January 2021

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sorry for the late post but it has been a busy first couple of weeks! 

We are rested and relaxed from our Christmas holidays and we are ready to make the year 2021  the BEST ONE YET! 

 REGISTRATION FOR SEPTEMBER 2021 IS NOW OPEN FOR CURRENTLY ENROLLED FAMILIES!!!

Registration sheets have been handed out so make sure you fill them out with your first and second choice of classes, attach your deposit cheque (which is your September fee plus a $50 reg. fee) and drop them off to your child's teacher BEFORE February 1st to get PRIORITY PLACEMENT. On Feb. 1st we will open registration up to the community families.

PARKING

Please make sure to park in the main lot when dropping off and picking up your child from preschool.

Do not park in the small lot off Ridgewood Drive. That is for Church parking only. Thank you for your cooperation.

ABSENT CHILDREN

Please remember to call or email the office if your child is going to be away. Please let us know the reason for the absence, and if your child is sick, please give us the symptoms. This helps us so we can watch for other children in the class who may be coming down with the same illness. Call us at 604-980-1326 or email us at stcpre@telus.net.

FUNDRAISERS (SO FAR)

THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our Samosa Fundraiser! We raised $1000! 

THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our Purdy's Fundraiser! We raised $1400!

THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our Individual & Group Portraits! We raised $215!

THANK YOU to everyone who has ordered books from Scholastics! We've gained $64 in our Bonus Bank. 

We will probably be doing the Samosa Fundraiser again in the Spring as well as our Card Project Fundraiser where your child's artwork is turned into Cards or Notebooks! If you have any other ideas, send us a note and let us know what you're interested in.

UPCOMING DATES & EVENTS

JAN 1              REGISTRATION OPENS FOR CURRENTLY ENROLLED 

FEB 1              REGISTRATION OPENS FOR COMMUNITY

FEB 10/11/12  CHILDREN'S VALENTINE'S DAY PARTIES

FEB 15            FAMILY DAY - PRESCHOOL CLOSED

MAR 15-19     SPRING BREAK - PRESCHOOL CLOSED

HEY! What the heck happened in the classrooms in December??? Check it out!!!

RAINBOW ROOM - Danielle/Marjan/Vibha

Happy New Year Everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas break.  Thank you for your lovely cards, gifts and well wishes. They were greatly appreciated.

 What a fun filled and enjoyable month December was for our Twos.  Our little elves were very busy working on their special surprise gift for you.  We hope you enjoyed the handprint Christmas tree canvas art.

 We set up the Nativity Scene on the light table where the children learned about Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men and Baby Jesus.  For art we made angels with gold foil paper and glitter, painted paper plate Christmas wreaths with green tissue paper and decorated Christmas trees with cotton buds.  Stamping and gluing gem stones on reindeer hats was a big hit with our Twos.  At Circle time we listened to many Christmas theme felt rhymes such as "Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree What Do You See?",  "Five Fat Santas Jumping in the Snow" and 'Shake it Santa" song with a Santa shaped shaker.  We also played a fun, colourful ornament memory game where the children guessed which colour ornament was missing.

 We transformed our House Corner into a castle with knights and blocks. The space allowed the children to grow, socialize and promoted their imaginary skills. 

 In the upcoming weeks, we will be talking about Winter sports, winter clothing and animals in the winter.

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

 Thank you!  Stay safe and healthy ❤️

TREEHOUSE ROOM - Arsi/Brita/Carol/Karen/Marjan/Rose

We hope you've had a relaxing, safe and enjoyable holiday. We'd like to say a big "Thank you" for all the lovely presents and well wishes you gave us. They are very much appreciated.

December was an amazing and busy month in the Treehouse Room.

We started with the Nativity Story, reading Mary's Baby, Who's Coming to Our House? and Donkey's Christmas Song.

We made 4 different nativity scenes, big stars, little stars and wooden star ornaments (all with huge amounts of glitter, of course! ) And just as glittery angels, too.

We hope you enjoyed our short Christmas video of the children singing I'm a Little Pine Tree, and singing and signing We Wish you a Merry Christmas and Silent Night.

Other Christmas books we enjoyed this month included: Where is Santa Claus?, Merry Christmas Hungry Bear, Merry Christmas Split, Peppa's Christmas, There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Bell, Rudolph, Biggest Christmas Tree Ever, Bear's First Christmas, Merry Christmas From Biscuit, Clifford's Christmas, 5 Busy Elves, The Night Before Christmas, Things You Don't Know About Santa, Mouse's Christmas,

 and even more that I've probably missed!

