Penguins, Pets and Didgeridoos! January 2016

A note from Jen McEneany - Coordinator

January whizzed by in a flurry of snowmen, penguins and all things winter around the preschool. The classrooms have all felt so warm and inviting with the cold, wet weather outside and it's always great to walk through the preschool and observe the children talking, playing and creating all together and also to see how grown up all our preschoolers have gotten since September.

We have been busy over the past several weeks with registration, touring new families and placing everyone into their classes for next year. If you didn't end up receiving your first choice of class, please don't despair! We still have 7 months until September and a lot can change during that time. We will continue to let you know where you are on the wait-list for classes until you asked to be removed from that list. 

We still have some spaces available in our 2's programs as well as our 302, 402 and afternoon classes so please let your friends, neighbours (people at the coffee shop!) know what a fabulous place we are! As always, most of our new families come to us because of referrals from you. So a HUGE thank you to everyone for that!

A note from Marion Porter - Developmental Resource Educator 

With each month that passes I can see the development in social skills in all the children. Play is a central part of the lives of young children. Playing is living and living is playing. Play may be spontaneous (free-flexible, it is unplanned by adults) or organized (structured- may consist of some structure provided in terms of materials and equipment or directions given by adults). Adults should not interfere because play is determined by the personality of the player, not the desires of the adult. It may involve one child or groups of children. It may be built around toys and tools or may involve nothing more than the child's imagination.
A play period may last a few minutes or go on for days.

Two and three year-olds usually play alone or with adults; this is termed Solitary Play.  As the child grows older they will move into Parallel Play which occurs when a child plays side by side with peers, with some interaction, 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 participating in group games. Eventually, as they grow comfortable with their social ties, young children begin to talk about, plan and carry out play 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, therefore Play Dates are a great way for children to interact socially with their peers and build new bonds of friendship.

Important Upcoming Dates:

Thurs Feb 11: Valentine Party for classes 202/302/304
Fri Feb 12: Valentine Party for classes 301/401/402/402
Tues Feb 16: Scholastic Orders Due
Thurs Feb 25: Messy Church
Fri Mar 11: 4's Skating Party
M-F 14-18: Spring Break - Preschool Closed
Fri Mar 25: Good Friday - Preschool Closed
Mon Mar 28: Easter Monday - Preschool Closed

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" and rate our preschool! Thank you!

A note from our Discovery 2's - Vibha, Danielle, Karen, Susan, Stephanie, Sali, Arsi 

This month we have been talking, reading, playing and creating everything Winter!. Where do I begin….? As you come down the stairs and go through the doors on the left side of the wall you will notice snowy white owls and ice fishing. The children found it funny that the feathers were sticking to their fingers more than they were to the paper while they made those! Working with liquid glue can be a bit overwhelming

for the wee ones but also helps them to become comfortable with different textures. 

Anyone ever painted with coloured ice? We did! Simply put water and tempera watercolour in an ice-cube tray with a tooth pick for a handle. Once they are frozen children can use them to paint a picture. Our polar bear art had the bears surrounded by snow, the penguins were pieced together in all sorts of ways and the snowflake collage glittered so nicely. The water table had everything from ‘icebergs to snow’ with the animals too.

Circle time was filled with the stories, Polar bear, polar bear what do you see? That’s not my penguin. In the snow, Under my hat, Bear snores on, Big bear, little bear, just to name a few. Felt stories about snowmen, penguins, polar bears and lost mittens. Action songs and some yoga too. We hope your children enjoyed our theme.

Here we come February! Love, friendship, feelings and all things Valentines!

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

January for most people is a dreaded “grey” month, cold, slow in businesses, not nearly as exciting as the days in December leading up to Christmas. Well, not in our field ladies and gentlemen! The children came back to class with fresh enthusiasm, eagerness to learn and with happy grins on those adorable faces to great their friends and teachers after the winter break.

