We are counting down to see all our little ones again. We hope your child enjoyed their “home activities” along with the videos during our little extended “spring break”. Thank you for the little messages and pictures that some of our students sent. It truly helped to feel connected! It was so funny to see smarties turning into an educational toy. I sure hope some of the smarties were used for “subtraction” activities and disappeared in your child’s mouth!
SPRING IS HERE!
Spring is in full bloom and we are excited to move in class teaching mainly to outside learning & exploration. Weather permitting, we will now meet you on the tarmac and START our days OUTSIDE.
Please make sure your child is always dressed for the weather and for outdoor play.
Proper outside shoes:
· We kindly ask no sandals or flip flops. We encourage outdoor shoes that allow our little ones to run, jump and climb.
· Please bring a sun hat or ball cap.
· Please apply sunscreen, bug spray etc. at home.
· Also, with starting our days outside, we kindly remind your little one to use the washroom before coming to school. It will save us precious play time!
Outside play will include exploration of mud and puddles. Please expect natural stains on your child’s clothes when they come home!
Daily Activities
Outside Play: 9:05 - 10:30 a.m.
- Morning circle
· Story time
· Play and exploration (free play and book theme related activities)
Indoor Time: 10:30 – 11:50 a.m.
· Washroom
· Hand washing and snack
· Letter/ number activities
· Songs/rhymes/crafts/table toys
Dismissal: 11:50 a.m.
CREATE YOUR OWN FAIRY TALE
We have noticed so much imaginary play outside when our children are in the park.
We have seen trees turn into rocket ships, bushes into hobbit houses and sticks into magic wands. It is heart fuelling to watch how nature combined with a child’s imagination creates stories and fairy tales.
This month a lot of magic will happen. We invite our children to create their own fairy gardens and magic dinosaur world. We will provide a variety of fantasy items (little dwarfs, fairies, plastic dinosaurs, bird houses), miniature animals etc. Our children will collect nature items like sticks, grass, leaves, pine cones, rocks and create their own little fantasy world. We will then take pictures, record your child’s story and share the video with you.
If you happen to have a fairy garden at home and would be willing to lend us some of your fairy/fantasy items, we would love to borrow them!! You could label them and bring them in a box or bag. We will return everything after we are done with our fairy tale project.
LIFE CYCLE of a BUTTERFLY
I will pick up 12 butterfly larvae this week and bring them to our classroom. Our students will get to watch the entire life
cycle and observe the wonder of transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. We are just as excited as the kids!! Can’t wait for the day when we will all go outside and release the butterflies.
NUMBERs and ABC’s
As the preschool year is coming to an end soon, we will finish up our letter book and will now introduce 2 new letters every week. Of course, fun number activities will also be part of our daily outdoor learning.
Most of our students (mostly MWF class) will move on to Kindergarten in the Fall. Larissa and I have worked hard to help each one of our children develop and improve necessary Kindergarten readiness skills. We are so proud of ALL our students!! The most rewarding thing for us as teachers is to see all our children being excited about learning! I truly believe that confidence, combined with a love for learning are the key elements for a solid foundation before children start Kindergarten. We as teachers can’t do this alone. We know that you as parents play a big part and we appreciate all the support that we have received from you this year!
FIELD TRIPS (chartered bus)
We have a special year end treat for our students. Each class will go on a field trip with a yellow school bus! I will send out more details closer to the date.
TUE-THUR CLASS
Thursday, June 10: Forestry Farm/ZOO (extended day, pick up time 1:00 p.m.)
M-W-F CLASS
Monday, June 7: TIMBER NOOK Outdoor Fun and Exploration (extended day, pick up time 1:00 p.m.)
PRESCHOOL YEAR END: JUNE 17/18
As much as we would love to have a big celebration with all our families like in previous years, the current health restrictions won’t allow for any big inside gatherings.
However, we would like to have a picnic on the last day of school from 12:00 -1:00 p.m. Parents of preschoolers would have to bring their own picnic blanket and bring their own lunch.
Our children would sing some of their favourite songs and teachers could safely visit with our families before it is time to say “Auf Wiedersehen” and “Goodbye”.
FUNDRAISING
Thank you again to all families who have supported our preschool by participating in different fundraisers. The SPF raffle ticket fundraiser made $300 for our preschool and $300 for SPF who supports preschool families in need.
SAR CAN Bottle fundraiser still ongoing
This fundraiser is an ongoing fundraiser, and every dollar of your deposit will directly go into the preschool account and towards the education of our preschoolers. So far, we have made over $ 500!!! Thank so much for supporting this fundraiser!
Friendly reminder: The password, that you must type in at the “drop and go” computer is Hanselandgretel (one word). The group name is Hansel & Gretel Preschool.
SPOTS ARE STILL AVAILABLE FOR the 2021-22 SCHOOL YEAR!
We still have openings for the 2021/22 school year. If you know a family that has children eligible for preschool, please send them our way. They can contact Uli Hecker coordinator.hanselandgretel@gmail.com or our registrar Wendy Schneider registrar.hanselandgretel@gmail.com .
You can find more information on our Facebook page and BlogSpot page.
Feel free to share this information on social media!
Please remember: No class on Monday, May 24! (Victoria Day)
We are looking forward to the last weeks of FUN & LEARNING with your wonderful children!
Enjoy the beautiful spring weather!
Kind Regards,
Uli Hecker & Larissa Lorenz
