January Newsletter
Dear Families,
Happy New Year!! 2015 is off to a great start here at the Boutwell.
The children all had wonderful stories to share about their holiday break.
However, now it is back to business. The kindergarten children have been
continuing to work with the Alpha Friends and many other literacy based
activities. It is amazing to listen to the children counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s
up to 100.
Our preschoolers are looking forward to participating in their annual
in School Family Snow Day. This day is one of the highlights for the
preschool students. It is a day when the students and parents wear their
pajamas to school and participate in “snow day” activities, such as arts and
crafts and reading stories.
The students enjoyed being a part of the PAC sponsored Random Acts
of Kindness raffle. Two students won the raffle and received a blow up
holiday decoration. Keep up those acts of Kindness. A very special thank you
to the PAC for providing all of our students and staff with Boutwell tee
shirts. The PAC will also be providing all the students with an enrichment
activity at the end of February called Exploring the Ocean.
From the Health Office:
We are at the height of cold and flu season and have been seeing cases of
Strep throat and both cold and flu like illness at the Boutwell. When calling
your child in absent please identify your child’s current symptoms, i.e. fever,
runny nose, cough, sore throat, in order for Mrs. Hilliard to track cases of
illness in our classes. Tracking illness in classes allows us to notify parents
when we see a cluster of an illness in a class. Per our school policy and the
MADPH, a student must be fever free (temperature under 100) and
symptom free for 24 hours prior to returning to school. This policy is
important in minimizing the spread of illness throughout the school
population. Please be sure your child’s temperature has been under 100 for
a 24 hour period when they also have not received any fever reducing
medications (Tylenol, Ibuprofen).
Is it the cold or the flu?
The flu and the common cold are both respiratory illnesses, spread through
coughing and sneezing, but they are caused by different viruses. Because
these two types of illnesses have similar flu-like symptoms, it can be
difficult to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone. The
flu is worse than the common cold, comes on quickly and symptoms such as
fever, body aches, extreme tiredness, and dry cough are more common and
intense. Colds are usually milder and are more likely to have a runny or
stuffy nose.
What is Strep throat?
Strep throat is an infection caused by streptococcus bacteria. It is spread
through contact with saliva. Your health care provider can diagnose strep
throat with a throat culture. Signs of strep throat may be a painful sore
throat with difficulty swallowing , headache, abdominal discomfort,
excessive drooling in young children, fever, red throat with white patches
and sometimes a rash. If your child is diagnosed with strep throat they will
be treated with antibiotics and should start to feel better in 24 hours. It is
important to notify the school if your child is diagnosed with strep. They
may return to school after taking antibiotics for at least 24 hours and are
feeling better. It is important that they take the medication as directed
and finish the entire course of medication.
Our school wide community meeting will focus on Kindness this week. I
am asking that each child please consider donating one non-perishable item
to help replenish the Wilmington Food Pantry. Please send your item in by
Tuesday January 13th.
I am including a list of dates and important details.
 PLEASE DO NOT PARK IN THE HANDICAP SPOT
 Wednesday January 14th Community Meeting
 Monday January 19th NO SCHOOL
 Wednesday January 21st PAC meeting
 Friday January 30th Early Release Day
Please remember to send your child in with the appropriate clothes
for the weather. We do go outside when the weather permits. Please check
out the blog on our website or follow us on twitter @boutwell36. Please
check out the new Wilmington Public Schools app free for iphones and
androids.
We are looking forward to a great New Year!
Stay Warm!!!
Mrs. Mahon