Peter Noyes Friday Flyers
Week ending October 21, 2022
Upcoming Events
October 21.....Noyes Night Out - DaVinci Bistro - Mention Noyes School!
October 22.....Trunk or Treat/Fall Festival 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
November 1.....Picture Retake Day
November 2.....Early Release Day Dismissal 11:45 Parent Conferences
November 4-10.....Scholastic Book Fair
November 9.....Early Release Day Dismissal 11:45 Parent Conferences
November 11...No School - Veteran's Day
November 16.....Early Release Day Dismissal 11:45 Parent Conferences
November 23.....Early Release Day Dismissal 11:45 Thanksgiving Recess
November 24 & 25.....No School Thanksgiving Recess
December 14.....Early Release Day Dismissal 11:45
December 26 - January 2......No School - Winter Break
Dear Peter Noyes Families,
Thank you for all of your generous donations to the Sudbury Food Pantry drive this week. We deeply appreciate your participation and support.
For this week, I’d like to highlight our Social-Emotional Resources for Parents webpage on the Sudbury Public Schools website, which was developed by our own Dr. Elizabeth Clark, Noyes school psychologist, along with our district health curriculum coordinator Betsy Grams. It is truly an incredible resource and a “go to” spot for all kinds of great information.
You will find curriculum materials including work around growth mindset, mindfulness, self-regulation, and social skills, but also loads of emotional health resources on the following topics:
- ADHD
- Anger Management
- Anxiety
- Autism
- Calming Tools
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)
- Depression
- Divorce
- Executive Functioning
- Grief
- Learning Disabilities
- Perfectionism
- Picky Eating
- School Refusal
- Selective Mutism
- Separation Anxiety
- Sleep
In addition to these resources, there are also parenting materials related to these topics:
- Back to School
- Beginning Kindergarten
- Behavioral Challenges
- Coping with Tragedy and Violence
- Developmental Expectations
- Gender Identity
- Homework
- LGBTQ+
- Preschool
- Race and Racism
In relation to Race and Racism, you may know that the district has an SPS Equity Committee and Peter Noyes has its own Equity Team as well. Our main focus this year is anti-racism. Mrs. Moffat and I along with several SPS administrators participated in intensive summer work around anti-racism. We read the book Unconscious Bias in Schools by Dr. Tracey A. Benson and Sarah E. Fiarman this summer and participated in workshops with Dr. Benson and his team along with 1:1 coaching. Dr. Benson spoke to all SPS staff on our Opening Day in August. Several Noyes teachers are also reading Dr. Benson’s book right now.
In the past few years, our Noyes Equity team has concentrated on expanding our literature offerings in classrooms. We wanted to be sure we represented different groups of people, as well as hard historical topics like racism. For example, here are some of the books we added to classroom libraries and Read Alouds:
- All are Welcome By: Alexandra Penfold & Suzanne Kaufman (preK-K)
- Most People by Michael Leannah (1)
- Dreamers by Yuyi Morales (2)
- The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson (3)
- Not so Different, by Shane Burcaw (4)
- Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson (4)
- Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre (5)
For this year, we are formulating our Noyes Equity Team goals, but we know we are focusing on anti-racism. If you have any feedback for our Noyes Equity Team, we welcome your input. Please reach out to me via email or by phone at school - 978-443-1085, x6002.
As always, thank you for your continued support. We appreciate your partnership. I hope to see many of you at the Fall Fest tomorrow!
Warmly,
Annette Doyle
Principal
From The Nurse's Office
The health office is looking very much like it did pre-pandemic with routine visits from students, vision and hearing screenings, and only a few cases of Covid-19 so far. There
have been many respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses however, so it is still important to keep your child/ren home if they are ill.
One benefit of the pandemic was that we did not have any cases of head lice due to the social distancing and reduced group activities. But unfortunately, lice have found a way to survive and are making an appearance again in our schools. Following is some information to help you check your child/ren and also how to treat a case should you have the need.
