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:
- 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.
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 ClosedWednesday, 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
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