MAY 2021

May is the month
Of sunshine and flowers

Birds in their nests,
And one or two showers.
Games to play and kites to fly
Or just looking at the sky.
We could spend a year this way
If the year was made of May.

May is here and that means we don't have much time left at preschool! And we know how fast time is flying so it will be summer before we know it!!

Things that PARENTS need to know:

September deposits have been cashed (May 4th).

Friday, May 14th - PRESCHOOL CLOSED - Professional Day

Monday, May 24th - PRESCHOOL CLOSED - Victoria Day

A BIG, BIG THANK YOU to everyone who donated to the BC Children's Hospital! We raised $505! That is a record! You should be proud!!

Hey, hey, hey! The month is May! Read what the teachers have to say! Don't be a frog, get off your log and read the blog. It's the best thing you'll read today!!

RAINBOW ROOM - Danielle, Marjan, Vibha

Spring is in the air. Finally we can enjoy some warmer weather as we coast through the last two months of preschool. That's right!! There are only two months left!! 

April was a very fun filled month and we mostly talked about Spring. We started with flowers and the children were printing cherry blossom on paper while looking at the fresh blossom on the table which was a very nice eye and hand coordination activity. Another art project was purple flowers where the children used foam to stamp out the flower onto the paper. For circle time, we sang "I am a Little Sunflower" song and also watched  "5 Little Pansies Flowers" and "Five Little Flowers" felt story.

Five little flowers growing in a row.

The 1st one said: I am purple you know.

The 2nd one said: I am pink as can be.

the 3rd one said:  I am blue like the sea.

The 4th one said: I am a very red fellow.

The 5th one said: my colour is yellow.

Then out came the sun , big and bright.

And 5 little flowers danced in delight.

Also we read "Mouse First Spring" and Weather story books.

There was a game called, "What Colour Flower is Missing?"

 At the science table, there were lots of nests and birds with pinecones and flowers for the children to peruse. At the light table, there was a Birds and Flowers matching game that children really loved.

Then we moved to the theme of Birds. For art, the children made blue birds with handprints and also made  a nest with a bird inside with feather and string. For circle time, we tried the Bird Pose while doing yoga:

High on my tip toes,

I am a bird preparing to fly,

Flapping my wings repeatedly,

I give flying a try!

We listened to two felt stories: "Red Bird, Red Bird, What Do You See?" that showed different colours of birds and animals and another story was:

Two little dickey birds sitting on a wall 

One named Peter, one named Paul!

Fly away Peter! Fly away Paul!

Come back Peter! Come back Paul!

We were using the children's names when singing this song.

Then we moved to the themes of  Weather and Umbrellas. Children made umbrellas with paper plates and  pipe cleaners and also used bubble wrap.

For Circle Time, we also listened to a felt story about umbrellas:

Five umbrellas stood by the back door,

The red one went outside-then there were four.

Four umbrellas pretty as can be,

The blue one went outside- then there were three.

Three umbrellas with nothing to do,

The green one went outside-then there were two.

Two umbrellas not having too much fun,

The yellow one went outside-then there was one.

Just one umbrella alone in the hall.

The purple one went outside-and that was all.

We talked about caterpillars and butterflies and after, the children made caterpillars out of egg cartons and they also made butterflies with different paint colours.

For Circle Time, we read caterpillar books and listened to felt stories and we also played "Which caterpillar is missing?" game. We sang some songs and a favourite is "Sleeping Caterpillars and Butterflies."

We talked about Insects and Bees and children made bees with yellow and black construction paper and with potato masher tools . We read "Buzz-Bees Busy Bees" book to the children as well.

The children made a special gift for Mother's Day that will be sent home soon and also during Circle Time we read the "Moms Bed" story book for them.

We celebrated Jeans Day to raise funds for the BC Children's Hospital this month and the children decorated a little pair of jeans  with glitter glue and we hung them up in the classroom.

And thank you for all your donations to help and support the BC Children's Hospital during Jean's week at St. Catherine's Preschool!

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

Another month gone by! Time flies when you're having fun! 

I hope you have enjoyed reading our blogs regarding all the things we do in the Treehouse room. By now I’m sure your child tells you everything they do during their day with us 😁. 

This has been a very unusual year for everyone. Normally we would have the children brought down by their caregivers and they would help their children unpack their bags, help with their coats, shoes and anything else they might need before coming into class. This year all the children have done an excellent job at being independent in these tasks 👏🏼. 

We also would normally have a sign up sheet for parents to come into class and join us…so I will tell you how our day goes in class. 

It starts with Free Play for the first twenty minutes of class. Our room is filled with different activities that challenge the children’s  minds and the best part is that it is all through play. From a puzzle, to blocks, imaginary play in the home corner, making your own art, using scissors, and socializing with peers and teachers. 

