FEBRUARY
NEWSLETTER 2017
Dear Parents,
I hope you all
enjoyed the unusual “heat wave” that we experienced last month. The weather has
taken us on real roller coaster ride this winter.
The children had
a real blast with our dinosaur unit! They learned all about how dinosaurs lived.
We did a lot of hands on activities with our children, that helped them to grasp
the complex concept of extinction, excavating and bones turning into fossils.
Even the gym turned into a “Jurassic Park”! We turned off the lights, pretending that a
meteorite hit the earth and all the dust and lava was blocking the sunlight. Some
of our little paleontologists made their own play dough fossils, while others
were baking dinosaur cookies and ate
their “sweet” fossils. Even during snack
time carrots turned into pointy T-Rex teeth, peppers into “sharp claws” etc.
Thank you so much parents for all the yummy and healthy choices that you pack
every day!!
FEBRUARY THEME
February will be another short month, as we will
have the week of Feb. 20 -24 off. However, we have a lot of things on our “fun to
do” list.
SHAPES and OPPOSITES
This month many
of our daily activities will evolve around shapes and opposites. We will go on
I spy tours through the building and spy for shapes, make shapes with our
bodies, shape crafts etc. It was funny to listen to some children as they were
looking at their snack and realized that many of their snack containers, lids
and even their fruits and veggies reminded them of different shapes.
May be you want to take your child on a “looking
for shapes” tour at home. Once you start looking, you will see them everywhere!
J
FASCHING (Carnival) – German Holiday
We will be
celebrating a very special and fun German holiday, called Fasching this month. Fasching is a traditional
German holiday season, often associated with festivals of the Christian church (letting
loose before Lent and fasting begins). However, it goes back to pagan times,
and was a way of driving out the spirits of winter and encouraging the coming
of spring and good crops. In Germany, at this time of the year, many people in
different areas of the country dress up in costumes and join floats
Fasching/Karneval parades that are happening all over the country.
The most exciting part is the candy toss throughout
the parade. You will see hundreds of people on the sidewalks, shouting “Helau”
or “Alarf” and trying to catch Fasching candies.
There will be a poster hanging in the hallway, with
more information on this holiday.
FASCHING PARTY: Wednesday, February 15th
/ Thursday 16th
We will have a Fasching Party in our classroom. Children are invited to wear a costume that
day.
Parents are invited to join us for the last 20
minutes and be part of the candy toss parade. We will also serve you traditional
German “Fasching Krapfen” (doughnuts) at the end of class.
VALENTINES:
Sledding with our Care Partners, Monday February 13th
We will touch
the theme “Valentines“ and friendship” this month by inviting our “Big
friends”, the care partners from grade 4 to join us for a fun winter time
outside. They will take our little ones
tobogganing and have hot chocolate with us afterwards.
(If your child would like to give Valentine
cards as a sign of friendship, we ask you to send a card to every class member, to ensure that
nobody feels left out. I will send home a class list on Monday.)
Registration for 2017/18 school year is open!
Thank you to all the board members who helped us at
our Open House in January! Two classes have almost filled up. However, we still
have openings left. We would appreciate if you could help us to fill these
spots by spreading the word through face book etc. Your support is greatly
appreciated!
Facebook
: Please don’t forget to visit us on Facebook!
SGC
(Saskatchewan German Council) monthly newsletter
If you are interested in events that are related to
Germany (cooking classes, language classes, dance, choir, German-English story
time at the library, celebrations and events at the German Cultural Center
etc), please go on the SGC website www.saskgermancouncil.org.
Mark your Calendar
Feb. 6/7 Scholastic book orders due
Feb 13th
Sledding with care partners
(dress for the weather: snow pants, snow boots, hats, mittens)
Children are welcome to bring their own sled!
Feb. 15/16th FASCHING PARTY
Ø Children are
invited to dress up and wear a costume.
Ø Parents, please
join our candy toss parade and “Krapfen” for the last 20 minutes of class time!
Ø Students don’t
have to bring snack that day!
February 21th – 24th : February Break / No School
School resumes on Monday, February 27th!
Frau Hecker will
be at a Conference for Early Childhood Educators this Friday (classes will
still be running).
Frau Lorenz will
be leaving next week for a family vacation and will be gone for 2 weeks. Frau
Roohi will be filling in and assisting Frau Hecker in the M-W-F classes.
We are looking
forward to another month of Fun & Learning with our children!
Kind Regards,
Uli Hecker, Larissa Lorenz
Susanne Pachal, Samina Roohi
