Frequently Asked Questions

As part of the Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Regulation, a Daily Snack is to be provided to the students each day. The scheduled Parent Helper is responsible for providing the scheduled Healthy Snack and Beverage (ie. Fruit & Grains, Vegetables & Grains, Sandwiches, Cheese & Grains and Parents Choice Day) for 17 children.

LCDS chooses to serve the daily snack in a group setting.

Serving snack in a group setting:

• Ensures all of the children have the same choice of snack on a daily basis.
• Allows the children to experience new foods they may not try at home and parents or staff members are able to monitor children’s allergies or food reactions on any given day.
• Eliminates students arriving at school with too much food, food which does not adhere to the allergy restrictions, comparison and completion among peers and between parents to have “The Best Snack”.
• Snack shall have one serving each from 2 or more basic food groups consistent with Canada’s Food Guide.

For example – Monday may be Fruit and Grains day, the parent might bring fruit such as strawberries and oranges with cinnamon pita chips, the beverage might be white or chocolate milk. Tuesday may be cheese and Grains day, the parent might bring cheddar or marble cheese and Ritz crackers, the beverage might be apple juice. “Healthy Water” is always offered as an alternate choice to whatever the beverage might be.

Each month the snack schedule will rotate to the next day of the week to ensure each family gets a chance to bring something different for snack; for example, Mondays in February might be Cheese & Crackers, the next month Cheese & Crackers will be rotated to Tuesdays.

Birthdays are a special snack day where we celebrate your child’s special day in class. For snack you would bring a Birthday snack such as cupcakes with fresh fruit or ice cream with fresh fruit. We ask that all Birthday snacks be Peanut and Tree Nut free

• LCDS is required by Alberta Government licensing to ensure all children with food allergies, which can place them at serious health risk, are kept safe to the best of our abilities, while attending our program.
• LCDS strives to be a NUT-FREE classroom, this includes products which are labelled with the phrase “may contain nuts”.  A list of approved snacks, brands and nut free bakeries are listed in the LCDS Parent Handbook.
• LCDS and the Board of Executives, respect the personal choices, ethnic and religious backgrounds of its members.  As a result, food preparation procedures may include steps to prevent cross contamination of snacks which contain specific ingredients.  This may change from year to year depending on student needs.
• Examples of specific ingredients which may require additional food preparation steps may include eggs, dairy products, pork or beef.  If you have a question about the requirements for the preparation of food while on parent helper duty, please ask the staff before purchasing, bringing and preparing the snack.

**LCDS keeps alternate snacks on hand, in the event a snack brought in by the helping parent, is not suitable for a child’s allergy or food restriction

Self Directed Activities

• Writing & Art Centre: learning & coloring worksheets, drawing, painting, pasting, and cutting. Creative expression.
• Listening Centre: activities to increase attention span and an appreciation for music and stories.
• Block Centre: provides opportunities for large and small motor activities with blocks.
• Cars & Building Centre: provides opportunities for building social and fine motor skills and imaginative play.
• Manipulative Centre: activities with puzzles, small blocks and board games, activities to develop classification skills, ordering and observation skills.
• Doll House/Train Centre: provides opportunities for building social and fine motor skills and imaginative play.
• Playhouse: provides opportunities for building social, fine motor and large motor skills, imaginative and role play in a small scale house.  The house may change throughout the year to become a restaurant, grocery store, doctor’s office, etc.
• Sandbox/Water table: the center may be filled with materials such as sand, water, beans, moon sand, sticky foam, etc.  This provides sensory experiences involving measurement and investigation.

Snack/Conversation Time

• Children are seated together to stimulate conversation, foster friendship and good manners.
• Snack and snack procedures follow the Canada’s Dietary Guidelines, Allergy regulations and other regulations set forth by government licensing agencies.
• Snacks may include but are not limited to vegetables, fruits, sandwiches, muffins, cheese and crackers.  Birthdays are celebrated in class throughout the year.

Teacher Directive Activities

• Visual, auditory and communication skills are developed through small group conversations and activities with the teacher.
• Math and science concepts and information about other topics of interest are presented to the children.
• Project participation encourages the development of visual and auditory communication skills.   Fine motor skills are developed with the introduction of new materials and creative tools.  
• Through a series of planned activities, the children acquire information about the world around them.
• Cooking days encourage fine motor skills and communication skills.  Children are introduced to new tastes, smells and textures.  The children are encouraged to practice healthy food habits and are introduced to simple food handling and hand washing procedures.

Clean-Up

• Teachers assist the children in putting away toys and materials used at free play centers.
• Teaches responsibility for their belongings and their actions.  
• Teaches the children how to help each other.
• Develops cooperation and sharing skills.
• Staff will provide direction and guidance when necessary.

Circle Time

• To develop early literacy skills, such as letter recognition, letter sounds and sight words.
• To develop early math skills, such as number recognition, number order, simple pattern recognition.
• To develop early recognition of time through the daily calendar and daily activity visual cards.
• To develop an interest in books and story-telling.
• To develop listening, memory and communication skills.

