East Early Childhood Center
October 2020
THE BUZZ WITH MRS. BROOKE
We have been busy little bees in the month of September! A few of the highlights include our “Little Indian of the Night” where two of our sweet students, Hudson Birk and Graham Wahlig, represented the Early Childhood Center at a Jackson football practice. They were able to go on the field and take a picture and watch the BIG boys practice! We are fortunate to have such wonderful partners in the Bank of Missouri to sponsor such a fun event! We look forward to other such events with them, like virtual guest readers, in the future.
A few reminders...
If you have not done this already please put an extra pair of clothes in your child's backpack.
Continue to label all of their belongings as well! Especially now that jackets are starting to be needed. We try to get their things where they belong!
Please remember to wear a mask if you are coming into the office when you are dropping off your child late or retrieving them early.
Continue to monitor your child for any symptoms before sending them to school.
In the month of September and October, we also plan to do a virtual visit to Knowlan Family Farms to learn more about apples, pumpkins, and other farm things! I cannot wait to see what our students learn from this adventure in their classroom!
Follow us on Facebook! We are a part of the East Elementary page. We are currently featuring a classroom a week, stay tuned to see all the lovely students in the EC program! We are doing such amazing things here and want you to have a sneak peek!
We are also accepting new students and families in our AMAZING Parents as Teachers program for children ages birth through five years old. These ladies come to play with your children while giving families support about milestones and development. If you would like to join, please give us a call at 573-243-5347 and we will get you signed up.
Stay tuned for more information about conferences from your teachers as well as myself in your email. We look forward to giving families more options this trimester!
Meet Hudson (Mrs. Danielle’s Class) and Graham (Mrs. Alyssa and Mrs. Amy’s Class) wearing their cool shirts and hats from the Bank of Missouri, smiling by their favorite teachers!
Mrs. Brooke Uchtman, Director of Early Childhood
Free Breakfast and Lunch for all Students!
All schools in the Jackson R-2 School District including our Early Childhood program (both in our classrooms and in Extended Day) have been approved to offer FREE breakfast and lunch to all students for a limited time. This program was made possible through the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) through the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and will begin on Thursday, October 1 - December 31. Students can eat free for as long as funds from FNS and DESE are available.
This program will provide meals for any Jackson R-2 student, not just the students who participate in the Free and Reduced lunch program, but ANY Jackson R-2 student can eat breakfast and lunch for free each school day until December 31, or as long as the funds are available. This will also include Second Chance Breakfast if the regular breakfast time is missed. The free lunch provided is the hot tray of the day. Students in Middle School, Junior High, and High School can purchase additional items for lunch, but only the hot tray will be provided for free.
If you have recently deposited lunch money into your student’s account, those amounts will not be refunded, but will be held for future use when the SSO program expires, or for students to purchase additional food items. The Jackson R-2 School District qualified for this program due to an increase in free and reduced lunch participation and COVID relief funds.
Please be patient with our Food Service Department as we anticipate an increase in the number of students who will now eat school meals. We assure you that you can continue to expect the same high-quality meal service you have always received.
We are excited to offer this program to students in our District. We hope this will ease the burden and hardships placed on families during recent times. It truly allows us to live out our LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL mission at Jackson R-2.
We ask that if your child now plans to change to eat a school lunch or breakfast and hasn't been doing so already, that you let the teachers know that you are making this change. We don't plan to automatically serve a tray to all students, just the students that currently eat, and the additional students that let us know they would like to eat now! THANK YOU for your help with this!
Parent Teacher Conferences October 22 and 27
- Masks and social distancing are required
- Check-in at the office is required for families entrance this year
- For the safest and most productive environment possible, we are asking that only one family member attend if possible.
Our goal is to have 100% participation in these various forms of communication. Thank you for supporting your child and his/her education! Thank you with your help on this matter!
Important Reminder - Thursday, October 22 is our fundraiser pick up from 4:30-6:30 PM. More information to come.