We learned about winter, winter animals, created snowy pictures with penguins and winter wonderlands with snowmen. We also celebrated Chinese New Year. In our art projects and at Circle time we incorporated more basic math and science concepts too to challenge the children more. Day by day they are more capable to do many things on their own, and we encourage them to be more independent with self-help and communication skills. Problem solving is a great challenge even for us grown-ups. We have been working hard on letting the children resolve differences, encouraging them to talk to each other before they ask us teachers to help them ‘correct’ another child. 

February is the sweetest, most loving month of all, good reasons for us to explore ways to be gentle, helpful, caring, generous friends. We will also share stories and ideas on manners and feelings which are great topics to strengthen the bonds between our little people and to remind them how great they all are!

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

January has been a very fun and  successful month! The class of 302 has been learning about the season of winter, exploring through science activities and creating many beautiful art pieces.

Each month our house corner transforms in to a new and exciting play haven. This month we focused our home corners theme on the importance of education and learning by turning this area into a school. Our class played school with a large writing easel, a world globe and created felt stories that could be performed to the "class". The children had great fun in the house corner all month long.

The children in 302 have been busy learning about the season of winter. The first week we focused more on weather and what snow, ice and frost is. Many toys were available within the classroom such as polar bears, mini hockey rinks and winter  themed puzzles and games. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) we did not see any real snow in the neighborhood however, we did have “snow” in the water table for much of January.  A highlight for everyone was the exploration of ice. The ice was coloured with food colouring to give a more exciting effect. The children were able to watch the ice melt, break apart the large pieces and slide the ice chunks around on the trays. This exploration gave the children the opportunity to see what ice is all about through each of their senses.

At the art table in January, many exciting and interesting artworks were made. Gabi helped the kids make snowflakes with puffy paint and sparkles which gave each piece a unique effect. Susan lead a craft where the children made bears in their snow caves to go along with the days theme of hibernation. Many cute winter creatures were made such as penguins, polar bears and snowmen. Each child took their time in creating each master piece which brings so much joy to the teachers.

Our class is now enjoying the fun colours of pink, red and purple of February as we focus on Valentines, love and friendship!

A note from the Treehouse Room - Class 304 - Stephanie, Gabi, Sousan

We hope everyone enjoyed their winter break! We are so happy to be back and to see the children's smiling faces as they enter the classroom.

For the month of January we focused on the theme of winter. At circle we talked about the different things we see during the winter time and we talked about what we like to do in the winter time. For art we painted winter pictures with white paint and Q-tips, made penguins, snowmen, did ice cube paintings, decorated mittens with puffy paint, and splatter painted snowflakes.

The children have really settled in and are starting to build relationships with the other children in the classroom. We can really see a difference in their play and development since the beginning of the year. A lot more conversations going on and they're building on their play and becoming more creative and challenging themselves.

For February we are talking about friendship and Valentine's Day.

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

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

We hope everyone had a nice and relaxing winter break. We are all excited to be back and get into the routine of things. We also noticed that the children were happy to be back to preschool with their eager voices and laughter in the hallways as they waited for the door to be open. It's always such a pleasure to see their bright smiling faces as they come into the classroom.

As the children got settled into the routine again, we decided to bring a little bit of winter into the classroom. We thought this would be fitting because of the little bit of snow we got the day we came back. We created winter pictures using different utensils in paint and we made diffusing paper snowflakes with watercolours.

Our big theme of the month was talking about the veterinarian hospital and different types of pets. The children were very interested in learning all about a vet and the different kinds of pets they took care of. We turned the home corner into a veterinarian hospital and the children had a great time pretending to be veterinarians and taking care of all the animals. They all worked together and took turns (most of the time!). For art we made vet bags with a variety of different art materials to represent the different first aid supplies, decorated dog bones, made paper bag dog puppets, cats, and drew a picture of a pet we would want if we could have one. To end off this theme we had a chance to visit the veterinarian hospital in Edgemont village. We saw all

the different things they do, such as x-rays, surgical procedures, and grooming. The children also had a chance to listen to their heartbeat on a special machine that they put on their wrist. We also got to meet a pet of one of the workers there. It was a yellow lab. She was so friendly and we all enjoyed petting her!