Next comes our morning Circle where we sing our welcoming Good Morning song, take attendance, talk about the calendar and depending what our theme is, talk about that. We just finished Spring so we discussed how the weather changes, what changes around us and what we hear and see outside. We also discussed birds, bugs, a caterpillar life cycle, frogs, what happens when you plant seeds and baby animals. We also read many books, sang songs, played games and listened to felt board stories.

* On Wednesday and Thursday we alternate Music Class and Art.

Once the Circle is over, we start our teacher-lead art. This is a time for the children to learn to follow instructions to the best of their abilities. The children have made some wonderful pieces of art this month. We used shapes to create a bunny, a flower vase, caterpillars, an umbrella scene, rainbows and ladybugs. We also made different types of flowers from cherry blossoms, to daffodils and tulips.

When art is completed we sing our Clean-Up song and all the children help to put the toys away so we can get ready for our morning snack. Then children are asked to look at a book on the circle carpet.

 

On the tables we put out name cards for the children so they can  become familiar with their own names. We also use these sometimes at Circle when we are doing attendance. When book time is over, all the children come to the door and line up. We then make our way down to the bathroom to wash our hands and at this time, the  teachers will encourage all children to use the toilet. 

Once we are done, we make a line and go to the cubbies to get out the snacks. The children then enter the room and find their names, sit down and we sing Grace. Most children are able to open their own containers and packaged food and sit while they eat. 

When snack is done, all the children wash their hands and we line up to go to the gym or outside to the playground. This is a great way for the children to burn off some energy with riding scooters and trikes, kicking balls, throwing balls, using the climber, playing hockey and basketball, hopscotch, hula hooping, playing in the sandbox and just running around having fun😊. 

Our class goes until 2:45pm but some of our friends leave at 11:30am so we say goodbye and continue to play. A short while later we go down to have our lunch. Once again the children are encouraged to use the toilet and wash their hands. Name cards are placed on the table again.

Once lunch is done the afternoon could hold a neighborhood walk with a scavenger hunt, hot chocolate at Delany's, Cobb’s bread treats, a visit to the library, cooking, a walk to Eldon Park to play, a Murdo Frazer duck pond visit, a video with popcorn, more art, extra time outside with a picnic snack or games in the gym.

 

There you have it! That is a breakdown of our day. 

And also, A BIG THANK YOU to all the families that supported us by donating money in supporting Jeans week for Children’s hospital and for purchasing cards, bags and books from the Card Project. 

Thanks for reading our blog 🌈

SUNFLOWER ROOM - Arsi, Danielle, Carol

ABCDEFG……we have started our alphabet! We continue our kindergarten readiness and the children are having a great time learning their ABCs. 

During circle, we listen to each letter we are doing that day to hear what it sounds like. We have learned some letters make more than one sound. For the letters A,B, and C, we read the books: Alligator Baby, Ben the Beaver, and The Cat who Changed Colours. We also enjoyed the felt board rhymes such as 5 Apples, 5 Black Bats and 5 Cupcakes. We played an Apple Colour Matching game and a Bug Matching game. The children also enjoyed singing Baa Baa Black Sheep. 

For art, we traced the upper case and lower case letter A and used mini sponges to dab the letters  red to look like apples. We even added some seeds to the middle of the letters and a leaf on top. Moreover, we used bingo dabbers to trace the letters A, B, and C. For the letters D, E, and F, we listened to the stories: Dinosaur, Dinosaur and the CD story, Duck at the Door. We played the fun game of Which Dinosaur is Missing? and we acted out the song 5 Elephants Balancing. Furthermore, we read the books Little Beaver and the Echo and Farm Flu. Of course we had an all time favourite song 5 Little Frogs. For art, we used our fine motor skills to cut an oval shape for our paper plate dog. Woof woof! 

Our next set of letters were G, H and I!

For these letters, we looked into the jungle and found G for giraffe, H for hippo, and I for iguana! The children enjoyed a funny book called Giraffe Problems….oh giraffe…glad you liked your long neck! We did giraffe yoga poses and pretended to be giraffes with long necks reaching for leaves. We even enjoyed 5 giraffes Jumping in a Tree. For art, we used the letter G and sequenced different body parts to make a giraffe. At the Make-It table, the children used giraffe and gorilla stickers to make jungle scenes. 

Hippos are amazing animals and guess what our next letter was…..H!  At circle, we read: Hilda Must be Dancing about a Hippo who Loved to Dance. We also sang the Hippo Bingo song and we listened to the felt rhyme, 5 Hungry Hippos. At the art table, the children used cotton Q-tips to paint their hippos so it looked like they had rough skin. We used the letter H to stick on horse and hen stickers. 

