Cheetah Pride Press

Families,

It was another busy week at Memorial. We began the week with an amazing Unified Sports event in Glastonbury, completed the grade 3 Smarter Balanced Assessments, watched baby chicks hatch in PreK, enjoyed an Asian storyteller in Kindergarten, and participated in ACES – All Children Exercise Simultaneously. ACES is a global event, held on the first Wednesday in May, to promote physical fitness. Our coaches led each grade level in simultaneous exercises for about fifteen minutes!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, mothers-to-be, and surrogate moms out there! May you have a day full of all the things that make you smile!

Best,

Joey & Andrea

What a week for our Unified Sports athletes! Last Saturday, our K-5 athletes joined six other school districts for a Unified Sports Elementary Skills Day. The event was held at Glastonbury High School, and everyone had a blast. Today, the fun continued with a K-12 gathering for East Hampton’s unified teams. This second event was held at Center Elementary School. We are so proud of our athletes’ growing skills, and the amazing teamwork and sportsmanship that was demonstrated at both events!

On Monday morning, Mrs. Gibson’s class received 16 chicken eggs that were ready to hatch! We had so much fun watching them emerge from their shells!

Kindergarten students enjoyed a lively and engaging cultural storytelling assembly with Motoko, a Parents’ Choice Award-winning storyteller who brought folktales from Japan to life. Through humorous and meaningful stories, traditional songs, lyrical movement, and enthusiastic audience participation, students were immersed in the rich traditions of Asian culture. This assembly directly connected to the Kindergarten Wit & Wisdom curriculum module on continents, helping students make meaningful real-world connections to their classroom studies. Throughout the program, students explored important themes such as empathy, kindness, perseverance, imagination, and learning from life experiences, while gaining an appreciation for the art of oral storytelling and cultural traditions from around the world.

A special thank you to the PTO for funding this enriching educational opportunity for our students!

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 Anthony.

His teacher is Ms. Cordeiro.

He is special because he is good at biking.

His favorite things are his bike clubs.

He wanted to be on Cheetah Council to help bring new ideas to the school.

His teachers are what he loves best about school.

We are thankful for this RISE program trio. We appreciate their guidance, support, and the strategies they utilize throughout the day to support students and colleagues. Their dedication, teamwork, and positive impact help create a supportive and successful learning environment for everyone.

This month will be exciting as we continue our tradition of May Mathematicians. Each week during announcements, math riddles will be read aloud. Students will have the opportunity to solve the problem in their classroom and then enter it into a bucket in the lobby for a chance to win a prize. On Fridays throughout the month of May, the entire school will participate in an estimation activity. An estimation jar filled with a math manipulative will be placed in the lobby and students estimation skills will be put to the test! Check out some of the puzzles below to get your mathematician ready for May.

All art classes this month have worked so hard to create paintings, collages, clay sculptures, and even learned to prepare a work of art for presentation! Below are all of the different projects and lessons each grade has been working on!

Prek students have worked on painting onto coffee filters, exploring ways to spread paint and apply it in different ways, while also practicing washing their paintbrushes. Painting on a coffee filter seems funny, but a good choice of paper for what we used them for! Once our coffee filters were dry, we folded them and learned how to fold an “accordion” fold, alternating the direction of each fold until it could expand and contract. Once we finished folding, we attached pipe cleaners to the center by wrapping them around the middle. Those became the antennas, and the painted paper became the wings…. Of a beautiful butterfly!

Kindergarten students have been working diligently on their cutting skills! We learned all about artist Henri Matisse, and we read the book “Henri’s Scissors” by Jeanette Winter. Mr. Matisse was a famous painter and collage artist. His scissors created his infamous “cut out collages”! We then learned how to use scissors to cut and create an abundance of shapes for a SPRINGTIME GARDEN collage! Students learned that flowers come in all different shapes, colors and even sizes. Many flowers have petals that are the shape of an oval, crescent, and rain drop, and we made many petals for our flowers. We then finished our collages while adding stems, leaves, a ground and even a special garden surprise! We imagined what we might find in our beautiful garden, and thought of many different unique things like bugs, worms, butterflies, bumble bees, caterpillars, and more! To finish our collages, we are painting the backgrounds to create a beautiful sky for our gardens!

1st grade students have been hard at work while using CLAY and forming the clay into specific shapes in order to complete the animal features for their pinch pot animals! Students learned to roll clay into a 1. Ball, 2. Coil, and form a 3. Pinch pot, and 4. Slab. They had to determine which form worked best for the different features, for example, which forming strategy would they use to make wings, or a beak, or fins, or legs. The students then learned to “score and slip” the clay, in order to combine the different parts of the animal with the main pinch pot form (the animal's body). Once the pinch pot sculptures are dry, they will be fired, and then we are going to be glazing them next week, and the week after. We can’t wait to bring them home!!