Our circle time included many rehearsals of the above songs for the video, and felt stories and games: 5 Fat Snowmen, 5 Christmas Ornaments, What's in the Stocking?  and Where's the Candy Cane?

At our art tables, we made:

Wreaths, using stamping, collage, puffy paint, paper plates and paper mache and a wee bit of glitter!

Handprint reindeer cards

Puffy paint Christmas trees

Gingerbread people

Snowflakes and Santas in many forms and

Finger print Christmas lights.

Most importantly, we made (and kept secret?) the children's presents and cards for their parents. We hope you enjoyed them.

The House Corner went from Santa's Workshop to a Bake shop. This led us to make a ride-in Santa's Toy Train (using Purdy's Chocolate boxes....thanks again for your support in that fundraiser), Gingerbread Houses, gingerbread scented playdough and cake pops (with an edible equivalent of glitter).

The classroom was decorated from top to bottom and all around with a tree, lights, extra Christmas disco lights, which helped with many sessions of freeze dance. We had Elf on the Shelf, and most impressively, a larger than life-sized chimney (on the outside of our treehouse) complete with a life-sized Santa Claus.

The afternoon classes had sunny walks to see neighbourhood Christmas decorations and to look at the shop windows in Edgemont Village.

On the last days of term, we had our Christmas parties, with everyone wearing red, white, and green, and /or their PJ's. We made gingerbread houses out of Graham Crackers, danced to more Christmas music, and watched a DVD of Toopy and Binoo's Magic Christmas.

It was a busy month!

Again, we hope you had a good holiday, and look forward to starting the new year!

SUNFLOWER ROOM - Arsi/Danielle/Carol

With a blink of an eye….December was upon us! 

We hope all our families have had a fun & safe Christmas break! 

We would like to thank you all for your kind words and very thoughtful gifts!

We started the month talking about the Christmas Nativity.

Christmas Artwork

The children listened to the story called “The First Night” about how Mary & Joseph came to Bethlehem and how Baby Jesus was born in a stable. We sang the songs “Savior is Born”, “Mary had a Baby Boy,” and “Christmas Star.” For art, the children used popsicle sticks and various shapes such as triangles, circles, and stars to make the stable scene. We also started working on our surprise gifts for our Moms and Dads for Christmas! Hope you enjoyed lighting the candles and smelling the scents of Christmas!

Next, we read the very funny story “Mooseltoe.” Mr. Moose sure made a great Christmas tree! We sang some fun felt board songs called, “5 little Candy Canes,” “5 Christmas Stockings,” and “Way up High in the Christmas Tree.” For art, we traced stockings and decorated them with Christmas coloured tissue paper and glitter! We used Christmas sequins  to decorate candy cane shapes. Our house corner turned into Mrs. Clause’s Bake Shop and even Santa’s Toy Shop! The children were so excited to hear back from Santa. We were all on the NICE list! What a great letter he wrote! Thanks Santa!

For our second week, we enjoyed the stories “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell,” “The Littlest Christmas Tree,” and “Christmas Angels.” The children really enjoyed singing and doing action songs as well. We played the felt board game “Which house is the candy cane in?” “What colour Christmas light is missing?” and “where is the angel?” Moreover, the children enjoyed the felt board rhymes: 5 Christmas Angels, 5 Christmas Stars, and Christmas Tree What Do You See? We even danced and pretended to be Christmas trees and shining stars! We also enjoyed listening to  CD story called “A Magical Christmas.”

For art, we made very unique cards for our surprise gifts. The children picked their own Christmas card cut outs and made their own card. They also helped scoop and mix together the Christmas spice mix that was part of the surprise gifts! We used our fine motor skills to trace and decorate a Christmas tree shape. Glitter is always fun! For our angel art, we used triangle and circle shapes to make them look like they’re flying. 

During the last week before break, we continued to practice our Christmas songs as well. The children did three songs that we sent home through email for parents to enjoy! We sang "Silent Night" with sign language, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", and "I’m a Little Pine Tree"! They all did such a terrific job!  During circle, we listened to the CD stories “Santa Knows,” Santa’s New Jet,” and “Russel’s Magical Christmas.” We also read the book “Olive the Other Reindeer.” We did the Reindeer Hokey Pokey, 5 Little Reindeer felt board rhyme, and Rudolph, Rudolph What Colour is your Nose? We sang the Santa Bingo song and the action song Old St. Nicholas. It was so fun ringing our jingle bells and singing Jingle Bells. The children also enjoyed singing to The Bells on the Sleigh! 

