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

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

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

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

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

Important dates:

Mon April 14: Summer School Registration begins

Fri April 18: Preschool closed for Good Friday

Mon April 21: Preschool closed for Easter Monday

Tues-Fri April 22-25: Jeans Week

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

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

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

Mon May 5: Classroom parent visits begin

Tues May 6: "Just for Mom" Event

Mon May 19: Victoria Day, preschool closed

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

Tel: 604-980-1326

Fax: 604-982-3277

Email: stcpre@telus.net

Web: www.stcatherinespreschool.com

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

A note from the Developmental Resource Office   Marion...

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

Discovery 2's art

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

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

FOR CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS OLD

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

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

A note from Creative Music   Cheryl....

Cheryl's "Creative" staff meeting snack!

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

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

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

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

Bug Painting!

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

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

Bugs in coffee grounds!

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

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

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

Egg carton caterpillars

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

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

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

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

Woof Woof!

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

Glittery shamrocks!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rainbow Plate Flowers!

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

Tulips!

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

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

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

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

Ants in your pants!

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

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

Butterflies flutter by...

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

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

The ants go marching 2 by 2 hurrah hurrah!

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

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

Chicka Chicka boom boom!

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

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

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

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

Items for our "home corner preschool"

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

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

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

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

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

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

G is for Giraffe!

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

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

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

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

Free Art Fun!

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

Next month we will be moving onto Easter. 

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