Cheetah Pride Press!

Dear Families,

We hope you were able to enjoy yesterday’s snow day! Waking up to a fresh snowfall is always a treat for our students. Over the past two weeks, we have been engaged in mid-year assessments; and we’re so impressed with our young learners’ stamina and perseverance. They have already grown so much this year! Monday will be the 90th day of school, which is the official half-way mark. The 90th day is always a little bittersweet. On the one hand, it’s hard to believe that we’re already halfway through the year. It seems to be moving so quickly! But on the other hand, we still have another 90 days to watch our amazing cheetahs continue to blossom and thrive! Thank you for sharing your students with us every day! Each one of them keep us smiling.

Classroom Tidbits:

Preschool- learners worked on reviewing numbers 1-10.

Kindergarten- mathematicians reviewed and reinforced their addition skills and concepts before beginning the introduction to subtraction.

Grade 1-students reviewed addition and subtraction relationships.

Grade 2- mathematicians continued to work on different strategies to subtract two-digit numbers with regrouping.

Grade 3- Students worked on relating multiplication and division by using bar models, arrays and equal groups.

Joey & Andrea

Memorial Models are chosen weekly by their teacher and have excelled all week in taking care of themselves, others, and things.

This month we are working on our Profile of Graduate Principle, Confidence.

During morning announcements we are educating students that confidence is feeling sure about yourself and your abilities! Staff will assist students in building confidence through their daily learning, self reflection, and risk taking.

Linked is a great book, Be You. This book was read by a mystery reader in second grade this week. The book inspires students to "Be" themselves and to "Be" confident in who they are!

Lets work together to help our children, "believe in themselves!"

Hello Memorial Families! I am so happy to hear all of our students’ singing voices in the music room once again. During the month of December, students experienced some very special winter music activities! Find your student’s grade level below to check them out.

Preschool: Students enjoyed exploring with jingle bells. We discovered that different sets of bells made louder or softer sounds, depending on the size and number of bells! We enjoyed playing jingle bell freeze dance, singing a song about a jingle mouse and a jingle dinosaur, and of course singing “Jingle Bells” while shaking bell sets!

Kindergarten: Students spent this month reinforcing skills they had learned so far such as steady beat, making a perfect match when singing, and describing or performing music that was fast, slow, loud, or soft. Some classes took turns being soldiers and dancers as they moved to “March” from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite”.

First Grade: Students learned about a new rhythm this month, called the quarter rest! When they see it, they know that there will be one beat of silence in the music! By playing a game called Post Office, students practiced recognizing the correct quarter rest rhythm pattern. Some first graders had fun moving to the song “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson, taking turns being the horse that pulls classmates in an imaginary sleigh! Other classes took turns being soldiers and dancers as they moved to “March” from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite”.

Second Grade: This month, students continued to practice their new rhythm (the half note) by reading, writing, and improvising. They played a game called “Rhythm Conversation”, where they tried to carry on a conversation with classmates by speaking in rhythms instead of with words! For some winter fun, many classes used teamwork to play colorful tuned tubes called Boomwhackers while following a play-along video to play winter songs! We also played Freeze Dance using jingle bells!

Third Grade: Third graders explored music from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” this month. They found repeating themes in the overture and some classes used teamwork to play songs using boomwhackers. They have also been focused on reading notes on the treble clef staff, in order to prepare for our upcoming recorder unit! Classes are also in the midst of a unit where they learn all about our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

Please check out the music room website for more information about the music program. Feel free to reach out at any time by emailing smaldonado@easthamptonct.org.

Mrs. Maldonado

Art Room Expectations

Prek and Kindergarten:

Pre school students have been learning about PENGUINS in their classrooms, so we are making connections in attending! We are learning about EMPEROR penguin and creating cut paper Collages. We also painted beautiful backgrounds to make the Northern/Southern lights.

Then we began painting snow storms, and using straws, beads, and cotton balls to STAMP snow flakes. We have been talking, and will be reading about winter. The book, "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats tells about a child's journey through a snow day. A perfect story to inspire a wintery painting.

Clay snowmen will be our last art project for this month. We will be learning how to shape and form clay, construct a snowperson, and then finally glaze and add details to complete them. Using clay at this age is a wonderful gross and fine motor activity, and builds tactile awareness!

1st Grade:

Classroom Family Quilts! We spent the month of January exploring the word "Family". We created a brainstorm web and shared ideas of who could be a part of a family. We discussed how all families are unique and made up of different people. We even thought about different groups of families, such as what a school family, or friendship family would be like. Then we learned how to draw people/figures in a realistic way, and without stick figures or "spaghetti noodles"! We will be taking our weaving from December, and placing our "Family Portraits" onto them, and connecting all of them together to create a "Classroom Family Quilt". We will finish this unit by exploring how quilt making was a family activity and how special it is to build things together.

2nd grade:

Play performances and learning audience etiquette have been the focus of art in January! Our classroom expectations were for students to demonstrate a positive environment where they felt confident to perform and present in front of an audience. Through practice, creation, and performance of their own plays, students celebrated their enormous success, and culminating a huge amount of work and collaboration! I am SO proud of them! Some students masks will be sent home and others will be held for the art show, coming in March!

3rd grade:

During the month of January, students have begun a new art unit, using graphic design skills to draw the letters of their names. They will then be taking those letters to construct an Abstract Art Name Sculpture!!! These sculptures will be full of unique styles that reflect the children's interests and unique artistic voices. We made connections to the world of advertising and the world around us. We were able to recognize that designing unique and fancier letters make them standout and become more interesting and eye catching! We saw those types of letters on books, clothing, posters, and signs! We can't wait to build our sculptures!

