It was so good to return to my little friends yesterday. I really needed their hugs and smiles! Thank you to everyone who has had my family in their thoughts and prayers and to Julie for stepping in to teach. While my sister's death was unexpected we did have a wonderful Christmas together and laughed up to the very last moment. Her husband is now in Roanoke in a nearby nursing home so we can see him daily and bring some comfort to him.
Here at school we are preparing for the Chinese New Year which begins Monday, January 23. Today we talked about the importance of the colors red and yellow during this lunar festival and made red hats with yellow flowers to wear in the upcoming festivities. Red is the color of happiness and yellow is the color of prosperity. Explaining the meaning of prosperity to 4 and 5 year old is challenging so I simplified it to "...having enough food and money to live". Good luck with any questions at home on that one.
We will spend the rest of this week and next on learning more and decorating. The New Year festivities last 15 days with New Year's Eve and the last day usually considered the most important but we will move on to other units.
Our big day of celebration will be next Thursday (the 26th). We will have a feast of Chinese food (Yes, we will use chopsticks.) at 11:00 followed by a Dragon Parade at 11:30. We'll have homemade and store bought noise makers to scare away any bad spirits that would be so foolish as to dwell in our happy piece of the Earth.
We are also preparing for our 100th day of school with today being number 82. The children are counting out 100 pieces of ziti to make necklaces and 100 gem clips to string together. Let me remind parents that each child needs to make a "100 project" at home to bring in on the big day. It can be 100 anything put together in any way. I suggest you and your child have a silly conversation and just go crazy with ideas. Not only will you both laugh but probably a fantastic idea will come from it. I cannot yet tell you the exact date because Mother Nature tends to disrupt our plans this time of year. You will get more warning as the day nears.
Conferences are next but for the Early Learners this is our optional conference. I have heard from most families but still need a few responses. Please check your child's notebook. I have written notes to those I do not yet know about. It may be a case of misplaced papers as Julie and I traded spots.
You were very missed!!! We are extremely happy to have you back!
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