February Newsletter: Room 5

Our February Focus: Alphabet Fun & Valentine’s Day

We’ll be exploring the alphabet through songs, stories, shelf activities, circle-time activities, & art projects this month. Students will each have a “journal” that they’ll be encouraged to write in daily. This “writing” will typically range from drawing pictures and dictating the accompanying words to teachers to write down to forming their own letters and beginning to sound out words. As we celebrate love & friendship by creating Valentine’s Day cards, we will provide more opportunities for writing practice as students address cards to family members and each other. We will also be converting our dramatic play area to a “post office” this month, which will also encourage writing practice as students create, “send”, & receive mail. As we anticipate this being a very popular activity, we welcome donations of materials! (see below)

“Post Office” Donations Requested:

• Writing Paper (of all types & sizes)
• Envelopes
• Stickers (“postage stamps”)
• Note cards
• Post cards
• Stationery
• Other ideas?

Parents’ Night Out:

Based on parent response, we’ve decided to host a monthly Parents’ Night out, to be held on the First Friday of each month, beginning this Friday, February 3.  These events will be “pajama party” style, 6-9 PM, & will include a snack, art projects, stories, games, & lots of fun! We will be posting the information & sign-up sheets on our bulletin board.

Upcoming School Closures:

v   Monday, February 20: Presidents’ Day

Upcoming Work Assistance Opportunities:

v   Completing classroom painting: this job could be tackled in several different ways: one family could tackle it in a day & complete all of their family assistance in one grand effort -OR- two or more families could work together & have a “painting party” (turn up the music, order a pizza, have some fun!) –OR- any family could choose to complete part, but not all, of the painting, choosing specific items from our list to paint, such as cubbies or shelves, or the loft…

v   Please check the table by the door for upcoming art projects to prepare.

v   Do you have any Valentine card ideas you’d like to share & prepare?

Thank you to Ellie’s grandfather for sharing his experiences in Kenya, Africa with our class AND to Aubrie’s mom and grandmother for sharing their rich family history and culture of the Yurok tribe AND to Quinn’s mom who will be sharing their family’s experiences living and teaching in Mexico AND to Natalie’s dad who will be sharing a Chinese New Year celebration with us this Friday! Thank you for enriching our classroom’s appreciation of other cultures!

Reminders:

• If you arrive before 8:30, please bring your child to Lunette in the cooking classroom, rather than to Room 5, where we are busy preparing for a new day.

Thank you for sharing your lovely children with us! Happy Winter!