Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with family or friends! I love all the traditions—old and new—surrounding this holiday.
Thanks also to all of you who supported the Program by attending our Wine Tasting event and/or sending your children to the Kids Night In event!
Back at school now, we are gearing up for a month filled with activity…
CURRICULUM
Our theme this month will be The Ice Age.
FIELD TRIPS
Adventurers (4/5) Group: Tuesday, December 19th – Ice Skating on Frog Pond in Boston
Explorers (2/3) Group: Tuesday, December 12th – New Art Center in Newton
CLASSES
We have 41 children signed up for the Ski/Snowboard program at Nashoba Valley! The first day is scheduled for Tuesday, January 2nd.
HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR!
Our annual Holiday Craft Fair will take place on Tuesday, December 5th and Thursday, December 7th, both early release dates. That’s NEXT WEEK! The photo above shows just a few of the awesome gifts we will have for sale. There is MUCH more! The fair will be held in the Greenhouse and Clubhouse (otherwise known as the cafes), Auditorium and Gym. It goes from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. (At 4:00, all items left will be moved to the Greenhouse—the room just inside Door #4 and the rest of the rooms will be freed up for a normal activity for the kids.) We have all sorts of crafts, jewelry, pet gifts, holiday decorations, and edibles! The picture above shows just a few of the many items you’ll find at the fair!
If your children attend on either or both of these days, please help them to remember their shopping money—and a strong shopping bag! For those families whose children do NOT attend on Tuesday or early release Thursday afternoons, we hope that you will arrange for your children to be able to attend the fair. Ask any PEDP child and they’ll tell you it’s one of their favorite days of the year. We have a goal of raising $3000 this year. We will be supporting Escuela S.U. Fermin Delgado Diaz, a school in Puerto Rico. The school is located in a rural area, specifically at the top of a mountain in Naguabo. As you know, this island was hit VERY hard by Hurricane Maria. Please help us to make a difference in these children’s lives while at the same time teaching our children the power of giving. Support our Holiday Craft Fair!
FYI: WE’RE TRYING SOMETHING NEW THIS YEAR. WE HAVE A FEW ITEMS ON SALE FOR ALL YOU PARENTS AS A CRAFT FAIR PREVIEW. COME CHECK THEM OUT AT DISMISSAL! WHEN THEY’RE GONE, THEY’RE GONE!
BUY WINE! SUPPORT PEDP!
Don’t forget to shop at any Vinodivino location by tomorrow 11/30! Mention our Program at checkout and they will donate 10% of your purchase price to PEDP! So easy! They do deliver, too, if you cannot get there in person. Who doesn’t enjoy a smooth glass of red or perhaps a little bubbly at the holidays? Or any old day?!
MINNOWS MESSAGE from Kim Ryan, Minnows Coordinator
Early Minnows
The Early Minnows have been such great crafters for our upcoming Craft Fair on Tuesday 12/5 and Thursday 12/7. If your child comes to PEDP on those days, they can do some holiday shopping. If your child does not come those days, they are invited to come shop with a parent or adult chaperone. The fair starts at 2:00 on both days.
Reminder: Thursday 12/7 is an Early Release Day. School dismisses at 12:30. If your child comes to EDP from 12:30-3:00 please go to door #4 and ring the bell when you pick up at 3:00. A teacher will call for your child and they will meet you there.
Late Minnows
The Late Minnows have been super busy crafting for the fair. They have been excited to help, even volunteering to help with projects during free playtime!
We have also just finished up the Minnow Clubs on Mondays. Miss Laurie P’s group learned some new card games. Miss Courtney’s group learned how to use a camera, took A LOT of fun pictures and even made a collage! Miss Nancy made some great crafts to sell at the fair. I had an energetic group in cake decorating. Any bakery would be lucky to have these creative, hardworking decorators!
The K/1 Review is coming soon! We have only one rehearsal left! Make sure your performers are still practicing at home. This is going to be such a fun show!
