February News
Important Information and Upcoming Events
Guaranteed to be fun!
Recent McColl Pond Field Trip
Report Cards and Kindergarten Readiness
Report cards will be sent home with your child by Friday, February 5th. If you have any questions about them, please don't hesitate to reach out. The skills featured on the report card are important "Kindergarten Readiness" skills. If you follow daily Schoology updates & view the photos, you'll know the skills are just a small snapshot of the learning that happens at school.
Many of you have asked about ways to help your child with letter and/or number recognition, letter sounds, etc. at home. Here are some general suggestions:
* Keep it FUN!! If your child is getting frustrated or upset, stop. It's important to not let learning become a power struggle.
* NO Flash Cards! Children at this age learn best from meaningful, hands-on learning experiences. If your child is working on letter identification for example, play "Eye Spy" at the grocery store. Give your child a piece of paper with 1 or 2 letters on it & encourage see how many you can find during your next trip to the grocery store. Model saying the letter as you see it - "Look, this cereal starts with the letter 'A'" Have some fun by pointing to the wrong letter and saying "I think this starts with the letter A" - if your child agrees, you can encourage him/her to check on the paper and see if the two letters match in shape.
* Flashlight Games! Who doesn't love playing with flashlights? Hide letters/numbers around the room and have your child find them with flashlights.
* Always Start & End Positive! Children are smart and aware of their abilities. Make sure you end on a positive note with your child feeling confident about him/herself. If your child is struggling, include a letter/number your child is confident with.
* Make Practicing Part of the Daily Routine! Repetition is key. Include practicing letters/numbers as part of your daily routine. If your child doesn't enjoy it - even with fun games, incorporate it into the child earning a preferred activity. For example, it could be part of the "key" to "unlocking" screen time. For example be,fore you can play on the iPad you have to find 5 letters hiding in the room.
* Consider Education-Friendly Screen Time Screen time is a common practice in our families today. As a result, there are MANY great educational apps, shows, YouTube videos out there. Consider balancing these with those your child currently enjoys. Your child might not enjoy them at first, but the "First this one, then your game/show/movie" strategy works great. Also, letting your child have a choice from the options you pick also works great.
* Read Books Every Day! To foster a love for reading & development of literacy skills, it is recommended that you read at least 10 minutes a day to your child.
Amazed by their constant bravery
Exploring the ice on McColl Pond
Our class "school bus"
Dynamics Gymnastics- Wednesday, February 3rd from 1:00-2:45 p.m.
Global School Play Day- Thursday, February 4th
Wednesday, February 3rd is Global School Play Day. Because of our field trip on February 3rd, we will be celebrating Global School Play Day on Thursday, February 4th. Our goal is to raise awareness about the importance of unstructured play. Schools from all over the world will be taking part in global school play day with students of all ages! Together we can reverse the downward trend in childhood play that many nations have experienced since the 1950’s.
Preschoolers may bring anything they wish to play with to school on Wednesday, February 3rd. The only restrictions: they must bring toys and these toys may NOT require batteries or electricity. No devices. Some ideas include: board games, dolls, Legos, blocks, trucks, cars, racetracks, playing cards, empty cardboard boxes, markers, jigsaw puzzles, social games (charades, Pictionary, etc.) The only exception on the electronics rule would be a board game that has an electronic timer, an electronics play kit, or similar.
I would highly recommend watching the following videos to gain knowledge on the importance of unstructured play.
Ice Fishing with Minnesota DNR! Wednesday, February 10th
Students will be eating breakfast early for us to meet the DNR specialists on time. Breakfast will start around 8:20 a.m. and we will try to leave the school right at 9:00 a.m. We will be leaving Lakefront at 10:30 a.m. to head back to Edgewood.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Super Friend Day- February 12th
Field Trip to Jeffers Pond- Wednesday, February 24th
Class Book Exchange- Thursday, February 25th
February is I Love to Read Month. To celebrate we will be having a book exchange in our class. Please keep your gift under $4.00. Please choose a book that is gender neutral (i.e. – no Barbie books). If purchasing a book is a hardship for your family please let me know. I will be happy to supply a book for your child so everyone can participate. Send the book wrapped with a tag stating it’s from your child by Tuesday, February 23rd. Leave the “to” blank. We will have our exchange Thursday, February 25th.