Dear Parents,
Welcome back and Happy New Year! It was so nice to see everyone, reconnect,
and hear about all the wonderful and exciting things they all did over the break.
We all shared at least one fun thing we did over the break and then wrote about it
in our journals.
After getting back into our routine, we jumped right back into our exploration of
polar bears. We had learned about how their fur appears white but actually is
transparent and the whiteness is caused by a reaction to sunlight called
luminescence. The light energy travels into the hair and gets trapped. This not only
makes the bears’ fur appear white but also causes the hair to retain heat and keeps
the bears warm. A polar bear’s skin is actually black. To demonstrate how
luminescence works, the students created polar bears out of clay and then cut up
straws, which represented the hollow hair shafts. We placed the straws all over the
clay bears and then demonstrated how the sunlight makes the fur appear white by
turning off the lights in our room and directing flashlights at our clay bears. The
straws really did reflect the light, making our clay bears appear white. Of course,
before we were done, the flashlights were also pointed at the ceiling, the walls, the
floor, and at each other!
Some other things we’ve been up to this week: making new play dough, painting
with bear counters, exploring black beans, rocks and “jewels” in the sensory table,
working on new puzzles, playing initial consonant bingo, building with gears,
exploring geoboards and rubber bands, and doing addition with three
addends/numbers (ex. 4+6+2=).
We enjoyed getting together with our reading buddies this week as well as
returning to the library to check out new books. Some of the books we’ve enjoyed
reading together this week have been: Somebody and the Three Blairs, The Mitten,
Annie and the Wild Animals, The Hat, and Animals Should Definitely Not Wear
Clothes. We have started reading stories out of The Complete Tales of Winnie the
Pooh and I am delighted at how interested and engaged the children are so far.
A few notes: Please make sure your children have an extra set of clothes at school,
including socks. With the melting snow this week, we have discovered puddles at
the park and somehow the water finds its way into our boots! 
We will be returning to the library Monday, January 22 for our next session with
Tumblebooks. If you haven’t sent in ear phones or ear buds already, please send
them in next week by Friday, January 19. If you’d rather purchase them, please
send $1.25.
Book orders are going home tomorrow. Orders are due Friday, January 19.
Next week we will be turning our dramatic play area into a teddy bear clinic. If
your child would like to bring in a teddy bear to be one of our patients, please
bring it Monday.
Finally, we have taken it upon ourselves to clean up the litter we have seen on our
way to from the park and also in the Plato parking lot. One of the students came up
with the idea and asked me each day if we could pick up the litter. We got approval
from the office and a large garbage bag and today we spent some time on our way
back from recess collecting garbage. Everyone pitched in and they were so
enthusiastic and dedicated. Even when the garbage was frozen in the ice, they still
tried to pry it free so we could add it to our bag. I’m so impressed and proud of our
community contributors!
Have a wonderful long weekend and thank you for sharing your amazing children
with me!