Bouncing Bunnies.... Spring is here!! March 2014

A note from the office Jen McEneany, Coordinator...

After a week of spring break and then a quieter week back at preschool with many of our children still on holiday or staying home with older siblings, we seem to be back to normal around here with the sounds of busy classes of children learning and creating! 

Thanks to everyone who donated an item for the shelter collection.

This is an action packed time here at preschool with the Easter Services coming up fast, Jeans Week - a time when we try to raise some money for the wonderful BC Children's Hospital  - and have fun painting tiny pairs of jeans! As well as preparation happening for our special "Just For Mom" event on May 6th!

Important dates:

Mon April 14: Summer School Registration begins

Fri April 18: Preschool closed for Good Friday

Mon April 21: Preschool closed for Easter Monday

Tues-Fri April 22-25: Jeans Week

Thurs April 24: 302/402/304/404 Easter Services

Fri April 25: 301/401 Easter Services
Wed April 30: Last day for shampoo etc. donations to shelters

Fri May 2: St. Catherine's Staff Pro- D-Day, preschool closed

Mon May 5: Classroom parent visits begin

Tues May 6: "Just for Mom" Event

Mon May 19: Victoria Day, preschool closed

For general information please contact Tina, Jen or Marion in the office.

Tel: 604-980-1326

Fax: 604-982-3277

Email: stcpre@telus.net

Web: www.stcatherinespreschool.com

Please "Like" our Facebook page "St. Catherine's Childcare Society"

A note from the Developmental Resource Office   Marion...

I know the good weather is on its way!  We have all been cooped up indoors for several months and as children love to explore and are very excited to experience new things, the Spring weather will provide the perfect opportunity to get outside for fresh experiences. Talking to your child before heading out to the park or for a walk in the woods is a great way to set expectations and go over rules. You can talk about THEM always being able to see YOU.  Stopping when you call their name and always talk about road safety before heading out, especially holding hands with an adult when crossing the street at a crosswalk or light.

Discovery 2's art

All the children are moving towards being independent little people. The 2’s are packing away their snacks and putting their coats in their cubbies as well as enjoying sitting at circle time for longer periods of time. Art projects are more detailed and requiring more steps and they are interacting and playing with peers in a more meaningful way. The 3’s have shown confidence in their daily routines and are developing co-operative play skills. The 4’s are getting ready for the big transition to Kindergarten. 

 The “What If? Game:  Sometimes children are upset by situations at home or school. The “What If?” game is a fun way to think about what to do in certain situations. Playing the game with children helps them to practice mentally what they could do in different situations. It helps them to learn to anticipate, to think ahead and to come up with ideas. Give children time to think about what they might do. If needed, you might prompt with a comment that includes the answer. Be patient and don’t focus too much on the answers.

FOR CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS OLD

•      What if someone is playing with a toy you want?
•      What if someone takes a toy away from you?
•      What if it rains and you can’t go on the picnic?
•      What if you break someone else’s toy?
•      What if you could borrow an animal from the zoo today?

 The Easter Services are on April 24/25. I look forward to seeing you there!

A note from Creative Music   Cheryl....

Cheryl's "Creative" staff meeting snack!

You know what I'm going to say... Easter Services! Yes it is that time of year again and the children and teachers have been working very hard on their Easter Service songs, and acting parts, deciding whether or not to speak into the microphone (a tough decision which has caused a few tears) and learning instrumental parts too! Wow we have been busy bees!

We are now up in the Church for practises and I feel that the children have all been incredible at learning some very challenging songs and working so well together to make this a fantastic Easter Service!

We are so excited to perform for you all very soon and I look forward to a cup of tea afterwards with all our families up in the gym... Phew I think I'm going to need one!! 

A note from the Rainbow Room Discovery 2's   Danielle, Vibha, Estelle, Stephanie and Karen...

Bug Painting!

March was another busy month for our Discovery Two's. We enjoyed learning and exploring “Bugs”.  Bugs were hidden amongst leaves, branches and sticks for us to discover. We found wiggly bugs in mud (coffee grounds), the sand box and hiding in the water table. This was also explored in the stories, poems and songs we learnt.

We listened to the story "The Hungry Caterpillar" which led us into making our own individual caterpillars with lots of paint, sparkles, egg cartons and tissue paper. We also used glue and paint to decorate beautiful butterflies  and ladybugs. Next we made our own beautiful dragon flies and ladybugs with diffusing paper and water colour.  It was a great opportunity for the children to use their words to describe what they saw when they mixed two colours together. Mixed into the art was lots of bug-shaped printing and stamping.

Bugs in coffee grounds!

