Tuesday was Valentine's Day and for many children, Valentine's Day first becomes important in kindergarten. It's an event fraught with possibilities for hurt feelings because it can become a competitive measure of popularity. What if one child gets more valentines than anyone else? What about the kids who get only a few? What if a child doesn't get any? Many teachers and parents cope with this dilemma by insisting that valentines must be given to everyone in the class. The spirit of equal-opportunity valentines is the best solution for a classroom, but giving valentines to people for whom you don't have special feelings- or whom you may not even like- does send a confusing message to children about meaningful gift-giving. I try to use this broad gift-giving as a way to help teach the children tolerance and an appreciation of differences among their classmates. But Team Awesome is such a naturally caring group that they really wouldn't even consider not expressing their love and friendship for all the members of our class and were slightly surprised and upset when I suggested it happens. You're doing a great job!
- Monday, Feb. 20 we will be partaking in a video conference with Mrs. Farber's class and Ms. Kipp and the St. Louis Zoo called Puffins and Penguins to further our knowledge of polar animals.
- Tuesday, Feb. 21 we will be celebrating 100 Day! We will continue with activities that centre around the number 100 for most of the week and continue to count our days in school until the end of June.
- Wednesday, Feb. 22 is Pink Shirt Day. BEST and the rest of B.C. wear something pink to symbolize that we as a society will not tolerate bullying.
- March lunch orders are due Wednesday, Feb. 22. Please be aware that the order form for the Mar. 3 PAC Pizza Day is on the bottom of the form.
- Friday, Feb. 24 is an NI Day and Team Awesome will be getting an extra day of rest while I learn more about technology.
- The BEST February newsletter can be found here. Look under Site News.
- February Family Projects are due when you have finished them. There will be no Family Project for March.
- Continue practicing our sight words for February. They are: come, did, have, get, love, of, said, very, will, yes. If a word comes up repeatedly in our studies we will sometimes add it to our words for the month. I sent home a list of the words we have covered so far on Thursday.
