At Parkside Elementary 3300 – 270th Street, Aldergrove. Office ph. 604-856-7775

School Website: http://parkside.sd35.bc.ca Louise’s Email: shangrila@telus.net

February 2016 Newsletter Monday thru Friday: Free Drop-In, 8:35am to 11:35am

Dates to Mark on Your Calendar: Please mark the following dates on your calendar for easy reference: Wed. Feb. 3 - StrongStart Closed for Professional Development Fri. Feb. 5 - We celebrate Chinese/Asian New Year! Mon. Feb. 8 - Closed for Family Day Stat Holiday. What’s your family doing? Tues. Feb. 9 - Valentines Fun! Bring a snack to share Wed. Feb. 10 - Valentines Fun! Bring a snack to share Thurs. Feb. 11 - Fire Hall Trip 9:30am at Otter Hall Fri. Feb. 12 - Fire Hall Trip 9:30am at Otter Hall Wed. Feb. 24 - Anti-Bullying Day! Wear a pink shirt Tues. Mar.8 - Ready Set Learn! at Parkside 12:45pm. Must Register Thurs. Mar. 10 - Easter Egg Hunt Fri. Mar. 11 - Easter Egg Hunt March 14-29 - Spring break. StrongStart Closed Wed. Mar. 30 - StrongStart open

Did you Lose a Ring? If you lost a ring at our Parkside StrongStart location, please see Louise or email me.

Thank you for Being Mindful at StrongStart... Every child develops and learns at their own pace. StrongStart is for all children, no matter their abilities, abilities they are still working on, age, level, or where they are coming from. Thank you for not passing judgment on anyone. We are here to play, have fun, learn, practise our sharing, caring and taking turns in a fun, safe environment. Thank you for not passing judgement or opinion about any child’s development or their parents parenting style. We are all in this together. Thank you for being mindful. J It is a journey this childhood and parenthood, with every child’s best interest at heart. J Stand Up Against Bullying on Wednesday, February 25th, Annual Pink Shirt / Anti-Bullying Day

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, February 25th, 2015 when we here at our StrongStart and all of British Columbia holds its Annual Pink Shirt/Anti-Bullying Day. The colour pink was chosen because that was the colour worn by two students in Nova Scotia who donned pink t-shirts as a way to show solidarity with a boy who had been bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school.

Bullying is a sad reality for too many children and adults in our schools, work, home, the internet and communities. Creating ‘Pink Shirt Day’ is one way we are trying to help. We want to support everyone by raising public awareness about how we can all be part of the solution. We are Parkside will be wearing a pink shirt on February 25th and we encourage all of you to wear something pink to symbolize that we as a society will not tolerate bullying anywhere. http://www.pinkshirtday.ca

Valentines Fun! We will be having a Valentines Celebration on Thursday, February 11th and Friday, February 12th. Choose a day that suits you best. A sign-up sheet is posted. It will just be on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis for sign up. We will decorate cookies, have a ‘heart’ hide-and-seek, We will be dancing as well as face painting. It will be a fun time!! Don’t forget to wear red or pink! Bring a snack to share if you want. If you and your child want to make valentine cards for the children, the children will be making little card holders on this day to hold them. There will be around 21 children on the party days, so bring 21 – 24 cards, with no specific recipients’ name, so everyone gets one. *PLEASE NOTE: Face painting will be available for those who choose it. I will be painting a little heart (I am no artist J) on the cheek of the children’s who want it or you can do your own design on your child. (I have non-toxic face paints).

Fire Hall Outings We will be going to the Otter Fire Hall #7 on Thursday February 11th and Friday, February 12, 2016 at 9:30am.

Meet at the fire hall, which is located at 3876 – 248th Street, Langley. At 9:30am

20 children per group. The Fire Department and I endeavor to develop fire smart children and save lives. This trip is designed for 3 and 4 year olds. It is too advanced for younger children. For those younger children, you are most welcome to arrive a little after 10:15am to see the fire trucks and sit on them. After 10:15am is when our info session will be over and we will be at the fire truck area. A sign up will be available for first-come-first-sign-up. There is no cost for this trip. This trip will be an opportunity to learn more about fire safety and prevention of fires in our homes, as well as to see, touch, sit on and get a full feel for the fire trucks. Also, the fire fighters will demonstrate their fire gear and show the children what they may look like in the event they were to come to your house if a call was placed about a fire. It is good to talk to your child that fire fighters are our friends and helpers, as well as reminding us parents to have a safety plan in your home and maintain smoke detectors. Louise’s Gingerbread Cookies Recipe Cream the following ingredients together: 1 cup brown sugar ¾ cup butter (add more if too dry) 1 egg ½ cup fancy molasses Water if too thick In another bowl mix: 4 cup flour 2 tsp soda 2 tsp ginger 1 tsp cinnamon ½ tsp allspice ½ tsp cloves Mix dry ingredients together, and then mix in with the creamed mixture. Don’t roll out too thin, but not too thick either. Grease cookie sheet. Bake 350 Degrees for 10-11 minutes.

Pink Shirt Day Feb 24th wear pink and say NO TO BULLYING!! KINDNESS: We encourage everyone to openly express that “Kindness is one size fits all”. We all have the capacity to spread kindness and that is the underlying philosophy behind our anti-bullying movement: a movement we hope lives year round beyond Pink Shirt Day. After all, kindness never goes out of style. http://pinkshirtday.ca/ “On February 24, 2016 we encourage everyone to practice kindness, and wear a Pink Shirt, button, or pin to symbolize that you do not tolerate bullying. While we wish we could take credit for this idea, Pink Shirt Day has its roots in Nova Scotia, started by two incredible high school students. Here is a snippet of the Globe & Mail article that inspired Pink Shirt Day: “David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenage friends organized a high-school protest to wear pink in sympathy with a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied [for wearing a pink shirt]…[They] took a stand against bullying when they protested against the harassment of a new Grade 9 student by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school. ‘I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,’ says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’ So Mr. Shepherd and some other headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops. They sent out message to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag. As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. ‘It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,’ Mr. Price recalled. The bullies were never heard from again.” Will you join in by wearing pink on February 24, 2016?” From pinkshirtday.ca

Beautiful Junk Needed On-Going There are some wonderful ‘recyclable’ things you use at home and throw away normally that could be valuable craft items for us at StrongStart. If you have any of the following Beautiful Junk items that you could share with us that would be great!

