Welcome to the December edition of The Downey upBeat! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and staying bundled and warm as temperatures begin to drop as we head to winter. December is a short but fun month at Downey and a good, mid-year opportunity to express our gratitude to our talented teachers. As an additional editor’s note, the upBeat will take a short break from normal schedule and will not be issued on January 1. Please look for a special January/February combination edition in mid-to-late January.
Hello Downey Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I love this time of year with all of the hustle and bustle, fun parties, and family gatherings. We have our school Winter Carnival coming up on December 7th from 6-8pm in Century Hall at Downey. This is a great time to socialize with friends from school and make some new ones. I hope to see you all there!
I would like to give a special thanks to John Elder, who ran our successful poinsettia fundraiser this year. Our goal was to sell 615 plants, and together, we sold 673! Great job! The school made $3,538 from this fundraiser. Thanks to all of you who sold plants and volunteered to help on delivery day. If you see John, be sure to thank him for all of his hard work!
We will be sending out evaluations this month. Please fill these out when you get them. They help us see what’s working and what needs improvement. Also, if you are looking to become more involved in our school, we have many board positions opening up for next year. If you are interested in knowing more about this or would like to get a feel for what goes on at our board meetings, please join us for our next one on January 2nd from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Downey. You can also contact Erin or me if you have any questions.
Happy Holidays!
Cassandra
Due to technical problems, Mrs. Lovold’s updates are not available at the time of this upBeat edition. She’ll be touching base with her parents soon. In the interim, please enjoy a few photos from the Frog’s recent field trip…
And Polliwogs learning through play…
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. I did. It’s always nice to visit and eat with family and friends.
November went by fast. We had fun gluing, using stickers, and playing with bird seed in the sensory table. We didn’t get to the fall sculpture. We will sculpt another time.
I think one of our favorite books at this time is the “Classroom Book”. Each of the children has their own page and can’t wait for their page when we read it.
The Tadpoles are learning to share toys, share space, and take turns. This is an on going process. Some days are better than others at school, just like at home. There is a lot of repetition. We may feel like a broken record, but that is one of the ways a preschooler learns. So parents, thank you for your patience. 
December is going to be another quick month. We’ll play with music and make some instruments. We’ll enjoy the holiday season by making a decoration or two. Maybe we’ll try cooking this month.
Winter is coming “weather” we want it too or not. Please bring in a warm change of clothes, and come prepared to play in cold. If it isn’t sopping wet or below freezing, we’ll go out. The fresh air will do us good.
Happy Holidays! and Thank you for choosing Downey,
Mrs. Egan
COMING EVENTS
DEC 1 & 2 – Parent-Teacher Conferences
DEC 5 – Board Meeting (6:30-8:30 PM)
DEC 7 – Winter Carnival! (6:00-8:00 PM – Century Hall)
DEC 10 – Parent Ed: Yoga for Kids – (10:00-11:00 AM – Century Hall)
DEC 12 – Last day for Lilly Pads
DEC 19 – Winter Break Begins
JAN 2 – School resumes
JAN 2 – Board Meeting (6:30-8:30 PM)
PARENT ED OPPORTUNITY
Saturday, December 10 at 10:00 AM – YOGA FOR KIDS! This is a fun opportunity to learn ways to use Yoga practices to help calm your kids. Led by Tadpole parent Erin Morgan. Bring your little one and a mat (if you have one). Space is limited so please RSVP via Bloomz.
A FEW HEALTHY TIPS
We are lucky at Downey to have wonderful indoor and outdoor play spaces that are intentionally designed by our teachers and volunteers to encourage physical and imaginative play as well as cognitive and social development. But most of us don’t think about what, exactly, makes a great play space. Here is one perspective on that issue, with emphasis on design that encourages physical activity:
http://blog.jumpinforhealthykids.org/outdoor-play-equipment
Children need at least 60 minutes of rigorous physical activity every day. Here are some tips and activities to help you encourage physical activity at home, from infant through school-age years:
http://blog.jumpinforhealthykids.org/physical-activity-ideas-for-kids
ESPECIALLY AT THIS TIME OF YEAR…BENEFIT DOWNEY WHILE YOU SHOP!
“AmazonSmile” is a simple and automatic way for you to support Downey Co-op every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to our school! It’s fast and super easy to sign up.
To shop at AmazonSmile, simply go to smile.amazon.com from the web browser on your computer or mobile device. You may also want to add a bookmark to smile.amazon.com to make it even easier to return and start your shopping at AmazonSmile.
If you already have an Amazon or Amazon Prime account, you use that same account on AmazonSmile. Your shopping cart, Wish List, wedding or baby registry, and other account settings are also the same.
On your first visit to AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), you need to select “Downey Parent Cooperative Preschool” as your choice of a charitable organization to receive donations from eligible purchases before you begin shopping. Amazon will remember your selection, and then every eligible purchase you make at smile.amazon.com will result in a donation.
If you’re an Amazon user, sign up today! We are looking into other similar programs to benefit our school so stay tuned.
Downey Cooperative Preschool and Kindergarten 
