April 2017

From the President

Farewell Teacher Carli

It is with great sadness that we announce the departure of Teacher Carli. Carli has accepted a position with the Burnaby school board. This has been a goal of Carli’s for some time and while we are devastated she is leaving the preschool, we are very happy for her as well.

Preschool Survey

In the coming weeks, members will be requested to provide feedback about their preschool experience. We will have a general survey and a classroom survey. When you see these surveys in your inbox, please take a few moments to provide us with your thoughts.

BC Gaming Grant

We are thrilled to announce the preschool has once again received a BC Gaming Grant. This money must go toward preschool operations (unlike the New Westminster grant that must be used in capital project). A BIG thank you to Megan Sweet, our grant writer and to everyone else who helped compile the necessary reports.

Thanks,

Julie

 

Upcoming Social Event – Easter Egg Hunt

Come on out for a QPPS Easter Egg Hunt in The Park.  The event is an opportunity for kids and parents to hang out outside of the school. Please bring a basket or something for kids to hold the eggs in.

The event is dependent on weather

.

Location: Queen’s Park, near the preschool

Time: 11-11:30 am

Date: Saturday, April 8th

 

Join the QPPS Executive

Interested in learning how to run a non-profit preschool? We’ll be electing new executive members at the May general meeting, and have a number of vacancies that we hope you will consider. Most of the executive positions follow the school year, like President, Vice President, Class Representative, Fund Raising Coordinator and Special Events Coordinator. A few of the executive positions follow the calendar year, like Treasurer and Enrollment Coordinator. If you have an interest in helping lead the operation of the preschool or would like to learn more, please contact Amber Orchard at QPPS.VP@gmail.com.

 

Fundraising Update

Thank you to all who participated in our first Purdys Chocolate fundraiser. Orders will be in your tray by April 10.

Farewell to the school year, Pub Night! Keep your eye open for dates, time and place.

 

Enrollment Update

There are still openings for our 3pm class for 2017/2018, tell your friends and family – spread the word 🙂

 

 

 

Parent Ed this Month!

April 4^th, 2017 Parent Education Session

 This month we will host Karen Begley from Connections in Early Learning on what to expect in the kindergarten year. Have questions about what happens in Kindergarten? Feeling concerned about what the expectations, schedules, and routines will be like for your child and your family? Karen will facilitate conversations surrounding the misunderstandings of Kindergarten readiness, what Kindergarten looks like in September, how to understand the revised BC Curriculum, who to talk to (and how) when you have concerns and more. Participants will leave feeling more confident and informed with tools to be an active participant in their child’s learning process. Please note this will be a 90 minute workshop instead of the usual 60 minutes.

Karen is a teacher, speaker, facilitator, mom, nature-lover and community builder. She is passionate about the rights of children, the power of unstructured play, outdoor education, incorporating families into the school community and learning process, and creating a respectful community and curriculum to empower young learners. She empowers families and children to take an active role in their classroom and school communities and helps educators simplify their practice by aligning it with their values and beliefs about children, childhood, and learning. Tickets will be available to the public for $10.

If you have a specific question that you want to make sure gets addressed, please email Karen at connectionsinearlylearning@gmail.com.

And if you have any questions or comments about parent education, or need guidance on some homework ideas, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Angie Stephens (qpps.parenteducation@gmail.com)

 

May 2^nd, 2017 Parent Education Session

Next month we will welcome Dr. Wendy Hall, PhD on “When Lullabies Are Not Enough: Reducing the Impact of Poor Sleep on Infants, Toddlers & Their Parents”. Tickets will be available to the public for $10.

 

3-Year Old Class Information

In March we had a wonderful few weeks exploring colour mixing and discovering rainbows through art, books and song.  For our cooking activities together we made jello, home-made ice-cream by hand and decorated delicious sugar cookies.

In honour of St. Patrick’s Day we wore green and had an all green day!  All of our play activities were green!  Five Green And Speckled Frogs and Five Green Bottles were just two of the songs we have been singing this past month at circle time.

Baby Doll washing and dressing is a very popular activity in our three year old classes.  We are a caring and loving crew!  What is not to love about warm water, bubbles and teeny tiny babies?

With the snow behind us our attention has turned towards rain and clouds and part of our learning through play has happened around clouds and cloud formations. We have been enjoying Eric Carle’s book Little Cloud as well as Charles Shaw’s classic book It Looked Like Spilt Milk.  Together we have learned about stratus, cumulus and cirrus clouds!  All this talk about clouds led us naturally to things with wings and then an interest in outer space. So along with the four year old classes we have been immersed in rocket ships, planets and learning a little bit about the galaxy. Together we created a space station, rocket ships and a moonscape. We also painted our own interpretations of our planet earth!

A recent highlight in our classroom was a visit from two musicians Michael and Anne who play percussion instruments from Bali Indonesia. They shared exotic instruments with our 3 year old class room and even let us try out gongs, drums, cymbals and other beautiful instruments. Michael and Ann delighted us with storytelling and puppets as well as sharing their musical talents. The children were engaged and enthralled!

 

4-Year Old Class Information

March came in like a lion let us hope it goes out like a lamb.  This month saw us continuing our exploration of Rainbows and color mixing.  As we gazed skyward the children took an interest in Space.  As the house corner became a space station the children continued to look for Aikendrum (our favorite song for the month). After the March break we continued our journey into space and discovered the Solar System and all the planets.

The children were very interested in all things skyward and have began folding paper into planes and are working on their designs.

The coming month will see us going to the farm and talking about Easter.  We are expecting the delivery of eggs and the incubators just before the Easter weekend.

DATES TO REMEMBER

Tuesday April 4                   General Meeting

Wednesday April 12          In class Easter Hunt (children only)

Friday April 14                     Good Friday – No Class

Monday April 17                Easter Monday – No Class

 

Silent Auction Update

A big thank you to all the companies and families who made donations to the Silent Auction!  The Auction was a great success!  Thank you as well to the Silent Auction Team for your hard work in putting on such a great event.  At the General Meeting on April 4, 2017, a few remaining donations will be put out on a table for bids by the membership.  Come and take a “second look” to see if any of these items appeal to you or someone you know.  Here is your chance to pick up, for example, a great deal on a month of yoga, an interior design consultation or a physiotherapy treatment.

The following is a list of all the companies who made donations to the Silent Auction.  It is so nice to see such wonderful community support.  These companies are under no obligation to donate to the Auction but take the time to do so.  Please give them a big thank you when you go in to their business locations.  I am sure they would love to hear from you.