Seasons Greetings Forestdale Families,

Thanksgiving has come and gone - along with our Turkey Trot, 2nd grade Parade of Balloons, and Pre-K's Turkey Pokey. We have shifted full swing into enjoying and learning about festivals and celebrations that take place during this time of year. Many of these are a celebration of light - with lights being an important component of the holiday as well as community, sharing and kindness. Some celebrations at this time include: St. Nicholas Day, Las Posadas, Christmas, Hanukkah, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa and Solstice. I hope this holiday season brings you joy, peace and community sprit - which we are sharing in abundance at our Forestdale School.

-Kara Schofield

Our littlest people at the school celebrated Thanksgiving with a group sing-a-long of the Turkey Pokey and other seasonal tunes. A bit camera shy, these littles did a great job singing, moving and watching all the other performers from the preschool classrooms. Thank you for letting me be a part of your celebration!

Second grade students who chose to participate joined a holiday chorus. Led by Paul Horton and myself, these students practiced singing and moving to 3 holiday songs to sing at the Lighting of the Littlest Christmas Tree held in the town center in Sandwich. Student carolers had one dress rehearsal singing in front of their 2nd grade peers at the November REACH assembly. They will be called to perform again on December 20th when the school gathers for some holiday singing.

Our carolers, donned with Santa hats, did an amazing job singing to the crowd on that chilly, December 1st. Thank you to all the families who helped support this chorus and for bringing in students early to practice. My favorite part of the entire event was ending our rehearsals on Tuesday mornings, and having student happily singing and chanting through the halls as they navigated to their classrooms. It is such a joyous sound to hear children singing with such emotion! Absolutely beautiful.

Congratulations to students on Bus #19 for having outstanding bus behavior, staying safe, and following expectations. Keep up the great work!

The students pictured above, have been in school every day since the school year began. Students received a certificate and special "Forestdale Pencil" for their hard work. Congrats to these hard working students.

Every month, the CAP animals of Cape Cod come to visit our first grade students. Each class will get at least one turn to read with these calm, gentle and great listening pups. This is a much anticipated activity for our first grade classrooms and one that students really enjoy. Thank you to Stephanie Bridges for continuing to connect this program with our school.

Our amazing art teacher does so many fun projects with her art students. During this rotation, students created puppets using a variety of materials. Kindergarten students created a paper puppet using a small brown paper bag and first and second graders created felt puppets. Using glue, buttons, feathers, and so many more accessories, students made their creations come to life. This first grade class is having puppets perform jokes for the class to enjoy. So much creativity and laughter in this activity.

Share feedback here: kschofield@sandwich.k12.ma.us Thanks for all your great suggestions and ideas.