We read “The Bug Book” and counted how many different bugs we could find.  We learnt many new songs.  Some of the songs were old ones we loved to sing again and again.  A few favourites were “Here is a Bee Hive, Hickity, Rickety, Bumble Bee, Little Peter Rabbit and I'm taking home my Baby Bumble Bee.”  Mixed into our songs were a few yoga poses, especially the "Butterfly Pose". We also heard the Felt Story “The Enormous Turnip”.

Just a reminder that if you have started toilet training or thinking about it... Let us know as consistency at home and at preschool is the key.

You may have started to notice that 'our little two's' are no longer so little. They are gaining independence fast.  It is a good time to start to encourage them to be more responsible for their belongings.  Helping them hang up their own jackets, snack bags and walking down the stairs, is a great place to start.

Egg carton caterpillars

Please continue to send extra clothing as there are some very enthusiastic painters and children who enjoy water play. Even though the warm weather is approaching, please bring a jacket or an extra sweater as our playground is shaded and tends to be cooler earlier in the day.

If you have any questions please feel free to speak to any of us, Danielle Vibha, Estelle, Stephanie  & Karen.

A note from the Downunder Room class 301  Gabi and Permjit (and Sousan)

With March came an idea to decorate the Downunder Room with more colours to make it feel like it was spring in-spite of the chilly weather outside. The children created butterflies with sparkly paint, and enjoyed learning about the butterfly life cycle. Next they all participated in reenacting a classic tale about a very hungry caterpillar!

Woof Woof!

Our next project was creating ‘homes’ for our insects, painting green shrubs and creating a lush garden with beautiful flowers. We turned our home corner area into a flower shop where the children happily practised their basic math skills by operating the cash-register and stuffing it with the money we printed at preschool (shhh!). Waiting in line to be helped, or for the store to open, and taking turns to be the merchants was great fun! They had some very creative ideas what to sell besides the bouquets... Babies, birds, cheese and shoes were some of our favourites!

Glittery shamrocks!

We spent extra time on focusing to improve social skills by playing group games, and having endless discussions on how to communicate effectively without getting frustrated or angry. We also encouraged the ‘quiet’ friends to use their assertive ‘big’ voice to let others know when to stop an action or a game they did not like.

While playing outside or in the gym they particularly like “What time is it Mr. Wolf?” a game where they take turns in being the wolf or his dinner running away from him!!

We began rehearsing for the Easter Service, the children are excited to perform for their families!

We look forward to having Permjit back with us on Monday!

A note from the Downunder Room class 302   Rachel, Gabi and Sali...

    
We have been very busy over the past month in the 3's! The children are doing so well with the social aspect of preschool, turn taking, using their words to communicate feelings, needs and wants and caring about their friends during play. 

Rainbow Plate Flowers!

This past month we have been talking about colours. Using the primary colours, the children mixed two colours together to see what colour it would make: red+yellow=orange, yellow+blue=green & blue+red=purple. On plastic plates the made rainbows by mixing different watercolours in glue and they looked absolutely beautiful when they were finished!

Tulips!

Next we began to talk about the changes that come along with spring, the weather gets warmer and the flowers and birds can be seen and heard! The children made a beautiful spring tulip picture with top part of a fork!

If you have any questions or concerns please come and speak with us before or after class.

A note from the Treehouse Room class 304   Stephanie and Gabi...

We hope you all had a wonderful spring break and enjoyed some time together with your family and maybe even got to sleep in a little!

Ants in your pants!

In the first two weeks of the month we continued to share some more well-known fairy tales, challenging the children’s imagination to transport them to visit magical lands with all their magical creatures! They did use their creativity to decorate castles and paper plate bears. They loved Goldilocks and the Three Bears coming to life on the felt board, enjoyed a prop-story with The Three Billy Goats Gruff and cheered on Snow White to escape from the pages of a beautiful 3-D book.

After the spring break we thought it was time to enjoy spring, even if the weather wasn't co-operating and we had to make a spring-like environment inside! We spread out an array of flower bouquets, pots and watering cans in the home corner, and a variety of bugs and insects found their ways in the classroom too!

Butterflies flutter by...

We decorated the walls and our boards with cherry blossom branches, flowers and symmetrical butterflies, using cupfuls of glitter in the process!! (Vancouver, we are ready for some real sunshine!) It is fantastic to see how the children are blossoming too, more friendships are forming, our quieter students are finding their voices, while the busy bees are eager to sit and learn but regardless they are all eager to help and to please the teachers, each other and their families.

“Children are like butterflies in the wind. Some fly higher, but they all fly. Why should we compare them? They are all different, they are all unique and they all are beautiful!” – Hungarian proverb

The ants go marching 2 by 2 hurrah hurrah!

