Dear Westfield Friends,
Where did the three weeks go? We worked together on long division, dissecting a pig kidney, and linear equations. With our Buddies we put together “Sacks of Love” and created cards for nursing home residents. In art, we explored tissue paper and multi-media collages inspired by Eric Carle and Pablo Picasso. In writing, we worked on bringing detail to small-moment writing, using evidence in non-fiction essays, and imagining the owner of a single-shoe as inspiration for our short stories. We went outdoors in all sorts of weather to continue our writing about the natural world. In Spanish, we learned songs and phrases to celebrate Las Posadas. We practiced music for the Winter Concert and how to safely get on and off the risers! Our Middle School students learned how to plan and execute a fund-raiser (everyone enjoyed the movie)!
We had fun as a community at our Cookies and Crafts Family Council event. Looking ahead, be sure you have the Roller Skating Party and the Valentine's Dance on your calendars.
We welcomed Rabbi Pamela Gottfried in Meeting for Worship. She shared with us the importance of Hanukkah as a time to celebrate the freedom to practice our religion and the joy of lighting candles to celebrate light. She brought us the story of a Hanukkah in Billings, MT in 1993. A Jewish boy had put a menorah in his window. Someone threw a rock through the window. The town’s residents responded by putting menorahs in an estimated 10,000 church, home, and business windows.
Our youngest students are just beginning to recognize that adults in their lives are busy with extra tasks and that their homes may have different arrangements and treasures on display. From their car seats at night, they see holiday light displays. The extra sugar in their diets as well as the excitement and stress they sense in their adults can wind them up and sometimes leave them overwhelmed. We do well to remember that our children experience this time of year differently from us. By age four or five, children are beginning to remember that they have seen the Menorah, that snowmen-shaped cookies happen at this time, or that they have celebrated Advent. They will also begin to appreciate that our lives have seasons and events that repeat. As a child, my mother read to me, Over and Over by Charlotte Zolotow. I love that this book has the little girl just barely remembering each event over the year. On her fifth birthday, her wish is for it to all happen again. I read this book to my children and now to my grandchildren.
My wish for you this season is to know joy and peace. However, you celebrate over the next several weeks, whether it is a particular holiday, the sacredness of an afternoon call to prayer, a walk through the winter woods, the peace of lighting candles in the dark, or holding your beloved child close while you read a favorite book, know that I am holding you in the Light
Warmly,
Margaret Haviland
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December Query: “What lessons can I learn about growth and letting go from the changing of the seasons ?”
Announcements:
- December 20 ~ Winter Concert - in person and live stream
- January 6, 2025 ~ Classes Resume
- January 7 ~ Family Council Meeting
- January 8 ~ Meeting for Worship at 8:30, parents and grandparents welcome
- January 17 ~ Teacher In-Service, no school
- January 20 ~ Martin Luther King Day, no school
- January 23 ~ Step Up Evening - learn about your child’s program in the 25-26 school year, meet the teachers
We Are a Reading Community
New in the Library I Am Enough by Grace Byers
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In the Library for Christmas The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski
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In the Library for Hanukkah While the Candles Burn: Eight Stories for Hanukkah by Barbara Diamond Goldin
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In the Library for Kwanza The People Remember by Ibi Aanu Zoboi
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New in our Library Nature's Treasures: Tales Of More Than 100 Extraordinary Objects From Nature by Ben Hoare
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Teacher Margaret is reading Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe by Carl Safina |