For art, the children made Santa faces by gluing his beard, hat and eyes! We also used our fingertips to make a strand of Christmas lights and we even made reindeer antler headbands by using big Christmas stamps to decorate them. 

It was great to see the kids wear their Christmas colours and some even wore their special hats for our last day! For our treat, the children enjoyed a yummy Rice Krispie treat! We even danced to Christmas songs and watched a Christmas video called Toopy & Binoo’s Christmas Adventure. 

In January, we will be looking into space!! We’ll talk about astronauts, rockets, stars, the moon, the sun and the planets! 

If you have any questions or concerns, please ask your teachers! 

MUSIC PROGRAM - Tiffany

Tiffany and her husband Alex welcomed their baby girl, Bowen Lily into their lives on December 31^st at 3:20 pm.  

Bowen weighed in at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and everyone is home and doing well.

RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion

Happy New Year!  

So nice seeing all our families back after the Holidays.  I want to thank everyone for your Holiday Wishes and thoughtful gifts  The value of kind gestures has increased in meaning during these unprecedented times.   

As we start the new year I would like to focus on The Value of Play and our philosophy of Learning Through Play. 

Two year-olds and younger three year-olds usually play alone or with adults, this is termed SOLITARY PLAY.  As they grow older they move into PARALLEL PLAY, which occurs when a child plays side by side with peers, with some interactions, but without direct involvement with them.  As the number of relationships outside the home increases, the child’s ability to play with other children develops further.  At this point the child may engage in ASSOCIATIVE PLAY, which may take the form of a child merely being present and participating at circle time. Eventually, as they grow more comfortable with their social ties, young children begin to talk about, plan and carry out activities with other children.  This type of play is called COOPERATIVE PLAY.

The needs of children are met through creative play.  They learn about themselves, others, and the world around them through their play activities.   Creative play has specific purposes in an early childhood program – to promote physical, mental, social and emotional growth.  

Three year-olds often cannot separate the real from pretend.  They will become their favorite TV character.  Creative play activities help children develop a positive self-concept.  In play there are no right or wrong answers.  Young children learn to view themselves as successful and worthwhile human beings.  They learn to express and understand their emotions.  Play is a safe and acceptable way to test out their expression of feelings.  They can relive anxiety or stress that they have experienced.

Dramatic play is an important medium for language learning and helping children develop fluency in language.  A child who is reluctant to speak in other situations may be more comfortable speaking when involved in dramatic play.  Finger puppets and hand puppets are wonderful tools to encourage speech and language.  Young children learn best through play because it is meaningful, engaging, interactive, interesting and enjoyable.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s interaction in the classroom, please e-mail the office.

December 2020

 

DECEMBER 2020

Ok! We have almost made it to the end of 2020...THANK GOODNESS!!

Let's hope that the next year is a much healthier and much more normal time for all of us!

But for now...we still have 2 weeks to go so let's tighten up our boot straps and HOLD ON TIGHT!! We have a lot of FUN to pack in to these next few days ahead!!

The Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative is in full force in the TREEHOUSE Room. All families in this class should have received their NEW FEE SCHEDULES FOR JANUARY. Hopefully we will be able to add the Sunflower Room to this Program in the new year. We will keep you informed.

IMPORTANT DATES & EVENTS

DEC. 9TH & 10TH: CLASS PHOTOS FOR ALL CLASSES

DEC. 16-18: IN-CLASS CHRISTMAS PARTIES

DEC. 18: LAST DAY CLASSES BEFORE CHRISTMAS BREAK

JAN. 4: FIRST DAY BACK AFTER CHRISTMAS BREAK

JAN. 29: REGISTRATION FORMS DUE FOR CURRENT FAMILIES FOR 2021/22

FEB. 1: REGISTRATION FORMS DUE FOR COMMUNITY FAMILIES FOR 2021/22

FEB. 15: FAMILY DAY - PRESCHOOL CLOSED

RAINBOW ROOM - Danielle, Marjan, Vibha

Wow, one more month and it is Christmas! Time flies! 

But boy, we had such a busy and fantastic month of November.

We started with the theme of Dogs. Children stamped dots on dog-shaped construction paper and printed dog paws on the paper with paint. Another day, they made dogs with paper plates, stamped thick black dots on them, and added ears and noses and googly eyes on them. Another day, they used sponges to create dogs paws and used them to print paws on the paper.

 

For circle time, we read the Downward Dog book and Dog yoga poses during circle time. We had Milo and Maggie's adventure story tape, as well as the "White Dog White Dog What Do You See" felt rhyme. We had lots of stuffy dogs at our house corner with Veterinarian tools for the children to pretend the dogs are sick and for examining them. We had dogs in the sand and water table. At the science table we had a felt board with lots of dog felts for children to have fun playing with. 

