Post-Party Thank You!!

Thank you all for coming to our party and joining our celebration of festivals of light. It was a lot of fun. A big thank you to all of you for coming and for bringing treats and decorations. Another, very BIG thank you to the children for singing and dancing so well for their audience. There was not a shy one in the whole chorus. Well done!!! Finally, thank you for all the gifts, cards and words of appreciation to the teachers. It has been a busy and challenging fall and we are glad of all your support and help. The children are all well established and our class is a settled and happy learning place. We are very proud of how far the children have come since the fall.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and a bit of a rest. We are beginning a new unit now on the Alphabet. Books and toys from home about ABCs are welcome for sharing time. Please remember to label them with your child's name. Also a reminder that Friday is Library Day and the children need their books and their book bags. Some children brought their indoor shoes, blankets and extra clothing home for the holidays and will need them as well. Thanks, and Happy 2014!!!

School Spirit Day December 19th

The student council has declared Thursday, December 19th to be Fancy Dress Day. The children can wear their dresses, suits, ties, good sweaters, or anything else that's a little extra spiffy. We will be dressed up for the morning. THEN, we will change into jammies for the afternoon and visit Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Packmann's class for a movie and popcorn. So please dress your child up for the morning in their very best, and send in a bag with their jammies and slippers for the afternoon. It should be a fun last day!

Treats for the Party on Wednesday

Dear Parents; We have permission to bring in treats for our party on Wednesday. Miranda Yu, Mark's mom, has given us the name of some nut free bakeries they used in nursery school days. Here are the names and links if you would like to bring in a few sweets for the party: The two nut-free bakeries that we are allowed to buy from were Isobel's Cupcakes on Wellington and Thimblecakes . Although Thimblecakes is located in Old Ottawa South, the Candy Store in Westboro carries their cupcakes and will accept their orders, which is convenient. http://www.isobels.com/ http://thimblecakes.ca/ http://thecandystoreottawa.com/index.html Thank you to Miranda for this idea! See you at the party!!!

Advent

Advent has begun, so we are counting down the days to Christmas. We will make a paper chain advent calendar where there is a link for every day until Christmas. Each day we will take off one link from the chain and so we will know exactly how many more days we have to wait. We will also begin to "light" our paper advent candles with tissue paper flames to count the four weeks of the season. The last week of school we will also light the Kwanzaa kinara candles. There will be more and more lights in room 23! Our Advent chain.

Solstice, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hanukkah and all Festivals of Light Holiday Party

Dear Parents, Grandparents, Friends and Relations; You are all warmly invited to our All Holidays Party on Wednesday, December 18th in our classroom, room 23 at 2:00. We will be singing you some of the songs we have learned and having a few seasonal treats. If you would rather, you can bring in a snack for your child. There will also be a little craft for you to do with your child if you would like. It should be a great part of our Festivals of Light unit. See you there! (And if you are unavoidably late, don't panic. We usually sing the songs again at the end of the party just for good measure.)

Happy Hanukkah!!

Hanukkah began on November 27th and finishes tomorrow night, Dec. 5th. We have been lighting paper candles on a bulletin board candelabra called a hanukkiah, one for each of the eight days. We have read Hanukkah stories and of course played dreidel. On Friday we made potato latkes and most of the children tried them and enjoyed them. Some even tried them with apple sauce and sour cream. Happy last days of Hanukkah!!!