October 9th - Hungry Howies Night

October 10th - Early Release Day - 2:37pm

October 12th - PTA Meeting 6:30 pm

October 31st - Halloween

SM Families -

What a community we are! I cannot believe how much we have raised to support our kids and school community. The final numbers are not in yet, but as of yesterday we hit $31,000 with our Fun/Color Run fundraising! We are so thankful and grateful to all of you for supporting our school. We are one step closer to our goal of putting up a pavilion to provide a shaded seating area for our students. This can also double as an outdoor activity/classroom area. Thank you again for your generosity.

October is here, and we all know that one of the most exciting events for the majority of our students is Halloween. Please be on the lookout for details regarding our parade plans. Costume guidelines remain the same - nothing violent, no weapons and nothing resembling a weapon, no make-up and no masks. More will follow.

Monday is our Hungry Howie's Family Night! We thank both Hungry Howie's and our families for supporting our Spring Mills students with this monthly event!

Our next early release day is coming up! On Tuesday, October 10th, students will be dismissed at 2:37 pm so that our staff will have some professional learning time. Also coming up is our next PTA meeting. That date is Thursday, October 12th.

Thank you again for all of your support throughout the many activities and events we have. We appreciate your partnership!

Sincerely,

Sarah Bentley, SM Principal

If your child becomes sick or soiled after arriving at school, the office will call the parent or emergency contact person to come pick up your child. Your child will be removed from the classroom and must be picked up as soon as possible. Please consider carefully and plan how you will handle the possibility of your child needing to come home unexpectedly. In an emergency, the school will call EMS to transport the child to the hospital. It is very important to keep accurate and current phone numbers on file with your school for home, work and alternate emergency contact persons.

If your child will not be attending school for any reason, it is very important for you to call and notify the school office of the reason for the absence. This helps us to keep track of illnesses among our building. It also helps us be assured that your child is safe at home. With the arrival of colder weather, we have entered the cold and flu season. For the health of your child, other students, and school staff, it is important to know when your child should stay home due to illness.

Students should stay home if they have had any of the following symptoms: • fever of 100 or higher in the past 24 hours • undiagnosed rash that is accompanied by fever or itching • bad cough or difficulty breathing • vomiting or diarrhea within the past 24 hours • sore throat, with fever or swollen glands in the neck • symptoms of being sick such as being unusually tired, fussy, pale or had difficulty waking. If your child has strep throat or another bacterial infection, he/she should stay home until the antibiotic has been given for at least 24 hours and your health care provider has given permission for your child to return to school. We encourage you to seek medical attention when your child is sick and to follow your health care provider's recommendations about returning to school and other social activities.

Please be sure your child has an extra set of clothes in their locker or backpack. Accidents will happen and we do not always have extra clothes on hand. For our younger students, a parent will be called to help with changing if needed. Thank you for your help with this!

Signs and Symptoms

Watch for signs of lice - that "Tickly" Feeling Can Be a Sign of Head Lice
Head lice symptoms include:

• A tickling feeling or a sensation of something moving in the hair
• Frequent itching
• Sores from scratching

Diagnosis

Sometimes, identifying head lice can be quite difficult. Using a nit comb along with a magnifier is recommended to accurately identify lice. It can be easy to confuse nits with dandruff, hair spray droplets, and dirt particles.

• The best diagnosis is made by finding a live nymph or adult louse on the scalp or hair of a person.
• Nits attached firmly within 1/4" of the base of hair shafts and may indicate an infestation even if no moving nits are found. This is not accurate 100% of the time.

Treatment

Combing is the only safe and effective method to end infestations especially for lice that are resistant to chemical treatments. The most effective means of controlling head lice, no matter what type of chemical or product you chose to use, requires wet-combing (manual removal), requiring someone to take your child's hair, one small section at time, and inspect for the presence of adult lice or nits. The best way to comb lice is to use a high-quality, metal head lice comb to pull the adults and nits off each hair strand, not that plastic nit-comb that comes with many of the over the counter shampoos

Thank you to everyone following the guidelines making the circle drive a smoother experience for your community! Please see reminder below and share these rules with other family members who may pick up your student at times.

Arrival/Dismissal - updated information

• Our building doors open at 9:10 am. Please do not drop off early, as there isn't adult supervision outside of the building. You may only use the front loop for drop off
• Upper El Centrum doors close at 9:15am If your child arrives later than this, please use the front doors of the building.
• Safety first! Drivers will need to remain in their lane until all students have been unloaded; you are not allowed to pass other cars if your children unloaded first.
• Also for safety reasons, drivers and other adults must remain in the car during pick up and drop-off. If your child requires help getting in or out of their vehicle please park in the parking lot and walk to the doors to get your child/pick your child up.
• Always have your green name sign clipped to your passenger visor during afternoon pick up - this keeps things moving quickly for the entire Spring Mills community. Please let your child's teacher or the office know if you did not receive a sign and we will send them home with your child.
• When possible, please move your child's seat to the passenger side of the vehicle. Children should not be exiting out into traffic, but rather on the curb side.
• The school day ends at 4:08 pm. Please do not arrive before 4pm. DO NOT EXIT your vehicle from the circle to meet students.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

As you already know, breakfast and lunch is provided for all students this school year at no cost to families. However, it's good to know that if a student wishes to purchase an a la cart beverage, such as juice or milk, the cost is 50 cents.

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Together We Can, Together We Will!

Email: Sarah.Bentley@HVS.org
Website: https://www.hvs.org/o/springmills
Location: 3150 Harvey Lake Road, Highland Charter Township, MI, USA
Phone: 248-684-8130
Twitter: @_Springmills