Open spots!

We currently have 6 open spots for the Monday, Wednesday, Friday afternoon program! The handbook and registration packages are available under "Schedule & Tuition" at the very bottom, so much sure to scroll down.

If you have any questions, please contact Uli Hecker.

May Newsletter 2015

MAY NEWSLETTER 2015

Dear Parents,

We were very busy last month, taking our children outside again and letting them explore the changes in nature. It is amazing to watch how creative our children can be when they play in the park. Just the other day, they were collecting sticks and turned them into a bon fire, roasting pretend marshmallows. Another group of students made little houses for the ladybugs that had just awakened from their winter sleep. 

Our goal is to provide many opportunities that allow children to connect with nature and explore the beauty of it. Learning for the next few weeks will often times happen by going on nature walks and often times we will take our snack outside and have a picnic under the tree.

I just looked at a picture of my own daughter when she was 3 years old. Our family went camping and one day she went into the woods, collected all kinds of things, and after a while she invited my husband and me to come to her “ice cream stand”. There she was, sitting behind a log that served as her counter. We could choose from Vanilla ice cream  (white rocks), chocolate ice cream  (pine cone) and strawberry ice cream (red berries), not to forget the little twigs that were “straws”, just in case  the ice cream melted. J

It is great to have Toys‘ R Us but we sometimes need to remind ourselves  that nature is a big toy store and all the toys are for free!!!

April Theme May/June: Life Cycles of Animals

Life Cycle of a Chicken

In case you have not heard yet, the grade 1 class invited us to watch little chicks hatching from eggs. The class had an incubator in their classroom and we have had the thrill of welcoming 6 baby chicks into the world. Our children were so excited!

Life Cycle of a Butterfly

As part of this umbrella unit, I have ordered caterpillars and I am hoping to get them soon so we can watch and observe the life cycle in our classroom.   

The book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar “ (by Eric Carle) will assist us and build the bridge between nature and literacy. 

Planting flowers

Our children will be “gardening” and planting flowers and vegetables in the classroom and also learning about how plants grow.

Field Trip to Forestry Farm Zoo:  Wednesday, May 6^th 

As I had mentioned in a previous note, our morning and afternoon M-W-F classes will be combined for this field trip.

Parents from the a.m. class, please remember to bring your child only for the afternoon that day.  

Thank you to all the parents who have signed up to chaperone. Your support is greatly appreciated. We hope to see lots of baby animals at the Zoo.

·        The bus will be leaving at 12:35 p.m. and we will be back at 3:15 p.m.

·        Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather, rain or shine (dress in layers), comfortable shoes (rain boots if needed, no flip flops), sun screen, bug spray etc.

·        We will provide snacks, water and juice boxes for the children that day, no lunch kit needed

Mark Your Calendar

May 6                       Field Trip to Forestry Farm Zoo (M-W-F classes)

May 6 /April 7           Scholastic Book Orders due

May 15                     PD Day / No school

May 18                     Victoria Day / No school

Uli Hecker will be in Germany from May 23^rd  -  June 5^th. Mrs. Skinner will be lead teaching the M-W-F class during that time.  Susanne Pachal and Samina Roohi will be assisting her.      

In case you need to contact Ruth Skinner during this time, please use the following numbers:

Ruth Skinner: cell 306-2926335, home: 306-665003, email: prskinner@sasktel.net

New Brevoort School Door Access Times

In the interest of providing a safer and more secure school environment for students and staff, as of this week Brevoort Park School side doors and back doors will be locked at certain times during the school day.

Please check the new Access Times Schedule in order to be aware which door to use.

If the boot room door is locked you will have to enter through the front door.

FYI: The style of door used in schools allows for those inside to exit whether the doors are locked or unlocked.

Bootroom Doors will be locked at:

9:15 a.m. 11:15 a.m.  1:10 p.m., 4:00 p.m. (3:40 p.m. on Thursdays)

Bootroom Doors will be unlocked at:

10:40a.m. 11:30a.m. 2:20 p.m.

