Dear Parents,

     This will be both a fun and a busy month at school with all of the holiday decorations and songs - not to mention the excitement all of the children have as they look forward to Christmas !!  You can be sure that the days in December will go by fast.

          CONFERENCES

          Thanks again to all of you who came last week for your child’s conference.  I really do enjoy the individual time that I have to talk to each of the children’s families, and appreciate your effort in attending.

     CHRISTMAS  BELLS

      Each child left today with their bell in a bag, ready to hang it somewhere special for the month.  The directions are on the bell - a link is removed each night, except for the first night.  This is a fun activity as the children have a visual count down to Christmas.  You can do some math activities along with it - counting how many all together, how many green, how many red, etc.

     SANTA’S WORKSHOP

     This is a PTA sponsored activity that allows the children to shop for members of their family, or friends, for the holidays.  The children bring in money and the PTA members help them select gifts - it is set up in one of the portables.  Our time to go to Santa’s Workshop is Monday, Dec. 4 AM @ 9:00 and PM @ 1:30. Please put  money in a marked envelope--Santa’s Workshop-- and who the child should buy for, it is helpful to mark the ages of the people who they will be shopping for because a baby vs. an older siblings gift can make a difference (i.e. mom, dad, sister-Sue 12, brother-Joe 3, in order to shop the children must have their money. 

     CHRISTMAS PARTY

     We will have our Christmas parties on Wednesday, Dec. 20th, at 10:20 and 2:15.  If you offered to help with this party, I will contact you.  We will have a gift exchange and Mr. Buckley has set the amount at $3.00.  A suggestion for the boys would be a car, or truck, like the match box ones.  And the girls always like jewelry sets - rings, bracelets, etc.  The boys bring a boy’s gift marked “to a boy, from ____(your child’s name)’, and the girls a girl’s gift marked “to a girl, from ____(your child’s name).  Please DO NOT put to any specific name on your child’s gift as this only causes confusion and often hurt feelings.  We will put all of the boys gifts in a pile, and they pick one out, then start the music and pass them around until the music stops - and they keep the gift in their hand.  We do the same for the girls.  You are welcome to join us that day.  The gifts can be brought in beginning Tues., Dec. 12th.

     Thursday, DEC.21

       We will have “Imagination Stations” with some special activities, including frosting (and eating for our snack) Christmas cookies.  If any of you could send in 1 or 2 dozen cut out cookies - not frosted, or a can of frosting, or sprinkles, for this day, please let me know. We also will need tape, tissue paper and/or wrapping paper for our elves at a station. Thanks!! This is our next to last day of school before Christmas break.

       COLD WEATHER     

          With December comes cold, windy, snowy weather, and more hats, scarf's, mittens, boots, etc.  Please remember to put your child’s name on all of these things, and their coat, too.  Many of the children need us to help with zippers, hats, gloves or mittens, and boots.  We certainly do not mind, but we do ask that they practice some of these skills at home.  It helps them become more independent, too.  Our room temperature is usually fine, except on very cold, very windy days - so dress your child warmer on these days.

     CHRISTMAS BOOKS AND VIDEOS

     There are so many nice Christmas books and videos - if your child would like to bring one of these in to share with his/her class, they can.  We try to have several stories each day.  We sometimes see part of a video at the end of the day while eating a snack.  Please have your child’s name on the book or video you send in - also we only show “G” rated videos at school, no other.

          SNACKS

          Our class can always use snacks, drinks, napkins, and 5 oz. Dixie cups.  The children enjoy a snack and drink at the end of their day. If you’d like to send something in, the children would enjoy it, and they thank you ahead of time!

Parent Helper Tree

    We greatly appreciate the supplies that you have sent in for us to use in the classroom.  With the holiday season approaching, I would like to suggest again as I did in my Parent Teacher Conference Booklet that instead of a personal gift for the teachers, you may consider sending in supplies for your child’s room - such as 200 speed film, glue sticks, markers, colored pencils, special crayons (like glitter or twisting), napkins, 5oz. Dixie cups, hand sanitizer, paper plates , yarn, shaving cream, cotton balls, paper lunch size bags, seasonal stickers or stamps, magic noodles, etc., and of course snacks!  Please know that these are truly gifts, because we would be purchasing all of these items for the children ourselves...THANKS!!

DECEMBER CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

*5-- Santa’s Workshop the morning class will go at 9:00

                          afternoon class will go at 1:30

*13--Children may begin to bring gift exchange presents

*20--CHRISTMAS PARTY  (AM 10:15 & PM 2:15)

*22--Imagination Stations (cookies, frosting, tissue

       paper/wrapping paper, tape, and sprinkles needed)

    ***Please let me know if you can help supply any

      of these items.

*22-- LAST DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS BREAK 

*JANUARY 3rd (Tuesday)-- RETURN TO SCHOOL

    We certainly want to take this time to wish you a very happy holiday season. 

          HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!       

  Mrs. Sherry Locke, Mrs. Sue Williams, Mrs. Thorne, Mrs. Colpeart and Grandma Irene

Just a suggestion ...

                   When shopping for your child this holiday, think about getting him or her a book.  There are so many good ones, and with the reading readiness we are doing, I do think they would enjoy a new book.  I have listed below some of the ones we have in class that they enjoy.  Even though we read them here, the familiarity is good for recall and sequence of the story.  Be sure to put their name in it, who it is from, and the date - years from now they will think it pretty special to have a book dated with 2005!!!

          * “Dream Snow” by Eric Carle

          * “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
by B. Martin and E. Carle

          * “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
by B. Martin and E. Carle

          * “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by B. Martin

          * “The Grouchy Ladybug” by Eric Carle

          * “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” by Kin Eagle

          * “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” by Iza Trapani

          * “The New Adventures of Mother Goose
by Bruce Lansky

          * “Rainbow Fish”  by Marcus Pfister

          * “The Mitten”  by Jan Brett

          * “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg

          * “Stranger in the Woods” by Carl Sams and J. Stoick

(this book uses actual photographs of deer in the forest snow, and other forest animals as they come upon a snowman - a really neat and unusual book, I know Barnes and Noble bookstore has it)