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Dear Families,
Our Used Book Fair was a great success! Both kindergarten classes enjoyed exploring the fair and selecting exciting new books to bring home. Our Food Drive will continue through the end of this week, concluding on Friday. Please check your cabinets and pantries for items to donate (see the link below for the list).
This Thursday, we will visit the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, where students will participate in the Beautiful Us exhibit. During this experience, children will explore both the unique and shared reasons people adorn themselves, investigate cultural adornments, and create their own body adornment to express their identities.
It’s hard to believe February is already here! As we celebrate Black History Month, we will learn about influential figures such as Carter G. Woodson, Rosa Parks, and Harriet Tubman, while also exploring the contributions of lesser-known but equally impactful individuals. Additionally, we will continue our discussions on the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr.
We have many exciting events to look forward to this month, including our Lower School Readathon, Kindergarten Family Literacy Night, the Valentine’s Day Family Dance, and Dress Like a Book Character Day. See below for dates.
Thank you for your continued support and participation in our school community!
Important Dates
January 26 - Jammin June & Poly Math Camp Registration Opens
February 5 - Brooklyn Children’s Museum Field Trip
February 6 - Food Drive Ends
February 6 - Semester 1 reports posted on the portal
February 13 - Valentine’s Family Dance @ 3:45PM
February 16 - School Closed: President’s Day
February 17 - School Closed: Lunar New Year
February 18 - United Voices - 3:45 PM - 5:00 PM
February 21 - Readathon Begins (Feb 21 - Feb 27)
February 24 - Kindergarten Family Literacy Night, 5:30 PM
February 27 - Dress Like a Book Character Day
February 28 - PolyCultura, 1:00 - 3:00 PM
Here are some important reminders for the week:
Our trip to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum is this Thursday, February 5th. We will depart from school at 9:15 and return around 12:45. Before leaving, students will have a morning snack at school, and lunch will be served when we return. Thank you to our chaperones for joining us!
We warmly invite families to join our classroom in February to celebrate Black History Month or the Lunar New Year. For planning ahead, if more than one family would like to participate, we would be delighted to connect families for a shared presentation so students can hear from multiple perspectives. Please email your child’s homeroom teachers if you are interested.
Our annual food drive will be from Monday, January 26-Friday, February 6, 2026, to support Grandma’s Love, an organization dedicated to combating childhood hunger in Brooklyn. This year, we are doing a special project with cereal boxes, a highly popular yet costly food item. We encourage families to donate cereal in addition to the other non-perishables on the list. Sign up to volunteer to drop-off by emailing sely@polyprep.org.
Register for Jammin’ June and Math Camp
Registration for June Camp programs at Poly Lower will open on Monday, January 26, at 10:00 AM. Learn more here about Jammin June, Robochef, and Math and Motion! Space is limited. Register is first-come, first-served.
It’s COLD outside, and we will still be going outdoors for recess as our protocols allow. Please be sure your child comes to school with SNOW PANTS (if possible), a hat and gloves or mittens so they can spend time outside comfortably and have the opportunity to move their bodies. In addition, please send your child to school with an extra pair of indoor shoes. We may go to the park even in inclement weather, and having a change of shoes helps prevent mud, dirt (and other surprise park finds!) from being tracked back into the building and onto our classroom rugs.
February is Black History Month. Throughout the month, students will share their My Story posters, and we’ll explore the rich history and celebrate the numerous contributions of remarkable African American individuals to our society.
Please take a moment to read this inspiring article about Ms. Shirley, Head Teacher of Nursery B, and her humanitarian efforts, including her work following Hurricane Melissa.
Please read below for this coming week’s learning goals and a few pointers for what you can do at home:
Social Emotional Learning
What is fairness? What does fairness look like in this space? How can we work together to create a fair community?
Read Alouds:
Fair is Fair by Sonny Varela
It's Not Fair!: A Book About Having Enough by Caryn Rivadeneira
Reading
Story Elements
We will continue learning about story elements, the building blocks that help us understand and talk about stories, including key elements such as characters, setting, problem, solution, and plot. Our focus will be on the problem and solution of a story, identifying what the problem is, how it is solved, and how the solution helps move the story forward.
Word of the week
The sight word for this week is have. Play Sight Word Memory Match. Make pairs of cards with the focus word have and other sight words. Place them face down and play a memory-matching game. Each time your child flips a card, they must say the word aloud. Matching words reinforces recognition and recall.
Learned sight words: and, the, a, I, to, do, he, me, she, we, my, you, your, was, said, of, like
Rhyming
We are learning that words rhyme when the middle and ending sounds are the same.
Rhyming words and word families help children discover many common word patterns.
Here are the word families we have taught thus far: -an, -at, -ad, -ap, -ag, -op, -ot, -og, -id, -ig, -in, -ip, -it
This week, we will be introducing short u word families: -ug, -ut, -un
Syllables
We are learning about syllables. Syllables are the parts of a word, the number of "chunks" or “beats” that a word breaks into when you say it. Students have been taught to segment words into syllables by clapping them out or placing their hand under their chin and counting the times their chin drops when saying a word.
