Class News June 2016

First Steps and Beyond
Pre-School, Pre-K and
Kindergarten
Class News June 2016
A NOTE FROM MRS. HARRIS
Well, this is it!! This is my final message for
this school year. Thank you to each of you for your
support, encouragement and words of kindness
and understanding this year. It has certainly been
a crazy year balancing both teaching and
administration. I hope that you, the preschool
parents, are pleased with what was presented in
the classroom and that I have met your
expectations. I loved every minute I spent with the
children. It is in that classroom where I feel alive!
In regards to our private school application,
we continue to patiently wait for the Minister’s
approval. To those parents who are patiently
waiting as well, thank you. I truly understand how
you are feeling. There are so many things that I
would like to begin, but until we have approval, our
hands are tied. You will be the first to know. Your
commitment to First Steps means the world to me.
We are still accepting registrations for the
fall. Please join us on June 18 from 1:00 – 5:00 for
our Family Fun Event. We are working hard to fill
our classes this fall and decided that a fun day,
where you can bring friends, would be a good idea.
Your help and referrals will get us there. Please
refer to the invitation sent with this newsletter
and/or refer to the invitation in your child’s
mailbox. I look forward to seeing everyone at the
“castle”.
There will be staffing changes this fall. Mrs.
Coon has decided to retire from teaching to pursue
other interests. We thank her for her contribution
to First Steps, especially in the perk room, and wish
her all the best as she begins the next chapter in
her life.
I look forward to celebrating each
of our “little people” at graduation on
June 24. Some surprises are in store for
you. I am sure that you will be pleased
and proud of your little one.
Have a fabulous summer. To
those returning, we will see you in
September. To those families leaving us,
thank you for being a part of our First
Steps family.
Lynne
IMPORTANT DATES TO
REMEMBER
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
JUNE 22
GRADUATION
JUNE 24
Kindergarten and Preschool 9-11
Pre-Kindergarten 1-3
First Steps and Beyond
Pre-School, Pre-K and
Kindergarten
FUN WITH PRE-SCHOOL
Spiders, ladybugs, butterflies and
bees – these were the bugs that we learned
about from the world of creepy and crawly.
The children actually quite enjoyed meeting
these bugs. From the play bugs in the bug
centre to those in the craft table, they
became quite involved and “hands on” which
surprised me. I was expecting some
hesitation when they touched the bugs as
some of them are actually quite life like.
I am thrilled to share with you that
we can all print our names with no guiding
lines. It was a feat for some, but they got
it!! So proud of each of them. Their
printing of capital letters is being completed
quite well. We will finish off the capital
letters in June. Along with the capital
letters, we review the lower case letter and
its sound. The children are becoming quite
talented at brainstorming words for our
daily letters. We are also reviewing reading
readiness skills such as sequencing,
matching, same/different and
categorizing/grouping. In Math, we are
reviewing numbers 1 – 10, matching numerals
to sets and making sets. For those who are
ready, they are working with numbers 11 –
20.
There has been tremendous
growth in all of the children, not only
academically but socially as well. They
have all blossomed, developing their
personalities and trying to make sense
of their world and school environment.
They are maturing, growing and ready to
take on the next step of their school
career – prekindergarten. They have
solid foundations upon which to build.
It has been a joy and pleasure spending
each day in the classroom with your
little one. We have laughed, cried,
become frustrated but always
persevered. They should be very proud
of themselves and you should be very
proud of each of them.
First Steps and Beyond
Pre-School, Pre-K and
Kindergarten
Class News
A NOTE FROM MRS. STASYK
The
month of May has been a busy one in
Kindergarten. A lot of hard work has been
going into mastering our Grade 1 Sight
Words and we finally did it ! A fun way
that we have been reviewing them this
month, is by shutting off the lights and
using flashlights to find ‘sight word fires’
around the classroom. We set out into the
wild and experienced camping this month.
