October 2018

OCTOBER is here! Autumn leaves and pumpkin flavoured everything will be all over town!!
(Even OUR play dough smells like pumpkin!!)

A month has passed already and things are starting to calm down in the hallways! The teachers and the children have the routines down and we are ready to "FALL" into the new school year! 

We have already accomplished a lot in our classrooms in the first several weeks and our teachers would like to share with you a bit about that. 

We also have many special events coming up so stay tuned to the bulletin boards, notices and your Year at a Glance so nothing gets forgotten! 

Preschool is a special time in your child's life and it will go fast. Please take the time to be a part of the preschool community and help your child to foster a love of school and community spirit. 

We have an Open Door policy so please stop in anytime to have a chat.

And check out our FUNDRAISERS! We are a non-profit and any money we make we funnel directly back into the preschool in the form of books, supplies, sports equipment, playground upgrades and special activities and events! We couldn't do what we do without your support!

                                                                                                      

                              LOVABLE LABELS

Important Dates

OCT 3          SCHOLASTIC ORDERS DUE

OCT 8          THANKSGIVING - PRESCHOOL CLOSED

OCT 24        KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION MEETING

OCT 30/31   CHILDREN'S HALLOWEEN PARTIES

NOV 8/9      PHOTO DAYS - 3s & 4s

 

Kindergarten Registration Meeting Oct. 24.

See the website of School District 44 for more information.

Here is what our TEACHERS have to say...

DISCOVERY TWOS - Brita, Danielle, Vibha

Our  youngest members of St.Catherine's Preschool are beginning to settle in nicely to the program.  Most are happy to stretch their boundaries.  A few still need a little more time to feel secure with Mom and Dad leaving.  Such is the nature of two year old children.  Often this is their first experience away from family.  They love to explore their surroundings, but still need to stay close to their primary base of support and trust.  Separation anxiety is quite strong at this stage, but often it is only the "good-bye" that is difficult.  For this reason we encourage you to make "good-byes" short and reassuring.

We setup the room in a way that facilitates exploration and discovery through play.  A great deal of time is spent exploring, pushing, pulling, filling, dumping and touching.  Two year olds  feel secure in environments that are familiar and for this reason you may see the same toys and equipment out  for several weeks.  What we will do is present these familiar toys in different setups (e.g adding a set of wooden blocks to the cars and garage).

Twos love painting, splashing in the water table, housekeeping, singing and dancing at circle time.  Although play tends to be more solitary, children this age enjoy being in each other's company, playing side by side.  

We are still waiting for a few more family photos.  Children love to look at these pictures especially if they are missing mom or dad.  

Please encourage your child to walk up and down the stairs holding onto the railing when being brought to or leaving the preschool.

Check the white board outside the classroom for a synopsis of our day and please feel free to talk to us if you have any questions or concerns.

We look forward to an exciting year- a year of tremendous growth in confidence and abilities.  We hope that this first group experience will be an enjoyable and memorable one for both you and your child.

301 - Carol, Susan

Hello Everyone!

We've had a busy month full of fun and getting to know each other.

After a gradual entry, the children have all settled in well and are enjoying our routine of free-play, stories, songs, art and games.

We started the month by making a poster for our wall, that says "Nobody Gets Hurt" and we have been discussing what it means to share and to be kind to our friends at Preschool.

Susan painted a lovely family tree to display the children's family pictures and then we made hand print leaves for it. If you still haven't brought in a family photo, it would be much appreciated so your child can see their family on the tree with their classmates'.

Most of our art and stories have centered around getting to know each other and our families.

The children have an opportunity each day to paint, colour, cut and glue and have been making the most of it. Our special art projects have involved, among other things, painting with marbles, stamps, sponges and our hands.

We've been especially fortunate to have had many dry days when we go outside to play. This is a great time for ball games, chalk drawing, discovering various insects, birds and squirrels, and just generally running about. Long may the good weather continue!

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to speak to either of us.

302/404 - Karen, Susan, Carol

Welcome to our blog for Class 302/404 - Treehouse room. Thanks for checking it out! Please let us know what you think once you have read it.

We have a lot of new faces and some familiar ones too! It is such fun to get to know them all. 

In the month of September we spent a lot of time getting the children acquainted with each other. Playing name games, talking about what it means to be a friend, how to be a friend and discussing our families. 

