March Happenings

Meteorlogical Winter has ended, but no one told the clouds that. We have had snow and freezing temperatures this week. This morning there was a dusting of snow on the grass and trees. Kids are still bringing hats, mittens, snowpants, and even some boots to school.

On Saturday, the ABC/25 Foundation is holding a Gala and Raffle at a country club. This is a group of parents, staff and community members that raise money for extras that aren't part of the school budget. It is a black tie event. Items are raffled off. Each school has made an Adirondack chair to donate to the raffle. Windsor's chair has pictures of famous art on it.

This Sunday, March 9th, we begin Daylight Savings time, also known as DST. We turn the clocks ahead one hour on Sunday morning. "Spring ahead, Fall behind," is an easy way to remember which way to move the clock.

Mr. Kaye and Mr. Dutton have challenged the students to a Move and Crunch week. The students and staff are going to keep track of how many fruits and vegetables they eat. Everyone is encouraged to walk to and from school. We are looking for more physical activity and healthier eating habits. Mr. Kaye and Mr. Dutton will wear a silly hat, like the Chiquita banana hat. I will post a picture of that one for you to see.

Then on March 17th, we celebrate St. Patrick's day. Everyone is Irish for a day, wearing green clothes and many families have corned beef, potatoes, and Irish soda bread for dinner. In Chicago, they dye the Chicago River green and have a St. Patrick's day parade.

Windsor students participate in the Knowlege Master's Open, KMO. It is being held on March 17th after school. Good luck to our team! Our Gifted teacher is coordinating this with the students in Odyssey. Some schools call this the Talented and Gifted, (TAG) program.

St. Joseph's day is celebrated on March 19th. This is an Italian tradition and everyone wears red. Restaurants offer a St. Joseph's table filled with Italian foods: cannolis, antipasto, bread, pastries, lasagna, pasta, and meatballs. St. Joseph is known as the Patron saint of workers. This is a way that the community gives back to workers.

Spring break begins on Friday, March 21st. This lasts for a week. The students return on April 1st, also known as April Fool's Day. A day filled with practical jokes!

Thanksgiving

Turkeys and Thanksgiving go together. Families gather together to share a meal on Thanksgiving. Many families have turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, bread, and pumpkin pie for dessert. This yummy treat was made with Oreos, candy corn and malted milk balls. Football is popular also. Today the Green Bay Packers played against the Detroit Lions. The Packers won! Way to go Packers!

Celebrations

Windsor is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The school was built in 1957. There will be an all-school assembly on Friday. We are collecting canned goods for the food pantry. Each class is hoping to donate 50 cans. We are also participating in the Rebound Ball program. Children donate used balls, which are then deflated, packed and shipped to children that have no toys. They have a piece of paper for their entertainment. Next week we have parent/teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday.

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November. It is a national holiday. Sarah Hale petioned Abraham Lincoln in 1868 to have it become a national holiday, previously it was up to each state. Most families celebrate by having turkey, stuffing, cranberries, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pie. Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird for the United States. The Bald Eagle was chosen since it is only found in North America. The Bald Eagle was endangered. This summer on June 28th, it was taken off the endangered list and moved to protected status. There had been 400 nesting pairs in the entire US and now there are over 1,200 pairs.

Year Two Soiree

On Wednesday 24th October we presented a musical play called "The Goblin Man" for our parents and friends. We all loved dressing up in our costumes and performing in our newly renovated auditorium. The story had an important message - that if we want to have good friends, we need to be kind and helpful to others. Above are some pictures of our performance:

Knox Year Two Buddy Day

Hello Windsor School - We're really sorry it's taken us a while to respond to all your wonderful postings. In the last eight days we've had Buddy Day, Oktoberfest, Year Two Soiree and school Presentation Night!! Above are a few photos from Buddy Day - Year 7 students spent the morning with us. They watched our dress rehearsal for our Soiree, then we interviewed them. Afterwards we had a "Sausage Sizzle" lunch. It was great fun.

We'll add another post with photos of our other special events really soon. Hope our friends are enjoying being Third Graders!

PS Thanks for looking after Mr Whittle so well when he visited you - he's been showing us all his vacation photos in Assembly.

A few more pictures from Windsor

Some chocolate macadamia nuts all the way from Australia.

Some images from my visit to Windsor Elementary School.

Windsor students watching the DVD from The Knox School.

Lots of questions after watching the DVD.

"Why do you have an accent?" asks one of the students.