February 2020

Okay! We have just made it through another month of winter and we are hoping we have seen the last of the cold and ice! We are ready for some longer days and some milder weather to kick-start Spring!

REGISTRATION FORMS for September 2020 Preschool classes should be handed in to the preschool office before Feb. 1st if you want PRIORITY REGISTRATION.

PRESCHOOL CLOSED on FRIDAY, JAN. 31st for our teacher's Professional Development Workshop.

SAMOSA ORDERS due FEB. 13TH! Thanks for supporting our school!

UPCOMING DATES & SPECIAL EVENTS
JAN 31 - PRO D DAY - PRESCHOOL CLOSED
FEB 1 - REGISTRATION FOR CURRENT FAMILIES
FEB 3 - REGISTRATION FOR COMMUNITY FAMILIES
FEB 12/13/14 - CHILDREN'S VALENTINE'S DAY PARTIES
FEB 12 - SCHOLASTIC ORDERS DUE
FEB 13 - SAMOSA ORDERS DUE
FEB 17 - FAMILY DAY - PRESCHOOL CLOSED
FEB 25 - CHURCH PANCAKE SUPPER
MAR 6 - 4'S SKATING PARTY
MAR 16-20 - SPRING BREAK - PRESCHOOL CLOSED

The teachers had a Professional Day on Jan. 31st and we watched a great documentary on the importance of Play. Please check it out below:
The Power of Play - Episode of The Nature of Things: https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/unstructured-play-can-create-mentally-healthier-kids

Please note: The red gate at the Ridgewood Drive entrance to our parking lot is being moved. Preschool families should be parking in the main parking lot (entrance on Wellington) and can park in any space in the main section. The smaller section, behind the red gate, will be for Church staff and Church visitors only. Please do not park in the small parking lot section that enters off of Ridgewood Drive. 

DISCOVERY TWOS - Arsi, Danielle, Marjan, Rose, Vibha

Thank you parents for all the lovely gifts and kind words of encouragement and appreciation expressed in your Christmas cards to us.

We wish you all the best in 2020!

What a fun and exciting month of January we had learning about winter.  We discovered that penguins and polar bears live where it is very cold.  We also learned about what clothes we would need to dress ourselves for winter weather.  Some winter art activities that the children enjoyed doing were decorating mittens with tissue paper, making winter collage, gluing igloo with white pieces of paper, melted snowmen with shaving cream and glue,  ice- cube painting, decorated penguins with different shapes, made polar bears and made winter hats with roller brush.

At circle time, we talked about winter animals, Five little penguins felt rhyme, snowmen, snowmen what do you see and colour recognition winter mitten game. 

Here are some of our favourite songs:

Snowball, Snowball

Cold and round

Behind which mittens can you be found?

Snowflake Dance

( Sung to: Are you Sleeping)

Dance like snowflakes,

Dance like snowflakes,

In the air, In the air

Whirling, Twirling snowflakes

Whirling Twirling snowflakes

Here and there, Here and there

 

Gung Hay Fat Choi- we also celebrated Chinese New Years.  For art, we created fireworks with red and gold paint.  Our 2’s really enjoyed exploring and pouring red and white rice.  At circle we read a book about my first Chinese New Year followed by five little red dragons felt song.

202 had the opportunity to learn a little about Australia as Danielle had been there on a holiday.  They did dot-to-dot patterns using q-tips on boomerangs and read ' I am Australian '. We acted out the way Australian animals walk or fly using hand puppets..

 

We would like to ask that you as parents continue to support your children’s independence with a few simple tasks when they come into the classroom.  Please continue to have your children walk up and down the stairs by themselves holding the railing and/or your hand.  When they get to their cubbies, please have them hang up their jackets on the hook. And encourage them to put their own snack bag in the basket.

Our theme’s for February will be Love, Friendship, Feeling and Transportation.

As always, please come and talk to us if you have any concerns.

TREEHOUSE ROOM- Karen, Susan, Brita, Marjan, Carol

Welcome back to the Treehouse room for January! It was a busy month of learning for the children. For the first week, we explored the topics of winter, snow, and snowflakes. For week two, we covered the topics of snow, ice, the cold, and winter clothing. For the third week, we explored the world of Black and Grizzly bears of B.C., and Chinese New Year! We finished off for the last week by having fun with teddy bears!