A note from the Treehouse Room class 401   Rachel, Sali and Karen...

We've been talking about numbers, letters and ants this past month.  The children made a number pin wheel game where they arranged the clothes pins in order from 1-10 then placed the appropriate amount of stickers to match the clothes pin. The children also counted out coloured squares and glued them on to a piece of paper and counted how many they had on there.

Chicka Chicka boom boom!

We've been talking about the difference between numbers and letters. We are waiting for our ants to arrive and then we are going to have an ant farm in our classroom! The children made a snack called "Ants in Your Pants!!" the ingredients were whole wheat bread, cream cheese & raisins. The children really enjoyed it! We have been working on an important self-help skill - practising putting on our own jackets as well as zipping them up, if you could please send your child with a jacket that is easy for them to zip that would be helpful. We have also been working on 24 piece puzzles, this is also a fun activity to do at home! 

We are now talking about Easter. Please feel free to talk to us before or after class if you have any questions

A note from the Treehouse/Rainbow Room class 402 Arsi, Stephanie, Karen and Cheryl...

Spring has finally sprung! The flowers are slowly blooming and the birds are chirping; what a great season!

Items for our "home corner preschool"

We started off the month by working on kindergarten readiness with the children. We practised writing our names, folding papers in half and recognising the shapes: circle, square, rectangle and triangle. We also connected numbered dots to make these shapes as well. Furthermore, we talked about opposites such as big and small, in and out, over and under and up and down. We also tried cutting along straight lines and curvy lines.

During circle we played games and sang songs that involved the children recognising letters, numbers and colours.

We hope that everyone had a great spring break and we're glad to see everyone back, ready to learn and have fun!

In April we will continue our kindergarten readiness combined with lots of Easter activities!

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask one of us.

A note from the Treehouse Room Class 403  Stephanie, Gabi and Permjit

G is for Giraffe!

We hope everyone had a nice and relaxing spring break. For the month of March we focused on the alphabet. Each day at circle we would go over what upper case and lower case letters look like and talk about the different things that start with each letter. For art we made paper airplanes, butterflies out of coffee filters and water colours, baked chocolate chip cookies, put dots on Dalmatian dogs, cut out elephants, decorated 5 green speckled frogs on a log, made giraffes, cut out houses, used coloured ice cubes to paint, and made strawberry jello! Phew we were busy!!

Before we were off for Spring break we talked a little bit about St.Patrick's Day and decorated shamrocks for art. 

Our home corner was transformed into a preschool. We saw that the children were very interested in playing teacher and doing the calendar of the day so we created their own area where they could do that. Next month we will be transforming it into a flower shop. 

After we came back from the break we started talking about spring and what changes happen during this season. The children painted spring pictures using neon coloured paint. 

Free Art Fun!

Our next job was to start our journals. Each week the children will draw a picture and tell us a story about what they drew. We will write down the story that goes with their picture. This is a great way for children to use their imagination and build on their story telling skills. It also gives them a chance to express themselves and be creative in whatever they want to draw. After they are done their drawing, they are also practising writing their names. We are encouraging them to practise using an upper case letter followed by lower case letters. We have name cards for them to copy if they need some assistance. 

Next month we will be moving onto Easter. 

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to speak to one of the teachers. 

A Sweet Month at Preschool, February 2014

A note from  the office...

Discovery 2's learning about bugs!

Over the past few weeks we have seen snow, torrential rain and now a taste of spring with warm, sunny days. The children have greeted each of these weather experiences with the kind of enthusiasm that only children seem to have for something which, as we get older often brings only annoyance, stress or indifference (except for the sunny days of course!) As preschool teachers we are lucky to share in the excitement of snowman building, sledding and snowball fights, brand new pairs of rain boots for sploshing through puddles and running outside with the sun on our faces through the children we spend our days with. Their stories and positivity about even the darkest of days are so uplifting that we can't help but smile, even as we are scraping the ice off our cars in the morning before work!

Important upcoming dates:

Wednesday, March 12: Scholastic Orders Due 
March 17-21: Spring Break 
Monday, March 24: Preschool re-opens
Monday, March 31: Honeybush Tea Fundraising orders final day

Friday, April 18: Good Friday; Preschool Closed
Monday, April 21: Easter Monday; Preschool Closed
Thursday/Friday, April 24/25: 3's and 4's Easter Services
April 22-25: Jean's Week BC Children's Hospital Fundraiser

We still have a few spaces available in our Discovery 2's program and our afternoon 3's and 4's program's for our September 2014/2015 preschool year. If you know anyone who is still looking for a preschool spot please let them know about us so we can give them a tour of our wonderful preschool!

For general information please contact Jen or Tina in the office.

