As mentioned in the March newsletter, the Growing Smiles fundraiser will be kicking off this week. The fundraiser will be strictly online and will run until 3:30pm on April 22nd. Delivery will be May 7th, just before Mother's Day and these hanging baskets make perfect gifts.
March 2021 Grow a Reader
Here's what's happening for the month of March!
March News
Themes for March are:
Bedtime
St. Patrick's Day
People in the Community
Easter
4 Year Old Parents
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 3 - Pajama Day for the Monday/Wednesday classes
March 4 - Pajama Day for the Tuesday/Thursday classes
March 17 - Monday/Wednesday classes wear green
March 18 - Tuesday/Thursday classes wear green
March 28 - Carstairs Playschool Board Meeting - 2pm via zoom
March 31 - Easter party for the Monday/Wednesday classes
April 1 - Easter party for the Tuesday/Thursday classes
Each playschool class will be having their own pajama party. The children can come to playschool in their pajamas. We apologize but this year the children WILL NOT be able to bring a pillow or their favorite stuffed animal. This is due to the current Covid-19 restrictions. For each pajama day, we are planning on following the regular classroom routine, however we will be including a few different games and activities which will be related to the pajama day theme. 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 will not be played until the end of each class.
We are currently accepting donations of:
Empty tissue boxes
White poster paper
Table Time
Although we don’t have a specified table time with the three year old class, we do practice fine motor skills during our classroom activities. At craft time, we work one on one with the children and we are able to help them with proper pencil grasp, holding scissors correctly, and following one or two step directions. At the beginning of the year, playtime for three year olds usually involves parallel play, where the children play beside each other but not with each other. As the year goes on, this slowly transitions into imaginative play where the children will start creating games that involve more than just themselves. This is where we are at now in the three year old class and there are some really close friendships emerging!! During this kind of play, the children are learning problem solving skills, sharing, taking turns, as well as new ideas they may have not thought of themselves. All the skills are extremely beneficial for the children and are preparing them for the more structured four year old program.
This month the four year olds will be working on letters S, J, D, P, and B. 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. I work closely with the children at this center so I am able to help them with their pencil grip as well as help them with the letters in their name. I am very impressed with all of the four year olds!! They have come so far with their name writing and their understanding of the lingo used in the Handwriting Without Tears Program.
Michelle’s center almost always involves some kind of scissor practice which may have to do with the theme or the letter that we are working on. The children love this center and all have improved significantly with their scissor skills!! We are both so proud of all the kids, and how well they are doing this year!!!!
The Carstairs Playschool Society is run by a volunteer board of directors. Should you be interested in helping out, or just want to know more about the playschool and how it operates, please join us in one of our monthly board meeting. The next meeting will be held via Zoom on March 28th at 2 pm.
March Carstairs Board Meeting Link
Spring Fundraiser
For the third year in a row, the Carstairs Playschool has organized a Growing Smiles Flowers fundraiser. These hanging flower and strawberry baskets, plus herbs and succulents have been fantastic in previous years! This fundraiser will be an online campaign, that will run for the month of April and delivery will be just in time for Mother's Day! Watch for the link coming out at the end of March.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to discuss them with myself or Michelle, or you can email me at carstairsplayschoolteacher@gmail.com.
Danielle and Michelle
February News
Welcome 2021! Now that the amount of Covid-19 related updates has leveled off, we will resume monthly newsletters. These newsletters will keep parents informed as to what is upcoming, important dates and notices.
Each month, we select specific themes to base the activities around. We read stories, create crafts, do activities, and participate in discussions that are theme-related. The themes that we will be working on for the month of February are: Health and Nutrition, Valentine’s Day, Family, and Anti-bullying Day.
February 1st - 4th - Sent in Valentine’s Day cards - see below for details
February 10th - Valentine’s Day Party for the Monday/Wednesday classes
February 11th - Valentine’s Day Party for the Tuesday/Thursday classes
February 15th - 18th - No School due to Winter Break
February 21st - Carstairs Playschool Society Board Meeting 2pm
(Zoom link available on FB or website)
February 24th - Pink Shirt Day for the Monday/Wednesday classes
February 25th - Pink Shirt Day for the Tuesday/Thursday classes
Valentine's Day Party
Each playschool class will be having their own Valentine’s Day Party. For each party, we are planning on following the regular classroom routine, however we will be including a few different games and activities, which will be related to Valentine's Day. We would like the children to bring their regular snacks on the day of the party. Please do not send treats to be shared. This is prohibited due to Covid-19 restrictions. To ensure there is a special treat, Carstairs Playschool Society Board will be supplying a small treat for each of the children.
