April News

April Themes

Mat Man

Transportation

People in the Community

Earth Day

April 1 – No school – Easter holiday

April 2 – No school – Easter holiday

April 3 – Wear purple day for the Monday/Wednesday classes to honor Autism Day

April 4 – Wear purple day for the Tuesday/Thursday classes to honor Autism Day

April 9 - Carstairs Playschool Board Meeting - 7pm

April 15 – April 18 – Spring Break

April 23 – Miss Marg from the library comes to read to both classes

April 25 - Growing Smiles Fundraiser Deadline

Table Work

This month the three year old’s will be continuing to work on the vocabulary for the Handwriting Without Tears Program.  We will be discussing the language used to begin our pre-printing activities, such as big lines, little lines, curves and circles.  We will also be starting to work on proper pencil grasp and we will be referring to this as “puppy fingers.”

The four year old’s will be working on letters R, K, and M.  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.

Ms. Johnson’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 of them have improved significantly with their scissor skills!!  We are both so proud of all the kids, and how well they are doing this year!!!!

Fundraiser

Just in time for Mother’s Day!  The growing smiles fundraiser will run until April 25th.  Orders will be delivered to the playschool on May 10th.  Thank you for your support

Growing Smiles Order Here

Board of Directors

The Board is seeking help for the upcoming school year!  With the Carstairs Playschool Society being a non profit organization it is very important to have a full and functional board of directors.  The commitment is minimal being only one hour per month, and you do not need to hold a seat on the board.  More information about the various positions, please check our website or reach out to Gail at 403 999 8275

Open House

Spots are filling for the upcoming school year!  Staff and board representatives will be available to answer any questions you may at our open house on May 9th from 5-7pm.  Bring your children, see the space and meet the staff!

March News!

March Themes

Dr. Seuss Pirates     Bedtime     Easter

2024/2025 Registration Open

We are currently accepting registration for September!

REGISTER HERE!

Four 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:

  1. Hold a pencil correctly (proper pencil grip – tripod grasp)

  2. Hold scissors correctly (thumb’s up)

  3. Recognize his/her name

  4. 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 with these tasks would be beneficial to the transition from playschool to kindergarten.

March 6 - Twin day for the Monday/Wednesday classes – dress like a family member or classmate

March 7 - Twin day for the Tuesday/Thursday classes – dress like a family member or classmate

March 12 - Board of Directors meeting 7pm

March 13 – Dress like a pirate for the Monday/Wednesday classes

March 14 – Dress like a pirate for the Tuesday/Thursday classes

March 19 – Miss Marg comes to read to the Tuesday/Thursday classes

March 20 – Pajama Day for the Monday/Wednesday classes

March 21 – Pajama Day for the Tuesday/Thursday classes

March 20 – Wear mismatched socks for the Monday/Wednesday classes – Down Syndrome Awareness Day

March 21 – Wear mismatched socks for the Tuesday/Thursday classes – Down Syndrome Awareness Day

March 27 – Easter Party for the Monday/Wednesday classes

March 28 – Easter Party for the Tuesday/Thursday classes

Pajama Day

Each playschool class will be having their own pajama day.  The children can come to playschool in their pajamas and they can also bring a pillow and a stuffy if they so choose.  These are also miss-matched socks day so please feel free to have your child celebrate both days at the same time!!   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 won’t be played until the end of each class.

Easter Party

The Easter parties for each class will be held on Wednesday, March 27th and Thursday, March 28th.  One of the day’s activities will be decorating Easter eggs!

PLEASE BRING TWO HARD – BOILED EGGS TO THE EASTER PARTY SO THAT YOUR CHILD CAN DECORATE THEIR EGGS AT THE PARTY!

The children will need to bring a regular snack to the party as we will be following our day as close to the usual routine as possible.

Donations we would really appreciate this month are:

Large white paper plates Brown paper plates

Table Time

This month, the three year old’s will be working on both left and right diagonal lines, wavy lines, zigzag lines, and we will be starting to learn the vocabulary for the Handwriting Without Tears program. These activities will aid the children in recognizing familiar two-dimensional shapes, and will allow them to use correct top-to-bottom, left-to-right directionality for symbols.

 At this time, they will be practicing holding a crayon and using their helper hand to stabilize their papers.  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 old’s 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 old’s will be working on letters P, B, R, and K.  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 king 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 of them have improved significantly with their scissor skills!!  We are both so proud of all the kids, and how well they are doing this year!!!!

January News

We hope you all had a wonderful, joyous holiday season!  We can’t wait to get back to our regular routine!

The ladies at the Carstairs Playschool would like to shout out a huge “Thank You” to all those families that gave such wonderful Christmas presents this year!!  We are so grateful to have such amazing parents and we all very much appreciate your kindness and generosity!!

January Themes

Winter          Rainbows          Ocean

Beach Day

We thought it would be a fun idea to have a beach day in January.  At least we can pretend it’s warm for one day! Each playschool class will be having their own beach day.  The children can dress in shorts, sun dresses, tank tops, capris, flip flops, etc. but NO SWIMSUITS PLEASE!

