Central Primary School
May Newsletter
A Note from the Office...
Important May/June Dates to Remember:
End of the Year ABC Celebration: Monday, May 3rd-Tuesday, June 8th
Teacher Appreciation Week: Monday, May 3rd-Friday, May 7th
School Nurse's Day: Wednesday, May 12th
Scholastic Book Fair: Monday, May 17th- Friday, May 28th
Memorial Day, No School : Monday, May 31st
Last Day of School, 1/2 day attendance for students: Tuesday, June 8th
Notes from the Nurses- Mrs. Carrie Bright, CPS Nurse & Mrs. Kim Martin, CIS Nurse
Dental Forms Due May 15th:
If you have a student in Kindergarten, 2nd grade, 6th grade, or are new to the district this school year, the State of Illinois requires a current dental exam on file. Dental forms must be dated between November 15, 2019 to May 15, 2021. If Central 51 is in need of a dental form for your student, an email was sent to you on March 12th.
Medical Requirements for the 2021-2022 School Year:
Kindergarten
Due October 15, 2021.
Must have been completed within 1 year of the first day of school
Vaccination Record:
Kindergarten shots include: 4 Dtap, 4 Polio, 2 MMR, and 2 Varicella (chicken pox), NEW 3 hepatitis B
Medical exemptions require a note from your child’s doctor.
Religious exemptions from any immunizations require completion of the Religious Exemption form. MUST be signed by parents and physician.
Eye Exam: A completed form or waiver (for those that qualify) must be submitted by October 15, 2021.
Dental Exam: A completed form or waiver (for those that qualify) must be submitted by May 15, 2022
2nd Grade
Dental Exam: A completed form or waiver (for those that qualify) must be submitted by May 15, 2022
6th Grade
Due October 15, 2021.
Must have been completed within 1 year of the first day of school.
Sports physicals cannot be counted as a School Physical. However, School Physicals can be used as a sports physical.
Required Vaccines
Tdap vaccine
Meningococcal vaccine
Medical exemptions require a note from your child’s doctor.
Religious exemptions from any immunizations require completion of the Religious Exemption form. MUST be signed by parents and physician.
Dental Exam: A completed form or waiver (for those that qualify) must be submitted by May 15, 2022
Action Plans for Medical Conditions: Must be signed by doctor and parent
New action plans are required every school year for the following conditions:
Asthma
Seizures
Families must provide all required medication. Please check expiration dates.
Medication Authorization Forms: Must be signed by doctor and parent
Completed forms are required for ALL medications- prescription and over-the-counter.
Families must provide medication in original container, labeled with student’s name.
COVID-19:
Please send your student to school with a facemask EVERYDAY! Students should have a facemask on BEFORE getting on the bus or getting out of the vehicle.
If your student has ANY COVID-like symptoms (listed below), DO NOT SEND SICK STUDENT OR SIBLINGS TO SCHOOL! Sending a symptomatic student to school puts other students and staff at risk of getting sick and being placed on quarantine.
Sore Throat Fatigue/Tired - from unknown cause
Headache-moderate to severe Fever 100.4 or greater
Cough Muscle/body aches
Diarrhea Shortness of breath
Vomiting New loss of taste or smell
Keep all students home if someone in the household has a pending COVID test. :
If your healthcare provider sends a negative RAPID test out for further testing (PCR), that is considered a pending test and all students must stay home until results are received. Email test results to a Central Nurse in order to receive a return-to-school date for your student(s).
What do I do if my student is sick?
Keep sick student AND all siblings home!
Report students absent via the attendance hotline:
CPS attendance hotline at 444-3580 option 8
CIS attendance hotline at 444-3943 option 3
Contact your students’ teachers for remote learning instructions
Follow Central 51 COVID-19 Guidelines (click for link) to be able to return to school:
Doctor’s note- email to school nurse OR
Negative COVID test- email to school nurse OR
10 day isolation with remote learning
When can my student return to school?
