Cheetah Pride Press

When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another. – Helen Keller

I would first like to thank the board and Paul for the opportunity to lead this fine community of learners. Thank you to my colleague and friend Brandy for being on this amazing leadership journey with me. Thanks to the entire Memorial Team for your efforts, for how you worked alongside me, how you challenged and supported me and for always doing what’s best for our students. Thanks to the parents for trusting us and collaborating to provide your children with the best possible elementary school experience.

Leadership is the skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being the common good. Leadership is the person you are and the impact you have upon the people you come in contact with.

As I prepare to transition to my new role, I ask myself, "Did you leave things better than you found them?" First, Memorial was a great school before I joined the team, but in reflecting on my efforts to continuously improve, I can confidently say I am not where I want to be, but I am better than I used to be.

I aimed to be a transformative leader because to me watching people change and grow is a beautiful and inspiring thing. I strive to assist others towards becoming the best they are capable of becoming. This is a messy process, but there is magic in the mess. I appreciate my team for joining me as we relentlessly chased perfection knowing all the while we wouldn’t catch it, but in the process we reached excellence!

I would like to leave my team with this statement from a book I read recently called Servant Leadership. "Great organizations are a group of all leaders, where everyone is taking personal responsibility for the success of the team and their individual influence on the community and one another. A group of all leaders with different responsibilities."

I have no doubt Team Memorial will continue to lead like champions.

Thank you!

Andy

It is an honor to celebrate Judy Foberg as a truly special special education teacher on behalf of the East Hampton community with heartfelt gratitude for the countless ways that she has touched lives, spread kindness, removed barriers, inspired learning, and opened doors.

Judy, thank you for being an invaluable resource to every member of your learner’ teams and ensuring that the child always remains at the heart of our collaborative efforts. Thank you for sharing your talents while listening to/ communicating, connecting and partnering with/ providing and advocating for/ modeling, teaching, including, and celebrating Memorial’s learners both young and old. Thank you for emphatically and compassionately caring for children and families/ and their challenges while always championing the strengths and gifts within every individual child.

While kindergartners are mastering their ABCs, Judy has spent her career deep in the challenging work of special education’s alphabet of PPTs, IEPs, ABAs, DTTs, LREs, ESYs, SSCs, FBAs, BIPs, PECs, while tirelessly collaborating with families and colleagues to design, implement, and progress monitor instruction that expects progress, fosters independence, and provides experiences.

It has been both fun and very rewarding observing Judy provide experiences! Imagine Judy supporting the functional life skills of many preschoolers independently bundling up in full-body snow gear (left and right boots, fingers in gloves, snaps snapped, zippers zipped, hats on) and heading to the front field to play in the freshly fallen snow. Then imagine that Judy is also in her gear and demonstrating the exquisite art of snow angels. Or Judy regularly wearing her white lab coat and stethoscope to reduce anxiety about approaching doctor’s appointments. Or Judy playing with her toy hair trimmer to desensitize a learner for a visit to the barber. Or Judy dining with her lunch bunch as she supports social interactions, table manners and encourages food exploration with new tastes and textures. Once a need becomes known, Judy is relentless in generously providing the tools and experiences in support of learners and their families. This has often meant making generous purchases and special deliveries 24/7 to homes throughout the community.

For 17 years, Judy has dedicated her professional life to Memorial’s most vulnerable students and their families and she has been an invaluable resource to everyone she has teamed with. With the close of this school year, we imagine that Judy’s love of quiet early mornings will continue but come fall she will no longer be the first car in the lot. Instead we expect to see her leisurely out and about town as she stops in for a coffee at Dunkin with her granddog Landon riding shotgun, reads on the beach, toasts marshmallows around a family campfire, supports local businesses, and crafts memory books celebrating her experiences and loved ones.

Congratulations Judy! Know that you are loved and wished peaceful days and joyful moments as you step through an exciting new door into retirement.

With pride,

Andy & Brandy

My life's journey has provided me with incredible opportunities and experiences. I have felt the mist of Niagara Falls, stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon, pet an endangered white rhino in Meru National Park, put my toes in the Indian, Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. I have stood on the Parthenon and listened for the whispers of the gods, and in the colosseum imagining the roar of ancient gladiators. I have looked out at Paris from high up the Eiffel tower and gazed at the original Mona Lisa. I have looked on with awe as engineers in Los Angeles make final preparations to rocket the James Webb Telescope into outer space. I have trusted the stranger on my back while somersaulting out of a tiny airplane over San Diego.

While all of these experiences were truly amazing, what I remember most about each of them is the people who I was with at the time. I can truly, proudly say that being a lead learner at Memorial School and in East Hampton are high in the list of incredible opportunities and experiences that I have been fortunate to have had. I treasure these relationships and connections with colleagues and students and their families and want you to know that you are all woven into the fabric of my life and will go everywhere with me as I boldly step into my future. And know that my Cheetah spots will be with me everywhere I go.

With gratitude,

Brandy

Ask your learner about the recent presentation about summer reading at their school. Their school librarian and the East Hampton Public Library spoke to them about exciting books and fun activities offered in the community this summer. They were encouraged to read books on topics that interest them, visit the public library and participate in a reading program. Not to mention, enjoy a fun reading celebration with their new teachers and classmates in the fall!

Dear Memorial Families,

As we near the end of the school year, we want to make you aware of the various opportunities the district will be offering over the summer months in order to support your learner’s continued engagement with mathematics. We recognize there are many summer activities for students to support your student’s needs. With participation in any of the activities, your child will be able to maintain their math skills over the summer months. Your support in this initiative is greatly appreciated.

