{"id":1782,"date":"2017-11-30T20:37:52","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T20:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/?p=1782"},"modified":"2017-12-01T15:49:37","modified_gmt":"2017-12-01T15:49:37","slug":"december-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/december-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"December 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>From the President<\/h2>\n

Happy December!<\/p>\n

Hope you all had a great (although wet!) November. Things are ticking along at QPPS with lots of small projects on the go from grant applications to new dishwashers, websites to alumni list building.<\/p>\n

Many thanks to all the families for their ongoing work to keep the school running. And to our staff for continuing to amaze and thrill our children each and every week.<\/p>\n

Our last day of classes before winter break will be\u00a0December 21st.\u00a0 May you all enjoy the holiday season and find time to spend with your little ones during this very special time of year. See you in 2018!<\/p>\n

Best,
\nAmber<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Stay Connected<\/h2>\n

Here are some helpful tips for busy families on the go – and now there really won’t be any excuses for missing the monthly meeting \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Add Queens Park Preschool to your Google calendar: Just add qpps.vp@gmail under “Other Calendars”<\/p>\n

Join our Closed Group on Facebook: Go to Facebook<\/a>. Search ‘Queen’s Park Preschool 2017-2018’ in the search tab, request Join Group. You just need to give your class and child’s name and you will on your way for up-to-date information<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>What happens on a Snow Day?<\/h2>\n

Aside from making snow angels and forts, what do you do if preschool is scheduled on a day when it looks like a winter wonderland outside?<\/p>\n

If there is too much snow? The Preschool will close if it is too dangerous for Teachers, children and Members to get to the Preschool. All efforts will be made to determine if the Preschool will be closed prior to\u00a07:00am. Closures will be communicated through the emergency phone trees and email.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fundraising Updates<\/h2>\n
First off – a big thank you to all the parents and families so far. Fundraising has been going really well\u00a0 now let\u2019s keep it going!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Everyone has been doing great participating in the monthly raffles and there are more awesome prizes coming up, so don\u2019t forget your toonies (or bills) for the General Meetings. If you ordered from Epicure, they will be at the December GM.\u00a0 Oliver\u2019s labels is an ongoing fundraiser, visit here to order directly for all your labeling needs. And don’t forget to bring any items you\u2019d like to donate to Big Brother to the December meeting.<\/div>\n
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\"\"<\/a>Parent Education – Coming Up!<\/h2>\n

Christina Rowan will be joining us to speak about communication development in young children, and how speech and language skills develop, why it matters and how you can help them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

We use communication to learn, to express ourselves, to work and to build and nurture relationships.\u00a0 Yet, 1 in 10 preschoolers have difficulty with communication skills.\u00a0 Christina\u00a0will summarize how children learn the amazing ability to understand and use language in a few short years. She will give some suggestions on supporting our children’s language development and answer questions that parents may have regarding language, articulation and stuttering.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Inclusive Classrooms and Autism<\/h2>\n

Queen’s Park Preschool has always had a commitment to supporting our students regardless of their needs and providing an inclusive community for our students and their families, as such we have a number of families both current and alumni that have been affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Autism is a complex disorder that can have a wide range of behaviours associated with it. Here is a link to a short video<\/a>, which can be a helpful starting point for children and families alike to help understand and normalize children affected by Autism. This video serves as a short primer to start the conversation about inclusion and special needs within your family and should you wish to learn more there are a number of books and articles in our Parent Education Library. Community inclusion benefits everyone, as Helen Henderson states, “inclusion works to the advantage of everyone.\u00a0 We all have things to learn and we all have something to teach.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>3-Year Old Classroom Information<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n
Oh November!\u00a0 We are settled in comfortably with one another, relationships are forming and bonds are being made!\u00a0 Inside, our twinkle lights help us feel cozy, the space is warm and inviting, soft music can be detected playing in the background and the room is\u00a0 always buzzing with activity. Our recent Pajama Day was a chance to be extra cozy together with slippers and hot chocolate!<\/div>\n
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Our second visit upstairs to the art gallery was a lovely excursion.\u00a0 Prominent, New Westminster-born artist Joe Plaskett’s lovely oil paintings intrigued us.\u00a0 How lucky we are to have the gallery all to ourselves for our visits. Have you had a chance to look around the room at our creative offerings? Visiting the art gallery is so inspiring to our children and it shows around the room!<\/p>\n

