Fall-Winter Newsletter

School is in full swing now for the academic year and we have welcomed many new students as well as those returning from last year. The blooms have fallen off the flowers, the rains are nourishing the playground trees and vines, and the days are darkening earlier. We held our annual Harvest Festival in October where children performed songs, jokes and dances and all enjoyed a wonderful, hearty potluck. Special thanks go out to the McGinnis family (all ten of them!) for the wonderful set-up, and to the Constancio/King family (all six of them!) for staying to clean up until the last garbage bag was hauled! We couldn't have done it without you! And thanks to all of you other families who helped make this the best event ever!

We have several activities happening surrounding the holiday season; the 5th annual giving tree, up in December, is the location for gathering gifts for young children who are homeless and must live in the Eureka Mission for the holidays. Remember we are looking for uni-gender items that are fun for preschool-aged children but easily portable, such as books, inflatable toys, art supplies-- use your imagination. Wrap them as beautifully as possible to enhance the child's experience.

One of our parents will be making a Hanukah presentation, introducing the story of the miracle of light as well as songs and of course, dreidels and the menorah. We will be lighting a candle each day of Hanukah on our classroom menorah. In addition, we will be busy creating gifts and art projects to celebrate the winter time of year. Remember that your child's paintings make great wrapping paper for the grandparent's gifts! They can also be laminated to make useful place mats!

With the season change comes the necessity of checking your child's cubby to make sure the spare clothes there are seasonally appropriate. Remember, we need a complete set of clothes, including footwear marked with the child's initials. Also please remember that even if the weather seems mild in the morning, it can change rapidly and each child MUST bring a jacket/sweater that they can manage themselves. If your child wears boots to school, they need to have shoes to change into for the classroom to prevent muddy soles from tracking around the classroom.

We are planning exciting up-coming field trips; The Peking Acrobats, the new display at the Discovery Museum, and of course, our annual trip to the Natural History Museum. If you have any ideas for field trips, please let staff know. We will let you know times/dates for these events at least two weeks in advance so you can make preparations to attend. If for any reason you cannot attend, please tell staff so we can help you make alternative arrangements for your child. We also strongly encourage parents to carpool whenever feasable.

The emergency shed, purchased from our wildly successful summer rummage sale, is up and the new cistern is installed. Now we will be sending out emergency supply lists for each family to purchase for their child in January. We have also had the wonderful donation of an emergency radio system from the Constancio family, which will notify us of emergency early warnings automatically in the classroom. We are also working on a tsunami evacuation plan and have been practicing earthquake drills. Our goal is to be as prepared as possible in the event of an emergency, and to create peace of mind for parents to feel their child's welfare is tantamount in our program.