October Newsletter

HANSEL & GRETEL PRESCHOOL

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER 2016

Dear Parents,                    

What a great first month of preschool we have had!

Last month we read books about “How To Fill a Bucket” with our students and we talked about how important it is to be kind and respectful to each other. We are so excited to see our students, already filling our buckets every day!

Cleaning up toys, taking turns, sharing with your friends, using our gentle and helping hands and kind words help to fill our preschool buckets. We also teach our little friends that sometimes people forget to fill buckets or don’t realize when they “scoop” out of a bucket. It is never to late to say “Sorry”, another concept that we encourage and model in our class.  

Outdoor Learning: Herbst ist hier! Fall is here!

We feel blessed that we are still able take our students to the park almost every day. Last month, a lot of “outdoor learning” took place through exploration. The children were sorting leaves by colours and shapes, counting sticks, looking for ladybugs in the grass, making piles of leaves and touching the bark of different trees.

Did your child tell you about the “nature alphabet”? We showed our students how to form letters with sticks and asked them to look for letters and shapes in nature. One little boy came and showed us a twig that had the shape of a “Y”. We watched another student bending a little twig, holding it up and realizing: “It has the shape of a circle!”                                                                                         

Learning with all our senses happened, when we had snack outside and the children sat quietly under a tree, listening to the wind while watching the leaves falling, one by one.

We will now keep an eye out for geese flying in a V shape, and leaving for warmer places.

I am sure some of you might have heard your child singing our German colour song or  “Herbst ist hier” song that we have learned this month.    

OCTOBER THEME: HARVEST and THANKSGIVING, Many of our October activities will revolve around “Harvest”. Our students will learn about different seasonal vegetables.

·         The children will cut open pumpkins and look at the inside; counting seeds (and getting their hands sticky). J

·          Many of our centre activities will include counting, sorting and classifying different fall items.

·         Learning fruit and veggie songs

·         Naming fruit and veggies in German

·         Thanksgiving Holiday is coming up this weekend and we will take the opportunity to think about what we are all thankful for.

FIELD TRIP to DUTCH GROWERS HAY MAZE

All of our classes will be going on a chartered field trip to Dutch Growers Greenhouse Hay Maze. We need 6 parent helpers/chaperones for each class!! There is a sign up list hanging in the hallway.

T-TH a.m. class: Thursday: October 27

The bus will be leaving at 9:10 a.m. and the class will be back at 11 a.m.

M-W- F a.m. class: Friday October 28

The bus will be leaving at 9:10 a.m. and the class will  be back at the school at 11 a.m.

M-W-F p.m. class: Friday October 28

The bus will be leaving at 12: 35 p.m. and we will be back at 2:30 p.m.

·       Children will be dismissed at their regular end of class time. Please inform your teacher if you are picking up or taking home your child earlier that day.

·       We invite children to wear their favourite costume on our field trip day. We can’t wait to watch our little goblins running through the maze.

·       Snacks will be provided on our field trip day.

LETTER RECOGNITION

We will introduce our students to the letters of the alphabet throughout the year. The most exciting activity for each child is to identify the letters of their own name. Many of the children already recognize letters in their name, and often choose to sit on the first letter of their name on our circle/centre carpet.

The children will explore letters through many hands on activities that will support letter formation, and letter sounds.  Our letter bunny “Hase” will pull wooden lines (big line, little line) and curves out of his magic hat which our students will use to form letters!  We also have a variety of songs that make learning about letters really fun.

THANK YOU

·           Thank you for taking your child to the bathroom before class starts. We have had way more playtime and less bathroom traffic lately.

·           Thank you for teaching your child how to cover sneezes and coughs with their    sleeve  (not with their hands). Please (if necessary) remind your child that “picking noses” can also spread germs and colds! J

·           Thank you for teaching your child how to get dressed. We see many of your children trying really hard to do it “all by myself”. 

·           Thank you for always checking your mailbox after class.

·           Thank you for taking off your (and your child’s) wet footwear when you walk inside the building.

