Important Dates

January 16 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day -   School Closed

January 27 - CET report cards are available on the parent portal at 3:00 pm

January 31 - Principal's Coffee, 9:30 am

February 6 - Spring Afterschool Programs begin

February 10 - PTA Family Fun Night, 6-8:30 pm

February 13-17 - Kdgtn Registration by appointment.

February 16 - 3rd Grade Concert-Parent Performance 8:45 am

February 20-24 - Winter Recess,  School Closed

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CET Newsletter January 13, 2017

http://www.chufsd.org/schools/carrie_e_tompkins_es

Message from the Principal, Mrs. Kelly Maloney

Dear CET Families,

Happy New Year! I hope that you all enjoyed the holidays and had the chance to spend quality time with family and friends.

As we enter the new year, we will be focusing as a school on reducing food waste. Just before the holiday break, a fourth grade student brought this concern to me. The student noted that he observes students throwing away whole pieces of fruit on a regular basis. He observed that on Chicken Finger day, carrot sticks are thrown away, and that on Ice Cream Fridays, students rush through eating their lunch (or throw it away) so they can get their ice cream! So, in light of this information, this student suggested we form a task force of CET students to solve this problem! Those students who are interested (and we already have 10 students signed up!) will meet to brainstorm ways to reduce food waste. We have already identified a solution to help prevent food waste on Ice Cream Fridays-a time frame for purchasing ice cream has been established and students will not be allowed to get their ice cream until the specified time. As parents, you can help with the reduce of food waste by asking your child if they are eating everything that is packed. Students have about 20 minutes to eat their lunch. Is your child able to eat everything that you pack? What are they eating first? What do they save for last? Our lunch monitors will be reminding students to bring home uneaten food. Once we have our task force established, we will keep you updated as to our plans for reducing food waste.

As Mrs. Bianchi’s mentions in her article below, report cards will be available on the Parent Portal on the afternoon of Friday, January 27. The portal contains your child’s report card for this semester as well as report cards from prior years. You can also see your child’s performance on the STAR Reading, STAR Math, and/or STAR Early Literacy in terms of scale score and percentile rank. The STAR assessments are administered to all students three times a year (Fall, Winter, Spring). By the end of January, your child will have completed the Winter STAR assessment. The parent portal also contains the results of the New York State Assessments. Please be sure to read Mrs. Bianchi’s article to find out how to access the parent portal.

Our fourth grade students, their parents, and teachers participated in Colonial Fair Day today. Dressed in colonial garb-waistcoats, breeches, cloaks, cravats, trousers, shifts, caps, and wigs, students participated in various colonial activities and games. They enjoyed eating foods similar to what was prepared in Colonial Times. Thank you to all the parents who cooked and donated food. As part of their study of Colonial Times, students learned to sew! Each student made their own pillow! Thank you to all of the parent and grandparents who came in to help!

Mark your calendar for January 31. Our next PTA Principal’s Coffee will be on the topic of Mathematics.

Warmly,
Kelly

News from the Assistant Principal, Mrs. Kerri Bianchi  

In the spring of 2016 we opened up our parent portal to enhance communication between the school and our families. Our parent portal contains report cards, STAR Assessment results and 3 ^rd and 4 ^th grade NYS Assessment results. In our ongoing efforts to make information easily accessible while being environmentally mindful, we moved to a paperless reporting system beginning with the last report card in June 2016.  We plan to continue providing all of the above mentioned information in the parent portal for 2017.

If you would still like to request a hardcopy of reports, please contact the Main Office in writing.

If you already have a Portal account, then you don’t need to do anything. For new users, to register for the online parent portal:

• Go to the district website (http://www.chufsd.org). 
• At the top of the screen, select the tab Students/Parents. On the dropdown menu, click on eSchoolData Parent Portal. You will need your child’s identification number to complete the registration process. (This can be found on a previous report card or email  parents@chufsd.org for ID#).
• Click on the link “Login Screen”
• When the login screen opens, click on “Online Registration”
• Follow the directions to complete steps 1-3.
• A confirmation email will be sent back to you once your account request has been approved by the school district to the email address listed on the registration form.

We hope you register for the portal and support our efforts to be more environmentally conscious. If you are in need of support, please email your contact information to parents@chufsd.org.

The directions for registering for the parent portal are also available on the CET website.

Message from Vilma Torres-Pagan, School Counselor

As Dr. Joyce Brothers once said, “A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success.” All too often I encounter students who have a less-than stellar self-image related to their academic performance. The struggle lies with encouraging them to use appropriate self-talk that will positively affect their academic performance.

The following are words and phrases that can be used to inspire students in all areas of their life: 

1. I know you can do it.
2. Have a go, I’m sure you can do it!
3. I trust you to do that.
4. That would be interesting to try.
5. I have noticed how hard you’ve been trying.
6. See, you did it!
7. Give it a try.
8. You should be very proud of yourself.
9. That’s an interesting suggestion.
10. I can see that you have really worked hard.

For more tips on utilizing positive language to promote and encourage positive attitudes, please refer to a wonderful article I found: 

http://www.parenting-with-positive-thinking.com/Positive-language.html  

CET PTA

Ordering for the second lunch session will begin on Thursday, January 19th. This semester, we are going to try to have all orders submitted online. You will be sent the link for ordering in a K12 alert, various PTA emails and will also be able to find it on our website at cetpta.com. Please be on the look out! The second semester of food service will begin on Monday, February 27th.

PARP (Parents as Reading Partners) will be the week of February 6-10. During this week, there will be a student assembly with popular author Sara Pennypacker (author of Clementine, Waylon, Pax, etc.).  There will also be a parent/child reading contest and the contest winners from each grade will get to have lunch with Ms. Pennypacker!  Families will have the opportunity to purchase her books at a reduced rate. Order forms will be coming home soon.

Family Fun Night will be on Friday, February 10th from 6-8:30pm. This year, in addition to BINGO, there will be miniature golf and a life size angry bird sling shot game. More details will be coming soon. Please mark your calendars!

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at cetpta@gmail.com.

YOUTH WRITING CONTESTS

The Woman's Club of Peekskill & Cortlandt is conducting youth writing contests. Those that are interested should submit their short story or poetry by January 25, 2017 to:

Carol Flynn
Woman's Club of Peekskill & Cortlandt
14 Francis Drive
Montrose, NY 10548

Your child's classroom teacher has the entry requirements and waiver form.

  KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

Students who reside in Croton and will be 5 years old before December 1, 2017 are eligible to attend kindergarten. If you are in need of a kindergarten registration packet and/or appointment please contact:

Gail Anzovino
914-271-5184 ext. 3212

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DENTAL CONTEST

This contest is open to students in grades K-12. Create a dental poster depicting good and bad oral health. The paper or poster board should be no larger that 11x17. Entries are due by March 10, 2017. Have your child see Mrs. Maloney, Principal for more information.