Scholastic and Other Things

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I ate too much and shopped too much on Black Friday and enjoyed every minute that all three of my children were in our house making lots of noise!

November 30th is the last day to order Scholastic. You can order online or send in a paper order to MDO. I know this is last minute for new parents but every year we do a book exchange $5 with the children during their Christmas parties. Boys buy boys' books; girls for girls or general themes for either. Scholastic is a good, inexpensive way to purchase a book or two for the exchange. Our Christmas parties and program will be Thursday, December 16th.

Remember that December 9th MDO will be out preparing for Family Walk Through Bethlehem which will be on Saturday, December 11th (I will check on times). If you have ever attended the event you will realize why we need three days to set up! The downstairs children's area is turned into Bethlehem for the day. There are crafts, food, skits, a manger, etc. It is a wonderful event, and we hope you will have a chance to bring your children and go through the exhibits with them. Our teachers will be working on Thursday for part of the day to help set up.

If you didn't have a chance to order photographs from Andrea Davis and would like to, please contact her at andrea@andreadavisphotography.com to see what the availability is. Thank you!

Miscellaneous Information

Wow! Car lane was fantastic last Thursday afternoon! Thank you so much!

I have heard from several who are interested in the Wednesday program and were recommended by you. Remember FCC MDO can only take new students as we can only offer a two day program for the same child (I know several of you were interested in another day of care for your child). If you recommended us to a friend, please encourage them to get registration forms in. It's decision time, and right now, we do not have enough to make a go of the program. I need just a few more to make it possible. I need the registration forms though as confirmation that they are interested. Thank you so much to all of you who told friends about us!

Tomorrow the children will be hearing the story Stone Soup and enjoying some vegetable soup. The theme of the story is sharing what we have, and if everyone gives a little, we can all benefit. We thought it was a good message to share during this holiday season. We hope all of you have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving!

CAR LANE HELP

A lot of parents like car lane, and we are happy to offer it. However, the afternoon car lane presents a huge challenge for us. Our goal is to be finished by 2:10 PM each time, so teachers have five minutes to straighten their rooms before leaving for the day. Many of our teachers travel to Spring Hill or further to pick up children, so getting them out by 2:15 is a necessity. Yesterday we were still doing car lane at 2:20.

The more serious concern is that cars back up on a dangerous road, so we are always conscious of how many are waiting and getting cars through the lane as expeditiously as possible.

I've given the teachers a list of things that they can do to help improve the situation and together with the parents, I think we can achieve our goal of being done at 2:10 PM to allow some clean-up time.

• Please give afternoon car lane your full attention as we request you to pull up. We are only loading six cars at a time (three on each side). You will definitely be asked to pull up if you are more than three cars back. Please be watching as we ask you to move forward. Yesterday we were very nervous as cars kept backing up onto the road and sometimes parents are not paying attention when we motion to move forward.
• Once your child is loaded, please do not talk on your cell or read folders. We want to exit you as quickly as possible. We are going to let you go just as soon as three cars are loaded.
• Please do not use loading your child as a teacher conference time. It's great to hear "good day" or "read the notes in your folder" but we can't have a complete discussion in car lane. Sometimes we can't let cars go because we are waiting on one car to finish a discussion with a teacher. Meanwhile cars back up on the road :)
• It would help Ms. Maria immensely if you would place your car tag facing the cones. If you are on the right side of the cones, your tag should be on the driver side window. If you are to the left, your tag should go on the passenger side window. That helps her to call out names more quickly.

Hopefully, if we can all be just a little more conscientious about the cars behind us and the fact that we are trying to get you out quickly, we will speed car lane up just a little! Thank you!

Christmas Program Change

The Christmas Program has been changed from December 14 to December 16. More details will follow after Thanksgiving. Expect the program to last from 9:30 to about 10:30 AM.

Class Pictures

One reminder for the class picture ordering:

When you order, click on the thumbnail and use the number under that full picture (ex. Prek1.2). That is the name of the picture - not what is under the thumbnail on the first page.

Picture orders are due back by Tuesday, November 23rd (Tuesday before Thanksgiving). A portion of all the sales go to benefit the FCC MDO playground fund.

THANK YOU!

Class Pictures

To view your child's class and individual pictures, please go to the following websites:

www.imageevent.com/andreadavis/mdonursery

www.imageevent.com/andreadavis/mdotoddler1

www.imageevent.com/andreadavis/mdotoddler2

www.imageevent.com/andreadavis/preschool1

www.imageevent.com/andreadavis/mdopreschool2

www.imageevent.com/andreadavis/mdoprek1

www.imageevent.com/andreadavis/mdoprek2

Notice that Preschool 1 is a little different. We will send home price sheets and order forms tomorrow.

Reminders

• Preschool and Pre-K - don't forget to send your permission slips tomorrow for the Fire Safety House!
• The Wednesday program is only for NEW students! I am so sorry, but the state will not allow us to keep the same children more than 12 hours per week. Our facility just does not meet state guidelines for certification without major construction changes (i.e. adding bathrooms to every classroom; adding access doors to the outside from each classroom; lunchroom, etc.) It would make our job so much easier if we could see the same sweet faces all three days though!
• Please talk to your child about the fire drill tomorrow. Tell him/her that there will be a loud noise but the teachers will know exactly what to do and where to go.

Miscellaneous Information

We sent home December Scholastic catalogues yesterday, and I think that I have them all online now including the Holiday Gift Books. A big thank you to Jo Shewring who has taken over ordering books and navigating that sometimes horrendous Scholastic website for us! We have scheduled to close out orders for the year on November 30th so books will be here before Christmas break, especially if you plan to purchase some as gifts! On that last order we will put all books in plastic bags and hold them for parents to get, so the little guys don't see them.

We are going to end car lane just a few minutes early on Tuesday morning in case the Fire Safety House arrives and needs to set up. Instead of 9:10 we will probably end about 9:05 if you can arrive just a couple minutes earlier.

Preschool and Pre-K - you will need to have permission slip signed in order to go through the Fire Safety House as there are special effects (fog machine). A note should have gone home yesterday. If you were absent, be sure and come in on Tuesday morning to sign the permission slip. Nursery and Toddlers - you will still get to view the Fire House, and Mr. Ronnie will visit your classroom, but you will not go through the house.

Class pictures will be ready for viewing next week!

FIRE SAFETY DAY

Next Tuesday, November 9th is our Fire Safety Day. Ronnie King, one of our church members, who is also a local fireman will bring the Fire Safety House to MDO. He will visit the classes in his fire gear and talk to the children about fire safety. The Preschool and Pre-K classes will tour the Fire Safety House. Since there is a fog machine that simulates smoke, we need a signed permission slip from Preschool and Pre-K parents. Please look for that in your child's folder tomorrow. It will have to be returned on the 9th in order to participate in the Fire House. If your child has allergy sensitivities, you may not want him/her to participate. We will also have a fire drill that day, so you may want to be talking to your child about that as well. Last year we did an incredible job with the drill, and the kids loved Mr. Ronnie!

FYI

NO MDO TOMORROW - ELECTION DAY - GO VOTE! SEE YOU THURSDAY!

MORE PICTURES ON THE BLOG SOON!