Our Far-Away Friends

Today our preschoolers worked on their cut-and-paste letters for their far-away friends!  The kiddies worked hard experimenting with scissors and absolutely impressed.  When their clippings were ready to reassemble they were done so by number. Each little one enjoyed the challenge of finding, ordering, and gluing numbers 1-7, and needed little help from myself or Mrs. Hansen.  Titled and signed, our lovely friendship letters required just one more touch to complete!

On the backside of each letter our preschoolers finished their projects by drawing thoughtful pictures for the friends from afar.  Because the weather proved frigid this morning we decided to post-pone our walk to the post-office, but we'll be sure to have these priceless letters posted sometime next week.

Did you notice, these girls are sporting the color pink in support of anti-bullying campaigne Pink Shirt Day!

After Snack, Centers, and singing and dancing, both morning and afternoon classes closed our month of friendship by crafting special 'friendship bracelets'.  

Here's what we did...

• Before each class I snipped napkin-holder sized rings from paper towel rolls
• A cut into the ring width wise creates the band's opening
• Every child decorated a ring with foam stickers and markers and then gifted it to their friend sitting at their right!

Spread the Word...

Grovedale Preschool is readying for its third year of production!  If your child is four years of age as of December 2014, be sure to visit us on

Registration Night!

REGISTRATION

Tuesday, March 11th, at 6:30 pm at Penson School in the ECS classroom.

This year the Kindergarten and Preschool programs are conveniently holding registration together!  For more information, email Mrs. Jessica Lavallee at jmlavarnt@gmail.com, or check out the Up&Up at…

grovedalepreschoolup.blogspot.com

Thank You Silas!

Thank You to the Genis Family!

On behalf of Mrs. Opal Hansen and myself, I'd like to take this moment to thank Mr. Silas Genis and his family for donating two beautiful art tables (with matching chairs) to the Kindergarten and Preschool classroom!  Side by side they will make a fantastic addition to our Art Center.  Great picture Silas!

Family Trees

This week we continued our discussion on family and friends by putting our hands to work creating beautiful family trees which portray a small scale family structure.  Using traced hand cut-outs as our tree's leaves and brown paint to fill in an oak's outline, our tree branches come to life tipped with green and accented by our love in the shape of a heart!

Look for your child's family tree the end of February and help them fill-in the names of their grandparents.  You can even add aunts, uncles, and cousins by tracing and gluing new handprints onto your tree!

 Have fun!

 

 

 

 

The Triple P Program

 

 Peace Wapiti School District is bringing the Triple P Program to Penson School and everyone is welcome to attend! 

Classes will take place Wednesdays from 9:00 - 11:30 am starting February 26th in the Penson School Library.  Check out the pamphlet below for more info...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Everyone looked festive today in their pinks, reds, and purples, but their smiles of anticipation was most certainly their sweetest accessory. I'd say the best part of my day was witnessing the kiddies' excitement in knowing they'd brought their friends Valentine cards!  Our pink basket filled quickly as the preschoolers filed into class, and the next obvious step to take was to prepare personalized mail-bags for the moment of Valentine delivery...



Using paint filled brushes, bingo dabbers, feathers, paper hearts, stickers, foamies, and other crafting bits, each child had fun transforming paper lunch bags into fine mail carriers.

We even had a visitor today; Mrs. Stephanie Clarke, Lucy's mom, stayed with us throughout our mail-bag craft and even enjoyed a round of alphabet Bingo with us!  Thanks so much for coming Mrs. Clarke, it was nice having you as a part of our class:)

After a Valentine read and some Center Time, our preschoolers enjoyed a lovely, hearty (get it... hearty!? haha) snack.  Thanks to all who brought treats and drinks, it was greatly appreciated.

Next up was crafting Valentine surprises for each child's family.  As a pasting and printing project inspired by hearts, this craft brought the puppy love out in all of us!

It really was a special day of friendship enjoyed by everyone, and it was topped off with the giving and receiving of our Valentine cards.  Each child felt warm and cozy inside knowing they were thought of by their school pals outside of the classroom.

And of course, what would a great party be without a little dancing!  Mrs. Hansen and Kayden kicked up their heels this afternoon while our background music played, and we were quite impressed with their fancy footwork!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Coming Up...