We moved on to the letter I for Iguana! We read the book: I Wanna Iguana. The little boy really wanted an pet iguana….and he finally convinced his mom! We played the game Which Item Starting with I is Missing? and we played Find the Matching Letter game. For art, we used the upper case I to make an iguana! They turned out great!

J is for Jeans week! We spent a bit of time talking about how Jeans week is important and how we can help the hospital that helps children. Moreover, we talked about what the upside down umbrella was for and how the donations would help many children. Thank you to all our families for helping with this important cause! We appreciate all your donations! And we couldn’t have Jeans week without decorating some mini Jeans with glitter glue and lots of sequins! The fun continued with the book called Rumble in the Jungle and the game called Which Jungle Animal is Missing? The Three Jellyfish felt board rhyme made us chuckle as they slipped into the water too! Furthermore, we made our way up to the gym to play a jungle animal wall memory game. 

Our next two letter were K and L.   We listened to the CD story called Kissing Kangaroo and the book Koala Lu. For art, we used grey paint to paint the paper plate body of our koala and then sequenced the rest of its body parts. The children hung them on our K shaped tree on our classroom board! 

Roooaarr says the lion! For the letter L, we listened to the felt board story:  The lion & the Mouse and we read Llama Llama Loose Tooth Drama! Oh that Llama!  The children also had fun picking a lollipop for the action rhyme 5 Lollipops in the Candy Shop. We even leaned, leapt, lifted and looked to move our bodies. Since we were really into our letters, we played Find the Matching Letter Around the Classroom game! For art, the children glued, drew, and used their hand-eye coordination to cut the lion's mane! 

For our last week in April, we looked at the letters M, N, and O! 

Five Little Monkeys were teasing Mr. Crocodile on our felt board. We even had a mouse hide behind different coloured houses and the children guessed which one he was hiding in. We read the book Maxwell the Monkey Barber and we did what the action book Spunky Little Monkey asked us to do….stomp, shake, and stretch. At art, the children turned the letter M into a mouse. They used their fine motor skills to cut the whiskers and sequenced the rest of its face. For the letter N, we read the books: The Salamander Room and Not Your Nest! We played What Item is Missing? game and we sang the song Build a Nest to the tune of Hokey Pokey. The children also pretended to be nightingale birds as we sang and played the game called Two Little Nightingales! 

For the last letter of this month, we looked at the letter O. We learned that O makes two sounds like in 'octopus' and 'orange'! We read Orangutanka and looked at the felt rhyme 5 Cheeky Orangutans. We also started the DVD called Barney’s ABC’s. 

The children have also been finding a few items from home that starts with a certain letter given to them. We’ve been playing a guessing game with our friends at circle with these items! Great job so far!

For the letters N and O, during art time, we have been working super hard on our Mother’s Day surprises! But shh….it’s a surprise! 

In the coming few weeks, we will continue with our alphabet, kindergarten readiness and our independent skills. Please continue to encourage your children with putting on and taking off of their jackets and zippers too!

If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to ask your teachers! 

RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion

Self-esteem develops slowly over time and can start with a child feeling safe, loved and accepted.  Children who feel good about themselves have the confidence to try new things.  Self-esteem helps children cope with mistakes.  It helps them want to try something again, even if they were not successful the first time.  As a result, self-esteem helps children do better at home, at school and with their friends.  If a child has low self-esteem they may have a hard time standing up for themselves and may give up easily, or not try at all.  Children with low self-esteem find it hard to cope when they make a mistake. 

As children grow, self-esteem can grow too. Every time a child tries something new it can be a chance for self-esteem to grow.  This can happen when children are kind and help others and receive praise for appropriate behaviours.  

Every child is different and self-esteem may come easier to some children than others.  As your child grows, things like learning to dress themselves and riding a bike are chances for self-esteem to grow.  When teaching young children how to do something new, be patient and show and help them at first.  Then let them do what they can, even if they make a mistake.  Be sure your child gets a chance to learn, try and feel proud.  Don't make new challenges too easy or too hard.  Your praise is a way to show them that you are proud of the effort they have made.  Do not focus on the results. Self-esteem grows when children get to see that what they do matters to others.  Helping and kind acts build self-esteem and other positive feelings.

As we enter the 9th month of our school year the children have certainly become more independent. They are now hanging up their backpacks and jackets in their cubbies, getting their snacks/lunches out and sitting down at the table and cleaning up afterwards.  They are following their daily routines like using the washrooms, lining up and going up and down down the stairs holding the railing by themselves.  Giving them realistic expectations and following through with support if needed and praising their efforts is so important at this early age. 

If you have any questions or concerns please contact the office.