Sick student may return to school once:
The school nurse has received a doctor’s note or negative COVID test for the SICK student OR
Has complete a 10 day isolation and remains symptom-free AND
All symptoms are improved AND
Has been 24 hours free of fever, vomiting, and diarrhea
Asymptomatic siblings may return to school once:
The school nurse has received a doctor’s note or negative COVID test for the SICK student OR
Has completed a 10 day isolation AND
Must remain symptom-free
PTO Update- Mrs. Stephanie Redlingshafer
While this has been a different year, the PTO has tried extremely hard to continue to support our staff as much as possible. Last month the Teacher Appreciation Committee surprised staff again with treats! The PTO volunteers filled 2 carts with all the donations from our wonderful parents and stopped at every classroom, kitchen, and office to let every staff member choose a treat! It is a lot of fun to see the pure joy an unexpected drink and a treat brings to our staff! May 3-7 is Teacher Appreciation Week! The PTO will be providing a meal one day for the staff, but you can also surprise your child’s teacher with little treats. The Teacher Favorite Lists can be found on the Central website under the PTO tab. There are still a few open positions in the PTO for next school year, so please check those out and email with any questions or interest to lilred2@comcast.net. The last regular PTO meeting of this school year is May 6 at 7 pm in the CIS library. We look forward to seeing you there!
Interventionist Corner- Mrs. Kris Mertens, Math Interventionist & Mrs. Breanna Guse, Reading Interventionist
It is so hard to believe that it is already May! This year has flown by! While we close in on the end of the school year, we still have a month of learning left! Please continue reading and doing math at home at night. Let’s finish strong!
Math Facts:
I’m not good at Math! How do we overcome this statement?
Sometimes when we hear this statement we tend to reply “I wasn’t good at math either.”
Instead of making this statement to your child, reframe the question and ask them what they are good at. I guarantee what they tell you they are good at, you can connect some kind of math skills to their favorite activity. Also remind them that with anything they are good at it usually took some time and practice.
Work on ways to make math fun at home and connect to the things your kids enjoy, like cooking and baking, sports, computer games or drawing.
Here are some ideas:
Keeping track of math statistics from sports on TV, from watching a sibling play, or just a game with friends.
Bake with your kids and talk about the measurements, fractions, if we double a recipe how much do we need, how many ingredients we need for the recipe.
Keep track of time on a computer game, tally scores, compare scores from 2 different games.
Play cards, write with chalk, play board games
Reading Tips
My kid hates reading! What do I do?
Not all kids love to read. For various reasons, some kids do not enjoy reading, whether that is because it is hard or because they would rather be playing video games. It is okay if reading isn’t your kid’s favorite activity. We all have things we like more than others. However, we know the importance of reading and how it affects all areas of learning. So what do you do for a kid who really doesn’t like to read? While I don’t have the magic answer, there are a few things that tend to help kids enjoy reading a little more.
Find a series that peaks their interest - Some kids really enjoy reading about the same characters or topics over and over. They like the suspense of one book ending and the next book picking up where it left off. There are some great series out there for all ages. If they are interested but the books are a little hard to read, just read it to them. That makes it a fun bonding time with you!
Go to the library and let them choose their books - Let them browse around and pick whatever books they are interested in. Again, if it is too hard for them to read on their own, still get it! You can read it to them.
Let your kid read books that are too easy - No one wants to struggle at something over and over again. Teachers are pushing your student to move them forward. Reading at home should be enjoyable! Easy reads are a great way to work on fluency!
Find a “buddy” - Instead of reading to you, let your student choose someone they really want to read to. Maybe it is over FaceTime with their grandparents, maybe it is an older sibling, maybe it is a favorite family friend!
Make it fun - Read with a flashlight in the dark, sit outside and read, use silly voices for characters
Make it short - If your kiddo doesn’t like reading, don’t force them to sit for long periods of time and read. Let them read for a few minutes many times a day. We work on building reading stamina at school, it is okay to just read for little bits of time at home.
Counselor Corner- Miss Gail Massa
Miss Massa focused on different themes in each grade level this month based on student needs. In Kindergarten, Miss Massa focused on big versus small problems and the difference between tattling and reporting. We talked about real world examples and sorted them into “big problems” or “small problems”.
