News

Happy New Year! We trust everyone had a wonderful time with family and friends over the holidays. We would like to start off 2026 by thanking you for your donations to the Salvation Army Food and Toy Drive! We had several boxes of food and toys that went to families that needed a little extra support this holiday season. Your generosity is appreciated! We’d also like to thank you for your many hours of volunteering in the fall. Having a volunteer in every class makes a HUGE difference to our program. Classes with more than 12 children require a volunteer every day. Please remember to sign up for a day/days that work for you at drop off or pick up time. If your child’s class is struggling to get volunteers, please feel free to sign up more often. We have one extra staff person that can help out if someone needs to cancel at the last minute due to illness. We will begin the new year exploring many things associated with winter through crafts, games and stories. After completing our winter theme, the four year old classes will be learning about bears and penguins while the three year old classes will be exploring different types of transportation. Our special day this month will be Pyjama Day (January 22nd/23rd) so wear your pyjamas and bring your favourite stuffy to school this day! Show and Share will also begin the last week of January for children in the 4 year old program. Watch for further details later this month! Registration for the 2026/2027 school year is fast approaching! There are three ways to register this year. 1. Email – Complete digital registration forms, or scan/take a picture of hardcopy, and email to info@totspotpreschool.ca. 2. In Person – Fill out the registration forms and drop them off in person at Tot Spot Preschool. 3. Online – Go to www.totspotpreschool.ca and register online. January 12th@ 9:00am - Registration (email, in person and online) opens to returning families. Please note: Registrations received before 9:00 am on January 12th will not be processed until the afternoon. January 19th@ 9:00am - Registration (email, in person and online) opens to the public. Please note: Registrations received before 9:00 am on January 19thwill not be processed until the afternoon. Registration forms will be available at the school January 8th and 9th. A digital copy will be emailed to families on January 8th. Registration forms need to be accompanied with a $100.00 registration fee (e-transfer to info@totspotpreschool.ca or cheque/cash) to secure a spot as well as a completed Pre-Authorized Debit Form. Registration is on a first come, first served basis. Just a gentle reminder that the children need a pair of shoes (running shoes are best) to change into at school and wet footwear/boots should be placed on the mats in the foyer. Please make sure boots are labelled with your child’s name and ensure your child has the correct boots when leaving. Please note: we do practice fire drills and don’t have time to stop to put on winter boots! We would also like to remind you to have your child use the washroom before coming to school or use the washrooms down the hall to the right of the sanctuary before coming in to class. Important Dates To Remember: January 12th- Registration opens @ 9:00 am for past and present Tot Spot families. January 19th- Registration opens @ 9:00 am to the public. January 22nd/23rd -Pyjama Day – wear your pyjamas and bring your favourite stuffy to school this day! February 10th – Valentine Celebrations for T/TH and all pm classes. February 11th– Valentine Celebrations for MWF am classes.

Christmas excitement is building at Tot Spot! Both the three and four year-old classes will be full of anticipation as we explore the joys of the holiday season. Our special day this month will be Red and Green Day on December 4th/5th. Wear red and/or green to school this day! While the children are excited about the receiving aspect of Christmas, we also like to focus on the joy of giving. With that in mind, we invite you Christmas excitement is building at Tot Spot! Both the three and four year-old classes will be full of anticipation as we explore the joys of the holiday season. Our special day this month will be Red and Green Day on December 4th/5th. Wear red and/or green to school this day! While the children are excited about the receiving aspect of Christmas, we also like to focus on the joy of giving. With that in mind, we invite you and your child to bring in a food or a new unwrapped toy donation during the week of December 1st – 5th. Donations need to be dropped off by 11:30 am on Friday, December 5th. All donations will be forwarded to the Salvation Army for their Food and Toy Drive. During our last day of classes before the break (December 16th for T/Th classes and all afternoon classes, December 17th for MWF classes), you are invited to join us for our Christmas Celebration. Children should be dropped off in their classrooms at the regular time. The program will begin promptly at 9:15 am for the morning classes and 1:15 pmfor the afternoon classes. Children will be dismissed following the celebration, which is approximately 45 minutes in length. We hope you will be able to join us for some songs, a special craft and refreshments on that day. As usual, grandparents and other guests are very welcome to attend! Registration for the 2026/2027 school year is fast approaching! Registration dates are as follows: January 12th – Registration opens for all current and former Tot Spot families. January 19th – Registration opens to the general public. Watch for more details in the January newsletter! To help our program run smoothly, we ask that you take special note of these items: Please ensure your child uses the washroom before coming to school. If someone else is dropping off your child, please ask them to take them to the washroom before class. 😊 Please remind your child to only look at the beautiful decorations in the church, not to touch. Please supervise your children carefully in the foyer. The gym is closed before and after school and children need to use their “walking feet” on the ramp. We are hoping we no longer need to put out the sign by the gym every day and appreciate your help with this! Please remember to bring shoes to change into if your child wears their boots to school. Runners are best for the gym. We also practice regular fire drills and don’t have time to stop for boots on the way out! Important Dates To Remember: December 1st - December 5th – Salvation Army Food and Toy Drive December 4th/5th – Red and Green Days. Wear some red and/or green! December 16th (T/Th am and all pm classes)/17th (am classes only) – Christmas Celebrations. Please note: There are no classes in the afternoon on December 17th. December 18th - January 4th – Christmas Break Monday, January 5th, 2026 ­– Tot Spot reopens. Monday, January 12th, 2026 – Registration for the 2026/2027 school year opens for current and former Tot Spot families. Happy Holidays from all of us at Tot Spot!

