Haynes Elementary School
The Month of November
News and Updates
November 27, 2022
November Edition
Principal's Message
Dear Families,
I hope you all had a joyous Thanksgiving break. Prior to break, Haynes was experiencing a significant amount of absenteeism due to illnesses. I hope this break has given your family an opportunity to relax and recharge for the upcoming holiday season. Haynes will begin a new school daily schedule, starting on Monday November 28th. The purpose of this new schedule is to provide a condensed lunch schedule, resulting in some overlap among grades. This is an attempt to move towards a lunch schedule similar to what Haynes experienced prior to the Covid pandemic. We have no more than two grades at lunch or recess at a given time. In addition, this new schedule will allow our school to create more enrichment and project-based learning opportunities for our students. We are excited to begin planning for these new learning experiences for our students. Each grade will be creating their enrichment block(s) and will be sharing this with the families. These enrichment block(s) will be implemented on the full-day Wednesday schedules. I am happy to have further discussion during my principal chats this upcoming week.
In this newsletter, you will notice some reminders and updates. Some topics have remained on this newsletter from last time, for your reference. I hope you enjoy this week's newsletter.
Sincerely,
Nadine Ekstrom, Ph.D.
Interim Principal
This Week's HAWK STARS!
Each day, students are granted the opportunity to receive Hawk Sightings, which are acknowledgments that they have gone above and beyond in supporting our school rules. Their name goes into a grade level jar, and one person is selected from each grade level to represent the weekly HAWK STAR. We are very proud of these students.
Staff Hawk Star~
This week, we had our first STAFF Hawk Star. The student advisory council voted to give students an opportunity of recognizing staff who deserve hawk sightings too! This week's staff hawk staff was Mrs. Emery!
Prevention Strategies and Vaccination Clinic
Dear Families and Staff,
The Department of Public Health in conjunction with the MA Chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics has shared suggestions for respiratory illness prevention for infants and children. We are seeing increased numbers of students ill with colds, coughs, RSV, strep throat, and gastrointestinal illness already this fall, in addition to cases of COVID-19. With the upcoming holidays and travel to see family and friends, we may see increased cases of these illnesses in the coming weeks. Please remember to keep your child/ren home if they are ill so we can reduce the spread of these viruses within our classrooms.
The Sudbury Board of Health is sponsoring a COVID-19 vaccination clinic on November 30. The clinic will be held at the Goodnow Library from 5-8:30 pm. Please click this link for sign-up information.
Wishing you and your family a healthy and happy Thanksgiving.
Best Regards,
Carol Bradford, BSN, RN, NCSN
Nursing Leader
Betsy Grams, BS, MSEd
Wellness Coordinator
Notes from the Front Office
Student safety is a top priority at Haynes. Please familiarize yourself with the following guidelines in the event you need to call your student out of school absent/tardy or if you wish to make a change in their dismissal plan.
Reporting Student Absences or Tardy
If your student is going to be absent or tardy, please call the absentee/tardy line at 978-443-1093 or email haynes_office@sudbury.k12.ma.us Please provide the following details:
Your child’s full name
Your student’s grade/teacher’s name
Reason for tardy or absence
Please provide your name/phone number in the event we need to reach you.
If applicable, please state if a COVID test was done if your child has symptoms. Following is a link for information related to Covid-19 Isolation and Exposure. (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-isolation-and-exposure-guidance-for-children-and-staff-in-child-care-k-12-out-of-school-time-ost-and-recreational-campprogram-settings)
Please call or email us each day your student will be absent/tardy. If you do not make contact with the nurse line or by email as noted above by 8:00 a.m., we will follow up with you to ensure the safety of your child.
Changes in Dismissal
Haynes requires a note from a parent/guardian to make a single day change in their student’s
dismissal plan. Please send your dismissal change request to haynes_office@sudbury.k12.ma.us. Please do not send notes in advance of the date the change is to take place. To help us to ensure a safe dismissal change is made for your student, please provide the following details:
Your child’s full name
Your student’s grade/teacher’s name
The change you are requesting - If you are granting permission for another adult to dismiss your child, please provide the full name of the person who will receive your child.
Please provide your name/contact phone number in the event we need to reach you.
If you wish to make a permanent change to your student’s dismissal plan, please contact the front office.
WINTER IS COMING - Please dress appropriately for the season!
At Haynes, we go outside for recess as much as possible, so please send your student(s) to school dressed in appropriate clothing for outdoor recess (long pants, coats, gloves, hats, snow pants/boots). When deciding if we will go outside, we take into account the real feel temperature and conditions. Students are not allowed to stay in when they are not dressed appropriately for winter conditions.
** Please assist us in reminding students that shorts are not winter attire when it is cold outside. We must send all students out to recess. We may need to request additional pants for the nurse's office should students arrive to school wearing shorts, to ensure they are not too cold when going to recess.
Haynes Chess Club
We are happy to report that more than 20 students have reached out to Marcy Sawin, at marcy_sawin@sudbury.k12.ma.us expressing interest in the Chess Club. Once we finalize all of the details with Chess Wizards, we will begin our FY23 Chess Club. Marcy will be reaching out to families soon.
December 16th - Food Pantry
We will have our December food pantry. The theme for this month is Orange! Orange represents unity and we are celebrating inclusive opportunities and experiences for all during this entire month. We continue to thank you for your contributions.
FY2022 - FY2023 Calendar
Please look at our FY2023 school calendar for Josiah Haynes Elementary School
Upcoming Events
Friday, December 2
Principal Coffee (RSVP requested) - 8:15 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Monday - Friday, December 5 - 9
Fall Book Fair
Monday, December 12
Grade 1 - Discovery Museum Lasers & Lights Program
Tuesday, December 13
Principal Coffee (RSVP requested) - 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, December 14
Early Release Day (11:45 a.m. dismissal)
Friday, December 16
Food Pantry Collection