Tel: 604-980-1326
Fax: 604-982-3277
Email: stcpre@telus.net
Website: www.stcatherinespreschool.com
Please "LIKE" our Facebook page "St. Catherine's Childcare Society"

A note from the Developmental Resource office   Marion Porter...

Children develop every day in many different ways but this month I wanted to talk about some of those "BIG" ideas surrounding development in a little more depth.

The Essentials of Development

Emotional Development means developing a full range of emotions, from sad to happy to angry and learning to handle them appropriately. This leads to deeper qualities – sympathy, caring, resilience, self-esteem, assertiveness and being able to rise to life’s challenges.

Cognitive Development means being able to communicate, to think both creatively and abstractly, to pay attention and to solve problems and develop keen judgment and a lifelong readiness to learn.

Social Development means being able to make friends and get along with others, work as part of a team and be a good leader, all of which are built on self-confidence, cooperation and trust.

Marion and Chris at the Church Pancake Supper

As we think about spring and planting gardens remember that a tiny sprout can only learn how to weather life’s challenges with nurturing and support. Resilience comes from the comfort and encouragement we give children in the first years of life. With cuddles, kisses and words of reassurance, little ones discover how to bend when they need to, how to adapt to change and how to bounce back from disappointment. Let’s all help our children stay firmly rooted.

All the classrooms are looking and sounding very busy with the development of new play skills.  The children are communicating with their teachers and their peers. The 4’s are working on Kindergarten Readiness Skills (cutting with scissors, printing letters, counting objects etc). If you have any questions or concerns please talk to their teachers. Signing Sally visited the 4’s for Valentine’s Day and told the felt story of the “Lonely Heart”.   

Please feel free to come and speak with me if you have any questions or concerns surrounding your children's development.

A note from Creative Music   Cheryl Hebb

We wore pink shirts in honour of anti bullying day.

In music class this month we learned about the musical terms for LOUD "Forte" and soft   "Piano". In order to illustrate these points to the children we listened to music pieces which had both loud and soft sections to them and the children had the opportunity to let me know whether they were Forte or Piano. We also played games which had a Valentine theme such as "Hiding the Heart" and I incorporated the Forte and Piano concepts to these games by playing instruments softly or loudly to help lead the children to the place where the heart was hidden.

As we move into March we will be working on our Easter Service songs ready for our performance in April.

A note from the Discovery 2's   Vibha, Danielle, Estelle, Karen, and Stephanie...

Throughout the month of February we talked about love, friendship and feelings. The children enjoyed stamping on heart shaped paper, gluing with different art mediums and making Valentine's Day hats on our party day.

To encourage children who are reluctant to participate in art activities we tried painting with whipping cream and Cool Aid as well as printing with potatoes and apples! This certainly intrigued the children, and everyone did have a try and seemed to have fun!

Another popular art activity that our 2's enjoyed was "Shake it baby, shake it!" which was were we took a (clean and empty!) Pringles tube and put paper inside it with marbles and paint and created swirly art pieces by moving our bodies and shaking the tubes!

During circle time we worked on name recognition, taking turns, colours and working together as a group while playing lots of fun games. We also learnt to say "I Love You" in sign language.

We transformed our home corner into a grocery store and this was a big hit with all the children! We really enjoyed watching them exploring all the food items, trotting about the classroom with their little grocery carts and seeing who was shopping and who was the cashier.

This month we also welcomed two new children to our 204 class, Joshua and London! We are happy to have two new friends to play with!

For the month of March we will be talking about bugs! We have also transformed our home corner into a flower shop. We hope that you have a fun and relaxing Spring Break!

A note from the Downunder Room class 301   Gabi and Permjit

February was a month of love, filled with  projects, songs and stories about friendship, loving, caring, sharing, and helping. Our classroom was filled with hearts, literally! Beating hearts full of joy, and artfully designed paper ones were everywhere! The children really enjoyed celebrating Valentine’s Day, they loved to give and receive all the Valentine’s cards they had made for each other during class time or brought in to exchange. Thank you for all the special treats! 

301 Farm animals

We had several discussions in the classroom about being helpful and kind at home and at preschool, to our family and friends. The children seemed to take their roles very seriously and showed sympathy and gentleness towards their classmates and (we hope) siblings too! We will be learning more about caring, sharing and good manners in the upcoming weeks and months. We hope to help to reinforce your child’s ongoing positive behavior both in and outside of preschool and beyond!

Some of the children showed a great interest in animals, so we changed our home corner into a barn. Our “Farm” theme is a big hit with our busy bees. We love to watch them caring for the animal babies or hungry farm animals (and of course all these animals live happily alongside the tiger family - all animals get along in preschool!)

