October 25th-26th: 5th grade camp

October 31st - Halloween

November 3rd: 1/2 day for students - Teacher records day

November 7th: No school for students - Professional Learning Day for Staff

November 9th & 14th: Parent Teacher Conferences

Dear SM Families,

October has been a fun and busy month so far. This week, we had record sales at our book fair. Thank you so much to Mrs. Brantingham for organizing and running the fair and also to all of our volunteers that came in to make the book fair a huge success! We appreciate you!

This week is also School Safety week. Teachers and students spent some time this week talking about all of our plans to stay safe while at school. While this is something we always discuss with our students, this week we were able to spend some time talking through all of our drills as well. For more detailed information about school safety, please visit our HVS website at the link provided below:

Safety and Security at HVS

There is some terrific information located on the website. I've also included one of the handouts in the section below for your convenience.

We have made some changes to our fall parade on Halloween. Please look for a letter that will be sent out on Monday for more information.

Take care and have a great weekend!

Sarah Bentley, SM Principal

If your child becomes sick or soiled after arriving at school, the office will call the parent or emergency contact person to come pick up your child. Your child will be removed from the classroom and must be picked up as soon as possible. Please consider carefully and plan how you will handle the possibility of your child needing to come home unexpectedly. In an emergency, the school will call EMS to transport the child to the hospital. It is very important to keep accurate and current phone numbers on file with your school for home, work and alternate emergency contact persons.

If your child will not be attending school for any reason, it is very important for you to call and notify the school office of the reason for the absence. This helps us to keep track of illnesses among our building. It also helps us be assured that your child is safe at home. With the arrival of colder weather, we have entered the cold and flu season. For the health of your child, other students, and school staff, it is important to know when your child should stay home due to illness.

Students should stay home if they have had any of the following symptoms: • fever of 100 or higher in the past 24 hours • undiagnosed rash that is accompanied by fever or itching • bad cough or difficulty breathing • vomiting or diarrhea within the past 24 hours • sore throat, with fever or swollen glands in the neck • symptoms of being sick such as being unusually tired, fussy, pale or had difficulty waking. If your child has strep throat or another bacterial infection, he/she should stay home until the antibiotic has been given for at least 24 hours and your health care provider has given permission for your child to return to school. We encourage you to seek medical attention when your child is sick and to follow your health care provider's recommendations about returning to school and other social activities.

Thank you to everyone following the guidelines making the circle drive a smoother experience for your community! Please see reminder below and share these rules with other family members who may pick up your student at times.

Arrival/Dismissal - updated information

• Our building doors open at 9:10 am. Please do not drop off early, as there isn't adult supervision outside of the building. You may only use the front loop for drop off
• Upper El Centrum doors close at 9:15am If your child arrives later than this, please use the front doors of the building.
• Safety first! Drivers will need to remain in their lane until all students have been unloaded; you are not allowed to pass other cars if your children unloaded first.
• Also for safety reasons, drivers and other adults must remain in the car during pick up and drop-off. If your child requires help getting in or out of their vehicle please park in the parking lot and walk to the doors to get your child/pick your child up.
• Always have your green name sign clipped to your passenger visor during afternoon pick up - this keeps things moving quickly for the entire Spring Mills community. Please let your child's teacher or the office know if you did not receive a sign and we will send them home with your child.
• When possible, please move your child's seat to the passenger side of the vehicle. Children should not be exiting out into traffic, but rather on the curb side.
• The school day ends at 4:08 pm. Please do not arrive before 4pm. DO NOT EXIT your vehicle from the circle to meet students.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

As you already know, breakfast and lunch is provided for all students this school year at no cost to families. However, it's good to know that if a student wishes to purchase an a la cart beverage, such as juice or milk, the cost is 50 cents.

Please follow us on Twitter by clicking below!

Together We Can, Together We Will!

Email: Sarah.Bentley@HVS.org
Website: https://www.hvs.org/o/springmills
Location: 3150 Harvey Lake Road, Highland Charter Township, MI, USA
Phone: 248-684-8130
Twitter: @_Springmills

The temperatures are dropping here in Highland MI. Please be sure to send your child in with the proper