Soon it will be Christmas Day...

O P E R A T I O N   C H R I S T M A S   C H I L D                                              

Dear Richard McBride Elementary

This year in our collection centre we have collected 2621 shoeboxes!

Just in the Vancouver / Burnaby / New West / North Vancouver area we have collected 10176 shoeboxes, and they are all on the way to the National Processing Centre to distribute.

On behalf of the Bby/New West Collection Centre, we sincerely thank everyone for your contribution, and, imagine 10176 happy faces all smiling to you right now!

Regards

Valerie Lai

2011 Bby/New West Shoebox Collection Centre Coordinator

 D E C K  T H E   H A L L S                                      

Thanks to our monitors, it's beginning to look at lot like Christmas in the Library!  The tree is lit and the display case is full of holiday baubles, decorations and memorabilia.

The Chrismas books have been available for a few weeks now and are very popular.  My childhood favourite is The Mole Family's Christmas by Brian Hoban.

This superb Christmas picture book tells the story of Delver mole, a young mole who lives underground and knows nothing of Christmas. One day he hears about it from a mouse, and wonders if this "fat man in a red suit" will bring him his dearest wish - a telescope so that he can see the stars. (Being very nearsighted as most moles are, he has never seen them.) Risking the peril of facing the local owl, Delver and his family build an above-ground chimney and leave a letter for Santa. They then fall asleep waiting on Christmas eve in the open, and are about to be snatched up by the owl when, in a curious and believable way, the owl finds some Christmas spirit and is duly rewarded by Santa, who also brings the telescope for Delever. The illustrations are memorable and the story is a complete charmer.

  R E I N D E E R                                                                                                                                         

How much do you know about the magical unglets that pull Santa's sleigh?  Our students are well on their way to becoming experts on reindeer.

Can you answer these questions?

Can reindeer swim?

Do female reindeer have antlers?

Do reindeer live in Canada?

Where did we first learn the names of Santa's reindeer?

Can you name all the reindeer?

When you leave a snack for Santa, don't forget his reindeer as well!  Their prefered meal is lichen but carrots will do in a pinch!

  D EC E M B E R   P R I D E S                                                                                      

Last Friday, our school participated in our annual Christmas Cracker Prides. 

After a powerpoint presentation on the history of Christmas crackers and a demontration of how to make them, using our new document camera.  The students went to work in their Prides.

Once again, I was so impressed with the students' behaviour and the great effort they put into making the crackers.  The brightly coloured crackers contain candy, a joke and a snapper.

We are proud to be sending over 400 beautiful crackers to a community dinner in New Westminster.  Thanks to our students, the guests will have some extra fun at their Christmas dinner.

Have a look at the world's largest Christmas cracker!
ttp://www.absolutelycrackers.com/hist_biggest.html