October 2019

Crunching, crinkling Autumn leaves, spiraling swirling in the breeze!

Gone are the days of Summer with late nights, beaches and family vacations. 

We will miss Summer, but Autumn is pretty special too! The colours, the smells and the SWEATERS!

Take the time to create special Autumn memories with your families by having game nights, outside treasure hunts, Thanksgiving get togethers and of course...pumpkin carving for Halloween!

The weather will be getting unpredictable so please make sure you have all the appropriate clothing and outside gear so your little one will be comfortable, whatever the weather.

Sickness is a big part of this time of year so please make sure you keep your little ones home when they are not well. If they have fevers, coughs, rashes, loose stools or are just running low on energy, keep them home. Even though your child is able to attend if they are sick, we cannot risk them getting those who are immune compromised sick as for them, it could mean a hospital stay.

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

SAMOSAS 

Important Dates

OCT 14 - THANKSGIVING - PRESCHOOL CLOSED

OCT 30/31 -CHILDREN'S HALLOWEEN PARTIES

NOV 1 - PURDY'S CHOCOLATE FUNDRAISER BEGINS

NOV 7/8 - PHOTO DAYS (3s & 4s)

NOV 11 - REMEMBRANCE DAY - PRESCHOOL CLOSED

NOV 20 - PIZZA NIGHT & CAKE WALK - 5:30PM

NOV 24 - CHURCH FAMILY NIGHT - 5-6:30PM

NOV 26 - PURDY'S ORDERS DUE

Discovery Twos - Arsi, Danielle, Marjan, 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 olds.  Often this is their first experience away

from family.  They love to explore their surroundings, but need to still

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 set up the rooms 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).


Two's love painting, splashing in the water table, housekeeping, singing and
dancing at circle time.  Although play tends to be more solitary, they 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.

Treehouse Classroom - Karen, Susan, Brita, Marjan, Carol

Welcome to our first blog for the Treehouse room. Please continue to check us out as this blog is a monthly occurrence. It will keep you up to date on all the fun things your child is doing at preschool. 

For the beginning of this year we decided to talk about where we live, British Columbia and Canada. In case your child has not told you or you have not noticed we have put a boat in the home corner fitted with life jackets and oars. We are making our way down the Capilano River. Along the way we have seen salmon, ravens, bears, deer, skunks, raccoons, owls and cedar trees (stuffed animals that is). Take a look in the hall at the totem poles and the salmon run. We have also put up a board for art that comes from the easel.

The children made paper Inukshuks for art and we introduced a Canadian artist named Ted Harrison who was known for his colourful landscape paintings. 

Another art we did was Culinary, we made pancakes with...eggs, buttermilk, sugar, flour, butter, baking powder, blueberries and maple syrup from either B.C. or Canada. Everyone had a turn to measure the ingredients, stir the batter, put a pancake in the pan and last but not least eat one.

Our circle time has been filled with stories about places to visit locally and it was nice to hear that so many of the children were familiar with what we were reading…..ABC Canada, Soaring Salmon, Ferry Ride, An Inukshuk Means Welcome, Oh Canada our National anthem just to name a few. We also played a game on our felt board, What colour Salmon is missing? What local animals do we have and what habitat do they live in and Black bear, black bear what do you see? Yoga was also done at circle with poses from our local animals and the Inukshuk pose. We really enjoyed starting up the year with this theme and we hope the children did too.

We have started our Family Tree. All the children have made a paper animal to attach and we now need a family photo to put with it. Thank you to those who have bought one already. The children love looking at their family picture and talking about them with their friends. 

Our #1 rule in our preschool is NO ONE GETS HURT. All the children have placed a hand print on a poster with those words placed in the middle of it. We played a stop and go game about behaviours that are or are not acceptable in school. Check out the poster, it is put up on the wall where our circle corner is. 

Our wonderful music teacher Tiffany has started her program which the children will be going to on Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

Every class we pick a leader and leaders helper to help with the calendar and general things, EVERYONE WILL GET A TURN.Even if your child says they did not get one😁.

Keep reading you are almost done…

A few reminders.

*Take your child to the bathroom before class.

*Take all their belongings and art at the end of class from their cubbies.

*Put on appropriate footwear, runners or closed toed shoes are best.

*We are nut free

*Provide extra clothing in their backpack (shirt, pants, socks, underwear).

*Let us or the office know if your child will be late or absent. 

*Pick up your child on time. At the end of class children are looking for their people to pick them up and when they do not see you it makes them sad.

Thank you for joining us and we look forward to another exciting school year!

Karen (Monday-Friday all day)

Susan (Monday -Friday all day)

Carol (M,W afternoons & Tuesday/Thursdays all day)

Brita (M,W,F mornings & Tuesday/Thursday afternoons)

Marjan (Tuesday/Thursday mornings)

Sunflower Classroom - Arsi, Danielle, Carol

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


We have read some books such as “Swimmy,” “Families,” and “The Grouchy Ladybug.” In the coming weeks we will be talking about Thanksgiving, Fall and Halloween!

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

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

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

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 all toys to 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.

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 begin each music class by choosing a button to sit on. Children can pick their favourite colour!

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 musical instruments on the ‘music wall’, 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.

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. Please encourage singing and dancing in the home and ask your children what they learned in music class! 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

Welcome to all our families this year.  I am very excited  getting to know you and your children.  I hope everyone had a great summer and  our philosophy is “Learning Through Play” and that is what we will be doing for  the next 9 months.  

My role as Developmental Resource Teacher is to observe in the classrooms and am a resource for the teachers.  I am a liaison person in the community for any professionals who may work with your child.  We have an open door policy and invite professionals to observe in the classroom.  You need to book a time with me as there may be others wanting to observe.  

The teachers are skilled to notice any issues with gross or fine motor development and they listen for speech and language development.   

Please speak to your teachers with any questions you may have.  I will be away in Australia for most of October.  My youngest son, Derek and his wife, Gemma live there and are expecting our first grandchild in March.