JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022

Happy New Year to you all! We hope you had an amazing Christmas break! Thank you so much for all your wonderful cards and gifts of thanks. The teachers really appreciate your thoughtfulness.

We have 2 new teachers starting in January. Please give a BIG welcome to our two returning teachers: Susan (Rainbow Room) and Gabi (Treehouse Room). We are so happy to have them back with us again!!

We made it to 2022!!

Here we are again at the beginning of a new year. It has been a little tricky navigating through this new world but we are determined to make sure our children have a safe, nurturing and exciting place to learn and to be with friends. 

Currently, we have had a few covid exposures and unfortunately, we had to shut down the Sunflower room for a week. Even though we are wearing masks, washing hands and doing extra cleaning, this new variant spreads VERY fast.

Please remember that even though most of us adults are vaccinated, our children are not. Please be extra diligent in keeping your children home if they have any symptoms at all and on your non-school days, please try to stay as safe as you can and avoid large gatherings or those not in your bubbles. 

Also, it is very important for those of you who have nannies or grandparents who pick up and drop off to make sure you are sharing information with them. We are finding that parents know the rules but they don't always pass along all the important info.

If you would like your nanny or grandparent to be added to our mailing lists, please let us know. It is important that all caregivers are on the same page.

REGISTRATION SEPT. 2022

If your child is born in 2020, 2019 or 2018, you are able to register them for September 2022 classes.

All currently enrolled families will get PRIORITY PLACEMENT as long as their registration forms and deposits are in to the preschool before the end of January. Reg. sheets and fees are online and a hard copy will be sent home with your child as well.

Important Dates & Events

Jan 31       - Registration for current families

Feb 1        - Registration for community families

Feb 10/14 - Children's Valentine's Day parties

Feb 21      - Family Day: PRESCHOOL CLOSED

Mar14-18 - Spring Break: PRESCHOOL CLOSED

December was a VERY busy month. Please see what we did in the classrooms!

RAINBOW ROOM: Danielle, Marjan, Rose, Susan, Vibha

Happy New Year Everyone!! We hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing White Christmas this year. What fun the snow is to play in!! We want to express our gratitude for the lovely cards, gifts, and Christmas greetings we received.

The Discovery Twos had a very busy but enjoyable time in December. We began by creating a unique surprise gift for you. We hope you liked it and that it found its way under your Christmas Tree!

We set up a ‘Winter Scene’ on our science table, complete with cedar boughs, wooden trees & Canadian winter creatures as well as finger puppets for the children to explore. On the light table we set up the Nativity Scene so the children could play with the Characters including Baby Jesus, Mary, The 3 Wisemen. We remodeled the housekeeping corner into a Christmas Bakery, with cookies, aprons, measuring cups, muffin trays and cash registers. They had lots of fun baking, serving themselves and others and using their imagination. 

For Art we used Christmas sequins to embellish popsicle trees and made a paper plate wreath with green paint and red/green felt squares. We enjoyed the different textures of the slippery sequins and the soft felt pieces mixed in with the wet paint/glue. We used dabbers with white paint to decorate Gingerbread Men and we coloured Christmas ornaments with stickers & Crayons. We also had fun decorating our own Reindeer Hats with crayons, stickers, and stamps. We enjoyed wearing them on our Party Day with a little red nose paint. Thank you to those parents who brought party food.

For circle we listened to many stories. There was a CD Story called ‘Noisy Santa’ and we read the books ‘5 Christmas Penguins’ & ‘My First Christmas’. We listened to the felt rhymes Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree, what do you See? 5 Santa’s, 5 Gingerbread Men & we played the games Where are you hiding Little Mouse? & Which colour ornament was missing.  We sang Shake it Santa with a Santa shaped shaker, Hickory Dickory & Snowflake, Snowflake Little Snowflake.

In the upcoming weeks we will be talking about Winter and what we might see or do outside or what we wear when it’s cold.

Just a reminder, that if it’s not raining or snowing, we usually go outside to play, so please pack a warm jacket, mittens & hat.

We would also like to mention that if anyone is starting toilet training, please let us know as consistency is the key.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to come and talk to us.

TREEHOUSE ROOM: Brita, Carol, Gabi, Karen, Marjan, Monica, Rose

Happy New Year! We hope you’ve had a relaxing, safe and enjoyable Christmas. We’d like to say a big “Thank you” for all the lovely cards, gifts and well wishes. They were greatly appreciated.

We are rested and relaxed from our Christmas break and we are ready to make the year 2022 the BEST ONE YET!

December was a busy and fun filled month in the Treehouse room. 

Throughout the month we took many photos and they were put together in a slide show, please let us know if you did not received it in an email.

We started with Nativity talking about what Christmas is about through a variety of stories presented through books, felt board pieces and a Nativity play set with Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, Wise Men, Shepherds, The Angel and animals. We continued on with a stable scene titled “Away in a Manger” made by the children for art.

