We hope everyone had a wonderful Spring Break and Easter weekend with their families. We had a really busy March here at preschool with the 3's and 4's practicing for their upcoming Easter Services (April 7 and 8) as well as working on their art pieces for our spring fundraiser The Card Project. Just a reminder that you are welcome to submit a piece of art from siblings also. Please drop any artwork into the office, no later than April 14th, thank you!
April is an extremely busy and exciting month around here so please make sure to check your emails regularly as well as the communication boards outside the classrooms so you stay up-to-date with all that is happening at preschool.
Important upcoming dates:
Thurs Apr 7 - Easter Services - Classes 302/402 10:30am.
Fri Apr 8 - Easter Services Class 301/401 10:30am and 304/403 1:45pm.
Fri Apr 15 - Staff Professional Development Day - PRESCHOOL CLOSED.
M-F Apr 18-22 - Jeans Week.
Tues Apr 19 - Sportball - Classes 302/304.
Wed Apr 20 - Summer Program Registration.
Fri Apr 22 - Sportball - Classes 301/401/402/403
Wed Apr 27 - Parent Education Evening - Master The Maze - 7-9pm.
Thurs Apr 28 - Messy Church 5-6:30pm.
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" and take a moment to rate our preschool. Thank you!
A note from Marion Porter - Developmental Resource Educator
This is the time in the school year when I always feel that
the children are ready for new challenges. They need to be allowed to do
things independently: like getting their own snacks out and clearing them away,
putting on their own coats and carrying their own backpacks. They
can use their words and ask a teacher or peer for help. The 4's are
working on their Kindergarten readiness skills through lots of fun activities. The teachers are aware that each child is unique and that they all meet their
developmental milestones at different times and in different ways. Pressuring a child is counterproductive to successful learning. Play based curriculum provides
endless literacy and numeracy opportunities on an hourly and daily basis. Young children learn best through play because it is meaningful, engaging,
interactive, interesting and enjoyable.
March brought some sunshine, and as the children pointed
out, birds, flowers, bugs, baby animals and warmer weather. The rising
temperatures elevated the general mood too, we loved to spend time outdoors and
to discover what we were talking about in the classroom, hands-on. We had a very short time to prepare for
Easter, and even less time for our Spring theme, but the children made the best
of it. They painted paper eggs, created a duck pond, mastered the use of the
eye-dropper, listened to stories about chickens and bunnies, and took turns to
pretend to be the Easter bunny hiding eggs. A lot of pre-math/ math, language
and communication skills were sharpened by counting and sorting the hundreds of plastic eggs, playing numerous group games (I personally could never come up with all
the ideas they came up with!) We endlessly practiced the songs for the Easter Services
without much complaint (and I sing them
in my head before I go to sleep, when I wake up, or just at random places, like
the Safeway checkout - 'thank you' Rachel!!) All the grown-ups at the preschool are very impressed with how
well our little preschoolers remember the songs, even after all the breaks we had, we
can't wait for all our families to come and see the children singing up on the stage!
Hope everyone enjoyed their spring break! This month was
all about spring and Easter. We read the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar and
then we made caterpillars and butterflies for art. We talked about all the
different spring changes that are happening and everyone seemed most excited about the flowers growing everywhere and especially the blossom tress! We made hand-print flowers and we grew our own
grass.
E is for Easter! What a fun month it has been! We have
continued our alphabets and our alphabet box. The children are feeling
confident in sharing the items they chose for the box with their friends. Great way for them
to take turns sharing a class project and also have a bit of fun at home
finding the objects of the assigned letter. We are also nearing the last few
turns with Echo. It's been really great hearing what adventures Echo has been
on so far!
Fax: 604-982-3277
Email: stcpre@telus.net
Website: www.stcatherinespreschool.com
Please "LIKE" our facebook page "St. Catherine's Child Care Society" and take a moment to rate our preschool. Thank you!
A note from Marion Porter - Developmental Resource Educator
This is the time in the school year when I always feel that
the children are ready for new challenges. They need to be allowed to do
things independently: like getting their own snacks out and clearing them away,
putting on their own coats and carrying their own backpacks. They
can use their words and ask a teacher or peer for help. The 4's are
working on their Kindergarten readiness skills through lots of fun activities. The teachers are aware that each child is unique and that they all meet their
developmental milestones at different times and in different ways. Pressuring a child is counterproductive to successful learning. Play based curriculum provides
endless literacy and numeracy opportunities on an hourly and daily basis. Young children learn best through play because it is meaningful, engaging,
interactive, interesting and enjoyable.
