Dear Parents,

We have had such a lovely beginning to our school year!

We started our year with The Best Part of Me, by Wendy Ewald, as the inspiration in guiding us as we journeyed into the new school year together.  In each of the small groups, we began asking the children “What is the best part of you?”  and “What do you like about your self/your body/your elbow, etc.?”  Some children were immediately able to identify what they like about themselves, while others took the opportunity to explore the different parts of their bodies and what they can do with each of those parts. 

We hope you had a chance to enjoy the display of posters and the book that the groups made as they reflected on and explored what they found to be the best part(s) of themselves.  We all delighted in seeing how each of the children expressed themselves in this inquiry.

And you probably could not miss the increase in our enrollment as duplicates of the children popped up on our walls!  We had fun with body tracing, adding hair and clothes, some accessories, and final quotes about what the children like about themselves.  Children would look to find their friends on the walls and ask about others they are not familiar with.  One younger sibling asked his mom to read to him the words  on the kids as he pointed them out.

Our next journey will be into the Forest and the Woodland Creatures that live there.  Soon parts of our school will begin to transform as groups work together to create forest-like environments.  We know that other exciting ideas will emerge as we begin to delve into the forest together.

  

Studio Discovery Fridays have been all about EPHEMERAL ART!  Just when we think we might be wrapping up and ready for a different focus in Studio, we think of more ways to explore and experience this art form.  We aren’t finished yet!

PLEASE be sure to read the newsletter carefully and mark your calendar for some exciting upcoming events 

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                            PLEASE be sure to read the newsletter carefully and mark your calendar for some exciting upcoming events 

_____________________________________________________________________________

ANNUAL TREE OF THANKS – BY FRIENDS ‘n FUN FAMILIES –

We invite you to join us in adorning a leaf to attach to the tree in our front yard.  We will be sending home paper leaves and a few fun things to embellish them with.  We would like you to work with your child and family to think about whom in your family, friends, neighbors and/or people in the community you are grateful to and why.  Then please write a short note of thanks explaining this on the leaf,  let the children decorate it, and then cover it (front & back) with the contact paper.  Make sure your child’d name is on the leaf! Teachers will have ribbon at school for you to use to tie the leaves onto a wire we will have affixed to the tree.  We are in the hopes that you and your children will take time to read the collection of leaves of thanks on our tree.  We also hope that the community of walkers-by in Lafayette might see and learn more about us as a community at Friends ‘n Fun.

SNOW DAYS

It’s that time of year again.  Our general rule of thumb is that if BVSD closes for weather, we likely will as well.  We list closure, or late start, in a few different places when that happens.  Check these when in doubt:     

https://www.facebook.com/FriendsnFunChildrensCenterInc/  – Facebook

www.friendsnfunchildrenscenter.com – FnF Website on “Latest & Greatest” page

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.

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.

On Saturday, Nov.17th from 1:00-3:00 we have once again reserved the John M. Taylor Conference Center at Imagine!, 1665 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette (there are two Imagine! buildings – make sure you look for the Coal Creek address!).   We would like to invite your family to join us to decorate a tree branch with photographs and small objects that represent special things about your family.  We will provide an assortment of yarns, beads, wire, buttons, jewels, etc. – and a tree branch for each of you.  You can bring photographs, small objects and your wonderful children.  We will work together at Imagine! to create these beautiful branches.  We will then bring them back to school to display for all to enjoy.  The things you bring to embellish the branch should represent your family’s interests (biking, pets, skiing, etc.), as well as special celebrations.

We hope you can attend this gathering to get to know each other and share in an activity with your children to celebrate this special time of year. Drop by anytime between 1 and 3 and spend as much time as works for you that day.

FUNDRAISER 

In December we will create note cards using your child’s artwork – easel paintings, watercolor paintings, self-portraits, collages, etc.  Packages of your child’s note cards, with envelopes, will be available to you at $12.00 per package of 8.  In the past families have sent them to grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc. for holiday gifts.  The money raised goes to help purchase art supplies at Friends ‘n Fun.  Watch the parent bulletin board for additional details.

This is our ONLY fundraiser of the year and it typically brings us about $1000 for use in our supply budget. We hope you can support us and enjoy this celebration of your children’s efforts. Thank you for your continued support of our small program.

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 600 households (1600 boys and girls, ages birth to 14) received these community donations. To be successful, Share-a-Gift needs thousands of high quality, new and used toys, games, books, and puzzles. School collections are the biggest source of toys for Share-a-Gift. This collection allows children to meaningfully participate in gift giving by sharing their own gently used or new toys with less fortunate children in Boulder county. Toys may be dropped off in the Share-a-Gift box in our school beginning the Monday after Thanksgiving, November 26th, through Wednesday, December 12th.   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!

IMPORTANT DATES !!!!!!!!!!!

Nov. 15-16 – Tree of Thanks leaves to be sent home.  Return to us anytime from the 19th on, and help your child attach them to our tree so our neighborhood community can enjoy.

Nov. 17 – FnF Family Traditions Workshop –

                          Imagine! John M. Taylor Conference Center

                          1665 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette

                         1:00 – 3:00 PM

Nov. 22-23 – CLOSED for Thanksgiving Holiday

Dec. 24, 2018 –  Jan. 1, 2019     – FnF Closed.

                         We will be closed from Monday, Dec. 24th

                         through Tuesday, January 1st. We will reopen on 

                         Wednesday, January 2, 2019.