We have been so busy around here with preparations for the Easter Services but I think you'll agree that all the hard work paid off, the children were adorable up on the stage performing and the Easter tea in the gym was so much fun. Thank you to all our teachers, Laura and Marion for all the extra hours they put into making the Services come together.
I want to take a moment to introduce a new member of our team, Peggy Stortz. Peggy will be supporting class 302 from now until the end of the year and comes to us with many years of experience working with young children in various settings (preschool/drama programs/YMCA). Welcome Peggy!
Important upcoming dates:
Wed April 15: Summer Program registration begins.
Wed April 15: April Scholastic Orders Due.
M-F April 20 - 24: Jeans Week!
Thurs April 23: Messy Church.
Fri May 1: Preschool Pro-D-Day (Preschool closed).
Tues May 5: May Scholastic Orders Due.
Thurs May 14: Parent Social Fundraiser 6pm @ The Tap House.
Mon May 18: Victoria Day (Preschool closed).
Don't forget about Sunday School every Sunday at 10am with Gabi!
For general information about our programs please contact Jen or Tina:
Tel: 604-980-1326
Fax: 604-982-3277
Email: stcpre@telus.net
Website: www.stcatherinespreschool.com
Please "LIKE" our facebook page "St. Catherine's Child Care Society" Thank you!
A note from Laura Kaario - Music Teacher
The concepts we have been working on this month include the notes so and mi for the 4's. This interval (the amount of space between the notes) is one that most cultures of the world naturally learn first and are most tuned into. It’s the interval of the average doorbell, Chickadees in the spring (Chicka-dee-dee-dee is so so mi mi mi), and even the notes you use when you call your kids in the park with a sing song voice (Laaau-raaaaa, let’s goooo!). It’s also the interval in Rain, Rain Go Away (so mi, so so mi) and similar songs. With both 3's and 4's we have been working on finding the beat of a song and clapping it, stepping to it or patting it on our knees, noses, foreheads – wherever! It’s the beat no matter where you put it, as long as you don’t start going faster or slower when the song stays the same speed.
This spring we have been listening to music of
the world and a new flag appears on our paper earth in the classroom each week.
Watch for the little flag on the music classroom door as well! In the past
couple of months we have heard music from Zimbabwe, Peru, England, China, and Iran,
celebrating the new years of the latter two countries. We have also learned songs for Valentine’s Day and
a day of rain music (some of which you will have heard at our services – God
made the rain too after all!).We took a break from new flags and world music so that we could learn all our music for the Easter services. Our theme was God’s creation and love. We all worked very hard to learn the words and actions and the children all did a fantastic job performing all of our songs, poems, movement and instrument playing for you! I'm very proud of each and every child for trying their best at the Services - it's not easy to see your parents so close and keep your mind focused on performing but they all did so well!
A note from the Rainbow Room Discovery 2's - Sali, Vibha, Stephanie, Estelle, Danielle
By
the time this newsletter reaches you, it will officially be Spring! For
the months of March and April we had fun pasting, painting and collaging cutout bunnies, chicks and eggs. The children also enjoyed experimenting
with finger paints. They had great fun using the egg tongs at the science table
to pick up eggs and other small objects. At Circle the children love to
sing finger rhymes and action songs.
Hop
Little Rabbit
Hop little rabbit, hop, hop, hop
Hop little rabbit don't you stop
Hop little rabbit 1,2,3
Hop little rabbit, hop to me.
Over the past few weeks we have noticed that our little twos are
growing up to be great little threes. We are seeing them work so well
together. Their play is starting to incorporate more and more children. As teachers, we are always looking for ways to bring new and exciting
experiences to the classroom, to enhance this process. The most exciting
area is language development and the blossoming of speech. Another
interesting development is the beginning of pretend play - playing with dolls,
dishes and dress-up clothes.
A note from the Treehouse Room - Class 301 - Permjit, Gabi and Sousan
They all seem to recognize when a friend
needs help or just a little more encouragement to join an activity, and the
proud smile on their faces when they tackle a new task or are successful at opening
a friend’s snack is priceless!
