Open House/Registration Night

January Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year to all of our families! We hope you all had a restful and relaxing break and lots of time with your family.

We are looking forward to our first month of the 2019 school year with our batteries fully recharged. Our children were all so excited to see their friends again! Now it’s time to settle back into our routine and explore new things.

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. Our sensory sand box has already turned into an excavation ground where our little scientists will enjoy digging for bones and skeleton parts. The gym will turn into dinosaur land where balls change into dino eggs or a pretend meteorite. You might hear the rumbling sound of a volcano (parachute) that spits out hot lava balls in the gym.

In context with our dinosaur unit the children will be sorting, counting and categorizing dinosaurs, measuring bones and identifying dinosaur footprints. Our children love to use their imagination at snack time and like to eat their claws (etc. apple slices, beans) and  bones (etc. carrots and bananas).

If you haven’t visited the Museum for Natural Sciences on U of S Campus yet, it is a great place to take your family and see the giant skeletons of a T-rex and other dinosaurs.

INDOOR SHOES CHECK

We realized a BIG GROWTH SPURT in some of our children and wonder if their little feet still fit in their indoor shoes! Please check your child’s indoor shoes to make sure that their little “happy feet” are not “trapped”.

FLUE PREVENTION

As you all know and heard through media releases there had been a number of cases of  influenza  preschool children in Saskatchewan. We encourage all parents to be cautious  and keep children at home when they are sick and show flue  symptoms. The best way to prevent germs from spreading in our classroom is covering coughs and sneezes (and in some cases keeping fingers out of mouths and noses J).   

PRE-REGISTRATION FOR THE 2019-20 PRESCHOOL YEAR

Parents of students that are currently enrolled in the 3year old class can pre-register their child, prior to the Open House, when registration will be open to the public.

All currently enrolled students will get a spot guaranteed. However final class placement will have to be based on different factors. Our registrar will contact you once we have sorted through all the 2019-20 applications (after the Open House). The board of directors will try their best to meet your placement requests but due to reasons of fairness we need to spread out students evenly in our a.m. and p.m. classes.  

Ø  Families who are pre- registering do NOT have to attend the Open House in order to get a spot.

Ø  Pre-registration is now open until January 17^th.

Ø  Please tell your friends that have preschool children about the Registration Night

DATES AND REMINDERS

Jan 16           Brevoort Park School Kindergarten Info Night @ 7 p.m.

Jan 17            Last day to pre- register for 2019-20

Jan 22           Registration Night /Open House H&G Preschool 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Jan 28            PD Day, no school     

If you would like to stay updated about activities in the German-Canadian Community don’t forget to subscribe for the monthly newsletter of SGC (Saskatchewan German Council). You will find all kind of interesting news and listed special events.

We would like to say “Thank you” for all the nice cards, kind gifts and special Christmas treats that we had received from families in December!! It was not expected but greatly appreciated! 

We are excited to start a New Year and are looking forward to a roaring month of FUN and Learning!

Regards,

Uli Hecker & Larissa Lorenz

December Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We are quickly approaching the end of the year, and it shows how time has flown by! It seems like yesterday that we had started our school year in September. At the same time we have seen so much growth and exciting changes in all of our children.

LOOKING BACK

The highlight was a visit from Nikolaus. He was very impressed by how many songs and rhymes the students had learned. In return, our preschoolers were very excited to get their boots filled with some special treats. Thank you to all the parents and family members that had joined us for this very special event! Thank You for all the treats and special baking that you brought to share with us!

FUNDRAISER

Thank you to the families that participated in the Tupperware Fundraiser or made a (tax deductible) monetary donation. The total raised for our Non- Profit preschool was $1,540! We are very grateful for your support. This will help us to maintain a high quality Early Childhood Learning program for our students.

DECEMBER ACTIVITIES

We have only two more weeks left before the Christmas break starts and have decided to wrap up the year with some fun activities for our little ones.

HIBERNATION CELEBRATION DAY

Thu Dec13 / Fri Dec 14

As the winter months get colder, some of us like to hibernate.

We have talked about animals protecting themselves from the cold and how some of them migrate to warmer places, while others stay and find shelter in places like dens and caves. 

We would like to wrap up this topic with our annual  ‘Hibernation Day’.

Children are invited to wear their PJ’s to school.  You may notice many caves in our

classroom where our ‘little bears’ can hibernate and play.

Some students might even like to bring their favourite stuffy or teddy bear!

CARE PARTNER WINTER FUN

Tue Dec 18/Wed Dec 19

During our last week before the Holidays, we will have a special winter fun day with our care partners. The plan (weather permitting) is to go sledding and enjoying some hot chocolate afterwards. Please find a note with more information in your child’s mailbox.

PRE - REGISTRATION  for 2019/20  SCHOOL YEAR

(January 10^th  – January 17^th)

We ask all of our families to let us know if your child will be returning next school year. Students, currently enrolled in our program have the opportunity to pre-register between Jan 10^th  - January 17^th.

As of Tuesday Night, January 22^nd   2019 registration will be open to the general public and we will take registrations at our Open House & Registration Night on a first come first served basis.

DATES to REMEMBER:

Thursday 13, Friday 14             Hibernation Celebration (PJ’s day, bring your stuffy)

Tuesday 18 / Wednesday 19     Winter Fun (sledding) with care partners. Dress warm!!

