RisingOaks Early Learning

09/28/2026

Comment below with a topic you’d like us to discuss from an Early Childhood Educator’s (ECE) perspective.

Every child learns, grows, and experiences the world in their own unique way. As parents/caregivers, you may have questions about how to support your child along the way.

🧠 Understanding your child’s development and milestones
🗣️ Supporting speech, language, and communication

What are you wondering about when it comes to your child? 👇

Share your questions in the comments, and we’ll use them to help provide practical, helpful information from an ECE perspective.

09/26/2026

🌟 Ask an Early Childhood Educator🌟

We’d love to hear from you! 💬

Comment below with a topic or question you’d like us to discuss from an ECE perspective.

Your question could be about:

🧠 Understanding your child’s development and milestones
🗣️ Supporting speech, language, and communication
🎨 Learning through play
💛 Managing big emotions and challenging behaviours
🤝 Building social skills and friendships
🏠 Creating routines and encouraging independence
🏫 Preparing your child for school
🌱 Supporting your child’s unique needs and interests

09/25/2026

Comment below with a topic you’d like us to discuss from an Early Childhood Educator’s (ECE) perspective.

Every child learns, grows, and experiences the world in their own unique way. As parents/caregivers, you may have questions about how to support your child along the way.

🌱 Wondering how to support your child’s unique needs and interests?
🎨 Curious about how learning through play can support your child’s development?

What are you wondering about when it comes to your child? 👇

Share your questions in the comments, and we’ll use them to help provide practical, helpful information from an ECE perspective.

09/24/2026

One of RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Luke biggest priorities this month has been helping their toddlers transition into our full-day program. Adjusting to a longer routine can be a big step, so they have placed visual routine photos at toddler’s eye-level . This allows them to frequently check what comes next throughout the day, which has been very effective in helping them self-regulate whenever they feel a bit overwhelmed.

Beyond getting familiar with the classroom, spending plenty of time outdoors has worked wonders to soothe and calm the children, especially during this warm, breezy autumn season. The toddlers have loved helping with the daily chores, such as watering the beautiful sensory garden, which is currently bursting with blossoming flowers, fresh herbs, and vegetables! They also gave the children little bottles to collect acorns and pinecones around the playground. They paired these natural treasures with trays, buckets, and spoons for some fun sorting activities. These moments are fantastic for parallel play, helping the toddlers feel comfortable playing alongside one another as they prepare to interact and build their very first friendships! The staff are incredibly proud of how well their toddlers are adjusting, and cannot wait to watch them grow and learn together this year.

09/24/2026

Hey Parents/Guardians! What would you like to ask an ECE!

Every child is different, and as parents/caregivers, it’s natural to have questions about your child’s development, behaviour, learning, and everyday experiences.

Comment below with a topic you’d like us to discuss from an Early Childhood Educator’s (ECE) perspective.

Your question could be about:

🧠 Child development and milestones
🗣️ Speech and communication
🎨 Learning through play
😌 Behaviour and emotions
🤝 Social skills and friendships
🥗 Routines, meals, and self-help skills
❤️ Supporting your child’s individual needs

Tell us what you’d like to learn more about! Your questions can help us create helpful information and resources for parents/caregivers. 💬

09/23/2026

09/23/2026

During the second-last week of summer camp, Pedagogical Coach Catherine shared a fun and creative horse-racing activity with the children at RisingOaks | St. Brigid! 🐴

The children coloured and designed their own horses before using a variety of materials to make them race-ready. They worked together to problem-solve, share ideas, and even created their own finish line before getting ready to race! With horse-themed music playing, the children excitedly counted down, cheered for their friends, and eagerly waited for their turn.
There were plenty of creative ideas along the way, including transforming their horses into unicorns and deciding that their horses needed some hay for a snack! As lunchtime approached, the children even joked that their horses had raced hard and needed a break to eat and have some water too.

The activity encouraged creativity, communication, teamwork, fine-motor skills, and problem-solving, while providing lots of opportunities for the children to lead and contribute their own ideas. The children were also enthusiastic helpers when it was time to clean up. One child was so inspired by the activity that she asked for extra materials to make a horse at home and race with her brother!

09/18/2026

On Tuesday, the preschool room at RisingOaks Early Learning| St.Lukes celebrated International Dot Day, inspired by Peter H. Reynolds’ story The Dot, which encourages creativity, self-expression, and confidence. After reading the story in small groups, the children were invited to create their own dots using crayons and large circles.

The children eagerly shared their ideas and connected the story to their own experiences. “I have a dot on my shirt,” Parker shared, while Julia said, “I’m gonna make a rainbow.” Nora excitedly announced, “A dot!” as she stamped her paper, and Adelyn created a dinosaur using colourful lines and strokes. Joshua remembered that Vashti signed her artwork and asked Jenn to write his name. The experience encouraged the children to express themselves creatively and recognize that even a small mark can become something meaningful.

Inspired by The Dot, the children also explored numeracy by matching numbers 1–11 with the corresponding number of counters. Julia confidently said, “I see lots of numbers, I can match them,” while Joshua carefully counted and recounted his counters to check his work. Nora enjoyed decorating the circles with buttons, and Elise explored the sounds they made, happily sharing, “This is music.” Through these playful, hands-on experiences, the children developed number recognition, counting, one-to-one correspondence, creativity, and self-checking skills.

09/14/2026

🌻 Observing Sunflowers at RisingOaks Early Learning | Our Lady of Fatima

Over the long weekend, pedagogical coach Catherine picked some sunflowers and was fascinated by the number of bees visiting them and the numerous seeds inside the larger flower heads. She wondered what the children might notice if they could explore sunflowers up close so she decided to bring some into the classroom and created an open-ended invitation with magnifying glasses, tongs, bowls, and the book The Tiny Seed, and the question, “What do you notice when you look closely at a sunflower?”

As Catherine sat alongside the children, she watched their curiosity grow as they explored. They discovered seeds, explored the soft texture of the chaff, used their fingers and tongs to remove seeds, counted and lined them up, used bowls to collect them and did some filling and dumping. Lily discovered some textured leaves as she turned the flower head over and pulled them off, putting them into a pile. Rowan found it challenging to remove the seeds with tongs, she watched a friend, tried a new strategy of using her fingers, and then proudly counted the seeds she had collected. Each child found their own way to explore, demonstrating curiosity, persistence, fine motor skills, problem-solving, early mathematical thinking, and sensory awareness. I wonder what will happen the next time the children explore the sunflowers and what questions might emerge? 🌻

Thank you to the kind and generous staff at Parkside Acres for the beautiful sunflowers and making this experience happen.🌻