Dear Parents,
The hustle bustle of the Holiday season is now behind us and we are already well into January 2019!
We kicked off the Holiday season with our annual Family Branch celebration the weekend before Thanksgiving. We then attached your leaves of gratitude onto our Tree of Thanks. We are so grateful to all of you for sharing your family’s words and wishes and photos and creations as we enjoy them fluttering in the breeze on our maple tree and dangling above us on the beautiful hanging branches!!
December also brings a visit from one of our past parents and long time friend Bruce Kirschner, whose adult sons Paul and Sam attended Friends’n Fun as preschoolers. Each year he comes to school to celebrate Hanukkah with us. Bruce has been doing this with us for over 20 years now! He engages the children with his warm and fun personality and is always memorable. He is a treasure!
Did you happen to notice that throughout November and December nature invited itself indoors as forests grew and grew and grew here and there in school? The children worked with focus, enthusiasm and creativity as each layer of the forest spaces created in the dress up room and the carpet area display wall began to emerge and take shape day by day. Katey’s and Jamie’s small groups worked together to transform the display wall and Jane’s and Janet’s small groups combined their efforts to transform the dress up room. Both sets of children in the small groups added to the forests each day
(M/W/F and T/Th). Looking to see what surprise addition appeared on the next day of school became a delightful part of the process!
Now that the habitat for woodland creatures is ready for occupancy it is time to get down to the next order of business – becoming and studying woodland creatures! We are choosing our favorites, creating “stuffies” and puppets and will eventually embody our animals with costumes as we learn about their activities, behaviors and habits. Be on the alert for this next layer as the Woodland Creature study continues to evolve!
We had an amazing time in Studio Discovery with our focus on Ephemeral Art. The children explored many materials, objects and elements as they created beautiful images each week that dazzled our eyes and senses in the moment and then vanished from view!
This past Friday we began a new focus – The Domino Effect! We will explore the fun and engineering of chain reactions and cause and effect – initially with various dominos and then, with experience, possibly gain the skill to create some simple Rube Goldberg Machines!
SHARE-A-GIFT
The people at Share-a-Gift tell us that each year Friends ‘n Fun parents are one of the most generous group of contributors to their program. This year our box was filled to overflowing………and our box was bigger than it was last year!
Here is an excerpt from a follow up email sent by the Director of Share-aGift!
Many thanks to FnF families!!!
Dear Preschools,
A big THANK YOU from Share-A-Gift for your school’s support this year!! We have finally finished compiling our information and, due to your generosity, we were able to brighten the holidays for 568 families totaling 1491 kids! That’s a lot of holiday cheer!
Thanks,
Cathy Conery Share-a-Gift
NOTE CARD FUNDRAISER!!!!!!
Thanks to all of you for your notecard orders. Your contributions raised $1390. We hope that you and your families enjoy the amazing artwork created by your children. Thank you so much for your continued support and generosity!
SNOWY WEATHER!!!!
We will notify 9 News if we will be closed due to bad winter weather. It sometimes takes awhile for schools to be listed on television but a listing pops up pretty quickly on their website, so check there as well. We will also post closures on our Facebook page and on our website on the Latest & Greatest page. If you are not sure you are welcome to call Jane or Janet .
VALENTINE’S DAY–
Your children are invited to bring valentines for their friends on Wednesday, February 13th or Thursday the 14th.
For children of preschool age it is best to just have them write their names on the cards and leave the envelopes blank. You can buy pre-packaged valentines or join them in making their own creations.
Bring 22 cards for the Wednesday group and 22 cards for the Thursday group.
A Valentine snack sign up will be posted on the parent bulletin board closer to time.
ENROLLMENT FORMS
You will soon be receiving enrollment request forms for the upcoming Summer and Fall. We know that it is a challenge to think about this right after the first of the year but unfortunately all of the other organizations and schools enroll at this time and many people from the waitlist are wanting information.
Keep on the lookout for the request forms and thank you in advance for help!!
UPCOMING DATES TO BE AWARE OF:
Please mark your calendars and note the following dates.
Monday, January 21: Martin Luther King Day – Friends’n Fun CLOSED
Wednesday/Thursday, February 13th & 14th: Valentine’s Day
Monday, February 18th: President’s Day – Friends ‘n Fun CLOSED
Wednesday-Friday, March 27, 28, 29: Spring Break – Friends ‘n Fun CLOSED
Wednesday/Thursday, May 8th and 9th: Mother’s Day Tea
Monday, May 27th: CLOSED Memorial Day
Thursday/ Friday, May 30th & 31st: Last days of school