l As the first trimester ends so does Jeffrey School’s community focus. On Dec. 14 the five Jeffrey families participated in a culminating assembly which highlighted acts of kindness within the community. Students have had an opportunity to participate with various grade “siblings” and are becoming better acquainted with each other. Some of these activities have included the Metric Olympics, cooperative learning groups in the library and computer lab, and classroom reading buddies. They have worked together to support the Madison Community Food Bank and have most recently collected coins to provide books to the Katherine Brennan School in New Haven, both excellent examples of reaching out to the greater community. We hope this is just the beginning of a year filled with these family events supporting our school themes.

As part of this assembly we also introduced our focus for the second trimester which is on caring, a particularly timely discussion during the holiday season. Students saw a presentation of the Smile Train, a fundraising organization that provides cleft palate surgery to children in third world nations. As many of you know, Smile Train is the organization that the Jeffrey teachers are supporting this year, and it is our hope that the students will become interested in supporting this cause as well. One of the ways the students can help is by designing a bookmark that they received at school. Bookmarks will then be sold at various school events such as the Luau on Saturday, January 26, and all proceeds will be sent to the Smile Train in the name of the students of Jeffrey School. Just $250 can provide life saving plastic surgery to a child in need.

In this holiday season let us all be thankful for the joys in our lives and grateful that we are able to reach out to others. May this season bring you health, happiness and great memories!