Open House at Hansel and Gretel Preschool!

Please put this date in your calendar!

Open House and Registration for 2015/2016: January 25th, 2016, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm

November Newsletter

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

Dear Parents,                                                                                    

The last month seems to have flown by! Our pre-schoolers enjoyed many different fall activities. The students learned about Harvest and vegetables. Sticking their little hands in a pumpkin and scooping seeds with their fingers turned into a memorable experience for many of our children. We read the book “The Runaway pumpkin” and took pumpkins outside and watched them rolling down the hill. Did you hear our “little geese” honking on their way back to the boot room? We were pretending to fly away and migrate to warmer places.    

The highlight was our field trip to the Dutch Growers Hay maze. All of our little goblins found their way out of the maze! Way to go! Thank you to all parents/grand parents who were able to join us for that fun trip.

Hopefully we will have a few more mild days and cooperating weather temperatures that allow us to play outside and explore the season. Your child might need mittens and a hat/toque from now on. Please make sure that you label all these items in order to avoid mix-ups.  

NOVEMBER THEME: HOW DO ANIMALS PREPARE FOR THE WINTER?

As a continuation part of our Fall unit, the children will learn about how different animals prepare for the winter and adapt to the cold. We will start off by talking about what happens to animals’ bodies when they hibernate and go into this deep sleep.

Each class will study a variety of different animals (bears, birds, squirrels, frogs, etc.) and how they protect themselves from the cold. In case you wonder when your child comes home and tells you  “frogs protect themselves by covering up with pudding”; as an hands on experiment we will cover gummy frogs with chocolate pudding (symbolizing mud) as a demonstration for hibernation. Unfortunately those gummy frogs won’t survive, as they will be eaten by pre-schooler ‘predators’. J

HIBERNATION CELEBRATION DAY, NOV 25/26

We will wrap up our hibernation unit with a ‘Hibernation Day” and our classroom will turn into caves and shelter places for our stuffed animals. You might hear a lot of snoring and roaring that day.

·         Come in your PJ’s

·         Bring your teddy bear (or stuffy)

·         Bring a blanket

GERMAN St. MARTIN’S FEST  (Lantern Parade)

Every year our preschool will celebrate St. Martin’s Day. Children will learn about the St.Martin legend and we invite you to join us for a lantern parade through the hallways at the end of class that day. There will be a poster hanging in the hallway with more information about this traditional holiday that many people in Germany and other countries in Europe celebrate in November.

SHOW & TELL

Show & Tell will start this week. Every day one child will get the opportunity to share/introduce a special item to our class. It could be a toy, a nature item, a picture etc.  Please check your monthly event calendar for your child’s assigned date.

Parents from each class have volunteered to make a Show & tell “Mystery Bag”. The bag will go home with your child the day before, and they bring their item in the bag the next school day. The children will ask the show & tell student questions to try to figure out what the show & tell item is. Your child will then share about his item when it is finally revealed. In the past, students have sometimes brought a grand parent, pet or new sibling for Show & tell. Obviously they wont fit in the bag! In this case you can let us know when “Show & Tell” arrives and the classroom will take the place of your mystery bag for the ‘the big reveal’! The kids can ask questions and then …ta dah!

We will also teach the children how to ask and answer certain questions in German. This is a great opportunity to expand their German vocabulary. Show and Tell will usually take place at the end of class. As always, all parents are welcome to join us for the last 10 minutes of class time. 

NOVEMBER DATES

5/6         Scholastic book order are due                                                                       
9            St. Martin Lantern parade (MWF class)

11           Remembrance Day, no school

12           PD Day, no school

13           STA Convention, no school

19           St. Martin Lantern Parade (Tue-Thu class)

23/24       Picture Day

26/27       “Hibernation Day”, come in your PJ’s and bring your teddy bear

30            Annual General Meeting @ 7p.m. (all parents are invited!!)

DECEMBER DATES

Thu 3       Nikolaus Visit/Celebration with families 10:40 – 11:40 p.m.

Fri 4        am class: Nikolaus/Visit Celebration with families 10:40 – 11:40 a.m.

Fri 4        pm class: Nikolaus/Visit celebration with families 2:15 – 3:15 p.m.

