Dear Parents,

            Division 7 is having a Christmas party on Friday, December 20^th.  Instead of doing a Secret Santa exchange, the students decided they wanted to bring in gifts for less fortunate children.  They selected the charity, Seeds of Love and Hope (for more information, see http://www.solahis.com/) , and one of the parents from our class, Catherine Basso, is taking a trip to Medellin, Colombia in March.  She will personally be able to bring our gifts to needy children who will be so grateful for whatever we can provide.

            This is a voluntary donation; December is a tough month financially for many families, and we don’t want to add unnecessary burden.  If you are able to participate, please purchase a new toy that is: good quality (some dollar store toys are, but others are not, so be aware that we want this child to have something that will not break immediately), non-violent, and relatively small (as it has to fit into Catherine’s suitcase!)  The Bassos recommend things like stuffed animals or Hot Wheels cars.

            We had some discussion about wrapping and exchanging the gifts first as a game, but there was some discomfort with this, so I have made the decision that we will simply collect the toys unwrapped.

            You are also invited to send your child with a mug on Friday, as Mr. Pitcher has kindly offered to donate some hot cocoa for us!  If you are able to send along some sharing snacks for our party (cookies, fruit, vegetables, etc.), the children will enjoy that too.

            We will be viewing the movie, “Elf”, which is rated G in Canada.  Children are wearing pjs to school on Friday, and are also invited to bring a blanket, stuffy or pillow if they’d like.  We’ll be having some partner reading time and some read aloud too for a nice, calm final day of school before the break.

            If you have any questions, please email me at Nancy_Rupert@sd42.ca.  Have a very happy holiday break!

Mrs. Rupert