From the President
Yay! The preschool is off and running. We have two new teachers joining us this year, Miss Stacey and Miss Carrie. Please help me in welcoming them to our Queen’s park family. Big thanks to everyone on the hiring committee for all the hard work over summer. I’m very excited to see what all the teachers have in store for the children this year.
As you may have noticed, over the summer the preschool had some upgrades. Thanks to Ron Booth and the Queen’s Park Facilities Staff for replacing the ceiling tiles. Thank you to Shelley Stevenson for facilitating the expansion of our outdoor space.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know.
Thanks, Julie
Save the Date!
Mark your calendars for the biggest night of the QPPS year. The Silent Auction will be on Saturday, March 4, 2017 held at the Glenbrook Amenities Centre in Fraserview.
Enrollment Update
Please make note that there are spots still available in the 4AM and 4PM class. We are asking if you can reach out on social media and see if anyone has 4 year old children who have not enrolled in a preschool yet.
Activities for Parents and Families
Mark your calendars for this fun (and for the whole family) event.
Address: 12900 Steveston Hwy, Richmond (just East of Hwy 99)
Parent Education
October 4th Parent Education Session
This month we will host Denise Goldbeck from Kids in the Spotlight (http://www.denisegoldbeck.com/) on emotional regulation and social referencing. Come and get some easy practical tips on how to increase the harmony in your home and in your child’s life by increasing your child’s ability to regulate his or her emotions. Children need to learn to self-soothe, tolerate their own feelings and manage tasks and activities while experiencing emotions. Children who are able to regulate their emotions have better relationships, more success and more fun. They look to their parents as a social reference to learn to regulate their emotions. Understanding how children learn emotional regulation from their parents helps you to organize your approach to your parenting while increasing harmony in your family. Children who are able to regulate their emotions are easier to support through transitions such as home to school or playtime to bedtime. This approach and these tips are quickly learned and can be effortlessly woven into your parenting. Tickets will be available to the public for $10.
November 1st Parent Education Session
Next month we will welcome Adrienne Gear from Reading Power (http://www.readingpowergear.com/) on making emotional connections to books and reading to facilitate pre-literacy. Tickets will be available to the public for $10.
Fundraising Update
Here are fundraising dates you need to know:
October 4th deadline for Scholastic Book Orders. Throughout the year, you will find Scholastic Book catalogues in your child’s mailbox at preschool showing the books and other items that are available to order that month.
Scholastic offered significant discounts on popular children’s books, crafts and games – so take a look and see if there’s something your family might like!
How to Order:
- Find the items you would like to order in the catalogues.
- Circle the corresponding item on the order form at the end of the catalogue. Some months there may be multiple catalogues, so you will use multiple order forms.
- Fill in the total number of items and total amount due boxes – bottom right side of every order form.
- Fill in your child’s name and class on every order form
- Provide payment – this can either be done by cheque (made payable to Scholastic) or by credit card (online through the Scholastic website, instructions are included on the order form). When paying by cheque – one cheque for the whole order is preferred. When paying by credit card, payment must be done for each catalogue separately.
- Place completed order form & payment information in my child’s cubby at preschool – Owen 4AM.
For this month – please have order forms back by Tuesday, October 4th.
The preschool benefits by earning Scholastic Dollars, based on the amount of our purchases. The more we purchase, the more bonus dollars the Teachers have to spent on new books for the preschool. We also use our Scholastic Dollars at Christmas time to donate new books to the New Westminster Children’s Place.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or ask your teachers.
Cheers, Shelley
October 12: It’s Hockey time! Get your teams in and support QPPS. $20 per team with 4 chances to win every month. $20 due at the October 4th General Meeting.
Please use the linkhttp://www.officepools.com/invite/classic/m/HRZJ8C3G to enter
Hockey Pool Name: QPPS
Guest Password: qpps
Entry Cutoff date/time: October 12th, 4pm
You can also pay at the October 4th GM. Alternatively you can submit your entry fee and team name into Addyson 4am or Cohen 4pm tray no later than Oct 12th.
Invite all your friends and family, must be 13 years of age to participate.
Nutrition Column
Rolande Barbon is a registered dietitian, busy mom to 3 boys and member of the QPPS community. She is passionate about helping families raise healthy eaters and supporting healthy communities. If you have any topics you wish to see covered in future nutrition columns please feel free to let Rolande know or email qppeditor@gmail.com. Here is the October column:
Halloween: How to Deal With Candy Overload
For many of us, October brings visions of pumpkin patches, corn mazes and falling leaves. Our kids on the other hand are thinking… Halloween! The costumes, parties and trick-or-treating that go along with the Halloween season make for a lot of fun for the kids, but parents often find themselves struggling – what do we do with all the candy? Here’s how to use the sticky situation of candy overload as a learning experience while preserving the joy of the season.
