Just a reminder that we will be closed Friday, December 24 through Friday, December 31. We will reopen at 7:00 am on Monday, January 3, 2005. We will be open for a full day on Thursday, December 23. We hope that everyone has a wonderful, happy, and safe holiday with friends and family!

Special lunch week will be held the week of the 13th to the 17th. The menu is as follows: Monday: spaghetti, Tuesday: nuggets and fries, Wednesday: lo mein and wontons, Thursday: macaroni & cheese, corn and cornbread, and Friday: pizza. Cost is $3 per day or $14 for the whole week.

Parents, in your mailboxes you received a letter explaining this year's donation drive. We are collecting NEW, UNWRAPPED gifts for women of all ages to be given to a shelter. We are asking for donations of items that would be suitable for women of all ages. Some suggestions are photo albums, nightgowns, slippers, bath and body items, blankets, etc. Donations are due by the morning of Wednesday, December 8. If you have any questions, please see Ms. Brooke or Ms. Valerie. Thank you in advance for your generosity and cooperation.

Tuesday, December 14th from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, you can leave your children with our capable Goddard teachers while you get some holiday shopping done, go out to dinner, or just enjoy a few extra hours of peace and quiet! For the low price of $15, your child will enjoy pizza and a movie with their favorite Goddard staff members. We need a minimum of 10 children to make the evening a success. Please sign up in the office by Friday, December 10 if you would like to participate. The fee of $15 must be paid in cash when you sign your child up. Please keep in mind, the usual late fees apply after 9:00 pm and must be paid that evening. We hope that you will find this little break just what you need during the crazy holiday season!!!

In the event of inclimate weather, there are three different ways that you can find out if school is delayed or closed. The three ways include: calling the school's voice mail for a message, listening to New Jersey 101.5 radio station (FM), or checking out NJ 101.5's website at nj1015.com and looking for Goddard, Cherry Hill. We will try to have the information for you by 6:00 am.

With holiday gift time upon us, we ask that you please refrain from giving the staff gifts that are apple scented or which have been made with or contain APPLE OIL. The apple oil can cause a serious allergic reaction for a staff member and we would like to avoid this from happening. Thank you so much for your cooperation.

Here in the infant room, we are ready for a fun holiday season along with a very busy one as well. First we would like to welcome our newest friend Kyle O. We have several babies who are becoming brave and trying new things like standing alone and crawling. Who knows maybe we will even have some walkers by the end of the month. We will be doing a lot with the fun holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and different countries such as Holland and Mexico. We will have fun with different sensory activities using gingerbread, peppermint, pine and cold items. The babies will also be working hard on special projects for the parents. Last but not least, we will have fun learning and singing fun holiday songs! Happy Holidays!

Ms. Vivienne, Ms. Beth, Ms. Faith & Ms. Gerri

The holidays have arrived! I hope you all are as excited as I am! We will be learning about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas. We will be creating beautiful snowmen, snowflakes, candy canes, wreaths, mittens, stockings, candles, reindeer, holiday packages, and much much more. We are going to make lots of wonderfully delicious cookies. Yummy! I have to say, this month is my favorite and I hope your children will love it too! Let the festivities begin!

Ms. Eileen

Welcome to December! Now that the weather is changing please send the children in with an extra set of warm clothing. We are still going outside so please send in any hats and gloves with first and last names on them. During the month we have many fun activities planned. We look forward to decorating our room with many fun-filled holiday art projects. We also are very excited to be making an extra special holiday gift to give to our families. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Thanks!
Ms. Desiree, Ms. Rose, and Ms. Melissa

Now that we are into December, please remember to bring in hats and gloves. Even though it's cold, we still try to go outside for 10 or 15 minutes. When it snows, we will go outside and play in the fluffy, white stuff. Please make sure that your son or daughter has plenty of changes of clothes! We'll be reading about Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. If you have any holiday stories that you would like to share, please bring them in. We will be making snowmen, snowflakes, candy cane reindeer and lots more. We are all excited that the holiday season is coming!

Ms. Megan & Ms. Tara

'Tis the season to be merry. And merry we will be with all of the fun and festive projects that we will be doing this month. We will start with a project that represents the celebration of Hanukkah. We will also learn about different traditions and how different people celebrate this holiday season. We will finish off the month with fun Christmas projects and stories. This should be a fun and festive month! Happy Holidays!

Ms. Kristin & Ms. Marni

It's December and we all know what that means, wonderful holiday times! We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. During the month of December we will be concentrating on letters J, K, and L as well as Season's Greetings, Jolly Holidays, and of course the snowy weather. We are encouraging the participation in various holiday celebrations including Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. We welcome any books that are related to these holidays. We wish you all a very happy holiday season. As we approach winter, we will focus on the changing of another season. Learning about winter will include activities such as making or own snow, learning winter words, graphing our favorite winter activity, creating a snowy mural, and making snowmen. Please remember that your child should have extra changes of winter clothes as well as a warm jacket, gloves, and a hat. Please share your holiday traditions with us so that we can enhance our learning about different holidays that our classroom friends celebrate.

Miss Alexis & Miss Melissa

The month of December will be short, but very sweet. The first week we will be celebrating Hanukkah. We'll light our menorah and prepare latkes and applesauce for breakfast. The second week Kwanzaa will be our main focus. I'll ask everyone to bring in fruit for a Kwanzaa Friendship salad. It'll be fun to design Katchina dolls and African masks. The third week will be our Christmas pinata party. We'll make stockings and fill them with goodies that are donated from our parents. Rudolph sandwiches with our special recipe will be Yummy! Our countries this month will be Israel, Kenya, and Spain. Our letters will be J, K, and L. For our dancing pleasure we will learn the Horah and Prance like reindeer to holiday music. Our party dates will be posted later. Happy Holidays!

Ms. Barbara, Ms. Val & Miss Shari

Pre-K 2 will be finishing the year 2004 with holidays around the world, books number 6, 7, and 8 of The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne and the letters J, K, and then L. We will be starting to tell time and count money along with practicing our numbers. Report cards will be sent out in about a month so our academic papers will be kept in our children's portfolios to help us use as guidelines for marking the report cards. We will end our year 2004 with a big farewell party to start our vacation time. We hope you've enjoyed this year as much as we have and we look forward to 2005!

Ms. Kathy and Ms. Jessica

Ms. Brenda