Cheetah Pride Press!
Weekly Update December 22, 2023
Head Cheetahs Message
Family,
The winter break has arrived, and we know everyone is looking forward to the break from routines. Hopefully, the week off will also provide time for our learners to gain strength and improved health. Andrea and I are wishing everyone a healthy, happy New Year! We are looking forward to an amazing start to 2024. And to all who celebrate Christmas, we hope your holiday is magical!
Best,
Joey & Andrea
Families, We Need Your Help
The safety and welfare of our students and staff is our number one priority. Please help us keep everyone safe and settled by remembering to do the following….
Morning Arrival is a very busy time at Memorial School. With so many vehicles coming and going, it is vital that these precautions be taken:
*The school day begins at 8:40. If you arrive with your student AFTER 8:40, you must park your vehicle and walk your student(s) into the building where they will be checked in and given a pass for class. Please DO NOT drop your student in the crosswalk and pull away from the parking lot after 8:40. There are no adults on duty at that time, as they have assumed their roles and responsibilities in their classrooms.
*If you choose to park and walk your student into the building PRIOR to 8:40, you must use the crosswalk. Please do not cross the bus lane between buses. It is very difficult for a bus driver to see individuals who are walking between buses. This is a significant safety issue.
Toys and Trading Cards: Please review the section of our 2023-24 Family Guidebook, titled “Personal Property and Toys:”
*The bringing of Toys and Devices to school by students is discouraged as a preventative measure to eliminate the disruption and distress that may occur as related to the use and/or loss of student’s personal property and toys. Personal property (including games, toys, trading cards) brought to school by students is done so at the student’s risk. Electronics including phones, music devices, and electronic games should not be utilized by students during the school day or on the school bus.
We appreciate your ongoing partnership!
Cheetahs In Action
The Building Is Bustling With Cheer
Preschool Snowman Show
Barnabas, The Therapy Dog Visits
Holiday BINGO for Incentive Winners!
Grade 3 Snowperson Project
Traditions Around the World In Kindergarten
Memorial Models
Memorial Models are chosen weekly by their teacher. These students have excelled all week in taking care of themselves, others, and things. The recipients will dine at a VIP table during lunch every Friday!
Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Pawsitive Office Referral
A PAWsitive office referral is submitted when a staff member recognizes a student who is going above and beyond to exemplify one of our three school rules - taking care of others, taking care of self, & taking care of things.
Cheetah Council Member Spotlight
​
Meet Lydia.
She is in Mrs. Hennessey’s room.
She is special because she has three brothers.
Her favorite things are her five fish.
She wanted to be on student council because you get to think of stuff to help the school and help doing it to make the school better.
She loves Memorial because it has great teachers and she has a great class.
Order Of The Cheetah
Tori Keplen is this week's Order of The Cheetah recipient! She is the long-term substitute for music. Tori comes in everyday with a smile. She jumped right into her assignment with positivity. She formed relationships with students and staff. Thank you for all that you did in the music room this month! You will be missed!
Notes From The Art Room
I wanted to take a moment to wish all families a very happy holiday season, and a peaceful and relaxing winter break. I look forward to seeing all of the little artists again in January!
Over break, please encourage your child(ren) to create! Draw, paint, build legos, (maybe) build a snowman, snow fort, snow sculpture!!! Any type of creativity and all sorts of materials make for the BEST way to flex and keep our artistic muscles strong!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Vining
Below are the different classroom expectations and experiences we’ve had during art class this past month:
Prek:
Triangles and Evergreen Trees:
Students in PreK learned how to recognize shapes and create a triangle using a sponge, and the stamping process. They used their eyes to look closely at photographs of evergreen trees. We talked about places we may find an evergreen tree, and why they are called “Evergreen” trees! We then cut our evergreen trees out, and added snow and some students chose to add decorations to their trees!
Kindergarten: Evergreen Tree Stamping:
Kindergarten students learned the printmaking process, and compared it to painting and drawing. Printmaking means we make copies, and copies are exactly the same every time. We also can explain that printing copies means we can make as many as we want! Students learned that printing can happen with all sorts of tools, including: sponges, math cubes, stamps, straws, toys, rollers, and cotton balls.
As we learned about printmaking, we learned how to “stamp” and created our very own evergreen trees! We printed a “ZIG ZAG” line on each side, to create a spiky looking shape for our evergreen tress. We looked closely at photographs of evergreen trees to find the zigzag. We learned how to make a line go “up,down,up,down”. We first filled our zig zaggy shape with green stamping, and then added a stump. Lastly, we added different details onto, around, under, and above our evergreen trees using all sorts of stamping tools! We had a blast learning how to make copies and practice printmaking!