Thu 10     Brevoort Park School Winter/Christmas Concert @ 7 p.m.

             (Our preschool classes will be performing that night.)

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

Sincerely,

Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner       

Susanne Pachal, Samina Roohi

October Newsletter

HANSEL & GRETEL PRESCHOOL

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

Dear Parents,                                                                  

What a great first month of preschool we have had! We were lucky enough to go outside most days and explore the changing of the season; gathering leaves, listening to the wind and the sound of crunching leaves. Our children also learned that using our senses allows us to see, feel, hear and even smell fall. Many of you have heard us singing our song “Herbst ist hier” at the park. We will keep an eye out for geese flying in a V shape, and leaving for warmer places.

We practiced fire drills last month, and last week one of our classes was present when Brevoort Park School had their first “Lockdown drill”. This is when the doors lock, the blinds close and we quietly hide in a corner and pretend to be “bears that are going into hibernation and sleep”.

If you have any specific questions in regarding Fire Drill/Lockdowns/Shelter in Place/ Evacuation of School policies, please contact us. Our preschool follows the Brevoort Park School emergency guidelines.

Last month we read the book How To Fill a Bucket with our students.  It is so rewarding to see our children filling buckets every day by using their gentle hands, using kind words, sharing and taking turns. If we catch them “scooping” instead of filling their friend's buckets, we provide them with tools and teach them how to “refill a bucket”.  Reflecting on our own behaviour or choices, and saying  “sorry” can sometimes go a long way! J

We took pictures of our students during playtime as they were sharing, taking turns, picking up toys, inviting each other to play and having fun together. We are working on making our own “Fill a Bucket Book” and the pictures will be displayed in our classroom.

We are still waiting for a few family pictures to add to our “The Kissing Hand” picture book. If you have not provided us with a family picture yet, please bring it to class ASAP.

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

Thank you to all the parents who have already signed up to volunteer that day. 

T-Th class: Thursday, October 29th

The bus will be leaving at 9:10 a.m. and we will be back at 11:00a.m.

M-W- F a.m. class: Friday October 30th

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

M-W-F p.m. class: Friday October 30th

(We are still looking for 4 more parent helpers!)

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 taking/picking up your child earlier (e.g. after the actual field trip) that day.

·      Instead of a ‘Halloween Party’ in the classroom, we invite children to wear their favourite costume on our field trip. We can’t wait to watch our little goblins running through the maze.

·      Snacks will be provided on our field trip day. However, if you would like to bring a special snack to share with our class, please let us know.

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 some 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 will pull wooden lines and curves out of his magic hat which he 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 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 Gretchen Peterson, Jessamy Foulds and Jennifer Sherman for creating a class directory for the parents.

PARENTS IN THE CLASSROOM

Parents are always welcome to come and be part of our preschool! You may stay for circle time or other parts of the day. Please let us know if you are interested in joining us on a specific day.

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 a preschool day. That is when our children will be sitting on the carpet for our last circle time. You will get to listen to a story and watch us dancing, singing or reflecting on what we have explored and learned that day.

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

October

Friday Oct 9                                      PD Day ( no class)

Monday Oct 12                                  Thanksgiving Day Holiday (no class)

Wed/ Thurs Oct. 14/15                     Scholastic Book Orders are due

Thursday Oct 29                               Field Trip to Dutch Growers Hay Maze*

Friday Oct 30                                    Field Trip to Dutch Growers Hay Maze*

(*We need 6 parent helpers/chaperones for each class!! There is a sign up list hanging in the hallway.)

November

Wed Nov 11                                       Remembrance Day (no school)   

Thu/Fri, Nov 12/13                           no school                 

Mon Nov 23, Tue Nov 24                  Picture Day

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

Sincerely,

Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner       

Susanne Pachal, Samina Roohi

September Newsletter 2015

Dear Parents,

Welcome to our 2015-16 Hansel Preschool Year! We promise you that it is going to be an exciting year, filled with lots of fun and learning.

Looking back at our first two weeks of school, we could not have wished for a smoother beginning.  Thank you so much to all those parents/ grandparents who joined your child on his/her first day of school.  We are convinced that this helped our children to be comfortable, and hopefully it also helped you to get a better understanding of our program and daily routine.