Promoting Self-Regulation
Dietitian and feeding expert Ellyn Satter reminds us that ”Halloween candy presents a learning opportunity. Work toward having your child be able to manage his own stash. For him to learn, you will have to keep your interference to a minimum. When he comes home from trick or treating, let him lay out his booty, gloat over it, sort it and eat as much of it as he wants. Let him do the same the next day. Then have him put it away and relegate it to meal and snack-time” (1)
Structure is Everything
After the initial excitement is over, include Halloween loot as part of some meals and snacks. This practice helps your child to learn to eat candy in an ordinary way. At meal time have your child choose a couple of pieces to have as dessert and periodically allow your child to eat as much as they want during snack time – include a glass of milk or some fruit and veggies as part of the snack too! Snack time is a great time for them to learn moderation because it is not competing with other mealtime foods. The key here is not to let your child graze on candy between meals and snacks.
Preserving Joy
It’s not always easy to let go and not be overly-concerned about sugar intake on Halloween (speaking from experience!). If your kids are like mine, this is one of their favourite times of the year and I have to remind myself to preserve the joy that goes along with it, candy and all. Take comfort in the fact that with this approach you are helping your child learn to eat high-calorie low-nutrient food in moderation and in proportion to more nutritious food.
Happy Fall everyone!
Rolande Barbon, RD
References
1. http://ellynsatterinstitute.org/fmf/fmf30english.php
3 Year-Old Classroom Information
A warm hello from your 3’s teachers Ms. Carrie and Ms. Donna!
September gradual entry for the three year old classes is midway and we are thrilled to note that our musical instruments, play yard, loft, play house, new cozy corner and well stocked preschool library are proving to be popular indeed!
During the gradual entry process the children have enjoyed creating collage, manipulating purple sparkley playdough, bulldozing soft white sand and building both simple and elaborate rainbow shapes, we have been dancing to our own drum beat and singing our hearts out! All of us are finding our way and slowly getting to know one another and yes we are in the beginning stages of building on wonderful future playdates and friendships!
It is hard to believe that September is half over and October fast upon us!
In October the three year old classes will be going on our first nature walk together and in celebration of harvest season we will be cooking up a delicious stone soup together!
We are planting pumpkin seeds, decorating cookies, and searching our newly expanded yard for tiny pumpkins! September and October are sure to be wonderful learning through play opportunities!
Important dates to mark on your calendars are the following:
Thursday September 29th our first fire drill!
Tuesday October 4th first full day of preschool (Hurray!)
Thursday October 6th is 3’s class picture day (smile)
Tuesday October 11th our first nature walk (leaf hunt)
*Saturday October 15th and Sunday October 16th is Family Photo Day (fundraiser)
Tuesday October 18th is our Stone Soup Day (cooking activity)
Thursday October 20th is cookie dough making with Ms. Carrie (cooking activity)
Thursday October 20th fire drill
Thursday October 25th cookie decorating (and eating!) and pumpkin seed planting!
Thursday October 27th pumpkin carve and pumpkin hunt (costumes optional)
Looking forward to many months ahead of wonder and excitement, warmly, your 3’s teachers,
Ms. Donna and Ms. Carrie
4 Year-Old Classroom Information
Chika Chika Boom Boom, welcome back to Queens Park Preschool.Wow this has been a busy month, welcoming children and families and getting to know what everyone likes to play with. The jewels in the sandbox have been very popular as well as chasing bubbles. In the classroom exploring old favorites such as the block corner and experimenting in some new corners (the cozy corner) have all been taking place.
As we get back to the routine of school we have been discovering letters, apples and colors. “Way up high in the apple tree” was popular at circle time and we left the apples on the table with the magnifying glasses.
We have had some wonderful pictures created with the paint at the easels. In the coming days we will be making apple sauce and going on our first nature walk. We are looking forward to finding out about cameras, pictures, pumpkins and of course HALLOWEEN…..
Some dates to keep in mind;
Friday Sept. 23 making Apple Sauce
Wednesday Sept. 28 Nature Walk
Friday Oct. 7 picture day
Saturday Oct. 15 2- 4 pm Family photo day
Sunday Oct. 16 9-3 pm Family photo day
Friday Oct. 14 Stone soup
Monday Oct. 10 CLOSED THANKSGIVING
Monday Oct. 31 Halloween
Your teachers
Miss Donna and Miss Stacey
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