Help Needed: Treasurer Position Open

Our preschool is looking for a volunteer treasurer who would be willing to take over for our current treasurer Nicole Drobot (Tuesday/Thursday parent). She will be moving away this June. We are very grateful for all that she has done to support our preschool. We will miss her and her precious little girls!

If you are willing to fill this position, please let us know ASAP. Nicole would be happy to help you with the transition and provide you with all the information you need.

Folk Fest Performance German Cultural Center: Saturday, August 15th

Our preschool has been invited to perform at the Saskatoon Folk Fest this year.

We are planning to sing some German songs and rhymes. We don’t have a set time but as it seems, our children will most likely perform between 3:30p.m.and 4:30 p.m. All of our performing preschool children will get a free meal and drink as a token of appreciation.

There will also be a balloon man from 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. to celebrate our Preschool’s 30st Anniversary.

I will have a list hanging in the hallway soon for parents to let me know if your child will be able to join us.

Some parents had asked about the date of our last day of preschool. It will be June 24/25. I hope you had marked your calendar (extended class time that day) as we are inviting parents to join us for a little performance and potluck in our classroom!

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

Kind Regards,

Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner                                     Larissa Lorenz, Samina Roohi

April Newsletter 2015

APRIL NEWSLETTER 2015

Dear Parents,

April is here and we are keeping our eyes and ears open for signs of spring. It feels good to see the grass again! We will start taking our kids outside daily (weather permitting) after the Easter Break. We can’t wait to see them playing in the trees and rolling down the hill again.

Last month our children enjoyed the shapes and opposites activities.  We hope you took a look at their amazing pieces of “shape art”. They are hanging in the hallway and in the classroom. Here are some “educational comments” that we overheard during snack time. “Look, I have a shape snack! My cucumber is a circle, my sandwich is a square and the lunch box is a rectangle!” As one of our students looked into a mirror and looked at her own eyes, she said:  “My Auge (eye) is oval and has a Kreis (circle) in the middle. I did not know that!”

As part of the opposite unit, we also taught our students how to clean dishes. They were so excited when they cleaned and dried their little plates and cups. We hope for your sake that this excitement lasts for years!  

April Theme: UNDER THE SEA               

Put on your goggles! We will take our students to the bottom of the ocean this month. Our students will discover some of the wonders beneath the waves.

Literacy such as the book “The Rainbow Fish” (by Roland Pfister) will be an important part of the Ocean unit. The book talks about friendship and the importance of sharing. It is one of my favourite books. Another book that emphasizes on social skills is “Swimmy” (by Leo Leonni). It is the story of a lonely little fish that makes new friends. They   share the great fear of a giant fish, which lives in the ocean.  In a team effort, all the little fish form one big fish. The plan works out and together they scare the giant fish away!

EASTER ACTIVITIES

During the first week of April we will provide students with some Easter activities.

Did you know, that it was the German Settlers (early 18^th century) who brought the idea of the Easter Bunny to North America?

The Easter Bunny will swing by and visit our classroom on Wednesday, April 1^st and Thursday, April 2^nd. The children will also learn an Easter Rhyme in German.

Mark Your Calendar

March 31st /April 1st         Scholastic Book Orders due

April 3 – April 12:                Easter Break / no school                                                            

YEAR END CELEBRATION: June 24/25 (not June 19^th)

We had originally planned to have a family potluck with ALL our families on June 19^th in the afternoon. We realized, however that with our newly added afternoon class this year, we would have an estimated number of 160 people.

In order to have a more intimate and personal year end celebration, we decided to change the format and each class will have their own individual celebration on their last day of school. This will happen during the last half of class time and all parents / family are invited to join us.  The children will perform a number of their favourite rhymes and songs and we will have a potluck in our classroom.

