Cheetah Pride Press

Families,

This week, our learners completed the iReady Reading Diagnostic, and we will move on to the math assessment next week. I am so impressed with our students’ commitment to do their best, and their growing ability to persevere through challenging tasks! Way to go, Cheetahs!

Believe it or not, we are approaching the halfway point in the school year. Thursday, January 22nd, is the 90th day of school; and Grade 3 will be celebrating “Half-way Day” with an assortment of activities related to halves. Stay tuned for more information from the third grade team. Barring any weather cancellations, our K-2 teams will be recognizing the 100th day of school on February 5th.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Joey & Andrea

Grade 2 students are working to sort regular and irregular past tense verbs.

Grade 3 students are using the book Moonshot to explore the question, "What does the point of view reveal about the text?"

Mrs. Haydu’s students chose "one word" for the new year. Their one word is meant to help them become their best selves by improving on something. They also made "one word" bracelets to wear to remind them of their goals.

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.

Memorial Models are chosen weekly by their teacher. These students have excelled all week in taking care of themselves, others and things. The recipients will dine at a VIP table during lunch every Friday!

Meet Nick.

His teacher is Mr. Evans.

He is special because he plays basketball.

Basketball is his favorite thing.

He wanted to be on the Cheetah Council because it is fun.

Gym is his favorite part of school.

This week, Coaches Ruel and Boscarino have been recognized with the Order Of The Cheetah for going above and beyond in their support of the diverse learning needs in our school community. They both regularly volunteer their time to help with our Unified Sports program, have a natural ability to connect with our young learners, and encourage good sportsmanship with all of our athletes.

Cleaning out your child’s books?

The Cheetah Council is accepting gently used children’s books to donate to our book swap and shop.

We are collecting books in the month of January.

The book shop and swap will begin in February. More info on this to come.

*If you have books to donate please bring them to school and leave them in the Book donation boxes in the hallway near room 38 or in the front office.

THANK YOU for supporting the cheetah council!

1/19 MLK Jr. Day NO SCHOOL

1/22 Grade 3 Half Way Day

1/26 BOE Meeting at Town Hall @ 6:30

1/30 Cheetah Pride Day/Assemblies

2/2 National School Counselor Appreciation Day

2/2 Magical Monday

2/5 100th Day of School

2/9 BOE Meeting at Town Hall @ 6:30

2/13 Profession Day for Staff/NO SCHOOL

2/16&2/17 Presidents Day Break NO SCHOOL

Hello Memorial Families! It has been another fun month in the music room. Find your student’s grade level below to see what we were up to!

Preschool: Students enjoyed exploring with jingle bells. We discovered that different sets of bells made louder or softer sounds, depending on the size and number of bells! We enjoyed playing jingle bell freeze dance, singing a song about a jingle mouse and a jingle dinosaur, and of course singing “Jingle Bells” while shaking bell sets! We also enjoyed “ice skating” on paper plates to “Skater’s Waltz” by Émile Waldteufel! See the pictures below.

Kindergarten: Students spent this month reinforcing skills they had learned so far such as steady beat, making a perfect match when singing, and describing or performing music that was fast, slow, loud, or soft. Some classes took turns being soldiers and dancers as they moved to “March” from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite”. Recently, we “traveled” to Ghana in West Africa to learn a greeting and movement song called “Kye Kye Kule”! We also learned “Obwisana”, another game-song from Ghana. We learned movements, played drums, and played a game!

First Grade: Students learned about a new rhythm this month, called the quarter rest! When they see it, they know that there will be one beat of silence in the music! By playing a game called Post Office, students practiced recognizing the correct quarter rest rhythm pattern. Some first graders had fun moving to the song “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson, taking turns being the horse that pulls classmates in an imaginary sleigh! Other classes took turns being soldiers and dancers as they moved to “March” from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite”.

Second Grade: This month, students continued to practice their new rhythm (the half note) by reading, writing, and improvising. They played a game called “Rhythm Conversation”, where they tried to carry on a conversation with classmates by speaking in rhythms instead of with words! For some winter fun, many classes used teamwork to play colorful tuned tubes called Boomwhackers while following a play-along video to play winter songs! Students recently enjoyed improvising on “sound shape” drums, along to the jazz fusion song “Chameleon” by Herbie Hancock.

Third Grade: Third graders have been fully focused on the recorder unit this month! Many of them have mastered the song “Hot Cross Buns” and worked to earn their “white belt” in recorder karate this week. Next, they will be learning the “yellow belt” song, called “Gently Sleep”. Students are expected to recognize the notes B, A, and G on the music staff and then demonstrate how to play them on the recorder.

Please check out the music room website for more information about the music program. Feel free to reach out at any time by emailing smaldonado@easthamptonct.org.

Mrs. Maldonado

**Change of Clothing**

Between accidents, spills, puddles and mud, there are many ways student’s clothing can become soiled. The nurses office does not routinely keep extra clothing. Every student should have a full change of clothes (underwear, pants, shirt) in their backpack to be kept at school. If your child requires a change of clothes and they do not have any in their bag, a parent will be asked to come to the school to bring it in.

Nurse office reminders

We want to share some guidelines that are helpful for families:

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. Per our food sharing protocol, we ask for at least 48 hours advance notice to check for classroom allergies. Please inform your child’s teacher AND the nurse in order to approve food being brought in to share. A great resource for allergy free snacks is the Safe Snack guide at https://snacksafely.com/safe-snack-guide/. We appreciate your assistance in keeping our school safe.

Respectfully,

Krista Kardys RN

and Ms. Michelle Lemire

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!

Please Review This Important Information Below.

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