April Showers bring MAY flowers,
That is what they say.
But if all the showers turned to flowers,
We'd have quite a colourful day!!
There'd be bluebells and cockleshells,
Tulips red and green,
Daffodils and Crocus too,
The brightest you've ever seen.
We have such a short time left in this school year! Let's make the most of it! We have a few fun things planned for the classrooms this month so stay tuned! Here is a hint:
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Things that PARENTS need to know:
September deposits will be cashed Tuesday, May 17th.
Friday, May 13th - PRESCHOOL CLOSED - Professional Day
A big THANK YOU to everyone who donated to the BC Children's Hospital! We raised $202! Thanks so much to everyone who participated in our Jean's Week!
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
RAINBOW ROOM - Vibha, Danielle, Susan, Rose
What a blast we had this month, learning about Easter, exploring bugs and talking about being sick and hospitals!
We
began by ‘hopping’ into April by talking about Easter. For circle we sang lots
of Action songs and finger rhymes. Some of them were Hop Little Bunny,
Little Peter Rabbit, Sleeping Bunnies and 5 Little Chicks Balancing. We
listened to the prop story “The Golden Egg Book” & “The Egg Who Couldn’t
Decide”. We heard the CD story “The Old
Lady Who Swallowed the Chick” and played the game ‘What color Egg is missing?
For art we enjoyed marble painting Easter eggs & Easter Bunnies plus
decorating bunnies with cotton wool & tissue paper. In the water table we
enjoyed finding eggs hidden in the shredded paper.
On
the science table we were using our hand eye coordination to match colored Easter
items into the same-colored baskets. This helps promote color recognition as
well. We also had fun in the home corner hiding eggs in cupboards and
collecting them with Easter Baskets.
Over
the last week we spent some time talking about Hospitals. We learnt about the
people who work in the hospitals, that there are many different departments and
Doctors who specialize in caring for our bodies in hospitals. We read the books
“Bear Feels Sick’ & “Helping Hospital Book”. We played a game where we had
to put Band aids on Bear, who was stung by a bee and we sang ‘Miss Polly Had
a Dolly’. For Art we decorated Jeans with glitter glue and sequins. In the
home corner we had Babies who needed to be looked after and cared for.
We would like to Thank all of you who donated money towards our Fundraiser for BC Children’s Hospital.
For
the Month of May we move onto talking about the Jungle and Construction.
If
your child has started toilet training, please let us know as we would like to
continue with it at Preschool. Consistency is the key!!
If
you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
TREEHOUSE ROOM
- Karen, Carol, Rose, Brita, Gabi, Monica
We had an amazing month of April!
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We also encourage children to keep practice putting and zipping up their own jackets and opening/closing their snack/lunch containers. These are important learning experiences that will prepare them for Kindergarten.
Getting to the end of April, we talked about Earth day! On Earth day, teachers created an example of the polluted ocean and explained to the children how the garbage will pollute and damage the life cycle of all the sea animals in the ocean. 
That also led to our sea life theme this month. Children enjoyed learning and exploring all the different kinds of sea animals. Ask them about their favorite sea animals. 
SUNFLOWER ROOM - Danielle, Cecilia, Carol
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A is for April and alphabet. This month the classroom evolved to emphasize the letter (or two) of the day in fun and meaningful ways so as to promote letter recognition and phonemic awareness. At the start, the children got to play school and had a blast pretending to be the teacher next to a kid-sized calendar board. But, of course, Easter celebrations dominated the first half of April.
The home corner morphed into an Easter garden
the first full week of the month. A giant bunny stuffy lived next to the carrot
patch and children got to “plant” in sensory trays of black rice and bean
“soil.” Their fine motor skills were challenged with Easter tongs, plastic eggs
to fill and hide for classmate egg hunts, and art activities such as dot
bunnies and baskets decorated with glitter glue and tissue paper.