At the end of November we started to rehearse our songs for our recorded Christmas Service. We hope you enjoyed the children singing “I’m a Little Pine Tree,” “Away in a Manger,” “Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells,” and “We Wish you Merry Christmas”(if you did not get it please let us know or contact the office). 

Circle times were filled with Christmas books, tape stories, games, sing-a-longs to familiar favourites, how the weather was changing and plans for the holidays.

During one of our circle times we talked about what the children wanted for Christmas which lead to a discussion about what gift they wanted. They even drew a picture of it which was then sent to the North Pole. We received a letter back just before the children left for the break (picture included).

Art time was busy with the children making…

Paper Plate Wreaths

Decorated trees

Snowflakes

Santa Clause 

Glittery Glue Paper Stockings, Candy Canes, Stars and Ornaments

Popsicle Stick Christmas Trees

Egg Carton Bells

Santa Binoculars

Decorating Gingerbread people

Pasta Necklaces 

Cardboard “gingerbread” houses

Christmas Colour bracelets 

Pinecone Gnome (take home gift for the family) 

The home corners were transformed into a Bake Shop, Christmas Tree Farm, Reindeers with a sleigh, and an Ice Cave under the Treehouse.

Our last few days of school were filled with Christmas parties (thank you to the families who brought in food to share), Classic Holiday DVD’s and lots of Christmas Music to dance and sing too.

To start off January we will be discussing Winter, from animals to what to wear to sports.

We will also have a new teacher joining our class and her name is Gabi, please welcome her. 

As always please feel free to discuss any questions or concerns you may have with any of the teachers. 

Thank you for reading,

SUNFLOWER ROOM: Cecilia, Danielle, Carol

December flew by but, as always, it began (and ended) with gifts. The children carefully chose the materials with which to adorn their Christmas “windows” and we hope they shared with you this holiday season their creative process.

The start of the month included silly and poignant stories by Robert Munsch. “Aaron’s Hair” segued us into a home corner turned hair salon where budding stylists practiced their trade. A reading of “Love You Forever” meant that even baby dolls came to the salon with their mamas and papas. But it was the baby Jesus on whom the star shone bright as the class listened to fellow children tell the story of the Nativity. They then took turns laying gifts by the manger like the three wise men.

Books (such as “Christmas in the Manger” and “Dear Santa”), felts (like the Nativity characters), songs and games (including ‘Simon Says,’ ‘Suzy got a haircut’ and body movement activities) kept the children actively engaged in the spirit of the season: love, family, and the greatest gift of all—a child.

Naturally Christmas took center stage during the two weeks before winter break. The home corner morphed into a bustling bakery and children busily placed cookies by the fireplace for Santa and his reindeer. The following week the area became Santa’s Workshop and little elves checked off lists and filled Santa’s sack with wooden toys they had “constructed.”

We hope you enjoyed the virtual Christmas concert as the children worked hard to learn the songs and how to sign “Silent Night.” Caroling in Edgemont Village on the Wednesday before break allowed the class to share their music with the community. And the Christmas Party was a smashing success thanks to your generous donations of drinks, chips, cheese, fruit and Fairy Bread, an Australian treat.

Books read: “Gingerbread Man,” “A Magical Christmas,” “The Littlest Christmas Tree,” “Santa Knows,” “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bell,” “Five Busy Elves,” “What Star Is This?” Letter from Santa, “Legend of the Candy Cane: The Candymaker’s Gift”

Felt stories, songs, rhymes & games: ‘Five Christmas Trees,’ What light is missing from the Christmas tree? ‘Christmas tree, Christmas tree, what do you see?’ ‘Five Christmas Angels,’ ‘Five Christmas Stars,’ Which angel was in the house? Matching Nutcrackers game, Christmas bell toss, ‘Shake it, Santa’ ‘Five Little Stockings’.

Danielle and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every family for their kind words, their thoughtful gifts, and all the Christmas cheer. We are the lucky ones but y'all made us feel so warm and fuzzy during this particularly cold winter. Our sincerest thanks for the privilege of playing and learning with your little ones.

We look forward to getting a move on in 2022 as we explore planes, trains and automobiles the first couple weeks and then travel Around the World through the cultures of our classroom families. Please consider sending in props or sharing a video about your heritage so that we can all learn from each other.

Thank you, parents, for continuing to pack more food rather 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.

We’re happy to report that children have been practicing self-help skills such as putting on their own footwear and apparel. We will continue to guide them with zipper and button skills as well as managing bulky backpacks. We’re certain your little ones will be thrilled to show you how capable they are becoming so please continue to reinforce these self-help skills at home.

As always, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office so that we can arrange a meeting time during afterschool hours.

RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion

COMING SOON.....STAY TUUUUUUUUNED!