We are happily moving along to the last couple of months of 2021! Hard to believe the time could go so fast!
Make sure you check our Calendar of Events below so you don't miss out on any of the closures, due dates or special events coming up!!
THANK YOU to everyone who attended our AGM! We will introduce you to the new Board in our December blog once we have had our first Board Meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 9th.
THANK YOU to everyone who ordered SAMOSAS. We raised over $600 in profit! The new pick up date is: Wed., Nov. 10th: 11:30-1:30pm.
were done on Nov. 2nd and Nov. 3rd. Don't worry if your child was absent, we will be able to re do for you at a later date. Please let the office know your child was absent and will need a photo done.
PURDY'S CHOCOLATE FUNDRAISER
Don't forget to get your orders in!! Last day to order is Tues. Nov. 16th. You will be able to pick up your orders on Dec. 1st/2nd.
Open a new account and click on Join Campaign: 11053 use this number to find us. You can order online, with a cheque and paper order form, or call the office and we will do it over the phone!
DATES TO REMEMBER
Nov. 11 --------- Remembrance Day: School Closed
Nov. 16 --------- Last day to order Purdys
Dec. 1st/2nd --- Pick up Purdys
Dec. 7/8 --------- Christmas Services (3s & 4s)
Dec. 15/16/17 -- Children's Christmas Parties
Dec. 17 ---------- Last Day before Christmas Break
Jan. 4 ------------ First Day back to School
IT IS NOT A SECRET THAT WE ARE DOING SOMETHING WONDERFUL IN OUR CLASSROOMS!!
RAINBOW ROOM - Cecilia, Danielle, Marjan, Rose, Vibha
Where did October go? A beautiful sight was starting to happen… the leaves were changing colour, fall was here.
October was an exciting month within the Rainbow Room. We celebrated the holidays, Thanksgiving, and Halloween. First we talked about Thanksgiving and we talked about what we were thankful for. For Art, some of us painted turkeys with feathers, others used paper plate to make turkeys and also making turkeys with coffee filter. On the science table, we explored our Thanksgiving vegetables: corn and ...... .
For circle time, we read stories about Thanksgiving's turkey, listened to the felt rhymes "5 fat Turkeys", "what color Turkey is missing" game, "Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate", "Black bat, Black bat what do you see?", "Five Silly Turkeys (felt Rhyme)", "Five Spooky Ghosts", "5 Bats Flying In the Night", dancing to Halloween music and looked at Thanksgiving pictures like turkey coming out of the oven, pumpkin pie , cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. Also during circle, we have been encouraging the children to relax and breathe. Some examples of yoga poses that we have been practicing with the children are “Cat pose”, “Tree pose” and “Table pose”.
October is always a great month to explore leaves and the season of Autumn. We had such a great time exploring leaves in the water table. Children were able to touch and see the leaves close up. At house corner, we had pumpkins and two wheelbarrows, children really enjoyed to play with them. At science table, we had lots of beautiful stuffy with blocks. For art, children made wreath with beautiful leaves, leaf print with real leaves, and made a real leaves window collage.
At circle, we talked about all the different changes we see in the Fall and sang songs like leaves are falling, and read stories about leaves and the different colours they are changing.
After fall comes another exciting
celebration… Halloween. At art, we made paper plate spiders or used white paint & shaving cream to paint a ghost and marbles inside a pringles can to decorate bats. For circle we listened to the felt rhymes “5 Little Pumpkins", "5 Little Ghosts", and "5 Little bats".
We read the stories: "It's Pumpkin Day", "Mouse Pumpkin Faces", and "The Spooky Wheels on the Bus". We also played the "Which Colour Spider Is Missing?" game, "Four Scary Spider Jumping on the Bed", and "Bats Flying in the Night". We also had lots of fun dancing to Halloween music. In the water table, we had pumpkins, eyeballs & skulls… mixed in with water and shaving cream… this was very popular. In the home corner we had a pumpkin shop, with real pumpkins and wheelbarrow.