Before the break we practiced the songs and poems for
our Easter Service and we were so proud of all our preschoolers on the day! It was wonderful to see them all up there, singing, smiling and waving to you and having so much fun afterwards at the tea.
A note from the Treehouse Room - Class 302 - Gabi, Susan, Karen, Peggy
They are all settled in the daily routine, our shy friends have found
connections with our more outgoing children, they constantly move
around in the room or on the playground to form small or large groups to play
in, nicely involving new friends. They are all unbelievably caring and
compassionate about helping friends who need extra support or just more
encouragement to join these group
activities.
March was a green month, and not only because the weather
turned nicer, but considering the amount of green paint we used for art, or
green colored objects we used to decorate the Treehouse room. We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with shamrocks, leprechauns
and lovely rainbows, while discussing
changes in the weather and the environment. We also spent time practicing the poems and
songs for the Easter Service and your children did so well up on stage; we're sure you had just as much fun watching them up there! It was lovely to spend some time having tea all together afterwards.
Please remember dress your children in weather appropriate clothing as we are
looking forward to spending more time outside.
A note from the Treehouse Room - Class 304 - Stephanie, Vibha, Gabi, Karen
March
seemed to fly by so fast! We hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. For
one week we talked about Bob Marley's song 'One Love'. The children really
enjoyed listening to the song and they were interested in learning more about
Bob Marley. We created a board to represent this song which included people,
butterflies, and flowers.
Before
we started talking about Spring and Easter, we decorated shamrocks with green
paint and glitter for St. Patrick's Day. Then went on to decorating Easter eggs with
water colours, painting Easter baskets, and decorating and dying plastic eggs.
At circle we played games and read stories about Easter and the Easter Bunny.
We also made a spring picture using popcorn to represent blossoms. The children
really enjoyed this particular activity because it was a nice treat for them to
have a taste of the popcorn before we used it for art! To end things off we got
a lovely surprise from the Easter Bunny! The children were so excited that he
came to visit us to hide chocolate eggs in our classroom. Unfortunately we
didn't have a chance to see him but he left behind a special note for us.
We had fun up in the Church performing our songs and poems for everyone and of course having a yummy Easter tea in the gym all together afterwards!
As
the weather is getting nicer we would like to remind parents to dress your
children in proper running shoes as we will be going outside more often. For
our next theme we will be exploring everything about dinosaurs!
A note from the Sunflower Room - Class 401- Susan, Stephanie, Karen
We
had a very busy month with lots of fun and exciting activities planned. For two
weeks we did free art using different art mediums. We explored with paint on
canvases, pastels, charcoal, clay, and puffy paintings. It was interesting to
see all the different ways these materials can be used and we were able to be
as creative as we wanted with them.
A
science experiment that the children were amazed by was using milk, dish soap,
and food colouring. It was so neat to see all of their reactions when they touched
the colours with the dish soap.
Our
theme for the month was Easter so we decorated Easter baskets, coloured and
dyed Easter eggs, and made Spring trees with Q-tips. It was such a
nice surprise to get a visit from the Easter Bunny! He had some tricky spots
that he hid the chocolate eggs in but we were able to find them all. We finished up with our Easter Services which were a lot of fun and then it was great to all have a delicious tea all together in the gym.
We
also started our journals this month. Each week we will spend one day drawing a
picture in our journals and then the teachers will write down a story of what
the children tell them about the picture. This will give the children a chance
to use their imagination and practice their story telling skills. They will
also practice writing their name each time. Sometimes it will be a free journal
entry and sometimes there will be a specific topic. At circle we read a story
called 'The Golden Egg Book' but we only read half of it. Then the children
were asked to draw what they thought was inside of the egg in their journals.
At the end circle we finished the story and they found out what was actually
inside it.
Next
month we will be focusing on the alphabet and kindergarten readiness skills
with the children. We will also be starting show and tell so please check the
bulletin board for your child's day to bring something.
If
you have any questions or concerns please feel free to speak to any of the
teachers.
A note from the Sunflower/Rainbow Room - Class 402 - Danielle, Arsi and Sousan
With the chirping of birds and budding of flowers, we are
looking forward to Spring! We have started talking about what we observe as the
season changes such as hearing birds chirp, seeing the flowers slowly bloom,
and even what changes in our clothes as the weather becomes warmer.
