Merry Christmas! December 2015

 A note from Jen - Coordinator

What a special time of year this is. We have had a busy November and December and I'm sure you are all ready for a break and lots of festive fun with your families.

Jen and Marion's special Christmas board!

I want to say a HUGE thank you to both Rachel and Marion for getting everything organized for the Christmas Services, it is a lot of work and these ladies did a phenomenal job! I also want to say thank you to our teachers who made sure that our preschoolers had learnt all the songs and actions and who help to make sure that everyone feels comfortable during the performance. I think you will all agree that our 3's and 4's were adorable up there and did a fantastic job! Thank you to our parent photographers - we really appreciate you helping us out at events such as these.

Thank you to everyone who made a donation to our hamper. Marion and I delivered it on Thursday morning and we just know that you will have made this family's Christmas very special.

I will leave you with the quote by Burton Hillis which I just wrote on my family's big chalk board in our kitchen:

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family, all wrapped up in each other".

Merry Christmas!

Important Upcoming Dates:

Sat Dec 19th - Sun Jan 3rd - Christmas Break.
Mon January 4th - Back to preschool.
Thurs January 14 - Open House for new families.

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 - Developmental Resource Educator

Dropping the Christmas Hamper!

I find that after the Christmas Break the children all seem taller and more eager to learn new skills. The 2's and 3's ability to play in small groups will increase and they will be able to sit longer at circle time. The 4's will be working on their Kindergarten readiness skills with a focus on letters, numbers and communicating with teachers and peers. 

This Christmas will be special for our family as it will be the first time in three years that my two boys from Winnipeg will be home during the Holidays. We are so looking forward to having all three boys together. Our place is smaller this year after our move but as the boys always say, “Home is anywhere where we are all together”. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and All the Best for 2016.

A note from the Discovery 2's - Vibha, Danielle, Susan, Karen, Sali and Stephanie

For the month of November we learned about different modes of transportation in a variety of ways - from artwork, stories and rhymes to imaginative play in the dramatic play area. Next it was time to move on to our Christmas activities! We made angels and puffy paint snowmen. We decorated gingerbread, sang lots of Christmas songs and read some fun stories. We also created a special surprise for our moms and dads - no peeking until Christmas morning! We finished off with a party - thanks to our parents for providing some special party treats.

Thank you to all our families for the kind words and gifts, we truly appreciate your kindness. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas with your wonderful children and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

A note from the Treehouse Room - Class 301 - Estelle and Gabi

November and December have been busy months for our class. In November our home corner became a soup café and then a grocery store. We talked about healthy foods and keeping our bodies healthy by brushing our teeth and hair, using a tissue, coughing into our elbows and how it is important to wash our hands often.

We talked about being kind to our friends. We also talked again about our number one rule in class “No one gets hurt”; to use our words instead of our hands to talk to friends and sometimes we just have to wait our turns for something.

For Remembrance day we read a story and did a group art project and spoke on the importance of Remembrance day.

Starting in December we began practicing for our Christmas concert. The children did very well in remembering their songs and actions. Gabi and I are very proud of them.

Next our home corner became Santa’s workshop with a sleigh, which has been a hit with the children. We talked about the Nativity story and the reason for celebrating Christmas. The children have been hard at work working on their surprise for you and making other arts and crafts. Have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

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

What fun we have been having in our class! After learning about health and body in November we were very excited to begin our Christmas fun! We spent time learning our songs and actions for the Christmas Service and we were so proud of everyone on the night! We especially loved them singing and doing the sign language to Silent Night - just beautiful!

Apart from Christmas artwork, stories and songs we also made a special gift for our family - and finished up with a party - thank you to all the parents who provided party snacks - they were delicious! We also want to say thank you to all our families for their kind words and gifts, we are very blessed to work with such wonderful children and families. We wish you all a happy, relaxing and festive Christmas and we will see you all back in the New Year!

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

We have been having a lot of fun in our class over the past month and a half. We really enjoy spending time together playing in the dramatic play area and and working on our art projects. Our class also loves to go to the gym and outdoor time and we hear some really fun games and imaginative play happening during these times.

We were really proud of our little ones for learning all the songs and actions for the Christmas Service. It was great to see them up there performing for you!

We have had a great deal of fun over the Christmas season. We have been singing, listening to stories and creating lots of fun artwork. We hope you enjoy the special surprise your children created for you for Christmas! We finished off with a Christmas celebration - thank you to all our parents for providing some special party food for us to enjoy!

Thank you for all the kind words and gifts - we really appreciate your kindness. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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

This month, we introduced Echo, a whale we adopted from the Vancouver Aquarium.
Our class has a stuffy of Echo and the children will take turns taking him home on the weekends and recording their adventures. This led us into a theme on sea life when we created arts and crafts of Echo and other sea creatures. We also loved singing the song ‘Slippery Fish’.

Recently, we started creating a special surprise to bring home for Christmas. We also enjoyed writing letters to Santa.... We also spent time learning our songs for the Christmas Service and we think you will agree that they all did a fantastic job on the night! 

Thank you for providing yummy treats for our party as well as the kind words and gifts - we really appreciate it!

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas season and New Year!

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

As always we have been very busy in the extended program. We began November with a theme which will stretch through the entire year in a variety ways. We read the book "How Full is Your Bucket?" and realized that you have the power to make yourself and those around you feel "full" of happiness -  bucket filling, or "empty" of happiness - bucket dipping. This is a very important concept to learn at this age because we are just beginning to realize that it's not ALL about me... That can be a tough lesson to grasp but our class is doing a very fine job at it (most of the time!!).

With Christmas around the corner we began to learn about the great children's author Hans Christian Anderson. We read the stories "The Little Mermaid", "The princess and the Pea", "Thumbelina" and "The Ugly Duckling" (just to name a few!) and found out that some of these stories did not end with the "Happily Ever After" we may have come to expect - for instance, Ariel from the Little Mermaid does not end up marrying the prince in the original story! During this theme we got to practice our acting skills and this was so much fun as we acted out the scenes from some of the stories - we definitely have some future stars in this class! The final Hans Christian Anderson story we listened to was "The Fir Tree" and this was a perfect transition into Christmas.

During our Christmas preparations we read the Christmas story and created artwork of the Nativity to go along with it, we also spent lots of time practicing for the Christmas Service - we were very proud of everyone on the night as they all did a fantastic job. Next we baked gingerbread and decorated it and of course ate it right up after! We also awoke our sense of smell with mason jars filled with peppermint, cinnamon, hot chocolate powder and cedar! Of course we are always continuing with our Kindergarten Readiness skills of cutting with scissors and threading beads (fine motor), writing our own names and remembering our friend's names too (pre-reading); pattering, sorting and matching (pre-math skills) and continuing to learn how to be a good citizen (manners, taking turns, listening and asking questions!).

We finished up with a party (thanks to parents who provided snacks!) and we would like to thank all our families for their kind words and gifts. Have a wonderful Christmas with your lovely children and we look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

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

November and December have been busy months. First we talked about Remembrance day and why we celebrate it. We had visits from the dentist and Elmer the safety elephant as well as a trip to the library.

We had themes around two stories, “Goldilocks and the three bears” and “Stone Soup”. The children did art centered on both books, got to act out the stories with props, make a stone soup and eat porridge.

Lastly we had a our Christmas concert,  in which the children worked hard at learning their songs and actions. The children did great and we are proud of them!

The children are excited about Christmas and have been hard at work on their gifts for you as well as other art projects.They are enjoying the Santa’s workshop and sleigh in the home corner and all the decorations in the class.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing you in 2016!