Jaguar Tracks
April 25th, 2022
Dear JE Families,
I hope you all enjoyed a restful vacation. It is hard to believe that April will be in our rearview shortly and May is fast approaching. As we wrap up our school year, we have lots of fun activities planned for our students--including a Fun Run, the Raffle, Variety Show and upcoming field trips. We are excited to celebrate all of our Jaguars for their hard work this year--and especially, our fifth grade students, who will be promoted in June.
As you scroll through this newsletter, you will find information on our upcoming book fair and opportunities to become involved in staff appreciation week.
Upcoming dates:
4/29 Ice Cream Social & Basket Raffle
May 3rd and 4th: 4th & 5th Grade Math MCAS
May 10th and 11th: 3rd Grade Math MCAS
Caitlin Shelburne
Kite & Bike Festival May 14th noon-4pm
Please join Reading METCO for a fun afternoon at the Franklin Park Zoo Playstead Field (Back Entrance). Free Pizza, Drinks & face painting. Bring your own blankets and chairs.
News from Reading Public LIbrary
The Reading Public Library offers Mango, an online language learning tool for all ages. Learners can set up an account for lessons, practice, and progress reports in over 70 world languages. Find out more about all the great things the Reading Public Library has for you at readingpl.org!
You can reserve free and discount passes to area museums and attractions using your Reading Public Library card! Plan your family's visit to the Boston Children's Museum, the New England Aquarium, or one of more than a dozen other great places! Find out more about all the great things the Reading Public Library has for you at readingpl.org!
From the Health Office:
Hello Families,
We ask that you continue to monitor your children for illness symptoms each day before school. If your child shows COVID symptoms, please keep them home and do a home test. If symptoms persist for more than a few days, please retest and follow up with your pediatrician.
Since the decline in COVID cases has allowed for optional masking and less distancing, we are seeing more cases of flu, normal cold viruses, strep, and an increase in GI illnesses. Please remember to follow our general illness guidelines, and keep your child home if they have had a fever or vomiting in the past 24 hours.
As always, remind your children that handwashing is the best way to prevent illness from spreading at school. Please encourage your child to wear a mask at school if they have respiratory symptoms.
I will continue hearing screenings for 3rd grade this week. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out.
Mrs. Trevejo (elmy.trevejo@reading.k12.ma.us)
Attendance Matters!
We certainly understand that there is a potential increase in absences due to illness this year because of Covid. We appreciate your vigilance and support in helping to keep everyone safe. We also have seen an increase in unexcused absences, especially around extended vacations. We are required to share your children's' absences and tardy data. You will be receiving a letter in the coming weeks if your child has more than 5 unexcused absences and we are requesting communication on how we can work together to make sure your child is attending school regularly. It's important that we set your children up for success, especially as the past few years have been unpredictable, and attending school regularly is essential to student success. Please reach out with any questions.
From the Desk of the PTO
PTO NEWS
PTO News & Updates
Welcome back!! We have a few updates to share. The Fun Run Fundraiser has been moved to the week of 6/6. We will share more information about this really fun event in the coming weeks!
We are starting to seek volunteers to join the PTO Executive Board for the 22-23 School Year. We meet once per month to cover PTO events/plans. It’s a great way to get involved in the Joshua Eaton community and to get to know school staff/admins and fellow parents. Positions we know will be open this coming year include: President, Secretary, Treasurer, Volunteer Coordinator, Fundraiser Coordinator. Please reach out to us to learn more about these positions!
Some Upcoming Dates:
4/29 6-7:30 Ice Cream Social & Basket Raffle
5/14 noon-4pm Metco Kite & Bike Festival at Franklin Park Zoo
5/20 JE Variety Show
6/2 K-5 Field Day
6/6 (NEW DATE!) Fun Run Fundraiser
6/20 JE Night at Fenway
Thanks!
Meredith and Natalie
ICE CREAM SOCIAL/KIDS RAFFLE Friday, April 29th from 6–7:30pm
Ice Cream Social/Kids Raffle April 29, 6 – 7:30pm
Get tickets in advance and avoid waiting in line for this popular event! Order by printing this form (add link to form) and returning it to school by Tuesday, April 12th. This form will also be coming home in your child’s backpack. Don’t delay and get your tickets before the event!
ICE CREAM SOCIAL/KIDS RAFFLE Friday, April 29th from 6–7:30pm
Save the Date! The ever-popular Kids Raffle and Ice Cream Social is coming! This exciting fundraiser directly supports our Enrichment Program. You can help make this event a success by donating a gift or gift basket for the raffle. Please see this flyer for more information on the event, as well as donation ideas. Donations from Joshua Eaton families and members of the community are needed and greatly appreciated!