Departure

• We have a final circle time to review what was presented in class, to hand out projects and other work, and to say “Good Bye”.
• Students are dismissed directly to their parents or guardians.

Payments can be received by cash, cheque, or etrasnfer (etransfer information will be given at the time of registration). Please contact us if you have any questions.

“Learning through Play” format with a structured daily routine. We follow the Alberta Early Learning and Child Care Regulation and the Alberta Education Curriculum for Kindergarten.

Half-day Program – General Guidelines

Self Directed Activities – Free Play is provided at the beginning and end of class

• Art Centre: provides opportunities for painting, pasting, drawing, coloring and creative development.
• Writing Centre: provides opportunities to practice writing skills, name recognition, coloring, themed worksheets target curriculum goals.
• Block Centre: provides opportunities for large and small motor activities with blocks.
• Manipulative Centre: activities with puzzles, small blocks, trains, small building materials, board games, provides opportunities for developing fine motor skills, problem solving, classification, patterning, ordering and observation skills, language and vocabulary and social skills.
• Reading Centre: selection of themed books for independent reading. Provides an opportunity for early literacy development, letter recognition, story telling, sight reading and art appreciation.
• Dramatic Play Centre (Playhouse) provides opportunities for constructive imaginative play and dress up, an awareness of community helpers, development of social skills, language and vocabulary.
• Sandbox/Water table: a sensory experience involving measurement and investigation, early math and science introduction.
• Indoor or Outdoor physical activity is scheduled throughout the year.

Snack/Conversation Time

• Children are seated together to stimulate conversation.
• The parent helper provides the daily snack. Snack follows the Canada Dietary Guidelines and regulations set forth by Alberta Health and Alberta Early Learning and Child Care. Snacks include a variety of vegetables, fruits, sandwiches, muffins, cheese and grains.

Teacher Directed Activities/Circle Time

• Kindergarten curriculum concepts are presented throughout the duration of class and Circle Time.
• Visual, auditory and communication skills are developed through small group conversations and activities with the teachers.
• Math, science, language arts, and social studies and other topics of interest are presented to the children daily. Through a series of planned activities, the children acquire information about the world around them.
• Storytime develops imagination, art appreciation and a love of reading.
• Songs and movement games develop vocabulary, problem solving, large motor, and listening skills.
• Daily project promotes fine motor skills, listening skills, following directions, language and vocabulary development and creativity.

Clean-Up

• Responsibility for putting away toys and equipment will be largely the children’s.

Departure

Field trips are scheduled regularly to enhance the curriculum being taught in the classroom. 

All registered students are welcome to attend a scheduled field trip, even if it is scheduled on a day they do not attend class.  Parent volunteers are needed and are welcome to attend the scheduled field trips.

**Due to insurance and licensing purposes LCDS can only take registered LCDS students on the field trips.  We ask that parents find alternate child care for siblings if they are planning to volunteer for a field trip with their registered child.

Field trip costs are included in the monthly material fees.

Examples of previous year’s field trips:
Prairie Gardens, John Janzen Nature Center, The Royal Alberta Museum, Muttart Conservatory, Kiwanis Safety City, Telus World of Science, The Clay Guys, Puppet Tree House, Bus Safety, Rutherford House and WEM Undersea Caverns (Subject to change from year to year).

Educational support such as English as a Second Language, Mild/Moderate Speech & Language support for children aged 3yrs 8 months on Sept 1st or Program Unit Funding (PUF) support for children 3 years and older (which includes access to specialists in Speech & Language Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and other services as needed) may be available to LCDS students who qualify for funding through Alberta Education.

The LCDS program is not a designated Special Education ECS Program and is only able to offer educational support where the LCDS program has sufficient resources available to support the needs of the prospective registering child.  Resources may include but are not limited to qualified staff trained in the specific child’s developmental support needs, specialized equipment, available funds, etc.  If LCDS cannot support a specific child’s development needs we will try our best to assist the family in finding another program which would be better suited in supporting the child’s developmental requirements.

LCDS is limited in the number of registration spots available to receive Educational Support. Two (2) PUF spots are reserved each year for children who may have severe to moderate Speech and Language development delays or a combination of support needs. One spot is held in the AM class and one spot is held in the PM class.

Registration priority for these placements is given to students currently enrolled in the LCDS program, their siblings, and previous members; new applicants may submit their registration for review when open spots are available. Please contact the school directly if you think your child may require educational support.

**Due to the high number of inquiries for Educational Support, all new applications will be subject to random draw; there are no guarantees for placement.

Choice of attendance days may be limited to the availability at the time of registration and the availability of support staff and specialists on certain days.

Contact us to discuss registration reqauirements.

If your child is not enrolled at LCDS, and you have concerns with your child’s speech, you may contact the Alberta Health Services Preschool Speech and Language Intake line at 780-408-8793.

Children attending Kindergarten who are not enrolled at LCDS may contact their child’s school Speech-Language Pathologist or Principal to arrange an assessment.

