Dear East Knox Families,

WELCOME BACK! It is always so exciting to get our school family back together after the winter break. We are excited for our students to be back in school and doing their important job of learning each day. We have some fun activities coming up for families and we hope you will be able to join us. On Thursday, January 23rd at 6:00 pm, please join us for our second annual Family Geography Night. The Family Valentine's Dance will be on Friday, February 7th from 5:30 to 7 pm.

In February, we will be having our Spring Parent Conferences on the following dates:

• Monday, February 10th
• Wednesday, February 12th
• Thursday, February 13th
• Wednesday, February 19th
• Thursday, February 20th

Please be looking for information that will be coming home next month to schedule a meeting with your child's teacher. We look forward to meeting with you soon. See the announcement below for an update on our Fall Parent Conferences. Our goal is to meet with 60% of our families each semester.

Remember that we are Cougars who Care about each other, Always problem solve, Read and respond, and Engage in learning. Be sure to read 20 minutes every night.

Ms. Woods and Ms. Morrell

• Thursday, January 16th: PTO Meeting in the library at 6:00 pm
• Monday, January 20th: Martin Luther King, Jr Day: Staff & Student Holiday - NO SCHOOL
  
• Thursday, January 23rd: Second Annual Family Geography Night at 6 pm
• Friday, February 7th: Family Valentine's Dance from 5:30 to 7:00 pm
• Thursday, February 13th: PTO Meeting in the library at 6:00 pm and 3rd Nine Weeks Interim Reports go home
• Friday, February 14th: Kids Heart Challenge during Encore Classes
• Monday, February 17th: Student Holiday, Staff Inservice Day
• Monday, March 2nd: Spring Photos: Class and Individual Photos
• Tuesday, March 3rd: Staff and Student Holiday - NO SCHOOL
• Thursday, March 5th: Second and Third Grade Music Program at 7 pm
• Friday, March 6th: Read Across America and RIF Day
• Thursday, March 12th: PTO Meeting in the library at 6:00 pm
• March 16th to March 20th: SPRING BREAK - NO SCHOOL
• Friday, March 27th: 3rd Nine Weeks Report Cards go home

Congratulations to Mrs. Winegardener's Class for Winning the Golden Sneaker Award in December. These students have a trophy to display in their classrooms this month.

Students are earning Brag Tags for meeting our school expectations to be safe, be respectful, and be responsible. Brag tags are cool tags students can earn from any staff member during the school day. Last nine weeks, students earned a dance party. Our next incentive will be announced soon. Be sure to ask your child, "Have you earned any brags tags today?"

Mrs. Helton's and Mrs. Ray's Second Grade class won the PTO Box Top collections this month with 64 Box Tops during the month of October, followed by Ms. Morris' class with 53, and Ms. Baggett''s class with 18. This class earned the PTO Box Top trophy for the month. Which class will earn it next month?? See the photo below.

During the winter months, let's work together to prevent spreading illness. The graphic below will help you decide when your child is too sick to come to school and when it is safe to return to school after an illness.

Here are a few other important reminders:

• Student with a fever of 100.6 degrees or above must be sent home. Your child needs to be free of fever for 24 hours before returning to school without the use of fever reducing medication.
• The student must be free from vomiting for 24 hours before returning to school.
• The student must be free from diarrhea for 24 hours without the use of anti-diarrhea medication before returning to school.
• To prevent the spread of head lice, instruct your child never to borrow personal items such as combs, brushes, hats, head phones, clothing, or towels from other people. Avoid head to head contact with other people.

Parents can let school clinic know if you have a concern or your child has a contagious illness or condition. Thank you for helping us keep our school family healthy during the winter months.

Dear East Knox Families,

Below are some safety reminders I wanted to go over after returning from the Winter Holidays.

1. All visitors must sign in at the front office upon entering the building.

2. After 7:45 am, students will need to walk to class by themselves and not be escorted by family members. Please ask the front office for a staff member to escort your child if needed. Policy prohibits unauthorized access in the hallways after the 7:45 am bell rings.

3. For families arriving after 7:45 am, please park and walk your child in through the front entrance. There is a new sign illustrating where to push in order to be buzzed into the school building.

4. If you are arriving earlier than the 2:30 pm to pick up your child for dismissal, please come through the front door in order to utilize the buzzer system to enter the school building.

5. Please remember that the rear door of the school building is not a public entrance and has no way of buzzing a visitor/parent into the school building.

6. After 8:00 am, come in the bus entrance and turn back to the right to park in the front of the building if you are a visitor and or parent needing to enter the school building.

7. Prior to 8:00 am, the traffic pattern remains the same as it always has been for early morning drop off.

As always, thanks for all that you do to help keep our children and staff safe here at East Knox Elementary. Thank you for helping us keep our campus safe.

Officer Dance

We made our school goal of having over 60% attendance at parent conferences.

Thank you, East Knox families, for coming to meet face to face with your child’s teacher about the growth and achievement of your child!

Dear Families,

As you may be aware, vaping has become increasingly prevalent within Knox County Schools, and we are taking steps to address this rapidly growing problem among our middle and high school students.

We will be actively engaging our students to help them understand the potential health consequences of vaping and implementing new disciplinary guidelines that we hope will reduce the use of e-cigarettes.

Please see the attached letter with the new vaping protocol and discipline consequences.

These protocols were developed with the assistance of our community partners, as well as KCS administrators, teachers and security personnel. We want to thank the Knox County Health Department, Knox County Sheriff’s Department, Knoxville Police Department, Tennessee Department of Health, Knoxville DEA 360 and the National Drug Enforcement Agency for their collaboration on this important matter.

We appreciate your understanding and support in our effort to fight this growing health crisis and eliminate vaping in our schools.

Thank you,

Knox County Schools

BOX TOPS COLLECTION is changing. You no longer have to clip and send in Box Tops from sponsored products. You can earn cash for East Knox by scanning your receipts through the new Box Tops app. Click on the link to the flyer with the information below.

https://www.knoxschools.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=50766&dataid=88234&FileName=New%20Box%20Top%20Scan%20for%20School%20Cash.pdf

• Keep sending in your Coke Rewards lids and codes from boxed drinks. Please let us know if you can enter some Coke Reward lids for us because we have PLENTY of lids that need to be entered.
• You can link your Kroger card to East Knox now. Here is how to enroll your card: 1) go to www.kroger.com, 2) scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Community Rewards link in column two, 3) search for East Knox County Elementary School PTO by name or by the code RY891, and 4) click enroll. It's a great way to earn cash for our school.
• See the new way to collect Box Tops in the newsletter above to earn cash for our school. Congratulations to Mrs. Helton's and Mrs. Ray's class for turning in the most Box Tops in November and December.
• Order your school gear (sweatshirts, long sleeve t-shirts, and short sleeve t-shirts) now. Order forms were sent home and are in the school office. LONG SLEEVE GEAR IS IN LIMITED SUPPLY. Get your winter gear before it is gone.
• The next PTO meeting will be on Thursday, January 16th at 6 pm in the library.

Be sure to connect with us by any of the following ways below. Talk to your child's teacher about getting a log in for Class Dojo (our school-wide communication tool).

Email: jennifer.morrell@knoxschools.org
Website: https://www.knoxschools.org/Page/43
Location: 9315 Rutledge Pike, Mascot, TN, USA
Phone: (865) 933-3493
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/East-Knox-Elementary/1550740421829220
Twitter: @EastKnoxElem