In the next few weeks we are going to talk about transportation… Lots of more fun to come.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office and make a time to talk to us.
TREEHOUSE ROOM - Brita, Carol, Karen, Marjan, Monica, Rose
Hello Everyone!
Another busy busy month has gone by. We really packed our days and weeks with fun play and learning opportunities.
In the last week of September, we ended our theme on B.C., by focusing on B.C.'s indigenous people and culture. We recognised Truth and Reconciliation Day with the general messages of 'No one gets hurt' and 'Be kind to everyone'. In our art during that week, we tried to reflect local indigenous artistic themes.
As we moved into October, our tent was still up in the house corner, and we had a Farmer's market in the block corner. All the fruit, vegetables and produce from our farmer's market filled cornucopias for Thanksgiving.
Our next theme was Night Creatures; we had touched on some of these last month when discussing the wildlife of B.C. We now concentrated on Owls and Bats; we learned that there are owls everywhere in the world except Antarctica, and we heard the many different sounds that owls make.
As bats and owls like to eat insects, we included bugs and spiders in our autumn leaves, and then put them into our witches' cauldrons!
Our bear cave became a Bat cave, and our house corner had now been transformed into a Witches' Brew House, complete with potion cards, recipes and lots of ingredients.....spiders, flies, frogs, bats, bones, hair and eyeballs.....all necessary for a really good potion or spell.
With our thoughts now on Hallowe'en, we spent two days talking about Fire Safety. We watched a DVD about "Fireman Dan" and practiced "Stop Drop and Roll" and "Crawl low under smoke". The children were instructed to go home and teach you these.....practice helps!
The afternoon class went for a few walks, both to collect dry and beautifully coloured leaves for the classroom, and also to look at Hallowe'en decorations in our neighbourhood.
The Great Canadian Landscaping Co. very kindly gifted us a huge load of pumpkins, enough for each child to take one home. We had fun decorating them, and then feeling how heavy they were to carry home!
Now we ended the month with our Hallowe'en parties, which were a great success. We enjoyed each other's costumes, had our regular free play time, but also had awesome party food and watched a short DVD "Franklin's Hallowe'en".
Thank you to the parents who provided the food for the parties. Each family will get a turn to do this at some point in the coming year.
The afternoon class went Trick or Treating in Edgemont village while we were in our costumes. We had a fun time shouting "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you!", and the shop owners were really delighted to see all our costumes and smiling faces.
As the weather continues to get colder and wetter, please remember to send your children in appropriate outdoor clothing and boots (and indoor shoes to change into). If it's not raining, we usually try to go outside for extra running and fresh air. Also be extra careful in the parking lot at drop-off and pick-up; visibility is especially difficult on rainy days, and it can get very busy.
Thank you all for your continued support and understanding concerning masks, social distancing and phoning the office if you're running late or your child is unwell.
It's been a very successful start to our year and we're really excited about our plans for the next few months.
Keep reading the blog, but if you have anything you'd like to discuss with any of the teachers, just ask, email or phone, and we'll arrange a time to get together.
SUNFLOWER ROOM - Cecilia, Danielle
October began with thanks to the Lord for “giving
me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the apple seed…” The lyrics to
our song of grace were made more meaningful this month by passing around a
heart at circle time and discussing at the art table the things for which our
children are thankful.
Through books (such as “Give Thanks for Each
Day” and “I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie”), felt stories (like ‘Mrs.
Rabbit’s Vegetable Soup’ and ‘Tommy Turkey’) and songs and games (including
‘Pin the Feather on the Turkey’) the children were reminded of timeless
Thanksgiving traditions: family meals, cornucopias and shared stories.
Fire Prevention Month was the opportune time to
introduce the Sunflowers to the valiant work of our community helpers. At
circle they talked about what firefighters do and what they wear. Marion
introduced them to Fireman Dan and practiced fire safety with the group. During
free play children put out pretend house fires (the “fire hydrant” even had an
interactive component) and sprayed “flames” in the water table while at art
they assembled their own fire trucks. The children began pointing out fire
extinguishers throughout the building as they grew in their awareness of fire
safety and the importance of “stop, drop and roll.”