We started off the month by painting snowflakes with salt water that crystallized when dry. The children created melted snowmen by painting with shaving cream and glue and placing the pieces of the snowmen on the snow. The water table had snow and ice in it. The play dough table had snow slime that the children could manipulate and play with. At circle, we read the books “ The old lady who swallowed some snow” and “ Winter, winter cold and snow”. We learned a felt rhyme “5 Little Snowmen”, and talked about winter activities and what you can do in the snow.

For week two, we continued our theme on winter and added ice and the cold. At art, the children created penguins by gluing the pieces on the penguin, ice painting, and stamp painting mitten shapes. At circle, we read the felt story “The mitten” and played find the missing mitten.

The children learned about the Black Bears and Grizzly Bears of B.C. and Chinese New Year for week 3. For art, we painted Black bear shapes, made paper plate Grizzly bear faces, painted lanterns, and fans. At circle, the children explored the world of our B.C. bears. They learned about where they live, diet,  appearance, and other fun facts. We read the books “Yodel the Black Yearling” and “Bear is Hungry” and the rhyme 5 Black Bears. For Chinese New Year, the children were educated about the celebration. They were shown pictures about the lantern celebrations, fancy foods, and dress. We talked about the year of the rat and gave out good luck red envelopes and coins for good luck. We talked about the different animals on the calendar and the meaning of each one. We played the find the missing lantern game and we made rice for some fun snack!

Finally, we finished off the month with a teddy bear theme! For art, the children created a teddy picnic scene by gluing on a blanket, teddy, and food. At snack time, the children had a picnic on a big blanket with their stuffed animals.  At circle time, the children played hide the teddy game, danced and sang to the teddy bear picnic song. It was a lot of fun! It was a great way to finish off the month!

Don’t forget about your children’s show and share time at preschool!

The fours will begin to take home Echo, the Killer Whale on February the 6th.

SUNFLOWER ROOM - Arsi, Danielle, Carol

Wow! Christmas break sure went by fast! We hope you all had a great time celebrating with your loved ones! We’d like to thank you all for your wonderful gifts and very thoughtful cards!

January brought us a little bit of cold winter weather, so we decided to dive into some stories from one our favourite author, Robert Munsch! In the first week, we read “Deep Snow,” “Zero Below,” and “Just One Goal.” These stories brought some giggles to the children. 

The children also enjoyed watching a “cut and tell story” called “Winter Fun with Friends.” It was neat to see a piece of paper turn into a snowman right in front of their eyes. Moreover, we enjoyed the felt rhymes “5 Little Snowmen,” and “5 little Snowflakes.” For art, we decorated our own snowmen. We also used water-colours on snowflake shaped diffusing paper, and we decorated our own winter boot shape using various materials. The following week, we looked at penguins and polar bears. We learned about where each

  animal lives, what they eat, how they move, and what they look like. We read the books, “Be Brave Little Penguin,”and “Where’s Home Lil Pip?” There was a lot of laughter when we looked at the silly felt rhyme of “5 Little Penguins on the ice.” They all fell down and bump their heads. For art, the children used oval and heart shapes to create their own penguin. 

The next animal was a polar bear. It was a great opportunity to compare the 2 winter animals. The stories we read were “Good morning Polar bear,” and the felt story “Polly the Polar Bear.” We used a fork to give the polar bear head a special furry effect. What an interesting way to paint!

The children sure had missed Danielle and she had missed them too! We also wanted to thank Brita for helping us out! She was great fun! The topic was Australia and the amazing animals in the outback. There was talk about emus, kangaroos, snakes, koalas, kookaburras, and echidnas. The children listened to the stories called “Hunwick’s Egg,” “ABC Dreaming,” and “I’m Australian too.” These books were a great introduction to the various animals in the outback and about Australia. We even got a chance to listen to Danielle sing the song “Kookaburra,” and the children sang with her too. At the art table, we practiced our hand eye coordination by tracing and cutting a boomerang shape. We then used Q-tips with red, white, and black paint to decorate them. They looked great. 

Furthermore, we also made a collage of the Australian outback by using the same method with the Q-tip. Once the children decorated their scene, they picked one animal, either an emu, kangaroo, or a frill necked lizard, to glue on their scene. All the kids were super excited to get a little surprise from Danielle from Australia. She truly had missed them all!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! We learned how to say Happy New Year as we learned about the customs of Chinese New Year. The children listened to the story called “Bringing in the New Year,” and enjoyed the felt rhyme “5 Golden Dragons.” We talked about the many animals and how this year was the year of the rat! We danced with streamers with beautiful traditional music and the children all got a red envelope to take home for good luck! What a fun day!