Pediculus Humanus Capitis, or, as they are more commonly referred to: Head Lice. The words strike fear in the hearts of parents of school age children. Each year approximately six million children are affected, and every parent dreads the call from the school nurse informing them that their child's head has become the host for a family of insects. Head lice have been around for hundreds of years. Cleanliness or personal hygiene have no bearing on whether head lice will affect your family. In fact, they seem to prefer clean, healthy heads. Please do not be embarrassed to notify the health office as well as parents of your child's playmates if you discover your child has head lice. Parental cooperation will help prevent the spread to others.
Head lice cannot jump or fly. They are crawling creatures and are spread by direct, prolonged head to head contact, such as during a sleepover, sleep-away camp, or close cuddling with a sibling, parent, or friend. There is also a risk of transmission from the sharing of hairbrushes, pillows, hats or headbands. Close family members are at risk for contracting lice and must be checked as frequently as the affected child. Head scratching is the most common symptom of head lice, although it can take up to 6 weeks before the scalp is sensitized to the saliva from the lice to cause itching. Check for lice and nits (eggs) in a well-lit area. Lice are wingless insects about the size of a sesame seed. Because of their color and speed, they aren’t easy to find. Diagnosis is usually made due to the presence of the eggs, or nits. Bright sunlight is best, but in New England we have many cloudy days (and short ones in winter!) so having your child sit under a bright light will make seeing the lice or nits much easier. Nits are tiny, grayish-white eggs shaped like a tear-drop. They are found on individual hair shafts approximately ¼ inch from the scalp. Favorite spots are behind the ears, at the crown of the head, or the nape of the neck. An adult female louse will lay an average of 125 eggs during her 30 day lifecycle. These are attached to the hair shaft with a glue-like substance. Unlike dandruff or lint, they will not wash off or blow away, but need to be manually pulled off. Nits need the warmth of the scalp to remain viable. Nits found farther down the hair shaft are generally unable to survive. Eggs hatch between 3-10 days, but the nit casing remains cemented to the hair shaft. The nymph stage lasts between 7-21 days before it becomes a mature adult able to reproduce.
It is a good idea to screen your children’s heads often, especially at the start of the school year and after school vacations. If your child attends camp in the summer, they will most likely be checked upon arrival, and you should check them upon their return home. Checking the hair involves lifting small sections of hair away from the scalp and examining it carefully. Check close to the scalp from different angles. Depending on hair color, nits can be very hard to see.
If your child does have head lice, treatment is a two-step process involving the use of a pediculicidal shampoo and nit removal. Follow product directions carefully when using the shampoo. NO TREATMENT CAN AVOID THE PAINSTAKING MANUAL REMOVAL OF NITS. This is the most important part of the treatment process, and involves using a special fine tooth metal nit comb to comb through small sections of hair. The comb will pull the nits from the hair shaft, or you can use your thumbnail and finger to pull the nits off. The use of a white conditioner and metal comb has been found helpful as well. When combing through the hair after applying the conditioner, if you see black pepper like flakes, those are the nits. When you no longer see any black flakes, you have cleared that section of the hair.
Treatment of personal items and the environment is necessary as well. All washable clothing and linens must be washed in hot water and dried in a hot dryer. Careful vacuuming of rugs, furniture, car seats and mattresses must be done. Combs, brushes, etc. can be soaked in hot (boiling) water for 15 minutes. Articles that cannot be washed or dried can be sealed in a plastic bag for 2 weeks. Change bed linens often. Keep in mind however, that lice depend on human blood for survival and typically die within 24 hours without a human host, i.e. human head.
While treating head lice can be a time consuming and emotionally draining experience, be assured that lice do not spread disease. Your child is exposed to many more highly contagious viruses in a school environment, especially during the winter months. We no longer exclude children from school due to the presence of lice or nits as this policy is no longer supported by the Academy of Pediatrics of the National Association of School Nurses. With the cooperation of all parents we can work together to treat an outbreak and prevent additional cases. If caught early, it is much easier to treat. Please feel free to call me with any questions or concerns you may have.
Carol Bradford, R.N.
Picture Retake Day is Tuesday, November 1st!
Lunch/Recess Volunteers
Peter Noyes Elementary School
Email: kristin_moffat@sudbury.k12.ma.us
Website: http://bit.ly/PeterNoyes
Location: 280 Old Sudbury Road, Sudbury, MA, USA
Phone: 978-443-1085
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peter.noyes.3
Twitter: @NoyesSchool