This week many of you realize that Friday is Promotion Day at the Pre K center. This is a very special day for the children, you as families and us as teachers. The children from the Pre K room will be promoted to their next level either Pre-K 4 or Kindergarten. Some children will stay with us in September and some will go on to other schools. In September, we do have a full time Kindergarten and we are so happy that we are able to provide a certified teacher with experience – Meagan Mentor. We wish all of our promotion candidates a wonderful experience in the coming year. Your presence here at Santa Fe has only added to our enjoyment as professional teachers — may you continually be excited about learning.
On Friday, we will also be providing the children in the Pre K classroom with a barbecue lunch which they have planned. It will be held on Dudley and Jane’s deck overflowing into our back yard. This has become tradition and we do this to help them celebrate their special day. Tough time for those of us who go through this every year — we will miss your children and the many anecdotes through the year that have made us laugh and smile and make us proud to be a part of their lives.
I also wanted to mention the 5 K race that was organized by the Sharing Network held on June 8th. Marilyn, Cindy and I put up a booth to represent Santa Fe as members of the New Providence Business Association. We were so impressed by the numbers of people there and the stories of those who had donated and those who received a donation either from a relative or from a deceased donor. The gift of life and hope was the theme of the day. The courage of these people is a lesson in itself. We were honored to be a part of the day and several of our families either ran or walked in honor of these families. We saw the Giunta, De Groot, Pardo, Weiss, Rancier, Greenwald, Pagdanganan families as they participated in an incredible day. In discussing this the Monday after this race, a few of our families suggested that we put together a team to represent Santa Fe. Those of you who wish to get involved in this, start training now!!
Remember tomorrow is Children’s Day so in celebration of your children they have received a box of raisins with the saying —“Thanks for a great year. You’re our “raisin” for being at Santa Fe.”
Remember summer has started and sunscreen is a part of our routine. We have an article in the office from Consumer Reports (July 2014) entitled “The truth about sunscreen”. In this article it states that spray sunscreen should not be used for children for the following reasons:
• Lung irritation
• Titanium dioxide is a possible carcinogen
• Flammability
• Not cost effective as you need to spray yourself twice
• Air quality???
• FDA is in the process of verifying the above
Please rethink the use spray sunscreen as in order to ensure adequate coverage you need to spray then rub in onto the skin anyway.
Air quality is a concern especially for those families worried about RAD or reactive airway disease or asthma. So even though you are tempted to jump out of the car with the engine running as you would like to keep that air conditioner going strong, please think twice as one of our children with lung sensitivity may be walking by your car. And of course in April, we talked to all the children about our responsibility to the earth and the air we breathe. So let us set a good example.
Remember, fund raiser is finished tomorrow. Thank you so much for all your support. Molly and I are so happy with the results and we are appreciative of the time and effort all of you put in to make this a very successful opportunity to buy more for the children.
Last but not least, Alisha has been accepted into the nursing program at Bloomfield College. I am so excited and yet sad that we will lose her expertise here at Santa Fe but I am sure that she will be able to help us out occasionally. Please congratulate her on her persistence and hard work.
Jane
