A few of us were able to enjoy the snow for a five-minute window this morning. How often do we have the opportunity to play in fresh snow? It’s an amazing, wonderful morning!

And, hopefully, we’ll all be able to play outside later today!

Hope you and your kiddos were out making mini-snowmen tonight! What a meteorological treat!

Hello Parents!

Each year, we help support children in need in Austin with a toy drive. I choose SafePlace because so many of those children have to leave absolutely everything behind. The holidays can be a painful reminder the pets, friends and material goods they used to have, but had to leave for their own safety.

When we talk about this with our students at school, we mention that the children we will help have had to leave everything behind so they can be safe. Their home was no longer a safe place for many different reasons. In my experience, children have huge hearts and want to give their own Christmas gifts to help those in need. Please ensure that all gifts are new, unwrapped and nonviolent.

After we introduce the motivation behind our toy drive, we set a goal as a class. The school-wide goal is to fill my Tahoe! In past years, children and parents have donated so many toys that my Tahoe was filled from floor to ceiling, trunk to passenger seat with toys for children! It’s amazing.

We will introduce our SafePlace toy drive this Friday, December 8th. The teachers will email you and let you know about individual class goals.

I will drive to the SafePlace warehouse on Thursday, December 21st to drop off the toys. Let’s fill up the Tahoe 😉

If you would like to donate money to SafePlace, please visit this website.

Dear Parents,

A few parents have approached me to ask if I was going to send out teacher wish lists. Please visit this website to see them!

I will present the gift basket with all the purchased items on December 22nd, but you can bring the gift any time before that date. The teachers greatly enjoyed them last year 🙂 Unlike last year, please write your name on the gift you bring.

Thank you, Parents, for your continued support of our school!

Hope you stay warm tomorrow! Pretty sure this weather wouldn’t feel so shockingly cold if it hadn’t have been in the 80s yesterday!

Hello Parents! Each year, we celebrate the season with giving (including a toy drive for SafePlace–more to come on that at the end of the week) and receiving.

Our holiday book exchange allows the children to do a little of both. Tomorrow, they will draw a classroom friend’s name. On Tuesday, December 19th, they will bring a wrapped book to class for that friend. Our classrooms are tightly knit communities. The children almost always have an idea of what their friend will like. If you or your child are not sure, please encourage your child to ask that particular friend what they would enjoy. Of course, unwrapping the book is a tremendously joyful experience for children as well!

When choosing a book, keep a lookout for language. Please make sure the book is free from any language we would not use at school. As you all know, “shut up”, “stupid”, “oh my God”, etc. are prevalent in our culture, but none of those words or phrases are acceptable for use at school. Also, please visit Half Price books for a great selection at more reasonable prices than B&N (of course, if you are like me, you may use this as an excuse to visit BOTH bookstores 😉).

Please email me if you have any questions! Tomorrow’s note will also contain this information as well as the student your child chose. Your child will be extremely excited to choose a great book for a good friend!

Hello Parents! This month, to wrap up our year and celebrate the approaching cooler weather, we will learn “Funky Snowman.” This is a class favorite!

…Tchaikovsky and Monet! We listen to the 1812 Overture thoughout the year because it’s just such a fun piece of music. I thought this children might enjoy the actual cannons firing at the end of the song!