Current Newsletter - St John`s Christian Nursery School

Nursery News
February 2015
St. John’s Christian Nursery School
22 Willow St.
Waterloo, On
519.746.4202
stjohn2@bellnet.ca
www.stjohnsnurseryschool.ca
Valentine’s Day
To celebrate Valentine’s Day at St. John’s, we will be having small special Valentine’s Day parties in our individual classrooms. We will celebrate in the morning and afternoon on Thursday, February 12th, and in the morning on Friday,
February 13th. Please come to school on these two days dressed in red and/or
pink!
These small group parties will include special Valentine crafts, a special Valentine snack, and the children will have a chance to hand out any special Valentine’s Day cards they have for friends.
Please have your child print only their name on the card, not who the card is
for. This allows the children to be successful in delivering their own cards to their
friends. Each preschool/JK group has sixteen children per class/group, and the
toddlers have ten children per group.
Family Day Fill a Jar!
It was such a success last year, we have decided to
bring back our “Fill-a-Jar” fundraiser!
It’s really easy and a lot of fun!
Step 1: Find an empty jar. The jar can be any size, a
pickle jar, baby food jar, applesauce jar, etc.
Step 2: Fill your jar(s) with small items...some examples are; candies, hair clips, small toys, dog treats,
gum, craft items, soup mix, etc. Be creative!!!
Step 3: Bring your filled jars to the school office by Friday, February 13th so that
we can organize the sale for the week of February 17th-20th.
The jars will be set at nominal prices, and displayed outside the office. Families
will have a chance to buy jars throughout the week.
Here are some examples of jars we’ve had in the past.
The more families who participate, the more fun to be had!!
Tax Receipts
Tax receipts for 2014 are ready and will be handed to you by your child’s
teacher at the beginning of February.
If you have not received your receipt by the end of February, or if there is an
error or any other concern, please speak to Christine.
Upcoming February Concepts
We kicked up February with our Book Landing Library in the hallway. Lots of
children have been enjoying it. We would love to continue on this literacy
theme for the next few weeks.
Some ideas, have your child bring in their favourite story
or book from home, talk to your child’s teachers about
coming into our classroom to read a story with your
child’s group.
Donate a copy of your favourite book( child or adult) to
our school library for others to enjoy.
From the Operating Committee
Sometime in the month of February you will receive a link to our ‘Parent Survey’.
We greatly appreciate your input and time taken to complete this survey as
your feedback is vital in creating and maintaining a positive learning experience for all children.
All information will be compiled by the online survey program, forwarded to a
member of the Operating Committee, and summarized in a report. This report
will be shared with the rest of the Committee, the Director, and all teachers.
We will then share a summary with you in an upcoming newsletter.
Thanks again for your time, we value your comments.
Pancake Tuesday and Lent
Easter is on it’s way. On Tuesday February 17th we will kick
off the Easter Season with a special pancake snack that the
children will be making.
Also throughout Lent Hillia (Intern Pastor from St. John’s) will
be coming to visit the children to read stories and make Easter crafts with them.
CTV Commercial
On Monday January 26th CTV Kitchener was here to film a commercial for KW
Habilitation. Our Monday AM Monkey group participated and had fun with the
camera crew. Commercials will be starting to air the week of February 2nd.
Hope some of you catch them on T.V.
New Faces Around the School
We would like to extend a warm welcome to this semester’s Conestoga College ECE students.
Welcome to Anne, Jessica, Kayla, Puneet, Lian, Lejla, Tejmah, Yan. These students are here to train to be an Early Childhood Educator. They will be here
until April. Welcome!
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The Upcoming 2015/2016 School Year
St. John’s registration for the upcoming 2015-2016 school
year will begin in March. In our March newsletter you will
receive information about our new fees as well as a link
for our online registration for 2015-2016. All families who are returning to St.
John’s in the fall must complete the online registration and pay the registration
fee to ensure a spot is reserved for your child.
Registration will be open to the public March 23rd (after March Break).