·           Thank you to Svetlana Gutfreund for making new play dough for our classes.

·           Thank you to Kristy Werner for taking care of all the Scholastic Book orders!

FIRE DRILLS/ LOCKDOWN

As all Public Schools in Saskatoon, our staff and students will practice different types of drills (fire drill, lockdowns) throughout the year. If you have any specific questions about emergency procedures, please contact us. Our preschool follows the Brevoort Park School emergency guidelines. One of our classes already joined a fire drill and the kids did an amazing job, following our instructions on how to leave the building!

CIRCLE TIME: COME AND JOIN US!

Starting in October, parents and/or the designated pick up person of the day are invited to join us for the last 10 minutes of class at the end of each preschool day.

That is when our children will be either sitting in the boot room (after outside play) or will be in the classroom and sitting on the carpet for our last circle time. Our teachers will let you know what activities we did, what books we read and sometimes share “funny moments” or “quotes” of our day. J

Show and Tell will start in November and we will let your child know when it is their day to share and talk about their “special thing” with the class.

Volunteers needed

Class Contact List

We would like to compile a class telephone/contact list for parents. It is a great way to get in touch with other families, have play dates etc.

·         Would someone be willing to create a class directory and update the list when needed?

Room Parent

We are looking for one or two parents that are willing to

support us with:

·         organizing of classroom parties/special events

(invitations, sign up lists etc.)

DATES TO REMEMBER (please mark your calendar!!!!)

October

Wed/ Thurs Oct. 5/6                       Scholastic Book Orders are due

Friday Oct 7                                      PD Day (no class)

Monday Oct 10                                  Thanksgiving Day Holiday (no class)

Thursday Oct 27                               Field Trip to Dutch Growers Hay Maze

Friday Oct 28                                    Field Trip to Dutch Growers Hay Maze

Monday Oct 31                                Pumpkin carving and Halloween activities

                                                        (feel  free to wear your costume again)

The Saskatoon Public Library is offering “German-English Family Story Time” once a month. The next story time will be on Saturday, October 8, 2:00 pm - 2:30pm. at Mayfair Library.

 Picture Day

Picture Day (class photos) for our preschool will be NOVEMBER 2/3.

As always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Uli Hecker, Larissa Lorenz   (MWF class)   

Susanne Pachal, Samina Roohi (T-Th class)

September Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We had a fantastic start into our new school year!  All of our children left our classroom with a big smile on their face!  Their happy faces truly “filled our buckets”! 

Thank you to all of you parents/grand parents for joining us for your child’s first day of preschool. It truly helps our students and us teachers with a smooth transition. I hope our joining parents gained a deeper insight of what a regular preschool day will look like.

·        Please remember that we will take our children outside for the last 30 minutes of their preschool day.  Make sure that your child is dressed for the weather.

·        In accordance with the public school health regulations, we kindly ask that you do NOT bring any food items that contain nuts!! Thank you for your cooperation!

·        We were excited to see our students only bringing fresh

 fruit/vegetables and a water bottle for snack.  Thank you parents for supporting us in promoting the idea of healthy and sugar free snacks!!!

(We do however have a student who is severely allergic to Kiwi and therefore we ask you to refrain from sending Kiwi for snack.)

Students are always welcome to share a special treat (cookies, etc) or stickers on their birthday.

·        You will find a list with all of our student’s names in your school mailbox this week. It will help your child to remember his/her friend’s names.

·        Scholastic book orders (if you would like to order) are due this week.

For the next couple of weeks our main focus will be getting to know our students, their families and establishing a routine. We will spend lots of time playing, exploring and practicing how each of us can “fill a bucket” by being kind and gentle to each other.

Our first and more specific class newsletter will go out in October.

We are looking forward to our first two weeks of FUN and LEARNING!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 281-4428 or email me at coordinator.hanselandgretel@gmail.com.

Uli Hecker

Open spots!

