Dear Parents,

‘Twas the night before, the night before Christmas, and all through my house, not a teacher was stirring….wait….that isn’t right…! I have been “stirring” AND enjoying time with my parents and Josie!

This blog will be short and sweet because I just wanted to share a few photos from the last few days of school before our Christmas break.

With the help of Mrs. Schafer and Mrs. Dent’s toaster oven, we made some Christmas presents…..we hope you like them! 

Concentrating...

Very serious work happening here....

Our Christmas Book Exchange went smoothly and I hope that your firstie is able to enjoy their book.  

We also played some games, ate some yummy treats, and just in general had a good time! 

Who KNEW that red Solo cups and pieces of cardstock paper could be SO FUN?!?

Ask your firstie about the games that we played!

One cup down!

Thank you SO much for all of the wonderful gifts that many of you blessed me with! 

Josie even received a gift! A fancy new coat that will help to keep her warm when it gets really cold outside!

I appreciate it all so much!

I hope and pray that you have a wonderful Christmas and are able to spend time with friends and family. 

God’s richest blessings to you!

I will see you two weeks! (unless I see you around town!)

Love,
Miss Gallagher

Dear Parents,

Happy Monday!  If you were able to attend the Song Service yesterday here at Trinity, what a great thing were able to do…praise our Lord in song and music!  As a musician, of course, that makes me incredibly happy!  One of the hymns we sang yesterday was “O Sing of Christ” and the words were written by a local pastor Rev. Steven Starke.  The words in the first two verses were so wordy and rich and filled with meaning……

O Sing of Christ, whose birth made known, The kindness of the Lord,

Eternal Word made flesh and bone So we could be restored.

Upon our frail humanity God’s finger chose to trace

The fullness of His deity, The icon of His grace.

What Adam lost, none could reclaim, And Paradise was barred

Until the second Adam came To mend what sin had marred.

For when the time was full and right God sent His only Son;

He came to us as life and light And our redemption won.

SO GOOD!  Praise God that very soon we are able to celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord coming into the world.  It’s because of Him we are able to have the promise of eternal life in Heaven. I continue to pray for you and your families during this holiday season.

Just a few things this week;

We will still have our regular spelling and memory tests, so please make sure your firstie is prepared!

I am not going to be sending home take home story bags this week, but if your firstie hasn’t returned theirs yet, please make sure it comes back this week.

Book Buddies went home last Friday and can be returned anytime this week. 

As you know, our Advent Service participation last week was moved to this week.  Everything is the same…we are meeting in the church basement by no later than 6:45pm.  There WILL be an Advent Dinner from 5:30-6:30 and I believe the menu is spaghetti (not baked potatoes).  See you on Wednesday evening!

Our Christmas party is Thursday afternoon (it’ll start around 1:45).  For our Book Exchange, if you need some examples of books to purchase, read on! Here are a few examples of books by Patricia Polacco: An Orange for Frankie, For the Love of Autumn, Thunder Cake, Thank You Mr. Falker, Chicken Sunday, John Phillip Duck, Because of Thursday, The Mermaid's Purse, Fiona's Lace....just to name a few!
A couple of Max Lucado's books are: You Are Special, All You Ever Need, Just the Way You Are and any of the Hermie books are good! The books should be wrapped (please don’t use a gift bag) and your firstie’s name written on the “From” part of the gift tag.

If you want to send in treats for the party, that is fine too, but it isn’t required.  If you choose to send in treats or snacks, please remember the allergies that a few of our firsties have. 

All the firsties will be cleaning our their lockers on Friday and will be bringing everything snow/cold related home.  I don’t want anything to stay here except their extra school supplies and gym shoes.  I am sure that sounds like a lot, but a run through the washing machine can’t hurt, right?

Don’t forget that Friday is half day and dismissal is at 11:30.

Have a wonderful week!

Miss Gallagher

Dear Parents,

BRRRRR!!!!!  I hope that you are staying warm!  The firsties seemed to have a great time on our field trip today and not mind the cold too much (the adults that came along, might have said something different (and I am totally including myself in that)…)!  We started the trip at the Homestead cabin and pretended that we went back in time to the 1870s.   

The firsties were asked to help with chores and prepare the cabin for the holidays.

Rolling out the dough for the "cookies"

"Ironing"

Pounding out the spices (side note...it smelled SO GOOD in the cabin!)

Polishing the bells that were put around the horses that pulled the sleighs

So pretty!

Then our guide read us a story, “Christmas in the Big Woods” by Laura Ingalls Wilder and we got a treat! 

On our way to "school" in the schoolhouse, we stopped by the barn and saw the sleigh. Ask your firstie what was put in the bottom of the sleigh to keep warm and what the people back then would hold in their hands to keep warm (hint, hint, hint....we passed it around and it is root veggie that you may eat often...). 

The firsties practiced their penmanship with a slate and “pencil” and then put on a play. 

 Finally, they were able to make their own little spice sashays by picking out their favorite different smelling herbs and spices, and put it in a fabric square.  Has your firstie shared theirs with you?  I was asked to smell almost all of them....and yummy!   

All in all, I hope that they learned what it might have been like way back then and I know that I am grateful for all that we have at Trinity!  

This morning, the kiddos walked into a surprise on their desks!  Did your firstie tell you?  Painted Christmas trees to get us in the holiday spirit!  This afternoon, each firstie made a Christmas tree garland to hang on their desk,

worked on a Christmas tree activity packet, and then were paired up and choose different materials to make a “stand alone” tree.  Below are the “fruits of their labors”.  

Working together is FUN!

It DOES look tipsy....but really did stand up on its own!  (See the pained tree on the desk?)

Almost everyone chose the cardboard....! 

Our Christmas party will be next Thursday, around 1:45.  If you are able to help with the planning of games and/or help with the party, please let me know! Thank you! Books for the book exchange should be under the tree by then. 

Don’t forget to send in homemade ornaments for the Christmas tree in the Lobby. 

See you tomorrow night for the Advent service.  We are meeting in the church basement by no later than 6:45. 

Blessings!  

Miss Gallagher