November 2018
REMEMBER NOVEMBER??
We almost forgot about the rain and the dark mornings with all that beautiful sunshine in October! So we have to amp up our Preschool Fun and prepare for a Fabulous Fall!
Please drive slowly through the parking lot and always follow the arrows for entering and exiting.
SAVE THE DATE!!! Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018 is our annual PIZZA NIGHT AND CAKE WALK!!
Come for dinner and stay for the good times!
There will be great food, great fun, and CAKE!! Bring your loonies for the cake walk and your cheque book for the cake auction!! Let us know if you want to DONATE A CAKE!
Note: The Year At a Glance has a mistake. It says the Pizza Night is a Wed., but it is Thurs.
Purdy's Chocolate Christmas Fundraiser ends Nov. 12th!
We have made some amazing progress with our Fundraiser.
We have so far raised close to $900 in chocolate sales! That means that 25% of that will be given back to the preschool to purchase educational supplies and of course to help our continual upgrade of our beautiful play yard!
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION FOR SEPT. 2019 IS ON NOVEMBER 5TH AT 8:3OAM - DECEMBER 14TH AT 4:30PM. Please contact registration@sd44.ca for more info.
IMPORTANT DATES
Nov. 5 - Kindergarten Registration begins (SD44)
Nov. 6 - Board Meeting
Nov. 8 - Photo Day (402,302,403/304)
Nov. 9 - Photo Day (301,401,403/304)
Nov. 12 - PRESCHOOL CLOSED for Remembrance Day
Nov. 12 - Purdy's Orders Due
Nov. 21 - Purdy's Chocolate Pick up
Nov. 20 - Pizza Order Forms due
Nov. 22 - PIZZA NIGHT & CAKE WALK (5:30PM)
Nov. 26 - Scholastic Orders due
WHAT DO THE TEACHERS WANT YOU TO DO?
-Please take your children to the bathroom before class
Why? Because a teacher must leave the room to take a child to the bathroom and when 8 or 10 children all ask within 3 minutes of their arrival, ratios and safety become a concern.
-Please call when your child is going to be absent
Why? Because it helps us with staffing and our Health & Licensing Officers require a record of Communicable Illnesses that pass through our preschool.
-Please do not carry your children up and down the stairs
Why? We do a lot of walking up and down the stairs and practice will help your children to be confident and safe when walking with their friends.
THE CLASSROOMS ARE BUSY WITH ACTIVITY.
Check out what happened in the classrooms last month!
DISOVERY TWOS - Brita, Danielle & Vibha
October was a busy and exciting month for all of us. We focused on Thanksgiving, Fall and
Halloween.
For Thanksgiving we made
Turkeys with coloured feathers. Also, our little chefs enjoyed making delicious
mashed potatoes with gravy.
For Fall we
made beautiful paper plate wreaths and fall collage.
Halloween was such a great time as we painted spooky
ghosts, glittery spiders and exploring with shaving foam to create
pumpkins. We even experimented with
water colours on diffusing paper to make our ghosts a mixture of colours. Of course the best fun of all was carving the
pumpkin and feeling the “gooey” stuff inside of it. At circle time children had fun listening
“Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate”.
Our Halloween party was a great hit. Our two’s looked so
adorable in their cute Pajamas. Thank
you for all of the delicious treats for our party.
Please continue to send
extra clothing as there are some very enthusiastic painters and children who
enjoy water play.
If you have any
questions please feel free to speak to any of us.
301 - Carol & Susan
Hello families! Thank
you for taking the time to read our class blog.
The month of October
has been very eventful with fun holidays. Starting with Thanksgiving, we began
the month celebrating the act of thankfulness and what we as a class are
thankful for. We touched on types of food we would eat at Thanksgiving dinners
in the home corner. We allowed the children to create their own holiday dinners
with plastic food, table settings and cloth napkins.
The big excitement
surrounding Thanksgiving was of course our art activities. The children created
turkeys by using a paper plate and decorating the bird with feathers. We hope
the parents enjoyed their children’s art as much as we did.
