Waterfront Montessori Children's Centre
18 Wyandot Ave. Algonquin Island M5J 2M9 Toronto, ON, Canada

What’s in your sandwich? Every Wednesday at our school is soup and sandwich day! It is a long standing tradition and the kids absolutely love it! We decided to do a sandwich ... themed cognitive activity with the kids and it was a hit! First we did a survey to determine our favourite sandwiches (cheese and cucumber, egg salad and soya butter and jam are the options we have at school). We love doing surveys and charts as often as we can because it is a great way for children to gather information and display their findings, promoting cognitive development. The second activity we planned is sandwich building using present food. The children were encouraged to use the food to create their very own sandwich and then draw a picture of it, promoting representation skills. We received some very interesting creations, including a tomato and jam sandwich. Happy Wednesday/ soup and sandwich day!

Hooray for CRAZY HAIR DAY at WMCC! Children and staff showed off their funniest, whackiest and silliest hair doos!

A story from our teacher Christine at @christines.classroom : Every summer the island is filled with Monarch Butterflies. Its become a bit of a tradition at summer camp for the kids to search for Monarch eggs or caterpillars on our nature walks, gently capture them and put them into a bug catcher. We make sure that the caterpillar has plenty of milkweed to eat and watch as it grows and eventually forms a chrysalis. The wonder and joy the kids (and me hehe) feel watching thi...s process is practically magical. A couple weeks ago, one of my little friends removed the lid of the bug catcher where we had our caterpillar while I wasnt looking! We searched and searched for our caterpillar but couldnt find it anywhere. We felt very guilty but hoped that maybe the caterpillar had made its chrysalis somewhere in the school and would be okay. Anyway, about a week goes by and we kind of forgot about it haha. But on Friday we were heading out to the playground when I saw a Monarch Butterfly inside by the door, drying its wings like it had just hatched from its cocoon! We were so happy! We found our lost caterpillar! I gently collected it and the kids and I went to the meadow to set it free. We talked about how Monarch Butterflies embark on a long journey south for the winter, and will return next summer. As it flew away, some of the kids shouted bye, butterfly! Have a nice trip in Mexico! . . . . #playbasedlearning #playmatters #learningthroughplay #invitationtoplay #earlychildhoodeducation #earlychildhoodeducator #earlychildhood #preschool #kindergarten #earlyyears #preschoolactivities #classroom #play #naturebasedlearning #outdooreducation #monarchbutterfly #wmcc #waterfrontmontessori #waterfrontmontessorichildrenscentre #montessori #childcare #preschool #kindergarten #torontoisland #torontochildcare #naturebasedlearning #outdooreducation #toronto

The first week of school at WMCC looked very different than previous years. We are following our new public health guidelines which require us to screen all students and staff every day, wear masks, physically distance, increase our cleaning and sanitization, and so much more. All of these increased safety measures are worth it to be able to open our doors to the community again. Even with all the changes, much is still the same at WMCC. Those first day of school nerves and t...ears were still there, and so was the happiness and excitement of reconnecting with friends and teachers and discovering new classrooms. The staff are still working hard to create a program that promotes development in all areas and allows the children to thrive. WMCC has has weathered fires and floods through the decades, and we are committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment for the children in our care during this pandemic. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy school year!

CONGRATULATIONS, BLUE JAYS!!! We classify and group children into birdhouses as a way of helping them identify what stage they are in. Moving from one bird family to the next inspires the children with a mounting sense of responsibility, as they work to create their own personal legacies. This morning we celebrated our former Chickadees turning into BLUE JAYS with a physically distanced, fly by graduation! Congrats, friends! Now fly, Blue Jays, Fly!

A place to grow!

We are a little late on this but... HAPPY EARTH DAY! Here are some amazing throwbacks of us enjoying being outside on the Toronto Islands! Our philosophy at WMCC is centred around an appreciation and understanding of our natural environment. Most of our children come from Torontos downtown core, and yet have the unique opportunity to spend time in nature every day.

Children and teachers at WMCC are so grateful to have these moments to connect remotely while we do our part to fight COVID-19 and #stayhome. Not quite the same as the real thing, but it will do until we can all safely be together again! Last week, we got creative for Zoom circle time with Christine and used wooden spoons to be our rhythm sticks! WMCC has just completed week two of our online learning plan, which consists of Zoom circles, one-on-one video calls and weekly activity ideas that touch on every area of development.

Even though our little school is temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are committed to supporting our families and community during this difficult time. Our teachers, Ariel and Christine, have put together a play-at-home guide to outline some simple activities you can do with your children during self-isolation. These activities are tried and true and will help keep your child busy while you try and get some work done, or just relax for a moment! Dont forget, Christine has documented over 100 activity ideas on her instagram page @christines.classroom, many of which could be duplicated at home.

We couldnt think of anything better! Our centre offers convenient city side pick-up/drop-off at Jack Layton Ferry Terminal!

Look how excited we were to discover that the snowdrops are BLOOMING! Spring is around the corner!

Bring back the snow!

Walking in a winter wonderland

Happy Fri-YAY! Friday is a special day at WMCC because it means HALL PLAY! During hall play, we come together to do mixed age group activities and gymnastics!

The perfect walk to school

We've just finished another school year at WMCC, and what a year it was! You can see from our photos that we really experience all the seasons here on the island, and the children build up wonderful practical, social and resilient life skills. Spring brought snow, rain, and of course big puddles! It was par for the course for the children. We capped off the year with our annual spring concert (ocean theme!), spring and summer birthday circles and our birdhouse graduation in June.