We discussed creating safe fires and
preventing forest fires. The discussion on
fire safety led into a fun science
experiment of using a water gun to put
out candles. We also explored lighting an
empty tea bag on fire. It demonstrated to
the children how fast a forest can start
and spread. We had a great time creating
many different types of shelters from a
tarp. We created a painting using a ramp,
large paper and rocks. The students
dripped paint at the top of the paper then
let rocks slide down the ramp and through
the paint. We worked on this art activity
for 45 minutes. It has been a pleasure
teaching this group of students and I will
be sad at the end of June to see them go.
A NOTE FROM MRS. COON
Wow! What a year this has been! We are
down to our last theme for the year
already…hard to believe. We wrapped up
May in our unit of farming and explored the
many gifts that our farmers provide. Food
and clothing depend on the diverse harvests
of our farmers and Pre- K would like to say
THANK YOU!! Our next and final month will
be spent on the investigation of bugs, their
life cycles, and their importance to our
quality of life. The importance of caring for
and protecting our environment cannot be
overstated. We have talked about the
protection of our water during our Under
the Sea theme and protecting our wildlife
during our Safari month and we will now be
discussing our need to protect our insects,
land and trees. We’ll be busy bees for sure!
On a personal note, I would like to thank all
of you for a wonderful year and I hope that
all of your lives are blessed ones. It has
been my pleasure and privilege to be your
child’s teacher this year and I cannot begin
to thank you all for every kind word, action,
gift…so from the bottom of my heart, thank
you!
First Steps and Beyond
Parent Column
Kloey enjoyed her first year at
First Steps and Beyond! She absolutely
loves her classmates. Most of all she loves
her teacher Mrs. Coon. I am very pleased
with the attitude she comes home with.
She is always in great spirits and high
energy. We definitely could not have
found a better Preschool for Kloey.
I love that Kloey is always in such a
good mood when I pick her up. Kloey likes
to talk about her days and it is always
great things. She is such a happy child
since she started school here.
Kloey loves to interact with the
other students. I love to see her smile
and her eyes light up when she gets
there. Kloey has excelled in her
attitude, in her writing, and with
numbers and letters. I love to see that
she enjoys learning here.
I would like to thank Mrs. Coon
for teaching my daughter how to be
such a great little lady. You are the
best teacher I could ask for! Kloey
absolutely adores you!! We are looking
forward to sending her to Kindergarten
at First Steps and Beyond. She is very
excited to come back in September.
Thank you.
Caitlin Carramusa
Thank You, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Stasyk, and Mrs. Coon
First Steps and Beyond
Parent Column
Our school year at First Steps
and Beyond has been a truly lovely and
valuable experience. Georgia began the
year extremely apprehensive and
required much encouragement to
attend school every morning. She is
now very excited to not only see her
friends and teachers on school days,
but shares all that she has learned with
her family.
Mrs. Coon is so kind, honest and
patient. Georgia believes that “Mrs.
Coon knows everything, you know mama.
I mean EVERYTHING!” Despite our
family going through some difficult
transitions, Mrs. Harris has been a
constant, reliable and an understanding
figure in our lives this year. Mrs.
Stasyk, you make us laugh every
morning with your terrific energy.
Thank you so much to First Steps and
Beyond for the wonderful school year.
Carson has really enjoyed his
first year at First Steps and Beyond.
He has learned a tremendous amount
since going. He loves being there and
we love seeing and hearing what he has
done. I spent a morning with him one
day in class, it is very organized and
well put together. They have it very
structured which keeps the kids busy
while they are there. It has been
great watching Carson grow.
MacDermid Family
The Lydiard Family
Thank You, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Stasyk, and Mrs. Coon
First Steps and Beyond
Pre-School, Pre-K and
Kindergarten
Class Pictures
LOOKING FOR BUGS
GROCERY CENTER TIME
SHAPE HOKEY
POKEY
PAINTING BUTTERFLIES
I SEE YOU !!
LIFE IS A PARK
TIME TO READ!
First Steps and Beyond
Pre-School, Pre-K and
Kindergarten
CALENDARS
PRE KINDERGARTEN
KINDERGARTEN CALENDAR
PRE SCHOOL CALENDAR