December 2020

 

DECEMBER 2020

Ok! We have almost made it to the end of 2020...THANK GOODNESS!!

Let's hope that the next year is a much healthier and much more normal time for all of us!

But for now...we still have 2 weeks to go so let's tighten up our boot straps and HOLD ON TIGHT!! We have a lot of FUN to pack in to these next few days ahead!!

The Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative is in full force in the TREEHOUSE Room. All families in this class should have received their NEW FEE SCHEDULES FOR JANUARY. Hopefully we will be able to add the Sunflower Room to this Program in the new year. We will keep you informed.

IMPORTANT DATES & EVENTS

DEC. 9TH & 10TH: CLASS PHOTOS FOR ALL CLASSES

DEC. 16-18: IN-CLASS CHRISTMAS PARTIES

DEC. 18: LAST DAY CLASSES BEFORE CHRISTMAS BREAK

JAN. 4: FIRST DAY BACK AFTER CHRISTMAS BREAK

JAN. 29: REGISTRATION FORMS DUE FOR CURRENT FAMILIES FOR 2021/22

FEB. 1: REGISTRATION FORMS DUE FOR COMMUNITY FAMILIES FOR 2021/22

FEB. 15: FAMILY DAY - PRESCHOOL CLOSED

RAINBOW ROOM - Danielle, Marjan, Vibha

Wow, one more month and it is Christmas! Time flies! 

But boy, we had such a busy and fantastic month of November.

We started with the theme of Dogs. Children stamped dots on dog-shaped construction paper and printed dog paws on the paper with paint. Another day, they made dogs with paper plates, stamped thick black dots on them, and added ears and noses and googly eyes on them. Another day, they used sponges to create dogs paws and used them to print paws on the paper.

 

For circle time, we read the Downward Dog book and Dog yoga poses during circle time. We had Milo and Maggie's adventure story tape, as well as the "White Dog White Dog What Do You See" felt rhyme. We had lots of stuffy dogs at our house corner with Veterinarian tools for the children to pretend the dogs are sick and for examining them. We had dogs in the sand and water table. At the science table we had a felt board with lots of dog felts for children to have fun playing with. 

 Next we moved to the theme of Cats. Children covered the cat-shaped construction paper with pieces of tissue papers glued on it. They also made a black cat with paper tiles and added eyes and tails to the cats. For circle time, we had "Mittens" book, "5 Little Cats Sitting On a Row", and "Blue Cat Blue Cat What Do You See" felt stories. For another circle time, we did "Pete the Cat White Shoes", "5 Little Animals" book, and "Pete the Cat Groovy Buttons". We also had small plastic cats in the water and sand tables, and a few cat stuffies at the house corner. At the science table, we had a felt board with felt cats, and at the light table, we had some mini plastic cats.

 

Our next theme was the Rain. For art, children used rubber boots to stamp boot prints on a paper. They stamped rain drops with paint using cotton balls on the umbrellas. Another day, they made boots with tissue paper. For circle time, we had "5 Little Umbrellas" colour game, the "Rain Rain Go Away", and the Bear with dress up felt stories. We also had a rain instrument and sang the "Rain Drop" song. At the water table, we had blue buttons and two cups with holes that the water flowed through. We had metal board with magnets at the science corner too.

 At the end of the week, we talked about Hibernation and that some animals like bears and snakes go to sleep when the weather gets cold. For art, we had roller painting on cardboard to make caves, and the children made bears with paper plates too. For circle time, we had "Brown Bea, Brown Bear What Do You See" book, "5 Little Tail" felt story, a hibernation felt rhyme, and the "Bear Goes Over the Mountain" song. We had two cozy box houses at the house corner with a lot of bear stuffies. We had bears at science table with pieces of wood. We also had colourful small bears at the light and water tables. 

 In the next few weeks, we will talk about Christmas. If you have any question please feel free to contact to office and make a time to talk to us.

TREEHOUSE ROOM - Arsi, Brita, Carol, Karen, Marjan, Rose

Wow, one more month and it is Christmas. Time flies. 

Such a busy, busy month was November and children had lots of fun.

Welcome to the  Robert Munsch world. We started the month with the author, Robert Munsch. During circle time, we read lots of books written by Mr. Munsch: Andrews Loose Tooth, Pyjama Day, the Sandcastle Contest, Class Clown, Paper Bag Princess, Smelly Socks, Cookies, No Clean Clothes,  and Down the Drain. 

We did art projects for all of these books. All around the class you could find lots of art that related to the Robert Munsch books. For the Pyjama book, children wore pyjamas and made pancakes, decorated a large paper pyjama and put colourful paper pyjamas on stick people.

 For Remembrance Day, we talked to the children about the soldiers who fight for our country to keep us safe and why we should never forget them. We had art that day and children made lots of poppies.

 We moved to the theme of Space for two weeks. We had lots of books and art. For art, we made moons, space, rocket ships, rocket ship with names, moon plates, 3D rocket ships, starry night splatter paint, astronauts, solar systems, flying saucers, marble painting earths, painted stars, and we painted and cut out arranged solar system, telescopes, and planets.

 

There were lots of toys, puzzles, and books about space around the class.  Inside the water table, we had rocks and colourful circle pompoms demonstrating planets. In the sand table, we had astronauts and lots of rocks, and children were enjoying to play with them.

