Information from Susan

Happy New Year! I hope each and everyone of you have health, peace and joy in 2005. Thank you for contributing to our Giving Tree. We actually had more gifts than Social Services needed! I am always amazed at the generosity of our families.

At The Goddard School, we are busy preparing for summer and even for September! Soon we will be asking you for your plans regarding schedules, etc. Please be on the lookout for a letter with reminders about important dates in 2005.

From the Director's Chair Tips for Keeping Healthy

- Practice good handwashing routines
- Only bring your child back to school when they have been symptom free for a minimum of 24 hours
- Be sure your child has appropriate winter weather gear for outdoor play

Reminders

• Please be sure to sign your child in and out every day.
• Please check your mailbox regularly.
• Please do not leave your car running in the parking lot.
• Do we have your most current contact and emergency information? Winter is upon us!
• If you are not going to be at the office, if you are doing your holiday shopping or on the road, please let us know! We need to know the most immediate way to reach you in an emergency. Keep those cell phones on!!
• If your child is sick, please be sure the office knows. We are required by both Goddard and DYFS to track all illnesses.

Parent Association News

The Parent Association is happy to announce two events they have planned for the children. Uncle John’s Puppet Show on January 27th and Mr. Ray on February 25th.

Closings and Delays

School closings and delays due to bad winter weather will be announced on NJ 101.5 FM and left on the school voicemail by 6:30 a.m.

Seal Pups

The Seal Pups enjoyed learning about “Snow,” “Hibernation” and “Arctic Animals.” We look forward to celebrating Valentine’s Day and learning about “Friendship.” We had so much fun participating in Pajama Day!!

We will be learning the songs “Where Are My Friends?,” “Special Friends,” “Valentine’s Day” and many more. We will also make a lot of noise playing our instruments.

Happy Birthday to Tony (1/2), Grayson (1/13), Michael (1/22) and Jamie (2/3). We wish Amanda & Michael the best of luck on their move to Tiny Turtles. Good-bye and good luck to Tony!

Tiny Turtles

In January, we learned about “Snow” and “Winter.” February will bring us “Valentines” and “Feelings.” The self-help skills we will be focusing on will be using our hands, manners and being kind to our friends.

Some new songs that we are learning this winter include “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee.” We will be reading new books such as Snow Play by Kate Sponn and Puppy Love by Eric Hill.

Daniel S. and Sean N. have joined the Jellyfish Room. We will miss them. We welcome Amanda B. and Michael K.!

Smiling Starfish

We will practice cutting with scissors and learning about colors and shapes. “Please” and “Thank You” are phrases we are working on.

Our new songs are “Five Little Cookies,” “Penguins on the Ice” and “Ten Little Penguins.”

We had a blast wearing our pajamas on Pajama Day. Thank you to all the parents who made donations to this worthy cause.

The Starfish can’t wait to see their class picture.

Jumping Jellyfish

The Jellyfish will have fun talking about “Snow,’ “ Penguins,” and “Bears” in January. Then in February, we will explore “Feelings,” “Love” and “Senses.” As always, we will practice getting our coats from our cubbies, taking down the zippers and trying to put them away.

We will sing “I’m A Little Snowman” and “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” while performing the movements. The Jellyfish will sing “I Love You” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”

Happy Winter Birthdays to Joshua (1/2), Joey (1/12) and Hope (2/11). We would like to welcome Daniel Seeman and Sean Naughton to our room. They have joined us from the Tiny Turtle Room. We said a sad good-bye to Alexa DePaola as she and her family moved away in January.

Marvelous Manatees

The Manatees enjoyed learning about “Snow,” “Arctic Animals” and “Hibernation.” We look forward to learning about “Nutrition” and “Valentine’s Day.” We will be singing “Snowflakes Falling Down,” “Sing a Song of Weather” and “Tony Chestnut.”

Happy Birthday to Joshua G., Jenna F. and Jonathan. We are happy to welcome Jaclyn Barry to our class.

Dynamic Dolphins

This winter the Dolphins will be working on skills that include: typing letters on the computer, graphing and science adventures on ice. We will continue to work on our number and letter recognition. The letters we will work on in February are “N,” “O,” “P” and “Q.”

The new songs we are learning are “Dance Like Snowflakes,” “Icy Toes” and “Lots of Bears are Hibernating.”

Happy Birthday to Amanda S.( 1/15), Nicole (1/30), Trevor (2/6), Caitlin (2/13) and Kevin (2/22).

Outstanding Otters

We loved learning about “Eskimos,” “Snow,” “Antarctica” and all the “Arctic Animals.” Now we know what “hibernation” and “migration” mean. Dancing like penguins and playing “Musical Ice Fishing” was a blast! We were so excited to see each other after winter break! We had a great time on Pajama Day!

We can hardly wait to learn about “Nutrition,” “Friendship,” “Love” and “Valentine’s Day.” We are more than half way through the alphabet. In February, we will work on the letters “R,” “S,” “T” and “U.”

Thank you for all the wonderful holiday gifts. It was sweet of everyone to remember us at the holidays. Also, thank you to Andrew’s family for the wonderful classroom donations from Andrew’s birthday.

Happy Birthday to Ms. Traci (1/1), Andrew (1/3), Noah (1/22) and Jared (2/24).

Perky Penguins

The Penguins can’t wait to make calendars and learn the months of the year! We will also start to learn about money. Studying snowflakes, hibernation and our bodies will be fun!

Many of our Penguin friends are starting to read. We will be helping them to develop that skill.

Our letters for January and February are “Y,” “J,” “S,” “I,” “M,” “V,” “ K” and “Q.” We will sing many songs about “Penguins,” “Winter” and “Love.” We enjoyed setting up our cave for hibernating and wearing our pajamas to school.

The Penguin class would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Gianna, Laurens and T.J.

Don’t forget to send in warm clothes for your child. We would like to be outside everyday!

Wondrous Whales

We are learning about “Winter Sports,” “Animals in Winter,” “The Post Office,” “Valentine’s Day” and many other exciting themes.

Our new sight words include: “hot,” “cold,” “do,” “am,” “what,” “why” and “where.” We will sing “The Hot Chocolate Shake,” dance like a penguin and make stone soup!

Happy Birthday to Sean Z. (1/29), Zachary H. (2/3) and Emily Y. (2/25).

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the Valentine’s Social on February 11th!

Afterschool Penguins

Happy New Year! We are back to traveling around the world now that the holidays are over. We will be going to Russia, Canada, China, Spain and Egypt. We are excited to learn all about these places!

We welcome Austin S. to our class! He is the big brother of Amanda in the Dolphin class.

Please be sure your child has weather and size appropriate change of clothes in his/ her cubby. Be sure to include an extra pair of sneakers.