The Essentials of Development:
Emotional Development means developing a full range
of emotions, from sad to happy to angry and learning how 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 judgement 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.
“Readiness” involves 3 key factors:
- The task at hand makes sense to the child.
- The task builds on prior accomplishments and learning flow.
- The child demonstrates a real and visible interest in the task and in the next steps.
Readiness goes hand-in-hand with developmentally appropriate
practice.
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.
A note from the Discovery 2's - Karen, Sali, Vibha, Susan, Danielle, Arsi, Stephanie
Wow! How time has flown. We have now finished 7 months of preschool and we are excited to be heading into Spring.
In the month of March we were very busy exploring "Easter, Spring and Colours". We used our hands to turn little trays and paint Easter Bunnies with marbles. We used tissue paper, paint and sparkles to decorate paper Easter eggs. We decorated our own Easter Cookies and with face paint, turned ourselves into 'Easter Bunnies'! We spent circle time singing songs about Easter - "Little Peter Rabbit, Hop little bunny and Sleeping Bunnies". We also searched through the Coloured Houses or Easter Eggs for bunnies and eggs and listened to the taped stories "Duck on a Bike" and "The Easter Bunny".
We spent a little time exploring Spring when Vibha brought in a Cherry blossom bough. We touched it, smelt it and then used our fingers to make our own Cherry Tree.
We are now discovering our colours. We started with our primary colours and using water colours and diffusing paper, watched as red and blue turned to purple or red and yellow turned to orange. We made flowers and dragon flies with many different colour combinations.
Some of us also made our own stained glass window with cellophane. We listened to the story "Pete the Cat " & "Little Blue & Yellow". We played a matching colour game where we guessed what vegetables belong to which colour and looked around the room to find other colours.
Please continue to send extra clothing as there are some very enthusiastic painters and children who enjoy water play. With the cold weather here, please remember to send warm coats and hats. Our playground is shaded and tends to be cooler earlier in the day.
Just a reminder that if anyone is starting toilet training to let us know. Consistency works the best.
If you have any questions please feel free to speak to any of us, Danielle Vibha, Susan, Stephanie, Sali, Karen & Arsi.
Wow! How time has flown. We have now finished 7 months of preschool and we are excited to be heading into Spring.
In the month of March we were very busy exploring "Easter, Spring and Colours". We used our hands to turn little trays and paint Easter Bunnies with marbles. We used tissue paper, paint and sparkles to decorate paper Easter eggs. We decorated our own Easter Cookies and with face paint, turned ourselves into 'Easter Bunnies'! We spent circle time singing songs about Easter - "Little Peter Rabbit, Hop little bunny and Sleeping Bunnies". We also searched through the Coloured Houses or Easter Eggs for bunnies and eggs and listened to the taped stories "Duck on a Bike" and "The Easter Bunny".
We spent a little time exploring Spring when Vibha brought in a Cherry blossom bough. We touched it, smelt it and then used our fingers to make our own Cherry Tree.
We are now discovering our colours. We started with our primary colours and using water colours and diffusing paper, watched as red and blue turned to purple or red and yellow turned to orange. We made flowers and dragon flies with many different colour combinations.
Some of us also made our own stained glass window with cellophane. We listened to the story "Pete the Cat " & "Little Blue & Yellow". We played a matching colour game where we guessed what vegetables belong to which colour and looked around the room to find other colours.
Please continue to send extra clothing as there are some very enthusiastic painters and children who enjoy water play. With the cold weather here, please remember to send warm coats and hats. Our playground is shaded and tends to be cooler earlier in the day.
Just a reminder that if anyone is starting toilet training to let us know. Consistency works the best.
If you have any questions please feel free to speak to any of us, Danielle Vibha, Susan, Stephanie, Sali, Karen & Arsi.
A note from the Treehouse room, class 301 - Estelle and Gabi
Welcome back everyone! Hope you all had a nice break with
family and friends!
A note from the Treehouse room, class 302 - Gabi and Susan
Spring is finally here! We
hope you all enjoyed the Spring Break and spent some time with your family and
friends.
March was a very short month,
leaving very little time to practice the songs for the Easter Services. Our
children in class 302 are at school less time than some of the other 3's classes so they have less time to learn all their songs but they still do so well! Both Spring Break and Easter
interrupted the learning process, but they remembered the lyrics and the
actions when they came back. It shows how much they have developed since the
beginning of the school year, and how fortunate we are with this group of little
people. We can't wait for you to see them up on the stage tomorrow!
We had an 'exciting' day with
a power outage, we sat on the circle carpet for over 30 minutes, singing with only the emergency lights on, then following the children's suggestion, we
did art in the dark, then played in the dark, and took trips down to the washrooms in the dark!!
