Little Sprouts Academy

Welcome fall! What a beautiful day to spend outside doing everything we love! Today we welcomed autumn with some circle time songs, fall themed scavenger hunt, painting and delicious treats! Happy first day of fall! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #fallfun #cottonballart #beautifulweather #outdoorplay

Brush your teeth! Lately the focus has been around hand hygiene, so today we switched it up and learned about dental hygiene! We discussed ways to keep our teeth clean and what foods are good for our teeth. Students then used a dry erase template to play a letter recognition game (the same template can be modified with shapes for younger children). Letters can be called out or displayed visually, and if they have that letter, they need to clean it off with a cotton ball! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #brushyourteeth #sensorydevelopment #finemotordevelopment #letterrecognitionactivity #differentiatedinstruction #crosscurricularlearning

We’re out enjoying this thaw! Bring on spring, we’re ready! #littlesproutsacademy #springiscoming #newmarketpreschool#play #learn #grow @ Newmarket, Ontario

Little Sprouts Academy is ready for tours! Im an Ontario Certified teacher with my science degree in Nutrition. My hours are 7am-5:30pm and located the in Woodland Hills area of Newmarket. We have some spots available for 12 months-4 year olds. Please contact me if youre interested in seeing this inviting space. #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #newmarketdaycare #playlearngrow @ Newmarket, Ontario

Is anyone else feeling a little blah lately? Summer left us so quickly, allergies are in full effect and...well...#covid. To boost our energy today we made some healthy energy bites! We combined oats, ground flax seed, honey, chocolate chips, vanilla and natural peanut butter. These bites were a huge hit with the kiddos and incorporated measurement, turn taking, sharing, and sensory development. Added bonus, our bellies were super satisfied after this morning treat! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #lifeskills #energybites #yummm

Today was Farm Fun Day at LSA! We incorporated some fun ways to learn about animals by moooooo-ving our bodies to music, reviewing our shapes with this fun cow craft, and enjoying a delicious lunch made with fresh Ontario produce. Thank you to all our farmers! #newmarketpreschool #littlesproutsacademy #farmfun #thankyoufarmers

We made some fun little snowman paper bag puppets today using a clothes pin holding a cotton ball dipped in paint! Im thinking this will be our last winter craft for the season! What do you think? Is it time to say goodbye to snowmen and hello to SPRING? #newmarketpreschool #littlesproutsacademy #play #learn #grow #artsandcrafts

Were out enjoying this thaw! Bring on spring, were ready! #littlesproutsacademy #springiscoming #newmarketpreschool#play #learn #grow @ Newmarket, Ontario

Happy Valentines Day! I roll with the cutest crew ever! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #loveday #valentinesday2020 #playleqrn #grow @ Newmarket, Ontario

Multisensory learning at LSA! These laminated play dough sheets were a hit today! Children explored numbers by using lavender scented play dough to create numbers, and filling in the 10 frame with little tasty goldfish. More about this multi sensory approach below: When children learn, they often rely on sight to look at text and pictures and to read information. Many children also rely on hearing to listen to what the teacher is saying. Multisensory teaching isnt limited to... reading and listening. Instead, it tries to use all the senses. Not every lesson will use all five senses (taste, smell, touch, sight, hearing, and movement). But in most multisensory lessons, kids engage with the material in more than one way. For example, lets say a class is studying apples. Kids might have the chance to visually examine, touch, smell, and taste applesinstead of just reading and listening to their teacher speak about how they grow. Then they might hold a halved apple and count the number of seeds inside, one by one. Thats multisensory teaching. It conveys information through things like touch and movementcalled tactile and kinesthetic elementsas well as sight and hearing. Source: understood.org. #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #multisensorylearning #taste #touch #smell #sight #sound @ Newmarket, Ontario