 Next we moved to the theme of Cats. Children covered the cat-shaped construction paper with pieces of tissue papers glued on it. They also made a black cat with paper tiles and added eyes and tails to the cats. For circle time, we had "Mittens" book, "5 Little Cats Sitting On a Row", and "Blue Cat Blue Cat What Do You See" felt stories. For another circle time, we did "Pete the Cat White Shoes", "5 Little Animals" book, and "Pete the Cat Groovy Buttons". We also had small plastic cats in the water and sand tables, and a few cat stuffies at the house corner. At the science table, we had a felt board with felt cats, and at the light table, we had some mini plastic cats.

 

Our next theme was the Rain. For art, children used rubber boots to stamp boot prints on a paper. They stamped rain drops with paint using cotton balls on the umbrellas. Another day, they made boots with tissue paper. For circle time, we had "5 Little Umbrellas" colour game, the "Rain Rain Go Away", and the Bear with dress up felt stories. We also had a rain instrument and sang the "Rain Drop" song. At the water table, we had blue buttons and two cups with holes that the water flowed through. We had metal board with magnets at the science corner too.

 At the end of the week, we talked about Hibernation and that some animals like bears and snakes go to sleep when the weather gets cold. For art, we had roller painting on cardboard to make caves, and the children made bears with paper plates too. For circle time, we had "Brown Bea, Brown Bear What Do You See" book, "5 Little Tail" felt story, a hibernation felt rhyme, and the "Bear Goes Over the Mountain" song. We had two cozy box houses at the house corner with a lot of bear stuffies. We had bears at science table with pieces of wood. We also had colourful small bears at the light and water tables. 

 In the next few weeks, we will talk about Christmas. If you have any question please feel free to contact to office and make a time to talk to us.

TREEHOUSE ROOM - Arsi, Brita, Carol, Karen, Marjan, Rose

Wow, one more month and it is Christmas. Time flies. 

Such a busy, busy month was November and children had lots of fun.

Welcome to the  Robert Munsch world. We started the month with the author, Robert Munsch. During circle time, we read lots of books written by Mr. Munsch: Andrews Loose Tooth, Pyjama Day, the Sandcastle Contest, Class Clown, Paper Bag Princess, Smelly Socks, Cookies, No Clean Clothes,  and Down the Drain. 

We did art projects for all of these books. All around the class you could find lots of art that related to the Robert Munsch books. For the Pyjama book, children wore pyjamas and made pancakes, decorated a large paper pyjama and put colourful paper pyjamas on stick people.

 For Remembrance Day, we talked to the children about the soldiers who fight for our country to keep us safe and why we should never forget them. We had art that day and children made lots of poppies.

 We moved to the theme of Space for two weeks. We had lots of books and art. For art, we made moons, space, rocket ships, rocket ship with names, moon plates, 3D rocket ships, starry night splatter paint, astronauts, solar systems, flying saucers, marble painting earths, painted stars, and we painted and cut out arranged solar system, telescopes, and planets.

 

There were lots of toys, puzzles, and books about space around the class.  Inside the water table, we had rocks and colourful circle pompoms demonstrating planets. In the sand table, we had astronauts and lots of rocks, and children were enjoying to play with them.

 For circle time, we had lots of books and felt stories like: 

Five Roaring Rocket, There is No Place Like Space, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed the Moon, In the Solar System, Earth, I am a Star on the Moon, Which Planet is the Astronaut On, Find the Mouse Behind the Planet game, Matching Planets, Zoom Zoom we are Going to the Moon, Night Sky What Do You See, Five Rocket Ships, Pete the Cat: Out of This World, Five Little Astronauts rhyme, Rocket Ship Hiding Behind the Moon, Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, On the Moon, Our Stars, Little Rockets Special Star, The Moon, Five Little Astronauts, and Five Little Stars.

We also watched a movie called Off Into Space. The children really enjoyed it.  We made constellations out of mini marshmallows and toothpicks.

Next few weeks, we will talk about Christmas. 

 If you have any questions, please feel free to contact office.

 Thanks for reading.

SUNFLOWER ROOM - Arsi, Carol, Danielle

As I sat down to write the November Newsletter I could not believe how busy we have been and what we have been learning about. There is soooo much, I am not sure I have will enough room.

