Dear parents,

As we head into flu season, teachers are being asked to minimize non-essential visits to the nurse's office. This means that minor scrapes and cuts and other non-injurious "ouchies" will be handled in the classroom. The influenza virus is very contagious and can spread from person to person by breathing the droplets in a cough, sneeze, or runny nose that contain the flu virus.

Signs and Symptoms of the flu may include:

The flu comes on very quickly. Most people with the flu feel very tired and may have a high fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills, fatigue, vomiting or diarrhea. If you suspect you or a family member is sick, contact your doctor for further evaluation as soon as possible.

Prevention Strategies:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccination for everyone 6 months and older;
• Hand washing with soap and water, especially before meals; alcohol based hand sanitizers will work;
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw tissue in trash and wash hands;
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way;
• Clean and disinfect hard surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with germs, including bathroom surfaces, kitchen counters and toys for children. Use household disinfectants according to directions.
• Keep your children or other family members home when they are sick.

When can my child return to school after having the flu? Your child must stay out of school until fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medications. In addition, students with vomiting or diarrheal illnesses must stay home until they no longer are vomiting or have diarrhea (without the use of medications) for at least 24 hours.

If your child is diagnosed with flu or any other communicable illness strep throat, pink-eye, chicken pox, staph/MRSA infection, any reportable illness, or any vaccine-preventable illness, please contact Dana Hensel, RN, NCSN. Your child's diagnosis will be kept private, but our nurse needs this information to coordinate care for other students on campus.

We have procedures we ask all to follow to ensure the safety of our students. PLEASE do not drop off students in our parking lot or in lanes of traffic, so that students would be crossing through traffic to reach your vehicle or our doors. If dropping off a student by car, you must use the car line unless you park and escort the student into the office.

As we continue to grow, our car lines grow. An option to consider to avoid a long wait in traffic is our convenient LTISD school bus services.

The tardy bell rings at 7:40 am, and all staff and safety patrol Tigers must be in their classrooms at the bell. As a result there are no staff members at the entrances as of 7:40 am.

So that we can assist students as they step out of the cars, please pull up to the curb to drop off students before 7:40 am. Our car rider lines are moving very quickly and efficiently now, and we find the lines move even faster when:

• Cars with Kindergarten and/or 1st Grade Students drop off Tigers only at the side entrance in the mornings.
• Cars without Kindergarten/1st Graders drop off Tigers at the main, front entrance.
• And when parents give Tigers their kisses and say "goodbyes" before we open your vehicle's door so that our Tigers can hop out and be on their way to class quickly.

Please help us to keep our Tigers safe.

Our winter holiday classroom parties are scheduled as shown below for Wednesday, December 18. RSVP here for any of our holiday events.

Kindergarten..........12:10 pm

1st Grade.................1:15 pm

2nd Grade................2:05 pm

3rd Grade.................1:40 pm

4th Grade................10:00 am

5th Grade..................2:00 pm

On Thursday, December 19, we'll host our Holiday Singalong in the Gym at 7:40 am at an all-school assembly. This is also an early release day, and school will be dismissed at noon. There is no Extended Care on Thursday, December 19. If your Tiger(s) usually reports to Extended Care at the end of the day, please be sure to update School Dismissal Manager with the updated dismissal arrangements.

There is no school December 20 through January 6. School is back in session at 7:40 am on Tuesday, January 7, 2020.

Happy holidays!

Our school-wide reading program this year is formatted as a BINGO board. Each student received one board to take home in his/her folder the week of September 9. The Book BINGO program runs through Thursday, December 19. All students completing a Blackout will be invited to a special school-wide BINGO party!

For more information, please visit the library Book Bingo website.

Volunteering at West Cypress Hills Elementary is the best way to get involved, meet new people, and directly impact your child's school experience!

Check out the exciting volunteer opportunities and sign up for the areas that interest you. Once you have signed up, the Volunteer Liaison will contact you with specific information regarding times, dates, etc.

If you have any questions, please contact Sherry Whitsitt, volunteer@wchpto.org

Thank You for Volunteering!!!