Cheetah Pride Press

Families,

Happy New Year! Andrea and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and have returned to your routines feeling healthy and refreshed. This month, the Profile Of A Graduate skill that we’ll be focused on is WONDER. Throughout the month, we will be discussing what it means to wonder, and exploring how it contributes to our sense of awe about the world around us. Students will grow to understand how wondering motivates us to learn more about topics of interest.

Please take a moment to review the Safety Reminders below. We appreciate your ongoing partnership in keeping our school community safe.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Joey & Andrea

Families, please remember that the protocols in place at Memorial School are there to ensure the safety of our students. Please review the following reminders regarding food celebrations at school, and parent pick-up.

Food Celebrations:

Per the 2023-24 Memorial School Family Guidebook:

• Food Allergies: Highly allergic reactions must be considered in many of our classrooms. In the interest of providing a safe and healthy environment for all our children, we encourage non-food items for celebrations. Classroom teachers will communicate specific room restrictions in order to ensure safety.
• Birthday Celebrations: Food celebrations are discouraged due to allergies and the personal/religious choices of many families. If you would like to recognize your child’s birthday during the school day, please consider sending in a non-food item.

If you wish to celebrate an event with food, you must notify the teacher and seek approval from our school nurse, Katie Williams, 48 hours in advance of the event.

Parent Pick-Up:

Please remember the following:

• Anyone wishing to pick up their student from school, must wait in the parent pick-up line. Our staff can not accommodate, nor keep track of, families who are waiting in surrounding areas.
• Always arrive with a photo ID. Occasionally, staff members who are normally assigned to parent pick-up are absent or occupied elsewhere in the building, and other staff members are asked to assume the responsibility. If the staff member on duty does not know you, or hasn’t yet confirmed you as an approved person to pick up your student, they WILL ask for ID. For this reason, it is best to have it with you at all times.

Memorial recognized World Braille Day on January 4th by wearing bright colored clothing, which is more easily seen by people with visual impairments. Students learned how to use a Braille machine and climb blindfolded in order to experience what life is like for people with visual impairments.

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.

​

Meet Nicholas!

His teacher is Mrs. Hennessy.

He is special because he plays a lot of sports.

Soccer is one of his favorite things.

He wanted to be on student council because he thought it would be fun.

He likes school because there are events to do.

Hi Cheetah families!

January is off to a great start in the Memorial School Library!

See below for grade level classroom expectations.

• PreK students are enjoying a variety of read alouds and songs with the winter theme.

• Kindergarten is continuing observing the difference between fiction and non-fiction and discussing animal facts (caribou in December/squirrels in January). Later in the month we will move into discussing the Caldecott Award and reading some of the past winners in advance of this month’s announcement of the 2024 winner.

• First grade has begun discussing call numbers and how the library is organized. We have learned what the Dewey system is and are practicing sorting books by their call number category. Later in the month we will move into discussing the Caldecott Award and reading some of the past winners in advance of this month’s announcement of the 2024 winner.

• Second grade is starting their coding unit; they have been using a program called Code Monkey. Each student will have their own account which can be used at home if they wish. Our goal is to practice at least an hour of coding in January, which will be broken up over a few class periods.

• Third graders are finishing practicing some technical skills in Google Slides by creating a winter stop motion animation. They have had a lot of fun and are very excited to share their animations with their peers. Later in the month we will be returning to using Code Monkey and gaining some in depth knowledge so that we can talk about how to write code.

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.

Mrs. Flannery and Mrs. Hill

3rd grade example slide

Each year the East Hampton Public Schools administers the i-Ready Diagnostic in Reading and Math in the fall, winter, and spring for grades 1-3 to monitor student growth and performance. The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your child’s needs. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning. These results are reviewed as one data point amongst other assessments, observations and data regarding student performance. The assessment is integrated into your child’s day as part of their academic learning and is paced to ensure that they work on the assessment in small chunks of time. The implementation of this assessment is completed in accordance with Connecticut State Department of Education guidelines. Our mid-year I-Ready assessments will begin on January 9th.

The i-Ready Diagnostic will provide results that help our team identify your child’s strengths and determine next steps for instruction. All students in grades 1-5 will have access to i-Ready Instruction upon completion of the Diagnostic. i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual strengths and areas for growth. These lessons are interactive and provide strategic supports to keep your child engaged as they learn.

What can I do to help?

To help prepare your child for the i-Ready Diagnostic, encourage them to:

• Get a good night’s sleep and eat a full breakfast the day of the assessment.
• Try their best on each question and try not to rush.
• Try not to worry about questions they do not know—remind them that it is expected they will only get about half of the questions correct.
• Be respectful of other students who take longer to finish.

Welcome back and happy 2024! We are so excited our Memorial mathematicians are back and ready to learn. As we prepare for our winter assessment window, this time of year provides a great opportunity for you to work with your mathematician on developing their growth mindset as they prepare to develop new learning throughout the second half of the school year. At Memorial, we believe in the power of setting goals, celebrating growth and being reflective in our learning. Our K-5 math program, Bridges in Mathematics, helps develop young mathematicians to ask thought-provoking questions, collaborate and participate in discourse with their peers, self-reflect in order to set individualized learning goals and believe in themselves as learners. Bridges offers many resources on developing this lifelong skill within your learner. Check out this great resource to find out more.

***Adapted from Math Learning Center

Happy New Year! Did you resolve to be more on top of your and your child’s health this year? Here’s an easy solution: Sign your child up for School-Based Health Care. Your child’s school works with Community Health Center, Inc.’s School-Based Health Care program to provide health services to your child during the school day. This means they won’t miss as much class and you don’t need to miss work to support their health care needs. Learn more about the services offered at your child’s school and enroll today at SBHC1.com!

1/8- BOE Meeting 6:30pm

1/15- MLK Jr. Day No School

1/22- Magical Monday

1/22- PTO 5:30pm at Memorial

1/22- BOE Meeting 6:30pm

1/26- Cheetah Pride Assembly- Wear Your Cheetah Gear

In celebration of the 100th day of school in early February, grade one students will be collecting the following items for the local food bank. We are hoping to collect 100 items of each! (Please do not send in canned vegetables as the food bank has an abundance of this items and limited storage space).

• Tuna
• Baked beans
• Oatmeal
• Coffee & Tea
• Peanut butter & Jelly
• Pasta & Pasta sauce
• Instance rice & Instant potatoes
• Mac and Cheese
• Soup & Canned meals (ex: Chef-boyardee)
• Snacks

We realize our goal is lofty, but the need in our community is great. If you are able to make a donation, please send it in BEFORE February 1st. Thank you for supporting our loving community here in East Hampton!

Grade One Teachers

Dear Families of Memorial Elementary Students,

This is an important update! We are asking for your assistance in helping keep our school healthy and safe. We have been experiencing a surge in stomach bug, coughing, strep throat, pink eye and fevers as well as several covid cases. If your child tests positive for covid or any illness, please inform the nurse office asap as we track all illnesses. Positive covid cases should stay home for 5 days and can return on day 6 as long as it has been 24 hour fever free without medication. It is also encouraged to wear a mask for days 6-10 while at school.

We have also recently had several food items brought in to share in classrooms. Please be aware that non food treats are encouraged. If food items are brought into school for sharing, it needs to be store bought, prepackaged and made in a nut free facility and the school nurse must be notified at least 24 hours in advance.

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

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!

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