Cheetah Pride Press!

Families,

I can hardly believe that we are entering the last full week of October. Our students have already grown and learned so much! This week, in recognition of Bus Safety Week, we revisited bus expectations and had a visit from M & J bus staff. Please take a moment to reinforce safe habits when riding on the school bus. We want our students to have a safe and pleasant ride to and from school each day.

Coming up…. November is a short, but busy month! Please review our “Save the Dates” section of the newsletter carefully.

Best,

Joey and Andrea

Memorial's Unified Sport Team tried a new sport this week....Pickleball!

This week, in addition to revisiting bus safety in our classrooms, we also had a special visit from M & J bus staff. M & J brought two buses to Memorial, which students boarded in order to practice appropriate traveling behaviors.

Students created posters for Bus Safety Week around the theme of, "Driving Safely To My Destination." Congratulations to the below students for being selected as our poster contest winners!

A PAWsitive office referral is submitted when a staff member recognizes a student who is going above and beyond to exemplify one of our three school rules - taking care of others, taking care of self, & taking care of things.

Michelle Dugan is this week's recipient of Order Of The Cheetah! Ms. Dugan works in the cafeteria. She welcomes all children with a smile. She cares about students and their nutrition. We are so lucky to have you on our team!

Scholars are settling into the routines of their school and classrooms. Kindergarten and first graders are building habits that strong readers and writers need. Kindergarten students are building their stamina to explore texts independently and with a partner. They will interact with different genres of books to learn about their world. First graders are working on their Small Moments unit in writing. The goal is to slow down their narrative to develop each part and bring those scenes to life with details. Second grade readers are well into their first reading unit, Second Grade Reading Growth Spurt. During this unit, students learned to take charge of their reading by using strategies to read unknown words, understand author’s craft, and build big ideas about the books they read. Third graders are learning about Building a Reading Life: Stamina, Fluency and Engagement. This unit supports students’ transition into third grade readers' workshop and helps students begin to take on determining the main idea, retelling, and summarizing what they have read. Students also worked on building stamina for reading, thinking, talking and writing about what they read.

Students have been working on writing personal narratives. They will begin to use strategies to revise and edit their pieces to support the publishing process. Published work may be written or typed and students often add illustrations to support the creation of their stories. You may even find some of their published pieces at our Writing Celebration at the end of the school year! If you have a child who wants to continue narrative writing at home, help get some ideas flowing by talking about fun fall activities they have recently done. Some ideas include:

• Going on a hike

• Carving a pumpkin

• Trick or Treating

• A sporting event they went to/participated in

• Apple/pumpkin picking

Dear Families of Memorial Elementary Students,

We are asking for your assistance in helping keep our school healthy and safe. We have been experiencing an uptick in lots of coughing, strep throat, pink eye and fevers as well as covid cases. Please consider the following guidelines, provided by the school nurse, for sending students to school:

Consider keeping your child at home for an extra day of rest and observation if he or she has any of the following symptoms:

• Very stuffy or runny nose and/or cough

• Mild sore throat (no fever, no known exposure to strep)

• Mild headache and/or stomachache

• Fatigue

Definitely keep your child at home for treatment and observation if he or she has any of these symptoms:

• Fever (greater than 100 degrees. May return to school after 24 hours of no fever WITHOUT fever reducing medications)

• Vomiting (Even once. Must wait 24 hours after last vomit episode to return to school)

• Diarrhea (Must wait 24 hours after last episode to return to school)

• Chills

• General malaise or feelings of fatigue, discomfort, weakness, and/or muscle aches

• Frequent congested, wet, or croupy cough

• Lots of nasal congestion with frequent blowing of nose

• redness and discharge from one or both eyes

To help prevent the flu and other colds, please remind your child(ren) about good hygiene habits:

• Wash hands frequently

• Do not touch eyes, nose, or mouth

• Cover mouth and nose when sneezing/coughing and then wash hands

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick

Often when a child awakens with vague complaints (the way colds and flu begin) it is wise to observe your child at home for an hour or two before deciding whether or not to bring them to school. Your child should be physically able to participate in all school activities on returning to school. Keeping a sick child at home will minimize the spread of infections and viruses in the classroom. We use our nursing assessment and judgment when students come into the nurse office and make calls home as we deem necessary. Thank you in advance for helping to make this year at school as healthy as possible.

Please also update emergency contact information! In case of an emergency or in instances where your child needs to be dismissed from school, it is extremely important that we be able to reach someone on the contact list. We have also been having trouble with parent voicemail boxes that are full and we are unable to leave a message.

Kindly,

The Health Office Team,

Nurse Katie and Miss Michelle

Please contact your child’s pediatrician first. If unable to be seen, here is a list of

local walk in/urgent care locations if unable to be seen by pediatrician:

CVS Minute Clinic, East Hampton 866-389-2727

ProHealth Extended Hours, Glastonbury 657-5940

Middlesex Health Urgent Care, Middletown 860-358-4170

Colchester Urgent Care 860-531-9749

Please also make sure to have a spare change of seasonally appropriate clothing for your child to keep in their cubbies!!

UNICEF Collection 10/2-10/2710/16- Bus Safety week

10/27- Farm Day- Rescheduled Date

10/31- Spirit Day=Crazy Hat Day and Hair Day( No masks or costumes)

11/1- Picture Retakes

11/2- PTO Family Pasta Dinner

11/3- Cheetah Pride Assembly and Spirit Day

11/7- Professional Learning Day-=No School For Students.

11/10- Veteran's Day-=No School

11/13- World Kindness Day

11/13- Board of Education Meeting at 6:30pm

11/14- World Diabetes Day

11/22- Early Dismissal for Thanksgiving Break

11/23-11/24- Thanksgiving Break

11/27- PTO Meeting Location: Memorial at 5:30pm

11/29-11/3- Early Dismissal For Parent-Teacher Conferences

If you have any questions, feel free to call Melissa at Memorial School on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at email: GelineM@chc1.com

The East Hampton Board of Education and the school community as a whole promote a secure and productive school climate, conducive to teaching and learning that is free from threat, harassment, and any type of bullying behavior. Therefore it shall be the policy of the Board that bullying and/or teen dating violence committed against a student by another student is prohibited. The Board believes that a school environment in which students feel safe, supported, engaged and helpfully challenged is optimal for learning and healthy development. The Board seeks an environment in which students and adults feel socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically safe; an environment that is free of harassment, intimidation, teen dating violence and bullying. Our website provides links to various policies and reporting forms including our Safe School Climate Plan. Hard copies are also available in our main office. If at any point you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to building administration for further assistance.

When considering the number of absences your student has accrued, keep in mind that a student must be present for 195 minutes in order for the day to count! When bringing your student in late, or signing them out early if they have not been in school for a 195 minutes the day will be recorded as an absence.

Memorial School Attendance email:

memorial_attendance@easthamptonct.org * there is an _ between memorial and attendance!

Students, parents, and community members have access to an anonymous tip line on the front page of the school district website to report self-concerns, mental health concerns of a friend, or concerns of violence. Simply click here or view on the website: https://www.easthamptonps.org/.

Email: jbauer@easthamptonct.org
Website: https://www.easthamptonps.org/o/memorial-school
Location: 20 Smith Street, East Hampton, CT, USA
Phone: 860-365-4020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ehmemorialschool