St. Matthew’s Kindergarten Party and Celebration Guidelines
Thank you so much for volunteering to help us celebrate special events throughout our year. PARTIES (Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s and Easter) are VERY special times in our classroom. They offer us the opportunity to have fun and celebrate, but they are also teaching opportunities. Through our parties and celebrations, we will learn about various holidays and celebrations as well as how to handle ourselves in a social setting. We LOVE to have fun, but we also like to focus on giving and sharing and getting to the true meaning of these special events. In that light, I offer the following suggestions and guidelines. Each party or special event will need to be handled a bit differently, depending on the nature of the celebration. No matter what we do, the focus should ALWAYS be on the children…age appropriate activities, time schedule, food, story, etc. and a limited number of adults. I know it is fun to join your child for parties, but one of the goals of the party is to help your child become independent and comfortable in yet another environment. Of course, you are ALWAYS welcome in our classroom, party time or not! But on party days, unless you are directly involved in the celebration team, I encourage you to limit your attendance at the party to the last few minutes. Each event will have a rhythm of its own. The party parents for each event will let us know the best time for ALL the parents to join in the fun. Limiting the number of adults will also help us with “crowd control”…our room gets very small in a hurry with all those busy children PLUS adults!
Please note that our SPECIAL EVENTS (Pow Wow, Chuck Wagon Lunch, Musical Celebration and Graduation Showcase) will be mid-day events that will include lunch/brunch/heavy snacks for parents, as well as the children. Each of those events will have a separate time table. You are ALL invited to join us for those special events in their entirety, and although we have folks signed up to take the lead on sending in supplies, since we will be feeding “the masses” we will all send in either a little money or a food item to help with expenses.
Once again, thanks for offering to help make this a wonderful year!
General Party time line:
12:30 – 12:45 parents arrive and begin to set up, children will be in music, motor skills or on the playground with the teachers
1:00 – 1:15 parents call us in from the playground when you are ready for the party to begin
1:15 – 2:20 Party
“Parties” should include a game or active element, a take-home project related to the theme, a story related to the theme and a snack. Party parents divide up the responsibility for bringing party supplies and materials. Consider structuring the party activities so that no child has to stand in line for very long for any activity. This might mean splitting the class into two groups and having the groups rotate between a “doing” or “making something” station and a game station. As you think about the time schedule and activities, think about 20 minute rotations – 20 minutes for a project, 20 minutes for a game and 20 minutes for snack. We can throw a story in as a transition point or time filler whenever we need it. The party does not need to be limited to our classroom. We can take advantage of other spaces on the campus if you wish – outside or inside. We will need to reserve those spaces with the school AND the church office as soon as possible to make sure they are available. The church kitchen is also available for us to use, by reservation.
The party parents will decide on treats/favors for the children. Although it is always fun to have something to take home, I encourage you to make HAPPY MEMORIES of the party the MAIN party favor. Most children will bring treats for their friends on special days, so we will already be bringing home lots of little trinkets. I can share ideas with you about simple, theme oriented favors if you need them. Just let me know.
As you think about party food, consider balancing out the sugary fun with cheese cubes, fruit, veggies, a chicken nugget or two, or little turkey or ham rolls with small bottles of water to drink. The party team can choose to invite the other parents to join the class for “party food” or keep it a “kids only” affair. Both are totally acceptable, just be sure to let me know so I can pass the word along to the rest of the parents. If the party team wants to invite parents, the party team would provide goodies and drinks for the parents as well.
I am attaching a list of party/special events teams. I will send each party or special events team a letter relating to their specific event several weeks ahead of time to give you plenty of time to make plans. If you want to get started with plans before that, just let me know! I have lists and lists of activities, projects and books. Let me know if you need ideas. Remember…keep
* it simple…for yourselves AND the children!
* keep it child friendly
* no stress…for you OR the children!
Thank you SO much for helping us with these memory-making events! Please give us a call if you have questions or if we can help!
God’s Peace,
Kathy & Lindsay
