November 2013

Jo’s Tidbits

Wow, how time flies, its November already. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving celebrations and had a safe Halloween. Josh went as a goalie this year (surprise surrise), Joey dressed up as Eeyore, my husband Eric was Heisenberg (Walter White) and I took the easy way out and went as a Hockey mom with my Tim Hortons in hand 🙂

I am happy to report that things are running well at the preschool and I do not have a lot of information to pass on this month. We do not have a general meeting this month and so parents have the option of doing homework or attending the workshop “Teacher Tom” put on by the council on November 14. The teachers will in attendance at the workshop as well.

Have a great month and I shall see most of you at the beginning of December! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns Johannakswanson@gmail.com

Count down to Christmas…….jingle bells jingle bells!!!!!!! When is it not considered too early to put my tree up?

We Want to Hear from You!

How did you find out about Queen’s Park Preschool? We want to do a better job of promoting our amazing school to the community and ensure that our programs are viable in the long-term.

Should the school have better printed materials? Do we need to have a social media presence? We need to hear from you on how you found out about the school, and more importantly, what made you choose Queen’s Park Preschool over all other facilities. Fill in our short 5 minute survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/qpps

Have some bright ideas that don’t fit into the survey? Give Frances (Thomas’ mom in the 3PM class) a holler at francestg2@yahoo.co.uk and she will integrate your ideas into the communications strategy that’s being developed.

Reminders and To-Dos:

Get those hair brushes ready – class photo dates are November 4 for the 4’s classes and November 5 for the 3’s classes.

The ‘All About Me’ Pages are almost all in and, as soon as they are, we plan to copy the ‘All About Me’ book for each family. This is a great way to learn about your friends, as well as is a nice keepsake. At the end of the year we also will give an “Individual Portfolio Binder”, that is filled with photos, stories, and artwork from your child – these binders are stored at the end of the cubbies, so feel free to look at your child’s binder in progress.

To help cover the costs of the copying of the booklets, and the creating of the binders, the class reps will be collecting $5 (per child in the preschool) from each family. We are also looking for a volunteer to look after the printing of the booklets. Please talk to a teacher if you are willing to do this or if you have questions about this.

Fundraising Updates (aka Head-Start on Christmas!)

Thank you to all for the amazing response and support we’ve had for all of the initiatives launched this year. The level of engagement and support has been incredible. And to just to prove it, here are a few numbers:

179 people signing up for the hockey pool
13 families requesting gift cards in October
23 families ordering Meat Pies (including at least one vegetarian);
33 families attending Fall Photos
80 people at the recent QPPS Pub Night
And too many to count dropping off clothes for Big Brothers

Families are making conscious choices to support the school where it makes sense for them, and we all thank you for that. This adds up to about $4,000 of proceeds to date for the school – well done!

We’re coasting into the holiday season by continuing a few of our previously launched programs, and also launching Western Direct orders just in time for Christmas.

Upcoming in the next month:

1. Western Direct Order Forms – Friday, November 15. You can expect to receive Western Direct Order forms in your box the last week of October. Just in time for Christmas, Western Direct has a number of wonderful food items to choose from – cookies and desserts, appetizers, pizzas and flatbreads – and judging from the orders we received last year, this is something families look forward to each year. Order forms are due back November 15^th, for delivery at the December meeting on December 3^rd. Please deposit forms with payment by cheque in Annie Graham – 4AM box.

2. Monthly Gift Cards – Tuesday, November 5. Christmas is coming, so take advantage of our Monthly Gift Card Program. Orders are due in my box the first Tuesday of each month (November 5, December 3), with delivery within a week or so.

3. Meat Pies – Monday, November 25. We’re switching up our previously published order schedule on this so that we can deliver pies to families on the night of our monthly meeting. So, our next Meat Pie order is due Monday, November 25 in the box of Elizabeth Cavanagh – 4pm, with orders delivered on the night of December 3.

4. Big Brothers Clothing Drive – Tuesday, December 3. Initial response has been strong. Please drop off your old clothes at next month’s general meeting, and we’ll turn them into cash.

5. Mabel’s Labels – Announced earlier this month, and great for Christmas, QPPS has partnered with Mabel’s Labels to offer Sticky Labels, Peel and Stick Clothing Labels, Bag Tags, Allergy Alert labels, and more. This is handled completely online, and shipping is free. Check it out at www.queenspark.mabelslabels.com.

