Week ending December 16th, 2016

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to invite Nurse Larkin to the Kindergarten meeting to share the "cough spot" presentation with our students. On an annual basis, for the past several years, we have spent the time reviewing the benefit of coughing into your elbow (instead of your hand) as a method of preventing the spreading of germs.  For more information :Cough Spot 

Caution: Your Kindergartener may have come home and told you that Mrs. Larkin showed them her elbow tattoos and that I sneezed on them! Rest assured, this is all part of the collaborative presentation we have been working on together for the past 4 years!  Mrs. Larkin has very convincing "stuffed animal" germs and we use a handful of pom-poms to show what it would look like if you could actually SEE the germs when someone sneezes/coughs!  I hide the pompoms in my hands and fake sneeze toward Mrs. Larkin and all of the colorful pom-poms go FLYING! This is all part of the student engagement process. Did they mention any of this to you? We would LOVE to know if you heard about this! 

The Cough Spot Tattoo (on Nurse Larkin)

Obviously, we do not want children who are sick to come to school, but we want to do whatever we can to prevent as many absences as possible! The statistics that show the difference it makes when students miss just a couple of days per month are vitally important to consider when you make the decision to keep a child home from school. The following link will provide you with some interesting facts about the significance of attendance and what you can do at home to avoid chronic absenteeism from school.

*We will be recognizing children who have missed one day or less during each quarter with a certificate of congratulations. 

Parent Information Regarding Attendance 

Attendance Works is a national and state initiative that promotes better policy and practice around school attendance. We promote tracking chronic absence data for each student beginning in kindergarten, or ideally earlier, and partnering with families and community agencies to intervene when poor attendance is a problem for students or schools. DID YOU KNOW? • Starting in kindergarten, too many absences can cause children to fall behind in school. • Missing 10 percent (or about 18 days) can make it harder to learn to read. • Students can still fall behind if they miss just a day or two days every few weeks. • Being late to school may lead to poor attendance. • Absences can affect the whole classroom if the teacher has to slow down learning to help children catch up. Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school—and themselves. Start building this habit now so they learn right away that going to school on time, every day is important. Good attendance will help children do well in high school, college, and at work. 10 Facts About School Attendance Worth Thinking About TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20th WHOLE SCHOOL PAJAMA DAY AT WAWALOAM SCHOOL Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!  Melissa Marino  @MelissaMarino9   #ewgrsd COMMUNITY NEWS *CLASS OF 2019 BREAKFAST WITH SANTA EVENT CANCELED Unfortunately the Breakfast with Santa event scheduled for Saturday, December 17th has been canceled due to lack of ticket sales.