Valentine's Day Cards
The children are asked to bring Valentine cards for each of their friends. We would really appreciate it if you DO NOT address each Valentine card as we have found in the past years, that it takes a very long time to hand out the cards and the children get very restless waiting for their turn. If you could just write who the card is from, both Michelle and I will be very grateful!! If you do choose to give out Valentine cards, please give one to each child in the class so as to avoid hurt feelings. Please bring your child’s Valentine cards to the playschool the week of February 1 – 4. The cards are required to stay in quarantine for a specific length of time at the playschool prior to the Valentine’s parties. To ensure you have enough for each student in your child's class:
Monday/Wednesday AM class - 13 students
Monday/Wednesday PM - 12 students
Tuesday/Thursday AM - 12 students
Tuesday/Thursday PM - 9 students
Each class has 3 staff members
Anti-bullying Day
The annual Pink Shirt Anti-Bullying Day is on Wednesday, February 24th. We feel it is important to join the nation in teaching the children how not to be a bully. We will be observing Anti-bullying Day on Wednesday, February 24th, and Thursday, February 25th. We are asking the children to wear pink on those days to support this great message.
New Pick-up Information
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
With the latest weather being quite chilly, we have noticed that the parents are looking very cold from standing outside waiting for their child to be picked up from Playschool. Because of this, we have decided to implement pick up times for each class. The time your child needs to be picked up is determined by where the letter of their first name begins in the alphabet. Here are the following pick up times:
Monday/Wednesday morning class
If your child’s first name begins with the letters A – J, your pick up time will be 11:05
If your child’s first name begins with the letters K – Z, your pick up time will be 11:10
Monday/Wednesday afternoon class
If your child’s first name begins with the letters A – K, your pick up time will be 3:20
If your child’s first name begins with the letters L- Z, your pick up time will be 3:25
Tuesday/Thursday morning class
If your child’s first name begins with the letters A –J, your pick up time will be 11:20
If your child’s first name begins with the letters K – Z, your pick up time will be 11:25
Tuesday/Thursday afternoon class
If your child’s first name begins with the letters A – E, your pick up time will be 3:20
If your child’s first name begins with the letters F – Z, your pick up time will be 3:25
NOTE: THESE PICK UP TIMES WILL BE FOR ALL WEATHER CONDITIONS AND WILL BE IN EFFECT FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR
Cold Weather Clothing Tips
Michelle and I help the children get dressed to leave for the day, and we are having difficulties with some children struggling to put on their gloves. If possible, we highly recommend the children wear mittens, not finger gloves, as many children have difficulty with putting their fingers where they need to go. Gloves take the teachers a longer time to get the children ready and because there are so many children, we need to do this as quickly as possible. Slip-on boots are also appreciated.
This month, we would really appreciate the following items:
Googly eyes – medium size
Cotton balls
Popsicle sticks
Stickers - any kind
Paper bowls
Table Time
This month the four year olds will be working on letters C, O, Q, G, S, and J. 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.
2021/2022 Registration
The Carstairs Playschool Society board is now accepting playschool registration for September 2021. As always, spaces are held by First Come, First Served, with payment of the registration fee. Programming, class times, class sizes and program fees will be staying the same as this current year. For more details or to register your child for the upcoming year, please visit www.carstairsplayschool.net or click the “Register Now” button below.
Reminders
We also want to remind families that there are to be no backpacks at playschool. Please only send necessary outdoor clothing and lunch kit. This is to help eliminate spreading germs and extra materials is prohibited by Covid-19 guidelines.
We have also noticed some of the children’s shoes are getting a little snug. We will be letting the families know if your child is growing out of their indoor shoes. If you need to replace your child's shoes, please replace them with either Velcro or slip-on's. This will help your child become more independent in putting their own shoes on, which in turn helps them with kindergarten readiness.
Snacks must be peanut free. Please bring your child’s snack in a labeled lunch kit and please label all containers as we have a few juice cups that are the same.
The Lost and Found bucket has a pair of red mitts in there. If these belong to your child, please let us know.
Please check our website, www.carstairsplayschool.net and follow us on Facebook for all information regarding the play school.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to discuss them with myself or Michelle, or you can email me at carstairsplayschoolteacher@gmail.com
Danielle
