Over the past several years, Carstairs Elementary School has invited the Carstairs Playschool Society to join them in Operation Christmas Child. This is the creation and collection of shoe boxes filled with items that are then shipped overseas to needy children in many parts of the world. OCC Canada distributes shoe boxes to countries in Africa, Central and South America. For 2018, the hope is to collect an additional 20 000 boxes for the Ukraine, which is in need of cold weather items.

Shoe boxes will be collected on Thursday, November 22 at 2:15pm at Carstairs Elementary School. The playschool will be attending this assembly. We would love to have Carstairs Playschool families join as well, however, you will need to transport your child to the assembly. All children will need to be picked up from playschool at 2pm on this day.

For those who would like to participate by filling a shoe box, we will have them available in the classroom. Please stop by and pick one up.

Themes

Five Senses and Space will be the themes for the month of November. As always, we will be reading stories, participating in discussions, making crafts and doing activities that are based on each theme.

Halloween Parties (repeat from October newsletter)

Each playschool class will be having a Halloween party. The children can wear their costumes and we will have fun and games for the day. The last 15 minutes of each class, the children will parade around the classroom in their costumes and then will sing some songs. Parents and siblings are more than welcome to come join us during this time. We would like the children to bring their regular snacks to the Halloween Party. For each Halloween party, we are planning on loosely following the regular routine so as to (hopefully) avoid over – excitement. However, we will be including several games and activities that will be related to the Halloween theme.

October 31 – Halloween Party for the Monday/Wednesday classes

November 1 – Halloween Party for the Tuesday/Thursday classes

November 7 – No school because of the Fall Break at Carstairs Elementary

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

November 20 – Miss Marg from the library visits the 4-year-old morning class (library books are due today!)

November 21 – Miss Marg from the library visits the 4-year-old morning class (library books are due today!)

November 22 – Miss Marg from the library visits the 4-year-old afternoon class (library books are due today!)

Name Printing

Over the past few years, I have discussed printing names with the staff at Carstairs Elementary School. 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). I have found that the children are learning how to print their name at a young age, which is great! However, a lot of these children are printing their name in capital letters. This can be a very hard habit to break. At playschool, we teach the children how to print their name by following the guidelines of CES. If we can 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 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.

This month I would be grateful for:Craft feathersBlack construction paper

I am combining the November and December donation wish list, as we have some special crafts planned. We are currently accepting:

Fake fur
Red felt
Paper towel rolls
Toilet paper rolls
Card stock
Picture matte (8x10 that fits a 4x6 photo) does not have to be exact

Scrapbooks

We do a craft each day your child attends playschool, however, some crafts will not be going home with your child right after. This is because over the year I select several crafts and put together a scrapbook, which your child will be bringing home on the last day of class in June. I love putting these mementos together. Watching the children flip through their scrapbooks is so heart-melting for me!!

Scholastic Orders

Recently, the Carstairs Playschool Society board posted a survey regarding the payment options for Scholastic Orders. They have decided there is enough interest in adding a cash payment option, along with cheque and online payments. If you choose to pay by cash, please provide exact amount. Change will not be provided. Any extra funds received will be added to the general back account. An order cannot be placed if it is short on funds. Should you have any questions, please feel free to email carstairsplayschool@gmail.com.

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.
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, please feel free to email me at carstairsplayschoolteacher@gmail.com, or you can phone the playschool at 403 816 1481.

Danielle