17 students/day/class

We offer one morning class (9:00 – 11:45am) and one afternoon class (1:00 – 3:45pm) five days/week.

You may choose the class and days your child attends (subject to availability).

• For 3 year old students, we recommend 2 days/week
• For 4 year old students, we recommend 2-3 days/week.

The LCDS Preschool is a structured play oriented program which focuses on developing the child’s social, motor and personal development skills.

Social Skills are developed by:

• Learning responsibility for personal belongings.
• Cooperating and sharing with others.
• Learning to take turns.
• Learning how to listen when a friend is speaking.
• Practicing to be friendly and helpful.
• Sitting and listening quietly.
• Speaking in a clear, confident, quiet voice, using words to express their feelings.

Motor Skills are developed by:

• Large muscle control is developed by engaging in activities which include body movement.
• Small muscle control is developed by engaging in activities such as cutting with scissors, gluing & pasting, painting, coloring, etc.
• Learning healthy habits such as hand washing, learning to cover your sneeze or cough, learning to use a tissue and dispose of it appropriately, etc.

Personal Skills are developed by:

• Learning to adjust and be happy in a group setting when away from home.
• Learning to make new friends and not be shy.
• Learning to control their emotions (tempers, tears, anger, jealousy, frustration, etc.)
• Learning to be proud of their accomplishments.
• Developing language and listening skills.
• Awareness of the world and people around them.
• Being able to think for themselves and share ideas in a group.
• Developing curiosity, creativity and imagination.
• Understanding and enjoying holidays and seasons.
• Learning to use different mediums to create projects (paper, glue, fabric, crayons, paint, play dough or clay, etc.)
• Learn to follow steps to re create an example for a craft or project.

Language Skills are developed by:

• Observing appropriate vocabulary and language use modeled by staff members.
• Interaction with staff members through out class time.
• Introducing Songs and Rhymes.
• Repetition of sounds and words during class activities.
• Introduction to Letters & Numbers (Letters of the week, calendar, etc.)
• Staff members use fun strategies (games, songs, stories, group conversation) to assist in developing language and vocabulary use.

All of the above goals are achieved in our Preschool/Kindergarten through classroom activities such as:

• Free play time for the students to interact and practice appropriate social skills.
• Staff model appropriate behavior which is acceptable in the classroom for the children to follow.
• Staff model appropriate dialog for the children to use and are encouraged to use their words to express themselves.
• A variety of materials and activities are available to the children to play with.
• Activities and materials are changed regularly to provide enhancement to the topics of study introduced to the students.
• Daily songs and group conversations.
• Daily movement games and actions to music or songs.
• Story and Library time.
• Daily projects which may include painting, coloring, writing, gluing and cutting.
• Sharing Days.
• Regular opportunities to speak and share in front of the class.
• Class parties for celebration of holidays.
• Helping Hand days.
• Regularly planned field trips in and out of the classroom.
• Cooking days.
• Daily class routine.
• Daily snack time.

LCDS Preschool & Kindergarten offers a Junior Kindergarten program for those children who are academically ready to attend Kindergarten but will not be old enough in the coming school year to attend Kindergarten due to their birth date falling after December 31st.  The children will be introduced to the Kindergarten curriculum and will allow them to develop their skills at there own pace. With early exposure to the Kindergarten curriculum, the children will be able to master those concepts in their Kindergarten year. 

Junior Kindergarten children begin class 15 minutes earlier than the preschool children to work on specific Junior Kindergarten curriculum goals; more class time is provided for extra work (if needed) throughout the half day schedule. The daily classroom routine is designed to introduce all of the children to the Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines.

Junior Kindergarten children will be introduced to the concepts provided in the Kindergarten curriculum set out by Alberta Education.  The Kindergarten curriculum overlaps the goals and guidelines laid out for the Preschool children; the expectation is the Junior Kindergarten & Kindergarten children have already had exposure to these goals or will have by the end of the school year.  Our goal for all children in our program is to be Kindergarten ready.

A maximum of 6 Kindergarten & Junior Kindergarten children are enrolled in each daily class; combined with the preschool children to a maximum of 17 children/day/class. The Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten children attend together in a small group setting with a maximum 1:6 teacher to child ratio. 

*If there is a demand for more Junior Kindergarten or Kindergarten spots, the maximum number of children may change without notice.

Please see Preschool Development Skills for more details on the goals and expectations for children.

Children who are 4 years old and will turn 5 between September 1st and March 1st are eligible to participate in the Junior Kindergarten program at LCDS.  Children enrolled in the Junior Kindergarten Program will commit to attend 4 or 5 half days / week with the Kindergarten children. 

* Children entering the Junior Kindergarten Program will be required to perform some basic testing prior to being accepted to ensure they are ready for this program.

* Junior Kindergarten is not funded by the Alberta Government; regular monthly fees for 4 or 5 half days/ week/month will apply.  

More information on curriculum and education guidelines can be found on the Alberta Education Website, Kindergarten Curriculum