Between celebrating Thanksgiving and Halloween,
we explored apples. Here at St. Catherine’s we sing grace before each meal and during this exploration we were able to teach the children the significance of
the song “Johnny Appleseed”. This song is simple yet fun and explains the
beginnings of blessing food. The
children were able to dive deep into what an apple tastes and feels like. Each
child was given a piece of apple to chop and eat. 
This activity allowed the
children to use a butter knife in a safe and supported manner. The children
gained confidence in their cutting abilities and were able to celebrate with
enjoying their tasty apple. Along with cutting apples, the children created an
apple orchard which is displayed at the back of our classroom. Please take the
time to admire and recognize the children’s hard efforts.
Lastly, we ended the
busy month with Halloween! Costumes, parties and food, oh my! The children engaged
in Halloween themed games and art. Specifically, we had table top toys that
allowed the children to sort and count Halloween themed figures. This type of
play is the early stages of math skills and we are slowly introducing more of
these types of toys to the classroom.
We would like to thank each parent who contributed
to our Halloween party. Each of you made our event a success!
Before Halloween ends
Marion teaches each of the children the importance of fire safety. This type of
teaching coincides nicely with the hype of Halloween. The children each enjoyed this video and
activity that was held in the classroom.
We would like to remind our families
of two things before we conclude this blog. Please bring a pair of runners for
your children when coming to school in rubber boots. Rubber boots can be hard
to run in and are often clunky for the children.
Please remember to bring in a
family photo for our growing family tree. We would love to have all of our
families represented on the board.
302/404 - Carol, Karen & Susan
Hello families! Thank
you for taking the time to read our class blog.
Here in class 302/404
we have had an eventful October! We started the month celebrating the
importance of Thanksgiving. The children were invited to engage in activities
such as making a Thanksgiving dinner and setting the table for the big night.
The home corner was transformed into a perfect place to act out a traditional
dinner. 
Along with imagining in the home corner, the children created
Thanksgiving themed art activities.
Cornucopias and pumpkin pies were made along with turkeys. At one of the
tables there was a strong scent of cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Can you guess
what that was? This was our playdough! The children loved smelling and creating
playdough figures with this pleasantly scented, fall themed dough.
As the month
moved along we began to touch on other autumn activities and games such as
apples. Here at St. Catherine’s we sing grace before each meal, during this
exploration we were able to teach the children the significance of the song
“Johnny Appleseed”. This song is simple yet fun and explains the beginnings of
blessing food. The children were able to
dive deep into what an apple tastes and feels like. Each child was given a
piece of apple to chop and eat. This activity allowed the children to use a
butter knife in a safe and supported manner. The children gained confidence in
their cutting abilities and were able to celebrate with enjoying their tasty
apple.
Along with eating apples, the children stamped with the apples. This was
a fun way to see the shape of an apple from a different perspective.
We
excitedly moved into our Halloween theme with costumes being available for the
children to try on and wear in the home corner. Halloween is always a fun
holiday around the preschool with many activities and crafts being created. A
highlight was a witch’s brew that was made with puffy paint.
The Halloween
parties are always a fun way to end the busy month of October. We would like to
thank all the parents who contributed to our party day. The events would not be
possible with out you all.
Before Halloween ends Marion teaches each of the
children the importance of fire safety. This type of teaching coincides nicely
with the hype of Halloween. The children
each enjoyed this video and activity that was held in the classroom.
We would
like to remind our families of two things before we conclude this blog. Please
bring a pair of runners for your children when coming to school in rubber
boots. Rubber boots can be hard to run in and are often clunky for the
children.
Please remember to bring in a family photo for our growing family
tree. We would love to have all of our families represented on the board.
Thank you
401 - Arsi, Karen, Lisa & Vibha
Whoooosh went the
wind and out went the lights, five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!
It’s such a fun and spooky month for our 401 class! The
classroom looks ready for our spooktacular party too! This month we have talked
about pumpkins, spiders, ghosts, and witches! We listened to stories such as
“Bonaparte falls apart,” “Happy Halloween Little Critter,” and even “Grimelda
and the spooktacular pet show.”
