Dear Parents,
I would like to add my thanks to all of you who came to our annual Celebration of Light and Love. The children were so excited to sing for you and worked very hard to learn all their songs. I was very proud of how they sang out to give this special gift to their families.
Since we finished our rehearsing for their programs we have been working in three different areas. First, I read to them the story of the Nutcracker. Then we used some of the music of the Nutcracker for movement activities. By far their favorite song was, “Waltz of the Cornflowers.” What made this so exciting for them was that they acted out the part of the story where the Sugarplum fairy came and “watered” the flowers before they could dance around. Both their teachers and I were amazed at how creative their dancing became as soon as it was part of the story! There were leaps and twirls and excitement everywhere. This activity was requested over and over.
Secondly, I have a wonderful book based on Tom Paxton’s “Marvelous Toy.” This song was very popular on the radio when I was young but is less familiar to the younger generations. The tune is very catchy and the pictures in the book illustrate the story in a very fun fashion. The theme is about a gift given to a young boy by his father that is so strange he doesn’t even know what this toy is. The story ends when the boy is grown and passes on the toy to his son. They sing, “I never knew just what it was, and I guess I never will.” I wonder if any of your have a favorite toy you have passed on to your own children.
Finally, we are beginning to learn about composers. This will be our theme throughout the month of January. We have started with Tom Paxton, a living composer, and Peter Yarrow, also a living composer who wrote “Puff, the Magic Dragon.”
The children were also very excited to share with me all their travels and family activities they are planning for the holiday break. I too will be traveling over the holiday to visit with my family. I wish you all a very happy and safe holiday break and look forward to seeing you all again in the New Year.
Ms Kathleen