THE FEBRUARY TOM-TOM

***BIG CHIEF WILL BE CLOSED FOR WINTER RECESS FROM MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2OTH THRU FRIDAY FEBRUARY 24TH. WE WILL REOPEN ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH.

BUS REMINDER Please learn your driver's name so when you call we will be able to give them your message. Please have your child ready and bring him/her out promptly when the bus arrives. Any questions you might have should be directed to the office 781-3900. The drivers are on a tight schedule and must move on.

BIRTHDAY INVITATIONS If your child is having a birthday party and you would like to invite some of his/her classmates, ask your child for the first names of the children he/she would like to invite. Then send a note to the teacher requesting a birthday list, and she will fill in the last names and addresses of those children. You may then mail the invitations. If your child is unable to give you the names, ask the teacher and she will give you the names of the children your child likes to play with.

VALENTINE'S DAY CARDS!!! It is impossible for the teachers to give out all the personalized Valentine's Day Cards that come in. So please just have your child sign the bottom of each card, and he or she will pass them out to whoever they would like to.
Do not personalize the cards. DO NOT SEND IN ANY CANDY, LOLLIPOPS, GOODY BAGS OR ANY TREATS OF ANY KIND.

HATS (that cover their ears) AND MITTENS (not gloves)

It seems like winter is now upon us - so please have your child dress warmly, but don't forget to label everything!!!

WINTER BOOTS

Please send in shoes or sneakers so that your child can change out of their snow boots. Wearing snow boots is not healthy for your child. Boots are made to be worn for short periods of time not for 8 hours. Boots, have no support, no arches (which promotes flat feet), their big and sloppy. When you wear boots, your feet sweat, get wet and then you are back out in the cold with wet feet. This leads to foot fungus, getting sick and poor foot development. If you would like send in a pair of shoes or sneakers that stay here.

SNOW CLOSINGS

If it snows and we think our drivers will not be able to drive the street safely, it is our policy to be open without transportation. of course, if there is a blizzard and we ourselves cannot get to Big Chief safely, we will be closed. Our decision to be open without transportation is for the benefit of our working mothers who can deliver their children as early as 7:15 AM, allowing themselves more time to get to work. All part time children may make up the day. If it is snowing when you wake up in the morning and you don't know if Big Chief is open or not, you may listen to the school closings on (K-JOY 98.3 FM or News12.com (Click on closings and delays) more stations are listed below.

WEATHER REPORT:

The list of stations to listen to for snow closings are below.

NEWS 12.COM
WBAB 102.3FM / WBLI 106.1FM
KJOY 98.3FM / WHLI 1100AM
WOR7.10AM / 103.1FM

BACKPACKS

MISS ELLEN’S CLASS: BRING EVERYDAY

MISS MARY, MISS RENEE, MISS JESSICA : FRIDAY ONLY

all other classes: monday & friday only

PROGRAM:

**MISS ANNE’S CLASS

Theme: Winter, Valentine's Day and continuing nursery rhymes.

Language Arts: Reading stories relating to winter such as, "Tiny the Snow Dog”, “Clifford’s First Valentine’s Day”, “Jack and Jill went Up the Hill”, “Hickory, Dickory, Dock” “Little Bo Peep”, Puppies in the Snow”.

Art: Decorating Valentine Hearts, making sheep, making mice and a clock, bears and water buckets.

Physical: Outside play (weather permitting). Crawling through the tunnel, playing with the parachute. Playing dress-up in the house-area.

Science: Playing in the water table with snow. Making and playing with pink play dough, rice play.

Social Skills: Eating with a spoon and trying to drink from a cup.

Music: Learning body parts with songs such as "Hokey Pokey", "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". Shaking Bean Bags to music.

****FRESH FRUIT FOR AFTER NAP SHOULD COME IN PEELED AND CUT IF POSSIBLE... NO FRESH GRAPES!!!!!

****PARENTS PLEASE MAKE SURE ALL CUPS AND LIDS ARE LABELED AS WELL AS SHEETS AND BLANKETS.

**MISS ELIZABETH'S CLASS

Theme: Continuing with Winter, Valentine's Day.

Language Arts: Reading stories such as "The Big Red Sled", "The Jacket I Wear in the Snow", "Elmo Loves Me" and "Hug". Nursery Rhymes such as "I'm a Little Tea Pot", "Jack and Jill went up a Hill", and "Five Pretty Valentines".

Social and Independent Skills: Showing love and being gentle with one another as we learn to take turns when we play. Continuing to talk about winter and what we wear during the winter season.

Math: Introducing a new shape, the heart, and making a collage with the big and little hearts.

Art: Easel and finger-painting with red and white and discovering the color pink. Making and playing with pink play dough.

Music: Marching with instruments. Listening and following directions to the Bear Hunt.

Physical: Learning to thread large beads. Playing at the rice table. Learning to catch bean bags, taking walks in the Snow (weather permitting).

**MISS LIZ'S CLASS

Theme: Winter , Valentine's Day and Families

Language Arts: Reading stories relating to winter and Valentine’s Day "The Snowy Day', "Clifford’s First Valentine", "The Biggest Snowball Fight". Family dictation.

Science: Mixing red and white paint, bringing snow inside.

Physical: Parachute activities, creating an obstacle course in the classroom, outside play weather permitting, threading beads, continue to use scissors.

Art: Finger and sponge painting, winter mural, Valentine cards, easel painting, collaging and a family collage.

Math: Playing winter bingo, sorting by colors, and matching games.

Music: Marching with instruments, dancing with scarves.

Social Studies: Continue talking about winter; discussing our families.

Self Help Skills: Learning to clean up our napkins and cups after snack, reinforcing manners.