East Hampton’s Grade-Level Summer Math Packets

Commissioner’s Summer Math Challenge

Reflex Math (Fact Fluency for students currently in grades 2 & 3)

Details about the opportunities and how your learner can participate can be found by clicking the various links above.

All Memorial students will be receiving a hard copy of the district’s Summer Math Packet next week. We will communicate a due date for completed summer activities in the fall – and plan for a fun celebration! Please reach out to Andrea Winiarski, district K-5 Math Coordinator, with any questions.

We hope you have “sum” fun with math over the summer!

Open to all students entering Memorial Elementary School
Good luck and have a great summer vacation!

Submit Participation with the Following Details:
-Student’s Name.
-Student’s Grade in the 2021-2022 School Year.
-Log/Journal Entry or Fitness Calendar Box requirements: a) 30 min. of continuous activity; b) 30 or more entries or boxes checked needed to meet the Summer Fitness Challenge.
-Paper Logs or Fitness Calendars need to be turned in/submitted to Coach Ruel and/or Coach Boscarino when you get back to school in the fall.
-Number of Entries (you can use a log/journal/piece of paper, or something you make up your own) or Number of Boxes Completed (if you are making a "calendar" type of recording grid on a piece of paper).
-Parent/Guardian Signature.

Meet the challenge and receive a freeze pop and a reward at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year!

Rewards

• Extra PE Class with Coach Ruel and Coach Boscarino
• Visit to the PE Prize Box

Summer Fitness Activity Ideas and Examples (but certainly not limited to these!)

• Water Sports: swimming, kayaking, canoeing, row boating, paddle boarding, water skiing, knee boarding, windsurfing, surfing, boogie boarding, collecting shells or rocks at the beach, etc.

• Land “Individual” and Group Sports/Activities: running/jogging, walking, hiking, camping out, biking, pogo sticking, trampolining, skateboarding, scootering, roller blading and roller skating, karate, yoga, weight training, home gyms, rock climbing, housework or yard work, dancing, rope jumping, hula hooping, exercising (ex.; push ups, sit ups, pull ups, planks, stretches, etc.), etc.

• Land “Team” and Group Sports/Activities: basketball, frisbee, lacrosse, wiffleball, baseball and softball, soccer, football, gymnastics, track and field, tennis, golf, badminton, volleyball, etc.

Attention parents!

Stop by our Summer Grab and Go meal service this Monday, June 21st for THE TOTALLY TERRIFIC TOMATO PLANT GIVEAWAY.

Our first graders grew patio tomato plants from seeds and now we want to give these plants to all our families picking up summer meals so your children can grow their own delicious tomatoes at home!

We’ll also supply a replanting pot, potting soil, instructions, and some delicious tomato recipes.

Thanks so much to Paul’s and Sandy’s and Ballek’s Nursery for donating all the supplies!

Plants and meals will be available at our Grab and Go service in the East Hampton High School parking lot from Noon to 1:00 PM on Monday – see you there!

Thank you to our Director of Nutrition and Food Services, Jen Bove and our Cafeteria Staff.

Paul K. Smith, Superintendent

We will be offering breakfasts and lunches at no charge again this summer at the High School to all children 18 and under. We will be offering 4 Grab and Go Breakfasts and Lunches on Thursdays from noon to 1pm and 3 breakfasts and lunches on Mondays from noon to 1pm.

To see each week's menus please visit our Summer Meals & Menus page.

It's Time to Order Your 2021 Memorial Yearbook

The PTO is excited to announce that Yearbook Ordering is now open. All ordering must be completed online with the following link

http://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A09821394 .

Deadline to order is June 20, 2021 and yearbooks will arrive later in the summer. Stay tuned for PTO updates with delivery/pickup details.

June 20--Celebrating the Special Men in Our Lives

June 20--Deadline to Order Memorial Yearbook

June 21--Tomato Plant Giveaway

August 2--2021-2022 K-5 Teacher Assignments Mailed

August 23--Kindergarten Meet & Greet Bus Ride

August 23--Prekindergarten Open House

August 25--Welcome Event at Center School for New 4th Graders

August 26--Self-Guided Memorial Sneak Peek Open House

August 30--1st Day of School

September 3-6--No School for extended Labor Day Weekend

1st Graders partnered up with Kindergartners to give them the Scoop on First Grade!

Team Kindergarten Hosted A Drive Through Ice Cream Social

Team Memorial kicked off summer with its "The Wave" tradition!

A Message from the Department of Children and Families

We are asking for your help spreading the word about the state’s new “Talk It Out Line”, which is a Department of Children and Families’ initiative created to provide support and services to help parents and caretakers with the stress and increased needs resulting from caring for their children during the COVID-19 crisis. Parents and caregivers are invited to call 833-258-5011 and/or visit www.talkitoutct.com to speak with trained professionals (in both English and Spanish) who will listen and discuss their concerns and, if additional help is needed, refer them to responsive services. The "Talk It Out Line" is available Monday-Friday from 8am to 8pm; and on weekends from 1 pm to 8 pm.

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.

The school community of East Hampton is committed to the mission of honoring and celebrating the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. We strive to guide our students to conscious, deliberate, individual and collective actions that cultivate the respect of all races, religions, and social backgrounds. Our school community endeavors to produce graduates who are equipped with a greater understanding of the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Home of 570 PK-3 Proud Young Cheetahs and Future Bellringers!

Email: memorialoffice@easthamptonct.org
Website: http://www.easthamptonps.org/o/memorial-school
Location: 20 Smith Street, East Hampton, CT 06424
Phone: 860-365-4020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ehmemorialschool/