September 2019

Year End Poem

Dear Pre-schoolers,

You filled our Hearts with your

Smiles and your Giggles,

your silly Faces and all of your Wiggles.

You brought Tears of Joy to our Eyes

And your Smile can melt a Mountain of Ice.

You have played with Blocks and Dress up clothes,

and you have learned how a Flower grows.

You have watched Puddles disappear,

and found Ladybugs with cheer.

You pretended to be a Dinosaur

and you found Bones that made you ROAR!

“Hase” taught you the ABC’s

and he helped you with the 123’s.

At Christmas, Nikolaus filled your Boot

and all of your Friends had a hoot.

On Fasching we scared Winter away,

with Drums and Shakers, Hip Hip Hooray!

Playing outside was so much Fun,

especially when you made your Teachers run!

Frau Hecker held up Bananas at Snack

Pretending to be on the Phone.

What the heck?  

Sticky Fingers and running Noses

didn’t keep us from smelling Roses.

 

We took our Time to Observe and Explore

Once you slow down, you see so much more!

Remember to close your Eyes

and you will see

you can even hear and smell a Tree.

Watching the Life Cycle of a Butterfly.

So exciting, right in front of your eye!

We taught you about Seasons, Insects and Bugs,

but also about the Importance of Hugs.

Teaching “please” and “sorries”, too,

when someone tripped over somebody’s shoe.

Building Friendships goes a long way,

We hope that all of your friends will stay.

Like a Butterfly time has flown.

You have learned so much and you have grown.

Time to take off and spread your Wings!

Wherever you fly, you will learn new things.

Please be ensured as you do,

we will always remember you!

Love,

Frau Hecker & Frau Lorenz

Sasktchewan German Council's Family Fun Day

May 2019

Hello Parents,

As I am writing this Newsletter I am realizing that we have only 5 more weeks of preschool left before our year will end. Where did the time go? I guess we have been so busy all year that time simply started to fly!

Spring is in full swing and we are exploring the change of seasons with many “hands on” activities. Our students planted grass seeds on a “dirt head”. All they have to do now is spraying the seeds with water and waiting for the “grass hair” to grow.

LIFE CYCLE OF A BUTTERFLY 

Our main theme for May will be bugs. I ordered caterpillars that are still in the larvae stage, and our children will be able to watch the entire life cycle of a butterfly over the upcoming weeks. By the end of the month there should be 12 chrysalises hanging in our butterfly cage. If we are lucky, the butterflies will be hatching during class time and the children will get to eyewitness the transformation from caterpillar into butterfly.

Every year I get very sentimental when we release the butterflies and let them fly. It just reminds me of our preschool children that have grown so much over the last 9 months.  

FIELD TRIP: DANCE CLASS at “WE MOVE” THURSDAY, MAY 16^th

This Thursday, both of our classes will be going on a combined field trip.

I had sent home a note earlier with more details.

Please remember:

         Wear comfy clothes, kids will dance barefoot or wear socks with grip on the bottom

         Bring a water bottle

         The bus will be leaving at 9:10 a.m.

         The bus will be back at approx. 10:50 a.m.

Pick-up will be after our arrival back at Brevoort Park School at 11:00 a.m. However, if you can’t pick up your child earlier that day, he/she is welcome to stay until final dismissal time at 11:45 a.m.

CARE PARTNERS: May 13/14

Our care partners will be visiting on Monday and Tuesday this week. We have planned some fun outdoor activities for the end of that day.

DATES TO REMEMBER

MAY

May 16      Combined Field Trip to “We Move” (located in Market Mall)

May 17      No school

May 19      No school  (Victoria Day)

May 23/24 Last scholastic book order due

JUNE

June 4 (Tuesday)

  FIELD TRIP:  MOTHER EARTH GREENHOUSE

        Both classes will be going together

        Extended hours: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

        We will need 4-5 parent helpers for each class. We will have a picnic at the greenhouse.

  I will send out a separate note with more details soon.

June 13 (Thursday) / June 14 (Friday)

YEAR END CELEBRATION with FAMILIES

We invite parents to join us for a special performance and a family potluck from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. We will send out a special invitation and hope that many of you will be able to join us to celebrate the end of a fantastic year of FUN & LEARNING!

Finally, we wish all of our amazing moms a HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

Hope you were spoiled yesterday!

Thank you for sharing your precious children with us and allowing us to be a part of their life!

We hope you enjoyed this special day with your family!

Cheers,

Uli Hecker & Larissa Lorenz

April 2019

Hello Parents,

Is it safe to finally say: “Spring is here”? Our pre-schoolers are convinced that it has arrived!  On our first nature walk last week we heard birds and we looked at snow that was quickly melting away.  You should have seen our little nature explorers collecting rocks and sticks in the  “little forest” beside the school.  It made my day to see them making pretend fires out of sticks and looking for animal footprints.  Another fun activity was exploring the  “wonders of mud” by using toy trucks to move around dirt and delivering rocks. 

Some of our children were so excited that they wanted to stay in the forest all day!!

It has always been my dream to open an “Outdoor Preschool” like they have in many places of Europe.  I guess, living in Saskatchewan where winters can last 6 months, I will have to put that dream “on hold”.

APRIL THEME

WHAT is GROWING in SPRING?

In honour of springtime, and fueled by our interest in exploring nature we are going to be learning all about GROWING. This is a topic that has all the children buzzing! They are increasingly aware that they are growing bigger and bigger each day and we will embrace their growth by looking at baby pictures.  (We ask you to please bring a baby picture of your child).

We are going to look into different life cycles of plants in our science area, including sprouting bean seeds in the windows and planting grass on a “dirt head”.

As part of this Spring unit, we will also talk about baby animals being born in Spring.

EASTER TRADITION IN GERMANY

I would like to introduce some of the cultural traditions of how people in Germany and many other countries in the world embrace spring and Easter.

One tradition is to paint and decorate raw eggs (blow out the yolk first) and hang the eggs on willow branches.  Our children will decorate craft eggs that are representing the symbol for new life.  You will be able to see the eggs hanging  in our classroom.

I will also be doing some traditional Easter baking (yeast dough nests) and share them with our students. Of course we will have some extra samples for parents to taste!

Thank Yous

·         A HUGE Thank You goes to our community helpers Mr. Semenchuk, Mr. Perrin, Mr. Fedorchuk, Mr. Cherneski and Mrs. Cherwoniak for being our special guests last month. We truly appreciate your willingness to volunteer your time and teach our little ones about your profession with so much passion!

·         Thank you to all parents that have participated in the SPF raffle ticket fundraiser.

With your support this combined fundraiser raised  $ 768.00!!

Hansel & Gretel Preschool will get to keep $ 384.00 and the proceeds will be spent on the purchase of new gym equipment and educational toys.

Mark your Calendar

APRIL

 4/5            Scholastic Book Order due.

19              Good Friday (no school)

22-26         Easter Break (no school)

MAY

17             PD Day (no school)

20             Victoria Day (no school)

22             Sneak Peek Afternoon (for 2019/20 NEW students)

JUNE

4                Combined Field Trip with both classes (MWF&Tue/Thu) to Mother Earth Greenhouse

13              Year End Celebration and Potluck with all families 11 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (last day for T-Th class))

14              Year End Celebration and Potluck with all families 11 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  (last day for MWF class)

We hope that many of our families will be able to join us for the year-end celebration. Please mark your calendar!

Please don’t forget to check out the picture gallery on facebook!

HAPPY SPRING!

Uli Hecker & Larissa Lorenz

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

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