Alumni and General Enrollment is Up and Coming!
Let your friends know… The “Alumni Enrollment” will take place at the Wednesday night, February 6 at 7pm and is open to families who previously attended the school. “General Enrollment” is open to the general public will take place Saturday morning February 9th at 8am. $70 cheque (preferred) or cash per family to cover the registration fee due on the registration days listed above. If you have any questions about enrollment, please email enroll@qpps.ca.
Silent Auction Evening
Book your babysitters and get ready for a fun-filled evening! March 9is gearing up to be a fantastic night. There will be prizes, bidding wars with friends, and a chance to bid on live auction items as well. This enjoyable evening also offers time spent with others, a chance to relax and enjoy a drink, have a snack, and share in the excitement of this successful fundraising event. There may also be some interesting surprises during the evening.
We have already received a number of items for the silent auction and can’t wait to see what else will come our way. As we would like all members attending the auction to know what has been donated, a couple members of the fundraising team are working on putting out a list of all donated items a week prior to the event. Please watch your emails and check out the QPPS website.
The fundraising team is working hard on canvassing many different venues, businesses, and areas for donations to this great event. We thank those of you who have also canvassed different stores, boutiques, and businesses for donations. If you would like to help with the canvassing of a particular business, area, or venue, please email Kathleen (misskcarlsen@netscape.net) directly so we can get you set up.
We are also looking for corporate sponsorships this year, which could be very beneficial for local businesses. This would allow businesses to donate a certain amount of money in return for advertisement re: their banners hung at our event, business cards available at our event, pamphlets being out for all to see and take for future reference. If you know of a business or you own a business that might be interested, please let us know. What a great place to advertise!
Thank you also to the many families who have also already made their family donation. We have already received a children’s basket with stuffed animals, a train table set, two different rocking horses, assorted t-shirts, hats, gift cards, candle holders, and kitchen supplies. Please note that I may put a few donations together if they seem to be in the same category – therefore, no item is too small to donate.
You can also be as creative as you like with this. Donating a service such as yard work, babysitting, or baking is very well received. Themed baskets are also a big draw at auctions – some ideas for themed baskets are: books / a night at the movies / gardeners dream / boys / girls / car care / Italian meal / picnic / wine baskets / dad’s dream / mom’s day out / anything you can think of – there is no minimum or maximum value amount asked for.
All QPPS families receive two tickets to the Silent Auction with their registration. Tickets will be distributed to the Class Reps at the next General Meeting on Tuesday, February 5, 2013.
All other tickets will be available for purchase at $10 each. These purchased tickets will each receive one complimentary ticket into the door prize draw.
Please email misskcarlsen@netscape.net for tickets. Money or cheque (made out to QPPS) can be put in Emilio’s box (4am) with an email to confirm. Once in receipt of payment, tickets will be brought to the preschool and put in your child’s box.
As all successful events require the support of all members, we thank you in advance for signing up for one of the many volunteer positions available. Please look at the preschool for volunteer sign-up sheets for the day / night of this event.
The fundraising team thanks you for working together, to make this a successful event for all members.
Fundraising Updates
Thank you all for your support in our fundraising endeavours so far this year. What great response we’ve had and what great profit we’ve made!
Big Brothers Clothing Drive – Please bring all of you bags of second hand clothes, boots, shoes, linens, purses, and belts to the next General Meeting on February 5.
Shopping Cards – The next shopping card orders will go in on February 6. Cut off for ordering is also at the General Meeting on February 5. If you require another order form, please find these at the preschool or email Kathleen at misskcarlsen@netscape.net.
Adams Meat Pies – The meat pie orders are due on January 29 for delivery on the February 5. These meat pies are scrumptious!
Coffee Party for New Parents
We will be hosting a COFFEE PARTY to welcome all new parents to Queens Park Preschool on Thursday, April 4 from 7-9pm. Please be sure to attend if you are new to the preschool, as this is a mandatory requirement for orientation as well as a fun night to meet new parents and teachers at QPPS. We look forward to meeting you all!
