What a beautiful snowfall we had last night! Just enough to be pretty and easy enough to shovel! We have so much to share this month but I’ll try and be brief! First of all, I want to let you know about a staffing change in the Sharks Program. Kristeena has taken a classroom teaching position in another town. We have known for several weeks now and were incredibly lucky to find a replacement for her rather quickly. Laurie Docknevich joined our team a couple weeks ago. She has been able to be here shadowing Shark staff while Kristeena was still here. Laurie D (not to confused with Laurie P in the Minnows or Laurie F in the Barracudas!) will be working Mondays and Tuesdays for us. Please give her a warm welcome when you see her! She is already working hard on learning names, routines, and policies.
CURRICULUM
Our theme this month will be Greece.
FIELD TRIPS
February 1: Many of our Barracudas and Sharks are having fun at Roll On America!
February 14th (Explorers): Spellman Museum of Stamps in Weston
February 28th (Adventurers): Clay Room in Brookline
CLASSES
2-3 Grade: Kids Cooking Green for the Barracudas still has a few openings! This class will be held on Tuesday afternoons March 7th – April 4th, 1:30-3:00pm. Please note that registration for this class must be done online: go to www.kidscookinggreen.com and click on “Upcoming Classes” to sign up.
There are still spaces in our popular Tennis Program! These classes will be held on Wednesday afternoons and start NEXT WEEK. Sign up ASAP if your child is interested.
The Ski/Snowboard program is now scheduled to go through February 28th.
EMERGENCY SITUATION DRILLS
As you are probably aware, we practice evacuation drills regularly with the children. In addition, we are also required to teach the children about “Shelter in Place” and “Lockdown” procedures. We want you to know in case your children bring up any concerns about these practices at home.
PARENT CONFERENCES
We are required to write progress reports for all students in the Program. We like to meet with parents to go over the reports. If you have not yet signed up for your conference, please e-mail or call us to do so or check the sign-up calendar next to the dismissal area.
ENROLLMENT IN PEDP FOR 2017-2018
It’s hard to believe it’s already that time of year but it is! We will be holding an Open House for incoming Kindergartners on Monday, February 13th from 8:30 – 9:30 AM in the room right inside Door #4. If you know any families in the Peirce district with incoming K’s, please encourage them to attend!
Applications for the Program for 2017-18 will also be available to all current PEDP families on that day. We will be putting them in mail files that morning. Please make sure you or your pick-up person retrieves it. The deadline for turning these in is March 10th. Please observe this deadline if you are able. It really helps us with the budgeting and staffing process. We did have a waitlist this year and we were not able to get most families off it.
MINNOWS MESSAGE from Kim Ryan, Minnows Coordinator
Early Minnows
The Early Minnows should be full of presidential knowledge after our President theme. They were very interested in the lives of our past presidents, in particular, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Barack Obama. After learning about past presidents, we asked them to think about what they would do if they were President. Some said the best thing about being President would be living in the White House, flying on Air Force One, traveling and being the boss. Some of the hardest things about being President were giving speeches, being in charge of the country and making hard decisions. The last question we asked was “If you were President what would be your first law?” Some answers were: Everyone must be nice to each other, People should help each other and, my personal favorite, Candy every Friday! These questionnaires along with a presidential silhouette of each kindergartner are hanging in the PEDP hallway. Come check them out!
Late Minnows
The late Minnows have been busy with a great assortment of activities. They learned Kumihimo which is a form of Japanese braiding, they have been doing beautiful watercolor paintings, they have cooked up a storm making cheesecake stuffed strawberries, homemade potato chips and s’mores cupcakes. Yum! Many of the Minnows have also learned a new card game called Frog Juice. It has been played by a group every day for the entire month!
The homework group has been doing a great job of remembering to bring their folders to snack and getting right to work so they can finish their homework and enjoy the rest of the day. If you would like your child to be added to the homework list, please let me know! You can reach me at kim@peirceedp.com
BARRACUDA BUZZ from Joanne Malouf, Barracudas Coordinator
The Barracudas had a busy January! Everyone was excited for the musical rehearsals to begin. The skiers and snowboarders looked happily tired when they returned from the mountain. We’ve been creating presidential crafts such as presidential finger puppets and Andy Warhol style presidential art. In science, we made flashing fireflies with a Christmas tree bulb and battery. The Barracudas have been building a lot of domino chains this month, too. Many have been long and circling around something in the space. The kids are always so excited to see the finished product get knocked down. The Thursday group participated in a brief team building exercise. The kids were put into pairs and given a Human Scavenger Hunt, a list of things to find out about the other kids and teachers. We found out that there were at least two people that fit each of the boxes on the list and we all learned things about each other we didn’t already know. It was great to see the kids approaching others, calling them by name and then asking a question. Explorers Trip Program – The group had a break in January due to the ski/snowboard class. Please feel free to contact me at joanne@peirceedp.com with questions or concerns about your child or the Barracuda Program.
SHARK TALES from Rachel Bastarache, Sharks Coordinator
2017 in the Sharks has started off on a good fin! We have had some great weather to be able to get outside and enjoy this very mild winter temperatures. Also, the Sharks have been very busy brushing up on their presidential knowledge. Some of their activities were presidential trivia games, creating their own presidential speeches and building a miniature Mt. Rushmore. The Sharks also enjoyed some cooking with Mr. Sean creating things from homemade lemonade to vegetable chili.
Swimming into February, the Sharks will be busy with musical Mondays, Ski and Snowboarding on Tuesdays and Tennis on Wednesdays. We will also be having a “Friendship Day” on Thursday, February 16th with the Minnows to help build on our “big fish little fish” connections.
It’s been great to check in with many of you during our parent teacher conferences. This is a great way to make sure we are all on the same page. Feel free to let me know if the times available don’t work for you and I will try my best to make it work. You can email me any time at rachel@peirceedp.com
REQUESTS AND REMINDERS FOR ALL PARENTS…
* The Early Birds program ($10 per day) and extra hours ($12 per hour) are available to all families when needed. Just ask!
* Please remember that you must notify PEDP whenever your child will not be attending for the day. You may do this in person, by phone (617-332-5881), in writing, or via e-mail: kids@peirceedp.com There is a calling fee of $25 if the staff need to make phone calls to find out where your child is at attendance time.
* Want to know when all the upcoming events are for the year?!
* Check out our PEDP “Calendar-at-Glance” on our website! www.peirceedp.com
PROGRAM CLOSURES
February 20 -24 Winter Vacation Week
Happy Groundhog Day! (tomorrow)
Kathy