More farm inspired artwork

We have had some special requests for particular songs, fingerplays or stories. It shows us how much the children have matured over the past few months, and how we have earned their trust that they feel free to address us with any of their needs. It is a great feeling for a teacher!

In the next couple of months we will be continuing on improving social skills and the cognitive memory through lots of small and large group games, creative art projects and stories with visuals.

A note from the Downunder room class 302   Rachel, Gabi and Sali

February was the “Love” month and brought about one of the children's favourite celebrations, Valentine's Day. We talked about the many ways of showing love to others, especially our family and friends. We shared plenty of love with songs, games and crafts. Everyone had a great time giving and receiving Valentine’s. Our room was cheerfully decorated with many brightly colored hearts which the children created for the occasion.

We had fun with a variety of literacy forms, including stories, short poems and of course, nursery rhymes about sharing, caring, helping, being a kind friend at preschool and being a valuable member of our families. Our Valentine’s Day party was a big success thanks to all the parents who donated special food items and drinks.

Our next theme is “Colours”. We will spend some more time on this topic with endless opportunities to learn. We have created some stunning art pieces by mixing primary colors to create some new colors. The children enjoyed discovering different modes of combining shades and textures. When they want to take the freshly painted creations home in their backpacks rather than let them dry first, we know we planned an activity that they enjoyed!

With Spring on the way, we will talk about the changes in nature and weather. We will also be going outside more to observe these changes and to enjoy the fresh air. Please remember to dress your child appropriately for outdoor play, thank you!

A note from the Treehouse Room class 304   Stephanie and Gabi

A classroom within a classroom!

Wow what an exciting month we have had! There were a lot of hearts around the classroom as we were preparing for Valentine's Day. During circle we talked about feelings and friendship. For art we sponge painted hearts with pink and purple paint, made a heart collage with doilies, made Valentine hats and decorated paper bags with hearts and glitter. The bags were hung out by our cubbies for our special Valentine's party. Thank you to those of you who brought the delicious snacks for our party. 

The Frog Prince

Next we moved on to talking about a variety of different fairy tales. We read "Beauty and the Beast" and made a coffee filter rose from the story, next we read "The Frog Prince" and created the frog in the story. After reading "The Little Red Hen" we made the pig from the story, "Little Red Riding Hood" inspired us to create our own wolf masks, and the story of "Aladdin" had us creating the magic lamp from the story! 

We will continue looking at different fairy tales for a couple of weeks and then we will be moving on to spring! 

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to speak to any of the teachers. 

A note from the Treehouse Room class 401   Sali, Rachel and Karen

The month of February brought with it Valentine’s day. We talked about friendship, kindness and of course..hearts!  We made Valentine crafts such as a heart collage. The children folded the paper and cut along a line to make the heart (one of their kindergarten skills) then decorated it. They painted hearts at the easel and made heart crowns. The children decorated bags for their friends to place Valentine cards in and learned about giving and receiving while handing out the cards.

How many scoops in our ice-cream cones?

One of the highlights of the month was our Valentine’s Day party. It was wonderful to see the children dressed in their formal wear. We decorated the classroom as a fancy restaurant. Susan, our practicum student, enjoyed playing hostess, giving the children a menu and showing them to their table. Thank you for contributing the lovely snacks.

We have also had fun building sculptures with ice and using droppers to colour them. Look for the poster in the hall for pictures.

Sweet treats for our sweet teachers?

After Valentine’s Day we started an alphabet theme. In circle, we have been singing songs such as ‘B-I-N-G-O’ and playing letter matching games. In art, we have been tracing letters with Q-tips and cutting out the first letter of our name. We converted the home corner into a school which the children are very excited about. We have made the back board of the classroom into a chalk board where the children can practice their letters. Next, we will be moving on to numbers.

We have started our Kindergarten Readiness Program which is usually on Mondays. The children work in small groups to develop skills such as letter and number recognition, how to write their name and sequencing and sorting activities.

A note from class 402 Treehouse/Rainbow Room   Arsi, Stephanie, Karen and Cheryl

Love is in the air! We had so much fun preparing for Valentine's Day. For art the children decorated paper bags with glitter and hearts, made owls using heart shapes, created heart people, made bouncy heart hats, made hand-print hearts, and we all worked together to make a friendship fruit salad. To end things off we had a formal Valentine's Day party where our classroom was transformed into a fancy restaurant. The children had their best clothes on along with excellent manners and table etiquette. It was so much fun ordering from the menu and being served just like a real restaurant. Thank you for everyone who brought the yummy treats for our party! 

