Muppets Most Wanted Fundraiser - What a Success!!

Hey folks,

So for the past few weeks, a group of our kids, led by Carolyn, have been working diligently on planning and organizing an exciting fundraiser. With the smashing success of Jar Wars last year, this year we have Muppets Most Wanted Baked Goods coming your way! Implementing the same “dry ingredients in a jar” strategy as last year, we have created some delicious yet simple baked goods for you to make at home. From the amazing Kermit’s Kookies to the Gonzo’s Gone Hot Chocolate mix, there are plenty of options to satisfy the whole family over Winter Break. There’s also Beaker’s Bake and Miss Mupp-ffins to choose from. Unfortunately, order forms have already been due back to us, but there’s no need to worry if you missed your chance at these one-of-a-kind jars of deliciousness. Feel free to talk to any of the leaders if you want to see the recipes!

From start to finish this activity was children lead.  The children picked the theme and recipes, organized the order forms, filled the jars, made a mess .... cleaned up a mess, decorated the jars, and handed out the orders.  Everyone is happily exhausted and already planning for next year!

Happy Holidays!

Ryan

Sonny's Crystal Garden!

Hello everyone!

With grey skies and the constant presence of rain, the weather has been far from an ideal “Winter Wonderland”.  However, busy with the many winter themed activities, our holiday spirits are still burning bright. Today, Sonny led a group of eager scientists in a very simple activity that mixes science and art: Growing an Overnight Crystal Garden.  By dissolving common Epsom salts in warm water (colored by food color) and then allowing the salts to recrystallize overnight, the kids were able to create beautiful crystallized structures in a mason jar.

I also took the liberty to ask some of the kids about what their favourite part of winter was.

Ellie can’t wait for it to snow.  Just watching the world coloured in white would bring her joy and excitement.

Annette looks forward to learning winter sports, such as skiing and skating.  With the temperature dropping, it’s important to still find ways to be active!

Logan’s response also involved snow.  He’s excited to play in the snow, snowball fights, building snowmen and creating snow angels.

With December right around the corner, hopefully the weather will change to match our anticipation for a snowy winter. 

Stay warm out there!

Jason Lee

Snowflakes at Sr. OSC

Hello Senior OSC Families and Friends,

With the holidays approaching, here at OSC we have started to get into the holiday spirit this past week. As you may have noticed, we have begun putting up some winter decorations and turning our room into a winter wonderland! Last week the kids helped in the making of snowflakes that were then placed around the room. The kids enjoyed cutting up the paper, making snowflakes that were all different shapes and sizes. They really tapped into their creative sides. When it came to putting up the snowflakes, we attached them to pieces of wire so that they could stick into the ceiling. The decorations really helped to get everyone excited for the holidays. It also prompted conversation among the kids regarding all the fun things to do during the holidays and all the great things about the season. I encourage you all to take a look at the lovely snowflakes that are scattered around the room. In case you would like to get into the holiday spirit and need a fun thing to do to help you, I have attached some instructions on how you can make some snowflakes at home.

Things you will need

-     paper that is cut into a square

-     scissors

-     tape

-     string or wire

Directions

Step 1.

Once your paper is cut in the shape of a square, fold it in half diagonally.

Step 2.

Now that your paper is in the shape of a triangle, fold it in half again.

Step 3.

Fold one third of the triangle to the front and the other third to the back so that it makes a skinny triangle with two little triangles sticking out at the bottom like feet.

Step 4.

Now trim the points off the bottom to create an actual triangle again with nothing sticking out of the bottom.

Step 5.

Cut into both sides of the triangle. You can experiment by making different shapes and sizes and numbers of cuts, but be sure not to cut all the way across the triangle.

Step 6.

You can now unfold your snowflake. You can tape one end of the snowflake to a piece  of string or poke a hole in the snowflake using a piece of wire. You can then attach it to the ceiling or a window or anywhere in your house that you wish.

Hopefully these snowflakes help you get into the holiday spirit!

Erin

Our recent staff social!!

Dear families and friends,

It's that time of year again when we all take some time to appreciate the people we care about and spend some quality time with our peers and colleagues. Taking inspiration from this, we wanted to share with everyone  what we did for our recent staff social. 

As a group, our leaders from both Junior and Senior OSC went curling!! 

It was a blast watching everyone slip and slide across the ice as we tried our best to find our bearings. After a few practice throws each we were ready to play!

We split into teams of four and did our very best to throw, sweep, shout and score like the pros. Win or lose, everyone had a great time being completely out of their element and spending time together on the ice.

We hope everyone tries their best to take a page from our book, and spend some quality time with the people around them. Go out, do something brand new, challenge yourself and be thankful of your surroundings.

Take care,

Matt

Costumes and Candy

Hi OSC families and friends,

Hope you all had a great Halloween! I had the chance to ask a couple of our kids about their experiences on Halloween night.  The question: What did you do on Halloween night?

Jaeyln

Costume: Violet from the Incredibles

Favorite Candy: Giant Coffee Crisp bar

I went to this house that had a creepy old witch. There were real people dressed up as zombies and me and my friend totally freaked out. So I got a giant chocolate bar and then ran out.

Malia

Costume: Batgirl

Favorite Candy: Mini Milk Duds

I went trick-or-treating for 3 hours then after my sister was so tired so she went home. I stayed out trick-or-treating later than her!

Peton

Costume: Minecraft Person

Favorite Candy: Candy Ring Pop

I was in Hawaii for Halloween. I saw a bunch of people in the mall. I even saw two ninjas.

Joanna (Jojo)

Costume: Lone wolf

Favorite Candy: Smarties and Kit-Kat

I went to this weird house and I went with my friend and then the lights turned out. There was a creepy guy holding a head. I was just surprised, not scared.

It seems that everyone had a fun, scary, sugary Halloween. Even though it was drizzling for a while, I’m glad our kids made the best of the situation and filled their bags to the brim with goodies.

On that note, I wanted give a quick introduction about myself as I am fairly new to the Sr and Jr OSC Programs. My name is Katrina Cabrera. I am 17 and currently a grade 12 student at Richmond Secondary School. I have volunteered with elementary and high-school aged children through tutoring programs and weekend camps. My favorite author is Jodi Picoult and my favorite food is probably homemade spaghetti.

I started volunteering at the WRCC Summer Daycamps back in 2012. Since then, I realized how much I enjoyed working with children. When I was offered an assistant leader position this past summer, I was thrilled. I’m excited to be a part of this community, while learning and growing along with the kids.

I am looking forward to meeting and talking to all of you. 

Cheers,

Katrina

Halloween

Hey folks,

The big day has finally arrived and the energy in the OSC room couldn’t be more alive! Happy Halloween to all friends and family!!!

It’s definitely a lot of fun seeing the different costumes of all the kids and leaders and it has most certainly built up the spirit for the occasion.

It’s been a busy week leading up to the Friday, with another visit to the pumpkin patch, last minute costume preparations and everyone jumping off the walls in sheer anticipation.

On Wednesday, a group of us were lucky enough to take another trip to the pumpkin patch near the end of #2 road. It was an awesome day for our friends that signed-up, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Everyone went searching far and wide for the perfect pumpkin and the people working there were even nice enough to give each of us a free extra gourd.

As for our Halloween afternoon together at OSC there was a lot going on. We had a spooky photo booth set up, plenty of decorations to help theme the room and a bunch of fun games and activities. As a cherry on top, were serving delicious ‘ghost slime pump-cakes’ for hearty snack.

We hope everyone has a blast tonight whether its going out trick-or-treating, staying in with the family or watching a spooky film.

Have fun & be safe!!