November is a month full of learning and fun at Tot Spot. We begin the month exploring the concepts of colours, shapes, numbers, sorting and patterns. Following this, the three year old classes will be focusing on nursery rhymes and the four year old classes will be engaging in many exciting dinosaur activities. Our special day this month will be Blue/Blue Jean Day on November 20th /21st . Wear something blue and/or your blue jeans on this day! We would like to thank you again for being extremely diligent keeping your children at home if they are at all unwell. If, for any reason, your child is going to be absent from Tot Spot, please give us a quick phone call or email to let us know he/she will be absent and the reason for the absence. With the onset of our wintery weather, we remind you that children need to have a pair of appropriate indoor shoes (runners are best) to wear while they are at school as all wet footwear must be removed before entering the classroom (adults too please). Please put wet footwear on the mats provided in the foyer. Also, please put your child’s name in his/her boots and ensure that your child leaves school with the correct boots to avoid mix-ups. We understand the children are very excited about their Halloween treats and may want to have one in their snack. Please ensure that you only include ones that are NUT FREE. We would also appreciate only water in water bottles. They often leak or aren’t closed properly and juice is a much stickier mess to deal with! Volunteers are a vital part of our program. Legally, we are required to have a second adult in any class with more than 12 students present but we really appreciate having a volunteer in all our classes every day. There is much less “standing around” time for the students if we have someone to help clean before moving on to the next room. Paint days are also very tricky without help. More importantly, it’s a very special day for your child when you volunteer! Volunteer signup sheets are beside the clipboards when you sign in and out. If you don’t normally bring your child to school, email your child’s teacher and they will help find you a slot. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, nannies, and other special adults are all welcome to come in and help out! Looking ahead to December, we recognize the children are excited about the receiving aspect of Christmas but we also like to focus on the joy of giving. With that in mind, we invite you and your child to bring in a new unwrapped toy or food donation during the week of December 1st – 5th . All donations will be forwarded to the Salvation Army for their Food and Toy Drive. We would like to remind you that our Program Plan is on the bulletin board outside the doors entering the classroom. You are welcome to read it at any time but it must remain on the premises. Principles and Matters to be Considered as stated in the Early Learning and Child Act are attached. We also welcome feedback about our program and Program Plan. Please forward any comments to Lorrie Crowe at lorrie.crowe@shaw.ca. Important Dates to Remember: November 10th - 12th Fall Break (Tot Spot is closed) November 20th /21st - Blue/Blue Jean Day (wear some blue and/or your blue jeans) December 1st - 5th - Salvation Army Food and Toy Drive December 16th /17th (9:00-10:00 am classes/1:00-2:00 pm classes) Christmas Celebrations – guests welcome! December 18th - January 2nd - Christmas Break. Classes resume January 5th.

October will be a busy and exciting month for the children at Tot Spot! Both the three and four year old classes will be exploring the themes of Thanksgiving and Halloween through crafts, stories, songs and play. We begin the month getting ready for Thanksgiving which includes a special cooking/baking day. Your child will be bringing home a tasty treat to sample for Thanksgiving. In preparation for Halloween, our special day this month will be Orange and Black Day. The children are encouraged to wear something orange and/or black on October 16th/17th. On October 30th and October 31st, you are welcome to stay for the first half hour for our Halloween celebration. We will have a costume parade and sing some “spooky” songs for you before continuing on with our classes. As always, we like to focus on the fun of dressing up and the element of make believe at Halloween. Photograph days are October 27th (M/W/F AM classes) and October 28th (T/Th AM classes and all PM classes). Watch for an email closer to photograph day with suggestions from our photographer, Kate! We would like to thank you for keeping your children at home when they are not feeling well. We REALLY appreciate it! If your child has to miss school for any reason, please phone or email us and let us know the reason for the absence. Thank you for helping us keep Tot Spot healthy and safe for all our families! September is a busy month for families and we realize it is hard to keep up with all the paper. If you haven’t already done so, please take the time to read the information package emailed to you the middle of August. It has a lot of important information that you will find helpful. There are a few items we would like you to take special note of: Please ensure your child has been to the bathroom before coming to school each day. Please ensure that all snacks are NUT FREE including granola bars and spreads (no peanut butter, almond butter, Nutella, etc.), and that all grapes and cherry/grape tomatoes are cut in half LENGTHWISE. Please send water in a water bottle for your child to have with their snack (no juice please). We find TWO ITEMS are plenty for snack time as it is only 15 minutes long. If you include more than two choices, please put in small portions as some children are frustrated if they don’t have time to eat all their snacks. Please place only the child’s snack bag in the snack bins provided. Please put all backpacks, coats, hoodies, etc. in the coat room behind the fireplace. Children do not need a change of clothing at school as we have a large bin of extra clothes for accidents. On rainy or snowy days, please bring a dry pair of shoes (runners are best) to school to change into upon arrival. Wet footwear can be left on the mats in the foyer. Please label all outdoor clothing, boots, snack bags, water bottles and backpacks with your child’s name to prevent mix-ups and help us identify the owner of items left behind. IMPORTANT DATES TO MARK ON YOUR CALENDAR: October 13th - Thanksgiving Day (no classes) October 16th/17th – Orange and Black Days – Wear some orange and/or black! October 27th (MWF AM classes)/October 28th (T/TH AM and all PM classes) - Photograph Days October 30th/31st - Halloween Celebrations. Wear a costume to school!