If you have not brought in a family photo yet please do, so we can add it to our classroom family tree. The children love to look at their pictures and share it with friends. 

We have a #1 rule in class and it is NO ONE GETS HURT. This is an art activity for the beginning of year and the children make it together. We then talk about what it means. We encourage the children to use their words if someone is not being kind to them and to also ask a teacher for help if their words are not being heard. 

Just a few reminders:

1. Please call/email the office or let us know if your child is going to be absent or sick.

2. Please take your child to the washroom before class.

3. Please have a change of clothes in their bag.

Last but not least, please do not hesitate to come and talk to us about any questions or concerns you have. Our door is always open.

We look forward to a great year!

401 - Arsi, Karen, Vibha, Lisa

Welcome to the blog for the Sunflower room class 401. 

So glad you are showing interest in our monthly blog! Let us know what you think once you read it.

We hope you had a great summer! I keep hearing from many families that it seems to go by faster every year. I couldn’t agree more. That being said we are happy to be back at preschool and we hope you are too!

There are a lot of familiar faces and a few new ones. The children are becoming very comfortable in their new surroundings and getting acquainted with old and new friends. 

We started off our first full week with our NO ONE GETS HURT poster. This is our #1 rule. This was a group art activity that all the children participated in and it now hangs on the wall close to our circle area. We discuss what children should do and say if someone is not being kind. 

In order to get to know the children better we talk about our families. The children enjoy telling us all about their Moms, Dads, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters, brothers…and their pets.

We also talked with the children about themselves. Please come into class and check out their self portraits that they made during art. They are absolutely priceless!

Thanksgiving is coming up and we sent home a sheet with Tom turkey 🐔on it. We can’t wait to get them back and have the children share them with their classmates. GOBBLE, GOBBLE.

Just a few reminders:

1. Please call the office or let us know if you are going to be away or if your child is sick.

2. Please take your child to the washroom before class.

3. Please pack extra clothing.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to ask.

We are looking forward to another great year! Thanks for joining us!

402 - Arsi, Danielle

It’s been a great start to our new preschool year! The children have settled in nicely and are

slowly getting used to our routines & transitions.

We have begun talking about our rule at school which is NO ONE GETS HURT! This

led to a discussion about our friends at preschool and teamwork! 

We have also touched on the topic of our families and how we all come from different families and how we are all unique in our own special way! In the coming weeks we will be talking about Thanksgiving, Autumn and Halloween!

Check out our boards in the hallways for amazing art done by your children!

Below is just a quick reminder of all our class information!

● 402 program runs from 9am-1pm Tuesdays & Thursdays in the Sunflower room and

Fridays in the Rainbow room

● There will be cubbies set up outside the Sunflower room for your child and in the

Rainbow room the cubbies are inside the room where children may pick their own

cubbies each Friday with their provided name tags

● St.Catherine’s preschool is a NUT FREE zone , even if our class may not have allergies

we do share the room with other children that may be allergic

● Upon arrival each morning, we do ask parents to please take your child to the bathroom

in order for the teachers to be on the floor for morning communication/questions with

parents/nannies etc

● Since we are a longer day, there will be 2 opportunities for the children to eat - snack &

lunch

● We do ask that you pack more food than less because we are a busy class and the children

do get quite hungry

● Please pack a separate snack from lunch so your child will know which one is for each

eating period

● We do ask parents to leave the snack out in their child’s cubby so they will have quick

access to it

● Please label all containers and also cups/water bottles (we do not drink juice or milk at

school)

● We do not use the microwave for children’s food however thermoses are fine

● Please provide extra clothes in their bags in case of accidents or water spills/paint etc

● We do ask that all home toys should stay at home, unless it’s a comfy toy/blanket, in which case must remain in their cubby because we don’t want them to get lost or ripped

● If your child is going to be absent for holidays or is sick, please do let us know either by

calling the office or telling us

● If you have any questions or concerns, we are always available to talk. If that particular

day is busy please feel free to set up another day and we will discuss any concerns you

may have

● This is a great class with lots of fun learning experiences however, as teachers we also

like to suggest to parents as the children get to know each other, to also set up play dates

outside of school time. This allows children to make new friends in a quieter setting

where they may feel comfortable to be more social.

403/304 - Karen, Susan, Brita

Hello Families and welcome back to preschool. Thanks for checking out our monthly blog. Please let us know what you think.