Many of the children were interested in the Olympics that were going on so we decided to spend a couple of weeks talking about them. We talked about the Olympic Rings at circle and how each of the colours were present in the flags of each nation that participated in the Olympics then we looked at all the different flags. We painted gold medals and had our own ceremony at circle time where each child was awarded a medal. We made Canada flags with our hand-prints so we could cheer on our team! We were so excited to find out that both our women's and men's hockey teams won gold! We also made the Olympic torch, marble painted skateboards using the colours of the Oympic Rings, and made syrniki, which are Russian style pancakes. They were delicious with a little bit of maple syrup! Yum! 

With the children going to kindergarten very soon we are going to focus on some pre -kindergarten skills for the next couple of weeks. This will be ongoing for the rest of the year as we will tie this learning into our daily routine as well as doing other topics throughout the year. 

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to speak to any of the teachers.

A note from class 403   Permjit and Stephanie

What can we say about February! It was a very happy month of red and pink with some purple thrown in there as well!

We just finished celebrating Chinese New Year and went straight into Valentine's Day. We made cards, decorated hearts and participated in endless activities around friendship. We shared stories about feelings, caring, understanding and being inclusive, played games which worked on our memory skills and talked about the people we love and the friendships which are such a special part of our lives.

We had so much fun making our friendship fruit salad and talked about the fruit that the children loved the most and why they liked it. An interesting fruit was the star fruit, some of us were not sure about trying it although once we did, it wasn't that bad, and some of us really enjoyed it! There was lots of laughter and fun, while chopping up our salad and making sure we were chopping the fruit carefully and safely!

Thank you so much for the yummy contributions to our posh restaurant meal. The children loved that they got to chose from a menu and the teachers were the servers! We have to say that the children all had excellent manners and were so respectful when asking about items on the menu.We really enjoyed it and they looked so cute all dressed up, it's one of those priceless moments!

Fancy Restaurant Valentine Party

We have started working our way through kindergarten readiness. We are making our way through our ABC's, enjoying doing a letter at a time. Making Chocolate Chip Cookies for C was a big hit and the cookies were delicious. While learning our letters, we'll be encouraging the children by engaging in activities using scissors to cut out the letters in our names and using different games during circle time and around the classroom to promote letter recognition; they will be very busy bees! We will continue to incorporate getting them ready for kindergarten with fun themes along the way.

Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns.

Sunny Winter Days! January 2014

A note from Jen in the office...

We are back to preschool after our Christmas break and it is nice to see all of our little preschoolers settling back into the daily routines with confidence. With Valentine's Day approaching this is a great time for teachers to talk about the importance of friendships, kindness, caring and love and centering activities around the concepts of working together and co-operation. 

Just a reminder that all registrations for the 2014/2015 preschool year need to be into the office by February 5th to qualify for priority registration. Please make sure to let us know your first/second/third choices for classes and include a deposit cheque with your first choice's tuition for September and also a $50 registration fee. For example class 401 costs $275 per month so the deposit cheque would be $325.

I know that registration time can sometimes be a little bit stressful for our families and a lot can depend upon which class your child gets into. We always try our best to make sure that everyone gets their first choice, however with only 20 spots in any one of our 3 and 4 year old classes and 12 in our Discovery 2's classes (16 next year) we do find that sometimes a lottery draw is necessary, and the only fair way to allocate classes.

If you do not get your first choice right away, don't despair! We often find that by the time September arrives things have changed - families move, circumstances change, people require full-time care, and families decide to switch classes etc.- so someone who did not get their first choice may very well find that they do get the class they most wanted by the time preschool starts.

If you do have any questions with regards to registration, or anything else please don't hesitate to contact Jen, Tina or Marion in the office.


Lastly I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone for their kind words, cards and gifts at Christmas time, they were much appreciated! To Kate and Nicholas Kelly and their family for adopting a Giant Panda in honour of our preschool and also to Ella Lake's dad Steve for installing a lower hand rail for our smallest preschoolers to use when coming up and down stairs, as well as a gate for the Treehouse Room and some new steps and shelving in the bathrooms! 

A note from Marion   Developmental Resource Teacher...

Children learn at various rates and will show strengths in different areas. The following is a list of what your child needs to learn before Kindergarten:

• To play and imagine
• To pay attention to others
• To imitate others; verbally and physically
• To understand and use language
• To make friends
• To initiate and make choices
• To function independently and ask for help

The 4's teachers will be starting their curriculum to support the children's Kindergarten Readiness Skills, and all will be taught through play i.e. swatting letters with a fly swatter; counting and sorting toys and planning small group activities where the children need to communicate their choices to one another.

"Readiness" invokes 3 key factors:

1. The task at hand makes sense to the child.
2. The task builds on prior accomplishments and learning flow.
3. The child demonstrates a real and visible interest in the task and in the next steps.