June Newsletter

                           JUNE NEWSLETTER 2016

Dear Parents,

Eins, zwei, drei, die Schule ist vorbei! One, two three, school is over! I can’t believe this will be our last newsletter for this preschool year! All of our children have grown so much, in many ways. They have  “filled our buckets” with their smiles and giggles, their kind hearts, their unconditional trust and their curiousity about the world around them. Some of our students will return for their second preschool year and others will be off to Kindergarten. We hope that they will be well prepared them well for the next step in their lives.

CHANGE IN STAFF 2016/17

As all of you know, Ruth Skinner, the assistant teacher in the M-W-F class is still in the midst of waiting for test results and she still does not know what her medical treatment will entail. The doctors are hopeful they have caught it early but with limited specialists in Saskatchewan, steps are taking longer than expected.

As the future is not predictable at this point, Frau Skinner has decided to resign for next year in order to be sure she has enough time to recover. We know that it was a very difficult decision for her as she truly enjoys teaching. She has been working with us for many years. Her passion for books (no one can make stories come alive like Frau Skinner!) and her remarkable knowledge about nature and science have filled our children’s buckets on a daily basis.

Our families, children and staff members will miss her very much! We wish her ALL the best and all the time that she needs to fully recover. We will keep in touch with Frau Skinner and hope that she will visit us for  “story time” or special cultural events like “Fasching” or “St. Nikolaus”.

We are so happy to welcome back Larissa Lorenz, who has decided to return after a personal leave to re-join our teaching team this upcoming year.  She will be assisting with Frau Hecker in the M-W-F classes.

Our 3 years old class (Tue-Thu a.m.) will be taught by our loving and caring team of teachers, Frau Susanne Pachal and Frau Samina Roohi.

JUNE ACTIVITIES

Our last month will be a mixture of fun activities.

·       The children had a blast at the Zoo! We were so lucky to have nice weather! Thank you to all the parents who had joined us that day and helped us to keep our “little ducklings” in a row. Your support was greatly appreciated.

·        We are on the “home stretch” with our ABC’s and the kids have almost made it through the alphabet. Way to go!

·        We will review our German songs this month and we hope that our children will remember them. It is so rewarding to see them getting excited about learning German. Some parents seem to have learned some German from their children too!

SUN PROTECTION

Please make sure your child is protected from the sun (sun screen, hat etc.). We have seen a few pretty “pink” faces this week. Also, please remember to send your child in shoes that allows them to run down the hill and climb our favorite tree at the park. J

LAST SCHOLASTIC BOOKORDER

The last book order for this year will be due this Wednesday and Thursday.

YEAR END CELEBRATION:  June 23/24 (last day of school)

We are looking forward to our year end celebration with our families. We will have a children’s performance, followed by a family potluck in  the park.

Please join us: a.m. class 10:00 - 11:40 a.m.

                          p.m. class 1:30 -  3:15 p.m.

Ø  There is a potluck sign up sheet in the hallway. Please let us know what you would like to bring!

Ø  Please bring a picnic blanket for your family! We are hoping for good weather!!

We are still waiting for some RSVP notes. You can also email us and let us know how many family members will be attending that day.

THANK YOUS

Ø  We want to take the opportunity to thank all our wonderful parents, grandparents and PCDC caregivers, who have supported us in so many different ways throughout the year. It was heart warming to see us growing together as a big family!

Ø  Thank you so much to all our board members, who have volunteered their time to help us   run our preschool smoothly.

Ø  A special Thank You goes to Kristy Werner who took care of our Scholastic book orders every month!

Our little friends have taught us valuable lessons about love, friendship and how important it is to see the world through the eyes of a child. Children are an amazing wealth of wonder. We are hopeful that the summer break will help all of us to slow down and have lots of time to play, explore and discover with our precious children!

Thank you for allowing us to be part of your child’s life! They have become dear to our hearts and we hope that all of our students will remember Hansel & Gretel Preschool as a place where “FUN meets LEARNING”.

                            We wish you and your family a fantastic summer!

                                      Auf Wiedersehen and Good Bye!

