HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Sorry for the late post but it has been a busy first couple of weeks!
We are rested and relaxed from our Christmas holidays and we are ready to make the year 2021 the BEST ONE YET!
REGISTRATION FOR SEPTEMBER 2021 IS NOW OPEN FOR CURRENTLY ENROLLED FAMILIES!!!
PARKING
ABSENT CHILDREN
FUNDRAISERS (SO FAR)
UPCOMING DATES & EVENTS
HEY! What the heck happened in the classrooms in December??? Check it out!!!
RAINBOW ROOM - Danielle/Marjan/Vibha
Happy New Year Everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful
and relaxing Christmas break. Thank you
for your lovely cards, gifts and well wishes. They were greatly appreciated.
As always, please come and talk to us if you have any
concerns or questions.
TREEHOUSE ROOM - Arsi/Brita/Carol/Karen/Marjan/Rose
We hope you've had a relaxing, safe
and enjoyable holiday. We'd like to say a big "Thank you" for all the
lovely presents and well wishes you gave us. They are very much appreciated.
December was an amazing and busy month in the Treehouse Room.
We started with the Nativity Story,
reading Mary's Baby, Who's Coming to Our House? and Donkey's Christmas Song.
We made 4 different nativity
scenes, big stars, little stars and wooden star ornaments (all with huge
amounts of glitter, of course! ) And just as glittery angels, too.
We hope you enjoyed our short Christmas video of the children singing I'm a Little Pine Tree, and singing and signing We Wish you a Merry Christmas and Silent Night.
Other Christmas books we enjoyed this month included: Where is Santa Claus?, Merry Christmas Hungry Bear, Merry Christmas Split, Peppa's Christmas, There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Bell, Rudolph, Biggest Christmas Tree Ever, Bear's First Christmas, Merry Christmas From Biscuit, Clifford's Christmas, 5 Busy Elves, The Night Before Christmas, Things You Don't Know About Santa, Mouse's Christmas,
and even more that I've probably missed!Our circle time included many rehearsals of the above songs for the video, and felt stories and games: 5 Fat Snowmen, 5 Christmas Ornaments, What's in the Stocking? and Where's the Candy Cane?
At our art tables, we made:
Wreaths, using stamping, collage,
puffy paint, paper plates and paper mache and a wee bit of glitter!
Puffy paint Christmas trees
Gingerbread people
Snowflakes and Santas in many forms
and
Finger print Christmas lights.
Most importantly, we made (and kept secret?) the children's presents and cards for their parents. We hope you enjoyed them.
The House Corner went from Santa's Workshop to a Bake shop. This led us to make a ride-in Santa's Toy Train (using Purdy's Chocolate boxes....thanks again for your support in that fundraiser), Gingerbread Houses, gingerbread scented playdough and cake pops (with an edible equivalent of glitter).
The classroom was decorated from top to bottom and all around with a tree, lights, extra Christmas disco lights, which helped with many sessions of freeze dance. We had Elf on the Shelf, and most impressively, a larger than life-sized chimney (on the outside of our treehouse) complete with a life-sized Santa Claus.
The afternoon classes had sunny
walks to see neighbourhood Christmas decorations and to look at the shop
windows in Edgemont Village.
On the last days of term, we had our Christmas parties, with everyone wearing red, white, and green, and /or their PJ's. We made gingerbread houses out of Graham Crackers, danced to more Christmas music, and watched a DVD of Toopy and Binoo's Magic Christmas.
It was a busy month!
Again, we hope you had a good holiday, and look forward to starting the new year!
SUNFLOWER ROOM - Arsi/Danielle/Carol
With a blink
of an eye….December was upon us!
We hope all our families have had a fun & safe Christmas break!
We would like to thank you all for your kind words and very thoughtful gifts!