3-Year Old Class Information
During this past month we were investigating trees and the forest. We started by looking at a picture of a very tall tree, and then created a book of our own tree drawings. Together we also created some large trees out of ripped paper (our artists’ work is displayed on our classroom walls!) When we were outside, we did a few adventures in the forest, hunting for sticks and pine cones, and hiding under the trees. The children helped to transform a section of our preschool room into a forest as well. The children worked together to decide where real logs and rocks would go, as well as indoor trees. Noticing that the pretend animals also needed homes, the children then built caves and made special homes in the trees for them. Each day the forest changes a bit more….. one day we even had a picnic in the forest!
As we continue into February, we will continue focusing on the forest, and continue to build trees out of different materials as well as start investigating animal homes. We’ve noticed a continued interest in caring for the animals, feeding them, and making beds for them. For some of the projects that we are planning we will need a few items:
- 1 foot long sticks (for a snake project)
- Small cereal size boxes (for animal homes)
- Toilet paper rolls (for binoculars)
During February we will also have small celebrations for Chinese New Year (Feb. 7) and Valentine’s Day. On Thursday Feb. 14, we have planned to do a “Stuffy/Teddy Bear Picnic”. Please have your child bring a special teddy bear or stuffed animal to preschool that day to celebrate with. We will do some special activities with our bears that day! If you wish to bring Valentine Cards to hand out, please come to preschool a little bit early to help your child hand them out.
Have a wonderful month!
Things to Remember:
Feb. 5 – Please bring a 1 foot stick
Feb. 14 – Valentine’s Day and Teddy Bear Picnic…please bring a teddy bear or favourite stuffed animal
4-Year Old Class Information
Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!
We had such a fun month exploring everything science! Some of the projects were self directed, like our sink and float activity, the music room, flashlights, and the frozen water balloons. Others were teacher directed initially and then progressed to child’s play. For example, we explored with acids and bases using lemon juice (citric acid) and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), and then further explored the gases produced by mixing the two with bubble soap!
Our nature walk was a surprising success with the spotting of the rare Red-flanked Bluetail in Queen’s Park! We were hoping to see everything on our Nature Hunt Activity list, but we had the unique opportunity to see this bird that has been making headlines not only in local newspapers, but also on international bird-watching websites. The birders clustered together with their extra large cameras were happy to quietly point it out for us and answer our questions. It should be here until the warm Spring air calls it home to Siberia again.
Crystal Growing Activity (you can do it at home too!). You need:
- Borax
- Hot Water
- Pipe Cleaners
- Wide-mouth Jar
- Pencil and String
- Twist pipe cleaner(s) into desired shape.
- Tie string to the pipe cleaner shape and the other end to the pencil so the pipe cleaner can be suspended from the mouth of the jar.
- Boil water and pour into the jar until it is almost full.
- For every cup of hot water, add about 3 tablespoons of Borax.
- Stir until the borax is dissolved
Hang the pipe cleaner shape in the mixture and leave it in a window or somewhere you can watch the crystals grow. It will take a few days. When the crystals have grown, remove them and dry them. They’ll keep forever! 😉
If the month of February had a common theme it would be the colour red. Red is considered a lucky colour in Chinese culture and red is the colour of a full heart. We will be celebrating Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day, and then, as the weather changes, watch for rain and rainbows and other signs of Spring. We will be making decorations to celebrate the Year of the Snake and turning the tissue boxes you bring in into Valentine mailboxes. Also, now that Oscar and Stickbeak have done their rounds to everyone’s houses, they’ll be switching classes. Expect a duck or a sock monkey to be visiting you in the next couple of months!
Here’s a list of the children in the am and pm classes. We will celebrate Valentines Day on the 15th. We can help your children deliver their Valentine cards during class time if you choose to send some from home!
The 4am Class
Abby
Alexander
Andy
Rebecca
Cariss
Emilio
Hudson
Jackson
Jarek
Lily
Maggie
Mathias
Megan
Mia
Ninah
Noah
Oliver
Patrick
Steven
Theodore
The 4pm Class
Anthony
Ava
Ben
Cedar
Charlotte
Clara
Daniel
Darwin
Dean
Elise
Hansah
Hudson
James
Jonah
Lilith
Lucas
Marin
Madisyn
Maya
Olivia
Moment of the Month
Teacher Jessica was asked to help find an “egg” in the sandbox. Discussing the hunt with the children, she realized what she was helping them find was an “egg-corn.”
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