 I love Christmas. Everything about it. The planning, shopping, decorating, wrapping, eating, visiting, baking, singing- you name it. But as you read this I will probably be sitting on a plane, travelling to a much dreamed of destination for a sunny holiday rather than preparing the perfect Christmas Day at home. You see, all of my boys are grown and have partners and they were unable to spend the holidays with us, for various reasons. And Christmas just isn't the same without your children, even if they are adults. And while the too-short days around Christmas feel a bit crazy right now, there may come a time when you too are on a beach for Xmas day, without your children. So embrace the craziness and the excitement and love and sleeplessness that happens at the holidays when you have small children. I can't think of a sweeter way to celebrate the season. Merry Christmas!
There are a lot of "I want"s and "I asked for"s this time of year, from children and adults both. Mrs. Farber and I wanted to help the children move from thinking of themselves, and what they might find under the Christmas tree, to thinking of others. Enter the Kindness Ninjas! Mrs. Farber wrote up a letter from Sensei Tansa (a mix up of the letters in Santa) that explained the concept of doing for others without expecting anything in return and included the first mission and some ninja headbands. We then recruited Mr. Law to deliver the package. Both Team Awesome & Mrs. Farber's Friends were so enthusiastic about the idea that they were jumping up and down and fist pumping their arms in the air, yelling things like, "Let's do this!". And so we completed our first mission. And there will be a few more planned in the new year because why stop being kind just because December is over? Isn't kindness an all-year virtue? And so expect to see the Kindness Ninjas throughout the rest of the year, sneaking around and doing good deeds for others without the expectation of anything in return.
This past week we introduced Team Awesome and Mrs. Farber's Friends to their first STEM challenge. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics and seeks to increase student competency in these areas, as well as interest in future careers in STEM-related fields by studying real-world problems and solving them through project-based learning. STEM challenges are a great way to develop higher level thinking skills, problem-solving, creativity, working collaboratively, and even the growth mindset while integrating multiple subject areas -- not just science, technology, engineering, and math! The premise of this challenge was there was a big snow storm and the stores were out of sleds but the kids wanted to go tobogganing. They needed to design a sled that would hold one 'person' without taping it and go the quickest down a ramp using only the materials provided. They all did a great job and were disappointed when it was time to tidy as they had so many ideas!
Please join us on Thursday, December 19th from 1:00–2:00 pm or 6:00-7:00pm. See what the children have been madly practicing with Mrs. Phillips at school and support your school Parent Advisory Council at the same time at the Winter Concert. We will be having a bake sale, raffle baskets, and selling coffee, hot chocolate etc. From 1:00- 2:00 the children will be performing for those people who are unable to attend the evening concert. When we are not on stage, we will be participating in regular activities in our classroom. You are welcome to join us at any time. At 6:00-7:00 we will be performing for our families and friends who are able to come to the evening performance. Please have your child at our classroom no sooner than 5:45, after which you are welcome to wander around the school looking at the displays until the curtain rises. If your child will not be attending the evening event, please let me know ASAP so I can make changes as needed. Come on out and join the FUN! And just because its Monday... There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day this time of year. Actually, there never seems to be enough time regardless of the season, does there? We have tons of exciting things happening next week and the children vacillate between the events they are most excited for. First its the Winter concert, then its PJ Day, then its more gingerbread activities and back to the concert. Regardless, we are looking forward to all the fun happenings and holidays coming up. Please try to have the children well rested and fed up with healthy snacks so we can keep next week on as even a keel as possible.
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