On our last week in January, we turned to the classic Ukrainian stories of Jan Brett. We read “The Mitten,” “The Hat” and a few others of her collection. For art, the children traced and glued the animals onto the mitten and decorated their own hats too. We also looked at the felt rhymes “5 Little Mittens” and “5 Colourful Umbrellas.” What a great way to end this month!

In the coming weeks, we will be talking about Valentine’s Day, kindergarten readiness and continuing our bucket filling!

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask your teachers!

MUSIC PROGRAM - Tiffany

January was a short month for music and we worked mostly on the Rhythm family. We can play the different members of the Rhythm family on various handheld instruments we have been introduced to. Such as, the clavi, tambourine, cymbals, maracas and triangle. One of the children’s favourite activities, which doubles as a reward for hard work, is doing a ‘parade’ around the classroom. With our collection instruments in hand and big smiles on our faces, we are heading for big success in the months to come. Our Easter Service, in April, is going to be fantastic.

To wrap up January, we are going to build our skills in recognizing the Rhythm family members, in a real piece of music; March of the Toreadors, composed by George Bizet, during the Classical music era.

Some goals for February are, learning to use the Rhythm family notes in small sequences to make rhythmic patterns that we can clap. Singing the notes of the rhythmic patterns and guessing the rhythmic pattern based on what we hear. We will also continue with our ‘listening’ portion of the class and begin learning about the Woodwind family.

Stay tuned for a surprise, take home, music class craft! 

RESOURCE ROOM - Marion

Routines: Everyday Magic!

Children in the preschool years thrive on routines.  They like their lives to be clear and predictable, and they enjoy the security of comfortable repetition (which is, incidentally, one of the easiest ways for young children to learn).  

A familiar routine in the morning, at mealtimes, and at bedtime can eliminate the need children often feel to test their boundaries.  Clear expectation and predictable activities can smooth the rough spots out of a youngster’s day (and that of his/her parents and teachers).

As children grow older and begin school, using routines can eliminate many of the hassles surrounding chores or homework, especially when the child is old enough to help create family rules and routines.  When the child knows the routine, the parent or teacher just has to asks “What is our routine?” and everyone knows what should happen next.  Routines will vary from family to family, from preschool to preschool, but they are useful ways to take the struggle out of the terrible trio of sleeping, eating and toileting. 

January 2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Welcome to January 2020

 It's hard to believe we are in the year 2020! Sound a bit futuristic to me! (We are just as far away from 1990 as we are from 2050! EEK!)

But now that we are here in 2020, our vision for the rest of the year will be perfect! We have a lot of fun things planned for the new year so keep watching your classroom bulletin boards for upcoming special events. And please remember, preschool is closed on Friday, January 31st so our teachers can have a Professional Day. We will be taking a workshop on Anxiety in Children.

IMPORTANT DATES & EVENTS

JAN 31 - PRO D DAY - PRESCHOOL CLOSED
JAN 31 - CURRENT FAMILIES SEPT. 2020 REGISTRATIONS DUE
FEB 3 - COMMUNITY FAMILIES SEPT. 2020 REGISTRATIONS DUE
FEB 12/13/14 - CHILDREN'S VALENTINE'S DAY PARTIES
FEB 17 - FAMILY DAY - PRESCHOOL CLOSED
FEB 25 - CHURCH PANCAKE SUPPER

SNOW DAY!! We are getting into snowy weather soon! If you wake up to snow, check the media and if School District 44 is having a snow day, we also will be having a snow day!

SEPTEMBER 2020 PRESCHOOL REGISTRATION

We will be handing out registration forms for currently enrolled families for September 2020 on Monday, January 13th and Tuesday, January 14th. You will need to fill out your form and attach your deposit cheque (which consists of your September fees plus a $50 registration fee).

Because you are currently enrolled, you will get priority placement but ONLY IF YOU HAVE YOUR REGISTRATION SHEETS IN BEFORE FEB. 1ST.

If you have a child born in 2018 that you want to register for the 2s program, stop by the office for a registration form.

I know it was a long time ago...but here is what happened in the classrooms last month, last year and last decade!

DISCOVERY TWOS - Arsi, Danielle, Marjan, Rose, Vibha

Happy New Year to All!

Please extend a very warm welcome to the newest member of our teaching team: Rose! She will be teaching in class 201 and 202 as we had 7 more children join our preschool in January. Please take the time to say hi!

