APRIL 2023

APRIL SHOWERS bring...

a) May flowers

b) puddles

c) boots & umbrellas

d) all of the above

Answer: d) all of the above!

It's no JOKE, but we have made it to April already! Not even 3 months left to go! 

Fundraising

Thanks to everyone who purchased items from our Samosa fundraiser! We raised $436.67 in profits that will go towards upgrading and maintaining our outdoor playground and gym equipment. Thanks for your support!

Also, watch out for your child's CARD PROJECT fundraising card to come home. Go online to see the beautiful products made with your child’s art:

greeting cards, tote bags, mouse pads and tea towels, notebooks, sketchbooks, art prints, and canvasses. They make great gifts for grandparents!

To order, please go to www.TheCardProject.ca

Our school access code is – ST98

Order deadline is Easter Monday, April 10

with delivery in time for Mother’s Day.

LITTLE KITCHEN ACADEMY Fundraiser

A huge thank you from Little Kitchen Academy - Edgemont Village for your continued support. We are delighted to continue our partnership as an official fundraising partner. The LKA GiveBack Program will continue to donate $10 to your school every time a student registers for a drop-in class, session and/or camp. At booking, you must select your school’s name from the drop-down menu for the question "How did you hear about LKA?” to ensure your school receives the donation. 

As a bonus for parents, use code SCHOOL2023 at check-out for a $50 discount applicable to any session and/or camp booking of 3 classes or more.  Little Kitchen Academy is the first-of-its-kind Montessori-inspired cooking academy for kids aged 3-18 providing a safe & empowering environment to learn practical life skills, confidence, independence, and healthy eating habits to last a lifetime. With only 10 students per class, spots fill up quickly. Join our email list to gain early access to upcoming classes before they are available to the public.  

Spring & Summer registration is ongoing! Click here to Register. 

IT'S WET CLOTHES SEASON!

WE ARE LOOKING FOR PLASTIC BAGS! 

IF YOU HAVE ANY SPARE PLASTIC BAGS PLEASE THINK ABOUT DONATING!

SAVE THE DATE!!

GRADUATION for the 4's will be held on FRIDAY, JUNE 16TH. 

Both the MWF classes and the TU/TH classes will have their Grad Ceremonies together on FRIDAY, JUNE 16TH.

DATES TO REMEMBER 

APR 7 - Good Friday: PRESCHOOL CLOSED

APR 10 - Easter Monday: PRESCHOOL CLOSED

APR 24-28 - Jeans Week

MAY 5 - Pro-D Day: PRESCHOOL CLOSED

MAY 22 - Victoria Day: PRESCHOOL CLOSED

JUN 16 - Graduation Day (All 4s)

JUN 16 - Last Day of Preschool

The Classrooms are busy with all the activities that are going on! Please check out what happened last month in class! 

RAINBOW ROOM-Danielle (Tu/Th), Susan (M/W), Vibha(M-Th)

We hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break. Can you believe it's already April? Time really flies when you're having fun, and at St Catherine’s Childcare, we definitely had a blast!

Last month, our preschoolers learned about three exciting themes: Flowers, Farm Animals, and Easter. We explored these topics through a wide variety of songs, stories, and art activities. 

But the highlight of the month was definitely our Easter Service. The youngest children performed for the first time in the Church, and they were absolutely adorable! It was heartwarming to see how much they've grown. 

Speaking of growth, we've noticed that our little 2-year-olds are starting to develop into little 3-year-olds. Their play is incorporating more and more friends, and the most exciting area of development is language. It's amazing to see how much they've learned in such a short amount of time!

Another interesting development is the emergence of pretend play, also known as imaginary play. It's amazing to see the children's imaginations come to life as they create their own worlds and scenarios. Who knows, we might have some future actors and actresses among us!

In the month of April we will be focusing on Easter, Bugs and Jeans week. 

So let us laugh and let us play,

Learning new things every day.

Preschool is a special place,

A world of wonder, a smiling face.

TREEHOUSE ROOM- Karen (M-F), Gabi (M-F), Rose (Tu/Th), Carol (Tu/Th), Kamal (MWF)

Spring has sprung, at least according to our calendars, but we have been wearing our heavy winter coats while spending time outdoors during free play time. Speaking of unpredictable weather, please continue to send your children to preschool in layers, comfortable shoes/ boots, and in clothing that you might have to launder several times before you discover their original colour. Our troops love to sit on wet bark mulches, roll on the ground, dig in dirt or sand, paint, glue, and touch things that you wouldn’t.

