• Pick up time is at 4:20 at the cafeteria doors. EPS does not provide transportation for those attending this after-school activity
• IMPORANT: Lego League is a robotics based club focused on engineering skills including but not limited to teamwork, planning, development and execution of design, and the analysis and revision of plan based on outcomes. This program follows a very stringent process and students will complete the program with a public presentation. If your child is not interested in this program now that they have had an opportunity to 'test-it-out' please contact the office and we can unenroll them from the program.
• Students are provided an opportunity to have a snack prior to the club beginning. Please send a snack and drink for your child if you wish for them to participate in the break between school dismissal and the after-school program.

In order to ensure that confidentiality for all students is maintained, we must ask that if students have these devices, they have teachers hold them, or keep them in their backpacks for safe keeping. As a school, it is our policy not to allow texting, sending or taking photos, or recoding others. Additionally, these devices are not to be used during any testing to ensure fidelity of the testing environment. Finally, Eli Whitney and Enfield Public Schools is not responsible for lost or stolen devices.

• Please call or notify the office no later than 2:30.
• Dismissal times become very hectic, calling the office by 2:30 will help us make sure that your child and their teacher are notfied to the early release and the need to be ready to be picked up in the office.
• If you are picking up at 3:05, please remain in your car until the busses have left the parking lot. Our parking lot can get congested and moving through these spaces with cars and buses driving can cause unnecessary safety issues.
• When you do arrive at the front door, please buzz the bell and bring an ID for verification.
• Pick-ups at the front door may be delayed at 3:05 or after due to the need for students entering busses. We ask for your patience and will do our best to accommodate all needs.
• If there are changes to a students usual dismissal procedure, we must have an email prior to 2:30.

Students riding the bus have been provided with bus safety expectations. Ms. Fitzsimons and I have reviewed these expectations on multiple occassions. As an unstructured part of a student's day, children love to socialize without being monitored. In most cases, students are well behaved, noise levels are reasonable, and safety protocols are followed. However, most recently, students have had some difficulty following PACK behavior expectations on the bus. It has been reported to us that students are increasingly engaging in unsafe behaviors, switching seats and standing while the bus is moving, and throwing of objects. Additionally, students have been reminded to keep the volume at a reasonable rate, and to not engage in screaming or use of inappropriate language, and to refrain from disrespectful dialogue to peers and adults on the bus.

Ms. Fitzsimons and I have both ridden the buses, and have at times put a behavior tech on to assist with monitoring and modeling of expected behaviors. While we typically have younger students seated in the front and older students in the back of the bus, this may not remain the practice if we need to address specific behaviors. Though we know a seat change can be disappointing for some, our goal is, and will continue to be, to seat students where they can be the most successful and ensure safety. Changes that impact HMS students are coordinated with HMS administration.

Thank you for your understanding, and I thank you in advance for any assistance that you can give us by reviewing conduct and bus safety rules with your child.

Respectfully,

Mrs. Flanaghan, Principal

Reading: Character Studies

Writing: Baby Literary Essays

Social Studies: Role of Enfield in Connecticut’s History

Math: Finishing word problems and starting Fractions

Health: Nutrition

Math- Multiply Fractions and fractions as tenths and hundredths

Writing- Working on our informational unit- Bringing History to Life

Reading- Historical Fiction Book Clubs

Science- Finish up our Engineer and Design Unit

Social Studies- Start our last region- The Southwest!

• Math: Fractions
• Reading and Writing: Arguement, Advocacy and Opinion Writing
• Science: Space Systems
• Social Studies: Early Settlements moving into 13 colonies

Family Math Night is coming on March 30, from 4:30-6:00. Families (all ages welcome!) will meet in the APR and then break into smaller sessions to play math games. Student leaders who have had experience playing the games will help demonstrate. Families will walk away with fluency activities that their entire family can enjoy. Please join us!

The students of Eli Whitney have just completed the iDidiReady challenge as they followed mushers in the Iditarod, 1000-mile race across Alaska. Students were asked if they could complete iReady lessons to match the miles in the race before the dogsled teams finished the race. The students crushed to goal so quickly that we increased the challenge to 1,000 lessons for both reading and math. Again, they did not disappoint! Our school completed over 2,500 lessons in a two-week period, finishing before our final racer crossed the finish line. We will celebrate our victory the first week of April.

Please contact the school nurse, Jackie Rustic at (860) 763-7543 or at jrustic@enfieldschools.org with any health-related questions. Please notify the nurse as well with any specific health issues/concerns if you send the information to the classroom teacher. This includes new symptoms your child is experiencing, new health related concerns, and/or medication issues. No prescribed or OTC medications can be sent into school with student/backpack. They must be dropped off by a parent/guardian and a physician’s order must be provided to be administered in the nurse’s office. This includes cough drops. If you give your child permission to have cough drops in school, they need to be dropped off by parents with a note from the parent giving your child permission to have the cough drop in the nurse’s office only. Please provide your child with a reusable water bottle each day. Students are not allowed to drink from water fountains around the school, but they may fill their water bottle at them. We encourage our students to drink water throughout the day. Drinking plenty of water helps alleviate many complaints of headaches, stomachaches, and sore throats. Breakfast and lunch remain free and available to any student through the end of the month. Please remember to provide your child with a snack each day. We are unable to provide snacks for the children. Every classroom has a special time for snack daily.

The purpose of this email is to share a new resource for families from the Connecticut State Department of Education.

Educational, Safety, Mental Health, and Food Insecurity Resources

As required under Public Act 21-46, the CSDE has updated Educational, Safety, Mental Health and Food Insecurity Resources for Families and Students.

This resource also includes Support & Services | Wrap CT (connectingtocarect.org)developed by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF).

Please note: Public Act 21-116 requires each local and regional board of education to distribute the Support & Services information at least semi-annually to the parents and guardians of each student in the school district and to any student taking a course in health and safety and make the link available on its website.

https://www.enfieldschools.org/parent_support/esmhafir

Mark Dube

Coordinator of Health and Physical Education

Enfield Public Schools

(860) 763-7585