Dear Parents,
We are still busy WONDERING ABOUT NATURE in all sorts of ways in small group! We have been wondering and finding out more about: the story of Roxaboxen – using stones and wood to create an imaginary landscape; gems and how they are formed; bees and wasps – where they live and how they make their homes; dinosaur bones and the human skeleton; big cats; leaves; spider webs; and ocean fish – where they hide and why. Our wonderings will continue for a bit … there are still curiosities to be explored!
In this newsletter we have some things happening that we want to let you know about, as well as reminders of when school will be closed in the upcoming months.
PLEASE be sure to read the newsletter carefully and mark your calendar for important dates.
SNOW DAYS
It’s that time of year again. Our general rule of thumb is that if BVSD closes for weather, we will as well. We rarely have Late Start due to weather. We communicate closure and the rare late start, via blast email, Facebook, FnF website on the Latest & Greatest page, and on 9News. Check these when in doubt:
www.friendsnfunchildrenscenter.com – FnF Website on “Latest & Greatest” page
https://www.facebook.com/FriendsnFunChildrensCenterInc/ – Facebook
http://www.9news.com – Channel 9 News (closings/late starts are listed on
website more quickly than TV streaming list)
We will make the decision to close based on the safety of all – children, parents and community. If you have questions on snow days please call Janet or Jane. We’ll do our best to keep you informed. Thank you.
CELEBRATING HANUKKAH
For more than 25 years, our friend Bruce Kirschner, has been helping us celebrate Hanukkah. He started when his boys attended FnF and reaches out each year to schedule a date to come celebrate with all of us here. Bruce will be joining us on Friday, December 16th. He will teach the kids how to play dreidel, talk about the menorah and light the candles, and read us one or two of our favorite children’s Hanukkah stories. We will get to eat latkes for our snack! We are looking forward to the rousing good time that we always have when Bruce comes to celebrate with us.
Share-a-Gift
We are proud to be participating in Share-a-Gift again this year. Share-a-Gift is an annual, all-volunteer, non-profit toy collection and distribution holiday project encompassing the Boulder Valley school area. Last year over 700 households (representing over 1800 children, ages birth to 14 in our community) received these donations. To be successful, Share-a-Gift needs thousands of high quality, new or gently used, toys, games, books, and puzzles. School collections are the biggest source of toys for Share-a-Gift. Toys may be dropped off in the Share-a-Gift box on our front porch beginning Monday, November 28th through Wednesday, December 14th. Friends ‘n Fun families have been one of their biggest donors in the past. Let’s see what we can do to continue this tradition of giving! P. S. This is a great opportunity to clean out toys that are still in good condition and pass them along.
FAMILY TRADITIONS
The holiday season is upon us. It all begins with Halloween (from the children’s perspective) and rolls into Diwali, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Las Posadas, Christmas, multiple New Years’, and many other wonderful celebrations that honor special cultural and religious traditions. We join together with family and friends to enjoy this season.
We treasure all of the unique and distinctive differences and unifying similarities that make up our school community. This holiday season we would like to recognize all of our families.
We would like to invite your family to decorate a tree branch (provided by us!) with photographs and small objects that represent special things about your family. We will provide an assortment of yarns, beads, buttons, jewels, etc., for each family. You can attach photographs, small objects, anything that represents what is important/traditional to your family. The things you use to embellish the branch should represent your family’s interests (biking, pets, skiing, baking, music, etc.), as well as special celebrations.
Branches and decorative goodies will be sent home the week of December 5th. Please return your branch when it is ready. They will hang in school for quite awhile, and we do not want to add “one more thing” to your To Do list.
Branches will be hung inside to be enjoyed and will be sent home in late January/early February.
IMPORTANT DATES !!!!!!!!!!!
Week of Dec 5 – Tradition Branches sent home. Return to us anytime.
Dec 24, 2022 – Jan 1, 2023 – FnF CLOSED. We will be closed from Saturday, Dec. 24th
through Sunday, January 1st. We will reopen on Monday, January
2, 2023.
January 16 – FnF CLOSED in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
February 20 – President’s Day CLOSED
March 22-24 – Spring Break CLOSED
**Wishing you all a happy holiday season! Jane, Janet & Katey **