DECEMBER 2025
Welcome to December!
As we head into our final — and wonderfully busy — month of 2025, the children are embracing the season with rosy cheeks, cozy layers, and plenty of outdoor adventures (weather permitting, of course!). With holiday excitement building around our Christmas Service, we’re also reminding everyone to take extra care of their health so we can all enjoy this special time with family and friends. It’s a month full of joy, togetherness, and just a little extra sparkle before we wrap up for the Christmas break.
A Big THANK YOU is in Order!!
Thank You for Your Support!
A heartfelt thank you to all our wonderful families for supporting our fundraisers over the last three months. Your generosity helps our non-profit preschool continue offering meaningful learning experiences, updated materials, and special activities for our Children’s current and future play yard and Gym. Fundraising plays a vital role for non-profits like ours—it bridges the gap between tuition income and the true cost of running a high-quality early childhood program. Thanks to your participation, we raised:
• Samosas & More: $371.53
• Purdys Chocolates: $932.01
• Pizza Night & Cake Walk: $409
• Return-It Bottle Return: $46.80
• Class Picture Donations: $100
• Misc. Donations: $100
*Scholastic Books: $110.51 Bonus Bucks
We are so grateful for every contribution, big or small!
As we look ahead to January–June, our fundraising typically slows down. Our main event during this time is The Card Project in May, but we’re always open to fresh ideas. If any parents are interested in organizing a wine raffle, a parent social, a burger-and-beer night, or any other fun community event or parade, we would be thrilled to support it. Your suggestions and involvement are always appreciated and truly make a difference!
Holidays & Vacations
As the teachers prepare their classroom activities for the upcoming Christmas season, please remember to let the preschool know of any holidays or vacations you will be taking. It is very helpful to know in advance of any absences. The earlier we know, the better!
FEES: Please remember to get your Jan-Jun postdated cheques in to the office BEFORE the Christmas Holiday!! Thanks!!
REGISTRATION FOR 2026/27 SCHOOL YEAR
Registration for the 2026/2027 school year will begin for current families in January. Registration forms will be handed out on January 6th and currently enrolled families will get PRIORITY PLACEMENT if their forms and deposits are returned by January 31st.
New families will then fill in all the extra spots on Feb. 1st so make sure your forms are in early so you do not lose your PRIORITY PLACEMENT!!
And please, let other families with young children know! Spread the word! Better yet, come pick up a couple of our postcards and place them around the community places you visit!
ILLNESS POLICY
And THANK YOU parents for keeping your sick children home when they are showing symptoms of sickness.
It is very important that your child stays home when they have symptoms of sickness and they should not return until all their energy has fully returned. A child should go 24 hours with no symptoms and no medicine during those 24 hours. Except if your child is vomiting and has diarrhea and then it switches to 48 hours.
We do find that some children come back to school too soon and they end up rebounding, spreading germs and having to stay off sick again!
Some mornings you may find your child does not have a fever, cough or any obvious signs of sickness, but if they are uncharacteristically weepy or whiny, they may be coming down with something so best to keep them home.
They are usually contagious before any symptoms are present so this may help with spreading sicknesses around the classroom to the children and teachers.
Thank you for continuing to let us know as soon as possible if your child will be absent and for letting us know what symptoms they have when they are sick. The sooner we know, the better.
SNOW DAY PROCEDURES!!
With inclement weather on the way, should you wake to SNOW one morning, please tune in to CKNW 980 on your radio, or the morning news like Global or Breakfast Television and if the North Vancouver School District #44 has declared a SNOW DAY, then St. Catherine’s will declare a SNOW DAY as well!
Click this link to check the School District's website for SNOW DAY notices. They usually post SNOW DAY notices at 6:30am on snowy mornings.
Click here: https://www.sd44.ca/Pages/default.aspx#/=
Our Facebook page will also let you know if we are having a snow day.
Thank You to Our Practicum Student
Over the past few weeks, our centre was once again approached by a local college to host a practicum student—an opportunity we are always proud to take part in. Hosting practicum students is an important way for us to support the next generation of Early Childhood Educators. It brings fresh perspectives, new ideas, and an extra set of caring hands into our classrooms.
This November, we had the pleasure of welcoming Lucia Currie, a Vancouver Community College student completing her final practicum of the Early Child Care and Education program. Lucia was with us from November 10th to December 1st in the Treehouse Room.
During her time here, Lucia brought wonderful experience from previously working and volunteering in an outdoor preschool in Stanley Park, as well as in a Montessori daycare. She approached each day with a spirit of collaboration, valuing the learning that happens with children and often reflecting on her own early experiences. Lucia also shared her passion for creativity through drawing and painting, encouraging continuous self-expression in the classroom.
We are grateful for Lucia’s contributions and wish her all the best as she moves forward in her ECE journey.
Check out what happened in the CLASSROOMS!!
RAINBOW ROOM-Danielle, Karen, Vibha
November Highlights & Transportation Fun!
What a wonderful and busy month it has been in the Rainbow Room! Our theme of Transportation has brought so much excitement, curiosity, and joyful learning into our days. The room has been fully transformed with cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, train tracks, road signs, and more, giving the children countless opportunities to explore how things move in our world.
Throughout the month, the children expressed their ideas through art, music, stories, and lots of imaginative play. They painted with truck wheels, created vehicles out of a variety of materials, and enjoyed stories about buses, airplanes, boats, hot air balloons, cars and trains. Many children eagerly shared their own experiences riding on different types of transportation, and it was wonderful to see their imaginations take flight. We also sang many songs like “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Down by the Station,” adding movement activities that let the children zoom, soar, drive, and sail around the room.
