October News!

October News

2022/2023 Board of Directors

Thank you to those who attended the Annual General Meeting back in September.  This years the board of directors consists of:

Darien Arthur - Chair
Sheryl Tunnell - Secretary
Courtney Reid - Fundraising
BrendaLee Mihalicz - Class Rep
Brooke Epp - Scholastic
Pamela Thebault - Member at Large

A special thanks to Brandi Slade and Michelle Ball, who are not returning to the board, as their children have moved on to Kindergarten.  Your contribution was greatly appreciated and you will be missed.

LAST CALL FOR PICTURE FORMS!
School pictures are Monday and Tuesday! Please ensure you have sent the google form and payment. If both are not received, your child will not have their picture taken.
Picture Form

FUNDRAISING FORMS DUE OCT 5
Please return your forms and funds by Wednesday, October 5th. Delivery is scheduled for October 19th. Time and location of the delivery will be shared closer to the date.

Themes for October

Thanksgiving
Halloween

Fire Drills

Each playschool class will be participating in three separate fire drills throughout the year. We feel it is important that the staff and children practice these drills so that we are properly prepared to leave the premises if an emergency arises. During these drills, the teacher will explain the procedure to the students and then both the teachers and the educational assistants will follow the protocol in evacuating the children. We will be lining them up in the classroom. We will then walk the group to The Legion parking lot, attendance is confirmed. Once all are accounted for, we all walk back to the playschool and continue with our regular program. If a real emergency does occur, parents will be contacted as soon as possible and, at that time, you will be told to pick up your child at The Legion parking lot.

Halloween Parties

Each playschool class will be having a Halloween party. The children can wear their costumes and we will have fun and games for the day. The last 15 minutes of each class, the children will parade around the classroom in their costume. We will be recording the parade of costumes and then posting the parades of each class on our Facebook page. If you would like to come and watch your child's class parade, please come 15 minutes before the end of class. We would like the children to bring their regular snacks to the Halloween Party. For each Halloween party, we are planning on loosely following the regular routine so as to (hopefully) avoid over – excitement. However, we will be including several games and activities that will be related to the Halloween theme.

October 3 - Picture Day for the Monday/Wednesday classes
October 4 - Picture Day for the Tuesday/Thursday classes
October 5 - Apple fundraiser forms and funds due
October 10 - No school because of the Thanksgiving holiday
October 11 - No school because of the Thanksgiving holiday
October 18 - Miss Marg from the library comes to read to both classes
October 18 - Board meeting at 7pm
October 24 - Monday/Wednesday classes wear Halloween shirts or black shirts
October 25 - Tuesday/Thursday classes wear Halloween shirts or black shirts
October 27 - Halloween Party for the Tuesday/Thursday classes
October 31 - Halloween Party for the Monday/Wednesday classes

 

Table Time

The four year old's will be using the Handwriting Without Tears Program and will be practicing the language used to start them writing their numbers and letters. Half way through the month, we will begin working on the numbers 1 – 3. The activities used in this program allow for many skills to start developing. The children will be learning to use correct top-to-bottom, left-to-right directionality for numbers. At the same time, we will be working on holding a crayon with proper grip to write, and using our helping hand to stabilize objects and paper. The children will also be encouraged to use the same hand they started the task with, and then use that hand consistently to hold their crayons.

The three year old's will be participating in activities which will allow them to practice their fine motor skills. They will be introduced to crayons, tweezers, tongs, and clothes pins to help them develop the muscles needed to begin their pre-printing activities. These activities will be done in small groups every Monday and Wednesday.

Speech Screening

We, at the Carstairs Playschool, feel it is important that we use all our available resources to prepare the children for kindergarten, and life in general. We feel that language, speech, and articulation are important aspects to a child, as they must have communication skills in everything and everywhere they go. I will be using a speech screening checklist which I will be filling out for the children I may be concerned about during class time.

If I hear that certain sounds or letters are missing, or if I can’t hear a word clearly, I will be recommending that parents get in touch with Chantal Aussant-Huhn, the speech therapist at the Foothills Creative Beginnings, for further assessments

To give parents an idea of typical development of children speech, the Alberta Health Services has great checklists for parents to refer to. This information can also be found on our website.

Speech Sounds Checklist
Talking & Listening Checklist
Talk Box Three Year Old
Talk Box Four Year Old

We believe it is important to target these speech and language difficulties at a young age. We also feel that if a child gets the help they need, they will be much more confident and sure of themselves in every aspect of their life, especially in going forward onto kindergarten and beyond.

Pick Up

We are asking that you please plan to be at the playschool five minutes before your child’s scheduled pick-up time. We have a large number of children to get ready to hand off to parents and we have a limited amount of time to clean, and prep the room for the next class. Thank you so much for your understanding !!

This month, we are accepting:

Empty paper towel rolls
Empty toilet paper rolls
Craft feathers
Small jingle bells
Contact paper

 

Meet Our Staff

Over the next couple months, we will be showcasing the wonderful Carstairs Playschool Society staff. Some you will already know and some may be new faces you see around the playschool.

First up, the much loved, Mrs. Danielle Gerle!

Mrs. Gerle has been the teacher at the Carstairs Playschool for fourteen years! She is a highly skilled and qualified teacher. Mrs. Gerle graduated with Honors, from University of Alberta in 1996, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, majoring in Sociology, minoring in Psychology. She is a certified Level Two Child Care and Early Learning Educator, along with several other certificates in child programming.

In her free time she likes to spend time with her family and walk her dog. You will often see Mrs. Gerle out for walks! She also relaxes in her year and enjoys puzzles. Mrs. Gerle loves watching hockey and football!

Her soft spoken and gentle nature, makes her a wonderful playschool teacher. She could not love the children more!