Dear Sprague Community, February is almost over, but we do get an extra day this year with the leap year. It feels like a turning point in the year as we have passed both the 90-day mark and the 100th day mark. Many of our youngest students celebrated the 100th day of school before vacation by dressing up like they were 100 years old! Very cute! Speaking of dressing up, the annual A-Catemy Awards at Sprague will take place for students on March 4th. Students vote for favorite book titles during library class and those books win awards, similar to the Academy Awards. This coincides closely with “Read Across America Day,” which always takes place on March 2—Dr. Seuss’ birthday. On March 4, students are encouraged to dress up and be glamorous for these A-Catemy awards—by now you must have picked up on the “Dr. Seuss–Cat in Hat” pun here. There will even be a RED carpet for entering the school gathering that day, so look in your closets for sequins, boas, sport coats, and sunglasses! Teachers like to dress up too! New Custodian Although we will forever miss Jack Glorioso, we are pleased to welcome Luigi Gigliotti as our new second shift custodian. Luigi will begin working at Sprague on Wednesday, February 24th. He joins us after working at WMS. Remind.com Ms. H, our art teacher, has set up a very cool site on remind.com where parents can see student artwork and learn a little about lessons at different grade levels each week. Sign up to get the notices and see the artwork! You can email Ms. H. at holzapfelk@wellesleyps.org with any questions about signing up. Notice about WPS Website The Wellesley Public Schools is seeking feedback from parents about needs and wants for a new WPS website. Thanks to a WEF Grant, we are planning to do a major update to the WPS website http://www.wellesley.k12.ma.us/ over the next few months with our primary goal to make it mobile responsive for viewing on smartphones and tablets. At the same time we would like to take the opportunity to improve it in other ways so that it is meeting the needs our staff, parents, students and community members. Please take our brief survey to give us your feedback. Questions? Amy Ritterbusch ritterbuscha@wellesleyps.org Survey Link: http://goo.gl/forms/6AEQu6oUXB CPK Tonight is the night to go to California Pizza Kitchen! See the attached flyer for the Sprague fundraiser. cpk Fundraising_Flyer_Template.docx Open House-Save the date-March 18 The Sprague Open House will take place on Friday, March 18 between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. Parents are invited to come see student work anytime between these hours. More information will follow in March. Spanish: Spanish classes are up and running in grades K-2. Next year, we hope to add Spanish in grade 3 at Sprague and at Hardy. The other elementary schools will offer Spanish in grades K-2 next year. I found this Spanish resource with a few fun and simple videos and games you might find interesting and wish to share with your child: http://ket.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/exploraciones From the Nurse: February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, a time to highlight the importance of oral health. Developing good oral health habits at an early age and scheduling regular dental visits helps children get a good start on a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums. Are you prepared for a dental emergency? Thousands of dental emergencies—from injuries to a painful, abscessed tooth—take place every day. Would you know what to do if your child broke a tooth or had a tooth knocked out while playing? What if you had a bad toothache in the middle of the night and couldn’t get to the dentist until the next day? Knowing what to do can lessen the pain and save a tooth that might otherwise be lost. Keep your dental office phone number and an emergency number where the dentist can be reached after hours with other emergency numbers, such as your family doctor, and fire and police departments. Some families post these numbers on the refrigerator or inside a kitchen cabinet door. Call the dentist immediately for instructions on how to handle a dental emergency. Toothache: Rinse the mouth with warm water to clean it out. Gently use dental floss to remove any food or other debris that may be caught between the teeth. Never put aspirin or any other painkiller against the gums near the aching tooth because that could injure gum tissue. If the toothache persists see the dentist. Don’t rely on medications that may temporarily relieve pain. Your dentist should evaluate the condition. Knocked-out (avulsed) tooth: Try to find the tooth; this may not be as easy as you think if the injury took place on a playground, basketball court or while skateboarding. Hold the tooth by the crown and rinse the root in water if the tooth is dirty. Don’t scrub it or remove any attached tissue fragments. If possible, gently insert and hold the tooth in its socket while you head to the dentist. If that’s not possible, put the tooth in a cup of milk and bring it to the dentist. Time is critical for successful reimplantation, so get to your dentist immediately. Broken tooth: Rinse your mouth with warm water to clean the area. Use cold compresses on the outside of the cheek to help reduce the swelling. Call the dentist. Tongue or lip bites or wounds: Clean the area gently with a clean cloth and apply cold to reduce swelling. If the bleeding can’t be controlled, go to an emergency room or clinic. You may be able to reduce bleeding from the tongue by pulling it forward and using gauze to put pressure on the wound. Objects caught between teeth: Try to gently remove the object with dental floss. Never use a sharp instrument to remove any object that is stuck between teeth. If you can’t dislodge the object with floss, contact your dentist. Possible fractured or dislocated jaw: Pain, swelling, bleeding from the mouth, decreased jaw mobility, facial numbness and bruising are all signs of a jaw fracture; a dislocated jaw will cause deformity so that the teeth do not line up as usual, abnormal bite and difficulty with speaking. Apply cold compresses to control swelling. Go to the emergency room immediately. Hopefully we’ll be able to avoid these situations, but it’s always best to be prepared to act if a dental emergency does occur. Sharon Dates to remember: Feb. 24: Walk to School Day (rain or shine, but hoping the rain stops) March 5: Kindergarten Roundup #2 in the Sprague library from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. March 11: Walk to School Day March 14: School Council @ 3:15 PM March 15: Multicultural Night will be rescheduled March 17: Kindergarten Parent Information Night 6-7 PM March 18: Open House—Parents invited between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. March 25: Good Friday—no school
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