We are so excited about this year. We are a mixed class 3s and 4s. We have already seen some great connections with the older children helping out the younger ones such as hand holding when they come to circle, offering to help open their snack or help to put it away just to mention a few.

We like to start out our year with a group art that states NO ONE GETS HURT. This is our #1 rule. At circle and throughout the day we talk about what it means to be kind and how we can be kind to each other. We also talk about what is means to not be kind and how we can hurt our friends feelings. We encourage the children to use their words if something is happening that they don’t like but if those word are not being heard they should always ask a teacher for help. 

A great way for all of us to get better acquainted is to play name game, sing songs, do daily attendance, talk about our families and friends and discuss what the children like to do. 

Please bring in a family photo if you have not already. We have a family tree that is up on the wall and the children like to look at their families and show it to their friends.

Just a few reminders…

1. Please call/email the office if your child is going to be away or sick.

2. Please take your child to the washroom before class.

3. Please pack spare clothing.

Last but not least, please do not hesitate to ask any questions or mention any concerns you may have this year. Our door is always open.

We are looking forward to a great year, thanks for joining us!

MUSIC PROGRAM - Tiffany

Happy new school year to parents, children and staff! Our creative music class has taken flight and I am very pleased with what I’m noticing. We began our September month by getting to know each other! We shook our sillies out and experimented with shakers, learning how to ‘shake and stop’ and shaking on different parts of the body. The children have been introduced to ‘the musical alphabet’ and are practicing their skills, singing a ‘C’ major scale with the proper, well known, Curwen hand signals. We have also been introduced to a variety of different musical instruments, what they look like and how they sound. We love to practice playing such instruments as the cello, flute, trumpet, banjo and drums in our ‘musical instrument freeze’ game.

Moving into October, I have incorporated lots of imaginary play into our lesson plan, as we hop and swim around like frogs and sing like a dinosaur, the children are developing a sense of vocal range and body awareness. Now that we know what different instruments sound like, we can enjoy guessing which one is being played at the beginning of class. We have also become more confident in using different levels of voice such as speaking, whispering, yelling and singing. Furthermore, the children are developing their ability to articulate with fun tongue twisters and various vocal warm ups such as, ‘airplane mouth’ and ‘the zipper’.

Moving into the holidays, we will continue to refine as well as broaden our musical skills, using repetition and oodles of encouragement! We will learn a song to celebrate the Fall season and we will begin to work on our Christmas production. Some goals I have for the fall/winter is to introduce the musical term, ‘tempo’, which means to go fast or slow. Additionally I would like to teach two very important musical dynamics, ‘forte’, which means to play loudly and ‘piano’ meaning to play soft or quietly. I am looking forward to travelling with your children on their musical journey and I can’t wait to see what new heights we can reach because...

The more we get together, the happier we’ll be!

RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion

Every year September brings new families into the preschool.  

During gradual entry the teachers are able to make connections with all the children, first in small groups and then in a larger group.  Gradual entry is important for everyone, even the returning children.  It is a time to reconnect and make new friends.  

The Discovery 2s need to be reassured that you will be back to pick them up and that they are in experienced, loving and caring hands.  Once the child feels comfortable with the teachers, it is much easier to say a quick good-bye. This year the gradual entry went very well and the little ones are settling into their classroom routines.  

The 3s are encouraged to be more independent in their self-help skills.  Walking up and down the stairs, hanging up their jackets and putting away their back packs.   

The 4s will be registering for Kindergarten this fall and the teachers will be monitoring self-help skills around the classroom.  

We believe in our philosophy of “Children Learn Best Through Play”.  They learn language skills and develop literacy, social and emotional skills.  Play fosters creativity and imagination.  It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them.  Children learn to make decisions, problem solve, negotiate and mange stress.  

We have an open door policy and we encourage you to speak to your teachers if you have any comments or concerns.  I am also available to work in the classrooms.  

Looking forward to a fun year filled with laughter and learning!

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. The teachers and the admin. staff work hard to keep you up to date. If you have any comments, concerns or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact a staff member! If you are a parent and you have read this far, you are amazing! and your child deserves a prize! Bring them to the office for a chance to choose a small gift. And you really are AMAZING!

Sincerely yours,

Christina Spencer, Director

St. Catherine's Childcare Society