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!

DECEMBER 2021

 Let Every Day Be Christmas

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.
– Norman Wesley Brooks

It's DECEMBER! And it's the most wonderful time of the year!! Christmas! And sparkles! And presents! And sparkles! And snow! And sparkles! And candy canes! And sparkles! (It's just not Christmas at Preschool without SPARKLES!!)

It's a short month with our last day being Friday, December 17th. We have packed a lot into those two and a half weeks just to get it all done before the New Year!

TRAVEL AND COVID PROTOCOL

Please remember if you are travelling out of Canada this holiday season, your unvaccinated children must stay home from school for 2 weeks before they are able to return. Please refer to the Government website for current and up to date information.

If you plan on taking extra time off for your holidays, don't forget to let the teachers know so they can plan the classroom activities accordingly. It is always good to know in advance who will be away.

Thank you to all those in the Treehouse & Sunflower Rooms who sent in requests to extend their child's day starting January! It is going to be a fun time for all! If you have not contacted us but are thinking of extending hours, let us know asap as spots are filling up with new families registering.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

DEC. 7/8          - Children's Christmas Service 

DEC. 15/16/17 - Children's Christmas Parties

DEC. 17           - Last Day before Christmas Break

JAN. 4              - First Day back to Preschool

JAN. 4-31         - 2022 Registration for Current Families

FEB. 1              - 2022 Registration for Community Families

FEB. 10/14      - Children's Valentine's Day Parties

FEB 21            - Family Day PRESCHOOL CLOSED

MAR 14-18    - Spring Break PRESCHOOL CLOSED

THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our Photo Days pictures we sent to you. We still plan on taking photos of those who missed the day. If you have not already done so, please let the office know you would like a photo taken of your child. We will try to do another group shot near the end of the year, when more children are in attendance.

CHRISTMAS DONATION TO NORTH SHORE FAMILY SERVICES

Thank you to everyone who has donated a gift card for our collection with the Church for the North Shore Family Services. They will distribute the cards to families who are in need this holiday season.

The last day to donate is Friday, Dec. 3rd.

THANK YOU to everyone who helped us fundraise over the last couple of months. We raised over $600 from our Samosa Fundraiser and we raised over $1000 from our Purdys' Fundraiser! We raised $180 from our Photo Days fundraiser. Your support is very much appreciated! Don't forget about Scholastic Books, Lovable Labels, Cobbs; Edgemont, Return-It Bottle Return; Brooksbank, and Boston Pizza Esplanade! These are all great ways to support our school! And coming soon...Little Kitchen Academy; Edgemont.

Let's see what is happening inside the classrooms: 

RAINBOW ROOM - CECILIA, DANIELLE, MARJAN, ROSE, VIBHA

We go by car.

We go by plane.

We go by boat.

We go by train.

We go by land 

and sea and air.

We go, go, go,

From here to there!

~ Poem by Richard Scarry,

What a fun and exciting month of November we had learning about different modes of transportation.

For art:  we made yellow school buses with dabbers, decorated paper plate sailboats and cars with colourful tissue paper,  fire truck printing, transportation cookie cutter collage, we decorated rocket ship with foil and used dabbers to make our own train carriage.

During circle time, we read a fun- filled sing along tape story “We all go traveling by.”

"Blue train, Blue train what do you see?" and 

"Soft road, bumpy road" song.

Felt rhymes are always a big hit with our two’s. Such as Five Little Buses, Twinkle, Twinkle Motor Car, Zoom , Zoom, Zoom, We’re Going to the Moon,  Space Ship, Space Ship, What Do You See?   And everyone’s favourite “The Wheels On The Bus.”

We also transformed our housekeeping corner into a train station. 

As always, please come and speak to us if you have any concerns or questions.  

And thank you all for your continued support

TREEHOUSE ROOM - BRITA, CAROL, KAREN, MARJAN, MONICA, ROSE

Hello Treehouse families,

It has been a busy fun filled month and the children are settling in well to the routines.


For the month of November, we learned all about community helpers and why they are so important to us. We focused on animal vets, dentists, construction workers, police officers, firefighters, and chefs.

The children played Guess the Community Helper, sang songs, and read books at circle time.

Our home corner was transformed into a veterinarian office where the children pretended to help animals get well.

The block corner was a fire station for the children to pretend to rush to a fire.

The train table became a coffee shop where the children could serve coffee and bake delicious treats to serve to their friends! 

Karen made banana pancakes with the children when we were learning about chefs as community helpers! They were so delicious!
We watched a Little People video on Community Helpers that the children really enjoyed!

The afternoon program went for a walk to Edgemont Village to see all the different community helpers hard at work.

For Remembrance Day , the children made poppies for art and they learned why it was such an important day.


The last week of the month was spent exploring the world of Hibernation. We discovered what animals, insects, and reptiles hibernate in the winter and where they make their homes such as in a cave, den, or tree. We looked at why they hibernate and for how long. The home corner became a hibernation center for bears, snakes, raccoons, and squirrels.

We finished up the month with the children writing letters to Santa and making their special Christmas gifts!

Please remember that the Christmas Services are being filmed on Tuesday, December 7th and Wednesday, December 8th. The children have been practicing their songs and they are looking forward to singing them for you on video!

Our Christmas parties are on December 16th and 17th and the children can dress in their favourite pajamas!

Thank you for all your support and understanding about masks, social distancing, and keeping your child home if they are not well. The phone calls and emails are truly appreciated about this.

Please remember to pack runners for your child so they can participate in the fun activities in the gym.

If you plan to travel outside the country, please check the BC Government website about Covid information and return to school information.

Please visit the blog next month to see the fun activities we got up to in December!

