Dear EES Community,

Hope everyone has a fun winter break! During this break, please be mindful to monitor for lice and treat it as needed.

Here are some guidelines to follow:

• Head Lice Facts

• Anyone can get head lice no matter how clean they are.

• Head lice do not carry disease. Secondary skin infections can occur from excessive scratching.

• They cannot jump or fly and are spread by head to head contact.

• Lice live for 1-2 days on pillows, furniture, stuffed animals, or clothes.

• Head lice do not infest pets and pets do not spread head lice.

• Ways To Prevent the Spread of Lice

• Do not share combs, brushes, towels, hats, barrettes, sports uniforms, or pillows.

• Avoid head to head contact with anyone suspected of having head lice.

• Keep long hair up or pulled back.

• What To Look For

• Excessive scratching of the head, especially at the back of the head just above the neck.

• Nits on the hair. These are usually pearly-grey in color and are attached to the hair shaft near the scalp. Nits are distinguished from dandruff because they stick to the hair shaft instead of flaking off when brushed.

• Adult lice are about the size of a sesame seed. Lice are active at night so your child may have trouble sleeping.

• What To Do If You Find Nits or Live Lice

• Check all family members in the household.

• Treat your child with a recommended lice shampoo following the package directions. Apply a second treatment when directed.

• Use a nit comb after the treatment to remove lice and nits from the hair shaft.

• Continue to check the scalp and hair everyday and remove the nits for the next 2 weeks.

• Machine wash and dry clothing worn in the previous 2 days and all bed linens. Use hot water at 130 degrees for 20 minutes and use high heat setting on the dryer. Dry clean items, as needed.

• Place all non-washable items such as stuffed toys and pillows in a sealed plastic bag for at least 2 days.

• Soak combs and brushes in hot water (at least 130 degrees) for 5-10 minutes. Do not share combs, brushes, and hair accessories with the person who has head lice.

• Vacuum furniture, rugs and floors. Discard vacuum bags.

• Do not use fumigant sprays or fogs. They are not necessary and can be toxic.

• Please notify your school nurse so the spread of lice can be tracked in school.

Sincerely,

EES Health Office

Helpful hint:

Selecting Pickup as an option in Pick Up Patrol indicates end of day pick up (2:50pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays or 1:50pm on Wednesdays). When the drop down for dismissal plan selection is clicked, families can scroll up or down to view all of the different dismissal options including Early Dismissal. Remember: Early Dismissal cutoff time is at 2:15pm Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 1:15pm on Wednesdays.

Please help your child pack all of their warm winter clothing everyday. Items that are most helpful are a warm jacket, snow pants, a hat, mittens or gloves, and winter boots! (At a minimum your child needs long pants each day now.). Please reach out to our health office or school counselors should your child need these items. We are reminding the kids that they can be helping at home with packing these items each night. They do get wet at school, so help your child lay them out to dry at home each evening! Thank you for your continued support this winter!

We have had a whirlwind of a few weeks in the art room! Our artists have been doing so many different things including Kansinsky circles using oil pastels and detailed city drawings. We worked with stoneware ("earth") clay to make bowls(K), owls(1), and mittens(2). We used model magic to learn about color mixing and artists like Cezanne and Thibault. After Thanksgiving break, we changed the room over to a "Studio Choice Stations" format. This is a type of art learning called "Teaching for Artistic Behaviors." Students get to choose their materials and subject. During choice stations, students worked on glazing their clay pieces and eventually wrapping them up to safely come home.

Yay for Art! ~Ms. Blain

Our Lost and Found is filling up! We only have a limited area to store these lost items. We invite you to come in and look through if your child is missing something! Or to give us a call in the front office and we can see if it is there and tuck it into your child's backpack. We will have it all on the sidewalk (under the overhang) Wednesday,Thursday and Friday (the week we return in January) to make it easier for families to look through it. We plan to donate all remaining items at the end of January. Thank you for all of your help!

We would love a parent volunteer to help us with sorting and organizing the clothes in the lost and found. If you are interested please email Lindsey Wignall- lwignall@ewsd.org