February News

Thank you to all the parents who have been working so hard with their child since our return to school in January. Your commitment to helping your child succeed is greatly appreciated. The children continue to improve in all areas of the curriculum! Keep up the good work! The 20 minutes you spend with your child reading each night makes a difference. Please continue read and reread the leveled book your child brings home and review word wall words. The Math Homework Bags will FINALLY begin to be sent home next week – remember to return them at the end of the week for reorganization.

We are continuing to focus on “point of view”. When your child is reading to you at home, occasionally ask your child to stop and reflect on what s/he is reading. Ask questions such as, “How do you think the character feels?” or “What do you think the author is trying to tell us?” Encourage your child to “look at the marks (punctuation) and font” and reread using appropriate inflection in his/her voice.

We celebrated the end of our Instructional/Procedural (HOW-TO writing) unit by rereading the procedural text, Making Ice Cream AND actually making ice cream.

Your child selected his/her best two pieces of procedural writing to be added to his/her Grade One writing portfolio. All other pieces will be sent home with the rest of our Term One work. We are going to begin PERSUASIVE WRITING this month. We will be working on developing VOICE and WORD CHOICE in our writing this month as well.

Dates to Remember This Month
February 1 – January Celebration Assembly @ 9:15 in our gymnasium
February 2 – Groundhog Day – will you see YOUR shadow today?
February 3 – Chinese New Year
February 4 – Learning With Logan
February 4 – Winter Carnival (dress warmly for outdoor activities – weather permitting, of course)
February 11 – 100th Day of Grade One! We will have some special numeracy activities to do today.
February 14 – Our classroom celebration of Valentines Day – wear something/anything red today, if you would like to participate!
February 17 – Forestview Falcon Day! Wear your Forestview gear to school today
February 21 – Family Day – enjoy your time together!

The 100th Day of School
We have been counting the days to the 100th day of Grade One since our first day together in September. The children should bring a collection of 100 items to school in a Ziploc bag on February 11. Popular collections from previous years included: 100 pennies, 100 small marshmallows, 100 crayons, 100 band-aids, 100 paperclips, 100 gummy bears, 100 pebbles, 100 hockey cards. We will have some special activities throughout the day to celebrate this special number.

Note about Valentines Day
We are making special mailboxes for Valentines Day. Please try to send an empty tissue box to school by Friday (February 4).  The children can bring their own cards for their friends on the Friday before Valentines Day. If you wish to send something to school for the children to enjoy during our 2nd nutrition break, please send something healthy and nut-free.

Valentines Day Snack Suggestions:
red apples
red pepper slices
pomegranates
red grapes
strawberries
raspberries
cherries
watermelon cubes
dried cranberries

Additional Reminders
INDOOR SHOES – the children need to remember to bring indoor shoes to school everyday.
WARM OUTDOOR WEAR – we need warm mittens, hats, boots, and snow pants everyday.

Congratulations!
At our January celebration assembly, we acknowledge the amazing efforts of our students!
Rahma – Achievement Award
Madison – Effort Award
Aidan – Character Award-Perseverance