We are getting excited for the Solar Eclipse happening on Monday. The PTO is hosting a Stay and Play that afternoon to help facilitate viewing it since it will happen right around dismissal time. To ensure a safe and smooth dismissal, we will follow this plan:

1. Parents/Caregivers will come into the building and wait in the gym to connect with your child(ren) to stay for the Stay and Play. Students will be called by grade level. This dismissal will occur a little early at 3:05 to get everyone outside in time to see the eclipse.

2. Car dismissals and walkers will then be dismissed.

3. Buses will then be dismissed.

Classroom teachers have already talked with students about the dangers of looking at the sun without protective glasses, but please reiterate this message at home.

We are in need of additional nurse substitutes. If you are interested in becoming a nurse substitute for the Norwell Schools, please apply on the employment tab of the Norwell Schools website.

The Norwell High School senior interns started their internship this week. We're thrilled to welcome back: Lindsay Stull, Jacob Stull, Kevin Brennan, Braeden Concheri, Ryan DiLoreto, Luke Gentilotti, Hazel McEachern, Adam Smith, and Nick Austin.

Check out these Magnificent Meerkats! What an amazing group of students - thank you for helping Cole School shine brightly!

Mrs. Uhlman, Mr. Roberge, and the student government representatives need your help. They are asking for community support to replenish the Norwell Food Pantry. Many donations happen around the holidays, but this is the perfect time of year to replenish their inventory. Each grade level has specific items to collect. Please see the list below. Before making any donations, please check the expiration dates. Thank you in advance for your donations.

April - Mark Your Calendar

April 1 - 26 - Parent Information for Placement Google Form Shared via Email

April 1 - 15 - Cole School Spring Family Survey - link sent via email from Panorama Ed

April 8 - Grade 4 MCAS ELA Session 2

April 9 - Grade 3 MCAS ELA Session 1

April 10 - Early Release - All students dismissed at 12:20pm - Parent Conferences

April 10 - Variety Show Practice for Grades K-2 12:20-3pm

April 11 - Grade 3 MCAS ELA Session 2

April 11 - Evening Parent Conferences

April 15 - 19 - April Vacation Week

April 23 - Bus Driver Appreciation Day

April 23 - Grade 5 MCAS ELA Session 1

April 24 - Grade 5 MCAS ELA Session 2

April 24 - National Secretary Appreciation Day

April 24th - PTO Meeting - Superintendent Keegan sharing at 2pm

April 26 - Parent Information for Placement Google Form Due

April 26 - Community Meeting 9:00am

Upcoming Mark Your Calendar

May 6th - Town Meeting

May 9 - Cole School Variety Show at NHS

May 29 - Art Show

May 30 - Grade 4 Concert

June 7 - Field Day

June 10 - Grade 5 Band Concert

June 13 - Grade 5 Celebration 6-8pm (Grade 5 Students and Parents only, no siblings or other family please)

June 17 - Tentative Last Day of School

I wanted to send out a couple reminders about keeping our students, staff, and community. There are policies in place about when to keep your child home from school/when they will be sent home from school. If your child has a communicable disease or an injury, please notify the school nurse. Presently, there are many respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses circulating. We continue to see numerous cases of strep throat and conjunctivitis. Please help keep our school as healthy as possible by following these recommendations if your child is not feeling well.

Fever – A temperature greater than 100°F is considered a fever. Your child should be fever free, without the use of fever reducing medication, for 24 hours before returning to school.

Strep Throat- Think beyond a sore throat. A fever, headache, stomachache, or vomiting alone may indicate a strep infection. If diagnosed with strep throat, your child must complete a minimum of 24 hours of antibiotics and be fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication before returning to school. It is very possible to have recurring cases of strep throat. Make sure to change out toothbrushes and follow up with your provider for any continuing or rebounding symptoms.

Vomiting and Diarrhea – Your child should be symptom free for at least 24 hours and able to tolerate a few meals before returning to school. If your child is sent home from school due to vomiting or diarrhea, they are to remain out of school the following day.

