ECC Families,
This year is really flying by! It’s hard to believe that the New Year is just a month away. This is one of my favorite times of the year, not because of the presents, food, or shopping but because it is the time of year when everyone comes together and remembers how important family and friends are in our lives. At this busy time of the year I urge everyone to slow down for a moment and take some time to remember what is truly important in your life. Having the great pleasure of working around children all day makes it hard to escape the excitement of the holidays. However crazy it gets it is my hope that we are always displaying for our children the true meaning of Christmas. It seems fitting that our life skill for this month is “helpful” and our character trait is “loving”. What better time of the year to be able to show children what it truly means to be helpful and loving.
It was a pleasure seeing all of our families at our Thanksgiving Feast. Although it is a lot of work and can be a little crazy it is one of my favorite events. I love the opportunity it gives us to come together with our preschool families and celebrate a holiday that is all about family and giving thanks for what we have. Thank you for joining us and bringing all of the delicious food to share.
This month we will be busy practicing for our Christmas programs. Our programs will be held on Tuesday, December 15th and Wednesday, December 16th in the church. We will begin at 7:00pm and they will usually last around an hour. We would like for you to have your child to the church by 6:45pm where we will gather in the Mulligan Room. Please do not drop your child off any earlier than 6:30pm. We want all the parents to be able to see their little ones perform so we will be reserving the first several pews on both sides of the church so that when it is your child’s turn to perform parents will be invited to move to these areas to view the performance. We ask that everyone keeps in mind that we will be performing in the church and we need to respect the holiness of the space we are using.
We will be adopting a family again this year. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to show our children that Christmas can be not only about what we receive but what we give to those less fortunate than us. Please look for a flyer that will be going out this week with all of the information about how we will be helping our adopted family this year.
All of our families should have received a NAEYC Family Survey. The NAEYC is the National Association for the Education of Young Children. This is an organization that helps promote excellence in early childhood education. This is also the national accrediting organization that our program is recognized by. We will be coming up for reaccreditation in January 2011. There are several standards that must be met in order to maintain our accreditation status so we have began the process of reviewing our policies and procedures to make sure we are meeting all of the requirements. One of the steps in this process is to take inventory of how our families feel we are meeting some of these standards. Please take the time to fill out this survey the best you can. It is very important to us that we are not only meeting our accreditation standards but that we are meeting the needs of our families as well. When you have completed your survey please drop it off in the envelope located in one of the silver baskets at the front desk.
All parents should have received your child’s first period developmental report. Please make sure to fill out comments and return to your child’s teacher. Remember if you have questions or concerns regarding the curriculum feel free to contact Jenny Fletcher our Curriculum Coordinator. Her e-mail is jfletcher@presentation-parish.org.
Finally, make sure to fill out the holiday attendance signup sheet with the days your child will be attending. This helps us adjust our staffing needs so that our staff can spend additional time with their families during the holiday season. As always if you have any questions or concerns feel free to e-mail, call or just stop by. May your family have a safe and blessed holiday season. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
God Bless,
Catherine M. Koob
Director
"The one who has hope lives differently"
- Pope Benedict XVI, Spe salvi