                                             Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner

                                        Susanne Pachal, Samina Roohi

May Newsletter

MAY NEWSLETTER 2016

Dear Parents,

As I had mentioned in a previous note, Ruth Skinner, our assistant teacher in the MWF class is facing an emotionally and physically challenging chapter in her life. Our staff team will do whatever we can to help and support her and her family during this difficult time.  We will give her all the time that she needs to rest and to be prepared for the upcoming medical procedures.  It helps to know that she is surrounded by an amazing support group of family and friends that will stand by her side over the next few months.

SPRING IS HERE!

Our kids have been having so much fun looking for the first signs of spring. We took them on a “listening walk” through the park and through the neighborhood. In order to sharpen their sense of hearing we asked the children to close their eyes and open their ears wide. We heard birds chirping, a squirrel climbing up a tree and we listened to the branches moving in the wind.

Our classroom turned into a green house last month and the children were so excited to watch their grass seeds and been seeds turning into plants. We did a lot of “body activities”, which support the idea of learning with all your senses. The children pretended to be a seed in the ground and we “watered” our little seeds with a soft  “back rub”. You might want to ask your child to show you how we did it in order to get a back massage. :)

BUGS and BIRDS

Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Our theme for May will be Bugs and Birds. This theme will be used throughout the entire month because the children will be watching caterpillars turn into butterflies. The caterpillars will get mailed directly to us in then larvae stage so that the children will be able to watch the entire life cycle. This process takes about 3 weeks and at the end of the month we will have a picnic in the park and let our butterflies go.

Life Cycle of a Chicken

We are blessed to being invited to another annual spring event. The grade 1 teacher at Brevoort Park School has an incubator with 15 chicken eggs in her classroom. We will stop by every day this week and I hope our children will be there on the day when the eggs crack open and the little chicks are hatching. Ask your child about this amazing miracle that happens in the classroom. This will be one thing that they are going to remember for the rest of their lives! :)

SPF Raffle Fundraiser

Thank you to all the families and friends that participated in the SPF Fundraiser. It was a huge success and all together we raised $1,600!!! $800 will be going towards subsidy support for families that cant afford to pay tuition to send their child to preschool. The other $800 will go into our own preschool and will be used to purchase toys and educational material.

As many of you might know, after 25 years, the Government of Saskatchewan is disconnecting all financial support for heritage language learning programs in Saskatchewan. It does affect Heritage Language Schools, as well as our bilingual preschool program. Even though it will have a significant impact on our budget, we will try to continue to provide a high quality Early Learning Childhood program. Our board has already met and discussed fundraiser options for the upcoming school year.

DATES TO REMEMBER

MAY

Friday, May 6^th :        Kindergarten Sneak Peak 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. (Please let us know if your child is the MWF  pm class and attending the sneak peak that day)

Wed 11, Thurs 12:    Scholastic Book Orders due

Friday, May 20^th:       No school for all students or staff

Monday, May 23^rd:    Victoria Day, no school

JUNE

Thursday, June 2^nd: T-Th class Field Trip to Forestry Farm Zoo

Friday, June 3^rd     :  M-W-F a.m. class Field Trip to Forestry Farm Zoo

Monday, June 6^th  :  M-W-F p.m. class Field Trip to Forestry Farm Zoo

(We will need parent helpers for those days. Please look for a list in the hallway)

Thursday, June 23^rd : Last day for T-Th class

Friday, June 24^th:       Last day for M-W-F class

Parents are invited to join and celebrate with us (a.m. class 10:00 -11:40 a.m.

p.m. class from 1:30 – 3:15 p.m.)

Outside Fun

We will spend as much time outside as we can. If you want your child to wear sunscreen, bug spray etc. Please don’t forget to apply it on your child before class starts. Also, please make sure that your child wears outside shoes, that allow him/her to safely run down the hill.

We are looking forward to another month of Fun & Learning with your children!

                   “The most precious jewels you’ll ever have around your neck

                    Are the arms of your children”

                 Happy Mothers Day to all of our wonderful moms!!!

Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner

Susanne Pachal, Samina Roohi