Dear MMES Families,

Happy Friday! It was great to see so much pink out in the audience this morning for our first school-wide meeting! We had a great meeting highlighted by our third grade students presenting about our upcoming dog tag election and our fifth graders teaching our younger students about our core values of Honesty-Effort-Appreciation-Respect-Responsibility-Thoughtfulness. I have to say that I was very impressed with the leadership of our fifth graders and our third graders!

Over the summer, Ms. Silag partnered up with the town library and Cape Ann Savings Bank to coordinate a summer reading challenge. All students who fully participated in the program and hit the reading goal were entered into the drawing for a brand-new bicycle donated by Cape Ann Savings Bank. The smile on his face tells it all! Great job to all of our summer readers and congratulations to our big raffle winner!

Have a great weekend!

Best,

John

Dear Parents and Caregivers of Manchester Memorial Elementary,

Thursday, two educators from Plimoth Patuxet came and met with our 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students. Our 1st grade students participated in a hands-on experience called “The First Thanksgiving: Play Centers” and our older students engaged in the “Colonial First Families” program.

The presenters were dressed in traditional 17th century clothing and explained in-depth what it was like to live during that time. They spoke about their experience traveling from England to America on the Mayflower. They provided details about the long trip, the animals on board and the illnesses which impacted so many travelers. The students were surprised to hear how small and cramped the boat was! The educators explained how they were welcomed to New England and how they made and traded their food and goods. Students were able to hold and read Horn Books, along with other traditional 17th century items.

The students were very engaged with our presenters and asked wonderful questions. We were so happy to have Plimoth Patuxet back again! Thank you to the room parents who came in to help. One of the Educators recommended the below list of books that you could enjoy with your child following the presentation today.

* Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy

* Sarah Morton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl

* Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times

* 3 Young Pilgrims

* Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

* Tapenum’s Day

Have a wonderful weekend,

MMPTO Enrichment

We are very excited to welcome students back to Memorial. Here are a few important notes to get us all off to a good start:

Please look at our calendar below for updated end of year activities.

District Calendar is available on our website - Check out the newly published district calendar for 2023-2024: https://www.mersd.org/page/2#calendar1/20230830/month

Reminder - No phones or smart watches during school day: Please note that there are no phones permitted during the school day.

CORI requirements - We love having volunteers and mystery readers back in the building. Please note that all adults must have a completed CORI on file before filling volunteer or mystery reader positions and will not be admitted without one. Please plan to come in at least one week before your scheduled volunteer time to complete your paperwork. CORIs are good for 3 years. Please contact the office to see if yours is valid.

Absence, Late Arrival, and Early Dismissal:

Please plan to email your student's teacher, Nurse Seaman (seamanj@mersd.org), and the office (schmidtm@mersd.org) with all attendance updates: Absence, Late Arrival, Early dismissal. This will allow us to coordinate with your teachers.

Students who need to be dismissed early, must be released to a parent or guardian from the main office. When possible, please notify the office and your child's teacher ahead of time. When you arrive for early dismissal, your student will be called from the classroom. Please be prepared to show your ID if we are not familiar with you.

Special thanks goes out to Ms. Leonard. We all enjoyed watching our Monarch go from egg to chrysalis. He emerged as a butterfly afterhours on Friday. Ms. Leonard had him home for safe observing. She was able to release him and watch as he dried his wings. Now he is winging his way to warmer climes! How do we know he’s a boy? Ms. Leonard explains:

… the females have thicker black lines on their wings. The males have thinner black lines (fine tip marker…) with a scent spot (gland) that is on their hindwings – which help them in attracting a mate!

Hi Hornets! Despite it being a short week, our students did a lot! Plimouth Patuxet and field trips apple picking kept our students busy and learning. When our students learn about history, often their awareness of current events increases. With that increased knowledge about what is happening around us, our students may have questions or hear about some challenging and scary things that they’ve seen or heard. Most recently this has been the news unfolding about the conflict in Israel and Gaza. We believe it is a family’s decision on how to talk to their children about any difficult event, but we also realize how challenging starting or having these discussions can be. If you choose to discuss this here are some good tips for guidance if needed:

· Limit news exposure (particularly any breaking news) and/or be present with your children to process any distressing images/sounds/videos they may see.

