Kwanzaa Week - Newsletter

A Letter from the Teacher

What a great job the kids did at the Christmas program last Monday! I hope you all enjoyed the show as much as I did! We also enjoyed seeing the program on DVD during class. The kids sang along with the DVD and clapped after each song. It was very cute. :-) If you’d like a copy of the DVD, see Maria as soon as possible.

Our Holiday parties are happening next week. I’m excited that we were able to reserve Hesseltine Room for both days. I’m hoping we’ll find time in our day to have the kids help us decorate for the parties. We’ll be having a special guest coming to read “The Night Before Christmas” for us so it will be a full day...full of fun. :-)

Many of you have already signed up to bring something. Thanks! It’d be great if someone would sign up to bring Christmas plates/napkins/cups for each day. It’s looking like we’ll have a yummy variety of food.

Hopefully you’ve already noticed that we’re having a book exchange at the parties. Just a reminder, please bring a wrapped book that is not gender specific. Questions? Just let me know.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to the “loose change drive.” The Sunshine Class did a great job bringing in lots of change! I’m sure we’ll hear the total at some point. If you are looking for more ways to help demonstrate compassion for your children, you can bring in canned food (large wrapped box upstairs) or you can check out the giving tree upstairs. Maria can answer any questions you might have about either of those things. It’s always good to think about giving during this busy, “getting” season.

Thanks!
-Teacher April

This Week in the Sunshine Class

This week we’ll be honoring the holiday: Kwanzaa. It’s always good to honor cultures that are not our own and here at Little Acorn we value multiculturalism. So these few weeks of holiday celebrations are part of our attempt at that.

We’ve got a couple of books to read to help us have a little bit of an understanding about Kwanzaa. We’ll also be doing some art that are similar to things that are created by families who celebrate Kwanzaa. We’ll be making “Mkeka’s” that are basically quilts made out of a variety of natural materials. I believe they are used to set things on during Kwanzaa. We’ll be making ours out of contact paper but we will be using them to decorate our tables at our holiday parties. If you have any natural-type materials (burlap, dried flowers, etc…), we’d love to use them for our projects.

Creating jewelry with beads is a popular African art form so we’re going to be painting big noodles and using them later to create our own jewelry. In African countries beads decorate everything from clothes and headbands to baskets and drums. Some people use beads as money. Beads can also tell others what job a person has in the community.

Next week we’ll be making a yummy punch for our parties that is often made and shared during Kwanzaa celebrations.