****PARENTS PLEASE SEND AN EXTRA PAIR OF MITTENS TO REMAIN IN YOUR CHILD’S CUBBY.

**MISS DAISY'S CLASS

Theme: Valentine's Day, size seriation (small-medium-large), and Winter.

Art: Creative winter project, winter mural, making Valentine gifts and cards. Creative paintings with the color pink, sponge paint

Cooking/Nutrition: Making warm and weather appropriate snacks. Hot cocoa, oatmeal.

Language Arts: Reading the following stories:

The Biggest Snowball of All
It’s Winter
Thomas’ Snowsuit
Clifford’s First Valentine
Clifford’s First Snow Day
The Night Before Valentine’s Day
Brown Bear, Brown Bear
The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear, by Don Wood.

Block Area: Making caves for our animals, sleds, snow angels, have snowball fights.

Dramatic Play: Developing self help skills by learning how to dress ourselves appropriately for frigid weather. Acting out our stories with props. Acting out “The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear”

Math: Winter Bingo; mix and match Valentines; continue sorting and classification. Introduce heart as the new shape.

Finger plays: "Five Little Snowflakes", "Five Little Penguins", "10 Little Mittens" , “Chubby Little Snowman” and “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear”.

Science: Snow walk, bringing in snow and watching its changes from snow to water at the water table. See the different changes of water to ice, and from ice to water. Freezing water in milk cartons to watch liquid turn to solid. Snow dough. Combining white and red to make pink. Making snowmen and spray painting them with spray bottles filled with different colors.

Physical: Obstacle course and tunnel play. Pretend that we are snow flakes whirling in the wind, and pretend ice skating. Lacing and cutting.

Flannel Board Stories: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Brown Bear Brown Bear, 5 Little Valentines and The Five Little Snowmen.

Music: "I Love You',”Put on Your Overcoat” and “Going on a Bear Hunt.”

**MISS ELLIE AND MISS MELISSA’S CLASS

Theme: Transportation on the land, sea and air. Valentine's Day.

Math: Small, medium and large vehicles. Counting and sorting cars, boats and airplanes in our block area.

Science: Experimenting with floating and sinking objects in our water table. Designing boats to put in the water table. Observing vehicles in sand and snow and compare how they move. Observe water turning into ice.

Language Arts: Listening to and retelling parts of stories. “Going Places”, “Tip, Tip Dig Dig”, “How the Trucks Work”, “Duck in a Truck”, “I Stink,” “Freight Trains” “Cliffords Valentine”, and “The Night Before Valentine’s Day”

Art: Classroom mural. Painting with different size tires. Creating airplanes from paper towel tubes. Making boats out of different materials such as Styrofoam and popsicle sticks.

Music/Physical: Singing "5 Little Valentines", "Wheels on the Bus", and "I've Been Working on the Railroad", “Rock a Motion Choo-Choo” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”.

Family Living Center: Working on children putting on and taking off own coats, hats and gloves. Planning trips by traveling to places on land, sear or air. Pretending to use bus schedules, trains, schedules etc..

Cooking: Valentine treat

Block Area: Designing our own train stations, highways and airports. Building roads, bridges and parking lots.

PRE-KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM

**MISS RENEE, MISS MARY AND MISS JESSICA

Theme: Dinosaurs and Winter

Language Arts : Books on our theme "Danny and the Dinosaur", "Dinosaur, Dinosaur", "The First Dinosaurs", "Fossil Detective", "If Dinosaurs Came Back", Digging up Dinosaurs", "Run Away Bunny", "I Love You Forever", "Valentine Bear", "Freckles & Willie" and "Arthur's Valentine”, “The Mitten”, “First Snow”, just to name a few.

House Area: Cooking Dino oatmeal, Tar pit cups and Valentine's Day Treats. Self Help Skills and working on our address and phone number.

Art: Dinosaur Skeletons, Dinosaur sponge painting & Dinosaur necklaces and Valentine project.

Science: Erupting a homemade volcano. Making fossils - watching educational films about dinosaurs etc.. Ice painting experiment, water bridge.

Blocks Create a pre-historic tar/mud pit & use our blocks to create our own dinosaurs, make dinosaur skeleton with blocks.

Math: Graphing.

Pre-Reading: Instructional language.

Music: "I Wish I Were a Dinosaur" & "Dinosaur Rock".

**MISS ELLEN'S KINDERGARTEN CLASS:

Theme: Special events in the Month of February: Ground Hog Day, Valentine's day and President's Week. 100^th Day of School.

Language Arts: Introduce the letters "D" "V" and "U" with poetry, stories and letter books. Continue with Journal writing, Introduce DEAR time, See Saw Magazines. Books of the Month, "Obadiah and Hairy Bear"

Math: Geometry and fractions and review of shapes. Graphing for 100^th Day. Count by tens and fives.

Science/Health:

Make Ground Hog predictions for Feb. 2^nd, Read Groundhog story, Check the News

Start our science journal with Shadow & Water experiments
Make thermometers
Dental Health Week - caring for our teeth. We will have a visit from the Dentist.
American Heart Month - Take Care of Your Heart

Social Studies: Learn about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Learning about our President Barak Obama. Write stories about the Presidents.

Art: Valentine Puppies, Ground Hogs, Toothbrushes and American Flags. 100^th Day of School Hats, Bear Caves

Cooking: Cocoa and Winter Breakfast

Music: Singing and Movement activities and games.

Dear Parents,

This month we are introducing D.E.A.R. Time (Drop Everything and Read). We will try and set aside ten minutes each day for independent reading. Please have your child pack a favorite book in his/her backpack EVERY DAY for this activity.