Families,

The last week of March will bring many important events. On Tuesday evening, the district art show will be held at the high school; and on Thursday evening, Memorial and Center Schools will be hosting an Internet Safey Program for caregivers. Additionally, our grade 1 students will be taking a field trip to the Connecticut Museum of Culture, where they’ll learn all about communities!

Thursday is also Paraeducator & Interventionist Appreciation Day, and Memorial School has the very best! They can be found in every corner of our campus - from the classrooms to the playground. Please remind your learners to say “thank you” to these amazing staff members next week.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Joey & Andrea

The K-12 ART SHOW is on TUESDAY, MARCH 25TH FROM 5:00-6:30! Students have been notified that their work was in the art show, and have received a letter from me stating that.

ALL FAMILIES ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND! I can’t wait to see families there while we celebrate the endless talent of East Hampton’s very own young visual artists!

Here is what we have been working on during art this month:

Prek-Kindergarten students have completed their ABSTRACT art unit, and are beginning to learn about COLOR! We are learning that there are PRIMARY colors, as well as SECONDARY colors. We are learning how those two different families are different, and how important they are in the world of art. We also are discussing what other colors are, like NEUTRAL colors (brown, black, white, and grey). We can’t wait to make all of the secondary colors with the use of the primary colors. We also are practicing the most careful brush washing techniques, while keeping our primary colors of paint clean and in their pure hues. We will be using our special colors to make beautiful art inspired by the spring time-- aren’t we glad its finally here!

First grade students completed their Dinosaurs and learned the printmaking process in order to make the backgrounds for their dinosaurs! The juxtaposition of drawing and printmaking created a beautiful mixed media work of art! The students LOVED learning how to print with various methods: stamping objects, stenciling, and bubble wrap printing! We learned that when someone prints, they make a copy of something, and making copies is so much faster and more efficient than having to draw or paint many of the same thing.Our backgrounds were so bright, textured and creative. We will be hanging up our dinos in the hallway for a week or two, and will be bringing them home soon.

Second grade students have continued this month creating magical houses from clay hand building techniques. We learned how to transform clay from 2D slabs to 3D forms, like a cube, rectangular prism, and cylinder. The students were so creative while adding details such as cobblestone paths, bushes, trees, ponds, frogs, dome roofs, multi story buildings, animal houses, and much, much, more! We will be waiting a few weeks for our ceramic houses to dry and be fired. Once they are fired we will be painting them and should be able to bring them home in April, and we just can’t wait!

Please let us know if your child is diagnosed with any illness or injury (such as strep, flu, pink eye, fracture/broken bone, lice, pneumonia, covid, etc.) as the nurse office tracks illnesses and sends notification letters home if there are 2 or more cases in a specific classroom. Please be specific with any of the symptoms your child is experiencing.

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 (100.4 degrees or higher. May only 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 (may return to school after 24 hours since last episode)

• 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

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. Please send in a copy of the doctor’s clearance, as needed. Thank you in advance for helping to make this year at school as healthy as possible.

Medications

Every medication that is brought into school requires a “Medication Authorization” form to be signed by the student’s doctor and parent/guardian and the medication in original packaging with prescription label is to be brought in by a parent/guardian, not in the child’s backpack. No child may carry their own medications at the Elementary level. Please use a large ziplock bag for the medication plus the medication order, and label the bag with your child’s name before dropping off. Any controlled medications will need to be counted and signed off with the RN and parent so please allow for a few extra minutes at drop off.

Please note: COUGH DROPS count as medications and are not allowed in school. All over-the-counter medications also need a medication order from your provider.

Food

We have several students with severe food allergies, therefore we highly recommend non food items to share for birthday celebrations. We ask for at least 48 hours advance notice. A great resource for allergy free snacks is the Safe Snack guide at https://snacksafely.com/safe-snack-guide/