Variety Show
The Variety Show is planned for May 20th. We are looking for a few more volunteers to help in the planning and coordinating of the rehearsals and show. Please reach out to JEvolunteers@gmail.com
Staff Appreciation Week Support
TEACHER/STAFF APPRECIATION WEEK HELP NEEDED
Please sign up to donate food/items to the Teacher Appreciation Week (May 2-6) or volunteer to cover classrooms during the staff breakfast!
In order for our teachers and staff to enjoy a stress-free breakfast all together as a group in honor of staff appreciation week, we need your help to cover classrooms on Monday, May 2nd from 8:45am-9:45am. Sign Up Here:
Please see the list of items that need to be donated in order to provide a week full of goodies and events to help make our teachers and staff feel extra special. Sign Up Here:
Scholastic Book Fair
The Scholastic Book Fair is coming back!
Visit the Joshua Eaton Book Fair Spring 2022 page and set up your child’s e-wallet now.
Click on “get started” and then click “create e-wallet”. Login, and load your funds :) Any unused funds will be converted to a gift card on your Scholastic Book club account.
We will have collection containers at the registers again for All For Books. Any funds collected via the All For Books program will be used for the JE Library. If would like to contribute to the library, please send an envelope in with your child and be sure it says “All For Books”. Staff Appreciation week is next week and this is a perfect opportunity to contribute to the classrooms as well as the library! Gift certificates for staff will be available for purchase also.
Stay tuned for a Signup Genius for parent helpers as well as shopping availability on the evening of Open House!
Library Volunteer Signup
There’s less than 2 months left of school! The end of the year can be very busy for the Joshua Eaton Library. If you did the training and have an up to date CORI on file, we would love to have your help! Click the link below to sigup for a slot :)
Updated PTO Calendar as of 3.28.22
SEPAC
SEPAC Information
First, we are canceling our March business meeting. There's not much new business to discuss, and we want to focus on exciting upcoming opportunities (see below). Were you hoping to connect with the board about something? Please email!
Next, here are those exciting upcoming opportunities!
- SEPAC movie night in April! Let's gather to watch This Is Not About Me: A story about growing up non-speaking. Thanks to SEPAC general member Karen Janowski for sponsoring this screening. We are hammering out the details but it's tentatively planned for Tuesday, April 12 at 7 pm at RCTV. Watch email, newsletters, and social media for details. Advanced registration will be required.
There are SO many other wonderful opportunities coming up. Registrations, workshops, events, etc. Please check social media for some of them!
Also, a few notes about last month's business meeting.
- We voted to revise our by-laws to remove language about open meeting law.
- We started a tradition of having parents/caregivers only stay behind after the business meeting to have informal conversation. It was enjoyable!
- We hope these changes help remove some of the formality of our meetings and introduce more opportunities for fellowship and support to our members.
- We could use some help putting together welcome packets/kits for newly registering RPS families. The tasks will be VERY manageable and could be done on your own time. It really won't be much--please email if you can help!
Be in touch with any questions!!
- The Reading in Reading Subcommittee created a resource list of books and podcasts that provide recommended information regarding reading. The resources are available here:. SEPAC_RinR_Subcommittee_Recommended_Book_List_v2 with cover April 7th.docx
All are welcome and ENCOURAGED to attend our meetings and events!
Connect with SEPAC by clicking these links:
Join SEPAC's mailing list by emailing SEPACREADING@gmail.com
Follow SEPAC on Facebook (please adjust settings so that you are sure to see our posts)
The mission of the Reading Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) is to work for the understanding of, respect for, and support of, all children with special needs in the community.
Thank you,
SEPAC BOARD
Comfort Dogs!
Reading Police Department will soon have two comfort dogs joining the force! These pups will work with our School Resource Officers to provide social and emotional support for members of the Reading community, most notably our students. SROs Brian Lewis and Matt Vatcher will be training and living with these new dogs as they are welcomed into our community. The Labrador retriever pups are from Boonefield Labs and will be arriving later this spring. They will be visiting our schools and working with students and staff once they complete their training. We are excited about this partnership with the Reading Police Department and the continued support of our SROs.
Families will receive more information once the dogs arrive, and have the option of opting out of interactions with their child for any reason (i.e., if they have allergies or are afraid of dogs). The opt out form can be found HERE and on our schools website and will be sent to all families. Forms only need to be returned for those families opting out of these interactions with our new four-legged friends.