· Some events are so large that knowledge of them may be unavoidable. When families initiate the discussion early, it’s possible to share facts and reassure prior to students overhearing adult conversation or hearing about it from their peers.

· Start the conversation with “What have you heard and how are you feeling?” (Kamenetz, Turner. “What to say to kids when the news is scary.” Parenting: Difficult Conversations, 24 February 2022)

· Once you’ve established what your child knows/understands, you can clarify and provide context in age-appropriate language. It’s okay to say “I don’t know.”

· While we can provide relief and reassurance to our children, they can also be comforted by “Look[ing] for the helpers” (– Fred Rogers). By doing so we reorient some attention away from fear to the positive actions of others (and maybe ourselves too) who care and are gathering as communities.

Most importantly, our school team is here to support students and families so please reach out and let us know how you are addressing things and what support we can provide if your student is particularly distressed about the current events or if you are impacted.

· Ms. X

Health Room Headlines

Forms:

All medication (epi-pens and inhalers), allergy action plans, asthma forms were sent home yesterday. Remember the pharmacy label may act as Doctor’s order until a hard copy is received

All over the counter medication requires a doctor’s order and parent permission. If you need forms, please tell me.

Physicals:

Current physical and immunization records are due for grades PK, K, 1 and for all new students in grades 1-5. An updated physical is one that is more recent than 13 months. Please do not make a new appointment. Send me the most current and then send me a copy of the new physical when it is completed.

Extra Clothing: ALL GRADE LEVELS

Occasionally a spilled drink, a fall in a puddle or even a ride down a wet slide occurs, if each child could have a change of clothing (head to toe) that would be great.

Just a few reminders:

1. If your child is going to be absent or arriving late, please call either 526-1909 or 526-1908 to let us know.

2. If your child has a temperature of 100. F or over, they need to be temperature free for 24 hours (without relying on Tylenol or Motrin) before re-entering the school.

3. If your child is experiencing diarrhea or vomiting, we recommend that they are symptom free for 24 hours and can tolerate solid food before they return

4. If your child has a contagious illness such as conjunctivitis or strep throat, it is the school policy that they are on medicine for 24 hours before re-entering the building.

5. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT ALL CLASSROOMS ARE PEANUT/NUT FREE

My hope is that vision and hearing screening will begin in mid-October. Before all screenings, I will always send out a notice so that you may opt out if you wish. More information to follow soon.

Thank you for your co-operation and continuing support.

Any questions or concerns please call or email

Joanne Seaman, R.N.

978-526-1909 Fax 978-526-5209

seamanj@mersd.org

• Mobile Markets will then run from 2:30-3:30pm in October and November on the first Wednesday of each month.
• Mobile Market will run on an early release schedule of 11am-12:15pm on the first Wednesday of each month starting in December for the balance of the school year.

See www.mersd.org for additional dates ...

2023-2024 Calendar

October

25-27 – Fall Book Fair

November

8 – Early Dismissal, Family Conferences

9 – No School, Family Conferences

23 - Early Release Thanksgiving

24-25 - No School, Thanksgiving recess

10 – No School, Veteran’s Day Observed

MERSD:
https://www.facebook.com/ManchesterEssexRegional/?fref=ts

MMPTO:
https://www.facebook.com/ManchesterMemorialPTO/?fref=ts

Schedule of Monthly PTO Meetings:

The following are dates for the 2023-2024 PTO Meetings:
• Wednesday, September 27 (Please note the date change from 9/20!)
• Wednesday, October 25
• Friday, December 1
• Wednesday, January 17
• Wednesday, February 28
• Friday, March 29
• Friday, April 26
• Wednesday, May 22
All meetings will begin at 9 am, and will be located in the Project room on the first floor of the school. We hope to see you there!

Join us October 20-22, 2023 for the return of our beloved Carnival. With a Harvestfest feel this event will have all the carnival fun including rides, games and other amusements + food trucks, local vendors , and community spirit including our first annual pumpkin toss for high school students on Saturday at 6pm and performances from Soundwaves and our ME chorus on Sunday.

All proceeds are donated to our support our ME athletic boosters .

See attached poster for details and visit the following site to purchase tickets https://fanelliamusements.com/events/21