Note: Our new Director Silvia Ferguson will be resuming this feature of the web site in the coming weeks.

Director's Reports
Ali Spickler

November 28, 2006

The calendar for December is here, as well as a flyer for the Book Festival fundraiser we are holding this weekend. Please feel free to copy and post this flyer, as we hope to have a large turnout of shoppers. I have also placed a copy of our health policy in here as well - as wintertime often also brings cold and flu season...

A Note About the Holiday Season...Throughout the month of December we will be celebrating Chanukah. While we do not actively celebrate other religious holidays, we know that many of you do at home. Children need to process the important aspects of their home life at school, so we anticipate having conversations at school about all the winter holidays, not simply Chanukah. We will always encourage, support and celebrate your child's sense of self and family, and are happy to discuss any of the holidays they wish to bring up. But please note - we will not be including other religious holidays in our curriculum, or in our classroom celebrations.

Program Updates:

Financial Report - Each year we receive a significant donation fro the Janet Rothschild fund. Janet was a former Simcha director who passed away several years ago. This year we will be receiving $2000 from the Janet Rothschild fund. We will be using $1000 this year for playground maintenance (clean sand, new wood chips, etc), and are setting aside $1000 to use as grant matching money. Speaking of grant money, Ali will be putting together a list of grant and donor resources to get funding for playground improvements. If you are interested in helping us improve and expand our Toddler program, or any other aspects of our school, this is a great way to get involved and make a significant contribution. Talk to Ali if you have any grant writing experience or want to be involved.

Directory Update - We finalized sales for this year's Directory Fundraiser (with one last $400 sale pending) at $9,175, just $825 short of the $10K in income we had budgeted for. This is not bad at all, and I am really grateful to all of you who helped out with sales this year. All of the money earned goes into our budgeted income, which helps to cover overhead costs and keeps them low. Thanks everyone for your support!

Staffing Update - Most of you are aware that we have had a staffing change in our Pre-K classroom this past month. Our longtime friend and Pre-K teacher, Cari, resigned at the beginning of November. While we are sad to have lost her as a teacher in our program, we want to support her in her new endeavors and wish her well in her future. We excited to announce that we have hired a new teacher for the pre-K classroom, Joni Hyerle. Joni taught at Simcha in the pre-K class from 2001 - 2005, and left a year and 1/2 ago to take a supervisor/director position. But Joni missed working directly with children and families, and called me as soon as she saw our ad in the paper. She will be starting on December 11, and she and Kristen will be co-teaching in the mornings together.

Assistant Director's Report Simcha
Preschool Assistant Director, Kristen Maya

November 17, 2006

This month I have had the opportunity to meet with Chris Ohlsen of Ohlsen Foods to discuss possibilities around having a high quality hot lunch program during our school year. The choices will be high protein vegetarian items that will be flexible for food allergies. The children will receive an opportunity for a warm comfortable and educational food experience while being exposed to a variety of new foods. The cost for this program would be and extra $5.00 a day including tax. This lunch program would have several benefits for the school: families would no longer have to buy and prepare daily lunches for their kids to bring to Simcha, a hot lunch program would be a great marketing tool for new families, lunchtimes for teachers would be easier to manage, we would offer guaranteed healthy lunches for kids, etc. The details of this program have been reviewed with the Parent Committee. We will be putting forward a plan at the January parent committee meeting for implementing this program in the summer on a trial run basis. Any feedback you have about this idea is appreciated!

Thank you so much for all of the families that have participated in the last couple of months in and outside the classroom.

April 3, 2006

What a long winter we are having this year! The children and teachers have definitely had their fill of puddle stomping and downpours! Yes, winter has had an impact! The children are also noticing that several of our trees are starting to grow new leaves and flowers. This cycle of life is wonderful to experience with young children.

We have some exciting events this month, as well as a week of closure for Spring Break. Please refer to our newsletter to keep yourself informed about our parent education workshop, children's seders, etc. Our events are great ways to build community, support our program and earn participation credits, so please plan to attend.

And, as always, my office door is open for questions, comments, and suggestions. I value the input I get from you, and hearing from you is a priority.

March 6, 2006

Our winter has certainly been a wet one so far! The children have enjoyed a good amount of puddle stomping during their outside play, and even got to watch a hail storm fall in our play yard last week. Yes, winter has had an impact! The children are also noticing that several of our trees are starting to grow new leaves and flowers. This cycle of life is wonderful to experience with young children.

We have some exciting events coming up. Please refer to our Upcoming Events section on page 3 of this newsletter to keep yourself informed about our Purim Carnival, Fresh Choice Night, spring Tot Shabbat, Mitzvah Day, etc. Our events are great ways to build community, support our program and earn participation credits, so please plan to attend.

And, as always, my office door is open for questions, comments, and suggestions. I value the input I get from you, and hearing from you is a priority.

February 6, 2006

Our fall session at Simcha ended on such a high note. We had a really successful first half of the school year, earning more money than expected at the December book festival. We also had a great time at our Holiday Party before the winter break. It feels like all of us, our children and our families, are really bonding and growing - it is delightful to watch.

Over the winter break, I was able to tear a few families away from some of their rest and holiday time to help us with the construction and sand filling of our new sand box. I want to thank the Todisco, Grove, Krause, and Perkins families for their support in this effort.

Our spring session got off to a great start earlier this month. We finally heard back from the NAEYC that we have, again, earned our re-accreditation, through the year 2010 (see back page for more info)! This is such a high esteem for us, and truly rewarding as well. I want to thank each of you for your support of our staff and program. The reason we do what we do so well is because of the support we get from you!

So far, the winter weather hasn't slowed us down much. The children are still enjoying a good deal of outside time, and are as busy as ever with their curriculum. We are all looking forward to celebrating the spring holidays and looking forward to our days getting longer.

The months ahead also hold some transition for us. We have new holidays, new curriculum, new classroom arrangements, and a new sandbox in the preschool yard. We will also be getting to know some new Simcha teachers and saying good-bye to some beloved teachers in the coming month. Please read more about these teacher transitions in our program updates section across the page.

And, as always, my office door is open for questions, comments, concerns and compliments. We value the input we get from our families and hearing your feedback on any important issues is a priority to us. Here's looking forward to a great 2006 Spring Session!

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