We will extend our regular hours on those days! Please mark your calendar for the following dates:

 M-W-F a.m.: Wednesday, June 24^th

Class time: 9:00 a.m. – 11: 00 a.m.

Performance: 11:00 a.m.- 11:30 a.m.

Lunch potluck with family: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

M-W-F p.m.: Wednesday, June 24^th

Class time: 1:00p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (different start time than usual!!)

Performance: 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Coffee /Cake potluck 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

T/Th class: Thursday, June 25^th

class time: 9:00- 11:00 a.m.

performance: 11:00a.m. – 11:30p.m.

Lunch potluck with family:  11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

We are giving you lots of advance notice in order to give you enough time to juggle work schedules so that you can join us for this special “preschool wind up” day.

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

Regards,

Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner                                                Larissa Lorenz, Samina Roohi

                                                                   

March Newsletter 2015

MARCH NEWSLETTER 2015

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the month of the ‘official’ beginning of spring! As you might have heard and seen, we tried really hard to scare away winter when we had our “Fasching” celebration last month. It worked only for a few days….. Hopefully by April, we won’t have to wear snow boots anymore!!

We had another month of fun and learning in February and the children had many opportunities to explore the topic of ‘sound’. We took our students on “listening walks” through the building to sharpen their awareness of sounds around them. One of the most exciting moments was, when each child used a stethoscope to listen to his/her own heartbeat. We heard comments like “I did not know my heart can talk!” etc. There is nothing more rewarding for a teacher than watching the excitement of children as they explore the world. I always call it  “connecting scientific dots”. I am a firm believer in learning through play and exploration and the importance of using all your senses.

March Theme: Opposites & Shapes                

This month we will explore opposites and shapes. Teaching children about opposites is an ideal way to improve your child’s ability to communicate. The addition of descriptive words to their vocabulary will help them to transform the level of detail in their conversations (e.g. ‘soft fur’, ‘hard rock’, ‘heavy truck’, ‘light feather’, ‘little boy’, ‘giant dinosaur’ etc.) Your child will come home with many opposite words and songs in English/ German.

We will take our students on “I spy shape” tours, sort and categorize shapes and make shape crafts. Just the other day at snack time, one of our students was so excited, telling us “ My mom packed my snack in a circle and a square container”. It is the real world connection that makes learning so much more meaningful.

LETTER RECOGNITION

Many of our students recognize the letters of their own names by now. A number of our older students are also starting to print their own names. That is a big step for preschoolers! Our children get so excited when our letter bunny, ‘Hase’, introduces our letter of the week and they recognize it in their own names. Some of them even check if the letter is in their parent’s name.

We got many laughs last week, when we replaced each of the children’s first letter of their name with our new letter “B’”. Indeed, it sounds funny when the name Gus turns into Bus or Kelly turns into BELLY, etc. 

‘Make-up’ day for M-W-F classes: Friday, March 27^th

Last month, our staff took a school day (Friday) to attend a Professional Development Conference for Early Childhood educators. As we want to make sure that you get a full quote of school days, we are offering a ‘make-up’ day for our M-W-F class on Friday, March 27^th. Feel free to send your child to preschool that day!

Folk Fest: German Cultural Center Performance, August 15^th

As part of the Saskatoon annual Folk Fest, The German Cultural Center in Saskatoon has contacted me and invited our preschool to perform on Saturday, August 15^th at the “German Pavilion”. This would involve performing a few songs and rhymes on the stage. It would help us to have a rough idea on how many kids will be able and willing to participate in this event. If this date works with your summer schedule, please let Frau Lorenz or Frau Hecker know. 

THANK YOU

·         Thank you to our treasurer Nicole Drobot and registrar Scott and Tammy Zdunich who had been very busy in the last month, sorting 2015-16 registration forms. 

(We have only a few spots left in the 2015/16 M-W-F p.m. class.)

·         Thank you to our president Franziska Davies, for creating a new website (hanselandgretelpreschool.blogspot.ca) for our preschool.

