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This month's newsletter topics

Winter Holidays – Circle Time News – Afternoon Enrichment Classes-Help Us Collect Canned Food – Outside Play- Snow Days 

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December – Winter Holidays

 
Throughout December we are talking and learning about holidays. We will share stories about how each of us celebrates with our family, and we’ll learn about holidays around the world. We are helping the children learn that there are many people in our world and many different beliefs and holiday celebrations. Even though holidays have different names and meanings, most are celebrated with a gathering of friends and family, special foods, and sometimes gift giving.
We will learn the names of several winter holidays and then play games, sing songs and do cooking projects to learn more about them. If you have a tradition, song, or cooking project you would like to share with our students, we would love to hear from you.
Hands On will be closed from December 23-January 5 for winter vacation. Our first day back to school will be Monday, January 6.

Circle Time News

Each day our class meets as one big group to sing songs, introduce ourselves and talk about what we will be doing in class that day. Then we break up into smaller groups to do our circle time work. Each child has a job; sometimes 2 children share a job. Our jobs are: bell ringer, calendar pal, alphabet pal, number pal, weather pal, line leaders, snack helpers and teacher’s helper. Ask your child what their job was each day and see if they can tell you about it.
The bell ringer rings the morning bell to let everyone know it is clean up time. Then the calendar pal sings the days of the week song and tells us the month and date. After that, the alphabet pal tells us the letter of the week. Then the teacher shows them how to write the letter and they practice on the chalkboard and invite friends up to give it a try. Sometimes the group works on their notebooks and practices writing letters, words and drawing out the numbers.  Next the number pal will do a math or counting project. For example, how many kids in our circle have on shoes? How many don’t? So many kids do we have in circle all together? Then the weather pal gets to hang up the weather charts and read them to the class. The line leaders lead us outside to the playground and back in. The snack helpers get to set out the plates and cups for snack and pour the water. A teacher’s helper may be assigned a special task, like watering plants or sweeping, or using the spray bottle to clean the tables. All the children get a chance to try different jobs each day.
This month our number pals are enjoying something special. We are learning about coins and how to count them. The complexities of the problems depend on the age group of the children. For example, the youngest children may count the coins and begin learning to identify them. The older children are learning the value of each coin. Our math problems could be something like, “You have how many coins on your tray? What kind of coins are they? How much are those coins worth? We have candy canes for sale for 2 cents each, how many will you be able to buy? “ This project is no doubt very exciting, and on the last day of class the children will be able to actually “buy” their mini candy cane!

 

Special Guests

Last month we enjoyed musical guest Tallulah’s Daddy.  Our students love dancing and singing with him and this winter he will be offering a Monday enrichment class after school!  We also loved our visit with Stefano.  Some kids remembered him from last year and were excited to learn some Italian words and practice juggling as well as see a magic show!  Our class also had the opportunity to use what we had learned with Talk About Trees on our nature walk with Joan.


 

Afternoon Enrichment Classes

Many children have enjoyed our afternoon enrichment classes this fall.  We partnered with Soccer Shots, Northwest Children’s Theater, Portland Early Learning’s Adventures in Spanish and Yoga Playgrounds.  Beginning in January we are excited to offer some new programs! All classes start after school and end at 1:30 PM.  Register with www.portlandearlylearning.com for the Spanish class, and email Jennifer to sign up for the other programs, space is limited.   Classes start January 6 -March 20. No class Mondays, 1/20 or 2/17.
Monday, music with Tallualah’s Daddy. Winter session 9 classes, $135
Tuesday, Northwest Children’s Theater. Winter session 11 classes, $165
Wednesday, Spanish class with Portland Early Learning.
Thursday, Dance with Joy dance class. Winter session 9 classes, $165
Missing Soccer Shots?  Don’t worry they are offering a classes in the building this winter on Saturdays! www.soccershots.org/pdx

Help us collect items for our community!

Each November and December our school works together with St. David’s, and other building partners, to collect food or products that can help our community. This year St.David’s is collecting items for their Little Red Wagon to help the homeless in our community. Please bring in your items during first two weeks of December.  It will be really nice for our students to see that even a small contribution, added to other small contributions, can turn into a great big contribution.  It is also a great way for our students to help our local community.
Items for the Red Wagon:
Toothbrushes and toothpaste
Socks and hats for the winter
Individually wrapped food items
Or
Non-perishable food for food bank

Outside Play

We love to play outside every day and we do so even when it is cold. It is nice to go outside to play. Please send a coat to school with your child each day and remember that you should bring hats and mittens to leave for your child at school too. Please add your children’s names so we can help them find their things. It is also a great idea to leave extra clothes in your child’s cubby in case they need to change clothes during the day.

Snow Days

We always follow Portland Public Schools’ decisions regarding snow days,  if PPS is closed or opening late due to weather, Hands On is closed. You will be offered make up days for each day Hands On is closed due to weather.

Summer Camps and Fall Preschool Registration

Fall preschool and summer camp registration materials are coming soon!  Hands On will accept registrations from current students (and younger siblings) beginning in January.
Please feel free to call us at 503-239-8521  or email us with any questions you have, as always.