All children seem to have settled in very well and they are already starting to make new friends. We see lots of happy faces in the classroom and we are excited to see the children sharing, taking turns, and exploring their new ‘home’.

We are sure that reading the book “The Kissing Hand” has also helped some of our students  (and even some parentsJ) to ‘fly solo’!

SEPTEMBER THEME: FRIENDSHIP and COLOUR

This month we will continue to establish/reinforce routines, and learn about colours and friendship. Our hand puppet ‘Kiki’ will help the children to learn each other’s names. Kiki takes attendance every morning by asking the children’s names and each child gets to say: “ Ich heiße ………..!” (my name is) or “Ich bin hier!” (I am here). J

Two books about friendship that we will read with the children are the “The Crayon Box that Talked” (by Shane DeRolf), and “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” (by Carol McCloud). This second book will be referred to throughout the year. It talks about everybody having ‘invisible buckets’, and we can fill each other’s buckets by doing kind things and helpful things.

SOCIAL SKILLS are one of the most important things we will foster in our preschool.

CHANGE OF A.M. CLASS TIME  (very important!)

New Class time:  8:55 a.m. – 11:40 a.m.

As some parents already know, we will have to make a slight change in starting   and dismissal time for our morning class. Many of you have noticed that the hallways of Brevoort Park School get very crowded once the school bell rings and all the older children start streaming past. It can get quite confusing and overwhelming for little pre-schoolers. Therefore we have decided to have the a.m. classes start 5 minutes earlier. Our DOORS WILL OPEN at 8:55 a.m. This will also enable us to END AT 11:40 a.m. (instead of the 11:45 a.m. listed in our handbook), and give us teachers a bit more breathing room before our afternoon classes start at 12:30 p.m.

It is very important that parents are prompt when picking up their child!! Sometimes children get very confused and insecure when they see everybody else leaving with a parent or a caregiver and they have to wait.  In case that you are late, please contact us.

We hope this change does not interfere with your own schedule. If you have any concerns with the new start/end times, please don’t hesitate to talk to us!

BIRTHDAYS

On the day of your child’s birthday the class will be singing Happy Birthday in German and the birthday child will get a little gift from the teacher.

If your child would like to share a treat with the class, please ensure that it is nut-free. It could be muffins, cookies or fruit to share with 15/16 children. We prefer non - messy treats (no frosting please, as it usually ends up on tables, chairs and clothes). J

THANK YOU’S:

·         Thank you parents for encouraging and teaching your child to independently put shoes and jackets on ! Things like zipping/buttoning can be tricky and our teachers will be glad to help your child.

·         Thank you for taking your child to the bathroom before class and teaching him/her how to use the ‘big kids toilets’. It will save us precious playtime.

·         Thank you for providing your child with a healthy and nutritious snack and for using reusable containers. Some of the snacks may have a few too many options, and they may take a LONG time to eat – all our little ones really need is some water and one or two fruit/veggie options to recharge their engines.J

We prefer that you not send cookies or sweet treats – we will save those for special occasions.

·         Thank you to Kristy Wiens. She has offered to place the monthly Scholastic book orders for our classes. 

DATES TO REMEMBER (please mark your calendar)

SEPTEMBER

Thursday/Friday Sept 17/18             Scholastic Book Orders are due

OCTOBER

Friday Oct 9                                      PD Day ( no class)

Monday Oct 12                                  Thanks Giving Day Holiday (no class)

Thursday Oct 29                               Field Trip to Dutch Growers Hay Maze*

Friday Oct 30                                    Field Trip to Dutch Growers Hay Maze*

(*We need 6 parent helpers/chaperones for each class!! There will be a sign up list hanging in the hallway.)

OUTSIDE PLAY

We will continue to take our children outside for as long as the weather cooperates. Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather. Just a quick reminder to avoid flip-flops as outside play includes running, climbing trees and walking through bushes.

We are looking forward to watching the change of seasons and exploring the beauty of nature with your wonderful children!

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Uli Hecker, Ruth Skinner

Susanne Pachal, Samina Roohi