November 28, 2011

Dear Families,
We hope all of you found time during last week's break to celebrate all that is good in
your lives with friends and family. t is hard to believe that we only have three weeks left
before Winter Break. Before Thanksgiving Break, we wrapped up our fabric unit by
looking at fabrics from all over the world and sharing our cultures at our Kindergarten
Feast. Thank you everyone who sent in food! t was amazing!

We also started our Festivals of Light unit, during which we will learn about a few of the
many festivals of light that happen around the world. We read books about Diwali and
learned that this festival of light is an official holiday in ndia, Nepal, Sri Lanka,
Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, and
Fiji. People who celebrate Diwali light small clay lamps (diyas), set off fireworks, eat
sweets and decorate their floors with art (rangoli). n art class, we made diyas and
rangoli with Ms. Meg. We also read about Kwanzaa and learned that it is a weeklong
celebration held in the United States honoring universal African-American heritage and
culture. People who celebrate Kwanzaa light a candleholder, called a kinara, with seven
candles. At the end of the week, they have a feast and give gifts. We wove red, green
and black Kwanzaa mats (mkeka) in class and used them for our Kindergarten Feast.
n the upcoming weeks, we will be learning about four additional festivals of light; Santa
Lucia's Day, Las Posadas, Hanukkah, Loi Krathong.

We will also be venturing out for our second field trip soon! All of the Kindergarteners
will be attending the play "Frog and Toad at the Seattle Children's' Theater. Our class
will be seeing it on Tuesday, December 6
th
. (The other two classes will be attending in
January). Please fill out the attached Field Trip Permission Slip and return to school
ASAP. Liz Heron will be sending out chaperone information soon via e-mail.

Have a wonderful week!
Katie