February 1, 2010
Heads-up!
•No Friday Sing on February 5th and 12th
•Thursday, February 11th, Valentine Party and Lunch
In honor of Valentine’s Day we will prepare a special lunch with the children. We will make it together in the morning. Each child will be asked to contribute a piece of fruit for our friendship fruit salad. Each child will need his/her regular snack, but no lunch from home. We will remind you as the day approaches.
•Parents: We need many boxes of envelopes, (approximately 4"x 6" in size), for the children to use when mailing their valentines. If you would like to contribute we would be very appreciative.
•Star word this week: "can"
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| Photograph by Dylan, "I chose to take a picture of the new month because it is so pretty!" |
Raptor Road Trip Event
Saturday on Sauvie Island
9:00 - 2:00 p.m.
“Explore Sauvie Island in search of magnificent bald eagles, hawks, and falcons that spend the winter on the island. On this special day devoted to raptors, experienced naturalists, and hawk experts host activities and answer your questions at four locations around the island. Enjoy guided bird viewing, meet live raptors up close and sharpen your hawk identification skills. Hot drinks and donuts are available in the morning to keep you warm while you breakfast with the birds.” Click here for more details and directions.
Thanks to Julia's Mom, Lorraine Guthrie, for the heads-up on this great Eagle activity!
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Dear Parents,
Last week the kindergarten teachers joined Jennifer, Chenoa, and Rebecca from the preschool to attend a Reggio Emilia workshop in California. The Reggio Emilia approach is an educational philosophy developed by parents of the villages around Reggio Emilia, Italy after World War II. Their approach to education puts the natural development of children as well as the close relationships that they share with their environment at the center of its philosophy. We were able to visit the First Presbyterian School in Santa Monica. They have worked closely with Reggio educators and are doing a wonderful job of implementing the Reggio approach in the United States. We all came home to Catlin energized with new ideas and possibilities. The teachers would like to thank the parents at Catlin, who with their support of the Gambol, make it possible for faculty education.
Post Office
On another note, this week we will be setting up our post office in the Piazza as we get ready for the 1,000+ valentines cards that will be sent through this office by February 11th, in time for our Valentine Party. The Eagles will learn how to do all the jobs of a post office: canceling, sorting, delivering mail to P.O. boxes (one for each child). This is a huge, exciting project that calls on the children to use their writing and math skills in a real life valentine drama. We will begin with a Valentine Addressing Workshop on Wednesday.
Mail Carrier Visits the Eagles
This week we hope to have a visit from our favorite mail carrier, David Medford whose daughter, Lizzie is now in the Upper School. He provides first-hand information about the workings of the post office and has great stories to tell about his adventures on his mail route. There is often a child or two in the class who receives mail from Dave on his route.
Friday is "Day 90" in Kindergarten!
On Friday, we will celebrate 90 wonderful days in kindergarten. Then, only 10 more school days until Day 100! We can hardly believe it. Children of this age can get confused by the Day 100 celebration and some think that school in kindergarten will be over. Not to worry, we reassure them that we will still keep counting the days, even though Zero’s visits will be over on the hundredth day.
As you can see February becomes a rich and varied, content filled month. We will have lots of number and letter writing practice, as well as thinking about valentines, kindness and friendship. One of the important jobs of kindergarten is learning how to make a friend and be a friend. Sometimes this gets lost on the children, but Jonathan, our school counselor, is visiting us once a week to help us practice and grow this important skill.
Happy February!
The Kindergarten Team
