Fabulous February

     Hello to all!  February is here and with it comes all kinds of adventures.  We will be learning about the post office, dental health, shapes, and Valentine's Day traditions.  We'll have fun "sending" letters to our friends in our newly expanded writing center.  It's going to be a great time.  Please remember to send your children with coats/jackets, mittens/gloves, hats, and sensible shoes.  It can get pretty chilly out on the playground when the wind whips up and/or the fog doesn't lift.  The children usually have the option of taking those items off if they feel too warm, but they can't solve the problem of being too cold if they don't have the items with them.  In particular this time of year, mittens/gloves are especially helpful.

     For the 4s classes we will have two field trips this month.  We will be going on our second Nature Walk to the Canby Community Park (behind Safeway) on Friday, February 8 and to the Canby post office on Wednesday, February 13.  Both of these events will have us ending our day at the field trip location.  Permission slips will be out the first week of February.

     Thank you to all of you for your hard work on getting your auction donations in by the deadline.  We are so appreciative of your effort.  Please let us know if you are still needing help, or if you are still expecting things to come in.  We are here to help!

     The following list is a schedule of events for the month.  Remember that the schedule acts as a framework and that I maneuver with the group.  Sometimes I need to tweak things a little bit to suit the needs of the children.  Have a great month!

Monday, Feb. 4: We will be making a class heart decoration for the bulletin board so we will be taking pictures of the children for that today.  We will also try to make an envelope look like a piece of batik art.  Should be interesting...

Wednesday, Feb. 6: 3s~We will take pictures for the class bulletin board artwork and we will paint envelopes.  4s~We'll continue our batik art experiment by putting a color wash on the envelopes we "batiked" on Monday.  We'll decorate our class heart with tissue paper.

Friday, Feb. 8: 3s~We will put a color wash on our envelopes from Wednesday and we will decorate our class heart with tissue paper.  4s~We will go on our Nature Walk to the Canby Community Park.  We will meet in the parking lot of the Mormon church at 1285 S Elm St on the corners of Elm St and 13th Ave.  School will begin (1 p.m.) and end (3:40 p.m.) at the parking lot.  We will walk from the parking lot to the park along the nature trail.  We will play at the playground for a short period, have a snack, walk to the river to see the water, and then walk back to the parking lot.  It will take the entire class period.  School will begin and end at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at 1285 S. Elm St.  The children will bring along their collection bags that we made in November and we will be looking for changes from the walk in the fall.  Yippee!

Monday, Feb. 11: In preparation for our outing to the post office on Wednesday, today we will write letters to our families.  If you have a different mailing address than you did on your registration form please let me know by today.  We will be sending the letters at the P.O. on Weds.  We will start making pockets for our Valentine's Day party, and make a big heart with paint rollers.

Wednesday, Feb. 13: 3s~Today we will start making our Valentine's Day pockets for our party on Friday.  We'll make a big heart with paint rollers and we will make heart decorations for the party.  4s~Class will start normally at 1 p.m. at the school and we will decorate envelopes with address labels and stamps.  We will make patterns with pasta and decorate our valentine pockets.  Our field trip will occur near the end of class.  At 2:50 p.m. we will gather together and make way for the post office.  My goal is to be at the P.O. ready for our tour at 3 p.m.  We will walk through the building, learn about the different stations, and mail our letters.  Class will end at the post office at 3:40 p.m.  We will NOT be going back to the school.  You must either transport your own child to the post office, or arrange a ride for them with another parent from the class.

Friday, Feb. 15: 3s AND 4s~Today we will have a Valentine's Day celebration!  The children will have pockets on the wall outside the classroom placed in alphabetical order.  You can bring goodies to put into the pockets before class.  At 11:20/3:20 we will have a little gathering to open the valentines and enjoy a treat or two.  Any parents that would like to join us for this are welcome to come back to the classroom in the last 20 minutes of class.  It is always helpful (and fun) to have parents there to help open and read the valentines.  We will be making a fruit salad to enjoy at snack time and your child will choose which fruit they would like to bring for the salad.  They will come home on Wednesday, Feb. 13 with a notice of what they have chosen.  Please look for it.  :)

Monday, Feb. 18: NO SCHOOL TODAY.  President's Day.  Go enjoy something presidential.  Pretend to be President for the day?  Have fun.

Wednesday, Feb. 20: 3s~This week we will be talking about dental health.  We will paint with toothbrushes today and talk about foods that are healthy for our teeth.  I'll hand out a check-off sheet that encourages twice daily brushing/flossing.  4s~We will be learning about how to care for our teeth and why it is so important.  We will paint with toothpaste and make a "mouth" and fill it with "teeth".  

Friday, Feb. 22: 3s~We'll have Open School today and make tooth necklaces and tooth puppets.  4s~Today a local dentist will come to visit to teach us about dental health.  We'll make tooth necklaces and tooth puppets and enjoy Open School after the dentist has left.

Monday, Feb. 25: Today we will read a fun story entitled, Ten Black Dots.  After we read the story we'll make a picture with our own dots.  It is always fun and interesting to see what the children come up with for this project.  We'll drop dots onto a class project in the art center.  

Wednesday, Feb. 27: 3s~We'll be studying shapes this week.  We will talk about circles today.  We'll read the story Ten Black Dots and make our own picture of dots.  We will cut out circles and paint them, and we'll try painting negative space circles on the easel.  4s~Today we will use the heat plate to color on circles.  We will cut circles and we'll make a ladder story about a circle.  

     This month will go by quickly, but with lots of fun packed into it.  Registration is in full swing, and remember that it is open to the public starting Feb. 15.  Get your registration form in as soon as possible in order to secure a spot for next year.  Normally we practice looping (keeping the same teacher for 3s and 4s), but if you would like to switch classes for any reason  you will need to get your form in as quickly as possible.  My 4s class occurs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1 p.m. to 3:40 p.m.  Teacher Andy has a morning 4s class from 9 a.m. to 11:40 p.m. and a 4s afternoon class from 1 p.m. to 3:40 p.m.  Both occur on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  If you have any questions or concerns about placement or class times please do not hesitate to ask me.  I am here to help!  

Thanks for all you do!!  ~Anne.