St. Catherine's Preschool: May 2018

"'Tis like the birthday of the world,

When earth was born in bloom;

The light is made of many dyes,

The air is all perfume:

There's crimson buds, and white and blue,

The very rainbow showers

Have turned to blossoms where they fell,

And sown the earth with flowers."

- Thomas Hood

It's May!! Wow! It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of the school year! This is our last full month so look ahead to see what is coming up and then check out the classroom blogs to see what the children have been up to!

Important Dates to Remember

Apr. 30 - May 4 - Jeans Week

May 11 - Staff Pro D Day (Preschool Closed)

May 15/16 - Music Open House

May 21 - Victoria Day (Preschool Closed)

May 25 - Scholastic Orders Due

June 15 - 4's Graduation

June 15 - Last Day Preschool Classes

June 18/19 - Picnics

DISCOVERY TWOS - Arsi, Brita, Danielle, Susan & Vibha

All aboard the Discovery 2 's train! This month, the children explored the different modes of transportation, such as buses, cars, planes, trains, trucks, and boats!

For Art, the children painted a huge school bus and used it in housekeeping to travel far! We painted stencils of boats and trains. The 2 's made sailboats out of paper plates and decorated them. We created a track print with car wheels and paint.

At circle time, the children identified some modes of transportation and sang songs like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat , Hurry, Hurry, Drive the Fire Truck and Down By the Station ". The children experimented with a yoga boat pose. We rowed our boats to the other shore and drove our fire trucks to put out a fire!

Please remember to help your child's gross motor development, by allowing them to practice walking up and down the stairs by themselves!

301 - Estelle & Susan

Spring is finally here! April was a busy month with the children practicing and learning their songs for the Easter Service and what a wonderful job they did!

This past month we talked about Spring, planting and farms. The children enjoyed making pigs in the mud, flowers, lambs and ducks. After practicing for our services, the children could go back to old favorites such as Old MacDonald Had a Farm and Five Little Ducks. The children are also busy working on a surprise for Mother’s Day and are proud of their accomplishments.

Just a word about our arts and crafts. We do both kinds of arts. One where the children can freely explore with different art materials such as paint, glue, sponges, finger painting etc. The children are free to do what they want and it may not look like much to us as adults but the children are enjoying the process and are proud of their work. The other one is more of a Language Art activity such as a cutout of a pig that goes with our theme. We usually explain how to do the art and have a model. The children also enjoy this and also have some freedom in how they do the art. Next we have a Make It Table where children can use the materials offered on the table or on the shelf to make free art and by using their imaginations. They can cut, draw, trace or glue it whatever way they like, all the while practicing their fine motor skills.

The children are growing and maturing and getting ready for the 4’s. They are using their words to better communicate with each other and us, they can put their jackets on by themselves or are at least trying to, as well as many other things.

This past week we have experienced beautiful weather and the children have finally been able to enjoy the sandbox. Please remember to send a hat and to put sunscreen on your child for the really sunny days.

302 - Carol, Karen, Brita & Lisa

Hello Everyone.

I thought I should introduce myself as the new teacher in 302. My name is Carol Sutherland, and although I'm originally from North Vancouver, for most of my career I have worked in Scotland. I have a Special Education background but for the last 15 years I've been in a Preschool setting. I'm really enjoying getting to know the children at St. Catherine's Preschool, and must thank all the staff for being so helpful and welcoming.

Carol

April started with final preparations and rehearsals for the Easter Service, and then of course, the big day arrived. The children were so excited to be in the church, singing their songs, dancing, and waving to family and friends.

For the month of April we've been focusing on Farms and Farm Animals. We've planted seeds and watched them come up, and we drew plants growing from seeds. We've painted and decorated tractors, horses, ducks sheep and pigs.

At the beginning of the month we had lots of days inside, but today we were outside playing in the sun and sand, and it was actually warm. It's official, Spring is Here!

401 - Karen & Rosie

(On it's way! Check back on Monday!)

402 - Arsi, Danielle & Rosie

Wow, after having 3 months off I was amazed to see how much the boys have matured & grown. I can see that friendships are developing, their listening is improving and their understanding of new concepts has increased.