Books read: “The Fire Engine,” “Firehouse,” “The
Wheels on the Fire Truck,” “Firebears”
Felt stories, songs, rhymes & games: ‘Five
Little Firefighters,’ ‘What Do They Wear,’ ‘What colour hat is missing?’ ‘Drive
the Firetruck,’ ‘Five Brave Firefighters,’ bean bag toss into the fire helmet,
‘The Wheels on the Fire Truck’
It was the Halloween spirit that sparked the
imagination of our children for the final weeks of October. Jack o’ lanterns,
skeletons, and ghosts got them excited, while spiders, bats, witches and cats
rounded out our celebrations.
The children utilized their fine motor skills to
push pegs into a pumpkin, including its hard stem. They dressed up and went
trick or treating in the classroom. And they even built their own gadgets with
wooden blocks and Duplo. On music Wednesdays they used rhythm sticks to rattle
“Dem Bones” and creatively moved to the tune of “Halloween Freeze
Dance."
Books read: “Five Little Pumpkins,” “Splat the
Cat, “Dem Bones,” “Skeleton Hiccups,” “Ghost Cat,” “The Spooky Wheels on the
Bus,” “Happy Halloween Little Critter,” “Five Little Bats Flying in the Night,”
“Golden Man, Golden Man, What do you see?”
Felt stories, songs, rhymes & games: ‘This
is the we plant a seed,’ ‘Chocolate Chip Ghost,’ ‘Ghost, ghost, skeleton,’
“Halloween Hokey Pokey,” ‘What colour spider is missing?’ ‘Five Little Bats,’
‘Five Black Crows,’ ‘What Halloween costume is missing?’
Celebrations culminated with a costumed
Halloween Party complete with yummy snacks provided by our generous parents.
Your enthusiasm, including matching costumes, and consistent support fuel the
Sunflower Room with creative energy. Thank you, families and Happy Halloween!
We look forward to reading “Pete the Cat” for
the start of November, a meaningful week of Remembrance Day art and activities,
and hibernation to usher us into the winter months.
Thank you, parents, for packing more food than
less (one container for snack and one for lunch) as we are here for 4 hours a
day and the children tend to work up an appetite. We will also be going outside
to play when conditions allow so please pack appropriate footwear, winter
jackets and mittens.
Should you have any questions, please feel free
to contact the office so that we can arrange a meeting time after school hours.
RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion
We are now into our third month of school and I wanted to talk about "Toilet Training". Not all children are ready at the same age. It is important to watch your child for signs of readiness such as stopping an activity for a few seconds, clutching his/her diaper or doing the little dance. Most children begin to show signs between 18 months and 24 months, although some may be ready sooner than later.
Instead of using age as a readiness indicator, look for the signs that your child may be ready to start toilet training. Here are a few signs to look for:
* follows simple instructions
* understands the words about the toileting process
* verbally can express his/her need to go pee
* keeps a diaper dry for 2 or more hours
* shows interest in going to the toilet
* goes to the toilet/potty, sits down for a few minutes and can get off
* interested in wearing underwear
At school the teachers are always looking for these signs and if a child asks to go to the washroom, the teacher will ask if anyone else needs to go. In the Discovery 2s program the children are taken in small groups to try and use the toilet/potty.
Parents can help by letting the teachers know what they are doing at home regarding toilet training so we can follow through at school. Getting children out of diapers/pull-ups is the first step. Let them choose their own underwear. The training needs to be consistent and know that accidents will happen. Praise your child for all attempts even if they don't pee. Dress your child in loose fitting clothing, avoid overalls and under shirts with snaps. Children need to be able to dress and undress themselves with minimal help.
Lots of liquids during the day and nothing after 6 pm depending on their bedtime was a little trick I used. If you have any questions, please speak with the teachers.
