Division 3 & 4 @ Dickens: December 2012

Buddy Time

We hope you enjoy your tree ornaments! We have been meeting with our big buddies every Monday morning since September. What a great way to start the week! It's wonderful to watch the excitment in the children's eyes as they meet up with their buddies. The little ones, once very shy, are learning to open up. The big buddies are learning that they are valued for their skills, their knowledge and, well, their "bigness"! It is so fun to watch the relationships grow!

North Pole BC

On Tuesday we headed to the North Pole. How amazing was it to have a snowy day for our visit!! The bus ride was so much fun. We sang every Christmas and Hannukah song we know, each a few times!

Our Leaders...

Mrs. Claus reads us a story...

Our leaders are fun and energetic!

TOYLAND!

Some of the residents.....

We all had fun brushing up on our elf skills.

Thank you to Elf Jingles for a fine tutorial!

SANTA!!!

We had a wonderful week with your children. Many of you were able to join us for our Winter Concert. What a success! The children worked so hard, practicing every day for the month of December.

We are so proud of them!

We wish you a restful and happy holiday with your families. We all have such busy lives, trying to make everthing "work" for our families.

For this holiday season, our wish for you is the time to

pause and enjoy your wonderful children.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Jenny, Cathy, Sheila and Lucy

We had a wonderful day of celebration today!

Avi, our amazing class volunteer prepared a morning of fun for us!

First, she shared some basic history about Hannukah. We talked about the story and traditions of Hannukah.

Latkes are a traditionally eaten by Jewish people during the festival of Hannukah. All of the children were able to take part in the process of making these tasty treats. We peeled, we grated, we cracked and beat eggs, we mixed and Avi and her mom fried! Thanks to them for doing all the preparation and making us a part of their Hannukah tradition! Lola's mom, Nicole stayed for the morning to help. Thanks! Many hands makes light(er) work! Avi even made homemade applesauce to accompany the latkes! What a treat. They were so delicious!

After enjoying the latkes, we read a couple of wonderful Hannukah stories:

Hannukah Lights was brought in by Lola and her mom. Thanks for sharing!

We then learned how to play Dreidels.

This week we have been enjoying lighting our menorahs. We are fortunate to have a lovely felt menorah as well as an electric blue one! Children have learned that there are 8 candles, one for each of the 8 days of the festival of Hannukah. The shamash is the ninth candle, used as the "lighter candle".