Jessica Anne Carter
Feb 1, 20214 min
February is all about love; there’s plenty of fantastic events and holidays centred around love and community. While celebrating has looked a lot different for the past year, our collective determination to keep in touch and keep moving forward has made simple moments of connection all the sweeter. We all need more love in our lives and expressing our appreciation for the people we love can help us feel closer during these social-distanced times.
There’s numerous ways to show your love and appreciation for those around you this month, starting with the holiday of hearts and chocolates: Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s cards are a tradition that kids love to embrace, with the excitement of exchanging cards with classmates (and the chocolate – don’t forget the chocolate!). Making homemade cards is a great way for children to show their affection while practising their hand-eye coordination through cutting skills, gluing skills, and writing thoughtful messages.
Prepare for making Valentine’s cards by helping your kids practise their writing skills. Younger kids can practise their printing with our Canadian Curriculum Press Graded Writing Books, and older kids who want a challenge can practise their cursive with our Cursive Writing workbook. Have your child practise their thoughtful message on a scrap piece of paper before making their cards. Make your way through out Valentine's maze.
With in-class learning still suspended for many students, it may not be possible for everyone to exchange Valentine’s cards. But there are still many wonderful options to get you into the spirit, like Valentines for Veterans. Your child can make homemade cards using construction paper for veterans in long-term care homes. The deadline for Valentines for Veterans is Feb 1, but you can also mail your child’s homemade cards to your local long-term care home to bring a smile to the faces of non-veterans and long-term care staff as well.
February also means Family Day on the 15th. This holiday gives us a much-needed day to think about the importance of family and embrace being together, no matter what family means to you. Sure, we can get on each other’s nerves, but if the COVID pandemic has taught us anything, it’s to value the people we care about. Spend time together either in person or virtually. You can video chat over dinner or mail photos and letters ahead of time to open and read over the phone.
Fun family activities are great for bonding and destressing. These activities can even be educational: check out our 100 Practise Tests series for great lab experiments in the Science sections. Download this fun science experiment to do at home.
February 15 brings further fun with National Flag Day of Canada. (Yes, Family Day and National Flag Day of Canada are the same day!) Get ready to wave a frenzy of flags and celebrate our national family.
Canada’s flag was officially adopted on January 28, 1965, making it just 56 years old! But Canada’s national flag isn’t our only important flag. Each of Canada’s provinces and territories has its own provincial flag with special meanings. Download our printable maple leaf maze. Take a photo with your maze and share it with us on Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #CanadianFlag and #CanadianFlag56
As you prepare your cards and flags, take a moment to celebrate Lunar New Year on February 12. Beginning with the new moon, this holiday is celebrated for fifteen days, ending with a Lantern Festival. 2021 is the Year of the Ox. Oxen are characterized as hardworking and honest in Chinese lore, to traits that will serve us well moving forward. You and your child can make colourful lanterns to decorate for this holiday. What’s your Chinese zodiac sign?
To put the pink frosting on top of this short and love-filled month, we at Telegraph Road Entertainment are hosting a fundraiser for Pink Shirt Day. Pink Shirt Day promotes anti-bullying and inclusivity in classrooms. Acceptance and kindness are important for helping children feel loved and accepted. Wear your pink shirts and check out our Fundraiser page.
What is New at Canadian Curriculum Press
We have a couple of special releases happening this month. First, we’re continuing our Flash Card of the Month spotlight, which we launched last month with Go Fish. This month, to celebrate family day, we’re spotlighting our Word Families Flash Cards.
Letter sounds are the building blocks of language and help children see connections between words. With the Word Families Flash Cards, your child will learn how words are related to each other, which will help them improve their reading and spelling skills.
We also have four new eBook workbooks set to be released on February 18. That’s A-Z Uppercase Alphabet, Pre-K Thinking Skills, Cursive Writing, and French-English Vocabulary. That’s our entire Key Skills and Activity series available in eBook format. Our printable eBooks allow you to buy our content in a safe and convenient format.
The excitement continues into March, as we are thrilled to launch our Monthly Guest Speaker Series on Instagram Live! We will be sitting down with a variety of inspiring and engaging guest speakers, including authors and educators. Join us on Thursday, February 11 at 3 pm on Instagram Live (@canadiancurriculumpress) for a sneak peek.
We love hearing from you!
You can connect with us by following us on Instagram at @telegraphroad.entertainment and
@canadiancurriculumpress and by visiting our Facebook page @TelegraphRoadEntertainment.
Show us your cards, flags, experiments, lanterns, and pink shirts by tagging us!
Have a lovely February!