Young children learn best through play because it is meaningful, engaging, interactive, interesting and enjoyable. 

I hope everyone had a great holiday season! Thank you for all your well wishes, cards and gifts.

A note from Cheryl   Creative Music...

I am shocked to type 2014 how did that happen?!

I just wanted to reiterate again how proud I was of all the children in the Christmas Services. Each child did their very best and shone so brightly!

Now that we are into January we have started to explore pitch and tone. The children have been introduced to the high note as "Sol" and the low note as "Mi".

The 3's have explored high and low with the rhyme Wee Willie Winkie. In the rhyme, Wee Willie Winkie goes up the stairs and down the stairs in his nightgown so the children visually see the high and low sounds via the use of the Step Bells while I tell the rhyme. At the end of the rhyme it says “Are all the children fast asleep for now it's 8 o'clock?!” The 3's were asked what time they go to bed. Did you know some went to bed at 3 o'clock in the afternoon? One child goes to bed at 21 o'clock. Oh the fun things we talk about!! 

The 4's have experienced the same concept through the story "Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle". When Mr. Wiggle goes to visit Mr. Waggle he has to go up the hill and down the hill. Once again I make sure to visually demonstrate the high and low sounds with the use of instruments. We have also used the Step Bells and played from Mi to Sol going up the steps and then from Sol to Mi going down the steps.

A note from  the Discovery 2's   Estelle, Danielle, Vibha, Stephanie and Karen...

Welcome back! We are so glad to be back at preschool and seeing all of the children and families. We hope everyone had a wonderful winter break! 

During the month of January we talked about winter. During circle we sang winter songs, read winter stories and listened to winter finger plays. For art we made snowmen, winter wonderland collages using marshmallows, glitter and winter foam pieces, painted polar bears white and sprinkled salt on top, experimented with water colours on diffusing paper snowflakes, painted with coloured ice cubes, and roller painted mittens. 

As Chinese New Year came at the end of the month, we read a story called Lucky New Year and did a felt rhyme about 5 red and gold dragons. We also played Chinese music and the children danced around with scarves. For art we finger painted with red and gold. 

Next month you will be seeing lots of hearts everywhere for Valentine's Day! We will also talk about friendship and feelings. 

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to speak to any of the teachers. 

 A note from 301 DownUnder Room   Gabi and Permjit...

Thank you very much everyone for all your wonderful thoughts and wishes for Christmas along with your cards and gifts.

It has been very busy since we have been back to preschool. The children were so happy to see their friends and chatting non-stop was definitely on the agenda as there never seemed to be enough time to finish of a conservation! It was lovely to listen to them and they all seem to have matured and settled into a routine straight away. We felt they were happy to be back which is lovely.

We started off with a winter theme and talked about what sorts of clothing we need to wear for this kind of weather, then we went on to read the book "The Mitten", made matching mittens for art and acted out the story using props. We had so much fun discussing how we were going to decorate our mittens and which animals could or couldn't fit in the mitten.

We talked about what happens to the animals when it is cold, which animals hibernate, which ones adapt and which ones migrate. We discovered that penguins and polar bears live where it is very cold. We did endless activities, making polar bears using glue and foam, making them stand out. We enjoyed making penguins and learning a penguin dance! 

We read about how some animals know winter is coming and start to store food. We especially loved the hedgehog; not sure if it was his spikes that attracted us most but we enjoyed making him out of dough and then making him a home to hibernate in. Next we played games, where we had to guess which animals slept in winter. We have been using a lot of props around the classroom because we are finding our class to be more visual and at circle time our attention is more focused when props or felt stories are used. 

The memory game is something the children absolutely love and they are truly amazing at it. It's not just having to think what's been removed its the fact that they discuss with each other and verbalise what they think is missing.

From Winter we went on to Chinese New Year and as you will see in our class room we really enjoyed the bright red colours! We made our lanterns and listened to stories about the year to come and how we celebrate. It is the year of the Horse and some of us have a fascination with animals and especially horses which is lovely and makes us what to learn more.

Please remember even though the sun is shining it is still very cold outside and the children need warm clothing and as always, please come and talk to us if you have any concerns.

A note from the Down Under Room 302  Gabi, Rachel, and Sali...

Can't believe it's already February and we're thinking about registration for next year! Our 3's are definitely maturing fast and ready for new challenges and it's at this time of the year that we are really observing what skills have been acquired and what we still need to be working on.

For the past month we have been talking to the children about hibernation. Which animals do "sleep" for the winter months and where they choose to hibernate. We have changed our house corner into a bear cave. The children have enjoyed playing with an interactive board in the classroom where they need to match animals to their hibernation home. 