The following week
Easter anticipation grew with an unexpected visit from the Easter Bunny who
left a note for the children and prints to follow as each child got to find and
keep two hidden eggs. The excitement continued when the class went on a hunt
throughout the school to find the elusive bunny and the children pondered
whether he had cleverly hid himself under the ceiling tiles. During circle they
learned about Easter traditions and asked meaningful questions about Jesus and
whether he was alive or dead. Upon their return from Easter break, they shared
about the number of eggs they had found at home and one child proclaimed he had
found an “infinity of eggs!”
Sample books read:
“Easter,” “The Bunny Who Found Easter,” “The Golden Egg,” “Happy Easter Little
Critter,” “The Egg Who Couldn’t Decide”
Felts, songs & games:
Bunny Basket, Little Peter Rabbit, Sleepy Bunnies, garden matching game, 5
Chicks Balancing
All the while, the children were steadily learning the letters of the alphabet. For the letter H, our classroom bear (dubbed Freddie by the children) finally awoke from hibernation and we celebrated with a teddy bear picnic in the music room. The final count for days asleep in his shoebox den: 141!
The second full week of April the children got
to take care of jungle animals in the home corner and at the water
table. And during week three the alphabet train made an appearance with Thomas
helping to encourage dramatic play. As the children boarded, they noticed the
letter cards and images along the walls of the train and spontaneously broke
out into a chorus of the Alphabet song.
Further associations were developed with kangaroos
and koalas in the sandbox, lemons and limes in the water
table, keyboard playing opportunities to make music, sticks and
strings and other nest-building supplies on the science table, etc.
Earth Day provided the children with a chance to perform an ocean waste cleanup of sorts at the water table and, during the week, they got to build with boxes—a fun way to reuse and recycle.
The final week of April we raised awareness and funds for the B.C. Children’s Hospital (where one of our students proudly declared he was born). At circle the class discussed the role of doctors and nurses and where we go when we’re sick. They had loads of fun placing “Band-Aids” on felt bear who was stung by bees whilst searching for honey. And, in the home corner, children got to play doctor themselves by looking at x-rays, diagnosing teachers with their various ailments, and checking heart functions and reflex times.
Some books read: “Mouse House,” “Nighttime Animals,” “Little Penguin Gets the Hiccups,” “The Hospital Dog,” “Bear Feels Sick”
Songs, felts, games: Alphabet Bean Bag Toss, ‘The Lion and the Mouse,’ The Floor is Lava, Miss Polly Has A Dolly, Go Go Stop, We’re Going On a T Hunt
Thank you, Sunflower families, for your generosity in donating funds during Jeans Week. Together we can make a significant difference in the lives of children across beautiful B.C. Thank you also for your kind support of the Cards Project! We hope your friends and family enjoy the cards as much as your little ones did during the process of creating them.
In the classroom, we continue to remind the children about thumbs up behaviors which lead to smiles and happiness (such as helping a friend or extending a compliment) rather than frowns and hurt feelings from not sharing or using hands instead of words. Thank you for reinforcing this message at home so that kindness is hopefully nurtured for life.
May themes include Mothers’ Day and At the Zoo as we wind down our exploration of the alphabet. This year’s group seems to adore animals so we’re anticipating lots of dramatic play in May.
As always, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office so that we can arrange a meeting time during after school hours.
RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion
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Excitement is building in the school as we await the arrival of our Butterfly Kits. Thirty caterpillars will arrive this Thursday and they will spend the next few weeks preparing to make their chrysalis and then become Painted Lady butterflies. Each class will be able to visit the Treehouse Room and follow the transformation from caterpillars to butterflies. In early June we will release them into the Memorial Garden.
It is hard to believe, but it is May already and the children have grown and developed before our very eyes. As the weather warms up and many of the restrictions have been lifted, there will be more opportunities to gather with friends and family. This is a good time to ask other families where their child will be going to Kindergarten and make plans to have play dates before school starts in September.
