Peacemakers Learning Through Play
December 2020
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A Recipe to Try at Home!
The kids were really great pizza makers for our Thanksgiving Feasts. It was a fun lesson in sharing to create a fabulous feast. When everyone contributed an ingredient, it was a delicious pizza!
Individual Pizzas
English Muffins, halved
Pizza sauce
2 C. shredded pizza cheese
1 pkg. pepperoni or Canadian bacon
1 tomato, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
Additional toppings of your choice.
Assemble the pizzas and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until warm and bubbly.
Have your child help with every part of this recipe. They can spread the sauce, sprinkle the cheese, choose and add the toppings, etc. It is a very kid-friendly cooking experience and everything tastes better when kids help make it. While my class was eating their pizzas they said "we should make these everyday!" I think they would be a hit at home!
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Birthday Party for Baby Jesus
This month we will be using kids’ baby photos to help them think about being a baby, and how they have grown. Then we’ll talk about Jesus as a baby! Then of course, just like they have birthday parties, we will celebrate Jesus’ birthday on Monday or Tuesday, December 21 or 22 with birthday cake and a gift exchange.
If you would like to provide the birthday cake or party napkins, please message your child's teacher via Brightwheel. Cakes should be store/bakery purchased and not contain nuts.
For the gift exchange, please choose a gift suitable for a boy or a girl. Please wrap and label the gift from your child with their name. We will play a fun game to find out who they will give a gift to, and who they will receive one from. It’s a fun opportunity to share with a friend! Please limit the cost of the gift to approximately $5.00.
December tuition is due this week. Thanks for your timely payments!
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Noah's Ark Christmas Party Programs and Dress Up Days
An annual Christmas tradition at Noah's Ark Preschool has been our Christmas Party Programs. Unfortunately we can not hold these in our usual format this year. Plans are underway for an alternate way for the kids to share the Christmas story with their families. We hope to be able to video the kids as they learn the Christmas story and some songs to tell the story. Heather Day will edit our video clips to put together what we hope will still be a special Christmas program you can share with your family. A link to the program will be sent out via Brightwheel. We encourage you to make the program special for your child by watching the video together as a family! With your child, prepare some special Christmas cookies or a Christmas snack to share together for the viewing party!
As part of our program we are having a special Christmas Dress Up Day during class on Dec. 14 and 15. Kids love wearing their special Christmas clothes for the program every year so we decided to make a day for dress up. We will not do anything messy that day. We will add some special clips to our Christmas program video from this day when they are dressed up special...whatever that looks like for your family and child!
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We love listening to kids’ words!
Here are some comments and conversations we hear throughout our days with your children:
"Mom told me that raisins are made out of grapes."
"Joseph's brothers are not being peacemakers."
"I'm waiting patiently for the blue paint."
"That's an ocean of corn!
"When this Covid thing is done we might go trick or treating."
"We're painting on the table...I can't even believe it!"
"Evie was doing her homework and she opened her backpack and there was a...tree frog!"
A conversation: "Do you want to come to my house?" "TOTALLY! But you would have to lead the way. I'll have to ask my mom, but we'll have to stay outside because of the Coronavirus." "I know."
"There's only a couple of humans here today."
"I just need to push this button to sign in to my meeting."
"It's like the corn's teeth are falling out."
"Corn is flying everywhere. Every which way!"
Overheard while marble painting: "I can do this for hours!"
"Infinity is a bigger number than 100!"
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Thank You...
Thank you for helping us build the "Wall of Food". You have helped your children be peacemakers as they share food with the hungry. The kids will be helping us take our wall to the Trinity Food Pantry during the first week of December. Our new food pantry coordinator, Sue Marczinke, will meet us there and give us a tour of the new pantry space. She is excited to tell the kids about the important work we do together. The Trinity Food Pantry serves an average of 170 families each week via five drive through pantries.
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Angel Breakfast
Your children are invited to Trinity's annual Angel Breakfast. This year it will be a virtual angel breakfast on Sat. Dec. 5 at 9:00 a.m. You should have received an invitation in the mail which includes the information to join the Zoom, fun recipes for making a special breakfast at home (take photos to share with us!), supplies to make angel ornaments, and details about what you will need that morning. We will sing and hear the Christmas story from a real angel! If you did not receive the invitation or have any questions let us know. We hope your child will join us for the fun!