We started the month talking about the Christmas Nativity.
 |
| Christmas Artwork |
Next, we read the very funny story “Mooseltoe.” Mr. Moose sure made a great Christmas tree! We sang some fun felt board songs called, “5 little Candy Canes,” “5 Christmas Stockings,” and “Way up High in the Christmas Tree.” For art, we traced stockings and decorated them with Christmas coloured tissue paper and glitter! We used Christmas sequins to decorate candy cane shapes. Our house corner turned into Mrs. Clause’s Bake Shop and even Santa’s Toy Shop! The children were so excited to hear back from Santa. We were all on the NICE list! What a great letter he wrote! Thanks Santa!
For our second week, we enjoyed the stories “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell,” “The Littlest Christmas Tree,” and “Christmas Angels.” The children really enjoyed singing and doing action songs as well. We played the felt board game “Which house is the candy cane in?” “What colour Christmas light is missing?” and “where is the angel?” Moreover, the children enjoyed the felt board rhymes: 5 Christmas Angels, 5 Christmas Stars, and Christmas Tree What Do You See? We even danced and pretended to be Christmas trees and shining stars! We also enjoyed listening to CD story called “A Magical Christmas.”
During the last week before break, we continued to practice our Christmas songs as well. The children did three songs that we sent home through email for parents to enjoy! We sang "Silent Night" with sign language, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", and "I’m a Little Pine Tree"! They all did such a terrific job! During circle, we listened to the CD stories “Santa Knows,” Santa’s New Jet,” and “Russel’s Magical Christmas.” We also read the book “Olive the Other Reindeer.” We did the Reindeer Hokey Pokey, 5 Little Reindeer felt board rhyme, and Rudolph, Rudolph What Colour is your Nose? We sang the Santa Bingo song and the action song Old St. Nicholas. It was so fun ringing our jingle bells and singing Jingle Bells. The children also enjoyed singing to The Bells on the Sleigh!
For art, the children made Santa faces by gluing his beard, hat and eyes! We also used our fingertips to make a strand of Christmas lights and we even made reindeer antler headbands by using big Christmas stamps to decorate them.
It was great to see the kids wear their Christmas colours and some even wore their special hats for our last day! For our treat, the children enjoyed a yummy Rice Krispie treat! We even danced to Christmas songs and watched a Christmas video called Toopy & Binoo’s Christmas Adventure.
In January, we will be looking into space!! We’ll talk about astronauts, rockets, stars, the moon, the sun and the planets!
If you have any questions or concerns, please ask your teachers!
MUSIC PROGRAM - Tiffany
Tiffany and her husband Alex welcomed their baby girl, Bowen Lily into their lives on December 31st at 3:20 pm.
Bowen weighed in at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and everyone is home and doing well.
RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion
Happy New Year!
So nice seeing all our families back after the Holidays. I want to thank everyone for your Holiday Wishes and thoughtful gifts The value of kind gestures has increased in meaning during these unprecedented times.
As we start the new year I would like to focus on The Value
of Play and our philosophy of Learning Through Play.
Two year-olds and younger
three year-olds usually play alone or with adults, this is termed SOLITARY
PLAY. As they grow older they move into PARALLEL PLAY, which occurs when
a child plays side by side with peers, with some interactions, 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 merely being present and participating at circle
time. Eventually, as they grow more comfortable with their social ties, young
children begin to talk about, plan and carry out 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. Creative play has specific purposes in an early childhood program – to promote physical, mental, social and emotional growth.
Three year-olds often
cannot separate the real from pretend. They will become their favorite TV
character. Creative play activities help children develop a positive
self-concept. In play there are no right or wrong answers. Young
children learn to view themselves as successful and worthwhile human
beings. They learn to express and understand their emotions. Play
is a safe and acceptable way to test out their expression of feelings.
They can relive anxiety or stress that they have experienced.
Dramatic play is an important medium for language learning and helping children develop fluency in language. A child who is reluctant to speak in other situations may be more comfortable speaking when involved in dramatic play. Finger puppets and hand puppets are wonderful tools to encourage speech and language. Young children learn best through play because it is meaningful, engaging, interactive, interesting and enjoyable.
If you have
any questions or concerns about your child’s interaction in the classroom,
please e-mail the office.