Conjunctivitis (pink eye) – Some signs and symptoms of conjunctivitis are when the white part of the eye is red; eyes are itchy, painful, sensitive to light, watery or produce a yellow or green crusty discharge. If suspected, contact your physician. Your child may attend school 24 hours after antibiotic treatment starts, or when cleared by your healthcare provider (if no antibiotic treatment is needed).

Injuries. If a child has an injury that requires an orthopedic device such as crutches, cast, walking boot, splint, sling, etc., a note from the provider should accompany the child when returning to school. Such notifications should clearly detail all restrictions and identify the date when participation in PE/ recess may resume. Our fax number is 781-659-2850. Providers may fax to us directly. Written notification from a parent is required when it is necessary to excuse a child from physical education short term and the PE teacher should be notified as well.

Head lice: Remember to check your child’s head frequently for head lice, as they can be a common occurrence in children. If found at school, parent/guardian will be notified and directed to treatment options to occur outside of school. There are no whole class notifications or screenings done.

Reminder about Prescription and Non-Prescription Medications ( from the handbook)

Students are not to carry medications of any kind. The school nurse shall be the supervisor of the medication program in the school, including over-the-counter medications such as calamine lotion, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, etc.

ALL medications, prescription or non-prescription, can only be administered under the following conditions:

• A written medication order form is required for prescription medication and over-the-counter medications not including the standing orders written by the district physician

• A written parent/guardian authorization form is required for all medications

• All medications must be in the original pharmacy labeled container

• All medications must be brought to school by the parent/guardian and given directly to the nurse.

Grades 1-5 continued their Floor Hockey Unit while practicing being safe with their hockey sticks as they shot pucks at the nets. Before playing a game of floor hockey, students were able to try to score a goal on one of the two senior interns, Kevin and Luke, from Norwell High School. Kindergarteners played Guard the Pin and had a chance to be creative with their dance moves while playing Dance Noodle tag.

PTO is excited to host

STAY & PLAY on MONDAY 4/8 for some SOLAR ECLIPSE FUN!

We will have solar eclipse glasses for everyone signed up, indirect solar viewers, concessions and other fun activities!

Dismissal will follow regular Stay & Play Dismissal - This is NOT a drop off event, and each student MUST have a designated adult to meet them on the playground:

SIGN UP HERE: https://forms.gle/horkW5sqixaGcjLt6

The form will close on Monday 4/8 @ 10am (day of event)

**SOLAR ECLIPSE SPECIFICS & SAFETY REMINDERS**

When watching the partial phases of the solar eclipse directly with your eyes, which happens before and after totality, you must look through safe solar viewing glasses (“eclipse glasses”) or a safe handheld solar viewer at all times.

Eclipse glasses are NOT regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the Sun. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and ought to comply with the ISO12312-2 international standard.

• PTO will have ISO12312-2 standard viewing glasses available for students who are signed up for Stay&Play.
• After your child is dismissed, please come to the designated table to pick the glasses up
  
• We will have a limited amount of viewing glasses available to purchase for adults/siblings (cash/venmo)
  
• We will have a variety of indirect viewing methods to safely view the eclipse for free

**As a reminder: once your child is dismissed, it is the responsibility of the parent/guardian/individual receiving them to ensure safe viewing of the eclipse. Students will be reminded of this at school and by volunteers. However, responsibility & liability are ultimately with the adult the child is being dismissed to.

DISMISSAL INSTRUCTIONS:

• Students who are signed up will be dismissed from the gym door closest to the MAIN playground.
• Dismissal will occur AFTER the pickup car line has cleared (approx 3:20pm).
• The parking lot is BUSY at this time, please arrive early.
• Kindergarten will be dismissed first, followed by Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5.
• Parents/Designated Adults picking up should look for the correlating sign for each grade.
• Please collect your student and join the fun!