Central Primary School
February Newsletter
A Note from the Office...
We are so excited for all students to return to in person learning 5 days a week on February, 16th! We have been busy planning and making preparations for a smooth transition and can't wait to see all of our Central students together again. Please stay vigilent with our COVID protocols and keeping your student home if they are symptomatic. Check out our Central COVID guidelines below.
Our Central students will be celebrating Valentine's Day in classrooms on Wednesday, Feb. 10th for Group 2 and Thursday, Feb. 11th for Group 1. Be sure to turn in your valentines by Feb. 9th so they may be distributed at classroom celebrations.
PTO Meeting: Thursday, Feb. 4th @ 7:00 p.m.
Report Cards Accesible via Skyward: Friday, Feb. 5th
School Board Meeting: Thursday, Feb. 11th @ 7:00 p.m.
No School, Remote Learning Planning Day: Friday, Feb. 12th
No School, President's Day: Monday, Feb. 15th
Full Return to In Person Learning: Tuesday, Feb. 16th
100th Day of School!: Friday, Feb. 19th
Dress for Success, Spirit Day!: Friday, Feb. 26th
Nurse's Corner-Mrs. Carrie Bright, CPS School Nurse & Mrs. Kim Martin, CIS School Nurse
We are excited to have our Central students back full time!
To ensure the health and safety of our school community, IDPH COVID Exclusion Guidance is still in effect. If one of your students is experiencing one or more COVID-like symptoms:
Keep ALL your Central students home
Students may participate in remote learning until they are able to safely return to school. Email your students’ teachers for instructions.
Report your students absent via:
CPS attendance hotline at 444-3580 option 8
CIS attendance hotline at 444-3943 option 3
Skyward Absence Request
After 10:00, check your email for Return-to-School options:
Per IDPH COVID-19 Exclusion Guidance, sick students and their sibling(s) will not be able to attend in-person learning until the ill student meets return to school criteria.
Option 1: Keep all your student homes for a 10 day isolation. No doctor’s visits. No testing. Your student will participate in remote learning during this time. All students may return to school on Day 11 if they are symptom-free.
Option 2: Doctor’s note
Option 3: Negative COVID test (provide proof of results)
Asymptomatic siblings may return to school once the ill student has a negative COVID test or a doctor’s note.
Ill students may return to school once: (in addition to one of the options above)
They are fever-free (WITHOUT the use of fever reducing medication), vomit-free, and diarrhea-free for 24 hours AND
ALL symptoms must be improved and well controlled
Please contact your school nurse for COVID exposure or confirmed COVID positive case.
CPS (PreK-3): Carrie Bright RN 309-444-3580 ext 3303 / cbright@central51.net
CIS (4-8): Kim Martin RN 309-444-3943 ext 2404 / kmartin@central51.netPTO Update- Mrs. Stephanie Redlingshafer
Counselor's Corner- Ms. Gail Massa
In January, I focused my lessons around friendship. I did activities with each grade that allowed students to brainstorm and identify the values they find important within their friendships and what it means to be a good friend to others. I am so excited for the students to come back full time! In February, I will focus my efforts on helping students and staff transition back into a “normal” school routine. February 1st-5th is also National School Counseling Week. A fact about the role of a School Counselor will be added to the morning announcements each morning.
Click here for some stats and facts on School Counselors :)
Interventionist Corner- Mrs. Breanna Guse, Reading Interventionist and Mrs. Kris Mertens, Math Interventionist
As our winter assessment window comes to a close this month, we will be holding our winter teacher meetings to discuss students. If your child’s teacher has a concern and will be discussing their progress at these meetings, they will be giving you a call sometime within the next couple of weeks. Once meetings have occurred and we have had a chance to look at students building wide, teachers would then call you back with any information we have discussed and decisions that have been made about your child’s progress and plans for instruction moving forward. I know it can be difficult when you feel like your student is struggling, but please know we are here to help and support you in any way we can. As interventionists, we cannot take on every student that teachers bring to us, but we do take on as many as we can. If your teacher brings your student to our meeting and we are not able to pick them up as interventionists, we will work with the teacher to set a goal and get a classroom intervention going to give extra support as needed. If at any time you have questions or concerns about your student’s progress or decisions that are made during these meetings, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or the interventionists personally. We are happy to discuss these things with you at any time.
Math Facts:
We see a lot of kids struggling with math fact memorization. This does not mean your child will never know their facts, but in order to build that math fact library in their heads it is important to teach the kids strategies to help them learn their facts. We introduce these strategies in math class and play a lot of games utilizing these strategies. Here is a list of great addition strategies to start with if they are struggling with facts. Subtraction has their own set of strategies that can be worked on to. If they are able to use the strategies mentally, this will help with their ability to process facts at a quicker pace and at some point eliminate the reliability on fingers. If you are working on math facts, remind them to use a strategies instead of relying on their fingers as much.
Reading Tips
How important is reading every night?
We know that reading is important, but did you know that the amount of time spent in reading has a direct correlation to how well students will perform in reading. The more text a student is exposed to, the more words they know, they better reader they become. Does that mean that you have to have your child sit and read quietly for 20 minutes every night? Do you have to have new books for them to read every night? No. Schedules are busy between dance, sports practices, family activities, meal times. You may have to get creative. Do you have 5 minutes in the car while you are waiting to pick up a sibling from another activity... bring a book! Do you have a 5 minute drive to the next practice... bring a book! Do you have a bedtime routine... add in a 5-10 minutes of reading a fun book together. Have your student read a book to you while you cook dinner. Maybe 20 minutes straight is difficult in your schedule, so break it up. The minutes add up quickly.
Art Corner- Ms. Lacey Gleason
A Little Note from Music Class... Mrs. Kathryn Cunningham
Here is what we have been up to in the music room.
Kindergarten is still exploring their voices. We have had lots of fun making silly sounds with our voices :)
First grade is starting to read music on the staff! I am so impressed with their progress!
Second grade is learning about how melodies move by step, skip or repeated notes. They are also getting really great at reading lines notes and space notes on the staff.
Third grade is finishing their unit on the Classical Period. We have focused on the characteristics of the music from this time period and it’s famous composers. On another note...3rd grade is when we usually begin learning the recorder. With covid this year, we are not able to play recorder in class. So, I am planning to start a VIRTUAL recorder club that meets after school on Wednesdays in the 3rd quarter. This would be voluntary to any 3rd Grader that was interested. Be on the lookout for more information to sign up in the next few weeks.
Don’t forget to check the Music Google Classroom for more supplemental activities.
PE Corner- Mr. Chris Dalberg
Now that winter is definitely here and we are inside more I thought I would share some good resources for activities that can be done at home to keep students active at home. Youtube, with parents permission, can be very good. Youtube has many different exercise videos for conditioning, yoga, strength training and sports skills. A couple other websites that have good resources would be https://openphysed.org/ and https://www.pecentral.org/. Just a quick reminder with the cold temperatures and possible snow/ice please make sure to have students bring a pair of tennis shoes to school in their book bags if they wear boots to school in the morning.
Technology with Mr. Robert Deatherage
Wow, it is hard to believe we are in February already.
Please remind students to charge their Chromebooks at home. We are running into many issues of devices not being charged enough to get through the day. Thank you for helping us with keeping the devices charged. Should you need Chromebook help, do not forget about techsupport@central51.net to have your Chromebook needs addressed. If you have not been to this Google site, CPS Online Resources, it contains most but likely not all of the resources we are utilizing both in the classroom and at home.
Contact Us
Email: ejohnson@central51.net
Website: www.central51.net
Location: 1400 Newcastle Road, Washington, IL, USA
Phone: 309-444-3580