Children born in 2011 will qualify for all day junior kindergarten in the school
board. If your child is off to school in the fall, please be sure to contact your local school to register your child. JK Registration for the school board is happening in February in Waterloo Region. If you are unsure which school is your local
school, ask Christine she can help you figure that out.
Are you thinking all day JK is not for your child? Then maybe St. John’s for another year is your option.
We continue to offer our Kindergarten program here at St. John’s Nursery
School. Our Kindergarten program continues to operate as a half-day program either in the mornings or in the afternoons, (excluding Friday afternoons).
Our program meets the curriculum requirements for Kindergarten as set by the
Ministry of Education.
As well, we offer a “Lunch Bunch” program for families who need some extended hours of care.
Welcome Board
We recognize here that St. John’s family is made up of many other cultures. We
want to make sure everyone who comes here is represented. To do that the
teachers want to do a center wide project and hang flags of all the heritages
in the stairwell.
We have started by hanging flags of the heritages we are aware of. If you
don’t see your family’s flag on the board email us your country of origin and
we will get yours posted.
Christine’s Tidbit
In the winter months I see many children come to school
with very red chapped lips. The more chapped their lips
are the more they lick, the more they lick, the more red
they get. To help with soreness and reduce redness, apply lanolin to your child’s lips and redness. Even applying
once can take the redness away. It has amazing healing qualities, and it always helped my children.
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You Asked We Responded
Many of you have asked about preauthorized payments instead of cheques.
The Board of Directors have looked into it, and unfortunately it is not cost effective for our non-profit program. So cheques are here to stay.
Many of you have told us that the documentation boards for toddler and monkey groups are not easily accessible at 11:30. We are currently looking to hang
new boards in the hallway and make them for accessible for parents to see.
Now… We Ask, You Respond.
Our 1st new Kitchen Set arrived and is set up in the Owl Room. The children love
playing in the kitchen but really enjoy when they get to use “real” things in our
kitchen area. Real plates, mugs, glasses, pots, pans, teapots, utensils, wooden
bowls etc. As you can imagine these items break quite easily and need replacing, therefore we are looking for donations of kitchen items that are fun
and interesting to add to our kitchen sets. We know
adding this to the newsletter we could be bombarded with donations, so before you bring your items in
please talk to your child’s teachers. Thank you.
Does anyone have one of these office caddies kicking around their house? If so we want it. Ours is in
poor repair.
Thank You…
Thank you to Vet Jessica for coming in to visit our morning group. The children
enjoyed meeting Peggy.
Thank you to Manulife who donated $500 to our school. We used the money
to cut 3 more classroom doors into Dutch Doors.
Thank you to many generous Chartable donations from families in December.
Your donation will be used for new toys and books for our classrooms.
Thank you to St. John Teachers who will be attending a workshop on Saturday
Feb 21st. They will be joining four other childcare centers to explore the new
Ministry of Ed Preschool document “ How does learning Happen?” It will be a
day of community, questioning, sharing and reflective discussions.
On the Playground
We are enjoying the days we can get out. The
Christmas trees and ice sculptures have added
great play value outside. Keep bringing your ice
sculptures in for the children to enjoy.
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St. John’s Christian Nursery School
22 Willow St. Waterloo
519.746.4202
stjohn2@bellnet.ca
Newsletter at:
www.stjohnsnurseryschool.ca
February
Sunday
Monday
1
8
Tuesday
2015
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
2
3
Groundhog
Day!
4
5
6
7
9
11
13
14
19
20
Scholastic
Book Orders Due
21
KW Hab
Mom’s
coffee
hour.
9:30-10:30
10
12
Valentine
Party
Wear Red/
Pink
Bring in jars this week
15
22
16
Family
Day
School
Closed
today
17
Pancake
Tuesday
23
24
18
Valentine
Party
Wear Red/
Pink
"Fill -a -jar” Fundraiser this week
25
26
27
Registration starts in March
5
Staff attending “How
does Learning Happen?”
28