SHOUT OUT TO FAMILIES!! Thank you so much for the donations of newspaper and cardboard! We were able to have enough newspaper so that every 2nd grader could construct a paper mache mask!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Vining:)

Grade one is collecting Valentines cards for senior citizens in our community this year! Students around the building are creating Valentines Day cards. This year their goal is to collect even more cards than last year so they can deliver to more towns!

The due date for Valentines Day cards to be submitted is February 11th

Do you have a vehicle or work for a company that has a cool truck or car?

Would you be willing to volunteer at Touch a Truck at Memorial school from 10am-1pm on March 27th?

If so please contact Stacey Gibson at sgibson@easthamptonct.org

We would love the support of the community for this event.

TOUCH-A-TRUCK will be for the whole community of East Hampton to have a hands-on interactive experience with a variety of vehicles parked in Memorial school’s parking lot.

Donations to attend support PreK experiences at Memorial school.

Dear parents/guardians,

Please send in a spare change of seasonal appropriate clothing to keep in your child's classroom. If your child prefers a particular type of mask please send in a spare, so it can be kept with their change of clothes, but know we have medical masks available for anyone that needs one.

COVID Information

As I am sure most of you are aware, the quarantine and isolation guidelines have changed once again. Please see the East Hampton updates below. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

Fever or chills

Cough

Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Fatigue

Muscle or body aches

Headache

New loss of taste or smell

Sore throat

Congestion or runny nose

Nausea or vomiting

Diarrhea

IF SYMPTOMS ARE PRESENT:

Those students and staff who are fully vaccinated or not vaccinated and have any symptoms should isolate at

home and get tested with a self-test or at a testing site.

• If test is negative, return to school when fever-free for a least 24 hours and symptoms have improved.
• If test is positive, isolate for 5 days after start of symptoms, and return to school on day 6 as long as fever-free for a least 24 hours and symptoms have improved. (5 days is indicated in the new CDC guidelines.)

NO SYMPTOMS PRESENT:

Those students and staff who are fully vaccinated or not vaccinated who are asymptomatic (NO symptoms)

and have positive test results should isolate at home.

• Isolate for 5 days after test results and return to school on day 6 as long there continue to be no symptoms.

CLOSE CONTACT outside of SCHOOL:

Those students and staff who are fully vaccinated and DO NOT have symptoms:

• Continue with in person learning.
• Recommended: Test for COVID-19 with a self-test or at a testing site 5 days after the exposure.

Those students and staff who are not vaccinated and DO NOT have symptoms:

• Quarantine at home from school and all activities for 5 days from the last exposure.
• Test for COVID-19 with a self-test or at a testing site.
• If the positive individual is a parent, the unvaccinated student must wait for their parent to complete their 5 day isolation before their 5 day quarantine begins. Testing on day 5 after last exposure to the positive individual.

Continued Reminders

*With the colder weather here, please make sure your child also has a coat, gloves and a hat labeled with their names. The nurse's office has very limited clothing to spare in case a change or spare is needed.

*We also ask that you bring a labeled water bottle for your child and they can fill it up throughout the day in the water filling stations as needed.

Please reach out with any questions or concerns!

Thank you,

Nurse Katie and Miss Michelle

School Nurse

Memorial Elementary School

20 Smith Street

East Hampton, CT 06424

Phone 860-365-4020 / Fax 860-365-4024

kwilliams@easthamptonct.org / https://www.easthamptonps.org/o/memorial-school

Winter may have just begun, but it is never to early to register for Little League!

East Hampton Little League will be moving to a new website as of January 1, 2022. You can follow the link below or find the link in the attached instructions. Although registration will not open until Jan 1st, we would love for you to create an account so that we can contact you via email with registration reminders and what not.

If you or somebody you know can't afford registration fees or equipment please reach out to me at ehllpres@gmail.com, we have resources to help. If a child is not playing baseball or softball this year it won't be because they couldn't afford it.

Happy Holidays from your friends at the EHLL!

https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/default.aspx?portalid=53644

1/17- Martin Luther King Day ( No School)

1/24-BOE Budget Presentation

2/2- Groundhog's Day, Global School Play Day, and World Read Aloud Day

2/7 -100th Day of School

2/18- Professional Development Day- No School

2/21- President's Day

2/22-District Holiday

• Please reference the most recent guidance document from Paul Smith.
• The Connecticut General Assembly gave the Governor authority to extend Executive Orders through February 15, 2022. Executive Order No. 9, Section 1, and Executive Order No. 13A, provides the authority to require masks in schools, childcare facilities, and certain higher-risk settings, as well as providing municipal authority to require universal masking in certain settings.
• If a student is quarantined, asynchronous assignments will be provided and communicated by your student's teacher.
• Volunteers and guest speakers are welcomed in the building. All volunteers and guest speakers who enter classrooms, hallways, or other areas where children are located will be required to be vaccinated or submit testing results upon entering the school.

The East Hampton Board of Education, in compliance with federal and state law, affirms its policy of equal educational opportunity for all students and equal employment opportunity for all persons. It is the policy of the District to promote nondiscrimination and an environment free of harassment regardless of an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability (including but not limited to, intellectual disability, past or present history of mental disorder, physical disability, or learning disability), genetic information, marital status, or age or because of the race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability, genetic information, marital status, or age of any persons with whom the individual associates. The District shall provide to all students without discrimination, course offerings, counseling, assistance, employment, athletics, and extracurricular activities. The District shall provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The District shall make reasonable accommodations for identified physical and mental impairments that constitute disabilities, consistent with federal and state statutes and regulations.

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