January Newsletter

Welcome back to playschool!  We hope you all had a great Christmas holiday and we would like to wish you all the best in 2018!

Themes for the month

The themes that we will be working on this month are winter, which will take place during the first week of the month, Hygiene, which we will work on for one week, and ocean, which we will focus on for the last two weeks of the month.  We will be designating one day for a beach party which coincides with our ocean theme.  We will be reading stories, and participating in discussions that are theme-related, and the children will be making crafts and participating in activities that will be based on each individual theme.

Beach Party

We thought it would be a fun idea to have a beach party in January, that coincides with the Ocean theme.  (At least we can pretend it’s warm for one day!)  Each playschool class will be having their own beach party.  The children can dress in shorts, sun dresses, tank tops, capris, flip flops, etc.  NO SWIMSUITS PLEASE!

Please send a towel with your child for them to use when we have a picnic on the “beach.”  Regular snacks and water are needed, but feel free to send a small treat for your child to enjoy after snack. For each Beach Party, we are planning to follow the regular classroom routine as much as possible, however we will be including a few different games and activities that relate to the beach.

Dates to Remember

January 8th – First day back to school for the Monday/Wednesday classes

January 9th – First day back to school for the Tuesday/Thursday classes

January 10th – Fire drill for the Monday/Wednesday classes

January 11th – Fire drill for the Tuesday/Thursday classes

January 16th – Miss Marg comes to read to the Tuesday/Thursday morning class

January 17th – Miss Marg comes to read to the Monday/Wednesday afternoon class

January 18th – Miss Marg comes to read to the Tuesday/Thursday afternoon class

January 29th – Beach party for Monday/Wednesday classes

January 30th – Beach party for Tuesday/Thursday classes

January 31st – No school

February 1st – No school

Parent Craft List

The Parent Craft List is posted in the Parent Corner located in the boot room.  Each craft template will be ready at the beginning of each month.  The following parents have their craft due this month:

Becky/Emery Stoesser                        Due January 15
Brad/Jodi Crerar                                 Due January 15
Kirb/Megan Hurley                             Due January 22
Jo/Duncan Dewar                               Due January 22
Nicole/Chris Walker                            Due January 30

2017 Receipts

Receipts for all playschool fees paid in the year of 2017 will be emailed out by January 31, 2018.  If you do not receive your email please contact the Gail Schwartz at carstairsplayschool@gmail.com or (403) 999.8275.

Reminders

• Snacks must be peanut free. 
• Please bring snacks in a lunch kit and label all containers as we have a few juice cups that are the same.
• All Scholastic orders must be paid by cheque – NO CASH please
• The Lost and Found bin has a few items in it.  It is located on top of the lunch kit shelf found right inside the classroom door.  
• Please refer to the Carstairs Playschool handbook and website, www.carstairsplayschool.net for information on our policies and procedures.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to discuss them with myself or Lorraine, or you can email me at carstairsplayschoolteacher@gmail.com

Danielle and Lorraine

December Newsletter

Themes for the month

Christmas is the theme for December.  We will be reading stories, and participating in discussions related to Christmas.  The children will be making crafts and will be practicing their songs for the Christmas Party on December 20th. 

Dates to remember

December 12 – Miss Marg from the library comes to read to the 4-year old morning class

December 13 – Miss Marg from the library comes to read to the 4-year old classes

December 14 – Miss Marg from the library comes to read to the 4-year old afternoon class

December 20 – Christmas party for all classes (9:00am – 11:00am) Details can be found on the website 

December 21 to January 7 –  Christmas Break no school

January 8 - Classes resume for Monday/Wednesday programs

January 9 – Classes resume for Tuesday/Thursday programs

Christmas Party

Just a reminder that all classes are invited to attend the Christmas party on Wednesday, December 20th from 9:00am – 11:00am.  Details around the Christmas Party can be found on the website.  There will be a separate email coming out shortly regarding the food/treat sign-up sheet.  Please do not bring food unless you signed up to do so.  For those who do volunteer to supply food, please remember the Carstairs Playschool is a NUT FREE environment.

Website

After many months of hard work, the Carstairs Playschool website is up and fully functional.  It is a great resource and will always have up to date information.  Please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with it.  

Reminders

• Snacks must be peanut free. 
• Please bring snacks in a lunch kit and label all containers as we have a few juice cups that are the same.
• All Scholastic orders must be paid by cheque – NO CASH please
• The Lost and Found bin has a few items in it.  It is located on top of the lunch kit shelf found right inside the classroom door.  

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to discuss them with myself or Lorraine, or you can email me at carstairsplayschoolteacher@gmail.com

We both wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Danielle and Lorraine

Christmas Party

The Christmas Party will be 9:00am – 11:00am on Wednesday, December 20th.   Everyone is invited!!  This includes parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, or whomever would like to see these cute little children sing some songs.  As it is a busy morning for the teachers and the children, we ask that ALL children be accompanied by an adult to the Christmas Party.

