Many Helping Hands

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Director Kitelet November 29, 2019

November 2019

Dear Families,

I write this Kitelet with an enormous amount of gratitude to all of our GCS staff, children, families, Board of Directors and Trustees. Each has contributed in their own special way to the success of both our Breakfast Food Drive and our 15th Annual Home Tour. As a school, we collected 178 pounds of breakfast food items that were shared with the local food bank, Loaves and Fishes. Most of us are surrounded by love and everyday essentials and often don’t even realize that many don’t have the basics such as breakfast.   We are reminded of how thankful we are for all that we have, and appreciate the opportunities to promote kindness and empathy in our classrooms.

GROTON COMMUNITY HOME TOUR

And then there is the Home Tour – a culmination of MANY hands and six months of planning, meeting, and volunteering.. No job was too small. This year’s tour was a tremendous success, outselling any other year in tickets, lunch orders, and baked goods. We were so fortunate to have had a beautiful day for being outside and are grateful to the many volunteers that worked together to make this event such a success. We are also grateful to the community at large, from those that shared their homes with us, to the local businesses that sponsored our event or made donations, to the generous contributors for our Chance Table, and the community members that went on the tour. Stay tuned for the final results as we are still working through all of the numbers. As a non-profit, we are reminded that our tuition does not cover expenses, and fundraising is needed to close that gap and keep increases to a minimum. See 2019 Home Tour Highlights!

CURRICULUM DAY

As a staff, we are all grateful too, for our November Curriculum Day and the opportunity to gather together to learn and grow as educators..   Our training focused on organization and aesthetics, both for ourselves and in our classroom environments, and how focusing on these priorities effect young children. Working with our recent accreditation results and reviewing the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct was also a focus. Teams especially appreciate the opportunity to lunch together and collaborate. This time as a group helps us to be the best that we can be, and we thank you for giving us the gift of these curriculum days, as we know how tricky scheduling and childcare can be for families.

FAMILY PHOTOS

A special thank you to Erin Chapman Imagery for donating her talent and time in our “Hug Your Kids” family photos. Several of our families were privileged to have Erin document their family time and we are grateful for her generosity.

HOLIDAY SHOPPING

Are you looking for great holiday gifts? Stop by the lobby to purchase this year’s “Peace Dove” ornaments and/or our new GCS thermal burlap shopping bag to benefit our Forward Motion Campaign. We are also offering families the chance to purchase gift cards through the Scrip Program. It is an opportunity to buy the gift cards you may already want to purchase, at the same cost to you, but with a percentage going back to the school. Click here to learn more: www.grotoncommunityschool.org/shop-with-scrip-and-support-your-school/.

Finally, with Black Friday just around the corner and lots of shopping to be had, register GCS as your non-profit of choice with Amazon Smile and they will donate a percentage of your purchase to the school. It is quick and easy and again, at no charge to you!!

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to the Welch Family on the birth of their son, Benjamin (brother, Alex, is in the Toddler Class).

THANK YOU!

Thank you to Katie Bach, Jen Burke, Amanda Gagnon, Mairead Orpen, Hannah Pugh & Cathy Wong for their food & beverage contributions for this month’s Board of Trustee meeting.

 We’d also like to thank the following for their donations to GCS this month: John Amaral and Forge & Vine for staff snacks, Joanie Caruso for curriculum materials, the Foster family for board books, Patty Hammond for a Special Edition Newsweek magazine featuring Mr. Rogers, the Hand family for a Mr. Rogers figurine, and the Lopez & Wiczynski families for containers.

Happy Thanksgiving,

 

 

 

Linda Kosinski, Director
Groton Community School

 

DATES TO REMEMBER

Monday, December 9th                                   Board Meeting – 7:30 PM

Thursday, December 12th                               Curriculum Day – No School

December 23rd – 31st                                      Holiday Break – No School

Wednesday, January 1st                                 New Year’s Day – No School

 

Please click on the PDF above to view our full newsletter!

 

 

 

 

 

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