We started November talking about Sea life.  We talked about fish and how they swim in a school of fish and how whales swim in pods. We listened to the felt story ‘The Fish with the Deep Sea Smile’ and read “Fish Wish”. We then sang songs about ‘Slippery Fish, 5 Little Whales’ and guessed which fish was missing. We read ‘Orca’s Song & Whales’ and sang the action rhymes ‘The Whale Hokey Pokey, 3 Jelly Fish, Row, Row your Boat & Here is the Sea’. We read ‘One Tiny Turtle’ & ‘Turtle Soup’. We played ‘Which Sea Creature is under the blanket & Which Sea Creature is Missing? In the water table we even had ‘Green’ Seaweed mixed with crabs, starfish & octopus. For art we stamped ‘white spots’ onto orcas and glued tissue paper & cellophane onto fish & jellyfish. We also used a potato masher to make turtles, that was a lot of fun.

We also touched on Remembrance Day and how it is very important for everyone to use their words when talking to each other and to keep our hands to our own bodies. We read “The Soldiers Puppy & If The Kids Ruled the World”. We listened to the rhyme 5 Soldiers & 5 Poppies. We guessed which colored Poppy was missing & played ‘What’s the Time Mr. Soldier?” In the water table we used tweezers to put black & red pompoms into small containers and on the playdough table we used small shovels to scoop red rice into more small containers – strengthening our hand and eye co-ordination. For art we traced Poppy’s & decorated them with red tissue paper.

For the last 2 weeks of November we went back to some of our childhood favorites…Fairytales. We read ‘The 3 Little Pigs, The 3 Billy Goats Gruff’, Goldilocks & the 3 Bears, Jack & the Beanstalk, Chicken Little, Red Riding Hood, The Princess & the Pea and The Gingerbread Man’. Mixed in there we read a few different versions of these stories with ‘Snoring Beauty, Goldilocks Rocks, Super Pigs, Jack & the Texas BBQ and Gingerbread Mouse’. We sung ‘The Goats Go Marching by’ and listened to the felt rhymes 5 Little Bears, 5 Little Pigs, 5 Princess’s Jumping on the Bed & 5 Gingerbread Men. We played Duck, Duck Goose & Stay, Stay Run games. Along with the running wall game of the characters from the Gingerbread Man. We all had lots of fun using masks of the different characters and acting the stories out in free play and sometimes at circle. We even had a large castle in the home corner to add to the atmosphere of the stories. Art was lots of fun…we traced bowls to ‘fill’ with porridge and we used forks, paint & paper to create goats. We made our own 3 Little Pigs houses with paper bricks, popsicle sticks & spaghetti. We added a pea & mattresses to our own beds and built our own beanstalk with tissue paper and our handprints.  We topped it all off with baking our own gingerbread men to take home & eat…

For the last few weeks of the year we will explore The Nativity & Christmas, as well as continuing to have fun learning and playing together.

Please remember to pack more food than less (one container for snack & one for lunch) as we are here for 4 hours a day, so the children get hungry.  We will also be going outside to play so pack appropriate footwear & jackets.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office so we can arrange a meeting after school hours. 

RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion

Children love toys and the best toys are often the simplest ones, like Lego blocks – because they allow children to be creative and spontaneous.   They enjoy toys that they can master and that are right for their stage of development.  Preschoolers learn a lot about socialization and do a lot of pretend play.

   This type of play allows them to get a sense of the real world. Hand puppets and finger puppets allow your child to use their imagination and create stories as they play.  Crayons, finger paints and Play-Doh help develop creativity.  Children also make huge gains in both fine and gross motor skills throughout this period, so puzzles, Lego and other construction toys are perfect age appropriate toys.
  It is important to buy toys that involve brain activity and hand or muscle movements.   

Although this year has been different in many ways, we need to remember that children bring a special gift to us all and especially at Christmas time.  The gift of imagination and curiosity.  I have been hiding a little ghost left over from Halloween in the Treehouse Room.  He has been named Ralph and they look for him each day around the classroom because he sneaks back in the evening.  He has worn a Santa hat and now they have asked if Ralph could look like a reindeer. 

As we near Christmas break, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

On Christmas Eve this year, St. Catherine's Church is planning a St. Catherine’s Christmas Eve Pageant at 3 pm.

Respecting Covid-19 regulations, the pageant may be hosted on Zoom.

Visit  www.saint.catherine.org  

MUSIC - Tiffany

Tiffany has taken an early leave so she can prepare for her wonderful BUNDLE OF JOY that will be arriving, if on time, sometime in January!

We will miss her wonderful enthusiasm and her love of Teaching Music to Children!!

Thanks so much Tiffany! We will miss you!!

See you in the New Year!!

November 2020

WELCOME November!!