Parents are to drop their children off in the classroom by 8:45am and then head to the church sanctuary along with all the other guests to find a seat.  In order to keep the children from feeling overwhelmed, staff will divide the them into their age groups.  Mrs. Coutts will be taking the 3-year old children into the church library, which is located just down the hall from the classroom.  The 4-year old children will wait in the classroom space with Mrs. Gerle.   If you have a child who may feel overwhelmed or uncomfortable by all the activity, please feel free to stay with them or if your child is upset and does not want to participate, don’t worry – it is perfectly fine if they choose to sit and watch.

At 9:00am, Mrs. Gerle and Mrs. Coutts will bring the 3-year old class down to the sanctuary, while the 4-year old children remain in the classroom space with additional EA’s.   Once on stage, the 3-year old children will sing two Christmas songs.  At 9:05am, the 4-year old classes will be brought down to the sanctuary to sing their two songs.  After that, all classes come together to sing one song.   Children are then released to join their families.

After enjoying the Christmas carols everyone is invited into the gym where Santa will arrive shortly after.  Children are welcome to have a visit with Santa and receive a candy cane if they choose.   Tables and chairs will be set up for everyone to sit, visit and enjoy some food.  An additional email will be coming out regarding food/treats donations.  Please do not bring food unless you have signed up to do so. 

Don’t forget your cameras, and we hope to see you all at the Christmas party!!

THANK YOU CO-OP WESTVIEW!

Last year Mrs. Coutts made 29 batches of play dough for the playschool.  That requires 22 boxes of salt; 2 - 10 kg bags of flour, oil, Alum and lots and lots of food coloring.  Carstais CO-OP Westview has been so generous by donating a years worth of play dough supplies to the playschool!

November Newsletter

Themes

The themes that we will be working on this month are Dinosaurs, People in our Community, and Space.  We will be reading stories, participating in discussions, making crafts and doing activities based on each individual theme.

Dates to Remember

November 2 – The occupational therapist will be working with the 4-year old classes on fine motor skills

November 8 – No school because of the Fall Break at Carstairs Elementary School

November 9 – No school because of the Fall Break at Carstairs Elementary School

November 13 – No school because of the Remembrance Day holiday

November 14 – No school because of the Remembrance Day holiday

November 15 – Marg from the library comes to read to the 4-year old class

November 16 – Marg from the library comes to read to the afternoon 4-year old class

Parent Craft List

The Parent Craft list is posted in the Parent Corner.  I intend to have each craft template ready before the beginning of each month.

The following parents have their craft due this month:

Lindsey Cornforth                                    Due November 15

Jennifer/Kenneth Foat                           Due November 15

Name Printing

When your child prints his/her name, they must use an upper-case letter to begin their name, followed by lower case letters (e.g. John).  Over the last few years, I have found that the children are learning how to print their name at an early age, which is great, however a lot of the children are printing their name in capital letters.  This can be a very hard habit to break.  In kindergarten they will be expected to write their names correctly.  At playschool, we teach the children how to print their name by following the same guidelines as the elementary school.  If we work on this process together, we will have the children properly prepared for kindergarten.

Speech Screening

We, at the Carstairs Playschool Society, feel it is important that we utilize all our available resources to prepare the children for kindergarten, and life in general.  Language, speech, and articulation are important aspects to a child, as they must have communication skills in everything and everywhere they go.  I will be using a speech screening checklist and will be completing these for the children during class time.

If I hear that certain sounds or letters are missing, or if I can’t hear a word clearly, I will be recommending that parents contact Garth Schindel, the speech therapist at Didsbury Hospital for further screening.  We believe it is important to target these speech and language difficulties at an early age, and if needed, get support in place prior to kindergarten.

I want to stress the fact that the Alberta Government only funds PUF (Personal Unit Funding) program for ages 3-5.  The PUF program is a free service that is provided to children who require extra assistant in areas, such as Speech.  I feel this program is very beneficial in helping children succeed and become more confident with their speech and language skills.  Having PUF support should not be seen as a negative experience; instead it gives those children experiencing some language difficulties a chance to thrive in order to be ready for kindergarten.

I am not a speech therapist, but I feel it is important that all children get as much help and support as they can so that they can be confident in all aspects of their lives.  We will be adding some information to the website outlining what each age group should be experiencing in terms of speech, articulation, and language.  If you are at all concerned that your child does not meet some of these criteria, I highly recommend you make an appointment with Garth Schindel.  Not all children who see the speech therapist will be given PUF funding, but Garth is highly skilled and will be able to give you lots of ideas to help your child in every area pertaining to speech and language. 

Reminders

Snacks must be peanut free.  Please bring snacks in a lunch kit and please label all containers as we have a few juice cups that are the same.

 All Scholastic orders must be paid by cheque – NO CASH please.

The Lost and Found bucket has a few odds and ends in it that need to be claimed.  It is located on top of the lunch kit shelf.  Please take a look and see if any of these items belong to your child.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to discuss them with myself or Lorraine, or you can email me at carstairsplayschoolteacher@gmail.com

Danielle