A Brand New Year... January 2015

A note from Jen McEneany - Coordinator

It's hard to believe that over a month of 2015 is already behind us and spring is just around the corner; thinking about how fast time goes by made me think of a poem which was written by Henry Twells in the late 1800's called Time's Paces:

Our newest goodies from Scholastic!

"When as a child I laughed and wept,

Time crept.

When as a youth I waxed more bold.

Time strolled.

When I became a full grown man,

Time RAN.

When older still I daily grew,

Time FLEW,

Soon I shall find in passing on,

Time gone."

I think this poem is so relevant even today, over a hundred years after it was first published, because we all feel the pressures of time on a daily basis. Our society is fast paced and full of TO-DO lists which never seem to get any shorter and we all feel a lot of pressure to be working much of the time. Remembering that time is fleeting means that we need to prioritize what is truly important to us and do as much of it as we possibly can! So play with your children, get outside with them, listen to them, read with them, dance with them and enjoy these truly special early years because before you know it they will be on to the next stage and you will wonder where those years went...

Don't forget to place your Feb book orders by the 12th!

This month we have been asking our families to decide on the classes they would like for their children for the 2015/2016 preschool year. As currently enrolled families you will have had the opportunity to take part in our priority registration for classes provided we received the registration forms and a deposit cheque for your first choice by the January 30th deadline.

This time of year can be stressful because some classes are very popular and as is the case with class 401, may require a lottery draw. Please be patient as we work to get everyone into their classes and try to understand that while we would love to be able to place everyone in their first choice it's not always possible.

Even if you do end up being placed in your second choice class and being wait-listed for your first choice, don't despair! Often we find that we are able to place many people on our wait-lists before September starts because lots of changes happen between now and then. 

If you have any questions regarding registration (or anything else) please pop by the office and chat with Tina, Jen or Marion.

Important February dates:

Thurs Feb 5, 6:30-8:00pm: Community registration.

Fri Feb 6, 8:30am - 3:00pm: Community registration.

Mon Feb 9: Preschool Closed for Family Day.

Wed/Thurs Feb 11/12/13: Valentine's Parties.

Tues Feb 17: Church Pancake Supper.
Thurs Feb 26: Messy Church 5:00-6:30pm

And don't for get about our Sunday School Program run by our wonderful preschool teacher Gabi and her daughter Rebecca! Everyone is welcome to join the Sunday Service at 10 am; you can drop your children with Gabi in the Rainbow Room for some songs, crafts and a snack and then head up to the Church for the Service.

For general information about our programs please contact Jen or Tina:

Tel: 604-980-1326
Fax: 604-982-3277
Email: stcpre@telus.net
Website: www.stcatherinespreschool.com
Please "LIKE" our facebook page "St. Catherine's Child Care Society" Thank you!

A note from Marion Porter - Developmental Resource Educator

I truly hope everyone had a relaxing, fun time over the Holidays. I would like to thank everyone for their warm wishes and lovely gifts, they are very much appreciated. I am happy to be back to a routine and looking forward to getting our 4’s ready for their next step, Kindergarten. The 2’s have welcomed a few new little faces and so I have been in the classroom helping out and I’m pleased to see the social interaction that is happening, they are showing signs of building independence and confidence. The 3’s are busy playing cooperatively and are able to focus longer on activities and sitting at circle time.

The Essentials of Development:

Emotional Development means developing a full range of emotions, from sad to happy to angry, and learning to handle them appropriately. This leads to deeper qualities- sympathy, caring, resilience, self-esteem, assertiveness and being able to rise to life’s challenges.

Cognitive Development means being able to communicate, to think both creatively and abstractly, to pay attention and to solve problems, and develop keen judgment and a lifelong readiness to learn.

Social Development means being able to make friends and get along with others, work as part of a team and be a good leader, all of which are built on self-confidence, cooperation and trust.

A note from Laura Kaario - Music Teacher

Our new table top light box!

Canada,

Canada,

Today our music comes from where?

Canada!

(tune of Hot Crossed Buns)     

This January we have started to sing songs and hear music from around the world. So far we have learned about Austria, South Africa and our very own Canada. We did silly yodel echoes, sang Canadian folk-songs (the 4’s even learned a lullaby in Iroquois!) and talked about our national anthem, Here is the South African version of Ring around a Rosie that we learned.

Willy, willy, wally.

Our new light table for the Sunflower Room!

The monkey’s on the barrel,

Boom! Bang! He fell down,

Willy, willy, wally.

We also did an instrument exploration circle of ten different percussion instruments that everyone got to try. Everyone managed to control their excitement enough to have their good listening ears on! We practiced respecting the instruments, how to play some new ones, listening to their different sounds, taking turns, playing quietly and loudly, and controlling the number of beats we played. I'm looking forward to us learning about more music from other countries – and we’ll even be starting to learn our Easter music soon! 

A note from the Discovery 2's - Vibha, Estelle, Danielle, Sali, Stephanie

Welcome back! The children seem well rested and glad to be back at preschool after the Christmas holidays. We would like to welcome some new children to the program. In 201; welcome to Luke B., Luke D., Willa, Max and Neeve. In 202; welcome to Isaac and goodbye to Will and good luck.

