Themes
The themes for March are Space, Bedtime, St. Patrick’s Day, and People in the Community. We will be reading stories, participating in discussions, making crafts and doing activities that are themed related.
Pajama Day
Each playschool class will be having their own pajama party. The children can come to playschool in their pajamas. They may also bring a pillow and a teddy if they would like but both of these are optional. For each pajama day, we are planning on following the regular classroom routine, however we will be including a few different games and activities. Each class will be watching a movie and will have popcorn as a treat. But please send your child with a regular snack as the movie won’t be played until the end of each class.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is coming soon and we want your children to be as confident as possible to start their first year of school!! There are four skills that your children should be doing consistently upon entering kindergarten:
Your child must be able to hold a pencil correctly (proper pencil grip)
Your child must be able to hold scissors correctly (thumb’s up)
Your child must be able to recognize his/her name
Your child must be able to put on his/her own shoes, and zip up his/her own coat
We have been working on these skills with the children since the beginning of the school year and they all have been doing very well. Any extra work at home at these tasks would be beneficial to the transition from playschool to kindergarten.
March 1 – Carstairs Playschool Society Board meeting 11:45am
March 2 – Monday/Wednesday classes visit Carstairs Dental
March 5 – Tuesday/Thursday classes visit Carstairs Dental
March 11 – Pajama Day for the Monday/Wednesday classes
March 12 – Pajama Day for the Tuesday/Thursday classes
March 17 – Miss Marg from the library comes to read to the morning class
March 18 – Miss Marg from the library comes to read to the afternoon class
March 19 – Miss Marg from the library comes to read to the afternoon class
Table Time
This month the three year olds will be working on the diamond shape, as well as doing a review of all the shapes we have discussed so far. This helps the children recognize and draw two-dimensional shapes, as well as using correct top-to-bottom, left-to-right directionality for symbols. When we do the 1,2,3 flip cards, the children will be learning to recognize numbers, as well as learning the language for the Handwriting Without Tears program. The three year olds will also be learning the number 7, 8, and 9. The activities we use for these numbers encourages the children to use proper crayon grip, as well as using correct top-to-bottom, left-to-right directionality for numbers.
This month the four year olds will be working on letters M, N, V, W, and X. Practicing these letters will help the children learn to use correct top-to-bottom, left-to-right directionality for letters, while holding a crayon with proper pencil grip and using their helper hand to help stabilize objects and paper. We will also start working on capitals and lower case letters. We will be observing the differences between the two and I will help the children point and name capital letters, as well as point and name lower case letters. We will also start to try and match the lowercase letters to the capital letters, which helps the children notice and attach meaning to visual information.
Because the Carstairs Playschool Society is a not for profit facility, we often rely on donations. Parents are not obligated to donate however it is very much appreciated when you can. We do, however, ask that you do no donate items that we have not put out a request for. As much as we appreciate it, there is not a lot of storage space and we have found in the past, that some items do not get used and it can quickly become overwhelming. Each month, the newsletter will include a list of items we are in need of.
The Carstairs Playschool uses a lot of various materials for crafts and we may be short of some items.
This month, I would be grateful for:
Empty tissue boxes
Washable Markers
Black and White Poster Board
Reminders
Registration is open for the 2020 2021 playschool year. Visit www.carstairsplayschool.net to register.
Snacks must be peanut free. Please bring snacks in a lunch kit and please label all containers as we have a few juice cups that are the same.
Don't forget to follow us on Facebook.
There are a few items in lost and found, please take a look.
If you have any questions, please feel free to discuss them with myself or Michelle, or email me at carstairsplayschoolteacher@gmail.com, or you can phone the playschool at 403 816 1481.
Danielle and Michelle