December was such a fun month for our 2s! We dove right into the month with the Nativity scene on our light table. Baby Jesus was surrounded by Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men and some of the animals. We read the book “Silent Night” and for art we decorated angels with beautiful gold foil paper!

 Next up was the book “Where’s Rudolph?” and our favourite “Shake it Santa” song with a Santa shaped shaker. We also played a fun, colourful ornaments felt board game where the children guessed which colour was missing. Moreover, we also enjoyed the felt rhymes “5 Santa’s” and “5 Little Gingerbread.” We decorated gingerbread people with Christmas stickers and used crayons to give them different colours. We also decorated mini Christmas trees with colourful tissue paper and Christmas sequins that made them so shiny.

 

At circle, we enjoyed the felt story “Christmas tree, what do you see?” Our house corner transformed into Santa’s bake shop and the children enjoyed “baking” Christmas cookies and cupcakes. They even tried using real spatulas to flip and carry the cookies!

Our table toys were so much fun too. We had Christmas puzzles and sparkly red playdough with various Christmas shape cookie cutters. Our sand box was fun to hang out spot too with red and green coloured bowls, buttons, and scoops! The children really liked hiding the buttons and then digging to find them.

The children also had fun working on their special surprises for their Moms and Dads. They worked really hard using sparkly red, green, and gold paint to salad spin their ramekin gifts. Later, they also helped the teachers make Rice Krispie treats and coconut clusters that went inside their decorated ramekins. Furthermore, the children also decorated pine cones with lots of sparkles to hang on their trees at home! So much fun!

 

In the water table, we enjoyed scooping and dumping red and white rice with scoops and cups! What a nice change to have for Christmas!

On our last few days before our break, we made stockings and turned ourselves into reindeer with really neat reindeer headbands! Our party was so much fun too. We practiced our songs such as “We wish you a Merry Christmas,” and “Jingle Bells” to sing for our awesome parents at our mini in-class concert. Thank you to the parents who brought in the yummy food for our party! What a great way to end the year!

We would also like to thank all our parents for your kind words and your very thoughtful gifts. We hope you all had a relaxing and fun filled holiday season!

In the upcoming weeks, we will be looking at winter and winter animals! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask your teachers.

TREEHOUSE ROOM- Karen, Susan, Brita, Marjan, Carol

Hello all Treehouse Room families! Happy New Year to you all!

The month of December was very busy. We all love the holidays but know there is a lot to get done. The spirit of Christmas was kicked off with the Christmas Services held in the church. As teachers, we always know the holidays are very near when practicing for the concerts are in full swing. We love seeing the children sing, dance and laugh as they recite their Christmas songs. Everyone at St. Catherine’s Preschool hopes you all do too. We would like to acknowledge our music teacher Tiffany’s hard work during this time. Thank you, Tiffany!

While practicing for the Christmas Services we began teaching the children the importance of the traditional Christmas story. Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus were discussed at great lengths in our classroom within December. The back wall was made into a barn and stable. Farm animals were created, and books were read to the children such as “A Christmas Story”.  

            In the Treehouse Room we enjoy creating spaces for the children to learn, explore, and socialize with their peers.  The two exciting spaces we created to allow the children to grow were, the “Ice Cave” under the tree house stairs and the house corner was transformed into Santa’s sleigh. We saw smiles, sharing, socializing and friendships created within these spaces. Santa’s sleigh always fosters the opportunity for the children to share the small sleigh. As teachers, we enjoy watching the children navigate sharing and socializing together and always step in if we feel the students need our help.

            Our Treehouse students were very excited when a letter from Santa was received at the preschool! We all wrote to Santa within the first week of December in the hopes he would write back before we went on Christmas break and he did! Each child drew a special picture for Santa and his elves. We think Santa loved them because he wrote back to tell us how beautiful they were. The children enjoyed listening to the letter Santa wrote back as they all sat at circle.

            Circle time within our classroom is an important time for the children to learn the benefits of listening to others, waiting your turn and sitting in a cross-legged position (we don’t want anyone’s toes to get stepped on). This month at circle, we listened to many Christmas themed felt stories, heard some tape stories and interacted together with Christmas action songs. Some highlights were: “The Nutcracker” tape story, “5 Little Reindeer” felt story and “SANTA” sang in the tune of BINGO.

            The teachers of the Treehouse room would like to thank each of the parents who kindly contributed to our Christmas parties that took place in the last 2 days of school. As mentioned before, these parties wouldn’t be possible without each of you and your contributions. The parties are always a fun way to cap off the end of the year. The children LOVE the party food and often ask for more once the food has finished!