Fall 2019 at WMCC: Come and visit us about Fall enrolment This Spring the Island is very much a natural paradise for all things that love water. The birds, bugs, toads, and frogs are enjoying the extra water on our shores. The residents, parks workers, tourists, and children are doing just fine considering the water levels are very high. An incredible amount of work has taken place to protect the houses, community buildings, and the shores from flooding. We learned from ...the last flood in 2017 so we knew what to do. The children are witness to people working together for a common goal of protection and just getting a job done. Seeing Nature in her glory is an everyday occurrence which is pretty magical. As always we come to school prepared for all weathers and just walk and ride to our wonderful school. The new normal is working and enjoying the Island for the surprises and wonder it brings to us. We have space in the Fall (Starting September 3rd) for all children 2 to 5 years of age. Please contact the school for more information. Email to book a visit. Grab your rubber boots. If it is raining we have puddles for you to jump in! Please contact us for more information and to book a tour to see if WMCC is the place for your child to have their first experience in school. The best time for a tour is mornings Tuesday to Thursday. Cheers Kathleen Roerick RECE WMCC Executive Director June 2019 [email protected]

Well, we survived and thrived through another winter at WMCC! We had some beautiful snowy days island side. And when we had enough of the cold, the classrooms were waiting with new provocations, art, sensory and language experiences. Our hall play days continue to be a big hit with the children, as well as movement and music experiences. We are looking forward to the warm spring days now!

Seems so long ago now, but we did experience fall at WMCC, and here are a few snapshots. We appreciated the cooler (but not freezing!) weather, with visits to the beach to look for treasures, going on island tree walks, throwing and jumping in the fallen leaves, and playing in the mud. We welcomed some new friends, and got to know our classrooms. We celebrated Halloween, our fall babies, and topped it all off with our annual Stay Late Night in December.

Our annual bikeathon was a huge success! Thank you everyone for coming out, and especially all of our volunteers for helping on the day, and the board members who organized the event.

Our ever popular summer camp is soon to come to a close! Over the past 8 weeks we have celebrated the elements of fire, water, air and earth through nature, art, literature and song. Here are some highlights from our summer!

Despite a last blast of winter, spring did arrive on the island this year, and no floods to deal with this time round! There we new buds, new animal babies and new classroom activities to enjoy.

Here's a snippet of some of winter life at WMCC! We were quite busy inside and outside!. Reminder to current parents to check the shutterfly site for a monthly post of photos.

Happy New Year! You may have noticed that we haven't posted photos in some time. We have decided to post monthly photos for current families on a class Shutterfly site, and will continue to use our Facebook site for promotional purposes, which will be updated seasonally. If you are a current parent who has not accessed our new site, please let us know, there is a permission form that must be signed before you receive an invitation. Enjoy the photos!

So much of the learning at WMCC happens when we are experiencing nature and the outdoors. How lucky are we to have the island as our playground?! We've done scavenger hunts, discovered a mouse nest, watched the season change, and we're always on the look out for caterpillars, butterflies, and toads!

We are keeping busy and creative in the sun and moon rooms! Whether it's developing focus with the Montessori materials, getting creative with art focused activities, or building new structures with various construction materials, we have it covered!

Photos will be added to this section as we continue learning about the planets, the moon and sun, rockets etc. We are even making our own solar system as we go!

You may have heard that our 'hall play' day occurs every Friday. This is when children from both sun/moon and earth room classrooms get to join together to do group activities in art, sensory play, movement equipment and blocks and construction. And every other Thursday, we have a movement morning with Katie, in small groups. We practice lots of skills - balancing, jumping, rolling, and of course some creative dancing!

September photos are here! We've had a lovely time exploring our new classrooms, and our more experienced friends have been helping to introduce the new children to all the classroom activities.

WMCC Camp 2017 has officially come to a close. We had a wonderful summer with a few new campers, our current school friends, and some old friends back to say hello. We have loved watching you all grow and learn over the summer months! During our air session, we got to fly kites, do some 'blow' art and learn how to jump rope. We were also treated to an eclipse! (Don't worry, everyone knew to avert their eyes. :-) And we loved making time for dress up, one of our old favourites around here. For those who had our last summer with us, we wish you all the best,and please say hi when you can! We look forward to seeing everyone else again next year. :-)

Session C has come to a close. We were busy reading about dragons and dinosaurs, experimenting with volcanoes, learning about and practising a fire drill...and a session about fire would not be complete without a visit to the local fire station! This year we were even treated to a tour of the ambulance by the resident paramedic. We said goodbye to some old friends, but look forward to one more session before the summer ends!

Water session has come to a close! We got our creative juices flowing making life-size self portraits, an octopus' garden, and making up imaginative stories featuring creatures from the ocean. We used our scientific minds to carry out experiments with water. It was also great fun to help our grown up volunteers from Labatts clean up our playground! We continued to watch the baby ducks grow, now referred to as 'teenagers' and welcomed the addition of a new outdoor tent, indoor circus tent, and some new movement toys! We were sad to say goodbye to some old friends, and hope to see you again for a visit in the future!

First session of camp is finished! We had quite the mix of weather, but still managed to get in some water play days, and island adventures! Some of our advanced bikers were even able to spend some time at Centre Island beach! All the children took pride in selecting a special rock treasure, decorating it, and taking it home in a special bag. We look forward to seeing many of you back at another session of camp, and hope our other friends enjoy the rest of their summer!

Smile everyone!