January 2019
JANUARY 2019
Welcome to a brand new year! We hope you all had an amazing holiday and had time to spend with your family and friends.
Hand in your registration sheets & deposits before Jan. 25 to get priority registration. Sheets available in the office.
Upcoming Events
Jan 1-25 - Registration for enrolled children
Feb 1 - Registration for community children
Feb 13/14 - Children's Valentine's Day Parties
Feb 18 - Family Day: Preschool Closed
Mar 5 - Church Pancake Supper
Mar 18-22 - Spring Break: Preschool Closed
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Please do not forget about our Fundraisers!
Lovable Labels has amazing labels to help you keep your children's things from getting lost! You can place your order online throughout the year at: www.StCatherines.lovablelabels.ca 
Scholastic Books is a great and inexpensive way to help foster the love of reading in your child. Have them look through the Scholastic order forms to pick a book and watch their excitement to read when it arrives!! Some books are as low as $2!!Did the Teachers tell you what your child did last month?
Please take the time to read below about what goes on inside the classrooms! You can use this as a guide to ask your child open-ended questions about their day: "I see you are learning about hibernation.Tell me a little about which animals hibernate" or "I saw you were mixing colours for art. What happens when you mix red with blue?".
DISCOVERY TWOS - Brita, Danielle, Vibha
What a busy month we had in our Discovery Two’s. It was full of learning about Christmas and
spending time with our friends. The children were very excited about Christmas
and have been hard at work exploring and playing.
For circle we spent time listening to stories about
Christmas. We listened to the Felt
Rhymes ‘Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree, what do you see?’, 5 Gingerbread Men, 5
Red Stockings, 5 Christmas Trees and 5 Christmas Bells’. We played Color Recognition Games, Hide &
Seek with Christmas Shapes and sang ‘Shake it Santa, Shake it’. We enjoyed
spending time with Tiffany, our music teacher who sang Christmas songs with
instruments with us.
We also spent time decorating Christmas Trees with glitter
and paint. We stamped Christmas shapes
on paper and painted our own Christmas Wrapping paper. We used gold paper and
glitter to make our own Hanging Angels.
We used stickers and colors to dress up our own Gingerbread Men and
Ornaments. We also spent some time
making some special gifts for parents, something they can remember for a while
to come.
We finished up with our Christmas party. Thank you to the parents who provided the
snacks. We would also like to thank all
our families for their kind words and gifts.
We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year
and we are excited to see you all in 2019.
We are looking forward to the next fun filled few months.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us.
CLASS 301 - Carol, Susan
Hello everyone, thank
you for taking the time to read our class blog.
The month of December
sure went by fast! This time of year is always eventful and despite the busy time
we were able to enjoy the many festivities with the children.
The month started
off with the excitement for Christmas and the Christmas services. The children
had been practicing hard for a while and were looking forward to showing their
families their beautiful voices! The services were as always, a hit! Thanks to
Marion and Tiffany the show ran smoothly.
Within the classroom
the theme of Christmas was energizing the room. Decorations were going up,
music was being played and the children’s art work was being displayed on the
walls. Some of the activities that took place in the 301 classroom was creating
your special take home gifts. Salt dough ornaments were baked rolled and
painted. We hope you enjoyed your child’s Christmas gift to you as it was made
with love!
The Christmas season is
not complete without a written letter to Santa. The students each drew a
picture for Santa and those special drawings were sent to his workshop. The
children received a letter back which always makes the children smile.
Here at St. Catherine’s
preschool we enjoy teaching the children the story of Christmas. The awareness
of the nativity scene allows the children to understand the Christmas services
that much more. A nativity scene complete with farm animals was created on the
back wall of our classroom. Along with the nativity scene, some of the art that
is displayed on the boards in our school are Christmas trees, stars and
gingerbread men.
Circle time is always
an enjoyable time for both the teachers and children. This a place to learn
about the upcoming art, schedule of the day, as well as the importance of
listening. We read a story called “The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell”. This
story includes felt visuals for the children to follow along with. The
engagement of the children at this time is always inspiring and seeing the
children learn and wonder gives us a great sense of accomplishment.
Our fun month finished
off with the Christmas class party. Lots of party food was eaten and treats
were enjoyed. The children enjoy sitting around the large class tables at
events like these. The large tables give the students a great view of their
peers and conversation ignites. Thank you to all the parents and caregivers
that provided food for our event. It is greatly appreciated to have such
generous families.
