Sad News

Your child should have brought home a letter on blue paper today - it talks about a student who attended Mater Dei that passed away on Monday.

I wanted to let you know that I talked about the student's death with the class. I told them that we don't have a lot of information about what happened - that all we really know is that she became ill and, sadly,  died. There were a lot of different stories floating around about it all today (among adults - not the kids) so I thought it was important to clarify with them that sometimes it takes time to learn what really happened after a person dies and that sometimes rumors are spread when people aren't sure exactly what happened. We talked about H1N1 (because that was a big concern among some parents) and discussed all of the ways we are already working to prevent the spread of germs. I wanted to be sure to calm their worries so that we remember not to overreact when we see someone who is sick.

We also talked about how how the student's classmates, friends and family may be feeling and about how we have felt when someone we cared about passed away. The kids shared what things help them to feel better when they are feeling sad and we decided that it would be nice to make cards for the students, expressing our sadness about what happened and trying to give them a reason to smile. Together, we came up with some appropriate sentiments to include and the kids began their cards in class. Some children brought theirs home to finish, while others finished in class. You may wish to talk to your child about our discussion and check in on how s/he is feeling about it.

I want to reassure you that, as a school that believes health is very important, we talk a lot about the importance of hand washing before we eat (snack and lunch) and after using the restroom. I have hand sanitizer available (any time they need it) and we are careful to wipe down the tables before we eat our snack in the classroom. I also remind them to cough into their elbow or their shirt and to dispose of tissues after using them.