It's hard to believe that we are zipping through Autumn so fast!! We have two months of preschool under our belt and we are ready for number three! 

We have a lot planned for the next couple of months so stay tuned!!!

*REMINDER*

We will be having our AGM on Wednesday, November 18th and will be doing it online at 6:30pm. 

As we are a non-profit organization, we must have our AGM every year to keep our status and as members of St. Catherine's Childcare Society, you are expected to attend the meeting. We will be sending out a separate email to detail the procedure for joining the meeting. We will be voting in new members so if you are wanting to be on our Board, please let us know in the office so we can get your name down on the ballot.

Thanks to all who participated in our SAMOSA FUNDRAISER!! We raised $1000. to go towards playground improvements!!

DATES TO REMEMBER

NOV. 1 - Purdy's Chocolate Fundraiser Opens

NOV 11 - Remembrance Day - PRESCHOOL CLOSED

NOV 18 - AGM & Welcome to St. Catherine's Assembly (online 6:30pm)

NOV. 23 - Purdy's Orders Due before 3pm

DEC 2/3 - Purdy's Orders Pick Up (9am-3pm in parking lot)

DEC 18 - Last Day of Classes before Christmas Break

JAN 4 - First Day back to Classes

Check out below what happened in the Classrooms in October!!

RAINBOW ROOM - Danielle, Marjan, Vibha

What an interesting month we have had…it all started when we FINALLY began staying at school for the full 2.5 hours.  The children have been doing great saying goodbye to parents at the front door and coming downstairs by themselves (with a teacher of course).

We have been very busy this month starting with Thanksgiving.  For Art some of us painted Turkeys with feathers, others used their handprints to make a Turkey Print on a paper plate. On the science table we explored our Thanksgiving vegetables: squash, corn, sweet potato and potatoes.  When then went further and cut them in half and used them to make vegetable prints with paint. For circle we read stories about Turkey’s Thanksgiving and listened to the felt rhymes ‘5 Little Turkeys’ and what color Turkey is missing game?

After Thanksgiving, we moved onto a teacher favorite, Fall.  In the water table there was lots of LEAVES…. we then had fun finding little apples & acorns under them.  We also used real leaves to make a Leaf Paper Plate Wreathe and we used leaf sponges to make prints of leaves using fall colors.  For circle we sang “All the Leaves are falling down” and read the story “Going on a Leaf Hunt’ & the felt story ‘Sammy Squirrel’. We listened to the felt rhymes ‘5 Little Owls’ & ‘5 Little Leaves’. We also enjoyed spending time outside as there was a lot of sunshine, usual for this time of the year.

After fall comes another exciting celebration… Halloween! This is always a fun packed few weeks. At art we made paper plate spiders, made a pumpkin collage or used white paint & shaving cream to paint a ghost.  Some of the children used stamps to decorate their own pumpkins while others shook marbles inside a pringles can to decorate bats. For circle we listened to the felt rhymes “5 Little Pumpkins, 5 Little Ghosts, 5 Little bats, Incy Winsy Spider & Spooky Tree, Spooky Tree, what do you see? We read the stories ‘The Spooky Wheels on the Bus & heard a story about a pumpkin. We listened to the felt stories ‘The Chocolate Chip Ghost & Whooooooos’. We also had lots of fun dancing to Halloween music, ‘Ghostbusters’ being the most popular song. In the water table we had pumpkins, eyeballs & skulls…mixed in with water and shaving cream…this was very popular.  In the home corner we had a pumpkin shop, with real pumpkins, shopping carts and cash registers… This year, it was a bit different as we couldn’t have a party but we made it fun by wearing our PJ’s, decorating the classroom and using a tablecloth for snack.  We also had a yummy cupcake to top it off!

In the next few weeks we are going to explore cats & dogs, rain and hibernation…Lots of more fun to come.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact the office and make a time to talk to us.. 

TREEHOUSE ROOM - Karen, Brita, Rose, Arsi, Carol, Marjan

👋🏽 Hello Treehouse Parents

              

  What a fun busy time we have had this month. October is one of my favourite months because there is so much happening. We started off talking about everything fall brings, from beautiful colours, falling leaves and pumpkins. At circle we talked about the different kinds, shapes, colours and sizes of leaves. Books we read we’re “I Know it’s Autumn,” “Leaves are Falling,” Five little squirrels felt rhyme, I am a tree song. For art we coloured diffusing paper leaves with watercolour, painted with leaves, leaf stamping, puffy paint leaves and leaf wreathes. 

