Cedar Island Elementary 6777 Hemlock Lane North Maple Grove, MN 55369 763-425-5855 February 2020 Dear Cedar Island Families: We appreciate that parents and other relatives occa- sionally come to eat with their child(ren). Our students look forward to these events. We will continue to wel- come parents/relatives to eat in our cafeteria with their child. However, we are going to make a change to our procedures. We now have a “guest table”. The student and their parent or other relative will eat at that table. We also will not allow other students to join you and your child at the guest table. This will allow you to focus your visiting time with your child. A few reminders when you come to eat with your child: • Check in at the office. • Go directly to the cafeteria • Eat at the guest table • Parents will be first ones dis- missed. Please re- turn directly to of- fice and sign out. Please do not go out to recess or the student’s class. • Please keep younger children by your side. • Parents staying to eat with another student, should wait in the front lobby area until lunch begins. February is “I Love To Read” month. Our Media Center is going to celebrate by having a “warm up to a good book” theme. During the month of February, children will have hot chocolate when they visit the Media Center. This fall we worked at making sure each child has an individual goal for independent reading. These were developed at fall conferences. This is a good time to pull out those goals and review them with your child. Here are some great ways that parents can help chil- dren become strong readers: • Pick a story that repeats phrases. “Assign” your child a phrase each time you read a new part of the story. • Read a short portion of the story or poem, then stop and let your child repeat the phrase. • Take turns reading. For example, with an “easy reader book”, you can read one page and the child can read the next page. • Ask questions to check for understand- ing. However, defer questions until you’re done with the story or passage. This helps ensure that the child is fully engaged in listen- ing to the story. • Relate a book to one that was read in the past. Ask how the book is similar and/or different . • Ask a child to imagine what he or she may do in situation similar that faced by a character. • Books often evoke strong feelings that need to be shared. Offer your reactions and invite children to do the same. I look forward to seeing all of our families on Friday, February 28 at the Bobcat Bash! The Carnival Com- mittee will be looking for many volunteers. Please watch this week’s Peach Jar for a link to sign up . Thanks. Daniel Wald, Principal