 For circle time, we had lots of books and felt stories like: 

Five Roaring Rocket, There is No Place Like Space, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed the Moon, In the Solar System, Earth, I am a Star on the Moon, Which Planet is the Astronaut On, Find the Mouse Behind the Planet game, Matching Planets, Zoom Zoom we are Going to the Moon, Night Sky What Do You See, Five Rocket Ships, Pete the Cat: Out of This World, Five Little Astronauts rhyme, Rocket Ship Hiding Behind the Moon, Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, On the Moon, Our Stars, Little Rockets Special Star, The Moon, Five Little Astronauts, and Five Little Stars.

We also watched a movie called Off Into Space. The children really enjoyed it.  We made constellations out of mini marshmallows and toothpicks.

Next few weeks, we will talk about Christmas. 

 If you have any questions, please feel free to contact office.

 Thanks for reading.

SUNFLOWER ROOM - Arsi, Carol, Danielle

As I sat down to write the November Newsletter I could not believe how busy we have been and what we have been learning about. There is soooo much, I am not sure I have will enough room.

We started November talking about Sea life.  We talked about fish and how they swim in a school of fish and how whales swim in pods. We listened to the felt story ‘The Fish with the Deep Sea Smile’ and read “Fish Wish”. We then sang songs about ‘Slippery Fish, 5 Little Whales’ and guessed which fish was missing. We read ‘Orca’s Song & Whales’ and sang the action rhymes ‘The Whale Hokey Pokey, 3 Jelly Fish, Row, Row your Boat & Here is the Sea’. We read ‘One Tiny Turtle’ & ‘Turtle Soup’. We played ‘Which Sea Creature is under the blanket & Which Sea Creature is Missing? In the water table we even had ‘Green’ Seaweed mixed with crabs, starfish & octopus. For art we stamped ‘white spots’ onto orcas and glued tissue paper & cellophane onto fish & jellyfish. We also used a potato masher to make turtles, that was a lot of fun.

We also touched on Remembrance Day and how it is very important for everyone to use their words when talking to each other and to keep our hands to our own bodies. We read “The Soldiers Puppy & If The Kids Ruled the World”. We listened to the rhyme 5 Soldiers & 5 Poppies. We guessed which colored Poppy was missing & played ‘What’s the Time Mr. Soldier?” In the water table we used tweezers to put black & red pompoms into small containers and on the playdough table we used small shovels to scoop red rice into more small containers – strengthening our hand and eye co-ordination. For art we traced Poppy’s & decorated them with red tissue paper.

For the last 2 weeks of November we went back to some of our childhood favorites…Fairytales. We read ‘The 3 Little Pigs, The 3 Billy Goats Gruff’, Goldilocks & the 3 Bears, Jack & the Beanstalk, Chicken Little, Red Riding Hood, The Princess & the Pea and The Gingerbread Man’. Mixed in there we read a few different versions of these stories with ‘Snoring Beauty, Goldilocks Rocks, Super Pigs, Jack & the Texas BBQ and Gingerbread Mouse’. We sung ‘The Goats Go Marching by’ and listened to the felt rhymes 5 Little Bears, 5 Little Pigs, 5 Princess’s Jumping on the Bed & 5 Gingerbread Men. We played Duck, Duck Goose & Stay, Stay Run games. Along with the running wall game of the characters from the Gingerbread Man. We all had lots of fun using masks of the different characters and acting the stories out in free play and sometimes at circle. We even had a large castle in the home corner to add to the atmosphere of the stories. Art was lots of fun…we traced bowls to ‘fill’ with porridge and we used forks, paint & paper to create goats. We made our own 3 Little Pigs houses with paper bricks, popsicle sticks & spaghetti. We added a pea & mattresses to our own beds and built our own beanstalk with tissue paper and our handprints.  We topped it all off with baking our own gingerbread men to take home & eat…

For the last few weeks of the year we will explore The Nativity & Christmas, as well as continuing to have fun learning and playing together.

Please remember to pack more food than less (one container for snack & one for lunch) as we are here for 4 hours a day, so the children get hungry.  We will also be going outside to play so pack appropriate footwear & jackets.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office so we can arrange a meeting after school hours. 

RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion

Children love toys and the best toys are often the simplest ones, like Lego blocks – because they allow children to be creative and spontaneous.   They enjoy toys that they can master and that are right for their stage of development.  Preschoolers learn a lot about socialization and do a lot of pretend play.

   This type of play allows them to get a sense of the real world. Hand puppets and finger puppets allow your child to use their imagination and create stories as they play.  Crayons, finger paints and Play-Doh help develop creativity.  Children also make huge gains in both fine and gross motor skills throughout this period, so puzzles, Lego and other construction toys are perfect age appropriate toys.
  It is important to buy toys that involve brain activity and hand or muscle movements.   

Although this year has been different in many ways, we need to remember that children bring a special gift to us all and especially at Christmas time.  The gift of imagination and curiosity.  I have been hiding a little ghost left over from Halloween in the Treehouse Room.  He has been named Ralph and they look for him each day around the classroom because he sneaks back in the evening.  He has worn a Santa hat and now they have asked if Ralph could look like a reindeer. 

As we near Christmas break, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

On Christmas Eve this year, St. Catherine's Church is planning a St. Catherine’s Christmas Eve Pageant at 3 pm.

Respecting Covid-19 regulations, the pageant may be hosted on Zoom.

Visit  www.saint.catherine.org  

MUSIC - Tiffany

Tiffany has taken an early leave so she can prepare for her wonderful BUNDLE OF JOY that will be arriving, if on time, sometime in January!

We will miss her wonderful enthusiasm and her love of Teaching Music to Children!!

Thanks so much Tiffany! We will miss you!!

See you in the New Year!!