We all hope you enjoyed your child’s take-home Christmas gift. Each one was made with love and enthusiasm. As teachers, we love seeing the children proudly create a gift to give to their family. We hope they found a special place on everyone’s Christmas tree this year.

January is always a month for organization and motivation and as teachers we plan to dive deep into our curriculum and allow your children to excel at preschool. We will start the new year off with an exploration on the season of winter. We hope to even experience some real life snow this month so we can maybe bring it into our classroom!

Thank you for taking the time to read our class blog! Check back here next month for more exciting updates on your child’s preschool experiences.  

SUNFLOWER ROOM - Arsi, Danielle, Carol

How time flies…Oh what fun we have had these past 4 months! We have been so busy playing with our new friends, exploring & learning new things.

For the month of December, we started with the Nativity. We used Popsicle sticks to make our own stable and shapes to make Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. This was a great way for the children to tie their songs & costumes for the Christmas Service in with their school environment. The Christmas Concert was AWESOME!!  They all looked great and performed like naturals.

The following week we read ‘The Gingerbread Man’ and decorated gingerbread men with glitter glue and squares.  Then we listened to the story the ‘Christmas Angel’ and cut our angel wings and made our own angels. 

Next, we read ‘There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell’, ‘Tough Cookie: A Christmas Story’ and ‘Santa’s Underwear’. We then made Paper Plate Santa’s. 

In preparation for next year, we attempted to write our names in Christmas Cards to our parents, along with some pictures.  Lots of fun was spent decorating our Christmas glass star gifts for our parents plus helping prepare the YUMMY coconut clusters for the inside of the gifts.  We listened to the story ‘The Littlest Christmas Tree’ and finished off tracing, painting & decorating our own Christmas tree.

We enjoyed listening to the CD stories ‘Santa Knows’, ‘The Three Bears Christmas’ & ‘Russel’s Christmas Magic’.  We listened to the felt rhymes ‘5 Christmas Trees’, ‘5 Christmas Stockings’ and ‘5 Gingerbread Men’ and we played guessing games with Christmas lights and stockings.

Thank you to all the parents who provided the party food. A fun time was had by all. We would also like to thank the families for their Christmas wishes and gifts.

In January we will start encouraging more self-help skills & kindergarten readiness.

Any questions, please feel free to ask us.

MUSIC PROGRAM - Tiffany

Happy New Year, families! 

This is an exciting time for our music class as we start 2020 off with beat and rhythm recognition and counting. We have been introduced to the Rhythm Family and they are so cool! Big Daddy whole note  is very slow and only gets one clap per measure. But watch out for Little Sister eighth note, she’s really fast and gets a total of eight claps per beat! Next up, the ‘Cousins Three’. Each family is a representation of duple and triple time.

January is a great month to introduce new concepts and dive deeper into what we have already learned. Adding to our music vocabulary, we are going to learn about the difference between, the ‘beat’ and the ‘rhythm’. We will also learn some basic conducting patterns and how to ‘feel’ the beat.

By next month, we will be singing loud and proud OR quiet and careful! ‘Tempo’ will teach us how fast, or how slow, to go. Furthermore, we will be confident in following the beat and we will be creative with the rhythms we choose! Next up, ‘how to be your own conductor and instrument making!

RESOURCE ROOM - Marion

Happy New Year!  

But before we move into 2020, I would like to say how wonderful the Christmas Services were and the church was filled with so much love, smiles and song.  Thank you to Tiffany who put together the wonderful program.  

At preschool the children learn songs and rhymes with lots of repetition.  We sing the same Hello and Goodbye songs in the classrooms and often repeat stories either in felt or book form.  They love the ones with catchy phrases where they raise their voices and say silly things.  

Just looking forward to the next 6 months and all the play/work the children will be doing.  Our 2s will start to engage in parallel play and co-operative play, this means sharing and turn taking with their peers.  The 3s will be encouraged to be more independent

when following their daily routines.  They will be encouraged to put their own coats on and hang them up when they come back from outdoors.  Kindergarten Readiness will be the focus for our 4s and there will be a letter to each family telling them what the teachers as they enter Kindergarten.  It will be a big transition but they will be ready.  If you have any questions please speak to the teachers or drop by the office.

Thank you for all your lovely gifts and well wishes and I am really looking forward to 2020 as I will be a first time Gran-mere!