Cheetah Pride Press

Joey & Andrea

Families,

What a week we’ve had!! The last several days were jam packed with special events. On Tuesday, we celebrated the 100th day of school with a variety of fun, educational activities. And on Wednesday, we recognized World Read Aloud Day school-wide, as well as Global School Play Day in Kindergarten. Most importantly, Wednesday was also School Counselor Appreciation Day, and we took a moment to honor our amazing counseling team.

Please remember that next week is a four day week. School will be closed on Friday so that staff may engage in a full day of professional learning. Following that, we’ll be off for the February Recess and will return to school on Wednesday, February 21st.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Joey and Andrea

Smart Start Preschoolers have launched Memorial’s Cheetah Pride Post Office. Throughout the month, this school-wide postal service will be open for business for all students and staff. Students will be encouraged to write letters to anyone in our school community and put them in the Cheetah Pride mail. Our Smart Start postal workers will collect, sort and deliver the letters all over the building each day. In addition to spreading acts of kindness, students will be encouraged to practice their penmanship, and their letter writing skills.

On Tuesday, February 6th Memorial School celebrated the 100th day of school. Students dressed as 100 year old people, created shirts with 100 items on them, completed 100 day activities, and took pictures at our 100th day photo booth! We celebrated all the hard work and learning we have done the over the past 100 days of school.

World Read Aloud Day is celebrated on the first Wednesday in February and took place on February 7 this year. WRAD is a special day celebrated around the world that is dedicated to the art and practice of reading aloud.

PreK students shared all that they’ve learned after researching Arctic animals!

On Wednesday, February 7th, we celebrated School Counselor Appreciation Day. Memorial’s counseling team, including: Lauren Kasperowski (school social worker), Taylor Adams and Heather Zilora (school psychologists), Cate Boomer (school psych intern), and Kristie Fresco-Hawes (district school psychologist) all go above and beyond for our students and families. We are lucky to have them supporting our school community every day. Thank you to our counseling team for their commitment to Memorial School!

*=Not Pictured

Memorial Models are chosen weekly by their teacher. These students have excelled all week in taking care of themselves, others, and things. The recipients will dine at a VIP table during lunch every Friday!

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.

His teacher is Mr. McCarthy. He is special because he does lots of sports.

His favorite thing is soccer. He wanted to be on cheetah council to help.

He loves school because he has come here his whole life.

Hello Memorial Families! Please find your student’s grade level below to see learning expectations for the past month in music.

Classroom Expectations:

Preschool: Students learned to be an echo while singing the silly song “Down By the Bay”. They even tried making up their own verses with rhyming words! We also had fun pretending to build a house while singing “Bling Blang”.

Kindergarten: This month, our musical comparison words were high and low. These words are often confused with loud and soft, so we do many activities to reinforce the concept. Students met our two puppet friends, Blue Dog (with a low voice) and Kitty (with a high voice) and were expected to find high and low sounds in various poems, songs, and stories. Favorites included “Mr. Wiggle and Mr. Waggle”, “Grandma’s Glasses”, “See Saw”, and “Goldilocks”. We had fun imitating the characters’ high and low voices!

First Grade: Students continued to practice quarter note and eighth note rhythms this month. They were expected to recognize and read various ta and ti-ti patterns, as well as create their own ta and ti-ti song! Now, they are working on identifying a new “mystery rhythm”, which makes no sound at all!

Second Grade: This month, students reviewed the word ostinato (a pattern that repeats), including watching a silly music video about the word! Next week, they will be expected to use teamwork to complete a composing project, creating an ostinato to “remix” a music class song. They finished by performing their song and ostinato pattern for the class! Creative performances involved a tool on our chromebooks called “Chrome Music Lab”. The other focus this month was on reading and writing rhythm patterns containing the half note. They especially enjoyed playing rhythm football!

Third Grade: Third graders spent the past month working hard to earn “belts” in recorder karate! Many students are now taking the initiative to learn songs and notes on their own. We have also continued to practice identifying notes on the treble clef staff. Students are expected to earn at least their “green belt” by the end of the school year. Starting with level 3, “orange belt”, students will be able to send in videos from home if they would rather do their recorder test that way. For more information, visit the recorder resources page on my music room website.

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

Month Of February is African/American History Month

2/7- Global Play Day: Kindergarten

2/7- World Read Aloud Day

2/7- School Counselor Appreication Day

2/14- Kindness Day (See Below)

2/14 Kindergarten Registration Begins

2/15- Brain Show( See Below)

2/16-Professional Learning Day = No School For Students

2/19-2/120- President's Break No School

2/26-3/2- Read Across America Week- Spirit Days

East Hampton’s Memorial School PRE-K is looking for trucks or vehicles that you are willing to bring to TOUCH-a-TRUCK on Saturday March 16th from 10am-1pm at Memorial School.

If you are interested, 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 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