               

Gobble, gobble and then it was Thanksgiving. We talked about what we were thankful for at circle and you will be happy to know that family was at the top of the list❤️. We also shared a Harvest Time felt story, “What am I Thankful for?” book, a food matching game, memory game and where’s the Turkey hiding and what is your favourite food discussion, most children said Turkey. We made cornucopias, turkey handprints, pop-up scarecrow and leaf wreathes. 

               
As you may already know we always sing Johnny Appleseed before we have our snack and we discuss why we sing it. To further explore we watched a classic video about how the legend began. We continued with making our own applesauce and apple juice, apple printing, painted plates to look like apples and laced with wool and made apple blossom trees. For circle we read “The Biggest Apple ever,”and 10 apples on a tree felt rhyme and what bucket is the apple behind game. 

What kinda of music do mummies like?… Wrap music😆

Halloween is upon us and what better way to start off with a silly joke.

You may have noticed your child came home with a lot of Halloween art, they were very happy with all their creations. The classroom was decorated with mummies, paper plate spiders, orange coloured coffee filter pumpkins, glittery bats, cauldrons, handprint q-tip skeletons, puffy paint ghosts, and orange stamped pumpkins. We also made the home corner into a pumpkin patch. For circle we read “Where’s my Mummy?”, White ghost, white ghost what do you see?felt rhyme, what colour house is the ghost spooking in felt game, where is the pumpkin felt game, 5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom we’re riding on a broom and what colour pumpkin is missing. 

Normally around Halloween we take a walk to the library for a circle time hosted by the librarian. This year we tried something different through Zoom. It was an interactive story time and the children took part as the librarian called them by name. We ended Halloween with a cupcake and an orange Kool-aid drink box. We also watched a movie called Curious George: A Halloween Boo Feast. 

Every year right before Halloween Marion introduces the children to Fireman Dan. This is a video that talks about fire safety and once it is over we set up a prop for the children to crawl under as if they were in a real fire situation. Crawl low under smoke.  

Just a few reminders

• We will continue to go outside if the weather is nice, please dress your child in appropriate clothes and bring mittens and toque.
• Please label all food containers.
• Please sent your child to school with a large enough back pack to carry all their belonging.

 Thanks for reading😊

Arsi, Karen, Marjan and Carol Tues/Thurs

Brita, Rose, Karen and Carol Mon/Wed/Friday 

SUNFLOWER ROOM - Arsi, Danielle, Carol

What a fun packed month we’ve had in October! 

So much to learn and to explore!

We started the month talking about Thanksgiving! We talked about how it’s important to celebrate the time of harvest. We learned that harvest meant farmers working hard to grow fruit and vegetables for us. Moreover, the children were excited to learn how those fruits and vegetables were sent to the grocery stores where we buy them. We also talked about how
Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate with  family and to be thankful for what we have. For art, we used pictures of yummy Thanksgiving food and glued them onto cornucopia shapes. Furthermore, we talked about turkeys and what they sound and look like. At circle, we read the book “Runaway Turkey” and we sang “Turkey word red feathers.” We also had some laughs watching 5 felt turkeys fly away home. For art, we traced a turkey shape and glued some colourful feathers on his body. The children also decorated a turkey shape with various colours of tissue to represent the different color of their feathers. 

 The following week, we had a blast with Pete the Cat. He’s the grooviest cat in town! 

“Pete the Cat: I love my white shoes,” was the first book we listened to followed by “Rocking in my school shoes.” During circle, we played a fun game of trying to find our friends’ matching shoe. Moreover, we played a felt board guessing game where the children had to guess which color shoe was missing. For art, we used real shoes to make imprints on paper and we sparkled them up too. In the house corner, we had a very busy shoe shop! Another popular book we listened to was “Pete the Cat and his Four groovy buttons.”

We played a fun game of Pin (tape) the button on the jacket, which jacket is missing, and which color button is missing. The had lots of laughs singing, “Hi, my name is Joe and I work in a button factory.” It got silly and funny! For art, we used our hand eye coordination to cut a part of Pete’s jacket and then glued some colourful buttons on. So much fun was had with Pete! 

 The last two weeks of the month we focused on Halloween! Boo! Our house corner turned into a pumpkin patch where the children bought pumpkins in their shopping carts from the checkout! At circle, we read “Rollaway Pumpkin,” and “Splat the Cat: Pumpkin picking plan.” We also listened to 5 little pumpkins felt rhyme, How to make a Jack o lantern
felt rhyme and the felt story “Percy the Pumpkin.” For art, we traced a pumpkin shaped and used glitter glue to collage fun Halloween sequence shapes. Our next book we listened to was “Bat’s Lullaby” and “Five Little Bats.” We also sang the action song called “Sleeping Bats” and when we woke up, we flew around. Moreover, we sang the songs “Way up high in the Bat tree” and “Five bats went out” felt board rhyme. For art, we used marbles to paint our purple and silver flying bats. This was so fun!