With Valentine's Day fast approaching we are talking about friendships and family and looking forward to our Valentine party!

If you have any questions or concerns please come and speak to us before or after class.

 A note from theTreehouse Room 401   Rachel, Sali and Karen..

It's hard to believe it's already February! Thank you for all the well wishes, cards and gifts over the holiday season, we really appreciated them!

For the past month we have been focusing on a few different artists such as Emily Carr and Tom Thomson as well as abstract art. The children painted trees and did a canvas painting in which they concentrated on the lines and movement the artists used in their paintings.

We talked about the fact that both Emily and Tom were Canadian artists and now our preschoolers are Canadian artists too! Check out their artist inspired creations out in the hallway!

Now we are looking forward to Valentine's Day and beginning lots of red, pink, purple and heart inspired activities! We are also beginning to work on our Kindergarten Readiness Skills by breaking the children into small groups to work on specific skills such as cutting, listening and following a few simple instructions and sorting, sequencing and matching various toys in a variety of fun games.

As the weather is cold please remember to send your children with warm coats, hats and gloves so that they can enjoy their outside play time! Thank you!

A note from the Rainbow/ Down Under Room 402   Arsi, Stephanie, Karen and Cheryl...

We've started the new year with great excitement in our class! The children were excited to be back from Christmas break to see their friends and teachers and we were delighted to see them as well and get the new year started with much more fun and exciting learning opportunities.

Since the weather is still a bit chilly outside and winter is still here, we decided to talk a little about winter sports and winter. We began with painting winter scenes using white paint to symbolise the snow. The children were very creative as they painted their own ideas of what winter looked to them. We also read a very popular book called "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. This is a story about a white mitten that gets lost in the forest, but makes a cosy home for some woodland animals. 

Our next fun idea was winter sports. We discussed how there are many different kinds of winter sports and focused on hockey, skiing, and ice skating. During art, we made snow people and dressed them up in the appropriate gear for skiing, for example, ski boots and skis. We painted our 'Canucks' pucks and learned about skates and ice skating. 'Dream Big, Little Pig', a story by figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, showed us how to always keep practising and believing in our dreams. What a great skater that Little Pig was! We were so excited that we made skates by decorating with various colours of tissue and foil paper.

Lastly in January, we focused on Chinese New Year with the year of the horse. We made our own lanterns by practising cutting along straight lines. Also, we learned about some of the traditions of Chinese New Year such as cleaning the house, buying new clothes, and preparing a big feast for the family. Next we did an experiment with salt and vinegar to shine our lucky pennies. We found out that some needed more shining then others!

During circle, we also reviewed the importance of our four agreements: listening to each other and teachers, mutual respect, participation, and appreciation. These agreements reminded us of our one rule at preschool  ''no one gets hurt.'' This includes our bodies and feelings too.

 

Looking forward to next month, we will be focusing on Valentines Day and friendship/caring. Also with the Olympics starting soon, we will have some fun learning about some other sports and Olympic traditions. 

We'd also like to thank all the families for your thoughtful cards and gifts for Christmas. 

A note from the Treehouse Room 304/403   Stephanie, Gabi and Permjit...

We hope everyone enjoyed the holidays! Thank you for the kind words and lovely gifts, we really appreciate your kindness. It was great seeing all of those smiling faces when we first opened the doors after our winter break. 

For the month of January we focused on winter. We painted winter pictures, made snowmen prints with bubble wrap, and decorated winter trees. We also focused on two stories by the author Jan Brett. For the story called "The Mitten" we laced mittens then coloured the animals to go inside the mitten. For the story "The Hat" we roller painted red hats and sprinkled glitter on them. 

During the last week of January we talked about Chinese New Year. We made red paper lanterns with gold paint and made collages using rice and gold glitter. We talked about how red is a lucky colour and all of the traditions that happen during this time.  Each child was given a lucky red envelope with a chocolate coin inside. Gung Hay Fat Choy! 

Next month will be all about Valentine's Day, friendship and feelings. 

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to speak to any of the teachers. 

Important Dates:

Wednesday, February 5: Last day for priority registration for our current families.

Thursday, February 6: Registration eve for prospective families 6-8pm.

Friday, February 7: Registration for prospective families 9am-3pm

Monday, February 10: Family Day - Preschool Closed
Wednesday, February 12: 201 Valentine Party
Thursday, February 13: 202/204/302/304 Valentine Parties.
Friday, February 14: 301/401/402/404 Valentine Parties.

For general information please speak with Jen or Tina in the office.

Tel: 604-980-1326
Fax: 604-982-3277
Email: stcpre@telus.net
Website: www.stcatherinespreschool.com
Facebook: Please "Like" our page St. Catherine's Childcare Society