In the 3’s classes we have been enjoying our new mirror, rainbow and magnet blocks, we have been exploring light and dark, and we have been using our screen and light projector. Playing with light and colour has been mesmerising. The light table and the projector are popular areas in the classroom.<\/p>\n

The subject of space and our solar system has been introduced this past month and we are creating a moonscape with sand, rocks, and tiny astronauts as well we have been using loose parts to create rocket ships, with extra attention to the sun, moon and stars. We expect that this inquiry will expand and our programming will reflect the growing interest in planets and outer space.<\/p>\n

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for our Winter Potluck coming up on Thursday, December 21st.<\/strong> Teachers will provide more details closer to the date, but the one-hour class will include shared potluck and Christmas crafts!\u00a0 Extended family are welcome to attend.\u00a0 Our winter break starts on Friday, December 22nd and preschool will be closed until classes resume on Monday, January 8th.<\/p>\n

It has been a wonderful month.
\nWarmly, Ms. Donna and Ms. Lynda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>4 Year-Old Classroom Information<\/h2>\n

In the month of November, the children in both classes continued to explore web making with materials such as sticks and pipe-cleaners. As they explored, they asked questions such as how can I make it stay on a stick? How can I use it to make a web? A spider? What shape can I make if I bend it here? When we extended the experience by adding pine cones and wool. Many children noticed the softness of the wool as they compared it to the strings of hemp and silver thread. With the addition of materials, the children\u2019s skills also evolved. Some children are now able to connect the pine cones to the sticks and are fascinated at how it dangles, some even considered it to be \u2018spooky\u2019!<\/p>\n

In the afternoon class, the interest in spiders and web is evident in other areas of the classroom as well. Spider making at the playdough table, and spider web drawing during our visit to the Art Gallery.<\/p>\n

In the morning class, many children have shown interests in the astronauts with the black and white rice that is set-up in one of our discovery tables. The children talked about its relationships to the dinosaurs by telling stories of \u2018moon storms\u2019, craters, and extinction. Information from our discussion about fire and earthquake also became a part of their stories after our fire drill this month.<\/p>\n

We will be revisiting the children\u2019s ideas and see where their theories will lead us. In addition, we have also began a discussion about personal space, and will continue this conversation in the weeks ahead!<\/p>\n

Happy Holidays,
\nMs. Donna and Ms. Queenie<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the President Happy December! Hope you all had a great (although wet!) November. Things are ticking along at QPPS with lots of small projects on the go from grant applications to new dishwashers, websites to alumni list building. Many thanks to all the families for their ongoing work to keep the school running. And to our staff for continuing to amaze and thrill our children each and every week. Our last day of classes before winter break will be\u00a0December 21st.\u00a0 May you all enjoy the holiday season and find time to spend with your little ones during this very special time of year. See you in 2018! Best, Amber   Stay Connected Here are some helpful tips for busy families on the go – and now there really won’t be any excuses for missing the monthly meeting \ud83d\ude09 Add Queens Park Preschool to your Google calendar: Just add qpps.vp@gmail under “Other Calendars” Join our Closed Group on Facebook: Go to Facebook. Search ‘Queen’s Park Preschool 2017-2018’ in the search tab, request Join Group. You just need to give your class and child’s name and you will on your way for up-to-date information   What happens on a Snow Day? […]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[109],"tags":[26,18,8,13,41,6,110],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1782"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1808,"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782\/revisions\/1808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qpps.ca\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}