The elves were very busy today in our classroom during Winter Workshop!  Special thanks to the big elves–Mrs. Benavidez, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Caldwell, Mrs. Kasparian, Mrs. Chang, Mrs. Wilkins, Eric Brown, and Mrs. Scofield–you made our day so much fun!  We made puppets, strung necklaces, made reindeer sandwiches, snowmen-on-a-stick, reindeer hats, candy cane reindeer, push pin art, snowflakes, and had our faces painted!  Thanks also to all of the parents who were able to supply goodies for our fun and busy day!

We will return to school on January 7, 2013.  This will be the first day of our “peanut restricted” classroom procedures.  Beginning on this day we are asking that you try to follow the guidelines that were provided in the information packet sent home on 12/17.  Simply put, this means please do not send a snack that has peanut butter in it, or snacks that have been manufactured with peanut products.  It also means that we will start eating our snacks inside the classroom each day–allowing 10 minutes for students to eat their snacks before they wash their hands and go out to play for recess.  Please pack just one (peanut restricted) item to eat and a drink for your child each day…some kids come to kindergarten with a full lunch that they do not have time to eat during this “snack” period.  Previously, children ate snacks outside and many of them would eat a little, play a little, and eat some more.  Because we will be eating all snacks inside the classroom, the snacks need to be something the children can finish within the 10 minutes so that we can clean up and head outside, and so that I can then supervise the class at play.

I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas Holiday with your families.  Although I will be spending time with family, my son won’t be home for Christmas. Instead he will be coming home on January 7 to spend a month here in Elk Grove as a Marines Recruiting Assistant.  I am the luckiest mom ever! 

As always, thanks so much for your continued support at home.

I hope that everyone enjoyed our holiday program last Friday…we sure did!  I always enjoy having our kids “show what they know,” to family and friends.  It was so nice having everyone come back to the classroom, and the nice day made it easy for us to move outside with our refreshments.  Very fun day!

Next week we will have our book exchange and holiday workshop.  Remember to send in a wrapped book with your child’s name in the from spot on the tag (by Wednesday, Dec. 19)  if you want them to participate in the book exchange on Friday, Dec. 21.  Our holiday workshop will be on Friday, December 21 from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m.  We will have another sign up sheet outside our room if you would like to help out on this fun day…we will need a lot of help because we will have both a.m. and p.m. classes come early on this day.  Let me know with an email if you want to help out, or sign up on the volunteer sign up sheet outside our classroom beginning tomorrow.

Friday, Dec. 21 is our last day of school for the year–we will return on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. 

 Happy Holidays, this Mom is hoping to see her Marine for Christmas!!

As I write this I cannot believe that Christmas is almost here!  The children are so excited about our Kindergarten Winter Program on Friday and they are doing such a good job learning all of the songs…we can’t wait for you to see us perform.   The show starts at 9:00 a.m. in our school multi-purpose room.  As you face the stage, our class will be standing left of the center on the risers.  It will last until about 9:40, and then we will walk back to our classroom for refreshments.  This morning of fun will probably be done by about 10:15 or 10:30 a.m.  There will be a sign-out sheet available in the event that you would like to take your child home after the refreshments, rather than coming back to school at 11:30 for dismissal.  We are asking that the children dress in their holiday clothes because their performance is  such a special occasion.

Thank you to all of the parents who quickly signed up to bring refreshments for after our performance.  Please send these in with your child on Friday when you bring them to school at 8:10.  If you saw the list, we listed a lot of items because with both Mrs. Kennedy’s and our class there are 50 kids, then you add in at least 2 family members for each child and that adds up to about 150 people!  If you would still like to sign up, we  still need holiday napkins.

Also coming up this month is our holiday book exchange & holiday workshop.  A flyer was sent home about the book exchange:  choose a new  book that can be given to a boy or a girl (under $5).  Wrap it, and put a tag on it with you child’s name in the from space.  Please send these in by Wednesday, December 19 so that we can exchange on Friday, December 21 after our holiday workshop.  Our holiday workshop is very similar to our fall workshop, but it has winter/holiday activities in each group.  We will post a supply needs list for these workshop activities, as well as a sign up sheet for those who would like to volunteer for this super fun day in kindergarten!

December homework was sent home today with an incorrect due date on it, please change the due date to Friday, January 11 instead of January 4.

Parents always ask about things they can do at home to help.  As we are moving into the colder weather the children are wearing jackets.  It is really helpful for parents to help their child learn to turn those inside out sleeves right side out as well as learn to put on their own jacket and zip it.  I have noticed that a number of our kids can already do this, it makes getting organized to go outside the classroom so much easier for all of us!

Thanks so much for your continued support at home!