November Newsletter from our Director

Sorry this is a bit late as the weather/lack of power certainly changed our lives quite a bit. Hope that you all weathered (no pun intended) the conditions well. Glad everything is at least semi back to normal. (Written 11-7-11 – interesting…)

SANDY AFTERMATH
     So when you didn’t think I was looking, I saw all of you parents doing a “happy dance” when you dropped off your children today What you missed was the teachers doing a “happy dance” to be back at school.  Haytown got power on Thursday night. We still do not have phone/internet service, though it has been “promised” for the next day or so. If you need to reach the school, use my cell phone.
     Many of the children have felt anxious about the storm and might have difficulty coming into school – or they will love the familiarity of being here. We will work with them if they are having trouble. Apgar Electric was here at 8:00 a.m. today to repair the sagging lines in the parking lot. So, we can use the sidewalk to enter the building again. There are still some limbs and branches on the ground – please keep your children away from them. Thanks for your help with this.
     We have to make-up 5 days of school for the younger class and 7 days of school for the older class. For the Older Class only, we will be running classes on Friday 11/16 and on Friday 11/30 to make up two of those days. That way both classes will then have 5 days to make-up. Will let you know after our Board of Directors meeting how we are going to do that.

Yes, you still owe November tuition – we will make sure that the days are made-up.

THANKSGIVING FEAST
     The Thanksgiving Feast will be on Tuesday, November 20, 2012. There will be no school on Wednesday, November 21st or Thursday, November 22nd. On Tuesday, the entire school will meet at one time – from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30. This is just for the children (sorry parents!). The children will be having Thanksgiving dinner in the all-purpose room. Our children will be making Pilgrim and Indian costumes and will dress for the occasion. The menu will be: turkey, stuffing, corn, carrot and celery sticks, applesauce, cornbread, cookies, and cider. Parents are asked to provide the cookies and cider (pasteurized) and carrot and celery sticks. Sign-up sheets will be posted outside the classrooms.

Wine Tasting
Our wine tasting event was postponed/cancelled. Will let you know after the Board Meeting our contingency plans.

THINKING ABOUT NEXT YEAR
If you have a child with a summer or September birthday, and have any questions about their placement for next year, please talk to me or one of the teachers. We would be happy to answer any questions or help you make decisions. Registrations begin in January.

NOTES

• It was a pleasure to see so many of you at Open House. Thanks to all those who came. Thanks, too, to Lisa Santoro for creating our beautiful power point of photos!!!
• Thanks to Stacey Bracken for coordinating the Scholastic Book Club. Besides getting new books, we also get points. This allows us to purchase even more books for our wonderful library, plus last year we also purchased a digital camera for one of our classes!!!!. Thanks to all that participate.
• Thanks to all the parents who drove on the pumpkin picking trips. Thanks for all your help!!
• We will be doing fall progress reports again this year. They are preprinted forms, so we are using the parts of them that we feel are appropriate for each class – some things we are not looking for at this time or are not observable at this time. They will probably be coming out after Thanksgiving. If you would ever like to meet with the teachers or visit in the classrooms, please contact the teachers or me to set up a mutually convenient time. Remember that formal parent–teacher conferences are held in February and March, but we can arrange one at any time.
• Thanks for calling the school on a day when your child is going to be out due to illness or vacation. Illness logs (what illness a child is absent for) are posted outside the classroom doors and are updated daily.
• If any parents home, business or cell phones have changed, please let me know for our emergency records.
• Thanks to all those who, for snack, have been diligently cutting grapes in half and cutting carrots into sticks – we really appreciate the effort!!!!!
• There is Lost and Found by the coat racks.
• The photos from Tracy Kometani from Heritage Photography are done and should be here this week. I think the deadline for re-ordering is soon – if you are interested.
• If you know of anyone that is interested in applying to Haytown next year, please encourage them to call me (832-5645) to get on the list to receive the application in December/January and to possibly visit our school. We are now offering Tuesday Tours where anyone can visit us on Tuesday morning for a tour of the school. Please pass this on to anyone who might be interested.
• There actually is an entrance and an exit to our parking lot. For the safety of the children and of the parents too, please use the appropriate driveways.
• A reminder to get your child’s flu shot by the end of December.
• A reminder to have the children play safely on the playground when they are outside with you before or after school. Please don’t allow your children to walk up the slide. Please don’t allow your children to hang from their knees from the overhead ladder. These are rules that the teachers enforce on the playground. It would be so helpful if you can reinforce them after school, too.
• We are still collecting plastic lids for Aveda. (These are the rigid plastic caps, i.e. water bottles, soda bottle, laundry detergent, ketchup, shampoo… but not milk tops – they’re bendable.) Can you believe that we’ve already sent off fifteen pounds of lids! We will continue these programs for the whole year. I love when the children have saved them and come into my office to deposit them. We do not directly profit from this, but what a great way for the children to learn about recycling and helping others. Thanks to all the parents for their efforts.
• We are starting our Parent as Guest-Readers Program. You are welcome to sign up to come and be our guest reader for the day. You can either have the teachers chose a book that works with the curriculum or bring a book of you and your child’s choice. Sign-up sheets are posted outside the classroom doors. There is NO obligation; we’d just love to have you.
• If your child does not stay for lunch and you want to do so by the day, the cost is $10 per day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

P.S. November tuition is now due – $360 for youngers without lunch, $452 for youngers with lunch, and $478 for morning olders. There is a $5 late fee if paid after the 10th of the month – but that will be waived this month.

Thanks!!