For art, we’ve started practicing our cutting skills by
cutting pumpkin shapes, we’ve made boiling witches’ cauldrons, eight legged
spooky spiders, and even white ghosts! What a treat it was to see all the
wonderful costumes on our party day. We’d like to thank our volunteer parents
for providing the party food this time!
We also watched a very important fire safety video
featuring Fireman Dan. The children practiced stop, drop, and roll. They also
practiced crawling low under “smoke.” Furthermore, they learned that matches
are only for adults to touch! Thank you Marion for that important lesson!
Another great treat the children experienced this month
was a visit from Elmer the Elephant! Elmer spoke to us about road and
pedestrian safety. We learned to stop, look, and listen before crossing the
marked crosswalk. Ruff the dog also reminded us to put our seat belts on all
the time and to sit in the back where it’s safe!
It’s been great seeing the children becoming more
comfortable with each other and making new connections!
A few reminders to parents:
*please leave all toys at
home
*please arrive a few minutes before 11:30am for pick up time, teachers
need to take some children to next program
*if your child is sick, please keep
them at home, and give us a call
*please take your child to the bathroom in the
morning before coming in.
For the next few weeks, we will be talking about Echo
our adopted whale, Bucket filling, Remembrance Day, and Dr. Seuss!
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free
to talk to your teachers!
402 - Arsi, Danielle
It is hard to believe we have only been at school for 2
months…
We have been so busy doing so many things. For the Month of October, we started with Thanksgiving and what we are thankful for. It was lots of fun
to hear each child show and share their ‘Tom Turkey” they made with their
families. There were some very interesting places the Turkey got to hide
in.
We listened to the Story about ‘The
Little Old Lady who swallowed a Turkey’ & sang 5 Little Turkeys. We listened to a Felt story about a Scarecrow
and sang 5 Black Crows. We played ‘What’s the Time Mr Turkey’ & ‘Pin the
Tail on the Turkey’. We painted with corn,
decorated Turkeys and made yummy pumpkin muffins.
We then moved onto Fall…and talked about all the beautiful
colors we could see on the trees and on the ground. We listened to the story
about why the leaves change color. We
played games where we matched different color leaves or had to guess which leaves
were missing. For art we made prints with real leaves and used diffusing paper
and water color and watched the colors red & yellow merge together to make
orange. 
Of course it was now time for Halloween! We talked about how
we make pumpkins into Jack o Lanterns and we listened to the story about the
Pumpkin who didn’t want to be orange. We put our muscles to work and cut out
and decorated our own pumpkins. We listened to the story “The Chocolate Chip Ghost’
and we also cut out & decorated our own Ghosts. We laughed when we heard
about the Skeleton with the Hiccups and we also discovered a skeleton in our
water table. We also got to play with
green slime in the water table. We used Q-tips to make our own skeleton body
and work out how many ribs we need. We
decorated Spiders, Bats and glued our own Witches together. We played “Freeze
Dance” and ‘Pumpkin, Pumpkin Jack o Lantern’.
We also had the opportunity to Learn about Fire Safety with Fireman Dan
and meet Elmer the Safety Elephant.
403/304 - Brita, Carol, Karen & Susan
Thank you for the
taking the time to read our class blog.
The afternoon class is
always a fun energy filled group! This was very evident with the two special
holidays occurring in October. Firstly, we started with teaching the importance
of Thanksgiving. The children were invited to engage in activities such as
making a Thanksgiving dinner and setting the table for the big night. The home
corner was transformed into a perfect place to act out a traditional dinner.
Along with imagining in the home corner, the children created Thanksgiving
themed art activities. Cornucopias and
pumpkin pies were made along with turkeys. As well as creating paper crafts we
baked! The preschool had a lovely scent of pumpkin muffins on one of the
afternoons. The children enjoyed measuring, stirring, and scooping the ingredients
of the muffins. All the children gave the muffins a try and we think they all
enjoyed eating them!
Along with eating muffins we have also eaten apples while
we explored this autumn fruit. Here at St. Catherine’s we sing grace before
each meal, during this exploration we were able to teach the children the
significance of the song “Johnny Appleseed”. This song is simple yet fun and
explains the beginnings of blessing food.