Carol and Susan hope
you all had an enjoyable Christmas break, lots of family time and best wishes
for the New Year.
CLASS 302/404 - Karen, Susan, Carol
Hello everyone and thank
you for taking the time to read our class blog. Within this December addition
of the blog we will highlight the exciting Christmas moments that took place
within our classroom.
The month started off with rehearsing for our Christmas
services. Tiffany, our music teacher, had the children sing, act and dance
within the first week. This prompt commitment allowed the children to feel
comfortable with the services. As many of you would have seen, the services are
always a blast. The children are the highlight of the evening with their
excitement and enthusiasm. We would like to thank Marion for all of the hard
work she puts into the evenings.
Our classroom was
decorated with Christmas bows, garland, and a Christmas tree that the children
helped decorate. The classroom was beaming with Christmas excitement, cheer and
art work. A nativity scene was created on the back wall of the classroom. The
children created donkeys, sheep and Christmas stars to complete the manger.
Many of the children’s art is always a displayed on the walls within our
school so please take the time to look at the displays to get an idea of our
current learning projection.
Music is always a
large portion of our curriculum at preschool. Whether it be in circle, in the
music room or in creative play, we enjoy singing very much! At circle we learned about the letters in Santa’s name, S-A-N-T-A. We sang this song to the tune of
“Bingo”. Along with a song about Santa, we read “12 Trucks of Christmas”, “12 Dogs of Christmas” and “Santa’s Eight Reindeer”. As teachers we enjoy seeing
the excitement in the children’s eyes as they become consumed in a story.
We finished the month
of December off by holding a class party. The children love eating treats,
chips and drinking juice! The children looked adorable in their green and red.
Thank you to all of the parents who contributed to our Christmas party, we
would not have been able to do it with out your generosity.
Karen, Carol and Susan
hope that each of you enjoyed the holiday season with your family.
CLASS 401 - Arsi, Karen, Lisa
Happy New Year! But before we even
get started with 2019 lets remember December.
We
always start off our Christmas season with a Nativity story, followed by an
art. We put in up on the board in our classroom, we hope you had a chance to
look at it.
A
you know Christmas is a very bust time for most people and we hit the month
running. So much planned and so little time. Throughout December we decorated
the classroom with the children's art which was gingerbread people, paper plate
Santa Claus, snow people, angels and our traditional trimmings too. By the
circle carpet we had a Christmas tree that the children helped to decorate and they even put on some of their art from the make it table on it😊.
We
hope you liked the Christmas gift that your child made for you! A keepsake
piece you can keep for years to come (round log piece with your child’s hand-print).
The
weather was a bit sketchy but we did get two great walking field trips in. Our
first one was to the Capilano library. All the children walked very nicely
through all the hustle and bustle of Edgemont Village. During the Christmas stories
being read, everyone listened so nicely and participated when they were asked
to. Our second field trip was through Edgemont stopping at local merchants to
sing Christmas carols.
One
of our favourite traditions is the children’s Christmas concert. In order to
prepare for this service we practice the songs every chance we get. You may or
may not think this as the service may or may not reflect this. Either way we
love the end result and we hope you did too.
Our
last day of 2018 in preschool was a celebration with food and music. As I
mentioned earlier we also went caroling in the village. Thank you to the
parents that brought food in to share.
A
BIG THANK YOU for all your generous Christmas gifts!
We
wish you a happy and healthy New Year!
CLASS 402 - Arsi, Danielle
How time flies…Oh what fun we have had these past 4 months!
We have been so busy playing with our new friends, exploring & learning new
things.
For the Month of December, we started with the Nativity.
This was a great way for the children to tie in their songs & costumes for the
Christmas Service with their school environment. The Christmas Concert was awesome!! The all looked great and
performed like naturals.
We
then went on to read ‘The Gingerbread Man’. We decorated gingerbread men &
baked our own gingerbread shapes. They
were so yummy! We also read the
‘Christmas Angel’ & cut our own Angel body & made our own Angels. We read ‘There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed
a Bell’ and then decorated a 3-D Ornament.
We spent time making our Christmas Gifts for our parents and stamped the
wrapping paper. We read ‘The Littlest
Christmas Tree’ and were busy putting bling on our own tree.