S-T-R-E-T-C-H words apart, sounding out each letter (particularly consonant, vowel, consonant 3 letter words) then joining them back together to read the word.
One-to-One Correspondence or Finger Point Reading
One-to-one correspondence is the ability to match written word to spoken word while reading. Pointing, or one-to-one correspondence, helps beginning readers make text-to-word connections. This also helps students with directionality, visual tracking, and keeping their place while reading. We will continue to practice this skill while reading our mini-books.
Fundations / Handwriting
Blending sounds
Tapping out sounds to blend
Review of lowercase letters
Review all of the lowercase letters
Review of uppercase letters C and D
Fundations At Home Pack for Unit 2
The Fundations Home Fundations Home Support Pack Unit 2 provides you with the “why” and the “what” regarding our reading program, Fundations. The Fundations Home Packet also provides you with the language that the teachers use when forming their letters. Please use the same language when instructing and practicing with your child at home.
Writing Workshop
Unit 2: Writing for Readers
Bend 1: Make Writing Easy to Read
Leave spaces between words.
Make pictures that help with the words.
Write a letter for each sound.
Use capital letters to start sentences.
Put a period at the end of every sentence.
We will continue to practice the rhyme, When you think you’re done, you’ve only just begun. Children often say they are done, but we ask them to add more details to drawing, labeling, and writing.
When practicing revision, students are encouraged to ask themselves whether they included details in both their words and pictures about who was there, where they were, and what happened.
We are learning how to edit our work for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling! Students are encouraged to check the word wall for “trick words” and to tap out unfamiliar words and write a letter for each sound they can hear.
Math
Compare Numbers to Ten
comparing two sets of objects using the same
comparing two sets of objects using greater than
comparing two sets of objects using less than
comparing two numbers to 10
identifying 1 more or 1 less from a number
Social Studies
We are continuing our Fairness and Justice unit.
Our current focus is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In our Fairness and Justice unit, the students learn about Dr. MLK, Jr. and other leaders for equity and equality. They reflect on what fairness and justice means to them and how they could make positive changes in the world.
Anti-Racist Read Aloud
Our school-wide anti-racist read-aloud this month is I Walk With Vanessa by Kerascoët. This powerful, wordless story celebrates empathy, courage, and the impact of standing together as an upstander. Through Vanessa’s experience, students see how small acts of kindness and solidarity can help create safer, more inclusive communities.
Our focus for the month is perspective-taking, understanding what it means and why it matters. Students are encouraged to consider multiple perspectives as they engage with history, literature, and current events, helping them build empathy, deepen understanding, and recognize how our actions can affect others.
What You Can Do At Home
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - When addressing our students about the life and impact of Dr. King, it's inevitable that questions about his death may come up. It's crucial for us to handle these inquiries with honesty and sensitivity, emphasizing the celebration of his remarkable life and mission. We aim to underscore the significance of his dreams, teachings, and the positive changes he initiated. If your child has questions about Dr. King's passing, we suggest offering truthful and age-appropriate responses, focusing on his enduring legacy rather than delving into the details of his death.
February is Black History Month. At home, you can read books, listen to music, or discuss Black leaders, artists, and changemakers. Invite your child to think about how these individuals used their ideas, talents, and voices to shape the world.
Rainbow Writing: To practice letter or number formation, provide a sheet with letters or numbers lightly outlined. Your child can trace over them multiple times using different colored markers or crayons to create a “rainbow” effect. You can do this activity with our learned trick words, too.
Make a Rhyme Chain: Start with a word (e.g., "cake"), and take turns coming up with rhyming words. Keep the chain going as long as possible, adding a silly story or phrase for extra fun.
Spelling: Have your child practice spelling learned sight words in shaving cream or sand: a, the, and, I, to, do, he, me, she, we, you, your, was, said, of, like
Measurement: Encourage your child to measure objects around the house using everyday objects such as paper clips, buttons, or building blocks. For example, they can measure the length of a table or the height of a chair using these items - paperclips, connecting cubes, etc. You can also have them compare the length or height of different objects by using language such as, “longer/shorter than, taller/shorter than, the same length/height, or as long as/as tall as.”
Top It: Play a game of Top It using a deck of number cards. Each player flips over one card, and the player with the larger number says, “___ is greater than ___,” and takes both cards. If both players flip the same number, each player flips over another card. This game is a fun way to practice the math language greater than, less than, and equal to.
Fine Motor Skills: Practice fine motor skills with exercises like beading, buttoning, zipping. Foster independence and build confidence at home by encouraging your children to peel their own oranges, open a snack, clean up after themselves when they eat, and practice tying their own shoes and zipping their own jackets.
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