HOLIDAY NOTE FOR PARENTS

All of the children are getting excited as the holiday season quickly approaches!

We are planning many projects for the next few weeks. The students will be making a menorah, decorations, presents, and a very special gingerbread house project. They will also be making a piñata and cookies to enjoy at their party! Please note the following special events and dates:

Each child in the class will be making their own gingerbread house from graham crackers and decorating it with icing and candies; I need to ask you for some donations of supplies for this very exciting project. We could really use boxes of graham crackers (please send in only Nabisco regular Graham crackers) for building the house, lots of confectioner's sugar for the icing and tiny candies of any variety. We can use miniature candy canes, marshmallows, peppermint candies (windows), green spearmint leaves (shrubs) Neco wafers (sidewalks), M&M's, small gumdrops, shredded coconut (snow), gummy bears, chocolate chips, etc.
Please bring in any one of these items to the school by Friday, December 5th. Thanks so much! The children really enjoy making their house frame from different shapes and sizes of graham crackers, and they love using real decorator tubes filled with icing to attach candies to their creations! This is a great way to teach shapes, spatial relationships, and hand/eye coordination. They will be very proud of their own gingerbread house!
Note: I will be making the icing with powdered egg whites instead of raw egg whites, so it will be safe to eat.
We will make the house frame on Monday, December 8th. Then the children will decorate their house with candies and take it home on Wednesday, Dec. 10th. So we will need the graham crackers and confectioner's sugar first, and then some candies. Thanks so much for your help.

The Holiday Party will be on Monday, December 22nd.
If you wish, your child can bring in holiday cards for the entire class on the party day. Do not write and names of classmates on the envelopes; just send in 16 cards that your child has printed his/her names on. Please secure all the cards with a rubber band and label the bundle with your child's name.

To make the Christmas party a great success, would you kindly bring in a present for your own child that is wrapped and labeled with your child's full name on it by Friday, December 12th. (Do this without your child knowing about it) The students will be told that Santa left a big bag full of presents for the class. Your child will receive the gift that you purchased and brought in secretly. Please limit the amount spent of the gift to $15.00 May I suggest that your child will especially enjoy a gift from Santa that can be played with in class after opening it. For this reason, books are not the best choice for Santa's gift. Santa may come to visit the children and hand out the presents during the party. My husband really enjoys being Santa for us each year!

We will also be talking about different holiday customs including Hanukkah, and Hindu traditions. I try not to include any religious connotations of our holiday celebrations.

During the coming winter months, please send your child to school with warm outer clothing including boots, mittens and a hat. All items should be labeled with your child's name. The boots should be large enough so that your child can put them on with little help.
(Send in shoes, sneakers or slippers to wear during class, as boots can be too warm and track mud puddles throughout the school!) Your child needs to take home the extra shoes/slippers each day.

If your child cannot put on gloves without help, please send in mittens. It is very difficult for the teachers to help dress each child for outdoor play and work with glove fingers too! Thanks. We will go outdoors with the class on winter days that are not too cold or windy. The students really enjoy the snow, and they especially like sleigh riding. If for some reason you do not want your child to go outdoors, please plan to come 15 minutes before the end of class to take your child home. We cannot leave any child in the classroom if we go outdoors with the class. If there is snow on the ground and your child does not have boots, we will try to have your youngster stay on the shoveled paths, but this limits their fun outdoors.

Please note that the nursery school will be closed for the entire day when there are hazardous driving conditions, and the area public schools have closed. Listen to the following radio stations for school closing announcements beginning at 7:00 A.M.

• WRRV 92.7/96.9 FM
• WPDH 101.5/106.1 FM
• Oldies 97.7/97.3 FM

I will not be able to telephone each parent to notify you that the school is closed, so please listen to the radio. If you have any questions, you can call me.

The nursery school will be closed for the holidays December 24th - January 1st.
The Pre-Kindergarten class will resume beginning on Monday, January 5th, 2009!

I hope that you can take time out from your very hectic holiday rush to enjoy the most precious gift of all - your child. Mrs. Komstedt, Mrs. Hodne, and I wish all of your family a truly happy, healthy, and peaceful holiday season full of warmth and love.

Fondly,
Diane McDermott

2008-2009 Calendar

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September 4, 5 Orientation 30 Rosh Hashanah October 9 Yom Kippur 10, 13 Columbus Day November 11 Veterans Day 26-28 Thanksgiving December 24-31 Winter Recess and Christmas January 1-2 New Years 19 Martin L. King February 13-16 Presidents' Week March April 9-17 Spring Recess May 25 Memorial Day June 12 Last Day of School 16 Graduation Day for Pre-Kindergarten Classes