Celebrating the arrival of spring; our circles were filled with stories, songs and rhymes about plants, flowers, chickens,
bunnies, and a very hungry caterpillar. We hid and found tons of plastic eggs every day
to be hidden and found again, to be counted, sorted, compared, or shared with
friends. We even walked on eggs, and not on the paper kind!
We will be continuing with
the spring theme for a little while, learning about life cycles, butterflies, frogs and weather.
A note from the Treehouse room, class 304 - Stephanie, Gabi, Sousan
Hope everyone enjoyed their spring break! This month was
all about spring and Easter. We read the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar and
then we made caterpillars and butterflies for art. We talked about all the
different spring changes that are happening and everyone seemed most excited about the flowers growing everywhere and especially the blossom tress! We made hand-print flowers and we grew our own
grass.
To get ready for Easter we painted Easter baskets,
decorated eggs with tissue paper, and made bunny ear hats. We were so excited
to have the Easter bunny come visit us. He hid chocolate eggs all over our
classroom and it was so much fun trying to find them all!
The children are coming together very nicely as a whole.
With such a small group, they have gotten to know each other very well and have
built some really strong relationships with each other. It's really nice to hear the conversations between them as they play.
Next month our theme will be sea life.
A note from the Sunflower room, class 401 - Sali, Stephanie, Karen, Susan and the Treehouse room, class 403 - Stephanie, Estelle, Gabi, Sousan, Karen
Spring has sprung! The days are getting longer and the
beautiful sun is up in the sky. This month has been all about spring and
Easter. We talked about the different changes we see during the springtime. We
talked about how seeds become plants and how that cycle works throughout the
year. For art we drew a picture of a plant that grows from a seed.
Spring has sprung! The days are getting longer and the
beautiful sun is up in the sky. This month has been all about spring and
Easter. We talked about the different changes we see during the springtime. We
talked about how seeds become plants and how that cycle works throughout the
year. For art we drew a picture of a plant that grows from a seed.
For Easter we talked about new life. We painted Easter
baskets, decorated chocolate egg cookies with icing, traced and cut out Easter
eggs and decorated them. We were so lucky to have a special visitor come while
we were out of the classroom and he left us a surprise... The Easter bunny came
to hide eggs all around our classroom for us to find!
We have also started our journals. Each child will have
their own journal that they will draw a picture in each week then tell the
teachers their story and we will write it down for them. This gives the children a chance to use
their imagination and practice their story telling skills. Some weeks it will
be a free topic where they can draw anything they would like and other times it will be more structured. One entry we did was about a story called The
Golden Egg Book. We read half of the story at circle and the children had to finish it
off in their journal and guess what was inside the egg. Afterwards we read the rest
of the story at second circle to see the outcome so they could compare it
with their own predictions.
A note from the Sunflower/Rainbow room, class 402 - Arsi, Danielle, Sousan
E is for Easter! What a fun month it has been! We have
continued our alphabets and our alphabet box. The children are feeling
confident in sharing the items they chose for the box with their friends. Great way for them
to take turns sharing a class project and also have a bit of fun at home
finding the objects of the assigned letter. We are also nearing the last few
turns with Echo. It's been really great hearing what adventures Echo has been
on so far!
March also brought us looking into Easter and a bit of
spring. During circle, we talked about the signs of spring and what we hear,
see, wear, and even smell. The children let their friends know during circle
what changes they saw outside.
Before we knew it, we were tracing, cutting and using
jello powder to decorate our diffusing paper Easter eggs. This was a great way
to keep practicing our fine motor skills and our hand and eye coordination. The
eggs smelled yummy with the jello powder designs. Our next Easter art activity was
decorating foam cups with crushed eggshells to give it a mosaic look. The
children really enjoyed smashing and coloring the shells with watercolors. The
best part, of course, was dipping marshmallows into chocolate and then
sprinkles. If that wasn't yummy enough, the children even had a surprise visit
from the Easter bunny who had hidden chocolate eggs for the children to find.
Yummy! We've also been busy learning our
songs for the Easter services!! They sound great!
Moving forward to next month, we will be looking at
bugs!!
Just a reminder, although the sun has been shining a bit
more, our yard tends to be shady and cool when we go out, so please pack a
jacket for your child. We are continuing to practice being more independent by
putting on and zipping up our own jackets, opening and closing our own easy to
open lunch containers, and pouring our own water into cups. Please continue to
encourage your child at home as well for their readiness to kindergarten.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not
hesitate to ask your teachers.
