Christmas party

Dear Parents,

On Thursday 17th December we will be having a Christmas party. Santa will be visiting and we will be having some party jbod and drink.

So that we get a good selection please can you bring 1 packet biscuits. If you have any problems please let us know.

We will be getting dressed up in our party clothes in the afternoon so please bring in some clothes in a bag with your child's name on.

If your child has any allergies please can you inform us of this so we can ensure they do not consume any food with these ingredients.

Hope you have a lovely Christmas,

Best Wishes

Nativity Play

Dear Parents,

I would like to invite you to come along and watch Foundation Stage children perform their Nativity play in the Infant hall on Monday 14th December There will be two performances of the Nativity, details as follows:-

9.30a.m. - Children who attend morning Nursery and Miss White's class
2.30p.m. - Childrenjwho attend afternoon Nursery and Miss Black's class

Admission to the performance of the Nativity is by ticket only. Each family will be allocated two tickets for the Nativity their child will be performing in. These will be sent to you with this letter. Please can I ask you to return any tickets you will not be using to the Infant office as soon as possible? These can then be allocated to the names of other family members who have registered on our waiting list. You can register for additional tickets on the slip below. Please note, there is no guarantee that you will receive additional tickets as these will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

I do hope you can join us.

Your Sincerely

Headteacher

Is Jam the same thing as Marmalade?

A bottle of Marmalade on my table, I wonder if it is the same thing as jam?

My wife said, marmalade is made of orange, while jam made of berry.

They looks so similar, but not identical. Here are some confused people like me: Marmalade is made of citrus fruit and jam is made of other kinds of fruit. There are other kinds of jam besides strawberry and raspberry, e.g., blueberry jam is quite popular too.

Definition from dictionary:

Marmalade: a soft substance with a sweet but slightly bitter taste, made by cooking fruit such as oranges with sugar to preserve it. It is eaten on bread, usually for breakfast.

Jam: a sweet soft food made by cooking fruit with sugar to preserve it. It is eaten on bread or cakes: strawberry/raspberry jam, jam sandwiches.

And another soft thing is jelly. Jam, Jelly, and Marmalade, they're so similar. "The proper UK word for jelly is gelatin. Jam and jelly/gelatin are two different things."

Christmas Playground

As part of Derby’s seasonal celebrations, the city’s Market Place will play host to a Christmas Playground from 7th December until 6th January.

Unique to Derby the ‘Christmas Playground’ will feature giant wooden toy sculptures which will provide a play area for visitors to the city centre seeking a rest from Christmas shopping. Children will be encouraged to climb aboard the giant toys – carved by local wood sculptor Andrew Frost – and let their imagination run wild.

Children are invited to play an active role through workshops at QUAD, Derby’s centre for art and film, they will be able to get involved in competitions and activities such as ‘Colour the soldier’, ‘Name the bear’ and making wooden decorations for the Christmas tree in The Market Place.

Andrew Frost is the artist or 'chief elf' who has been comissioned to make the wooden toys for the Christmas Playground. He is a Derbyshire based wood sculptor. Previously a fine artist, Countryside Ranger and Forester, Andrew combined his environmental experience with his artistic skills and began creating wood sculptures in 1998 Using sustainable wood, his imagination and carving tools, Andrew has completed a variety of local, national and private commissions. In his website, he writes:

I create organic sculptures using chainsaws.
You will find abandoned trunks transformed into totems and benches,
and wind-blown trees given new life as nature's creatures...

HAVE A ROLE in nativity play

Christmas again! Brenda HAVE A ROLE in nativity play. She is going to be soldier:

Brenda, you are going to be

Soldier 2

You have these lines to learn

Soldier 1: Wake up, wake up!
Soldier 2 You have to go to Bethlehem to be counted.
Narrator Soon, they came to Mary's house.
Soldier 1 Wake up, wake up!
Narrator Mary's husband, Joseph, opened the door
Soldier 2 You have to go to Bethlehem to be counted.

Isn't this role better than a STAR or ROCK?

As a Chinese, and not a Christian,  we are not use to this kind of  school play, we can opt out Christian education for my child, though. We are not serious with any religion, and don't want her miss all those school fun.