February 2026
February may be the shortest month of the year, but it certainly is one of the busiest. We’ve packed in
Groundhog Day, Lunar New Year, and Valentine’s Day, all by mid-month. Wow! With Valentine’s Day
and the Year of the Horse galloping in at nearly the same time, we had to be a little more organized and
strategic than usual. First up was lantern-making where the children carefully cut, glued, decorated, and
proudly added glittery gold handles. Those cutting skills really shine. Lucky red envelopes were stamped,
glued, and closed with gold metallic seals, but not before slipping in a shiny gold chocolate coin. Yum.
We had a lot of fun during Circle Time, trying on traditional Chinese outfits as part of our Lunar New Year
celebrations. Lots of smiles. Lots of laughter. White paper lunch bags were magically transformed into
colourful collage masterpieces, ready to collect Valentines from friends. Excitement grew as the Valentine
mailbags filled. Our baking project was a sweet and noisy adventure. The children made heart-shaped
sugar cookies with tiny heart cut-outs in the centre. Then came the noisy part. Leftover Jolly Rancher
candy canes from our Christmas party were placed in sturdy bags and broken apart with wooden mallets,
and then crushed to powder with a mortar and pestle. The crushed candy was carefully poured into the
cookie centres, which melted into beautiful, sparkly, candy centres as they baked. Each child brought
home a crunchy, candy-centred heart cookie to share with Mum and Dad on Valentine’s Day.
Our study of Europe continues with a focus on animals, along with work on animal booklets. The children
are strengthening continent recognition skills by placing indigenous animals on the correct continent
maps. Many of our older children have built the Roman Arch which is a wooden block set similar to a 3D
puzzle that develops problem-solving skills and spatial awareness. It also introduces them to Roman
engineering, which explains why ancient Roman bridges have remained stable for centuries. Once you
recognize what a Roman arch looks like, you begin to notice them everywhere and wonder how you never spotted these remarkable examples of ancient architecture before. To further our European studies, the children are also working on a special art project that will come home in early March. You may notice little hands peeling crayons in the photo links. All will be revealed very soon … this week actually.
All projects and activities are designed to be fun as we continue to promote a love of learning. These are
thoughtfully selected to support multi-level skill development, dexterity, and concentration. A great
example is pin poking, which strengthens pencil grip, finger control, hand-eye coordination, and focus.
Each day offers a wide variety of both fine and gross motor skill activities to choose from. Some activities
also support pathway development. For example, combing hair while facing a mirror builds coordination
and body awareness. Yoga and dance parties on Thursday and Friday afternoons further enhance
coordination while providing wonderful cardio exercise. A great way to get the heart pumping.
This month has included all the activities you’ve seen before, beading, sewing, collage, and more added
to the shelves as the children continue to grow and develop new skills. Each month, we thoughtfully
introduce new materials and seasonal projects to keep their learning fresh, engaging, and challenging at
appropriate skill levels for every individual. January and February are the very best months for fresh
oranges, so we brought in 30 pounds of oranges. The children have been busy squeezing their own fresh
orange juice, and it has quickly become a favourite activity. Every day, you can see children happily
queuing up for their turn. The reward is a delicious glass of freshly squeezed orange juice they made
themselves. We were also treated to a few snowy days this month. Watching snowflakes fall is beautiful
and magical, but the best part is trying to catch them on your tongue. You are never too old to catch a
snowflake on your tongue. It is a timeless tradition.
Tax receipts for 2025 were sent out in the children’s folders last month. If you cannot find your receipt,
please let us know and we will issue a new one.
We ended the last week of February with a focus on kindness. Montessori education has always
recognized that it is never too early for children to begin learning about respect, respect for themselves,
respect for others, and respect for their environment. Because this is an everyday Montessori concept,
Pink Shirt Day has traditionally been a topic of Circle discussion rather than a project. This year, we
expanded our learning by creating a Pink Shirt Day project. The children thoughtfully selected positive
words to describe themselves as a friend and as a family member. A great deal of time was given to each
child to carefully choose words that felt meaningful to them. We encourage parents to take a moment to
look at these mini posters and reflect upon how your child sees themselves. We initiated this project after
hearing of the heart-breaking news from Tumbler Ridge. The concept of Pink Shirt Day was introduced in
a developmentally appropriate way, as it would be within any Montessori curriculum, without delving
directly into very tragic events which could be very traumatic for children.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, survivors, and families of Tumbler Ridge.