When children are starting to learn their letters, it is important to know that there are four components of letter recognition. 1. Letter recognition the ability to recognize the shape and size of the letter. 2. Letter naming recognizing that the shape of the letter is associated with a letter name. 3. Letter sound knowledge determining what sound corresponds to the shape or name of the letter. 4. Letter writing the ability to trace or write the letter with a pen in ...accordance with its shape and direction. Children need to learn the shape of a letter, what the letters name is, what the letter sounds like and how to write a letter. Providing students with multisensory lessons may help to improve letter recognition. Multisensory lessons can include visual input (looking at the shape and size of the letter), auditory input (listening to the sounds of letters, visual motor input (writing the letter) and kinesthetic input (moving like the letter) Source: How Does Learning Happen? Ontarios Pedagogy for the Early Years) #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #languagearts #multisensorylearning #play #learn #grow See more

I love seeing my little sprouts as they engage in emergent collaborative play. Collaborative play, also known as social play and cooperative play, is a type of play that typically begins at around 2 years of age when toddlers are mature enough to begin taking turns with playmates, sharing playthings, following rules, and negotiating with others. #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #collaboration #sharing #takingturns #play #learn #grow

Super excited to be featured in the February issue of Neighbours of Stonehaven. #smallbusinessowner #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #play #learn #grow @ Newmarket, Ontario

Today we learned all about penguins! We waddled through some fun action songs (kinesthetic/gross motor movement), read some penguin books (literacy/phonics/letter recognition) to learn about their food/habitat (science) and ended the day with this fun take home activity. Children can enjoy this playful poem and make their penguins waddle away one by one (numeracy)! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #play #learn #grow #literacy #numeracy #science #grossmotor #crosscurricularlearning

Happy National Hug Day! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #hugs @ Newmarket, Ontario

Building empathy is a huge part of our programming. We practice all the time! Discussing and role playing situations like: What can we do when our friend is sad? How do you feel when youre upset? What would you like someone to do for you if youre feeling like this? I LOVE when I catch it happen authentically, it warms my heart to see my little sprouts care for their friends. #kindness #caring #bffs #newmarketpreschool #littlesproutsacademy

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas! #chistmas2019

Wishing everyone lots of kisses under the mistletoe! Merry Christmas Eve! #christmas2019 #kisses

Hanukkah is starting this Sunday so we spent some time learning about this light filled holiday and making our very own menorahs! #happyhanukkah @ Newmarket, Ontario

Teaching and learning about consent should start at a very young age, for BOTH boys and girls.

Great insight as to why toddlers love reading the same book over and over and over again!

At Little Sprouts Academy, teaching life skills is very important and starts early. Children learn to tidy and clean up after themselves in age appropriate ways. Check out this article that explains some reasons why these skills are so imperative in developing a strong foundation for when they become school age, teens and later adults.

Circle time at Little Sprouts Academy is our special time each day to connect with each other. Through song and dance, learning comes alive. It also allows for each child to feel special as they are asked every day how theyre feeling and are given time to express themselves freely. We all look forward to this time of day with our special friends #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #circletime #learning #actionsongs

Whats a fun indoor activity to do with children on a rainy day? Make some delicious, hearty, soul warming granola of course! (Yes, my love for granola is so real, it warms my soul!) We enjoyed this with Greek yogurt, and berries. The recipe is in the next slide...I just reduce the sugar and syrup when I make mine. I also use slivered almonds instead of whole ones when I know children will be eating it. Now excuse us while we go get our crunch on! @foodnetwork #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #healthyeating #kidsinthekitchen #homemadetastesbetter @ Newmarket, Ontario

What a beautiful day for a nature walk. We looked at all the interesting changes that are happening and even stumbled upon some shells that were cracked open by a squirrel. Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone! #fall #naturewalking #thanksgiving

Little Sprouts Academy just introduced Jolly Phonics into our programming! Jolly Phonics is a fun and child centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. With actions for each of the 42 letter sounds, the multi-sensory method is very motivating for children and teachers, who can see their students achieve. Check out my highlights or visit jollyreading.com for more information. #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #jollyphonics #literacy #ssound #emergentreading

Fall is here! The Little Sprouts had so much fun welcoming the season today with singing, dancing, learning and crafting at our fall party. On the menu: pumpkin pancakes, squash soup and apple muffins. I just love this time of year! #littlesproutsacademy newmarketpreschool #fall #sweaterweather #psl #crispair @ Newmarket, Ontario

Are your children an absolute mess after school? Theres a reason why!