During one of our art sessions, we made the sequence of a
flower growing from a seed to sprouting roots and then growing into a flower.
We learned about the different a parts such as the stem, the bud, and the
petals. We also had a chance to make flower collages too.
We have started our Alphabet letters with our favorite
story "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." After reading the book, the children
then used their cutting skills by making their own tree trunk and putting
together a coconut tree. They also practiced tracing the letters A,B, and C,
tracing and cutting out the letter B, and making a flower alphabet puzzle with
various other letters that we have talked about.
As we discover the alphabet, we have dived
enthusiastically into our journals. This gives the children a chance to express
themselves with their own art work and tell us what they have drawn. The
children have also started to practice printing their names in their journals
with guidance. It will be very fun to see their journals coming together
at the end if the year!
Green, green, everywhere green! We had fun decorating
shamrocks and even making green cupcakes for St.Patrick's Day! Some of the
children even tried green hair and green hats from the house corner! Before we knew it, Easter was around the corner!
We
started off by the children making their own hatched egg with a chick inside.
They traced the hatched egg shape, glued soft cotton circles for the shape of
the chick, and even used water color to make their chicks yellow! Looked great!
Next up was to make the Easter baskets (just in case the Easter Bunny visited!)
and to decorate our own Easter eggs with lots of sparkle!!! And of course we
had to make some Easter bunnies too.
The Easter Service went very well and we were proud to see our preschoolers up there singing and reciting their verses. It's always bittersweet at this service to think that this is the last time our class will be doing this but great to see how much they have matured and how much confidence they have up there. Having tea with our families was really fun too!
It's been busy but we remember to keep "bucket
filling" and practice being a "bucket filler ." Our jar is
definitely filling up!! We've even
gotten great at our favorite group activity which is freeze dance! We cheer
each other on and dance, dance, dance!
Now we are exploring the world of Emily Carr and letting her inspire our inner artists! We hope you enjoyed the slideshow we sent you as we took an adventure out in the garden.
Now we are exploring the world of Emily Carr and letting her inspire our inner artists! We hope you enjoyed the slideshow we sent you as we took an adventure out in the garden.
If you have any questions, please come to us!!!
A note from the Treehouse Room - Class 403 - Permjit, Stephanie, Gabi, Karen
We
hope everyone had a lovely spring break. It was such a nice way to end things
before the break with the skate party. It was great to see everyone who could
make it. There were some really good skaters out there. It was such a nice get
together with all of the four year old classes.
This
month was all about Easter, but we were able to spend one day talking about
St.Patrick's Day and decorated green shamrocks with glitter. Next we painted
Easter baskets using Q-tips, coloured and dyed plastic Easter eggs, and
decorated bunny masks. One theory we tested out was what will happen if we
walked on eggs? We each got to walk on a carton of eggs and we found out they
didn't break! It was an exciting surprise to get a visit from the Easter Bunny!
We had so much fun trying to find the chocolate eggs that he hid in our
classroom. We finished up with our celebrations with our Easter Service up in the Church, which was a lot of work but worth it! We love to see your children singing up there and we're sure you enjoy seeing them just as much as we do! Afterwards it's fun to all spend some time together having the Easter tea in the gym.
We
also started our journals this month. Each week we will spend one day drawing a
picture in our journals and then the teachers will write down a story of what
the children tell them about the picture. This will give the children a chance
to use their imagination and practice their story telling skills. They will
also practice writing their name each time. Sometimes it will be a free journal
entry and sometimes there will be a specific topic. At circle we read a story
called 'The Golden Egg Book' but we only read half of it. Then the children
were asked to draw what they thought was inside of the egg in their journals.
At the end circle we finished the story and they found out what was actually
inside it.
We
will be starting show and tell and this will give the children an opportunity
to practice speaking in front of a group. We will also be working on other
kindergarten readiness skills until the end of the year. Our
next theme will be all about dinosaurs!
If
you have any questions or concerns please feel free to speak to any of the
teachers.