Full Day Kids Club October 12th
Kids’ Club is offering a full day on October 12, 2020 at South Elementary from 7:30 AM - 5:45 PM. The deadline to sign up and pay for full day is October 2, 2020 before 4:30 PM. Students must bring a drink and sack lunch. If you have any questions, please call Kids’ Club at (573) 382-7930.
NEWS FROM THE NURSE
We appreciate everyone keeping their child home when sick! Very few are coming into the nurse’s office sick, and we really appreciate everyone's efforts keeping our school open! We can do this!! Here are some reminders/tips:
Please continue to screen your child before school, and keep your child home if they are sick. Remember, our policy is now 48 hours free of vomiting, diarrhea, and fever (without fever-reducing medication in 48 hours). Other symptoms need to be improving in 48 hours before your child can return. This gives you an extra day to see how your child is doing and if more symptoms appear. Try not to give Motrin/Tylenol because it can mask a fever (the medication takes the fever away so it is unknown whether your child had a fever). Jackson R2 considers a temperature of 100.1 or higher as a fever.
Keep your child home if they have been a close contact to someone being tested for Covid or positive for Covid. Our Covid coordinator, Dr. Beth Emmendorfer, will be in touch with you (most likely by an email to a parent/guardian listed in our system) on a return date if your child was exposed to a positive case or to someone waiting on their test results. She works with our local health department to figure the date out. *Please let the school know if your child is out for any Covid reasons.
If you are questioning whether your child has Covid you can contact your healthcare provider for further instructions. Symptoms of Covid: cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste/smell, fever (100.1 or higher), congestion, runny nose, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, headache, muscle aches, pains.
Please keep your school nurses (Tosha Borgfield and Susan Heisserer) updated by phone (573-243-5271) or by email tborgfield@jr2mail.org or seheisserer@jr2mail.org.
Don’t forget to clean those water bottles daily (hot water and soap) to prevent strep infection! Also, keep cleaning cloth masks daily, and continue HAND WASHING, HAND WASHING, HAND WASHING!!!!!
More important information:
- On Thursday, October 22nd, the Cape County Health Department (CCHD) will be at East in the morning (only) to give Flu Vaccinations. They will only have shots (no nasal mists). Early Childhood students will need to have a parent/adult with them. Watch for the consent forms to be sent home the week of October 5th. The cost is $20, or free if you have MC. Checks should be made out to CCHD.
- LICE!!!!! Did that get your attention? We wanted to make sure everyone was aware that if you would receive a notice, the dreaded lice letter, in your child's backpack to please check their head. Someone in the class may have had it, and we need parents to make sure that their child is lice free. What if your child has it? Please alert the nurses, Tosha or Susan, so we can help! We want to prevent the spread of lice, and we can only do that if we are aware that your child has it.
COMMUNICATION CORNER
Amy Brueckner, MA, CCC-SLP, Julie Layton, MA, CCC-SLP, Lori Heuring, MA, CCC-SLP,
Christy Gibbs, MA, CCC-SLP
HOW TO INCREASE YOUR CHILD’S VOCABULARY
Expanding vocabulary is a lifelong process that begins during a child’s earliest months. A child’s vocabulary grows rapidly to around 2,000 words by his/her fifth birthday. Your child learns that words represent objects and actions. You can help to expand your child’s vocabulary if you:
- Teach the names of everyday objects as you experience daily activities together.
- Add new information to expand on what your child is saying, and ask questions to stimulate thought and language.
- Help your child describe a simple object in as many ways as possible.
East Elementary PTO
OCTOBER EVENTS
Oct 4 - 10 disAbility Awareness Week
Oct 12 NO SCHOOL - Professional Development Day
Oct 12 - 16 National School Lunch Week
Oct 19 National School Bus Safety Week
Oct 22 Otis Spunkmeyer Fundraiser Delivery 4:30-6:30 pm
Oct 22 Parent Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:00 pm
Oct 26 Dairy Queen Fundraiser
Oct 27 Parent Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:00 pm