Graystone Children's Early Learning Academy

MOTHER'S DAY

On Thursday, May 7, we held our Annual Mother's Day Drop-In Event to celebrate the amazing mothers and mother-figures in all of our lives. Thank you for everything you do!

Happy Mother's Day!

Our Annual Open House last week spent together with our families! ✨

Each classroom welcomed families with thoughtfully prepared stations featuring classroom documentation, learning centres, and hands-on activities that reflected the children’s ongoing explorations and experiences throughout the year. It was wonderful to see families engaging with the environments, asking questions, and sharing in the children’s learning journeys.

This year was especially exciting as we hosted our very first Scholastic Book Fair during the Open House — and it was an incredible success! 📚 Together, our families helped us sell over $3000 in books!

Thank you to all of our families for taking the time to attend, participate, and support our community. Your involvement and connection make evenings like this so meaningful. We are so grateful to learn and grow alongside you all!

Our Scholastic Book Fair is here!

We are so excited to be hosting our first Book Fair this week at the centre and welcoming our Graystone families in to explore the joy of reading together.

This is a wonderful opportunity to spark a love of literacy, build home libraries, and share special moments with your children as they choose books that inspire them.

Happy Reading! 📖

With the warmer weather sparking curiosity and excitement, we’ve been exploring all things spring through hands-on play. The toddler classroom has come alive with light boxes filled with leaves and butterflies to create trees, a loose parts table for open-ended creativity, and a gardening sensory bin where little hands dig, scoop, and discover.

Inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy, we view the environment as the “third teacher,” thoughtfully setting up invitations that encourage exploration, creativity, and meaningful learning. Each space is designed to spark curiosity and support the children as active participants in their own discoveries.

Through these experiences, the children are connecting with nature, building imagination, and engaging their senses as they explore the changes of the season.

THE INFANT ROOM

We recently refreshed our infant room, thoughtfully changing out materials and rearranging the environment to create a warm, inviting space that nurtures curiosity and supports the evolving interests of our youngest learners.

Soft, easy-to-clean mats have replaced rugs, allowing for a hygienic and comfortable area for movement and play. Our cozy corner has been reimagined into a comfortable, welcoming space where infants can lounge, rest, and feel a sense of calm.

We’ve also relocated the loose parts area to encouraging exploration, discovery, and early problem-solving, alongside a light cube that invites sensory engagement through light, shadow, and colour.

By intentionally adapting our environment, we continue to honour the idea that the space itself plays a meaningful role in children’s learning, offering comfort, inspiration, and opportunities for exploration each day.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH.

This year to celebrate Black History Month, we gathered in the piazza as a group to revisit documentation from our 2022 celebration, connected to the story "Brown: The Many Shades of Love". We reflected on past learning and shared ideas.

While reading "Brown", children explored different shades of brown paint using their hands and chart paper. The shared experience encouraged sensory exploration, creativity, and connection to the story.

Infants and toddlers continued the exploration with a sensory bin filled with snow, using spray bottles of brown paint and water to observe colour changes. Preschoolers painted outside on the snow using a variety of materials and shades of brown paint.

Through these experiences, children explored colour, transformation, and the beauty of many different shades while learning together as a community.

WEEKLY SPOTLIGHT: Mrs. Anna Maria

Today at morning assembly, we came together as a community to celebrate Lunar New Year.

We read A Spring Festival to Remember, a beautiful story about a family preparing for the Spring Festival and honouring the meaningful traditions that make this celebration so special. Through the story, the children explored themes of family, gratitude, fresh beginnings, and the importance of coming together.

At Graystone, we believe that learning about different cultures fosters belonging, understanding, and a deeper appreciation for the world around us. 🌏❤️

Happy Lunar New Year to all the families who celebrate! 🐉✨

In our Light Room, our preschoolers explored light, shadows, and reflections using CDs, twinkle lights, magnetic cubes, and translucent cups. ✨

As they stacked, tilted, and rearranged materials, they noticed how shadows change, reflections shimmer, and colours transform in different light.

Through this hands-on exploration, they’re building early scientific thinking skills—making predictions, observing cause and effect, problem-solving, and collaborating with peers. 💡

WEEKLY SPOTLIGHT: Ms. Karen