February Newsletter

Happy (almost) February, Douglas Park families!

We've sailed right through our first month back after our Winter Break, and we are already jumping right into February!



Important Upcoming Dates

BC Family Day: Monday, February 8th  No Classes in session

Professional Development Day:  Tuesday, February 9th.  No class in session


Upcoming for March....

Don't forget to mark Spring Break down on your calendars!

Monday, March 14th- Friday, March 25th.  Classes resume on Tuesday, March 29th, after Easter Monday.


As we wrap up our explorations of everything ARCTIC, we head quickly into learning about and celebrating Chinese New Year, as well as Valentine's Day!

Chinese New Year

This is the Year of the Monkey, so you are certain to hear all about these mischievous little animals from your child after coming home from class.  Be sure to peek into our rooms to see how our dramatic play areas will be transformed, and check the blog each week to see photos of the activities we will be presenting to the children.

If your family celebrates Chinese New Year, and there is a special tradition that you would like to share with us, please let your classroom teachers know!  We would love to learn about special songs, food, or anything else you could think of so that we can share it with the students!

Classroom Valentine's Day Celebrations

Orca Room 3 year olds:  Thursday, February 11th
Orca Room 4 year olds, all Unicorn classes: Friday, February 12th

Students are welcome to bring Valentine's cards for their friends, as well as join in fun Valentine themed activities and games.

Each student will have a "mail bag" outside of class for Valentine cards to be delivered to.  We ask that parents hand out cards at the beginning of class so that the mail bags can be taken home by each student at the end of the day.

**A special reminder about treats:**

If you choose to attach a small treat with Valentine cards, please be mindful of the allergies in your child's classroom and remember to read ingredient labels.  We are a NUT FREE school.  Thank you so much!

Finishing Up Arctic Explorations

Northern Lights Colour Mixing

at the light table

A Northern Lights inspired colour mixing art exploration.

Oil, watercolours, salt.

W is for Walrus

Sorting capital letter W's and lowercase w's.

Arctic Animal footprint puzzle matching

 

 

Tally counting with the Three Year Old class

Which Arctic Animal is your favorite?

Identify the Arctic Animal

Spin the wheel and find the corresponding animal.

Sand Art

Scented, gritty sensory painting

Fine motor toothbrush painting

Frozen Snow Dough

Baking soda mixed with scented hand lotion and then frozen. 

The students squished, squeezed and rolled the snow dough, while there was much imaginative commentary about penguin eggs. 

 

A whale watching expedition in water table.

Art Collaborative: Land of the Midnight Sun

Sponges, paint rollers, and copious amounts of glitter!

 

 

Arctic Week #3

 

Igloo building

Polar Bear Number Recognition

Polar Bear Race!

Roll the dice and count out the number of steps to the bear den

For science exploration, we were lucky enough to have a student bring in a sample of Musk Ox hair from a trip to the Arctic!

The children loved using the magnifying glass to get a better look at it and feel how soft and thick it is!

 

We also had a real bear claw for the children to investigate.

It was from a Brown Bear, but we talked with the students about similarities and differences between Brown Bears and Polar Bears.

 

Fine Motor water transfer activity

Move the water from one bowl to the other!

The children were incredibly engaged in this activity, and spent a good deal of time working together.

Polar Bear Paws number matching

Open ended playdough polar bear  building

Deconstructed art: Snowy Owls

Arctic Wolves stencil painting to illustrate the concept of camouflage. 

Polar Bear art!

An icy water table experience

Arctic colours open ended sorting activity

 

Northern Lights Science

Milk + food colouring drops + drops of dish soap

When the dish soap is touched to the surface of the food colouring, the colours begin to swirl!

Oil pastels for Northern Lights inspired art

Northern Lights stencil painting

Arctic animals and Northern Lights on the light table

Arctic Animals Language activity.

Pre-Reading and Pre-Writing

The children are encouraged to  practice the letters they recognise, or even to draw a picture of the word.  This activity provides exposure to the written language, as well as letter recognition and fine motor development!

 

 

The beginning stages of our Arctic Fox art

Northern Lights Light Brite

Arctic Animals in a tundra landscape sensory bin.

 

Arctic felt pieces on the light table tundra

 

Working to decorate our Snow Goggles!

 

Polar Bear fine motor sticky collage

Polar Bear number recognition math

Roll the dice, find the number on the polar bear, and cover it with a cotton ball.

Sensory coconut Polar Bear art

Ice Block exploration

The students were presented small cubes in a bowl, a small spoon, and a portioned plate.

We watched as they worked on their fine motor development, counted, stacked, and created elaborate stories about why the ice blocks were being moved.

Frozen tundra play dough

White glittery, scented playdough with a variety of materials for creative play!

"Little Polar Bear, white as the snow.  Sat on the ice, near the cold water's flow. I am hungry, he said, and made a wish.  He put his paw in and pulled out a....."

 

 

Icy sensory fun!

 

Frozen shaving cream + glittery ice cubes= messy fun!

 

Letter H Day

 

Hammering chalk onto Hearts

A smashing success!

Hot Chocolate marshmallow counting

Sensory bin with Hippos in Houses

Hippo seriation

Ordering by sizes

Small to large

Building Horses

from Letter H

Tangram geometric shapes

Letter Building