Hi everybody,
We will be winding down our outdoor PE classes after Thanksgiving and getting ready for a long stretch of units and activities in the gym. We had a great fall of outdoor PE with mostly nice weather and fun activities, including the running club, soccer skills, lacrosse skills, frisbee and foxtails, and our disc (or frisbee) golf unit.
We are practicing and working on empathy daily in our school and in our PE classes with all the children.
A couple of notes:
If anyone has any home fitness equipment that they may no longer be using and would like to donate it to our “fitness lab” in our gym, please let Coach Ruel or Coach Boscarino know (contacts below), we would love to take it off your hands! Our older students love working out on the fitness lab equipment we now have and really enjoy using equipment they may never get a chance to use outside of our fitness lab, so thank you very much for any contributions that might come our way!
Here's a recap on the latest “fall action” up to Thanksgiving in our PE classes:
PreK and K:
- scooters
- throwing and catching various weights and sizes of different balls and other things with different textures and shapes.
- stations, where we focused on fun and fitness based skills, like ring toss, corn hole toss, jumping short and long ropes, hula hooping, scarfs for beginning “juggling”, “snow cones”/“ice cream cones”, stacking cups, spinning plates, jumping sticks, skip its, basket and ping pong ball catching, velcro ball catching (mostly all for tossing and catching and working on eye- hand coordination and skills), stacking cups, spinning plates, jumping sticks, and skip its.
- frisbee and foxtail throwing and catching and some time using the disc golf baskets.
- cooperative games.
- fitness, stretching exercises, running, and warmups before our main activity or skill for the class.
Grade 1:
- we had some fun on the scooters.
- throwing and catching various weights and sizes of different balls and other things with different textures and shapes.
- stations, where we focused on fun and fitness based skills, like ring toss, corn hole toss, jumping short and long ropes, hula hooping, scarfs for beginning “juggling”, “snow cones”/“ice cream cones”, stacking cups, spinning plates, jumping sticks, skip its, basket and ping pong ball catching, velcro ball catching (mostly all for tossing and catching and working on eye- hand coordination and skills), stacking cups, spinning plates, jumping sticks, and skip its.
- frisbee and foxtail throwing and catching and some time using the disc golf baskets.
- cooperative games.
- running club on our outdoor running course.
- fitness and stretching exercises and warmups before our main activity or skill for the class.
Grade 2 and Grade 3:
- we also plan to have some fun on the scooters, including soccer soccer (if the weather keeps us in any days up until Thanksgiving).
- fitness clubs with stations where we recorded our results and focused on fun and fitness based skills, like jumping short and long ropes, hula hooping, jumping sticks, and skip its, basket and ping pong ball catching, velcro ball catching (mostly all for tossing and catching and working on eye- hand coordination and skills), stacking cups, spinning plates, jumping sticks, and skip its.
- using the fitness lab equipment in the gym
- disc/frisbee golf with our disc baskets and on our disc golf course (10 “holes” on our front fields, inside where the running course is).
- running club on our outdoor running course and fitness and stretching exercises and warmups before our main activity or skill for the class.
- beginning our indoor running club.
Enjoy the fall weather, Thanksgiving, and the build up to the holiday season and winter, they will all be here before we know it!
Greg Ruel, gruel@easthamptonct.org
Bob Boscarino, bboscarino@easthamptonct.org
860-365-4020
Literacy News
November is Family Literacy Month! Started in 1994, this celebration is an opportunity for families to learn and read together. Here are some ways to celebrate with your learner:
-visit the local library
-establish a daily reading routine
-start a book club
-read the book version of your child’s favorite movie
-participate in a book exchange/donate books
-keep books visible around your home
These are great practices to begin in November and continue throughout the year!
Kindergarten students have been working hard to identify all of their letters and sounds as well as proper letter formation. When reading they are analyzing a character's actions and feelings. Kindergarteners are working on their Show and Tell unit during writing time. They are using a variety of objects to take a closer look to describe what they see. Students are encouraged to use labels and invented spelling to share their ideas.
First grade students just started their word detectives unit. They are applying their word-solving skills in a fun way. Similar to detectives, readers are on the lookout for problems and trouble while using strategies to solve them. In their written work, these young authors are penning How-to Books. Students will be teaching their audience step by step how to do something with the proper steps. In their Fundations lessons, students are learning about the “glued sounds” /am/ and /an/. These units are taught together because they are not easily segmented.
November is always a short, but very busy month for our second and third grade learners! Second grade students are focused on reading nonfiction text to learn about a variety of topics including dinosaurs, sea creatures and coral reefs. They are beginning to learn about the ‘lingo’ of nonfiction text as well as text features to help support understanding of a topic. Text features include bold words, text boxes, labels and glossaries. To support their writing, second graders are looking at mentor nonfiction texts and trying out writing strategies that published authors use! In fundations, students are beginning to learn about the vowel-consonant-e syllable. This syllable type has the long vowel sound and can be found in words like invite, reptile, hopeful and confuse.
Third grade learners are also digging into nonfiction text. They are learning how to use text structure to gain meaning and determine the main idea and details within a text. They have also just begun their Fundations unit focusing on the ‘schwa’ sound, which is an unstressed vowel sound. Sometimes we also call it a lazy vowel. The schwa sound can be found in words like balloon, problem, family and Alaska. Students are also working on using their Fundations Notebooks as a resource to refer to as they tackle writing assignments and Fundations Assessments. This tool provides guidance on syllable types, spelling rules, vocabulary words, and trick words
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, strep throat, pink eye and fevers as well as covid cases. 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 and remember the 24 hour rule:
- Fever (greater than 100 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.
Please also make sure to have a spare change of seasonally appropriate clothing for your child to keep in their cubbies!!
Remember to notify the nurse's office if your child has been diagnosed with any illness (or injury). The nurse tracks illnesses and will send a note home to the class if there are 2 or more cases in the classroom. If your child has an injury that has activity restrictions, please share with the nurse's office so we are aware and can notify appropriate staff members. We want to keep our students healthy and safe and your cooperation is needed to do so. We appreciate your assistance.
Kindly,
The Health Office Team,
Nurse Katie and Miss Michelle
Please contact your child’s pediatrician first. If unable to be seen, here is a list of
local walk in/urgent care locations if unable to be seen by pediatrician:
CVS Minute Clinic, East Hampton 866-389-2727
ProHealth Extended Hours, Glastonbury 657-5940
Middlesex Health Urgent Care, Middletown 860-358-4170
Colchester Urgent Care 860-531-9749
School Base Health Center
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/.
Memorial Elementary School Contact Information
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