1st Grade: Tints and Shades: Winter Wonderland:
Students in first grade had their fashion show with their belts and loved it! They also began a new art unit, all about COLOR and PAINT!
What happens when we add white to a color? What happens when we add black to a color? How many different types of light and dark colors can you make? Those are called “Tints” and “Shades”!
We used pencils after we practiced our color combinations to create a sketch of a winter inspired landscape, including a place up close (the foreground) and a place far away (the background)! We looked closely at how German artist Ernst Kirtchner painted a beautiful landscape painting, called “Sertig Valley” (1922)! We discovered that he not only made things look up close, and far away, but he also created endless colors with tints and shades. His snow was pink, purple, and navy blue! We were so surprised!
We will be completing a “Winter wonderland” inspired painting after winter break, where we will be using tints and shades to add variations of colors to our paintings.
2nd Grade: Chalk pastel techniques:
Students have learned how to use chalk pastels in four different ways. The techniques that were used include: Fill, blend, layer, draw, outline, and texture. The students also learned that there is a particular order to apply chalk pastels in order to best apply and utilize them. In order to complete our Canada Goose drawings, we applied and practiced the techniques in sequence.
We also learned that chalk pastels are a very forgiving material, although they cannot be erased, they can easily be layered over. We lastly learned about safety, and taking care of our chalk pastels. We were able to create the most beautiful colors and textures for our drawings. We can’t wait to bring them home when they are finished.
3rd Grade: Choice Art (continued):
Choice art has been very productive and students have been reaching goals with their art. Students have become much more confident with judging and assessing their works of art and going back to make improvements to craftsmanship and overall appearance.. The third graders are working in all sorts of media now, and students are creating works of art digitally, exploring sewing, printmaking, sculpture and mixed media. The work the students are creating is so authentic and incredible. I am so proud of their hard work and dedication to their own artistic voices. After winter break, students will be given an assessment to determine how much of the mature artistic vocabulary they are retaining, and will also provide an opportunity for them to practice those specific vocabulary words we are using in each art class.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ARTISTS OF THE MONTH!
The following students were recognized for their amazing dedication to their artwork, during each and every art class! They also demonstrate cheetah pride behaviors and are kind and caring students during art! I am so proud of you, keep up the great work!
K: Arlo Morton and Sai Doble
1st: Dawson Svetz and Samantha McDowell
2nd: Norah Engelhardt and AJ Goetz
3rd: Vlad Kuleba and Taryn Carey
Coaches Corner
Literacy News
Memorial students continue to build their literacy skills throughout the day. Students engage in rich discussions with peers and staff, they strengthen their listening comprehension through interactive read alouds and are given multiple opportunities to practice their encoding and decoding skills. As we are approaching winter break, we have compiled activities to keep the momentum going.
Books
There are so many wonderful winter books to share with your reader.
Here are some questions to ask after reading a fiction book:
What was your favorite part of the book? Why?
What is the setting in the story? Does it change?
Who was your favorite character? Why?
Would you have ended the book differently? Did it end the way you thought it would?
What was the problem and how did it get solved?
If you could change one thing in the book, what would it be?
Here are some questions to ask after reading a nonfiction book:
What is the main idea of the text?
What new information did you learn from the text?
What are some new words you learned?
Were there any features(charts, diagrams, pictures) that were important?
What questions do you still have?
Winter Writing
Use a journal to document fun activities
Write a letter to a friend or teacher
Create a winter story to share
Cooking
Many winter traditions involve activities in the kitchen. Have your child help read the recipe, follow step by step directions and share stories of your family traditions.
Visit the East Hampton Public Library for events over the break!
Nurse News
Please Read Important Updates
Dear Families of Memorial Elementary Students,
This is an important update! We are asking for your assistance in helping keep our school healthy and safe. We have been experiencing a surge in stomach bug, coughing, strep throat, pink eye and fevers as well as several covid cases. If your child tests positive for covid or any illness, please inform the nurse office asap as we track all illnesses. Positive covid cases should stay home for 5 days and can return on day 6 as long as it has been 24 hour fever free without medication. It is also encouraged to wear a mask for days 6-10 while at school.
We have also recently had several food items brought in to share in classrooms. Please be aware that non food treats are encouraged. If food items are brought into school for sharing, it needs to be store bought, prepackaged and made in a nut free facility and the school nurse must be notified at least 24 hours in advance.