The children were able to dive deep into what an apple tastes and feels
like. Each child was given a piece of apple to chop and eat. This activity
allowed the children to use a butter knife in a safe and supported manner. The
children gained confidence in their cutting abilities and were able to
celebrate with enjoying their tasty apple.
Along with eating apples, the
children stamped with the apples, this was a fun way to see the shape of an
apple from a different perspective.
We were very lucky in October to receive
such beautiful fall weather. Our afternoon group was able to take a few
field trips out to explore our preschool neighborhood. We watched the Terry Fox
run that was taking part close by. This was a fun experience for us all.
The
Halloween parties are always a fun way to end the busy month of October. We would
like to thank all the parents who contributed to our party day. The events
would not be possible without you all.
Before Halloween ends Marion teaches
each of the children the importance of fire safety. This type of teaching
coincides nicely with the hype of Halloween.
The children each enjoyed this video and activity that was held in the
classroom.
We would like to remind our families of two things before we
conclude this blog. Please bring a pair of runners for your children when
coming to school in rubber boots. Rubber boots can be hard to run in and are
often clunky for the children.
Please remember to bring in a family photo for
our growing family tree. We would love to have all of our families represented
on the board.
Thank you!
MUSIC PROGRAM - Tiffany
Congratulations on a successful October, filled with many
thanks and spooky surprises!
In October, we danced to the ‘Halloween Stomp’ and
sang like witches, ghosts and monsters! We used shakers to get to know our body
parts by, ‘Shaking our Skeleton Bones’.
One of our biggest achievements from
October is learning the difference between ‘forte’ which is to sing or play
loudly and ‘piano’ which is to sing or play quietly. The children are singing
loud and proud with confidence, and carefully, with musical intention.
As we
continue to build our vocal technique, we have also become more comfortable
with the listening portion of creative music. We are enhancing our ability to
recognize different types of instruments by listening and then guessing which
one we are listening to. The music wall is a great tool for instrument
identification. We enjoy listening to the harp, organ and saxophone and we love
to pretend we are playing; Just like the real thing! 
November brings excitement
for the holidays, as we prepare for our annual Christmas Service. We will
continue to experiment with various instruments that resonate, such as the
triangle and the cowbell. Our voices resonate too!
Stay tuned, as we add even
more vocal texture to our toolbox, by learning to sing ‘legato’ and ‘staccato’.
Our upcoming Christmas Services are just around the corner and we can’t wait
to showcase all that we have learned. WE LOVE TO SING!
THE RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion
We are now into our 3rd month of preschool and
what better time to discuss “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 a little dance.
Instead of using age as a readiness indicator, look
for other signs that your child may be ready to start heading for the potty
such as the ability to:
- Follow simple
instructions
- Understand words about
the toileting process
- Verbally express a need
to go
- Keep a diaper dry for 2
hours or more
- Get to the potty, sit on
it, and then get off the potty
- Show an interest in
using the potty or wearing underpants
At school the teachers are always watching for THE
SIGNS. When one child says that they have to go “pee” the teacher will
ask the class if anyone else needs to go. Usually one or two other
children will respond and off they go. Parents can help by letting the
teachers know what they are doing at home with toilet training and we can
follow through at school.
Getting children out of diapers/pull-ups is the
first step.
It is
not a process that can be rushed so set aside some time to devote to
potty-training. Establish a bathroom routine, first potty then wash
hands.
Dress your child in clothing that is loose fitting such as jogging
pants. Avoid overalls and shirts that snap at the crotch. Children
need to able to dress and undress themselves with minimal help. Let you
child pick his/her own new underwear.
Be sure to praise all attempts to
use the toilet, even if nothing happens. And remember that accidents will
happen. Tell your child that it was an accident and offer your support.
Lots of liquids during the day and nothing past 6 pm depending on
their bedtime was my little trick.
If you need any tips on teaching a
little boy to stand and pee just ask me!
THANKS FOR TUNING IN TO OUR BLOG! It takes time to create a blog each month so please let our teachers know that your are reading it!!
Happy November!