Friday, Dec 21                          Last day of school before Christmas Break

Monday/Tuesday, Jan 7/8        Classes resume

Thursday Jan 10                       Pre-registration for 2019 starts

                                                 Pre-registration for 2019 ends

Tuesday, Jan 22                        Open House for 2019/20 school year @ 6:30 – 8 p.m.    

 I am excited to ‘migrate’ to Germany and celebrating Christmas with family and friends. My last day of teaching will be Friday, December 14^th.

Frau Lorenz (phone 220-4830) will fill in for me and teach from Dec 17 –Dec 21. Ruth Skinner who used to teach in our preschool for many years will be assisting that week.

                       We wish you all the best during this busy time of the year.

       Whatever winter celebration your family celebrates, embrace it wholeheartedly!

                Merry Christmas, “Frohe Weihnachten”  & Best of Wishes for 2019!

                                              Uli Hecker & Larissa Lorenz

Open House for 2019/2020

November Newsletter

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 2018

Dear Parents,

I hope this letter finds you in a warm place. Winter has arrived and with the colder days now here, we will no longer take our little ones outside (unless we give you notice). Instead, we will take our students to the gym for fun filled games and physical activities.

We had a very busy October and our classes enjoyed the variety of fall activities, especially exploring the sticky inside of a pumpkin, letting pumpkins roll down the hill and learning spooky Halloween  songs and rhymes!

NOVEMBER THEMES

November will be a pot luck of different activities. In December will be  celebrating  “St. Nikolaus”. Therefore, the  main focus in November will be to review and  practice songs and rhymes that our children have learnt since September. Our students  are looking forward to meet Nikolaus on December 4^th and 5^th and are excited to to share their songs with him.

On November 27^th/28^th students will make  lanterns for the lantern parade  when we celebrate  “Martin’s Fest”.

ST. MARTIN HOLIDAY (GERMAN LANTERN FEST)

St. Martin is a traditional holiday that people in Germany celebrate on November 11^th every year. It is based on the legend of a soldier named Martin who lived in Hungry around 316 B.C. One cold winter night, Martin was riding his horse and saw an old beggar, shivering in the snow. The old man had no warm clothes on. Martin stopped his horse, lifted his sword and cut his own red cape in two halves. Martin kept one hand and shared the other one with the old man. Years later Martin became a bishop. On Martin’s Day, children parade through the streets at night, singing Martin songs and carrying their lanterns with lit candles in honour of St. Martin. Often times the parade is accompanied by a rider on horseback in a red coat. At the end of the night, people are gathering around a big bonfire and warm up with hot chocolate and other warm beverages. St. Martin is a festival of sharing and bringing light into the dark.

ABC

We have noticed that our little ones are getting really excited to learn a new letter every week!

Realizing that every letter has a sound makes it even more fun to look for words that start with the letter of the week. The word “Daddy” has even 3 “D” s in it!!

Tue-Thu students continue to trace individual letters with stickers, paint etc.

M-W-F student are also learning how to print and form letters and how to print their own name.

We always encourage our students to start each letter from the TOP! Making this a habit from early on will help your child and make it easier to adjust in Kindergarten. 

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

We will be offering optional Parent Teacher Interviews on November 29/30. This will provide an opportunity to share information about your child’s individual progress and to celebrate milestones of  their growth!  Communication is the key for positive and strong relationships. Please contact us at any time if there is anything that needs to be addressed, suggested or discussed in regards to your child.

A sign up list with time slots for Parent Teacher Interviews is hanging in the hallway.

TUPPERWARE FUNDRAISER (Deadline for orders, Nov. 16th)

Thank you to all families who decide to take part in this fundraiser to support our Non Profit Preschool. We would also like to thank families that have decided to contribute through monetary donations (tax receipts available). Your efforts will help us to maintain a high quality Early Childhood Learning Program for our children.

A friendly reminder that all order forms are due back no later than November 16^th.

DATES TO REMEMBER

November

6/7     Picture Day 9 (class picture/ individual pictures)

7/8     Scholastic Book Orders due

8        Annual General Meeting 6:30 p.m.

9        STA Convention, no school

12      Remembrance Day Holiday, no school

16      Return Order Forms Tupper Ware Fund Raiser

23      M-W-F class Field Trip to Marian Gymnastics (we are in need of I more parent chaperone)

27/28 St. Martin Celebration: Parents are invited to join the lantern parade at 11. 20 a.m.

29      Parent Teacher Interviews (4:00 p.m. -8:00 p.m.)

30      Parent Teacher Interviews (8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)

December

3        no class

4/5     Nikolaus Celebration:  10:30 a.m.  – 11:45 a.m.     

          All  Families are invited to join us for this special event!

·         Visit from Nikolaus

·         Children’s performance

·         Christmas cookies and traditional German mulled punch

If you are interested in special events of various groups within the German Community, please  check out www.saskgermancouncil.org.

WINTER WORDS:

Winter (vin’tah)  – winter

Schnee (schnay) –  snow, Schneeflocke (schnay flaw’ken) – snowflake

Schneeball (schnay’bahl) – snowball

Jacke yak’eh - jacket , Mütze (mut’tzeh) -  touque

Schal ( schahl) – scarf, Handschuhe (hahnd shoo’heh) – mittens, Stiefel (schtee’fehl – boots

Kalt (kalt) – cold Eis (ice) – ice, Schneemann (schnay’mahn) – snowman

Kind Regards,

Uli Hecker & Larissa Lorenz