Stay tuned for the announcement of our first Hockey Pool winners for the month of October. Much to Garth’s disappointment, he will not be writing a cheque to himself this month (guess it isn’t rigged 🙂

Any thoughts, questions, or concerns? Feel free to contact garth.r.graham@gmail.com.

Parent Education News

Judging by how much interest Margery Healey generated after her presentation at our October 1 General Meeting, she seems to have been a very popular guest!If you would like more of her tips and practical advice, Margery posts fun, entertaining and relevant blogs once a week on her Facebook business page. You can access her Facebook page via the link on her website: www.TheCompassionateParentCoach.com, and she also puts promotions on her page about upcoming group coaching opportunities.

Coming up for November

There will be no general meeting in November. For the required parent education hours, parents can choose to attend a special parent education session on November 14, or do a make-up assignment.

Details of the session:
QPPS has purchased tickets for a presentation by Teacher Tom, hosted by the Council of Parent Participation Preschools in BC. Other parent participation preschool members will also be in attendance.

Thursday, November 14, 2013
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Lord Tennyson Elementary, 1936 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC

You do not need to RSVP if you will attend this session, but check-in with Tasha (QPPS Parent Education Coordinator) when you arrive so your name gets recorded. We understand that not all parents will be able to attend this session because it is on a different day than our regular meetings and the location is further from home. Choosing to do a make-up assignment will not count towards the 2 parent education make-up assignments that you are allowed to submit in lieu of missed meetings during the school year.

Coming Up For December

There will not be a special guest for our parent education segment at the December 3 General Meeting. We will be sending home an article that we would like everyone to read ahead of time so that we can have a short discussion during the meeting. Watch for more details to come about that.

If you have any questions about parent education, please contact Tasha at 604-526-5527 or tashamurray@outlook.com.

November Family Social Outing

Whether you are a bowling pro or have never been, this is a terrific way to introduce your little ones to a fun, family activity (and even better with other QPPS families!). Join us for a Family Fun Bowling Day.

Sunday, November 24, from 4-6pm
Port Coquitlam Lanes
2263 McAllister Avenue, Port Coquitlam B.C

Great family activity that features preschooler-friendly lanes all equipped with bumpers so everyone can play.

$25- Family of 3
$30- Family of 4
$35- Family of 5 or more

Entry fee includes:
1 Game each, Bowling shoe rental, door prizes, children’s goodie bags as well as a selection of healthy snacks and drinks during the event.

Registration for this event starts November 4. Please see your child’s mailbox for the registration form and payment instructions. Fun times await, so don’t be late – limited space is available.

3-Year Old Class Information

What a beautiful fall we have had! It has been wonderful to be able to spend lots of outdoor time enjoying the fresh air, playing in the sand pit, exploring the gutter ramps and going on “trips” in the pirate ship……all while enjoying the changing colours of the trees.

The children are really starting to explore the whole room now. They have begun building large train tracks together (lots of cooperation here!) as well as going down the fire pole and slide. At the art area, we have been exploring painting with many different tools and created a “Painted Forest of Sticks” – it was a wonderful process of some children adding just a few dots of paint, and others choosing to carefully roll the stick to make sure that the whole stick was painted. We are just starting to use liquid glue (which is very different than glue sticks) and we are excited to see what we can glue together.

Throughout this month we have continually seen the children “caring” for stuffed animals, babies, friends, teachers and duty parents. We have seen many picnics being held, playdough cupcakes being made and boxes filled with stuffed animals being toted around the room (so that the stuffed animals are not alone!). To encourage this caring, as well as most of our classes desire to mix anything, we brought out many “ingredients” that the children could add to water in pots, such as beads, corks and plastic lids. Many wonderful mixes, soups, and pastas have been made. Here is a conversation that we heard around the table:

“ I am making macaroni”
“but I don’t like macaroni…..I am making soup”
“What is in your macaroni”
“Chocolate and………Marshmallows!”

We also made individual “Pumpkin Puddings” that the children could mix up on their own…..We are not sure if they enjoyed mixing it more, or eating it more. This was all a great lead into the “Friendship Soup Day.” At the start of Friendship Soup Day day we mixed all the chopped vegetables in a huge pot. The children were very excited to have their turn to put their vegetable in and stir. Then we played outside and the aroma wafted out – it smelled so yummy! Thank you to everyone for all your contributions to this day and also for taking the time to join us. We hope you enjoyed the soup!