2nd grade students have been hard at work while using CLAY to complete an animal SLAB house! We are currently completing the construction portion of the unit, and will be adding carving and any final details for our animal’s houses. Then the last part of this project is to create the animal that goes INSIDE and lives in their beautiful clay slab house! Of course, once the sculptures are complete, I will dry them, fire them, and we will finally get to glaze them! These sculptures will be brought home in a few weeks, and we can’t wait to show them to you!

3rd grade students are at the final stages of choice art. We are working through our last few projects and students are making sure their work is “art show” ready! Throughout the school year, 3rd graders have been responsible for assessing their works of art to ensure they are made with the highest quality craftsmanship. And to finally prepare for their art show, they are beginning to mount their art work and create their own labels for their works of art. Once the art is all mounted and labeled, the third graders will be hanging and organizing the art show as a class, along with my assistance. We can’t WAIT for you to come to the Step Up Ceremony and have an opportunity to view your child’s masterpieces in a gallery setting. I am so proud of the 3rd graders and applaud all of their efforts in planning and creating their most meaningful works!

A few lucky second and third grade students earned a mystery art incentive, and came to the art room to make posters together and hang them for “cafeteria staff appreciation day”. They did an amazing job, and the posters were colorful and full of yummy details!

Congratulations to the April-May Artists of the Month!!

Prek: Penelope Casarez Bogue and John Kutzukos

Kindergarten: Leonard Ludzinski and Finley O'Connor

First: Teagan Murphy and Cross DeNovelis

Second: Zelda Mojo and Jackson Giard

Third: Michael Woodson and Keily Erlandson

5/11 Board of Ed. at 6:30

5/18- PTO at 5:30 and Board of Ed. Meeting at 6:30pm

5/22-Cheetah PRIDE Assembly and Spirit Day

5/22- Half Day Professional Development For Teachers

5/25- Memorial Day- No School

5/27 - Works of Wisdom 5:30-7:00pm

5/29- IT Appreciation Day and Author's Visit

Spring Events Calendar:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DvL1o1X5PCiAjUaPzz5qmAzROXiyYBLFNyT7ZYA5yFM/edit?usp=sharing

Hello Parents, and Guardians,

With the spring weather upon us and the students spending more time outside, we have seen an increase in poison Ivy rashes. In the nurse's office we provide assessment of the rash and will contact a parent if the student is too uncomfortable to remain in school or requires higher level medical intervention. For most rashes all that is usually required is cleansing and itch relief which we can provide to make the student comfortable to continue their day at school. Below is information to help identify and care for your student with poison ivy rash.

What Is Poison Ivy?

Poison ivy is a plant that can cause an itchy rash when touched. Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac all contain urushiol, a sticky, colorless, odorless oil.

What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Poison Ivy?

The allergic reaction to poison ivy includes a rash with blisters, itching, and sometimes swelling. The rash could look like straight lines if the plant brushed against the skin that way.

After a few days, the oozing blisters become crusty and start to flake off. The rash from poison ivy can start within hours of contact or as much as 5 days later. It may take 2 to 3 weeks to heal.

How Is Poison Ivy Treated?

If your child comes into contact with poison ivy/oak/sumac:

• Remove and wash any clothing that touched the plant.
• Gently wash your child's skin and scrub under fingernails right away with soap and cool water.
• Cut fingernails short to keep your child from breaking the skin when scratching. Broken skin can let bacteria in, causing infection.
• Place cool compresses on the skin as needed.

For itching:

• Add oatmeal to the bath.
• Use calamine lotion on the skin (but not on the face or on the genitals).

For nighttime help: If your doctor recommends it, give your child an over-the-counter oral antihistamine (Benadryl or a store brand). This can give temporary help with the itching, and it can make your child drowsy and better able to ignore nighttime itching. Make sure to follow the dosing directions carefully.

When Should I Call the Doctor?

Call your doctor if your child has any kind of rash, especially with a fever. Home treatment can manage most poison ivy/oak/sumac rashes. But get medical care if the skin looks infected (with increasing redness, warmth, pain, swelling or pus) or the rash:

• covers a large part of the body
• is on the face or genitals
• gets worse despite home treatment

For more severe cases, doctors sometimes prescribe pills or creams with steroids (not the same type of steroids that bodybuilders use) to decrease itching and redness. If the skin looks infected, the doctor may prescribe antibiotics.

Is Poison Ivy Contagious?

The poison ivy rash itself isn't contagious. Fluid from a blister can't spread the rash. But it is possible to get a rash from poison ivy without touching a plant. Urushiol can transfer from one person to another from their skin or clothing. Kids also can pick it up from anything that's been in contact with the oil, including pets. Urushiol can even travel through the air if someone burns the plants to clear brush.

Thank you,

Krista Kardys RN

Ms. Michelle, Health Aid

Memorial School Nurse

860-365-4020 ext. 816

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