Happy New Year! I hope that you have all been enjoying some time off. After the frenetic pace of the holidays, isn’t it nice to relax for a bit—enjoy a home-cooked meal together, take a long walk, or break out the board games for an evening of fun? The weather (unless you wanted to ski) was fantastic! I took Valentino for a long hike on Christmas day in a short-sleeve shirt! Incredible. I want to thank all those that came out to support our Minnows in their musical review The Magic of Disney. It was adorable! Now we turn our attention to a fresh new year! Note that each fish group is switching home bases this month and will remain that way through the end of March.
CURRICULUM
Our Holiday Craft Fair was a HUGE success! Thank you to everyone for your support! We were able to raise the full $3000 needed to name a Zebrafish at Dana-Farber. This naming opportunity, located in the lobby of the Charles A. Dana Building, is a unique way to support the fight against cancer. The display’s school of individually crafted fish, lit to simulate the ocean tide, symbolizes the importance of zebrafish to the future of cancer research and treatment. Sharing many of the same genes as humans, zebrafish are vital to researchers as they develop innovative treatments and therapies to save lives. A six-inch zebrafish in the display will say “Peirce Extended Day Program 2015”. When you touch our fish, you will see our message of hope appear onscreen. We encourage you to pay a visit to the display to see it!
During January, our theme will be Travel. We’ll be exploring all different ways to travel and also places to visit!
EARLY RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3RD!
The Minnows and Barracudas are planning a field trip for those who attend this day. Details to come. The Sharks will be doing a special event at the Program.
FIELD TRIPS
The Explorers group has no field trip in the month of January due to the large overlap of children in the Ski/Snowboard program. Their next trip will be on February 23rd and the group will have two trips in the month of March.
CLASSES
The Ski/Snowboard program will begin this Tuesday, January 5th. As of today, Nashoba Valley has four runs open and continues to make snow every day/night that the temperatures allow.
Registration for Kids Cooking Green for the Minnows (Grades K/1) IS NOW OPEN! This class will be held on Tuesday afternoons in March. Please note that registration for this class must be done online through Kids Cooking Green. The link is http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ebtmj7513e3ba210&llr=iw76p6iab
Several basketball games are set up for the NASA league.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at Franklin – 3:30 – 5:15 pm
Thursday, January 14, 2016 at Lincoln-Eliot – 3:30 – 5:15 pm
Monday, January 25, 2016 at Zervas – 3:30 – 5:15 pm
MUSICAL
Over 50 children came out to audition for Grease! The talent is fantastic! It sure was hard for Rachel and I to do the casting. It’s going to be an amazing show! Our rehearsals begin Monday, January 11th. Please be sure to get the permission slip and participation fee in by that date.
PROGRAM CLOSURES
NO SCHOOL OR PEDP on Monday, January 18th in observance of Martin Luther King Day.
WINTER VACATION PROGRAM
We are currently finalizing our plans for the vacation week program February 16-19. Details about trips, activities, cost, and how to sign up will be sent out by January 15th.
MINNOW MESSAGE from Kim Ryan, Minnows Coordinator
Late Minnows:
A new year means a new home base for the Minnows. We will be moving up to the Treehouse (Art room) for the next 3 months! We certainly had a busy December! The craft fair was a huge hit with all the kids and we had a great turnout for the K/1 Review! We ended the year with a Hawaiian Luau with the Sharks. We had a limbo contest, a hula hoop contest and had some delicious spam kabobs and some yummy fruit punch! Looking forward to 2016 and we are excited for what the new year will bring!! Maybe some snow!!
Early Minnows:
The early minnows did some great projects for our Disney Pixar theme! We got to watch clips of each of the movies and many of us have added movies to our “must watch” list! Maybe you saw Mike Wazowski, Anger, or Mr. Potato Head make their way home over the last month. Look for more fun projects in January with our new theme! Feel free to contact me at kim@peirceedp.com
BARRACUDA BUZZ from Joanne Malouf, Barracudas Coordinator
What a great time we all had at the Craft Fair. The third graders did a great job in their first year as workers, too. There was plenty of activity in the Barracudas Program in December. Laurie made snow with the kids to go along with the movie Frozen. During cooking with Rachel, the group got a workout shaking whipping cream to make butter. Chris had a rousing game of Ticket to Ride, a fun board game the kids are learning to play. In science with me, kids tested several styles of oak tag boomerangs to see which worked best. As we prepared to move to a new home base, the kids worked together to help decorate letters to spell “Barracudas”. These will be put together to make a sign that we will hang in the Greenhouse. Each Barracuda and teacher will also have an individual barracuda hanging around the Greenhouse that they decorated. We hope to have them all completed and hung up during the first week of January. Be sure to check them out. As always, you can reach me at joanne@peirceedp.com
SHARK TALES from Rachel Bastarache, Sharks Coordinator
Happy New Year from the Sharks! The Sharks will be swimming to the Clubhouse starting in January. We ended the month of December with an exciting Hawaiian party with the Minnows. We had a hula hoop contest, Limbo, hot coconut, and a yummy snack with some fruit punch! It is great to see the older kids working together with the younger ones. We will plan more joint activities in the months to come. Also in December, the Sharks learned a lot about Pixar movies and the characters that are in these great movies.
When we return in January, we are starting off busy with Skiing/Snowboarding and musical rehearsals and so much more! I’m super excited for 2016. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns at rachel@peirceedp.com.
REMINDERS AND REQUESTS
- Tuesdays – For the next two months, all of our staff are needed to supervise children, whether at the Program or on our Ski/Snowboard trips. We do not plan to have anybody in the office these afternoons. Thus, we would really appreciate it if you would refrain from calling the program on Tuesday afternoons unless you have an urgent request. Similarly, we will not be on e-mail on Tuesday afternoons so please keep that in mind if you are sending a message.
- I have seen several parents parking in the driveway at pick-up. Please remember that this is not allowed. Parking is available either in the back parking lot or on the north side of Temple Street.
Happy New Year!
Kathy
