The Hiawatha Buzz!
September 25, 2020
Growing hearts and minds for a better today and tomorrow: every day, every way, every one.
Principal's Messages
Dear Families,
We are excited and ready to bring our hybrid children back on October 5th. The first 6 weeks of school are dedicated to building relationships and establishing routines and expectations. We will continue to do this in a safe way as our children return.
Over the past two weeks, I have run whole school meetings with our First through Third Graders via Zoom and visited each Kindergarten classroom cohort. The focus was to establish our very own Hiawatha Greetings. Please check out the presentation below, and you can practice with your kiddos at home.
Next week we will have another whole school meeting focused on feelings. Our learning targets will be:
I can use different feeling words to describe how I am feeling.
I can use the Zones map to show what zone my feelings are in.
I can notice my feelings in my mind and my body.
We use the Zones of Regulation poster as a visual to identify our feelings. Check out the link to our poster; Zones of Regulation Poster.
Be well,
Katherine
Picture Day October 6th and 8th
LifeTouch will be doing our school pictures. Ordering packets came home with your child this week. The schedule is:
Kindergarten and First Grade October 6th
Second and Third Grade October 8th
Notes from Nurse Reyna!
Dear Hiawatha Families,
First off, I would like to thank you all for doing an outstanding job in getting your students ready for school during a pandemic! Your students have been amazing with mask wearing and social distancing. They have been resilient with all of the changes throughout our learning spaces. These changes were made to make the building as safe as possible for us to return.
Many of you may have questions on what school will look like in regards to illnesses this year. Basically, if your student wakes up with any sign of an illness (a runny nose, nasal congestion, a sore throat, a cough, a headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, a cough, fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, loss of taste or smell, muscle aches, chills), please keep them home. Your student will be sent home if these symptoms are observed during the school day.
It is important to note that some scenarios (travel history and exposure to COVID-19) and symptoms may require your student to see their doctor and/or may require quarantine or COVID-19 testing before your student can return to school. This process has been developed by the Vermont Department of Health and Pediatric Infectious Disease doctors. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Thank you,
Reyna Maher, BSN, RN
857-7740
Here is an outline of what you can expect. This was published by the Vermont Department of Health.
What happens when my child is sick?
The symptoms of COVID-19 are similar to many other illnesses. Symptoms such as cough, runny nose, and upset stomach can be caused by many different germs or health conditions, and are common among school-aged children. This factsheet can help you prepare in case your child gets sick and is sent home or stays home from school.
What are the symptoms of COVID-19?
Your student will be asked to stay home or be sent home if they have any of the following symptoms:
fever (100.4 or higher)
cough
shortness of breath
chills
fatigue
muscle pain or body aches
headache
sore throat
loss of taste or smell
congestion or runny nose
nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea (diarrhea is defined as frequent loose or watery stools compared to your child's normal pattern)
What happens after my child is home sick?
Students and staff should not attend school in person until they are no longer considered contagious. A group of pediatric and infectious disease specialists in Vermont worked with the Health Department to create "COVID-19 in Pediatric Patients (PreK-Grade12) Triage, Evaluation, Testing and Return to School" to help your child's health care provider and school nurse determine what to do next when your child is sick depending on your child's health history and symptoms. Please make sure that you have signed a consent for your school nurse to talk with your health care professional as their partnership will be essential in decision making about your child's return.
In some cases, if your child has mild symptoms that resolve quickly, they may return to school. Please discuss with your student's school nurse.
Speak with your child's health care provider to decide if they need to be seen.
Based on this, your child may need to receive a COVID-19 test.
If tested, the results will determine when your child can return to school. Students may not return to in-person school while waiting for COVID-19 test results.
Parents/caregivers may receive a communication tool from their child's school or pediatric health care professional to make sure everyone is talking together about what is best for your child.
Ms. McVey's 2nd graders enjoying books
Ideas from Mrs. Weston, our SEL Coach
Greetings Hiawatha Families,
Our first SEL standard at school is around noticing, expressing and understanding feelings. Below are the grade level standards:
K: Students describe simple feelings/emotions in self.
1: Students describe a range of feelings/emotions in self and their physical or sensory responses to these emotions.
2: Students describe events and the feelings/emotions they cause in self and others.
3: Students describe what influenced one’s own feelings/emotions in a specific situation.
Here’s some ways you might explore the concepts at home.
Pretend Play
Children often practice working through their biggest feelings while pretending. During pretend play with your children, help them talk about emotions by asking, “How does this character feel? Why is s/he feeling ______?”
Share Emotions
Children will be more likely to share emotions if they see grown-ups doing it, too. Talk about your feelings...a lot. During family gatherings, go around the table and share one thing you did and one emotion you felt that day.
Build on Books
Use books as a window into emotions. Choose books in which the characters struggle with big emotions. Ask children, “How does this character feel? Why do you think they feel this way? Have you ever felt this way? Did your feeling change?”
