October 2020

 

HANSEL & GRETEL PRESCHOOL

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

 

Dear Parents,

We had a great start into the preschool year! Thanks so much to all the parents who joined us for the staggered beginning day. It will be a different school year for all of us, and I am glad that we had a chance to meet you in person and introduce our program.

After many months of social isolation, it is heartwarming to see children playing together again and making new friends.  Our main goal for the upcoming weeks is to focus on social skills and providing a warm and caring environment for all our children.  

Thank you to Wendy Schneider, the president of the preschool board, who volunteered for the last 2 weeks and helped us with the transitioning process.  

OUTDOOR LEARNING & EXPLORATION

We will continue to spend a big part of our day outside. Our students love to run and roll up and down the big hill in the park. You might have noticed that your child is a bit tired by the end of the preschool day. That is completely normal, especially at the beginning of the year.  Getting lots of fresh air and outside play will help your child to strengthen their immune system but also to develop important gross motor skills. We do a lot of balance walks on logs and natural balance beams. Even we as teachers get a personal workout every time when the children chase us up and down the big hill! J 

LEARNING WITH ALL YOUR SENSES

Children learn best when we allow them to use all their senses. Nature is the biggest classroom and children learn through touching, hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing. We take them on “listening walks” through the little forest by the school. Today one the students asked “Are we going to the wonderland forest”?  We often stop on our walk, and just listen to the sound of the woods, watch leaves dancing in the wind, smell the wet gras, touch rough and smooth barks of trees and of course sing our fall songs.  I heard that many kids ate their potatoe at home that we had pulled out of the school garden last week. That's how you “taste” fall! J

NUMBERS & LETTERS are FUN!

Just in case you were wondering why your child brought home a little stick the other day:  We introduced the letter “A” this week. We asked each child to find some sticks and form the letter “A”.  For as long as we can be outside, nature will be our classroom. Many schools are switching to more paperless teaching. Early Childhood research shows that children learn best through hands- on activities and less through work sheets. Rather than only tracing on paper, we encourage our students to form and trace letters with materials like sticks, chalk, spray bottles etc. We build letters out of playdough by rolling big lines, little lines and big curves and little curves. You should have seen how proud they all were when they showed us their playdough letter “A” this week.

One little boy looked at his playdough “A”, realizing that his name starts with an “A”. He was so excited that he screamed: “This is Aaaaaamazing”! Hurray for “A”! J

Counting happens throughout the day, when we count and sort items by size, colour, shape etc. Many of our children are already counting along in German and using colour words like “gruen” (green), “rot” (red), “gelb” and “brown” when we sort “Blaetter” (leaves).

WHATS APP as PRESCHOOL PICTURE and COMMUNICATION APP

Many of our preschool families have agreed to be part of a preschool class group app.  This will allow us to share pictures of our learning and play activities. Pictures speak more than words and are a great tool to capture and share these precious moments.  We kindly ask parents to NOT share or re-post any of the pictures on Social Media as we respect the privacy of our children and their families! Thank you for your consideration!

FRIENDLY REMINDER

·    The days can be a bit chilly as fall is in the air. Please dress your child accordingly and in layers.

·    Please continue to teach your child (and allow them the time) to dress and putting on shoes, all by themselves. There are little funny videos on you tube on how to teach and help your child with this.

·    If your child is absent, please text or call Frau Hecker (306) 281-4428 with a reason for absence.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

OCTOBER

·         Monday, Oct 12               Thanksgiving Holiday (no school)

·         Monday, Oct 26^th             PD day, no class

·         Thursday 29/Friday 30:     Halloween Fun Day

Children are welcome to wear a costume and bring their own special creative snack for that day. Due to COVID19 safety protocol we can’t provide or share food with the class. However, your child is welcome to bring his/her own special snack and treat to eat that day (nut free please).

 

NOVEMBER

·         Monday, Nov 9               PD day, no class

·         Wednesday, Nov 11          Remembrance Day, no school

·         Thursday 12                    Picture day (class photos)

·         Friday 13                         Picture day (class photos)

 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving with your family!  

Kind Regards,

Uli Hecker & Larissa Lorenz