Discovery 2's artwork!

For the month of January our theme was winter and winter animals. The children played with polar bear figurines, blue water, white play dough with sparkles and winter animal stuffies.

At art we explored different mediums such as painting with ice cubes, shaving cream, glue, salt and using a screen with a scrub brush. The children decorated penguins, polar bears and fish with these different materials.

At circle we sang songs and rhymes about mittens, polar bears, snowmen, belugas and kittens. We played games using colours, talked about using our manners; such as saying excuse me when we want to get by and asking for a turn with a toy someone else is using.

Our 2's family board!

Here is one of the new songs we learned :

I’m a little polar bear (I’m a little teapot tune)

I’m a little polar bear

Soft and white

I catch a tasty fish

And take a big bite

When the day is over

I know what is right

I lay down my sleepy head

And say “Goodnight”



A note from the Treehouse Room Class 301 - Gabi, Permjit and Sousan

Working on our 3D hedgehogs!

Welcome back from the holidays! Wishing all of you a wonderful and joyful New Year! We've noticed that some of the children seemed to have had growth spurts over the break. It makes you really value the time spent with them. It often feels like we are endlessly running after them but we need to enjoy the moments with them that show us how profound and awesome they are. The children have this unique way of thinking that is straight forward and often hilarious. We joke with them and of course they love to tease us! And they all love to say to us "Did you know....?"

We have a lot of fun but as with everything there can be moments of conflict. We try to encourage them to think about the effect their words can have on each other and how feelings might be hurt. We are fortunate that we have a class that gels really well together. 

"Look what I made!"

We encourage learning through the use of themes and play based activities. We started off January with a Winter theme and asked the children what season they thought it was. Also the children got to make penguin creations during art and explore topics such as animal habits and hibernation. They also got to read books on all these animals that are either sleeping, adapting, or migrating when the weather gets cold. They also learnt about animals that have a huge amount of blubber so they can stay warm in the cold climate. (Polar Bear, etc.)

We explored one of our favourite books by Jan Brett, "The Mitten" and made our own story props so that we could take it home and tell it to our families. We finished the winter theme off with our 3D hedgehogs which was a lot of fun but we got carried away making a home for it that took a long time to dry and be ready! This is just a few of the activities over the last month.

"I'm taking him home!"

During the holiday season we received a number of lovely gifts from you and we wanted to say a huge thank you. It was great to relax with a good book from Indigo and a Starbucks Eggnog latte, apparently it's not Christmas unless you have one! All the presents were thoughtful and it was nice to be able to light our candles, open a box of chocolates and have a peaceful bath. The festive period was made even better by the fact we had personalized lettered mugs so no fighting! The mugs are still being used and we indulged in quite a few homemade cookies! Thank you everyone.

We enjoyed getting back to routine and loved hearing about their holidays. One thing's for sure, they all loved just being with their family, cousins and grandparents and friends! We will be working on a number of themes in February including: Valentine's, Chinese New Year and friendships. If you have any queries please speak to us.

A note from the Treehouse Room Class 302 - Gabi, Susan and Karen

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you so much for all your nice, personal messages in the cards we received as well as the good wishes along with the abundance of presents you showered us with! 

Arriving back in January you will have noticed some changes in our class with the addition of our new teacher Susan. Your children accepted this change calmly and gracefully, so we are really glad that this transition did not cause any anxiety. We would like to welcome Susan to our class as well as two new friends Nico and Cole!

In January (not having any snow to play with outside) we decided to bring snow into our classroom! We made a "Snowman Building Factory" in our home corner by wrapping boxes in white paper and using them to build with; we even had a snowball fight with balls of white paper!

We also read lots of stories, made art pieces and had discussions about how animals survive outside in the harsh winter conditions by either adapting, migrating or hibernating. As usual there were many new songs to be learned and a whole bucket of sprinkles was used up at the art table!

Next we will be celebrating Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day! Please make sure to dress your children in weather appropriate clothing as we try to spend as much time outside as possible; thank you!

A note from the Sunflower Room Class 401 - Susan, Stephanie and Karen

Winter Sports Board!

Welcome back! Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful winter break with family and friends. We would like to thank everyone for the thoughtful cards and gifts during the holiday season. It was much appreciated. 

It was great seeing all of the enthusiastic children waiting to come into the doors after the break. They have all grown so much in a number of ways. We have seen their play grow in the last few months. There is more communication and conversations between each other. We have also been putting out more challenging activities as they are developing and maturing. With kindergarten on its way we will be working on kindergarten readiness skills with the children. At snack time the children are pouring their own water now. We are working on independence skills in the classroom, so giving them more responsibilities. 

"People in a Snowstorm"

For the month of January we focused on winter. At circle we talked about the weather during the winter, the clothes we wear, different winter sports, and animals that hibernate. For art we made a person in a snowstorm, ice cream snowmen, water-colour snowflakes, ice skates, hockey jerseys, marble painting, paper-mâché rocks with snakes inside, penguins, and laced a mitten. 

