Cheetah Pride Press

Families,

We hope that your Thanksgiving holiday was filled with all that you’re grateful for. December seems to have snuck up quickly on all of us; and Memorial School is full of holiday spirit! As we continue into the holiday season, many of our students are feeling excited, anxious, and less able to regulate their emotions and behaviors. Sticking to routines can help! While there will continue to be special events sprinkled throughout the next two weeks, many of our students thrive on structure and routine; and they will look to their trusted adults to provide that. Maintaining predictable structures and schedules helps learners know what to expect, and fosters confidence and self-regulation.

If you’re looking for an affordable way to help your learner shop for their loved ones, check out the PTO’s Holiday Shop on Wednesday evening. More information can be found below.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Joey & Andrea

Last Tuesday, all of the third grade classrooms participated in a full-day science rotation that focused on living things and how we can learn through the study of inherited and environmental traits, as well as through fossils and teeth.

Last Wednesday, students read the book, Balloons Over Broadway. They learned about the traditional Macy's Thanksgiving parade and about the giant balloons that are a main feature of the parade. Students creatively made their own giant balloons and paraded around the main office.

On the 27th, Memorial students lined the hallways for our annual Kindergarten Turkey Trot. The students were in disguise as our Kindergarten teachers searched for their missing turkeys.

As part of grade two’s Long Ago units, many students made butter out of whipping cream. They used teamwork to shake the jar, and then they tried it on bread! Many of the students were part of the clean plate club!

Her teacher is Mrs. McCarthy-Nowak.

She is special because she is very flexible.

Her favorite thing is cheerleading.

She wanted to be on cheetah council because she is a very good friend.

She loves music best about school.

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.

Mrs. Ellis is the Kindergarten through grade 2 Math Specialist. She is always willing to help her colleagues by modeling math strategies, suggesting tools or manipulatives to use with students and teaching math lessons. We appreciate all that you do for our mathematicians!

This year we will be treated to a long winter break, which is so exciting! A long break away from school doesn’t mean literacy activities have to stop. Here are some ideas to continue to support all of the great learning your child has done so far this year.

1. Engage in a Winter Reading Challenge with your family. Children and adults can read with their scarf on, read while sipping hot cocoa, or even read a cereal box!

2. Visit your local library for fun activities over winter break. Activities include ‘Bubbles and Beats’ and ‘Drop-In Card Making’. Registration is required! If an event is full, you can still cozy up with a good book.

3. Reorganize your Home Library: Use this extra time during winter break to rearrange your home library with your kids by author, color, title, or subject. This is the perfect opportunity to audit your current collection, revisit classic favorites, uncover new interests, pick out a few books for storytime, and reignite a love of reading in your kids!

Hi Cheetah families!

It has been another busy month in the Memorial School library. Thank you for all your support with the fall book fair!

• PreK students are enjoying a variety of read alouds and songs with the themes of thankfulness, kindness, and winter. We have also practiced some fun rhymes and songs.

• Kindergarten will be working on different story elements within our monthly theme, empathy. We will listen to Strictly No Elephants and identify the setting and characters, plus the sequence of events. Later in December we are learning all about caribou and practicing sorting facts versus opinions.

• First grade is also working with different story elements. We will listen to Cold Turkey to identify setting, characters, and sequence of events. We also identify the big idea of the story and ways we can show empathy at home and at school. Later in December, we will practice using our school database, PebbleGo to do some research on caribou.

• Second grade has finished their unit on digital citizenship by playing the game Interland, to review rules for online safety. In early December we will be starting our coding unity with Code Monkey.

• Third grade worked hard to add pictures, text boxes, and different if/then pathways to their work on Google Slides. Students not only learned more about useful features in Slides, they started laying the foundation for more complicated work with coding and logical/computational thinking. Of course, the star of the library this month was our book fair. Thank you to our volunteers who made the experience a positive one for all our learners.

For more information and updates, make sure to check out the library website at https://sites.google.com/site/centermemoriallibrary/

Questions, please contact Mrs. Flannery at rflannery@easthamptonct.org or Ms. Sawyer at msawyer@easthamptonct.org

Mrs. Flannery and Ms. Sawyer

Dear Families of Memorial Elementary Students,

We are asking for your assistance in helping keep our school healthy and safe. We have been experiencing an uptick in lots of coughing and stomach bug/vomiting. Please consider the following guidelines, provided by the school nurse, for sending students to school:

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 (equal to or greater than 100.4 degrees. May 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 (Must wait 24 hours after last episode to return to school)

• 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

• redness and discharge from one or both eyes

To help prevent the flu and other colds, 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. We use our nursing assessment and judgment when students come into the nurse office and make calls home as we deem necessary. Thank you in advance for helping to make this year at school as healthy as possible.

Please also update emergency contact information! In case of an emergency or in instances where your child needs to be dismissed from school, it is extremely important that we be able to reach someone on the contact list. We have also been having trouble with parent voicemail boxes that are full and we are unable to leave a message.

Kindly,

The Health Office Team,

Nurse Katie and Miss Michelle

kwilliams@easthamptonct.org, mlemire@easthamptonct.org

Your Health Office Team

Memorial Elementary

Phone 860-365-4020

Fax 860-365-4024

9th-BOE Meeting 6:30pm

13th- Pajama Day for CCMC and Cheetah Pride Assembly- Spirit Day: Wear Your Cheetah Gear

20th-Early Release Day

23rd-1st- Winter Recess

The East Hampton Board of Education and the school community as a whole promote a secure and productive school climate, conducive to teaching and learning that is free from threat, harassment, and any type of bullying behavior. Therefore it shall be the policy of the Board that bullying and/or teen dating violence committed against a student by another student is prohibited. The Board believes that a school environment in which students feel safe, supported, engaged and helpfully challenged is optimal for learning and healthy development. The Board seeks an environment in which students and adults feel socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically safe; an environment that is free of harassment, intimidation, teen dating violence and bullying. Our website provides links to various policies and reporting forms including our Safe School Climate Plan. Hard copies are also available in our main office. If at any point you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to building administration for further assistance.

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