During November, we have planned to continue to do some mixing activities, adding spices and lentils. As so many of the children seem to enjoy working with food we will make apple juice on Thursday, November 7. Please bring an apple (or two) to preschool on that day (or if you have any apple tree and would like to donate some apples please let us know). We also plan to go out with small groups into our own Queen’s Park Forest and do some exploring and climbing over stumps and investigating where the forest animals live.

We also want to give you some notice about our class party in December. It will be on Thursday, December 19 and there will not be a regular preschool class that day. The 3am class party is from 10-11am and the 3pm class party is from 1-2pm. As there is no duty parents scheduled, all the preschool children must come with a parent/grandparent/nanny to enjoy the festive activities with. Closer to the time we will have a sign up for food. Siblings are more than welcome to join!

Enjoy Fall!

From Teacher Barb and Teacher Eleanor

Items we are needing:

Baby food jars

Things To Remember:

Please bring an Apple – Thursday, November 7
Class Photo Day – Tuesday November 5 (we won’t have a messy art that day)
Please bring in your comfy kits
Monday, November 11 – Preschool Closed in lieu of Remembrance Day

4-Year Old Class Information

As the tree outside our window turned from green, to yellow, to orange, to brown, we observed and chatted and explored and ventured out a little more. Together, we went on our first nature walks through Queen’s Park. Along the way, we collected leaves to make a window collage. We also stopped to fly helicopter seeds, tread softly through the toadstools, and of course, said hello to the squirrels and birds. We peeked into some of the nursing logs and stumps and took a couple group photos before making our way to the playground too. It really was a great day!

Spiders and spider webs have surrounded us both inside and out, so we explored them too. We counted spider legs and spider eyes and spun webs around cardboard looms. Weaving yarn up and around the climbers lead to creating a massive spider above the whole thing…anyone brave enough to come into the spider’s lair and play?

Of course, pumpkins and bats come with everything Halloween, so we’ve done some art activities to decorate the room and your homes as well. We’ve read some our favourite stories, “Big Pumpkin” by Erica Silverman and S.D. Schindler and “Guess What” by Mem Fox. We’ve been acting out Raffi’s rhyme “5 Little Pumpkins” too. We’ve hammered nails to decorate a pumpkin and carved one out to roast the seeds. All leading to our Halloween Bash in full (optional) costume, the stinkier the better in our opinion 😉

Also inside, we used the overhead projector to sing songs and play. We used our shadows to compare with silhouettes projected on the walls and traced our own body shapes. After singing Boney the Skeleton, there was lots of discussion about our bones, so we explored skeletons further with collage and X-rays on the light table. We’re even planning to celebrate Día de Muertos, the Day of the Dead!

Originating in Mexico, the first days of November are embellished with marigold flowers, paper cut-outs, sugar skulls (called calaveras), special breads and skeletons dressed in colourful clothes and hats. Altars are set up to honour loved ones who have passed away by celebrating their lives and all the things they loved. Families from our school who celebrate the Day of the Dead will be sharing homemade treats and will help us set up our own display for the festivities.

Also in November:

Nature Walk- November, 15 – Please dress for the weather!
Pajama Day- November, 27 – Don’t dress out of your PJ’s!

And…

BE WARNED! Oscar and Stickybeak are coming to your home one day soon! Indeed, either a Sock Monkey or a stuffed Duck will soon be coming to your homes for a sleepover. They come complete with a storybook to introduce themselves and a journal to record their time with your child. If Oscar or Stickybeak could come back the following class day with a simple little note, drawing or photo to document their sleepover, we’ll share your experience with the class and send Oscar or Stickybeak home with the next person whose name is drawn. Thank you and have fun!

Moment of the Month:

Conversation at the snack table about allergies:
Boy: “I don’t have any allergies. Just bees and worms.”
Teacher Jenny: “Worms? How are you allergic to worms?”
Boy: “I just shouldn’t eat them.”

And, a link! (Just for fun, and just for adults, really, although it could be inspiring…!)

The after effects of Halloween tend to linger around the home for a while…much to everyone’s joy? Hmmmmm…..

November 2, 2013