For the next month our theme will be Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to speak to any of the teachers. 

A note from the Sunflower/Rainbow Room Class 402- Danielle, Arsi and Sousan

Wow what a great month it's been! We've looked at some winter animals and sports and have dived into the amazing work of Eric Carle.

We have been practicing our hand-eye coordination by tracing penguin, firefly, and ladybug shapes. Some of this art also required using our cutting skills which we will continue practicing in the coming months.

We talked about ice skating and hockey and brought in ice to see if we could make sculptures. The children were really into watching what salt did when added to ice. We decorated our own skates too and used different materials to make snowmen. Of course we couldn't leave out making beautiful winter collages.

Aww!

The last two weeks of January we spent taking a closer look at the amazing work by Eric Carle. Our first book was called "Slowly,Slowly, Slowly, said the Sloth." During circle, we discussed what animals move fast and which ones move slow (eagle, snail) and we charted our answers. We also watched a movie about sloths. For art, the children used diffusing paper with beautiful water colours to replicate the leaves found in the book. Our next book was "The Very Mixed Up Chameleon." This story showed us how it's good to be ourselves. For art, the children used bleeding tissue to bring out the many colours of the chameleon. Our next book was "The Very Lonely Firefly." The poor firefly was in search of finding others like him which

he eventually does. We couldn't resist dancing in the dark with glow sticks and playing a game of find the matching firefly. Our next books were "The Very Grouchy Ladybug" and "The Lamb and the Butterfly." The grouchy ladybug made us think about what makes us grouchy and the lamb reminded us how great home can be. The children traced and cut out their own ladybugs and created their own sheep using cotton balls.

In the next month, we will be talking about friends, feelings, and working on kindergarten readiness. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask.

A note from the Treehouse Room Class 304 - Stephanie, Vibha, Karen and Gabi

The month of January we focused on building sculptures by using various art mediums. We created 3D pictures using strips of colorful paper and we had lots of fun exploring with clay and connecting lollipop sticks to create a sculpture which is an excellent activity for children's fine motor skills. Also, our artistically talented children created a 3D structure with paper towel rolls and glued them onto a paper plate. We had lots of fun exploring with pipe cleaners and connecting it to pieces of Styrofoam.  

At circle time, we watched a mighty machine movie where we learned about assembling a crane. For the month of February, we will be talking about Valentine's Day, love and friendship. We recently transformed our housekeeping area into a pet-shop which is a lot of fun for our class as they all love animals. As always, please come and talk to us if you have any concerns.

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

Welcome back and a Happy, peaceful New Year to all our wonderful families. We all enjoyed our Christmas break and we're ready to get back into a routine again. After Christmas we noticed a significant change in the children; maturity seems to have settled in and they have gelled with their friends again. They reconnected and seemed to have missed each other.

We talked about what they liked best about the holidays and being with family topped it all!

403 Girlies!

Throughout the  year we are going to be encouraging the children to practice self regulation and taking other peoples feelings into account. It's important for them to realise that not everyone enjoys participating in every game & activity and that's OK. Sometimes getting excited about a game is only great, if everyone enjoys participating. The biggest challenge is that everyone has a choice and it's OK for them to say no to doing something they don't enjoy. As adults we don't always want to participate in certain activities and enjoy just pottering about and being in the moment and it's the same for our children.

Fun at the light table!

We have also been focusing on the theme of winter this year including animals that hibernate, adapt and migrate. We've talked about bears, snakes, hedgehogs and other animals  that hibernate. One surprising fact the children learnt was that some animals do wake up during the winter months (this is known as torpor). Bears are one example. They have young cubs they have to attend to and feed. Hedgehogs on the other hand move and build another nest. This is just a few of the activities we took part in. We really enjoyed the story "The Mitten" and had so much fun lacing our own mitten and taking our props home.

Friends!

We are very excited to welcome Gabi and Karen, two new teachers, as we continue 2015. Yippee!!!

Thank you very much for the generous gifts at Christmas time. We enjoyed our tea in our mugs and enjoyed going for coffee. At the end of the week, enjoying a glass of wine with yummy chocolate was a delight. Now we have our special personalised lettered mugs, no one can accidentally think its theirs! Jingle bells were a real hoot; had to ring them and have everyone come to the dinner table. Ideal for Christmas Day!!! I did wonder if I kept ringing them, could we get everyone to do my bidding...! As for our cold hands, put on some nice hand cream and our awesome mittens to keep them warm. Thank you so much!!

Lego time!

We have been working on a number of things already this year such as ABC's/numbers/colours/ memory games etc. We are encouraging the children's learning through guessing games such as the right letters for the correct days of the week. What two colours make green! Kindergarten readiness is what we will  work on throughout the rest of year as well as other fun themes. Please do come and see us if you have any queries. We are fortunate that we have Marion who is always on hand to help as well. She's always available in her office. We will be going on to a very pink and red month with Valentines and Chinese New year. We are looking forward to a very colourful February!