If your child is NOT in the K/1 review, feel free to come show support for their friends on December 12th! Tickets are $5. Show starts at 7:00 pm!
Contact me anytime at kim@peirceedp.com with questions or concerns about your child or the Minnow Program.
BARRACUDA BUZZ from Joanne Malouf, Barracudas Coordinator
The Barracudas have been very busy creating crafts for the Craft Fair. The third graders are excited to work at the fair this year and had some great questions about the various jobs they could sign up for. Though we’ve been busy crafting, we still found time to take a trip or two. The Thursday kids had a great time at Einstein’s Workshop. They built towers and ramps with Kapla planks, did some Lego engineering and even got to play Minecraft! The Explorers spent an afternoon bowling. That’s always a fun trip for the kids and it’s great to see them all get excited to see how many pins will get knocked over. Several kids have a great bowling form! The Barracudas are getting a mascot! You can get just about anything at Amazon.com including a stuffed barracuda. As I write this, the group is still voting on a name. Our Barracudas will take turns being responsible for our mascot, taking it to snack, meeting and various activities. This week we are discussing what the responsibilities are for taking care of the barracuda and the kids had great thoughts. I can tell they are taking this very seriously and will look out for our mascot. It’s another way we hope to build teamwork and community among the Barracuda children and staff.
Contact me anytime at joanne@peirceedp.com with questions or concerns about your child or the Barracuda Program.
SHARK TALES from Rachel Bastarache, Sharks Coordinator
As we swim to the end of November, the Sharks have had a very busy and productive month. We have all been crafting away to get all the last bits finished. It’s been great to hear the kids talk about how much fun they have not just shopping at the craft fair but working the different areas as well. They were all sharing helpful hints on how to be a successful seller.
Our Thanksgiving football special event was a wonderful day had by all the Sharks. The 5th grade kept the tradition alive with a 92-90 win over the 4th grade. Both teams showed amazing sportsmanship throughout the entire game. After the game, the Shark family came together and we shared a beautiful Thanksgiving meal. Before we all enjoyed our food, everyone was given the opportunity to share what they were thankful for. I wish I could have recorded them! They were all so thoughtful, it honestly brought me and the other teachers to tears.
Swim in, December! The Sharks will be doing club on Fridays. They will be choosing from Puppet making with Mr. Sean, Painting on canvas with Ms. Rachel and Not-Your-Same-Old-Card-Games with Ms Kathy. Such fun choices for everyone!
The Adventurer group had an amazing time on our two field trips this month. First to Laser Quest on the 14th where we all played laser tag and learned how lasers work. Then on the 28th, we took a trip to the Boston Architecture Society and participated in their Learning by Design program. The kids learned how to build bridges and were able to create and build their own models. Let’s hope it’s cold enough next month for the ice to freeze for our Frog Pond trip.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. You can email me any time at rachel@peirceedp.com
REQUESTS AND REMINDERS FOR ALL PARENTS…
- Would YOU like to help out with our Craft Fair? Our staff are all super busy supervising kids and manning the tables. We’re looking for a few parents to help with:
- Taking photos of the fair with our camera
- Gift wrapping
- The baked goods table
- Kindergartners and their shopping
- We need the following for our Craft Fair: sturdy shopping bags, small to medium gift boxes
- The weather has been up and down here these past few weeks, hasn’t it? Here are some GENERAL guidelines we use for outerwear:
- Below 60˚ we will require children to wear a second layer and below 50˚ it must be a jacket
- Below 40˚ we will require a hat and gloves/mittens
- When there is snow on the ground, we will require boots and snow pants
- We need to replenish our stock of wine corks! A lot were used for crafts for the fair. Go on, take one for the team and finish off that bottle! Bring us the corks!
NO SCHOOL OR PEDP
December 25th through January 1st – December break
Peace,
Kathy
