Good Morning Memorial Families,
I hope that everyone had an enjoyable long weekend. I was grateful for at least two sunny days to enjoy, as it seems that our weekends have been just so dreary!
As you know, we participate in several different types of safety drills throughout the year. One of these is a lockdown drill. While we all hope that we never need to face emergencies during the school day, we also want to make sure that should the need arise, we have prepared the very best we can for how to respond to the situation. This week (Tuesday) your children will be participating in our first lockdown drill of the year. We will talk to the children beforehand about the procedure and during this first drill, teachers will help students understand what we do in the event of an emergency. Obviously, this type of drill can trigger anxious thoughts for everyone- educators, students, and parents. It is important that we acknowledge our fears and be open to discussing them in age-appropriate ways. If your child expresses anxiety and you are unsure how to respond, let their teacher know and we will try to help in any way that we can. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to either Lauren or Wendy, or to our resource officer, Ciara O’Connor.
I want to remind parents who are dropping off and picking up their children through the looping line that the police and fire department are requesting that you do not arrive more than 15 minutes ahead of drop off and pick up. We are still having instances where parents are arriving too early. When you do arrive, rather than leaving your car idling, we are also asking that you turn your engine off. Please be sure to let any family or friends who are picking up for you know this rule as well. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation with this and understand that many of you are trying to get your kids to various after school activities.
Last Wednesday we held our first “family” meetings of the year. For those of you new to Memorial, all of our students are placed in a “family” when they enter kindergarten. The families are a small group of 8-10 students from grades K-4 who are assigned to one of the adults in the building. Once a month, our families meet for about a half hour to do an activity together. It might be to read a story, play a game, go on a nature walk, or do a project. The purpose of families is twofold. First, we hope that students will get to know other students outside of their grade level and classroom. Second, we hope that over the course of 5 years at Memorial, students will be able to build a strong connection with a staff member. Students remain in the same family and with the same adult (as much as possible!) for their entire time at Memorial. Ask your child about their family and what we did last week.
I hope to see many of you at the PTO’s Spooktacular this Friday night! It is always one of my most favorite nights of the year at Memorial and for the Upton community. Have a wonderful week!
Warmly,
Wendy and Lauren
