Swimming in the Afternoons and February Plans

We swam for the first time in the afternoon last Thursday and it was very successful.  The children did very well with the change in schedule and we feel that it will be better for the children to have a few days rest after swimming and a whole week of school.  We returned to the school after swimming just in time for a snack and then it was dismissal time.

This past week we also had our ice races in the gym which was a lot of fun!  Previously, we filled several containers of various sizes with water with the children and they helped us find room in our freezers to place our containers.  On Wednesday, we gathered all of our frozen containers, put our mittens or gloves on, and separated the various ice cubes from their containers. We started off picking two students who picked the ice cube of their choice and then sat behind the starting line.  We predicted which ice cube would go the furthest and then the students pushed their ice as hard as they could and we put a piece of masking tape with their name on it to mark their spot.  When all the children had a chance to race, we measured each spot and talked about measuring and distances.  After that, any of the children that wanted to continue to race were able to race to their hearts content!  We brought out our little swimming pool to place all of our ice cubes in and we talked about what made the ice melt and why.  The children added salt to their ice cubes to see the effect that made.  The children really enjoyed this activity and we learned a little about the properties of water in different forms.

We have started a small Kindergarten readiness class for the students that will be starting Kindergarten in the fall.  We meet together as a group and we do one activity together that helps the children with their listening skills and following teacher directions.  We'll send some of their work home so you can see their wonderful progress and we'll save some of their work for their scrapbooks that you'll receive at the end of the school year.

Our water table has been very popular this month so we'll continue that for February.  We have funnels, hoses, turkey basters and eye droppers for the children to experiment with and they're learning a lot!  We will also freeze water in balloons this week and then peel off the balloon when they're frozen. Then we'll experiment with the ice balls and see if we can use salt to melt the ice to make snowman with them. We'll also use our eye droppers to add food coloring to allow the children to see how the ice balls melt with the salt a little more clearly.

With Valentine's day around the corner we'll be talking about friendship and how to make friends and how to be a good friend.  We'll have a Valentine's party on Valentine's Day where we'll share valentines with each other.  I'll send home a letter about this with all the children's names.  February is also Dental Health Month and on Wednesday, February 16, we'll have a dental hygienist come in and talk to the children about their teeth and the importance of brushing them.

Dates to Remember:

Swimming on Thursday, February 10

Valentine's Party at 2:00 on Monday, February 14

Dental Hygienist on Wednesday, February 16

Swimming on Thursday, February 24