The first week of March was busy with practicing for the Easter Services; the children were excited to show their talents again, remembering standing in front of their loved ones before Christmas ( or remembering how they did not want to do it again, ever again..: ) We were proud of them as always, and we are sure that you were too. Thank you for visiting our classroom afterwards as it meant a lot to your little ones to show you around!

It is always hard for our children to get back to a daily routine after spending days with family members at home or on a holiday. After the week-long Spring Break some of our very young children had some emotional moments missing home, and that did upset some of their friends. I know it’s hard to believe, but they are resilient, resourceful little people who usually settle in quickly and play happily a few minutes after you drop them off ( crying, and with a death grip around your neck .) 

We decided not to follow any themes after returning to school, letting the children lead with ideas for some activities, art projects and desired stories. We had some great fun reading their chosen books, playing their favourite games and messing with paint for the longest time, and we took leisurely walks around the neighbourhood. We discussed how to walk safely and pointed out traffic lights, traffic rules and signs that we have recognized from the books and rhymes that we had shared during the Transportation theme earlier.

We have been focusing on Kindergarten Readiness by playing a lot of Alphabet/ Number games at Circles, and practicing cutting, gluing, colouring and painting at the Art table with more complex, multiple steps projects.

Our busy days burn calories, so please send a healthy, well balanced meal and please leave the sweets home, or we will have no choice but let your child eat the chocolate bar a few minutes before you pick them up!

SUNFLOWER ROOM- Danielle, Carol, Rose

Spring has sprung and the children have started to blossom as they continue to learn, develop and explore in the Sunflower Room.  The older children are continuing with their Kindergarten Readiness with writing in their journals and continuing with their self-help skills. The younger children are starting to try and write their names and they are learning to put on their own jackets. 

The children’s imaginations are also blooming. We turned the home corner into the Circle carpet, complete with a calendar, leaders & helpers names, books and mats. Their play was creative, they took turns being the teacher (either Danielle or Carol) or leaders and they were communicating with their friends.  This was a great learning curve for our older children as they tried to recognize their friends’ names when picking the leaders. We even had one child typing on a computer saying, “I’m Tina”.

For our first week in March, we began our learning journey into the Alphabet. Each letter is introduced by a song that sounds out how the letter should ‘sound’. It is then followed by an Alphabet Soup Can with examples of things that start with the letter of the day. We have then incorporated the ‘Alphabet Box’ into our circle time where every day, one child has the chance to take the next letter that we are learning about home & bring back 5 things that start with that letter in the box for the next school day. This is a great opportunity for the children to extend their learning at home, then come back and share it with their friends. This also helps with their confidence and participation in front of their friends.

Over the last few weeks, we read and listened to many books. For example, “Apple Countdown, Chick a Chick a Boom Boom, Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Farm Flu, Giraffes Can’t Dance, Rumble in the Jungle, The Lamb Who Came for Dinner, The Jellybean Tree. We have listened to many felt rhymes & songs like 5 Apples, Ben the Beaver, 5 Camels, 5 Elephants, 5 Frogs, 5 Green Grapes, Sleeping Mice, ABC & 5 Little Rabbits.

For Art we glued, painted, cut and decorate many different things like Apples, Carrots, Ducks, Giraffes, Hedgehogs, Iguanas, Jellyfish, Kites, Lions, Mice, Nests, Owls, Pigs, Q for Quack and Rabbits.

The children also spent time practicing for their Easter Concert and what a great performance we had. We were very proud of them all.

We also spent a week talking about Spring. The children had fun exploring real plants & flowers instead of playdough and they had the opportunity to plant seeds that grew into Alfalfa Sprouts. We hope they continue to grow at home, and you can eat them. We also turned the Home Corner into a garden with ‘sunflowers’ to plant, seed packets to buy and flowers to water. We learned that for seeds to grow they need soil, water and sun. We also talked about the signs of Spring, the changing of the weather, wearing less clothes, the sun shining more and seeing new life in the garden. We read “Mouse’s 1^st Spring", "A Seed Grows" and "Plant the Tiny Seed". We ‘grew’ from a seed to a flower, and we matched flowers by colours.

For the next few weeks, we will continue our journey learning about the rest of the alphabet, Easter, Eric Carl and bugs. If you have any questions please let us  know.

RESOURCE ROOM- Marion

On vacation! Check back next week!