Mark Your Calendar

March 11^th /12^th         Scholastic Book Orders due

Friday, March 13^th      PD Day, no class

Friday, March   27th   Optional school day (make-up day for Feb 6th)   

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

Regards,

Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner                                            Larissa Lorenz, Samina Roohi

                                                                                   

February Newsletter 2015

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER 2015

Dear Parents,

I hope you all enjoyed the unusual “heat wave” that we experienced last month. The weather has taken us on real roller coaster ride this winter.

The mild January temperatures allowed us to have a winter fun day with our grade 3/4 care partners. I am so touched to see how our children have developed a real friendship with their big buddies.  

The children had a real blast with our dinosaur unit! They learned all about how dinosaurs lived, how scientists think, they died out, and how they learn about them from the bones. We did a lot of hands on activities with our children that helped them to to grasp the complex concept of extinction, excavating and bones turning into fossils. Even the gym turned into a “Jursassic Park” when we turned of the lights, pretending that a meteorite hit the earth and all the dust and lava was blocking the sunlight. Not only dinosaurs became extinct. We also made chocolate chip cookies become extinct. Before we ate the cookies, our little palaeontologists excavated them with toothpicks and dug out the chocolate bones. Yummy science!

We were laughing when we heard one of our little ‘palaeontologists’ leaving the classroom that day and sing “Ich bin ein Dinosaurier” (I am a dinosaur) at the top of his lungs.

Thank you to all the parents who joined us for the field trip to the Museum of Natural Sciences. A special Thank You goes to Mrs. Peterson who shared her knowledge about dinosaurs with our T-Th class on the fieldtrip. I am sure, seeing the giant dinosaur displays (and of course riding the yellow school bus) was a roaring highlight for all of our students. 

FEBRUARY THEME

February will be another short month, as we will have one week of February break. However, we have a lot of things on our to do list.

FASCHING (Carnival) – German Holiday

We will be celebrating Fasching this month. Fasching is a traditional German holiday season, often associated with festivals of the Christian church (letting loose before Lent and fasting begins). However, it goes back to pagan times, and was a way of driving out the spirits of winter and encouraging the coming of spring and good crops. In Germany, at this time of the year, many people in different areas of the country dress up in costumes and join floats Fasching/Karneval parades that are happening all over the country.

The most exciting part is the candy toss throughout the parade. You will see hundreds of people on the sidewalks, shouting “Helau” or “Alarf” and trying to catch Fasching candies.

There will be a poster hanging in the hallway, with more information on Fasching.

FASCHING PARTY: Wednesday, February 11th

We will have a Fasching Party in our classroom. Children are invited to wear a costume that day. Parents are welcome to join us for the last 20 minutes and be part of the candy toss parade. I will order traditional German “Krapfen” (doughnuts) for our Fasching Party and children will not need a snack that day!

SOUND

One way to scare the winter away is to make your own instrument, to play it and sing as loud as you can. We will make our own instruments and explore different sounds in the world around us.

VALENTINES: Friday, February 13th

We will talk about the importance of friendship and provide the children with various   Valentine activities on Friday, February 13^th.

If your child would like to give Valentine cards as a sign of friendship, we ask you to send a card to every class member, to ensure that nobody feels left out. You will find a list with our students’ names in your mailbox.

We have a new student in our M-W-F a.m. class. Please welcome Oliver Bourassa!

Mark your Calendar

·         Friday, Feb. 6^th:    NO CLASS!!!

Our staff members are going to an Early Childhood Conference  (make up day will be a PD day, Friday March 27^th).

·         Wednesday, Feb. 11^th FASCHING PARTY

Ø  Children are welcome to wear a  costume.

Ø  Parents, please join our candy toss parade for the last 20 minutes of class time!

·         Friday, Feb. 13^th: Valentines friendship activities

·         February 16^th – 20^th :  February Break / No School

Frau Hecker will be filling in for Frau Lorenz on Feb. 12^th, 24^th, 26^th.

