Happy Holidays

Parents:

I hope everyone had the chance to hear the children sing at the holiday concert. It was fun to hear them sing about candy canes and snowmen and Rudolph, or, as he's known in my house, Woo-doff.

May you all have a joyous holiday. May you be filled with the spirit of the season, and may none of your relatives give your children loud electronic toys with a jillion tiny pieces.

See you all in January.

-Brooke

Santa Comes To Sunflower

Yesterday, Santa Claus made a surprise stop at Sunflower and brought along a present for each student.

Amazingly, Each kid held on to his/her present and didn't even try to open it until everyone had been given a gift and Santa counted out, "One, two, THREE!"

Also amazing: Not a single person cried, which made the morning more pleasant than every trip to see Santa at the mall, ever.

Ms. Correy took photos of everyone in Santa's lap, which should be available at the holiday concert this Friday at 10am.

The Good Food Store Scrip Program - So THAT'S How That Works!

Parents:

When you filled out your child's paperwork for the new school year, you may have noticed a page in the packet that mentioned a scrip program for The Good Food Store. If you're like me, you signed, it, forgot about it, and now if someone offered you a hundred bucks and a case of beer to explain what it is, you couldn't do it. If you're NOT like me, and you know exactly what's going on, good for you! Now bring your organized self over to my house, 'cause these presents aren't going to wrap themselves.

But for those who ARE like me, we're in luck! Melodie has taken the time to explain it all for us:

Wouldn't it be nice if you could set a grocery budget and stick to it, but have a teensy bit of wiggle room in case that extra huge head of broccoli puts you over by $2.19 when you get to the cashier?  

Wouldn't it be nice if you had a reason to shop at the Good Food Store more regularly? 

Wouldn't it be nice if you knew that some of the money you spent on groceries was being passed on to a wonderful educational program here in town... and your kid was in that educational program? 

Voila!  It is wonderful!  Set up a Good Food Store Scrip account.  It's easy.

1.  Go to the customer service desk at the GFS.  Smile a lot, because the people there are smiley.  Say these words:"I would like to set up a scrip account to support Sunflower Montessori School. 

"The extra credit version:"I would like to set up a scrip account to support Sunflower Montessori School.  Their account number is 223." 

The scattered person version:"I would like to set up a scrip account to support SMS.  However, I may have already done it.  Here is the account number: 223- and the last four digits of my phone number: ####.  Can you check to see if I have an account?" 

2.  Once your account is set up, hand over a check, cash, or card and say:"Great!  Are you available to put $X.00 on my account right now?"They will probably say yes.  If they don't, they'll ask you to have the cashier do it as you purchase your groceries.  Either way, mention your scrip account before they total you out.  If you max out your account while purchasing your groceries, you can put the rest of the charge on some other form of payment.  You can also add money to your account before they begin to ring up your groceries. 

3.  Remember to add money periodically.  Perhaps the first trip to the GFS of each month, mention it to the cashier that you'd like to check your balance, and if it is lower than you'd like, add more.  
Easy peasy!

Thanks for clearing it up, Melodie. Bonus points for making a "peas" joke at the end of a post about groceries.

FYI, here's what's on sale this week. 

-Brooke

Shopping For Sunflower

In case you haven't finished all of your holiday shopping, here's a great idea:

Check out the online store For Small Hands. They offer great Montessori materials, "I Can Do It Myself" kid-sized supplies, and fun games for the whole family.

AND, if you enter the code #327849 at check-out, they'll reward Sunflower Montessori with credit for free materials. Something for you, something for your favorite school.

But HURRY - The promotion only runs through the end of this month! Remember to enter the Sunflower code.

(If you're like me, you've sworn up and down you're not going to buy another thing before Christmas. But then I saw the kid-sized kitchen equipment and lost my mind). 

-Brooke

Holiday Happenings At Sunflower

Happy Holidays, everyone! 

In honor of this special season, Sunflower is planning a few festive events.

BETWEEN NOW AND DECEMBER 14th: PRESENT DROP-OFF 
Applies to all students, all ages: Please purchase a small, inexpensive gift ($5-$10) for your child. Wrap it, be sure it's clearly labeled with your child's name, and covertly drop it off at the school. These are the gifts that will be distributed by Santa when he comes to the school. Speaking of:

TUE, DECEMBER 18th: 10:00am SANTA COMES TO SUNFLOWER
Applies to all students, all ages: Every year, Santa distributes gifts to the children; this year, Santa is a SURPRISE. Parents are welcome to gather at the elementary school no later than 9:55am if they wish to see Santa show up unexpectedly during a concert rehearsal...but please don't breath a word!

FRI, DECEMBER 21st: 10:00am CHRISTMAS CONCERT / SCHOOL CLOSES EARLY
Every child needs a guardian to come to the 10am concert. The Sunflower kids and the elementary kids will be singing, and the Sprouts (2 year olds) will be watching. The performance will last for approximately 30 minutes, and then school will be closed for the day.

DEC 24 - JAN 2: SCHOOL CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAYS
See you next year!

Questions/Concerns? E-mail Katie

DECEMBER LUNCH MENU

(Also posted daily by Melodie on the Sunflower facebook page)

NOTE SCHOOL CLOSURES

Update From Ms. Lindsay & Ms. Reina's Classroom

Monday Dec 3.

Today we had a special visit from a special service dog name Barnsley.  Barnsley showed us how he helps people perform tasks that they may not be able to do on their own.  Barnsley showed us how he can help take off a jacket, open a door, and retrieve a water bottle!  The children enjoyed watching Barnsley, taking turns petting him, and learning about service dogs.

This is our last week of studying South America.  Thank you to Lio for sharing money from the country of Colombia called "Plata."  We will be moving on to the continent of Europe next.

Today I enjoyed presenting another lesson from Sonnie McFarland's book "Honoring the Light of the Child".  Love light necklaces are now on the peace shelf for the children to wear when their love light is shining bright.  If a love light necklace happens to come home please send it back the next day.

In Botany we are learning the parts of the leaf, and we are studying horses for Zoology.  In addition to these new jobs, we have introduced picture pin-poking, and several new holiday themed jobs.  

It is exciting to see so many children mastering their letter sounds!  We have brought out the moveable alphabet, and several children have had lessons on word building.  I think many children will be reading by the end of the year!

The children are now setting their own place settings for lunch time.  Please reinforce this great skill at home, and have them set the dinner table.  Many children are mastering using polite table manners.  Ask them to name a few table manners that they've learned.

We have a beautiful glass reptile cage ready for use in our Peace/Cultural room.  We are looking for a parent volunteer to set-up our reptile cage and check-in on it weekly.  The children have enjoyed taking care of the fish, and I think we are ready to expand!  Ms. Reina & I have agreed that a snake might be a bit too intimidating for us, but perhaps a lizard or turtle might work out well.  If you have any expertise in this area please contact me at sunflowermontessori@hotmail.com

It is a joy to watch your children grow!  For any questions/comments please feel free to contact me.

Thank you,

Ms. Lindsay Aquilio