Getting children involved in the kitchen is so important both cognitively and developmentally. Yes, it gets messy! Yes, it can get chaotic! Try to work through it because cooking skills are truly invaluable and help to build a solid foundation for healthy eating in their future. #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #lifeskills #treatmaking @ Newmarket, Ontario

The rain didnt stop our fun! We still had a wonderful time at our teddy bear picnic! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #teddybearpicnic #tea #fingersandwiches #scones

Ground turkey ready for layering into burrito bowls! I sauted some onions and garlic, added ground turkey, homemade taco seasoning (swipe for the recipe), corn and fresh tomatoes. When were ready to eat, Ill layer this with some brown rice, black beans, and shredded lettuce. Then Ill top with some cheese, sour cream and avocado! Super hearty and delicious! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #healthyeats #play #learn #grow @ Newmarket, Ontario

Today these friends worked together to solve addition problems. Simple manipulatives, dice and custom made erasable worksheets have helped them learn to take turns, write numbers, count and add! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #numeracy #collaboration #play #learn #grow

Who said oatmeal is only for winter? Today my little sprouts are enjoying a hearty bowl of oatmeal. Made with nutrient dense, high quality ingredients including: steel cut oats, bananas, hemp hearts, whipping cream, chia seeds, slivered almonds and topped with a drizzle of flax oil. Get in my belly! #healthyfats #nutrientdense #fiberrich #instantpot #newmarketpreschool #littlesproutsacademy #play #learn #grow @ Newmarket, Ontario

Students loved creating these beautiful butterflies to wrap up our butterfly unit! Throughout this unit, students learned about the life cycle (science), read books and learned the b sound (literacy), and did some butterfly subtraction (math). #newmarketpreschool #littlesproutsacademy #crosscurricularlearning #science #math #languagearts #play #learn #grow @ Newmarket, Ontario

I had to snap this picture quick before todays lunch got devoured! Today on the menu whole wheat zoo animal pasta with a creamy pesto sauce. I started by sauting spinach, kale and arugula. Added some whipping cream, homemade pesto, a mashed up avocado and some mozzarella cheese. Topped with some fresh cherry tomatoes and voila...a delicious hearty pasta dish...fit for any growing sprout! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #homemademeals #madefromscratch #nutritiousanddelicious #play #learn #grow

So excited to bring these affirmation cards into our daily programming. These help students build self-esteem, confidence, positive thinking, growth mindset, communication skills and so much more! Thank you @littlenestholistic for these! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #positivevibes #sharingresources #play #learn #grow

Today we discussed responsibility. We brainstormed certain things we can do to help our parents around the house. We could help by taking care of ourselves! This little chart serves as a great visual to get them involved in their own morning routine. You can have as little or as many tasks depending on the age of the child. What a sense of accomplishment your child will feel when they flip their flap that theyre done! Children are capable of a lot more than we give them credit for. So let them do things for themselves and watch them thrive! #lifeskills #newmarketpreschool #littlesproutsacademy #practicallearning #play #learn #grow #responsibility @ Newmarket, Ontario

Water play is so much fun! Even though this is just a wading pool, its important children understand and respect the rules around water. Safety first! #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #waterplay #summerdays

Learning about our beautiful country as we start our Canada Day celebrations! #ohcanada #canadaday #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #play #learn #grow

Fun with letters today! #literacy #jollyphonics #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #play #learn #grow

These little sprouts are enjoying each others company while puzzling. Puzzles help develop basic skills such as shape recognition, concentration, goal setting, patience and a sense of achievement-all important skills for when theyre ready for school. Puzzles also help develop hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills due to the precise nature of matching each piece exactly. #littlesproutsacademy #newmarketpreschool #puzzles @melissaanddougtoys