Thank you to all the board members who were able to help out at our Open House! We have only a few spots left in our 2015/16 classes! Your support is greatly appreciated.

Happy February!

Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner                                   Larissa Lorenz, Samina Roohi

January Newsletter 2015

JANUARY NEWSLETTER 2015

Dear Parents,

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!

We hope you had a restful and relaxing break with your family. I really enjoyed having time with my family and own children. Nevertheless, I always start missing our preschoolers after more than a week. I am sure your children are also excited to see  their friends again.

Every year we notice a growth spurt in our students when they come back after the break. You might want to check your child’s indoor shoes to see if they still fit our little “happy feet”. 

JANUARY THEME: DINOSAURS

The year will start with a fun unit about dinosaurs. There will be a lot of roaring and exploring going on in our classroom. The children will learn about how dinosaurs lived and how they became extinct. We will sing English and German dinosaur songs and you will hear us stomping through the hallways. Don’t be surprised if you see bones in our sensory box. Your child might be busy excavating (what a big word) and looking for fossils.

In context with our dinosaur unit the children will be sorting, counting and categorizing dinosaurs, bones, shapes and identifying dinosaur foot prints.

Our class library will be stacked with books about dinosaurs. We also purchased some new furniture (couch and chair) from our scholastic book order bonus points. It will make it even more fun to sit in our reading area and look at books. Thank you again parents for supporting our preschool through our monthly book orders.

THANK YOU to SPF RAFFLE PARTICIPANTS

Thank you to all the parents who had participated in this fundraiser. We decided to invest the SPF money into a portable sink for our classroom. This will save us from constant trips to the washroom and will make painting less messy.

Light Table

We purchased a light table for our classroom. It will give our students many options to explore and discover. If you have any x-rays at home that you would like to share with the class, please let us know.

Pre-registration for the 2015-16 Preschool Year

I will send home registration packages this week. Current families are invited to pre-register and return the registration packages ASAP. However final class placement   will be based on different factors (age, number of enrolment etc.).

Families who are pre- registering do NOT have to attend the Open House in order to get a spot. We will contact you about your child’s placement in February.  

KINDERGARTEN READINESS

A number of our students (M-W-F class) are eligible to start Kindergarten this fall. If you have any questions or concerns in regards to Kindergarten readiness, please feel free to contact us and discuss your child’s progress.

We will be sending home an overview of different age based developmental stages in children. It might help you to get an idea where you child is at and in what areas you can support him/her at home. Please keep in mind, that every child is different and children develop skills in different paces. There really is no “one size fits all” recipe!!!

I always promote the “support and nurture” approach and “look at their strength” view. Our children are like stars and each of them shines in their very unique way!

Winter Fun Day

Depending on temperatures we might take our students outside for some fun activities this month. M-W-F class will have the care partners join them. We will give you further notice about the exact day and time. Tue-Thu class will need some parent helpers.

DATES to REMEMBER

Tuesday, January 20^th:      Kindergarten Information Night @ 7:00p.m.

Wed/Thu Jan 28/29:        Dinosaur Day (bring your dinos/ please label)

Wednesday, January 28^th:   Preschool Registration Night @ 6:30–8:00 p.m.

NEW CONTACT INFO for ULI HECKER: coordinator.hanselandgretel@gmail.com

I decided that it is easier to separate my private emails from work related emails. 

My new email is: coordinator.hanselandgretel@gmail.com

I will still receive emails under my gmx account during the transition time!

We are excited to start a New Year and are looking forward to a roaring month

of Fun and Learning in our Hansel & Gretel Preschool.

Cheers!

Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner                                      Larissa Lorenz, Samina Roohi

Open House

Please put this date in your calendar!

Open House and Registration for 2015/2016: January 28th, 2015, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm 

Registration cheque is required on this date.