We have been very busy this month continuing learning our Alphabet. The Alphabet Box is a huge hit. It encourages the boys to think about the letter they have been given and what words go with it. The sharing at Circle Time is a huge confidence booster as they try to get their friends to guess the word.

We spent the first week of April learning about Spring alongside practicing for our Easter Services. We grew our own alfalfa sprouts from seeds to a plant. Did anyone eat theirs?

Following Spring and a great Easter Service we went into ‘Bugs”. We read 10 Lucky Ladybugs and listened to the felt story “The Hungry Caterpillar". We used water colours & diffusing paper to create our own butterflies. We also traced a Beetle and decorated it with tissue paper.

We then moved onto Dinosaurs. That was a lot of fun. We discovered that you can have two types of dinosaurs – Plant or Meat eating Dinosaurs. For art we used crayons & water color to make a fossil print of a Triceratops. We decorated T-Rex’s, used dinosaur stencils to make a hat and used our hand prints to make our own dinosaur. We become Paleontologists and used a hammer/ chisel and a brush to find our own Dinosaur Fossil. We played ‘What’s the Time Mr Dinosaur?’ and danced to the ‘Dino Pokey’. We even helped a paleontologist find fossils outside in the playground. We were very busy exploring and discovering all about dinosaurs.

We will now move onto Mother’s Day.

304/403 - Estelle, Karen, Rosie & Laura

Hello parents. Hello Spring! Finally some nice weather to enjoy our outside time.

For the month of April the children were busy practicing for the Easter Service and what a wonderful little group of singers they were. We also talked about Spring, planting, fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The children really enjoyed the classics such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Three Little Pigs in different forms such as CD stories and with felt pieces.

As the weather gets nicer we would like to spend more time outside or going on field trips. The children really enjoyed the visit to the duck pond and seeing the turtles was the highlight. They also enjoyed eating snack in the park and playing in the playground. Please remember to send a hat and to put sunscreen on your child for the sunny days.

Just a word about our art activities. We have three different kinds. One is the Make It Table where the children are free to create and explore with the materials on the table and shelf, such as collage, glue sticks, scissors, felts and crayons.

Then we have a Language Art which is more like a craft and goes with our theme like a cut out of the three bears. There is usually a model to follow. And lastly there is a more exploratory art such as using different medians and materials, such as sponges, eyedroppers or paint rollers and the children are free to explore and create however they like. The children enjoy all three kinds and are proud of their work no matter what it looks to us as adults. For the Card Project, we used the last method of art as we wanted it to fully look and be their art.

The children are also hard at work on making a surprise for Mother’s Day and are excited to bring it home.

MUSIC - Rachel

(On it's way! Check back on Monday!)

THE RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion

Welcome to May. April was a busy month around the preschool. The children worked hard on their songs for the Easter Services, especially for the “Rockin Robin” song and dance. We hope everyone enjoyed the “Tea” afterwards.

As I go through the class rooms I am noticing a different energy. The 2s are playing with their peers in small groups. They are sharing and using their words and following directions and transitioning from one activity to another with just a little verbal encouragement. They are going up and down the stairs independently while holding the railing. Their self-help skills are improving and it is great to see how many of them have mastered toileting. Yeah! Please help them build their self-confidence by allowing them to try to do things by themselves with supervision.

Meanwhile, the 3s are demonstrating their keen awareness of how to interact with peers and how they can play together cooperatively. Circle time is more of a time of sharing and learning about new things. Their attention span has increased and they are now able to complete more complex tasks.

Kindergarten, here come the 4s! The children are demonstrating that they are ready for new challenges. Parents can help with the transition to Kindergarten by:

Talking with your child about the impending changes
Helping you child master many self-help skills
Encouraging your child to ask for help when needed
Allowing your child to practice working and playing independently
Helping your child follow directions
Helping your child learn his/her full name, address and phone number
Teaching your child about rules and how important they are.

Our 30 caterpillars will be arriving May 8^th and will reside in the Tree House Room. All the children will have an opportunity to see them as they pass through the stages of development into Painted Lady butterflies. We will release them into the Memorial Garden in early June.

“Oink, Moo! How Do You Do? The Summer Program still has a some spaces in the afternoons.