Dear GCS Families,
No Winter Lasts Forever
No Spring Skips its Turn
These words that were recently displayed on our front street sign seem to be finally coming true, albeit the arrival of warm weather took more time than we wished. It was so exciting to finally open up our playground structures and untie the swings for young children eagerly awaiting them. There were cheers of laughter and squeals from children as they took notice upon taking their turn on the playground. The sun has been shining, and it seems we are all able to pack up the boots and snow pants for another year… thank goodness!! Classes have all started seeds under grow lights, and some have already found a warm home in our greenhouse. Spring is here!!
SPRING SPRUCE-UP
With the arrival of spring is also the evidence of a harsh winter on our playground. Please consider lending us an hour or so of your time for our Spring Spruce-Up on Saturday, April 28th, (9 to 2) and rain date on Sunday (12 to 5). No talent required, just muscle and a perhaps a little energy. We have some garden beds to edge and clean out, mulch in need of spreading, and some small carpentry projects to complete. As the saying goes, “Many hands make for light work”, and the event tremendously supports the non-profit budget that we carefully work to balance.
WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD
It has truly been an exciting week celebrating the Week of the Young Child here at GCS! We are recognizing the many fabulous children in our care, our talented and energetic staff, and all of you… the families that we serve. Parents have an incredibly hard and important role, but one that is nothing short of an amazing privilege. Thank you to our room parents for spoiling us with delicious staff luncheons and to fundraising for sponsoring a kick-off concert with Liz Buchanan of Antelope Music and Literacy. It has been exciting to travel to various organizations and businesses throughout the town and see our GCS Community Bucket decorated by children and filled with flowers for delivery in recognition of this special week.
Classes have enjoyed their own special activities this week, creating t-shirts, pillowcases or photo holders for example. Pre-K hosted their Art Shows for their families, and there is also an incredible Aqua Room French Art Gallery just across the parking lot at the Groton Post Office that you won’t want to miss. I hope you will be able to visit during the next couple of weeks.
We ended our celebration this week with our annual Peace Picnics at the Peace Pole, sharing songs and Peace Mix with contributions from each classroom. We were honored to have special guests, Donna Mackie and Samantha Dokus from the Growing Places Garden Project for our Friday AM picnic. GCS children have started kale, spinach and broccoli seedlings to give to their Youth Education Program in Fitchburg and Leominster elementary schools. Children helping children is a perfect collaboration to celebrate this week.
SIGNS OF INSPIRATION
We are so excited to finally have our completed new school sign displayed out on 119, along with its own lighting. It took a little longer that we anticipated, as there are always unexpected obstacles. We just have some landscaping to do to complete this project. Thank you to the school Board of Directors for faithfully keeping up with the sign messages for inspiration and information, and we are grateful for the funding from our Annual Fund to cover the costs of this project. We are grateful to all of you who have contributed and to the corporations that provided matching funding. Please click for more Annual Fund information if you wish to participate.
CAMP KALEIDOSCOPE
Registration is ongoing for Camp Kaleidoscope, and there are still spaces available. If you haven’t enrolled your child and would still like to, please get your forms in this week. Enrollment will open up to the community on April 16th . We’re looking forward to a rootin’ tootin’ good time this summer in the wild west!
CONGRATULATIONS!
Congratulations to the Li family on the birth of their son (brother, Eddie, is in the Toddler Class).
THANK YOU!
We’d like to thank Nancy Beckwith for her hard work to update our library system, and to Jeremy Chapman for painting our new library bookcase. We’d also like to thank Nancy Beckwith & Lisa Krywucki for decorating our front entrance in March and to Kate Engstrom & Bethany Whitefield for April.
Thank you to GCS volunteers who provided snacks & beverages for our annual Open House and for the Community Lecture in March: Katie Bach, Andrea Barrett, Julia Borger-Green, Jennifer Burke, Rachel Culley, Laura Cummings, Donna Haggerty, Cindi Lane-Hand, Elizabeth Ly, Jessica Marion, Mairead Orpen, and Brie Weider.
Thanks to the volunteers who provided lunch for the staff during the Week of the Young Child: Melissa Ackerman, Nancy Beckwith, Rachel Blaisdell, Jessie Brothers, Jen Burke, Laura Cummings, Emily Davis, Beth Donato, Anne Dowd, Kate Engstrom, Nandini Johri, Lisa Krywucki, Cindi Lane-Hand, Elizabeth Ly, Tracy Noone & Courtney Till, and to Cindi Lane-Hand, Nandini Johri, Tracy Noone & Shagufta Rahman for set-up/clean-up. Thank you for helping us to celebrate children, teachers & families.
We’d also like to thank families who have made various contributions to the school within the past month: The Burns, Chan & Haggerty families for staff snacks; the Dewing family for gerbil food; the Dowd family for puzzles, games & pretend food; the Pugh family for toy cars & trucks; the Ramsay-Gudelot family for picture books; the Spar family for Duncan Donuts coffee & Munchkins; the Till family for board books; and to the Bruno family and Betsey Reeves (past families) for recyclables. We really appreciate your donations.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Spring Break, Monday – Friday, April 16th – 20th
Scrips Orders Due, Friday, April 27th
Spring Spruce-Up, 9 AM – 2 PM, Saturday, April 28th
Happy Spring!