This month also included a gentle and meaningful conversation about Remembrance Day. We shared a simple felt song about a poppy and read a story about a young girl learning what the poppy symbolizes. The children listened with care and curiosity, and it was a beautiful opportunity to talk about kindness, peace, and remembering others in an age-appropriate way.
Over the past month, we introduced our daily calendar routine, which has quickly become a favourite part of our mornings. During calendar time, the children have been learning the days of the week, the months of the year, and practicing their counting as we keep track of the date. Their confidence continues to grow each day, and it’s been wonderful to watch them take pride in recognizing patterns, numbers, and familiar words.
Along with the calendar, we added a leader and leader’s helper system. Each child takes a turn at the front of our transition lineups, leading their friends to the next activity. This has been a wonderful way to build confidence, responsibility, and teamwork, and the children have truly embraced their special roles.
We have also seen progress in the children’s self-help skills this month. With support from families and teachers some children have been putting on their own jackets using the “flip-flop over the top” method, zipping their coats up or down, opening and closing their backpacks and lunch containers (please show your child how to open and close any “new to them” bags or containers), and asking for help when they need it. They are also working hard to open pre-packaged food items on their own. These everyday tasks can sometimes be overlooked by adults because they feel so routine, but for children, mastering them is a big accomplishment—and they are so proud each time they do something independently! Please keep practising these skills at home too!
A big thank you to all the families who joined us for our annual Pizza Night. Your enthusiasm and participation made it another successful and heartwarming event.
As we head toward the holiday season, excitement is growing in the Rainbow Room. We’ve begun preparing for our Christmas Service, and you may already be hearing your wee ones humming and singing carols at home. Their voices fill the room each day, and we are thrilled to watch their confidence shine as they learn the songs. We have also started working on a special Christmas surprise for families—something the children are very proud of and eager to share when the time comes. (Do not open until Christmas! )
Looking ahead, we will be celebrating our Christmas Parties on December 18th and 19th. We ask families to dress your child in festive Christmas pajamas (teachers will be joining in too!). More details will be coming your way in the next few weeks, but we are already looking forward to some festive fun together.
Thank you, as always, for your support and for sharing your wonderful children with us. The joy, curiosity, and kindness they bring to the Rainbow Room make it a truly magical place to be every day.
With warmest wishes,
The Rainbow Room Teachers
Danielle, Karen, and Vibha
TREEHOUSE ROOM-Gabi, Mary, Catriona
Hello Treehouse families,
We began the month of November exploring planets, the Solar System, and — as the children called it — our favourite planet, Earth. We pretended to be astronauts travelling to faraway places, danced to planet songs, and created imaginative space-themed artwork. Naming a planet came easily to everyone, with most children proudly naming their creations after themselves! One of my favourite moments this month was seeing how many children were captivated by our non-fiction book about Earth and why it’s known as the “blue planet.” After circle time, several children stayed on the carpet to study the pictures and had a wonderful conversation about places they’ve visited.
We also quietly observed Remembrance Day. The children especially enjoyed making their own poppies. Because the day fell on a Tuesday, it led to a little confusion on our classroom calendar—proof that the children really do pay close attention to our daily routine!
During the second half of the month, we shifted into our weather theme, learning about seasonal changes and, by popular request, some “extreme” weather events. Many students were fascinated by lightning and storms, and eagerly shared their own real or imagined stormy adventures.
Thank you for supporting Pizza Night, one of our favourite community events. It was a more low-key evening this year, but we hope you enjoyed it with your family and friends as much as we did. It was especially fun to see the excitement of children running out the doors with the cakes they proudly won and chose! We also appreciate your support with the Purdy’s Christmas chocolate fundraiser—thank you for helping us raise money for the school.
Our class has been working diligently to prepare for the Christmas Service, and we can’t wait to see you all at the church on Wednesday, December 10th.
A friendly reminder to please pack extra clothes. Accidents do happen, and our group loves outdoor play—even when the weather (or the equipment!) is wet. The water table and extra-long hand-washing sessions are also very popular. Once those hands are squeaky clean, they often find themselves hungry again, so please ensure they have plenty of healthy snacks to enjoy throughout the day.
As always, your comments and questions are welcome. Please feel free to speak with any of us.
RESOURCE ROOM - Marion
Here we are in December already! The children have been practicing their rhymes and songs for our Christmas Service on Wednesday, December 10th at 6:00 PM. We warmly invite you to join us for this special event with your family and friends.
I would also like to share some gift ideas you may wish to pass along to family and friends for your young children. Children aged 3–5 are developing many important skills. They are learning social manners such as sharing, taking turns, and being respectful with their peers. They are also beginning to develop basic academic skills, such as recognizing their names, sorting, and counting. At this age, children are becoming more comfortable with structured activities and taking on simple roles during play.
Some great gift ideas include simple board games for 3–4 players, which help develop turn-taking skills. Card games, dominoes, puzzles, and dress-up clothes are also wonderful choices.
To enhance play value, look for toys and activities that:
can be used in many different ways
allow children to direct and shape the play
appeal to children across a range of ages or developmental levels
can be combined with other toys for new and more complex play
promote respectful, non-stereotyped, non-violent interaction
are not linked to video games, television, or movies
help children build skills important for future learning
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2026!