The Spirit of Caring and Sharing (Sorry for the long post)

Good evening Parents!  We hope you have enjoyed the MLK holiday.  School resumes tomorrow with our three-year-old class, and we will see the smiling faces of our four-year-olds on Wednesday.

As most of you know our school participates in the Campbell's Labels for Education program.  We have appreciated all the Campbell's labels that have been brought to school so far this year!  Thank you to all the families who continue to send these in for us. The points add up quickly and help us to purchase supplies for our classroom. Campbell's also encourages teaching children about caring and sharing through a program called "Campbell's Labels for America".  They will award our school up to 2000 bonus points for participating in community service projects that teach our children how to care for and share with others. We have decided to participate in this program by helping out our local chapter of the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) Charity.  Please check your child's backpack for information on our project this week.

There will be two opportunities for the children to help with this project.  The first is by collecting and bringing in pop tabs from aluminum soda or beverage containers.  The RMH recycles these tabs and it has been a very successful fundraiser for them.  In some chapters of the charity they have collected as much as $30,000 in a year from donations of pop tabs!

The second opportunity will be a canned/non perishable food drive and item drive.  The Oregon/Southwest Washington chapter of RMH has a wish list of items that they can use in their homes.  Children may bring items from this list, which will come home in backpacks this week, and Mrs. Butler will deliver everything that we collect directly to the RMH.

While we will encourage the children to participate in one or both of these opportunities, it is not required, so please do not feel obligated to do so.  We are hoping that by collecting these things for the Ronald McDonald House, we can teach our children that everyone can make a difference and help out  their community.

Lastly, some of you may have noticed that Mrs. Butler has been using a wheel chair / walker at school.  She had extensive knee surgery over the Christmas break and will take several months to heal.  The children have been wonderful and careful of her, and she is very grateful for their kindness and patience!

Homework :)

4-Year-Old Class News:

Last week we began sending home "homework".  We are working on our numbers. During class the children are learning to recognize, count, sequence, and write numbers 1 through 20.  Each day we will be sending home a practice sheet in the student's backpacks.  We want to emphasize that while homework is encouraged and rewarded, it is not required.  At this age the most important thing is for the children to enjoy school.  If homework becomes a struggle or a dreaded event please do not force it. 

Along with number study, this month we are also learning about weather, birds, and the five senses.  We hope that your child is sharing what he or she is learning with you! As always, if you have any questions or concerns both teachers are available before or after class. Both of us are willing to share our home phone numbers, and Mrs. Butler is also available via email.  If you would like this information please ask us during pick up or drop off time.  

3-Year-Old Class News:

We have begun our study of numbers.  We do not, however, send home number practice sheets for our three year old's. In class we are learning to count and recognize numbers 1 through 10, but learning to write these numbers will come next year.  We do send home Scholastic Readers each week called "Let's Find Out".  If your child completes the activities in these readers, and brings them back to school, they will be able to pick out a sticker.  This is not a required activity, but the kids often enjoy the sticker reward! 

Happy New Year!

Welcome back and Happy New Year! Hopefully everyone had a wonderful holiday break. We are anxiously anticipating the children returning to school this week.  As usual, show-and-tell will be on Monday for the 4's, and Tuesday for the 3's.  Please check your child's backpack for January's newsletter, which will go home this week.  We want to thank all the children who brought us Christmas gifts before the break. Our hearts were warmed by the creativity and love put into them!

Four-Year-Old Class Parents:
We are in need of plastic bottles for a New Year's activity (empty water or soda bottles 12 - 16 ounce with lids). There are 21 students in our class now, and we are hoping to collect enough bottles for each child by Wednesday of this week.  If you have any of these types of clear bottles laying around please send them in with your child.  Thank you:)