February is a busy month, and its short!  Here is a list of upcoming events you may want to keep in mind...

• Today is our Valentine's Day party!  We will be playing games, creating mail bags, designing Valentines, and more.  Be sure to visit this blog later today to browse through pictures of our heart-shaped adventures!
• Family Day is on Monday, February 17th, therefore there will be no Preschool.  Enjoy your special day!
• Wednesday, February 19th, will be Penson's 100th day of school and they are celebrating!  While our preschoolers have not attended 100 days of classes, they've enjoyed the school and what it offers in many different ways since September, and so we will take part in the day's fun.  On February 19th, if your child is up to it, have them dress up as a 100 year old senior!  Our class, along with others in the school, will travel to the future for a day!
• To close this month of caring, on February 26th our Preschoolers will visit the Grovedale Post Office to send off letters to their far-away friends.  Please make sure to fill in the forms which have been sent home in your child's envelope and have them returned by February 19th.  Thanks!
• Also, February 26th is National Pink Shirt Day.  This event celebrates the voice of anti-bullying and I'd like our classes to participate.  Have your little ones wear pink shirts if they are comfortable doing so.  If not, any splash of pink will do!

Happy February everyone!

New Classroom Items

There are always things to purchase for the classroom, whether it be new markers, poster-board, glue, or maybe even tissues, but last week I was able to make a few large purchases for Grovedale Preschool which I am quite excited about!  I am ever thankful to the parents who allow their children into my program, without you and your little ones Grovedale Preschool obviously could not exist!  So thanks a bunch for giving me the opportunity to learn with your tikes Moms and Dads; I absolutely love my job!

 The Home Living Center:

This sweetie-pie crib set is a three in one delight which has been added to our February Home Living Center.  This crib can turn into a changing table and has the perfectly sized high chair for hungry and growing baby dolls.  Our Preschool Moms and Dads show off their parenting skills with this little set-up, and what a great job they do!

For the handy and crafty in the home this purchase has been a real hit.  Fit with tools and hardware for wiggly table legs or a broken chair back, this work bench in the past week has proven we've got hard-working hands to help!

Also purchased for the Home Living Center is a fantastic dome style barbecue set which includes food props and utensils.  This BBQ playset will be brought out during the month of May when we recreate a 'camping out' scene within the center.

Because our topic this month involves friendship and emotions, this Barbie set has been a great asset to our learning through play incentive!  Each Barbie here is a true role-model as they each represent an interesting career; zookeeper, astronaut, magician, and computer technician!

Grovedale Preschool is very lucky to have access to Penson's Kindergarten class and resources.  We are tremendously grateful; thank you Penson School!  But it does feel good to contribute what we can to all they provide us with.

Yay Center Time!

Mittens Warm the Hands, Friendship Warms the Heart!

February flew in with a flurry of snowflakes this winter and our preschoolers went straight to work equipping themselves with that which makes a cold month just a wee bit warmer... a cute pair of mittens!  But while mittens keep frost from out digits, we've learned there's a whole lot more to keeping our insides warm.  When we get that cozy and warm feeling in our hearts that's the sensation we call love, and February reminds us that those who give us that gift, our family and friends, are a very important and special part of our lives.


Kicking off February and our Mittens Warm the Hands, Friendship Warms the Heart topic, Grovedale Preschool designed smart mittens with string, foam stickers, and tissue paper to hang upon the hallway bulletin board.  To accompany these each student also created a friendship project which consisted of fine-motor practise, sensory fun, and blow-your-mind fashions!

These foam sticker kits included foam dolls with a great assortment of fun outfits for both boys and girls which could be mixed and matched.  Each child had a blast deciding upon which shoes best suited which hairstyle; the conversations were fabulous!

Each student was able to dress two foam children who, upon paper, represented friendship.  As each class played while they worked, we discussed what having a great friend means, why friends are important, and how our friends should be treated.


Once every foam friend was dressed to satisfaction, our preschoolers went to work getting... well... pretty messy!

Yes!  It was time to give friendship a high-five... no, two high-fives!  Using the colors blue and red, we turned our handprints into symbols of love.  And what a beautiful job everyone did doing it!

 



 

 

Great work Preschoolers!