Feelings in our Bodies
We are working on knowing we feel in our minds and bodies. Children may have an easier time showing you how they feel if they do it in physical ways. Try chanting the feeling word and showing with your body, or turn on music and encourage children to express their feelings with movements. Use the musical cues to evoke different feelings, and name those feelings
Draw Your feelings:
Kids can draw their feelings. Say, “Can you draw a happy thing that happened today?” If children come home with art you might say, “Tell me how this person is feeling,” or, “This drawing reminds me of a time when I felt _______.”
Take care of yourselves and your feelings!
Please be in touch with any comments/questions,
Alice Weston, SEL Coach: aweston@ewsd.org
Safety Drills
Attendance and End of Day plan change reminder...
Here are the ways to contact Michelle regarding your student's attendance.
You can call the Attendance line at 802-857-7007 (for Attendance only), call Michelle at 802-878-1384, or email Michelle at mailto:mmurphyertle@ewsd.org. There is also the Report an Absence button on the Hiawatha website.
If you choose to email the teacher, please remember to include Michelle in your email in case the teacher is absent and/or doesn't check their email. in the morning.
END OF DAY CHANGES...
You need to contact Michelle before 2:00 PM if you have a change in your child's after school plan on any given day.
Hiawatha PTO update
Hello Hiawatha Fam!
Reaching out to you as a proposal has been presented to the PTO. One of the former Hiawatha students, Craig Bouffard, has offered to help build an outdoor classroom for the students at Hiawatha. It would be made out of natural material and would be on Hiawatha property. This would be for the teachers to utilize when teaching, helping make it easier to social distance during COVID, but also could be utilized for many years after Covid is gone (hopefully it will be gone one day). I thought this would be great for PE teachers in the future or to split into 2 outdoor classrooms when we are not required to social distance. Craig is an active volunteer in our community with being a Life scout, raising money for Miles for Migraines, and always helping with serving our neighbor day and cleaning up Indian brook. He would like to add this project to his community service list. Below is his proposal for the benefits of outdoor classrooms.
Katherine Grykein has already approved this on the school's end from the school grounds standpoint. The proposed amount that is being presented is $455 when we got the proposal. We wanted to get thoughts from the community on this proposal.
Since all students and teachers are automatically part of the PTO, here is the survey monkey on if you think the PTO should vote to approve these funds being asked. Due to the fact that we are trying to get this going if it's approved for next weekend, Voting will be available to September 28th @ 9 PM.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NC5HW75
If you would like to volunteer for helping set up on the weekend of October 3rd (time is unknown at this moment), please email us at HiawathaPTO@ewsd.org.
Thank you all for taking the time to consider this for our community,
Nikki Mayhue
PTO President
(Proposal from Craig)
Dear Hiawatha PTO, I would like to build an outdoor classroom for Hiawatha Elementary school in Essex Junction, Vermont. I have never had an opportunity to learn in an outdoor classroom, and I always liked the idea. This led me to research some of the benefits that these classrooms provide students and teachers. According to Jill Suttie, with the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, being in nature increases engagement, increases focus and reduces stress even when the lesson does not interact with the natural environment (Suttie, 2018). These benefits go on to the next session, even when unrelated and indoors (Suttie, 2018). The research showed there were more engaged, and teachers had redirect students less than half as many times (Suttie, 2018). By building an outdoor classroom at Hiawatha, I hope to bring these benefits to the students and teachers, and maybe more benefits. I love nature, and as a Boy Scout, I have spent a lot of time in nature and learned a lot about it. Not every kid has this advantage, but an outdoor classroom can give them some chance to learn without computers. The world is a beautiful place, and that is a lesson that is sometimes ignored. I propose to build it in October of 2020, with assistance from scouts and other skilled individuals in my community. The total cost of this project will be approximately $2,000. I have been able to source a 30-foot tree from a local donor that is worth approximately $1,500 dollars. With this secured the anticipated budget that is still needed is $455. I will continue to attempt to secure donations for as many of the supplies as possible to reduce this cost further but cannot guarantee success. I would like to request the outstanding amount needed, not to exceed $455 from the PTO because after meeting with the Hiawatha Principal on September 11 she requested that the project be completed by or as close to October 5th as possible. This does not provide enough time to raise additional funds. Please let me know if there is any additional information I can provide to help with this request. Thank you Craig J Bouffard Life Scout Troop 635 References Suttie, J. (2018, May 14). The Surprising Benefits of Teaching a Class Outside. Retrieved August 30, 2020, from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_surprising_benefits_of_teaching_a_class_outside
HIawatha friends having fun at EJRP!
Important Dates
9/29 Fire Drill (Cohort A)
10/2 Fire Drill (Cohort B)
10/5 All students return to Hiawatha 5 days a week
10/6 Picture Day- Kindergarten and Grade 1 ONLY
10/8 Picture day Grade 2 and 3 ONLY
10/9 No school - Teacher Work Day
10/11 No school - Holiday Indigenous Peoples' Day
Hiawatha Elementary School
Email: mmurphyertle@ewsd.org
Website: www.EWSD.org/HIA
Location: 30 Hiawatha Avenue, Essex Junction, VT, USA
Phone: 802-878-1384