Please consider the following guidelines, provided by the school nurse, for sending students to school:
Consider keeping your child at home for an extra day of rest and observation if he or she has any of the following symptoms:
- Very stuffy or runny nose and/or cough
- Mild sore throat (no fever, no known exposure to strep)
- Mild headache and/or stomachache
- Fatigue
Definitely keep your child at home for treatment and observation if he or she has any of these symptoms and remember the 24 hour rule:
- Fever (greater than 100 degrees. May return to school after 24 hours of no fever WITHOUT fever reducing medications)
- Vomiting (Even once. Must wait 24 hours after last vomit episode to return to school)
- Diarrhea (Must wait 24 hours after last episode to return to school)
- Chills
- General malaise or feelings of fatigue, discomfort, weakness, and/or muscle aches
- Frequent congested, wet, or croupy cough
- Lots of nasal congestion with frequent blowing of nose
- redness and discharge from one or both eyes
To help prevent the flu and other colds, please remind your child(ren) about good hygiene habits:
- Wash hands frequently
- Do not touch eyes, nose, or mouth
- Cover mouth and nose when sneezing/coughing and then wash hands
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick
Often when a child awakens with vague complaints (the way colds and flu begin) it is wise to observe your child at home for an hour or two before deciding whether or not to bring them to school. Your child should be physically able to participate in all school activities on returning to school. Keeping a sick child at home will minimize the spread of infections and viruses in the classroom. We use our nursing assessment and judgment when students come into the nurse office and make calls home as we deem necessary. Thank you in advance for helping to make this year at school as healthy as possible.
*Please also update emergency contact information! In case of an emergency or in instances where your child needs to be dismissed from school, it is extremely important that we be able to reach someone on the contact list. We have also been having trouble with parent voicemail boxes that are full and we are unable to leave a message.
Please also make sure to have a spare change of seasonally appropriate clothing for your child to keep in their cubbies!!
Remember to notify the nurse's office if your child has been diagnosed with any illness (or injury). The nurse tracks illnesses and will send a note home to the class if there are 2 or more cases in the classroom. If your child has an injury that has activity restrictions, please share with the nurse's office so we are aware and can notify appropriate staff members. We want to keep our students healthy and safe and your cooperation is needed to do so. We appreciate your assistance.
Kindly,
The Health Office Team,
Nurse Katie and Miss Michelle
Please contact your child’s pediatrician first. If unable to be seen, here is a list of
local walk in/urgent care locations if unable to be seen by pediatrician:
CVS Minute Clinic, East Hampton 866-389-2727
ProHealth Extended Hours, Glastonbury 657-5940
Middlesex Health Urgent Care, Middletown 860-358-4170
Colchester Urgent Care 860-531-9749
Save The Dates
December and January
12/23-1/1- Winter Break
1/2- Return From Winter Break
1/4- World Braille Day- Wear Bright Colors!
1/8- BOE Meeting 6:30pm
World Braille Day
Breakfast Menu
Lunch Menu
School Base Health Center
Safe School Climate
The East Hampton Board of Education and the school community as a whole promote a secure and productive school climate, conducive to teaching and learning that is free from threat, harassment, and any type of bullying behavior. Therefore it shall be the policy of the Board that bullying and/or teen dating violence committed against a student by another student is prohibited. The Board believes that a school environment in which students feel safe, supported, engaged and helpfully challenged is optimal for learning and healthy development. The Board seeks an environment in which students and adults feel socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically safe; an environment that is free of harassment, intimidation, teen dating violence and bullying. Our website provides links to various policies and reporting forms including our Safe School Climate Plan. Hard copies are also available in our main office. If at any point you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to building administration for further assistance.
Attendance Matters
Please note
When considering the number of absences your student has accrued, keep in mind that a student must be present for 195 minutes in order for the day to count! When bringing your student in late, or signing them out early if they have not been in school for a 195 minutes the day will be recorded as an absence.
Memorial School Attendance email:
memorial_attendance@easthamptonct.org * there is an _ between memorial and attendance!
Covid Protcols
Students, parents, and community members have access to an anonymous tip line on the front page of the school district website to report self-concerns, mental health concerns of a friend, or concerns of violence. Simply click here or view on the website: https://www.easthamptonps.org/.
Memorial School's Profile of a Graduate
Memorial Elementary School Contact Information
Email: jbauer@easthamptonct.org
Website: https://www.easthamptonps.org/o/memorial-school
Location: 20 Smith Street, East Hampton, CT, USA
Phone: 860-365-4020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ehmemorialschool