“The Witch had an Itch” was a funny book and action song that we had fun doing. For art, the children used various shapes to make their own witch with wavy arms and legs! 

On our last week of October, we talked about ghosts, spiders, and skeletons. We listened to the felt story called “The Chocolate chip ghost,” “Skeleton Hiccups,” and “The Spookiest Halloween Ever.” We danced to the Halloween Hokey Pokey and we shook our bones! The children also enjoyed guessing which color house the ghost was hiding in and waved bye to the 5 little ghosts rhyme. We asked the Golden moon, what do you see? (Felt rhyme) and invited more spiders to come out and play on a web with a fun rhyming song. For art, we used white tissue paper  to decorate a ghost shape, we counted 8 wavy legs to glue our spiders’ legs and we used Q-tips to make our skeleton. On our party day we loved seeing the children in their costumes. We enjoyed a story time via zoom with Kaley from the Capilano library. As a treat, we munched on some yummy cupcakes!! Happy Halloween!

  Marion also showed the children a very important video on fire safety. Fireman Dan talked about stop, drop, and roll. We even practiced doing that and also practiced crawling low under smoke! 

What a busy month!

In the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at sea life animals, Remembrance Day and some classic fairy tales! 

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

 

MUSIC ROOM - Tiffany

Fall is in full swing and Winter is just around the corner! The young musicians of St. Catherine’s Preschool had an energizing October, listening to the instruments of the Keyboard family as well as some of the instruments in the String family. We listened to and learned the difference between the acoustic and electric guitar. We also got a chance to use rhythm sticks as ‘bows’ to play our invisible violins.

 

We are currently reading the book, “M is for Music” and in our book, the letter ‘B’ stood for Beatles! What a great opportunity to introduce little ears to the iconic group, The Fab Four.

 

During the month we began to learn the notes and names of the musical alphabet. We got to do the ‘C’ scale walk and we sang “Do a deer” from The Sound of Music.

 

We finished off the month with some spooky, Halloween themed music, such as The Halloween STOMP and an instructional song about Mysterious Things... BOO! Some of the instruments we used this month were, rhythm sticks, egg shakers and hand drums. So cool.

 

Next month, we will continue to build our knowledge of the musical alphabet, learning the hand signs that go with the names. We will also learn the words ‘forte’ which means, to sing or play loudly. And ‘piano’ which means to sing or play softly. Towards the middle of November we will start to work hard on our Christmas repertoire. Stay tuned for what’s in store this upcoming holiday season with St. Catherine’s music kids! 

RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion

Thank you to all our families and teachers for their patience and respect for the guidelines that we have had to put in place to keep everyone safe.

 

We are in our 3rd month of preschool and what better time to discuss "Toilet Training".  Not all children are ready at the same age.  It is important to watch your child for signs of readiness such as stopping an activity for a few seconds, clutching at his/her diaper or doing a "little dance".

 

Your child may be ready to start toilet training when he/she can:

* follow simple directions

* understand words about the toileting process 

* verbally express his/her need to go to "pee"

* keep his/her diaper dry for 2 hours or longer

* go to the potty/toilet, sit down and try, then get off and pull up his/her

   pants

 

At preschool the teachers are watching the children for the usual signs.  When a child asks to go to the washroom, the teacher will ask if any one else needs to go, usually there are 1 or 2 other children who will want to go.  Parents can help by informing the teachers that they are working on toileting at home, or if the child wears underwear at home but pull-ups for preschool.   Getting your child out of diapers/pull-ups is the first step.  Let your child pick out their own underwear, they are pretty excited about the many designs.  Be sure to praise your child for all attempts to use the toilet, even if nothing happens and remember accidents will happen.  Tell your child that it was an accident and offer support.  Lots of liquids during the day and nothing after 6 pm depending on your child's bedtime, that was my little trick.  Dress your child in loose fitting clothing, such as jogging pants or leggings when toilet training.  Avoid overalls, children need to practice dressing and undressing with minimum help.  It is a process that cannot be rushed so set aside some time to devote to toilet training.  Establish a bathroom routine, first potty then wash hands.

 

If you have any questions or concerns about developmental milestones please e-mail:  stcpre@telus.net.

REMINDER: 

Our AGM is Wed., Nov. 18th @ 6:30pm