- Empty glass baby food jars with lids - Empty milk/creamo cartons 1 L and 473ml – washed and rinses well - Empty 2 L milk cartons – washed and rinsed well

Chinese/Lunar/Asian New Year Our Celebration Will be on Friday, February 5th, 2016

This year Chinese/Asian New Year is on February 8th, 2016. I would love to celebrate on the 5th in a small way here at StrongStart. If any parents who are familiar with Chinese New Year and want to be involved in helping me

with ideas on having a little celebration here at StrongStart please email me at shangrila@telus.net or see me in class. Email me at shangrila@telus.net Wear red on the 5th, and we will be playing music and learning a bit about their New Year! For those who can and would like to share your traditional Chinese/Korean/Taiwan/Vietnamese food with us that would be great! I too will be bringing food to share. Thanks so much.

 Gung  Hey  Fat  Choy! What  Is  Chinese/Lunar  New  Year?         Chinese New Year (also called “Spring Festival”) is a holiday that celebrates the beginning of a new year according to the lunar calendar. It is considered to be one of the most important holidays for Chinese and Asian families. It is a time of feasting and celebrating with big family gatherings, fireworks, gift-giving and the eating of symbolic foods (like dumplings, Tangyuan which are sticky rice balls) and displaying of festive decorations--all focused on bringing good luck for the new year and celebrating the coming of Spring. This year it is the year of the Monkey 2016.

Preparations for the New Year begin a couple of weeks before the big day. This is a fun time full of anticipation and joy as we get ready for the thrill and excitement of the celebrations. According to the traditions, this is the time to clean the house, prepare food for the feast and make banners and decorations special for the New Year. Before New Year's Day you want to buy new clothes or cut your hair" in order to have a fresh start. For Chinese families, a most important element of Chinese New Year is that on the eve of the New Year it is

customary to visit with relatives and partake in a large lavish dinner where a number of specific foods are served – along with lots of noise, laughter and smiles. After the dinner, most families watch the ‘New Year’s Gala TV, a New Year special (4-6 hours long. It is considered a very important tradition by many people in mainland China. It is a traditional practice for adults to give children little red envelopes--hong bao in Mandarin or lai-see in Cantonese—and I believe 작은 빨간 봉투 in Korean, filled with money in order to symbolize wealth and prosperity for the coming year. It is also common for elders to bestow red packets to unmarried members of the family. It is a sign of respect to bow three times in order to accept the hong bao. Envelopes are not to be opened until the recipient has left the home of the giver.

Gung Hay Fat Choy (GONG XI FAT CAI) 恭喜发财 is a common greeting in Cantonese which means "May you be prosperous". It is most commonly heard in English speaking countries during Chinese New Year. Xin Nian Kuai Le 新年快乐 or 新年好 Xin Nian Hao, both mean "Happy New Year" in Mandarin. On Chinese New Year, the themes of happiness, wealth, and longevity are celebrated. ‘sae hae bog’ 새해 복 많이 받으세요 Happy New Year in Korean.

And I think in Vietnamese it is: chúc mừng năm mới

Interesting Article – “HOW TO KEEP YOUR CHILD IN THEIR BED ARTICLE:”

Check it out at: http://www.yourmodernfamily.com/child-in-bed/

Thank You for Helping I want to thank all of you for your involvement and participation in our StrongStart. You make it a great place to play and learn! I love that you help make our centre comfortable for everyone, and your help with snack prep, your ideas and for helping clean up etc... Thank you moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, Aunties, nannies..and children J

Happy

Valentine’s Day!

Louise

Menzies J Early Childhood Educator/ StrongStart Facilitator

All Children ages 3 and 4 years old in Langley are invited to attend Ready, Set, Learn sessions. A prep for Kindergarten entry. See below...

Forms are in our StrongStart classroom or register at the Parkside School Office.

(from    Newsletter  at  Parkside  Elementary  2016)      

       

 

February 2016

StrongStart at Parkside (Print at home for easy reference)

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sat. 5 Theme: Valentines & Chinese New Year

1 2-Dental Hygienist here.

3 StrongStart Closed – Administration day.

4 5 Our Chinese New Year Celebration! Sign-up

6

7 Theme: Valentines

8 StrongStart Closed – Family Day J J J

9 Valentine’s Fun! (Sign-up)

10 Valentine’s Fun! (Sign-up)

11 FIRE HALL TRIP 9:30AM

12 FIRE HALL TRIP 9:30AM

13

14 Happy Valentine’s Day to you! Theme:

15

16 - Isabelle at Community Support Worker here

17

18 19 StrongStart Closed – Professional Development

20

21 Theme: Fire Safety and Poison Prevention

22 StrongStart Closed – Pro-D Day

23 ____________ Ready, Set, Learn! 12:45pm. Register at office

24 Wear PINK to support Anti-bullying day

25

26

27

28 Theme:

28 Pancakes for snack

29 Pancakes for snack

March 1

2 Dress for mess! FINGER-PAINTING FUN!

3 Dress for mess! FINGER-PAINTING FUN!

4