A Note From the Principal’s Desk:  

Fall is in full swing and the children are enjoying the extra outdoor time, nature walks, and seasonal curriculum activities.  We are planning some fun fall themed activities for our students this month and are excited to share photos with you all through Links 2 Home.

We will be having our Fall School Pictures are on Friday, October 16th.  We are taking safety measure to make sure the children are distancing and safe for this special event.

Starting on October 12th we will begin collecting food for the Elk Grove Food Bank.  We will have a box at the front door for you to drop off all non perishable food items.  We will be collecting until November 15th!  Our goal this year is to collect 500 cans!!!

Halloween, is one of the most celebrated holidays here at the preschool, and is just around the corner.  This special day will offer opportunities for fun and exciting activities where you will see the colors orange and black, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins, and scarecrows.

This year our Halloween celebration will be a bit different due to the Covid -19 Protocol that we currently have in place.  Our plan is to invite the children to wear their favorite costume and to go trick-or-treating here at the school.  We will be decorating the classrooms, and the children will go room to room.

Since parents will not have the chance to decorate their tables as in previous years, we invite you all to participate by providing your child’s class with treats for the school celebration on Friday, October 30.  We also invite you all to participate in the Family Scarecrow Contest that will take place all week from Monday, October 26 through Friday, October 30.  Drop off your scarecrow by Friday morning and we will announce the winner during our Halloween celebration on Friday!

SPECIAL EVENTS:

October 5th-9th                                        Fire Safety Prevention Week

October 12th                                              Columbus Day

October 12th                                              Kids Can Food Drive Begins

October 15th                                              Great Shakeout Day

October 16th                                              Fall School Pictures Day

October 19th-23rd                                    Dinosaur Week

October 25th                                              Picasso’s Birthday

October 26th-30th                                    Pumpkin Week

October 26th                                              Make Slime

October 27th                                              Pumpkin STEM projects

October 28th                                              Pumpkin Painting Party

October 29th                                              Pumpkin Patch/”Spook”tacular Pajama Party

October 30th                                              Halloween Fun/ Trick or Treating

A few friendly reminders …….

Illness Policy Reminder:

Our parents are vital partners in helping us to maintain a safe and healthy environment for the students in our school. The most important thing you can do to assist us in creating a healthy environment is to keep your child home if they are ill. This reduces the spread of illness and allows your child to fully recuperate. Children may not attend school until they have been symptom free for 24 hours if they display any of the following:

• Fever of 100 degrees of more—must be fever free for 24 hours with no fever-reducing medicine before returning to school
• Vomiting, diarrhea or stomach upset
• Heavy nasal discharge requiring wiping every 3-5 minutes
• Persistent, non-productive or barking cough
• Sore throat
• Skin rash, including diaper rash
• Head lice
• Symptoms of a communicable disease
• Fussy, cranky behavior unlike child’s normal demeanor that may indicate illness
  For more information please see our Parent Handbook or reach out to a member of our administrative team.

Parking Lot Safety

Please remember not to leave any valuables in your car (including your children) when entering our building or any other location. With the slump in the economy, thieves are getting BOLD! They are taking part in a practice  refer as “Smash and Grab”. They target mostly women’s cars who leave without a purse in hand who have left their purses, lap tops, etc. sitting in plain view in their locked vehicles! The “locked vehicle” does not stop them as they come prepared with a special glass breaking tool! They break your window, grab what they want and speed away!

Rules for Vehicles While On School Grounds: Because the safety of our children is of paramount concern to us, we require all parents to adhere to the following rules of the road while on campus:

1. There is a 5 miles per hour speed limit at all times while on school property.
2. Park in designated parking spaces only.
3. While on school grounds, pedestrians always have the right of way.
4. Vehicle ignitions MUST be turned off, and the keys removed, while parked on school grounds.
5. Children may NOT be left unattended in a vehicle at any time or for any reason.
6. Violations of these rules may result in a warning. If a violation is serious, or if violations continue, school personnel are authorized to take a tag number for a report to the local police.

Tuition Policy Reminder:

• Tuition is due no later than Friday prior to the week of attendance. Tuition is considered delinquent at 12:00 PM on Monday. A $25 late fee charge will be assessed at that time and should be included in your payment. Tuition is continuous throughout the year. There are no deductions in tuition for absences, illness, or the holidays that are observed throughout the year. Each child is entitled to one week of vacation credit for each school year after attending school for six months. Requests for vacation credit must be presented in writing to the office at least two weeks in advance.
• A charge of $1 per minute will be assessed for children picked-up after 12:00 PM for half-day students, and 6:00 PM for full-day students.
• Sign up for our Automatic Payment Program and avoid late fee charges via your parent portal, ALMA! You can also use this portal to submit payments via credit card.
• We encourage you all parents to sign into your parent portal, ALMA, to view your account, print statements, make payments, and update contact information.  ALMA is an online platform that can be reached from this website from the “For Parents” tab.  Please see an administrative staff member if you need help setting up your account or a password reset.

Additional Reminders:

• Please make sure that your child has a crib-sized fitted sheet to cover his/her mat, a blanket, and at least two spare set of clothing in his/her cubby. On Fridays, you must take blankets and sheets home to be laundered and return them on Mondays. Please check your child’s cubby everyday for soiled clothing or other items that may need to be taken home. Please also make sure all items are clearly marked with your child’s name (clothing, sheets, blankets, sweaters and jackets, towels and bathing suits, etc.).
• We ask that your child wear appropriate shoes to School in order to protect them for potential injuries. Flip Flops are not permitted at school.
• Merryhill provides a hot lunch as well as a morning and afternoon snack. We do not provide breakfast, but we’ll be happy to assist your child with breakfast brought from home until 8:45 AM. If you would like your child to eat breakfast at school, he/she must arrive by 8:30 AM.
• Merryhill School is a NUT FREE environment, we ask that you not bring any food items into the school that contain nut products.
• In order to keep you informed of everything happening at Merryhill, please check the Merryhill Links to Learning Parent Board and students’ files located in each classroom, our monthly newsletter, and our website. In an effort to establish prompt communication with parents please make sure to provide us with an e-mail address for up-to-date e-notifications