SUNFLOWER ROOM - CECILIA, DANIELLE

Wow, I cannot believe how busy we have been and what we have been learning about. There is soooo much, I am not sure I have will enough room.

We started November talking about Pete the Cat.  We read “Pete the cat: I love my White Shoes, His Four Groovy Buttons, Rocking in My School Shoes, Pete the Cat and The New Guy, Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses & Pete the Cat and The Missing Cupcakes". We sang I've Got a Black Cat on My Knee, 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe and listened to the felt rhyme ‘5 Little Kittens Standing in a Row’. 

We danced to Boogie Pete and marched to the beat of the drum in ‘The Pete’s Go Marching. 

We played the games Shoe Relay, Button, button who's got the button? & Find the missing items from the Magic Sunglasses book. 

For Art we used shoes to make prints in red, blue & brown. We also glued Pete the Cat together with his 4 groovy buttons and we made our own Pete the Cat Mask with Sunglasses. 

We explored ‘shoe shopping’ in the house corner and buttons in the sand & water table.

We moved on to talk about how to be a good friend. We read “Fox makes Friends, “When you need a friend”, “My Friends” & Listened to the CD story “Very Special Friends”. We played Ring a Ring a Rosie, Row, Row your boat, What’s the time My Friend? and we searched for missing items in the classroom with a friend.  We also touched on Remembrance Day and how it is very important for everyone to use their words when talking to each other and to keep our hands to our own bodies. 

We read “The Soldiers Puppy & If The Kids Ruled the World”. We listened to the rhyme 5 Brave Soldiers & 5 Poppies. We guessed which colored Poppy was missing & we marched to the song “The Grand Old Duke of York’ with drums. For art we worked together to paint our den for our winter animals, made a stick friend and traced Poppy’s & decorated them with red tissue paper. In the water table we explored red magnets with black metal and had tea with babies in the home corner.

For the last 2 weeks of November, we talked about Hibernation and the animals in our forest…We started with animals that hibernate, Bears, Turtles & Hedgehogs. We read “Time to Sleep, Turtle's First Winter Now I Know: Turtle, We're Going on a Bear Hunt & Felt Story: Ouch” (hedgehog's dilemma). We sung Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around & Hibernation.

We played the games “Bear Bingo, Who woke the Sleeping Bear? & Which Animal Track is this?’. We moved like a bear and a turtle. We met “Freddy” the bear who will sleep in a box until spring. For Art we used marble painting to decorate paper plate bears, potato masher turtles and Hedgehogs with forks.  We created a bear cave in the home corner that we later turned into a forest with deer’s, racoons & a wolf cave. 

We then moved onto talk about animals in the forest that don’t hibernate. We talked about Foxes, Owls & Moose’s.  For circle we read “Winter Dance, A Fall Ball for All, Little Tails, When a Tree Grows, Night-Night Forest Friends & Who’s in the forest?”. We learnt the rhymes- Foxy Loxy, If you are a fox & you know it, 5 Little Owls, Moosey Loosey and we moved like forest animals. We sang the action rhyme ‘The animals in the Forest’ and when on a Animal Hunt in the classroom. We played the game What animal is missing? & ran around in the gym to the Animal Wall game. For art we explored Foxes by using glue, scissors & paper to make a fox face, paper plates for a snowy owl & we put the moose’s face together like a puzzle.

 

We have also been busy practicing our Christmas Songs for our Christmas Concert that we are having next week.  We will be sending you all a video of the children performing that a few days later.

 

For the last few weeks of the year, we will explore The Nativity & Christmas, as well as continuing to have fun learning and playing together.

Please remember to pack more food than less (one container for snack & one for lunch) as we are here for 4 hours a day, so the children get hungry.  We will also be going outside to play so pack appropriate footwear & jackets.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office so we can arrange a meeting after school hours. 

RESOURCE OFFICE - MARION

Children love toys and the best toys are often the simplest ones, like Lego or Duplo for the younger children.  These toys allow children to be creative and spontaneous.  Children enjoy toys that they can master and that are right for their stage of development.  

Preschoolers learn a lot about socialization through pretend play.  Finger puppets and hand puppets allow children to communicate through them while playing with peers or by themselves.  This play allows them to get a sense of the real world around them.  

Crayons, finger paints and Play-Doh help develop fine motors skills as well, allows children to be creative. Children also make huge gains in both fine and gross motor skills throughout this period, so puzzles, blocks and other construction toys are perfect for fine motor development and ball games and bikes are great for gross motor skills. It is important to buy toys that involve brain activity and hand or muscle movements.

Children bring a special gift to us all and especially at Christmas time.  The gift of imagination and curiosity. As we near Christmas break, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

Please check out a new event happening at some of the stores in the Village: "An Artist's Advent Calendar 2021".  

St. Catherine's Childcare Society submitted "Hope" to BC Playthings and "Love" to Delish General Store. Please visit these stores, and others to see all the Artist Creations!

On Christmas Eve this year, St. Catherine's Church is  planning a Christmas Eve Nativity Pageant from 3 pm to 4 pm. Please feel free to come dressed up as a Shepherd, Angel or Wise "Person".  There will be some costumes and props available at 2:30 pm.  

Please visit: www.saint.catherine.org for more information.

THANK YOU FOR READING OUR BLOG. If you have made it this far, you are amazing! Please let the teachers know you have read their blog. Tell them what you think of all the amazing activities and pictures you have seen on the blog. Let them know what you would like to see more of!!

NOVEMBER 2021

 

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. 

CLASS PHOTOS 

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.

https://fundraising.purdys.com/login.aspx?returnurl=%2fdashboard.aspx

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.