Please send a towel with your child so that we can have a picnic on the “beach.”  We ask that the children bring their regular snacks, but a small treat will be provided afterwards.  For each Beach 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 beach theme.

January 8 – First day back to school for the Monday/Wednesday classes

January 9 – First day back to school for the Tuesday/Thursday classes

January 10 – Fire drill Monday/Wednesday classes (weather permitting)

January 11 – Fire drill Tuesday/Thursday classes (weather permitting)

January 16 – Miss Marg comes to read to the Tuesday/Thursday classes

January 16 - Board meeting at 7pm

January 17 – Wear a Jersey Day for the Monday/Wednesday classes

January 18 – Wear a Jersey Day for the Tuesday/Thursday classes

January 29 – Beach Day for the Monday/Wednesday classes

January 30 – Beach Day for the Tuesday/Thursday classes

January 31 – No school

February 1 – No school

Table Work

The three year old’s will be working on the triangle, diamond, as well as an activity involving all the shapes they have learned so far.  These activities help the children work on their pencil grasp, start to practice vertical lines, and listen to oral directions to attend to a simple task.  When drawing the shapes, the children will be recognizing familiar two-dimensional shapes, as well as using correct top-to-bottom, left-to-right directionality for symbols.  

The four year old’s will be working on the letters Q, G, and S.  These activities will help the children learn to use correct top-to-bottom, left-to-right directionality for letters.  They are also great for proper crayon grip to write and to practice using the helping hand to stabilize objects and paper.  We will also be working on the sight words in, at, and on.

We would really appreciate the following donations:

Small paper plates

2024/2025 Registration

Hard to believe we are starting the planning for next year already!  Registration for the upcoming September 2024/2025 year will open on February 1st.  

The programming will run much like this year:

  • Monday Wednesday - AM 8:45-11:15 - three year old only

  • Monday Wednesday - PM 12:30-3:30 - three four split

  • Tuesday Thursday - AM 8:30-11:30 - four year old only

  • Tuesday Thursday - PM 12:30-3:30 - four year old only

Each program has age cut off dates and limited spaces.  Exact details will be advertised prior to registration opening.  

November News

November Themes

Dinosaurs Five Senses Space

School pictures are done!  Thank you families for being flexible with us when Renee was having lightening issues!  Renee is busy editing images.  She will notify me when she is going to be sending the picture links out.  Please wait patiently.  You will receive your link well in advance to order those Christmas pictures! Notification will be sent to everyone once, links are coming out.  

October 30 - Halloween Parties - MW classes

October 31 - Halloween Parties - TT classes

November 1 - Growing Smiles Winter Fundraiser Kicks Off

November 8 – No school because of the fall break

November 9 – No school because of the fall break

November 14 - Board Meeting at 7pm

November 21 – Miss Marg from the Carstairs Library comes to read to both classes

November 21 - Growing Smiles orders due

Growing Smiles Winter Fundraiser!

Our annual Winter fundraiser is ready to go.  Same as last year, we have lots of options for Christmas decorating!  Online orders are due November 21st and delivery is schedule for December 6th.  

Growing Smiles Fundraiser

Classroom Volunteers

Some parents really enjoy volunteering in the class.  A sign up sheet will be posted on our website in the near future for those would like to join.  Please add your name to the date; any black spaces are not available for volunteering.  We also ask that you do not bring siblings with you.  We understand it can be difficult to find childcare, but the additional children can make it difficult to follow programming.  Thank you for your cooperation!

Table Time

The four year old’s will be working on the letters E, H, T, I, and U.  The children will be learning to use correct top-to-bottom, as well as left-to-right directionality for their letters.  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 sight words we will be learning are a, is, me, and it.

The three year old’s will be working on the colors pink, brown, gray, and black.  We will then start learning our shapes, the first one being a square.  The three year old’s will also 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


This month we would be grateful for:

Large popsicle sticks Small clay pots

Scrapbooks

We have crafts planned for each day your child attends playschool, however some crafts will not be going home with your child.  This is because several crafts are saved over the year and put into a scrapbook.  This scrapbook will come home on the last day of school.  Mrs. Gerle loves putting these mementos together and watching the children flip through their scrapbooks!!

Spare Clothes

Thank you very much to the families who have sent an extra set of clothing for your child, however there are still quite a few children who do not have extra clothes. Accidents do happen occasionally and we do not have extra clothes at the playschool to lend your child if they do need some.  For those of you who haven’t yet done so, please bring an extra pair of pants, underwear, socks, and shirt in a ziploc bag with your child’s name on it.  This set of spare clothes will stay at the playschool until the end of the year when we will send them home.

Please no finger gloves!

Thank you so much for your understanding at both drop off and pick up.  Getting the children into and out of their outside gear at the beginning and end of each class can be time consuming some days. With that being said, we would very much appreciate it if you sent your child to school with mittens.  PLEASE NO FINGER GLOVES.  They are very tricky for some children to put on and it would be so much quicker and easier for us to help them with their mittens. We are very grateful for your patience during these times!!

Family Pictures

We still don’t have many family pictures for our family wall!!  Please send a family picture (it doesn’t have to be recent) so that we can fill it up for the kids!!  They love looking at them and showing their families to their friends and teachers!