It is a dreary, rainy day as I write this e-communication, and the predictions are for colder weather ahead. When it rains during Lower School recess, we have a myriad of activities that we rotate the children through to occupy them indoors.

Two years ago the parents donated a huge box of Kapla blocks for our use. They look very plain and simple, but children are able to build wonderful things with them. We take one group of children into the hall by the second and third grades, and they use either the Kapla blocks or Legos to build during this time.

Another group participates in the national sport of “Cup Stacking.” Again, what looks like a set of twelve simple, colored, plastic cups, soon becomes a competition as children use both hands and both sides of the brain to stack the cups up and take them down as rapidly as they can.

We are also lucky enough to have use of the Kreischer Gym during a rainy recess so we take a group of children in there with balls, jump ropes, hula hoops and foot stompers. Some rainy days we are lucky enough to have a large number of children in choir, on others we let them go back to their room to play, and we always offer a quiet reading room in one of the classrooms.

We make a great effort to use this time well rather than have the children watch a movie. If you are free on a rainy day please feel free to come and help us out, as the more things we have to offer the smaller the groups and the better the results. These are things we offer on rainy days, but on cold days we still go outside - so make sure your child bundles up because we have outdoor recess unless the wind chill is below -10 degrees. 

• There are no district buses on Monday, December 4^th.
  
• Second graders will perform their rendition of The Terrible Things on Thursday, December 7^th at 10:30 a.m. Third grade parents are invited to attend.
  
• You will receive report cards from all of your child’s teachers on Thursday, December 7^th. Don’t forget to check the backpacks for the exciting news. If you have a question about a report card, please call the teacher who wrote it and leave a message on their voicemail. They will get back to you as soon as possible.
  
• Friday, December 8^th, each homeroom will participate in “The Festival Of Lights”. The Upper School Mosaic group, who sponsored the Cultural Fair, will go into each classroom and talk about two different holiday traditions at each grade level. It is organized in such a manner that by the time the children complete fourth grade, if they have been at MPA the entire time, they will have been introduced to 10 different holiday traditions. It is yet another way our Upper School students share themselves with the Lower School as positive role models.
  
• Monday, December 11^th, the Kindergarten will go on a field trip to Lakeview Commons to share cookie decorating with the senior citizens and to see the gingerbread house that their chef made. Later that week they will work with their buddies to make their own gingerbread houses.
  
  It is a busy time of year for all of us, and certainly for those of us working with young children.

Nansee Greeley
Lower School Director