Dear families,

Welcome back after our Holiday Break! I hope you and the children had a wonderful and relaxing holiday.

Even though the wonderful snow we had has melted, I'm pretty sure winter is not over yet (!) and that means the children need indoor shoes each day. It's difficult for the children to sit on the carpet with big winter boots, on and indoor shoes/slippers are much more comfortable, too. Thank you!

We started our lesson on How Pine Trees Grow and are making a book about them. Thank you Raine for bringing the pine cones in! We also reviewed the names of all the animals that hibernate over the winter as well as animals that migrate. We are learning the "I slip and slide" poem and are reviewing the phonics sounds we have learned so far. We learned aboout the compound word "snow" and completed a work sheet about it; the SKs wrote the words and the JKs matched the words to the pictures. The children also did a wonderful job drawing a picture and writing words about what they did on December 25. They are on display on our hall Bulletin Board.

On Friday a lot of the little ones arrived with their bears ready for the Teddy Bear party so we went ahead with the party for the children who were in school and made a Corduroy the Bear Puppet. On Monday, we will have Part Two of the party so that all the children will be able to participate. We will make a Polar-Bear-in-the-Snow craft and the children who didn't make the Corduroy puppet will make one as well. Don't forget your teddy bears! I have extras if the children forget, not to worry.

In this week's white bags I sent home the children's Phonics duotangs. Please work on them and return them on Monday or by Wednesday. Thank you!

Two mystery bags from before the holidays have not been returned - they are a frog and a bee. Please return them if you have them at home. Thank you!

Many thanks to our Volunteers this week: Reading Club was Charlie's mom and Logan's mom, Playdoh was provided by Isobel's family (thank you as well to Noah's and Mason's family for playdoh!), Mystery Readers were Cole's dad, Computer Lab was assisted by Dalinda, and white bags and snuggle books were done by myself and Chloe's mom.

Have a wonderful Sunday -- see you tomorrow!

Beverley