We
enjoyed listening to the CD Stories ‘Santa Knows’, ‘Santasaurus’ & ‘Russel’s
Christmas Magic’. We played the games
‘Reindeer Pokey’ & ‘Santa, Santa, Reindeer.
We also acted out ‘5 Little Reindeer jumping on the Sleigh”. We had a lot of fun caroling in the Village and even the sun came out for the morning.
Thank you to the parents who provided the Party food. A fun
time was had by all. We would also like to thank the families for your
Christmas Wishes and gifts for Christmas.
In January we will start encouraging more self-help skills
& kindergarten readiness.
CLASS 403/304 - Karen, Susan, Carol, Brita
Happy New Year
everyone and thank you for taking the time to read our class blog.
The month of
December was a blast. The children and teachers were busy getting ready for the
many events of the Christmas season. The month was short but sure was jam
packed with fun activities.
The highlight of the
Christmas season is always the much anticipated Christmas Services. The
children worked very hard starting at the end of November to practice and rehearse
the songs and actions. The majority of the practicing takes place in the music
room with our music teacher Tiffany. Tiffany created an unforgettable and
exciting performance for all to see. And a large thanks also goes out to Marion who
takes the time to decorate the church for the event and helps each class with
the big night. As always, our services are a huge success. We hoped you enjoyed
them as much as we did.
Here in the afternoon
class we are able to engage the children in many fun and child friendly art
activities. Some of the highlights of our designs are displayed on the boards
within the school. The students helped contribute to our nativity scene which
is displayed at the back of our classroom. The afternoon class created donkeys
and sheep which are very significant to the story of Christmas. Speaking of
nativity, we took the time to teach the children about the importance of the
Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Teaching the students in a child friendly manner
allows the important pieces to be understood.
At circle we learned about the letters in Santa’s name. We sang “S-A-N-T-A”to the tune of “Bingo”.
Along with the song about Santa, we read “12 Trucks of Christmas”, “12 Dogs of
Christmas” and “Santa’s Eight Reindeer”.
Circle time is always an important time for
the children to learn the importance of sitting and listening to a story or
directions. A story that captivated the children’s imagination and attention
was “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell”. This story incorporates the
stimulating illustrations along with felt pieces that are displayed on the felt
board as the story is read. Christmas always bodes well to exciting story
telling and as teachers we just love seeing the magic in the children’s eyes.
Our fun month finished
off with the Christmas class party. Lots of party food was eaten and treats
were enjoyed. The children looked adorable in their green and red. Thank you to
all of the parents who contributed to our Christmas party, we would not have
been able to do it without your generosity.
Karen, Carol, Brita
and Susan hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas break, lots of family time
and best wishes for the New Year.
MUSIC PROGRAM - Tiffany
Happy New Year, families!
This is an exciting time for
our music class, as we start 2019 off with learning how to recognize and count
the beat. We have been OFFICIALLY introduced to the Rhythm Family and they are
so cool! Big Daddy whole note is very slow and only gets one clap per measure.
But watch out for Little Sister eighth note, she’s really fast and gets a total
of eight claps per beat!
January is a great month to introduce new concepts and
dive deeper into what we have already learned. Adding to our music vocabulary,
we are going to learn about the difference between, the ‘beat’ and the
‘rhythm’. We will also learn the musical term for, the speed at which we play
our music, also known as ‘tempo’.
By next month, we will be singing loud and proud OR quiet
and careful! ‘Tempo’ will teach us how fast, or how slow, to go. Furthermore,
we will be confident in following the beat and we will be creative with the
rhythms we choose!
RESOURCE OFFICE - Marion
Happy New Year everyone!
I hope everyone had an
enjoyable break and celebrated with their families and friends. I want to
thank everyone for their gifts and well wishes and welcome back.
The Christmas Services were wonderful and all the children
did their very best to share their joy of Christmas.
Every year I am
excited to the next six months of learning. All the children are
expanding their interests and are interacting with peers to play more
co-operative games. Their problem solving skills have improved and they
have become more independent.
The 4s will be focusing on their
Kindergarten readiness skills and the teachers will be working on games
incorporating numbers and letters. Art activities will become more
challenging by adding a number of steps, such as cutting, matching and
gluing.
Each program is geared to provide age appropriate activities and
the children learn through repetition, rhymes, stories and songs. During
Circle time the children learn to be respectful of the teachers and their peers
and learn about the work around them. Our goal is to provide the children
with the skills to enjoy life and to be caring of others.