Dear Blue Room Families,
 
This week we continued our study of Valentine’s Day.
 
Books we have Read

• Valentine Bears by Eve Bunting

• Valentine’s Day  by Anna Rockwell

• Who Will Be My Valentine This Year By Jerry Pallotta
• My Teacher for President By Kay Williams

 
Specialists activities:

• Had a visit with a dental hygienist who taught us all about how to keep our teeth and smiles healthy. 

 
Classroom Activities:

• We continued to prepare for Valentine’s Day in the Blue Room.
• In writing, we wrote about what we love most and even practiced our tracing and cutting by making our own heart shaped stationary.

• In Math we measured our height and valentine’s day hearts. We measured our selves using “kisses” and then introduced our inchworm rulers to measure hearts. This allowed us to discuss standard measurement and inches. 
• In Science we continued our study of liquids and solids by predicting what would happen when we placed candy hearts (solids) in different liquids. We were amazed at our findings and were able to review the idea of liquid density.

• We also made our very own "Love Wall" modeled after the artist James Goldcrown. We layered hearts on black paper and discussed that just like our love wall their could never ever be enough love our hearts in our classroom or in this world.
• We baked up a batch of Love Bark, using chocolate, dried cranberries and marshmallows to share with our families and loved ones at school! (We hope you enjoyed!)
• Valentine’s day brought a fun party filled with dancing, valentines, stickers, delivering valentine’s and decorating heart shaped Rice Krispie treats. We had so much fun celebrating and spreading love!
• We ended the week by getting ready for President’s Day. We read “My Teacher for President” and each illustrated and dictated what we would do if we did this very important job. The future is in great hands!

 
Theme this week: 

• Post Office and Valentine’s Day

Dates to remember:

• February 18th and 19- President’s Day no school
  1. February 20th- Professional Development
  2. March, 5th- The 100th Day of School 

• March 18th- Spring Break (until 4/1)

​Have a great long weekend!

The Blue Room Teachers

Dear Blue Room Parents,
 
This week we began our study of the Post Office and Valentine’s Day.
 
Reminders:
**If you have not done so already please send in a change of clothing for your child’s cubby. 
 
Books we have Read:

• A Day With A Mail Carrier,  by Jan Kottke
• The Post Office Book, byGail Gibbons
• The Love Monster, By Rachel Bright

 
 
Specialists activities:

• Performed at the school wide assembly.

 
Classroom Activities:

• We began our discussion about the Post Office. We created our very own mailboxes and made our own Blue Room Post Office. The children were busy writing letters and postcards for friends to deliver. We even learned that when the flag is up on a mailbox that means their is mail to be picked up. This trick allowed us to keep track of the mail in our own mailboxes.
• In writing, we completed our very own valentines and even helped address the envelope. Hopefully they will arrive by Valentine’s Day. Be sure to open them with care!

• We discussed the importance of stamps and how they are used both to pay for mail and that they are sometimes collected. The children viewed several different stamp collections and then created a Blue Room Stamp Collection.
• We also began our study of Valentines by reading, The Love Monster  . Each child created our own adorable love monster using collage materials. We agreed that they were all adorable and easy to love! Be on the look out for their adorable monsters. 
• In Math we graphed and sorted a mail carrier’s mail. There were packages, letters and even post cards. 
• In Science we got ready for a visit from the dentist office (next week a hygienist will come to talk about dental health) by exploring tooth friendly foods and dental care. 
• This week was began Lunar New Year.  We learned about the holiday and the zodiac calendar. In honor of the year of the Pig we made origami paper pig puppets and danced along to traditional holiday music, 

 
Theme this week: 

• Post Office and Valentine’s Day

Dates to remember:

• February 12th- Valentine’s are due to the Blue Room
• February 14th- Valentine’s Day Party (Kids only)
• February 18th and 19- President’s Day no school
• February 20th- Professional Development
• March, 5th- The 100th Day of School 
• March 18th- Spring Break (until 4/1)

Have a great weekend!

The Blue Room Teachers

Dear Blue Room Parents,
 
This week we learned all about a new author Mem Fox and enjoyed her stories. In science we explored liquid density and shadows(in conjunction with the upcoming holiday Groundhogs Day).
 
Reminders-:
**If you have not done so already please send in a change of clothing for your child’s cubby. 
 
Books we have Read

• The Magic Hat, by Mem Fox
• Koala Lou, by Mem Fox
• Hunwick’s Egg, by Mem Fox
• Hattie the Fox, by Mem Fox
• Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge, by Mem Fox

 
Specialists activities:

• Art Studio monochromatic blue paintings. 

 
Classroom Activities:

• We began our second author study of Mem Fox. We learned that she only does the job of an author unlike Jan Brett (our last author study) and that she is from Australia. We also noticed that a lot of her books are about animals from Australia and magic.
• The first story we heard was the Magic Hat. After hearing this story, we each got to try a magic hat on and think about what it might turn us into. We documented this with our iPad.
• We also practiced our one to one correspondence by creating gum trees with at least 20 leaves. These trees were featured in Fox’s story Koala Lou . We had so much fun making these trees and were amazed that although some of us used the same number of leaves they all looked so different. 

• After hearing Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge , a story about a little boy who helps an elderly friend gain her memories. We “weaved” our own memory baskets and illustrated one of our precious memories.  We talked about funny, happy and even sad memories.

•  Whoever You Are allowed us to revisit the discussion of respect.  This sparked an interesting discussion and reminded us of the power of love whoever, wherever you are. 
• In Math we graphed our favorite Mem Fox stories. This chart allowed us to sort and count our favorites in an easy way.
• We also wrote about our favorite Mem Fox stories in our journal. Some of us loved the silly stories, while other friends enjoyed the magical stories and a lot of our friends enjoyed learning about the different animals in Mem Fox’s native country Australia.
• This study allowed us to familiarize ourselves with another author. Some Blue Room friends even expressed that one day they too wanted to be an author just like Mem!
• In Science we continued our study of liquids by combining them to see what happens. We made predictions and were amazed that the liquids did not mix. We discussed the many ways that the liquids were different and together noted that the thicker liquids went to the bottom and the lighter liquids went to the top creating a “rainbow”.
• This week we also began a investigation of shadows to help us learn about the upcoming holiday Groundhog’s Day. Each child traced a shadow of an object of their choosing in the classroom. We then used these shadows to create a guessing game. Be sure to look out for this game in the hallway soon.
• We learned about Groundhog’s Day.  We discovered that on this day two famous groundhogs named Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck make predictions about the weather.  He predicts if winter will last for six more weeks or if spring will start early.  We learned that he makes this guess based on whether or not he sees his shadow.  To help us remember the job of this groundhog, we learned a song called, “Happy Groundhog’s Day.” After singing, the children made their  own prediction on our smart board using a stylus. They answered the question, “Will the groundhog see his shadow?” by writing their name either under yes or no.

 
Dates to remember:

• February 18, 19- President’s Day (no school)
• February 20th - Professional Development
• March 18th - Spring Break (until 4/1)

Have a great weekend.

The Blue Room Teachers