Welcome to Tot Spot! Our staff is excited about the upcoming school year and looking forward to getting to know each child and their family. We have many fun and interesting activities planned for this year! “I Am Special” will be our first theme of the year. We will then move into a “Fall” theme where we will discover some of the unique things that happen at this time of year. Each theme is explored through a variety of stories, crafts, gym activities, songs and finger plays. Our special day this month will be Orange Shirt Day on September 25th/29th leading up to National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30th). Wear an orange shirt to school that day! We will make an indigenous craft, celebrate the uniqueness of all children and focus on kindness. Please make a special note of the following itemsto help our program run smoothly: The main doors will be unlocked 5 minutes before school begins and relocked at 9:15 and 1:15. If you arrive late, please knock on the craft room window to have someone let you in. Please make sure you have taken your child to the bathroom before bringing them into the classroom. As we spend time in the gym each day, please make sure your child is wearing appropriate footwear (running shoes are best). When the weather is wet, children will need to change into dry footwear for school. There are mats in the foyer for wet boots. Please LABEL outerwear (boots/coats) and backpacks with your child’s name. Please put your child’s snack and filled water bottle in a lunch bag with their name on the OUTSIDE of the bag. Please place ONLY your child’s snack bag in the snack bins. Backpacks and coats should be placed in the coat room behind the fireplace as the snack bins have limited space. We encourage nutritious snacks and two items are usually plenty. Tot Spot is NUT FREE and grapes and grape tomatoes MUST be cut in half lengthwise. No juice boxes please. If your child is not feeling well, please keep them at home and inform us of symptoms. We need to track and report ill children (see Communicable Disease Policy in the information package emailed in August). Refer to this document for information as to when your child can return to school. If your child will be absent for any reason, please let your child’s teacher know. Please ensure you fill out all the Tot Spot forms COMPLETELY and give them to your child’s teacher (4 pages). Volunteer signup sheets for the month of September will be available at school on the first day of school. We need one volunteer per day, per class. If you aren’t able to sign up in person, please email your child’s teacher to arrange volunteer dates. All hot beverages must be in spill proof containers when volunteering. Take out cups (e.g. Starbucks or Tim Horton’s) are not classified as spill proof, so hot beverages need to be put in a travel mug if they are brought into the classrooms. We have travel mugs you are welcome to use at Tot Spot. We partner with I’m For Kids Team to provide services to children that need extra support in the areas of speech and language development, fine motor skills, and challenging behaviours. IFKT will be coming to Tot Spot to offer screening to students registered for our 2025-2026 school year on Monday, September 22nd and Tuesday, September 23rd. Both the screening and services (if needed) are funded by the Alberta Government and are at no cost to families. Attached is a package that explains what they do in more detail and also includes fillable forms that need to be completed if you would like your child screened. There are also paper packages and forms available at school. If you would like your child screened, please return the attached forms (along with a copy of your child’s birth certificate or passport) by email to lorrie.crowe@shaw.ca or bring them with you to school. We will book you an appointment when you have returned your forms and appointments are available on a first come, first served basis. The deadline to return forms is Wednesday, September 17th. Your child DOES NOT need to be screened if he/she was screened at Tot Spot in May, has been screened elsewhere in the last six months or has already qualified for PUF funding. If you have any questions, please contact Lorrie Crowe at lorrie.crowe@shaw.ca. We participate in the Scholastic Book Program. You can access their website here: https://www.scholastic.ca. Paper flyers will be available at school. When ordering online, please use our class code RC132090. Although many parents appreciate this opportunity, please do not feel pressured to order. The Tot Spot newsletters will be sent to you via e-mail and posted on the website at the beginning of every month. Please watch for them and make a note of the important dates. If you do not receive the newsletter, please let your child’s teacher know. We will have a few paper copies of the newsletter available at school if you need one. IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER: September 22nd/23rd - I’m For Kids Team Screening Days September 25th/29th- Orange Shirt Days September 30th - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (Tot Spot will be closed) October 13th- Thanksgiving Day (Tot Spot will be closed) October 27th/28th- Photograph Days (individual and class photos will be taken) October 30th/31st- Halloween Celebrations (costume parade and short presentation)