THE CRAFT FAIR IS COMING! All year long, the children have been preparing for this meaningful and exciting event creating wonderful gifts with the staff for this annual charity fundraiser. There will be a bake sale, jewelry, pet toys, ornaments, holiday décor, and tons of great crafts. We also have gift wrapping and some awesome raffle prizes! We hope ALL of you will come out to support this event. Read on for more of the details…
CURRICULUM
Our theme for December is Communication. We’ll be exploring all types of communication both verbal and nonverbal. Your child might learn some sign language. She might learn about inventions such as the telephone or the television. He might learn how to send a message in Morse code! We’ll stay away from practicing sending smoke signals, though. Ha ha.
FIELD TRIPS
Barracudas (Gr 2/3): Tuesday, December 18th– Bowling at Ryan Family Amusements in Millis
Adventurers (Gr 4/5): Tuesday, December 18th – Rock Spot Climbing in Boston (Please remind your Shark to wear comfortable clothing and sneakers.)
CLASSES
Our Ski/Snowboard program is FULL! We’ll head to Nashoba Valley for the first day of snow fun on Tuesday, January 8th.
HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR!
Our annual Holiday Craft Fair will take place on Tuesday, December 4th and Wednesday, December 5th, both early release dates. That’s NEXT WEEK! 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.)
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 Wednesday 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. This year, we will be supporting The Service Dog Project (SDP) in Ipswich. SDP has donated over 150 Great Dane service dogs to individuals with mobility limitations to assist them in achieving greater independence. You can watch what the puppies and dogs are up to via their live web cams at www. servicedogproject.org. The week following the fair, Karlene White of SDP will visit PEDP (with a Great Dane!) to educate the kids about SDP and accept our donation.
Please help us to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate while at the same time teaching our children the power of giving. Support our Holiday Craft Fair!
K/1 REVIEW!
Many of our Minnows are getting ready to entertain you with an evening of song and dance—well, dance might be stretching it but surely movement! Please join us as we celebrate musical Legends such as Michael Jackson and Elvis!
- Tuesday, December 18th
- Peirce Auditorium
- Show starts at 7:00 PM
- Admission is $5 per person
- Dessert sale following the show
MUSICAL AUDITIONS!
“Oh, the thinks you can think” when Dr. Seuss’ best-loved characters collide and cavort in an unforgettable musical caper!Yes, our 2019 musical will be “Seussical”! This will be a new production for us this year! Very exciting! All 2-5 graders are welcome to participate in our musical. Rehearsals will be on Mondays starting in January and the productions will be in early April. More detailed information will be sent out soon. For now, you need to know:
- Auditions will be held on Monday, December 10 from 3:15 – 5:15 PM
- The music and lines will be available for pick up on Friday, November 30
MINNOWS MESSAGE from Kim Ryan, Minnows Coordinator (Gr K/1)
Early Minnows
The Early Minnows are definitely worker bees! They have been creating some really wonderful items for the craft fair! They are excited to see their creations for sale. The weather has become much colder and the Early Minnows need to have the proper outerwear to go outside. That includes a coat, hat and mittens/gloves. Lately, some kids had to stay inside because they do not have these things. Please make sure to have your child bring them every day.
Late Minnows
The Late Minnows have also been busy with the craft fair preparations. Some of them paired up with the Sharks to make our famous cocoa cones to sell at the fair. This is a favorite item of many! It was really great to see the Sharks be such great helpers to the Minnows. We plan on having many more times together.
The K/1 Review is approaching fast! Miss Laurie P and Miss Kim are working on costumes and Miss Deb and Miss Courtney are working on the backdrop. We have been practicing some dance movements and practicing our stage presence. The lyrics, however, still need some work. Please practice at home with your child if they are in the K/1 Review. If your child is not in the review, we would love to have them as part of the audience!
You can always reach me at kim@peirceedp.com
BARRACUDA BUZZ from Joanne Malouf, Barracudas Coordinator (Gr 2/3)
The Barracudas learned a lot about slavery and the Underground Railroad when we visited the Jackson Homestead at the beginning of November. Did you know that there were slaves in Newton? One was Loquasshichub Um who was born in Africa but kidnapped as a child. She ended up as a slave in Newton and gained freedom when her owner eventually set her free. We also heard the story of Henry Box Brown who mailed himself to freedom in a box. The kids were able to go into a replica of the box to see how little space he had on his journey to freedom. The rest of November found us all very busy crafting for the fair. All of the kids have helped make crafts and all seem excited for the Craft Fair next week.
Several times a week we have a “Question of the Day” posted on the wall in the gym. As kids come in they can record their responses. When me meet after snack we discuss the question and the different responses that were listed. Our first question had to do with kindness – what it is and what it means to be kind. The kids had great responses. This also began our kindness chain project. Each day, kids can write on a paper strip about how they were kind to someone or how someone showed them kindness. After we read the strips each week, we will loop the paper strips together to make our chain. Look for it hanging in the Greenhouse when we move down there in January.
You can always reach me at joanne@peirceedp.com
SHARK TALES from Rachel Bastarache, Sharks Coordinator (Gr 4/5)
The Sharks have been busy fish crafting for the upcoming craft fair making everything from jewelry to dog treats! It’s always a joy to listen to the kids while they are making things and hear them talk about why we do this event and the connections they can make to other ways to give back to their communities. On November 22nd, the Sharks shared a wonderful meal of Thanksgiving. We all talked about all the many things we are thankful for. I wish I had recorded that moment because it was a beautiful thing to witness. All of your children really have such big hearts and are very aware of how blessed they really are. Unfortunately, the first part of our special day had to be rescheduled, due to anther rainy Tuesday. The Sharks had to reschedule our annual “Fish bowl” football game. Our make-up game (weather permitting) will be Tuesday, December 11th. The big question is… will the 4th grade break the four year 5th grade-winning streak?
Swimming into the month of December, the Sharks will be trying out a new outside activity called “Lights Out” tag. We aren’t letting some darkness stop our outside fun.
Email: 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
NO SCHOOL OR PEDP
December 24ththrough January 1st– December break
Peace,
Kathy
