March 2019

                              MARCH NEWSLETTER 2019

Hello Parents,

Here comes March – full of Fun and Learning! This month we will have many fun activities with the highlight being our “Fasching” celebration! The plan is to scare winter away with lots of noise makers and loud singing voices! Keep your fingers crossed and eyes open for the first signs of spring!

MARCH THEMES          

TRANSPORTATION

This month we will be looking into different areas of transportation. Our students will explore and learn about forms of transportation such as airplane, train, bus, boats, cars, bicycles, etc. We have several fun activities planned that will support the children’s’ learning about vehicles. They will be building with boxes, use dump trucks, chairs will turn into train wagons and we will make boats out of recycling material. If anyone has an old licence plate, please let me know. We would like to make licence plate rubbings.

COMMUNITY HELPERS

Based on our transportation unit, we will introduce different occupations such as fire fighter, policeman, pilot, sailors, bus driver, train conductor, EMT’s, etc. to our class. Many of these professions require specific vehicles to transport people or deliver items on tracks, roads or water.  

We are lucky that we have some community helpers among our own preschool families! If you are interested in talking to our students about your job, please contact me and we will arrange a date and time for a visit. This would be a great opportunity for PARENTS to “show & tell” and enriching our children’s learning!

FASCHING (Carnival)

This week will be celebrating a very special and fun German holiday, called “Fasching”. Fasching is a traditional German holiday season, often associated with festivals of the Christian church (letting loose before lent and fasting begins). However, the original Fasching tradition 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, Austria and Switzerland, at this time of the year, many people dress up in costumes.  

The most exciting part is the candy toss during parades and floats that are happening all over the country. You will see hundreds of people in costumes on the sidewalks, shouting “Helau” or “Alaaf” and trying to catch Fasching candies.  

I put up a poster in the hallway that has more information on the cultural tradition of Fasching. When you go on you tube, you will find lots of videos that take you on a tour through this ‘crazy season’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqv9Nurr4jA).

FASCHING PARTY:  Monday 4th / Tuesday 5th

Ø  Children are invited to wear a costume!

Ø  We invite parents/care givers to join us for the last 15 minutes of the day!

We will paint masks, play Fasching games, dance with balloons and make music with instruments.

Our children will be marching through the classroom, singing and scaring winter away! The highlight will be the  “candy toss” at the end of class.  We will also send each child home with a traditional German “Fasching Krapfen” (doughnut).

SPF Fundraiser

A few weeks ago we have emailed you information on this unique Fundraiser. All proceeds from raffle tickets will be evenly shared between SPF (Saskatoon Preschool Foundation) and our preschool. We have decided to purchase toys for outdoor exploration from the proceeds. Families are asked to return all raffle books (sold/unsold latest by March 21/22). If you would like to have more books, please contact me.

Thank you in advance for supporting SPF and Hansel & Gretel Preschool.   

Mark your Calendar

4/5       Faschings Party (Wear a costume) Parents are welcome to join us for the parade at 11:30 a.m.

7/8       Scholastic Book Order due.

11         PD Day, no school

21/22    Last day to return raffle books (sold/unsold)

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

Kind Regards,

Uli Hecker & Larissa Lorenz

Please don’t forget to visit (and like) us on Facebook! J

February 2019

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER 2019

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone is managing to stay warm during this exceptional cold stretch. With the extreme weather, some parents decided to keep their child at home. We want everyone to be safe and if you ever feel like “hibernating” rather than leaving the house, please feel free to spend an extra day home with your child.

Last weekend, I attended a Conference for Early Childhood Educators. One key topic was “latest research on ‘Screen Time’ and how too much screen time (including TV, phones, tablets, etc.) can affect the development of a child’s brain, speech and social skills”. One interesting take-home message from this conference was that both occupational therapists and educators highlighted the importance of “Non - Structured Outdoor Play” and the positive impact it has on our children’s physical and intellectual growth. Unfortunately, the current deep freeze doesn’t allow us to go outside, but I hope that everyone will soon be able explore nature again.  Here is a fun fact: Even though we had -42 C temperatures today, I could hear birds chirping! It helps me believe that spring is just around the corner!

FEBRUARY THEME

                                                               

TERRIFIC TEETH

This month our children will learn all about “healthy teeth”!

You will see giant toothbrushes, children counting and matching pointy and flat teeth and printing their name at the “reception” of a “dentist office”. We will also take a closer look at animal teeth and find out how different animals use their teeth as tools. Little science experiments will help us to realize how important it is to eat healthy food and to stay away from too much sugar. Using floss on a giant duplo/lego block is a lot of fun and a good practice before you do it on your own teeth. J

TEDDY BEAR EYE CHECK Feb 27/28

Dr. Alicia Finch is an optometrist and will visit our class to talk about the importance to get your eyes checked. Children are invited to bring their teddy bears (or stuffy) to get an eye exam.

VALENTINES Feb 13/14

We will take the opportunity to celebrate friendship and kindness by inviting our care partners for some special activities! As I had mentioned in a previous note, snack will be provided that day. Children are welcome to wear red, white or/and pink.

REGISTRATION FOR 2019/20 SCHOOL YEAR IS NOW OPEN!

We still have openings!

Our MWF morning class for 2019/20 is filling up! However, we still have a few openings in our T-Th class.

We would appreciate if you could help us fill these spots by spreading the word via face book among friends, mom groups etc. Thank you for your support!

Mark your Calendar

February

Feb 13 /14:          Valentine Celebration with Care Partners (snack provided)     

February 18-22 :  February Break / No School

School resumes on Monday, February 25^th!

March

March 4/5:           German  Fasching Party (Carnival, wear a costume)

Parents are invited to join our Fasching parade at 11:30 a.m.!

March 11 :              No school

Frau Lorenz will be gone from Feb 12 – March 4. Frau Schneider will join us and teach with Frau Hecker during that time.

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

Hopefully winter will move out soon. Time for spring to arrive!! J

Kind Regards,

Uli Hecker, Larissa Lorenz

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