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Daily and Monthly Prayers
Before we say our snack time prayer, we always gather around our table together and sing this as we get ready:
Hands, hands, hands
friends, friends, friends,
we're friends of God so let's fold hands.
(Pre Covid it was "let's hold hands"!)
In December our snack prayer will be:
Come Lord Jesus, be our guest.
Let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen
If you do not already have a family mealtime prayer practice, we hope you will consider adopting some of our prayers with your family. It is a practice that will bless you and your children.
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Just for Parents...
The holidays can be a stressful time for parents during ordinary years, but adding the stress of the pandemic to this year can feel overwhelming. The Childmind Institute has some tips for how to navigate these unprecedented holidays.
"We can’t tell you what the right (or safe) choices are for your family, but here are some tips to make the best of holidays during the pandemic, whatever your situation. We asked our experts for advice about ways to minimize stress and help everyone in the family feel as good as possible about this unusual holiday season."
Read more of this article here.
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A Message from Pastor Tom Westcott |
By the time you are reading this, someone has appeared in my house, Sven…our Elf on the Shelf. Perhaps you have one too, but if you don’t, the Elf on the Shelf is pretty much a daily game for kids to find where their elf has hidden themselves or what kind of antics they have gotten into during the night. The whole purpose though, is that the elf flies back to the north pole to inform Santa if the kids have been naughty or nice. Yes, it is a daily reminder that kids better watch out, better not cry, better not pout…you get the idea.
Yet I have heard so many people in the church bemoan this newer tradition for families because it further removes Jesus from Christmas as well as reinforces the idea that you have to be good in order to be loved. I’d like to push back though, and argue that the Elf on the Shelf may help kids experience the seasons of Advent and Christmas more deeply than we might first think.
Advent literally means “arrival” and it is a season that counts down the four Sundays prior to Christmas Day. It is a season that is about waiting, watching, and anticipating not just the birth of baby Jesus in a manger, but waiting, watching, and anticipating the radical way of love and grace that Jesus brings to this world.
So what if we utilized the excitement and joy that the Elf on the Shelf brings as a way to talk about the joy that the birth of baby Jesus brings? Each day your child could search for the elf as well as searching for how they saw special moments of God’s presence. It could be when they shared a toy, when they had family time, when they read their favorite book, etc. Let’s get creative this Advent season to not only lean into our cultural traditions, but to use them to talk about who we are waiting and watching for!
Feel free to reach out if you’d like to chat!
Pastor Tom Westcott
(Watch for more information in the Friday News about an informal parent chat with Pastor Tom on 12/17)
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Sharing Opportunities for the Holidays
As a school that promotes peacemaking, we value finding ways to teach children to share with friends, family and the community.
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Noah's Ark Hat, Mitten, and Sleeper Tree
If you would like to donate NEW hats, mittens, sleepers, or pajamas for young children (newborn-age 5) Noah's Ark will distribute them to families from the Christmas Sharing Project (see below) and to families at the Bolton Refuge House. Please bring in new, unwrapped items no later than Wednesday, December 9.
Christmas Sharing Project
An annual tradition for the congregation of Trinity is the "Christmas Sharing Project". Trinity members and friends help provide food, clothing, gifts, and other household items to sponsored families in the Eau Claire/Altoona area. If you would like to participate in this project with Trinity please visit our website ( trinity-ec.org )to choose a gift tag, and or provide a monetary donation toward food purchases. Further information will be provided regarding the process on our website. For more information, contact Sara Reed, Director of Children’s Ministries at [email protected]
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Christmas Worship at Trinity
Trinity invites you and your family for Christmas Eve worship online this year. The worship service will premiere at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 24 on Trinity's Facebook page. It will also be available any time after 4:00 p.m. that day as a link on Trinity's home page so you can experience the worship service at whatever time works best for you.
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Trinity Lutheran Church
Noah's Ark Preschool
1314 E. Lexington Blvd. | Eau Claire, WI 54701
715-832-6601
Jill Kasmarek, M/T/W/Th/F Teacher
Cassie Brenden,T/Th Teacher
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