In 1st grade, the students listened to a read aloud of “Chrysanthemum” to learn about mean versus kind words. The students did an activity during the read aloud where they crumpled up a red heart when someone was using mean words and they tried to smooth out the heart when a character used kind words. We talked about how the students can smooth out their wrinkled paper hearts, but the feelings from the mean words are the wrinkles that will always be there. They wrote a kindness message on the wrinkled heart as a reminder to be kind to each other.
In 2nd grade, we learned the T.H.I.N.K acronym. This acronym helps students remember five questions they should ask themselves before saying something out loud. We talked about why it is important to think before they speak and how their words can have a lasting effect on others if they do not think about what they say. Ask your students what each of these letters stand for, I bet they can tell you! :)
In 3rd grade, we learned about growth mindset. The students listened to a story called “The Dot”. In this story, a student named Vashti had a fixed mindset and kept telling herself she “can’t” draw. With the help of her teacher, she was able to flip her mindset to have a growth mindset where she was no longer afraid to try new things. The students then did an activity to practice growth mindset. They made one mark on a piece of paper and then had to pass it to a neighbor, who then turned their mark into a beautiful masterpiece! These drawings are now a part of a bulletin board being displayed outside Miss Massa’s classroom!
Miss Massa is excited to celebrate the end of her first year as a School Counselor with the students at CPS! Although it has been a non-traditional year, there have been many great memories made and she is excited to see what next year will bring!
Art Corner- Miss Lacey Gleason
Hello from the Art room,
The kindergarten and first grade digital art show is now available online!
Click on this link and follow the directions below to access your child’s class:
First hover your mouse in the bottom left corner. Click on the number 1 and choose your child's class by teacher. If you want to watch all of the classes, you can click on the three dots (also found in the left corner), click auto-play, and then play to show all 13 K-1 shows!
Our second and third grade classes are in the process of putting together their art show and it will be available after May 21st!
Kindergarten has been creating silly shape and texture robots. We are working on adding extra details and coloring more solid. In the next few weeks we will continue to draw with shape and start taking a look at what an Illustrator does incorporating literature in our lessons.
Our first graders are getting ready to start an artist study on Henri Matisse! We will be looking at a painting called Goldfish. Our ice cream drawings are finished and look absolutely amazing! They are currently decorating our hallways and making everyone hungry!
Second and third grade finished their colorful Keith Haring drawings and they are also lining the halls. This means they are both ready for new projects. Second grade is working on a fun underground ant project. They are drawing the underground tunnels of ants and what treasures you might find underground.
In third grade we are getting ready to start an artist study on Wassily Kandinsky. We will be taking a look at some of his abstract work such as Composition VIII and creating one of our own.
A Little Note from Music- Mrs. Kathryn Cunningham
Here is what we have been up to in the music room.
Kindergarten has focused on learning about the different instrument families, and what makes each family unique. We have discussed how the instruments are played and how each instrument has a unique sound.
First grade has continued to learn how to read music on the staff. This month they have focused on reading rhythms with the melodies. They are making great progress!
Second grade has been learning about note duration and writing rhythms. This month we will focus on the instruments of the orchestra.
Third grade finished a unit on dynamics. They listened to Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and charted the dynamic changes in the opening theme. This month we will focus on the Blues genre.
All the students have started working on music for a Virtual Spring Concert. Be on the lookout for information about our concert in the coming weeks.
PE- Mr. Chris Dalberg
I thought for this month's newsletter I’d like to share some important benefits of Physical Education class according to the American Heart Association:
“Helps to reduce the risk of heart disease”
“Improve sleeping patterns”
“Helps students focus better in class, leading to better academic performance.”
“Teaches lifelong healthy habits”
All of the activities we do in P.E. class are geared to help students reach these goals. We are always working to help students improve their strength, flexibility and cardiovascular endurance.
Contact Us
Email: ejohnson@central51.net
Website: central51.net
Location: 1400 Newcastle Road, Washington, IL, USA
Phone: 309-444-3580