We have started working on our kindergarten readiness skills with our fours. Each week we will pick a certain area to see where the children are at and if they do need extra help we will continue to work on those skills and incorporate them into their play. Along with kindergarten readiness we have been getting the children to become more independent in their self-help skills such as putting on their own jackets, pouring their own water at snack, and opening their own snacks or asking a friend to help them. Our next themes will be Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, friendship, and feelings.

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

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

As we begin our kindergarten readiness in January and onward, we would like to remind our parents to facilitate the children in the following areas: 

1) putting on jackets by themselves and zipping up and down

2) opening/closing lunch containers (easy to open lids)

3) using cups instead of straws/water bottles (we are practicing pouring our own water)

4) practicing writing their name

5) cutting straight lines on paper, holding scissors properly

These are some of the things we practice which will help the children when they head off to kindergarten.

We've also been busy talking about winter, Australia, and Robert Munsch. For our winter topic, we looked at the story by Jan Brett called "The Mitten". We made our own paper mittens with the various animals from the story and we also made some very realistic snow with the following recipe:

1lb Baking soda
Shaving cream (unscented and organic if possible)
2 drops lavender essential oil

1. Let the children pour 1lb of baking soda into a large bowl.

2. Spray shaving cream (we used a good sized handful, but you should experiment with the amount)
3. Let the children knead the "snow" it will start forming almost immediately.

Upon Danielle's return from Australia, we had an opportunity to discuss some interesting things. Danielle brought in a real didgeridoo and we made our own and played them too. We also made boomerangs and koalas.

Our next adventure was the work of Robert Munsch. We dove into 6 of his books: Thomas' Snowsu

it, Just One Goal, Deep Snow, Makeup Mess, Smelly Socks, and Pyjama day. We learned that Robert liked to write funny and silly stories and that he is an author. For art, we made snowsuits, colored with ice, used straws to blow a painted ball to make a picture, salad spun smelly socks, collaged a picture of a face with makeup, and cut out and decorated pyjamas. We also played hockey in the gym and had fun doing yoga!

For the month of February, we will be touching on Chinese New Year, friendship/love, and beginning our alphabets. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask.

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

We hope everyone had a lovely winter break. It is so nice getting back into the swing of things again. The children have grown so much in so little time. It is amazing how fast they grow when you don't see them for a couple weeks!

For the first week back we talked about winter at circle time. For art we did ice cube painting, puffy paint mittens, and diffusing paper snowflakes with watercolours.

Next we moved on to talking about veterinarians and pets. At circle we talked about a veterinarian hospital and the different things they do there for the pets. For art we made paw prints by dipping different animals in paint and walking them across a sheet of paper, made paper towel roll pets, made cats, drew a picture of what kind of pet we would want and coloured dog bones and made paw prints from painting our hands. To end this theme, we had a chance to visit the veterinarian hospital in Edgemont village. We saw all the different things they do there such as x-rays, surgical procedures, and grooming. The children also had a chance to listen to their heartbeat on a special machine that they put on their wrist. After our visit, we decided to change the home corner of our classroom in a veterinarian hospital. The children had such a great time pretending to be a vet and taking such good care of the sick animals. Another highlight of this theme was when Kaiden and his mom brought in 4 of their chickens to the preschool to share with us. It was so neat touching them and seeing how different they all looked. Who knew chickens felt so soft! Thank you again for bringing in your chickens! They were a huge hit.

We have started working on kindergarten readiness with our four year-olds. Each week we will pick a certain area to see where the children are at and if they do need extra help we will continue to work on those skills and incorporate them into their play. Along with kindergarten readiness we have been getting the children to become more independent by putting on their own jackets, pouring their own water and opening their own snacks at snack time or asking a friend to help them. 

We are currently working on Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, friendship, and feelings.

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