of things that could easily become your family traditions. When you repeatedly get together in a warm and happy setting, you create your childs memories that will be like honey for his or her heart 20, 30 and 40 years from now! It is especially important to observe family traditions since it creates a sense of stability which means safety for your little one. Children love repeated routines, it is beneficiary for their psyche, promotes tranquility and a sense of mental balance. Thats why specialists recommend to have daily routines and to form traditions. Traditions also act as a cement foundation in the construction of strong family connections, they allow for preserving common values and interests through time. The GRC hopes for you to cherish the already established traditions and to create new ones, so that your house may be filled with unity, love and friendship!

Our Teachers Stories Today is Teacher Appreciation Day. That moment you realize you cant possibly say all the Thanks your teachers deserve at once! Thank you, dear teachers, for creating a loving environment with patience and respect, for helping our kids learn things they need to grow, thank you for showing that if they work at it, they CAN DO IT!...Continue reading

What does it mean to be Reggio? Dear parents. We hope that this text, despite being unforgivably long, will give you a better understanding of our philosophy and efforts to bring up curious and capable humans in the Glebe Reggio Centre....Continue reading

After completing the Ministry of Education inspection this week and being found 100% in compliance, we were all ready for our new guest! The honourable Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development, stopped by the Glebe Reggio Centre to learn a bit about what we do and to announce 5 more weeks of parental leave. This announcement was part of the celebration of #GenderEqualityWeek. We are delighted @jyduclos choose #GRC to make this importa...nt announcement in #OttCity. We are happy to take care of your little ones once these extra 5 weeks are complete! https://mobile.twitter.com/SocDevSoc

Have you ever heard of Music and Busy Boards? All parents and teachers know: kids love to explore the world tactilely by touching, pulling, pushing and rolling. Similarly, they love to listen and distinguish sounds and moreover to make them! All of this not only brings joy, but simultaneously works to develop your childs brain. We use our backyard space strategically. During their outside time children of different ages may explore our Musical Board and our Busy Board.... Busy Board is a developmental board that consists of various items engaging kids in actions: e.g. switch on switch off, open close, twist, screw unscrew, lock unlock, press, roll or draw. This trains little fingers and teaches them to handle real-life analogs. The mastermind of the concept is a pedagogue and methodist, creator of the world famous educational system - Maria Montessori. You have probably noticed that a young pathfinder soon looses his interest in toys and starts laying his eyes on things grown ups play with. Locks and latches, cabinet doors and wardrobe drawers, plugs, lamps and light switches anything that opens or closes, rings, clicks, buzzes and bangs creating diverse unusual noises. By installing the Busy Board onto our backyard we aimed to create play-based educational environment that can captivate every child. We are glad to present our kids with a fascinating platform to practice fine motor skills, cultivate savvy and cause-and-effect understanding as well as master locks, latches, velcro, zippers and buckles. As our little explorers move along the backyard they are faced by another discovery, not any less developmental Music Board! This board is an arrangement of metal plates, bells, wooden and metal wind chimes, buzzers, maracas, rattles, metal chains, plastic and wooden elements and many more! Now it is easy to imagine what a wonderful musical experience can this board provide your little one with. Children explore different materials, learn what makes which sound, they start analyzing and perceiving the link between power applied and the power of a resulting sound. And yes, kids can release their negative emotions by banging! It may look like a cacophony for a by-passer but now we all know that this is a sound of our kids learning and developing! Dear parents, we cherish every minute your kids spend at the daycare and would love to share with you by providing you with updates and helpful information. If you have found this post interesting, press like and we will continue posting. Yours, Reggio Centre

Yesterday evening we hosted a Welcome Potluck. After meeting the cheerful parents of our dear students we are full of positive energy. This time we have held the meeting in a new format. Parents got to sample an organic dish from their kids menu as they connected with each other and watched a presentation about Reggio Centres improvements. Meanwhile kids were downstairs preparing a fun fall take-away craft: meet Mr. Pumpkin! We are glad to announce weekly dance classes b...y Makin Moves Childrens Dance Theater for all our children. Forget about driving your child to a paid class and enjoy the quality time together as we get those tutus ready! We have also introduced monthly Feedback Day starting next Thursday September 27th (9-11 am & 4-6 pm) when Neil, our director, will be waiting for you to come in and chat about any matter of concern. And then again every last Thursday of the month. Your opinion is very important to us! We are honored to have you entrust us with your most precious children and wish you a great weekend, Your Reggio Centre

Hi Mom and Dad, watch me play and discover! It may look like I'm just happily splashing and pouring, but my playing with the water table teaches me so much more! 1) It cools me down on these last few hot days.... 2) It's tactile which helps my speech and cognitive development. 3) My teacher is always watching me and commenting, "Water is flowing, dripping, running or being spilled; it's cold or warm; it's clear; the sand made it dirty!" This helps me learn new vocabulary. 4) My teacher says that water is instrumental in relaxation and alleviation of nervous tension and therefore reinforces physical health. Not sure what that means, I just feel relaxed and calm when I play in water. 5) I'm even learning to think logically. The experts say this will help prepare me to learn physics, chemistry and biology. When I throw sand into the water, I see it dissolving. When I see water drip from the upper tier I learn the fundamentals of gravity. I'm so happy to have this water table in our yard! I can explore and make a mess and come inside to my beautiful, clean classroom. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for sending me to the GRC. I love it here, I'm happy!

Meet Bella the Caterpillar, our newest and most popular backyard dweller! She was so happy to see all the children back at the daycare and is now eager to bring joy a new physical outdoor challenge to our kids. Bella can be used as a tunnel that has peeking windows (these types of activities boost development of spatial intelligence in early childhood). She wont mind kids clambering up and climbing onto her, which in turn will allow for physical exertion and develop balance.... We are thrilled to bring happy smiles to our children and to make our daycare environment beneficial for development. And then, best of all, the kids expend their energy at school! Congratulations on the start of the new school year!

Congratulations GRC class of 2018! We will miss the beautiful light that you each brought to our centre, may you continue to shine brightly beyond our doors and know that we will always be your biggest fans.

Celebrating our beautiful dancers at the end of their final class of this year! Bravo!!

This morning at the Glebe Reggio Centre: Water play and making sand cupcakes!