Important Dates 

September 7 -  PTA Movie Night in the Upper Field, 7:00 pm

September 10 & 11 - Rosh Hashanah,  school closed

September 12 -  Lice Screening

September 17  - Grades 3 & 4 Back-to-School Night, 6:30 pm

September 19 - Yom Kippur,  school closed

September 20 -  Grades 1 & 2 Back-to-School Night, 6:30 pm

September 22 -  PTA Annual Fall Festival at the Upper Field, 12-4 pm

September 24 - PTA Food Service begins

September 25  - Kindergarten Back-to-School Night, 6:30 pm

October 5 - Picture Day

October 8 - Columbus Day,  school closed

October 31 - Halloween Parade

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CET Newsletter September 7, 2018

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

Message from the Principal, Mrs. Kelly Maloney

Dear CET Families,    

We had a great start to the 2018-19 school year despite the extreme heat! Thankfully our new HVAC system was up and running in the 3rd and 4th grade wings. As part of the capital improvement project the ventilation system in these wings were upgraded to include air conditioning! Although not all classrooms are air conditioned, we did our best to share classrooms when they were not in use.  Other capital improvement projects included new lighting in the 3rd and 4th grade wings as well as the repaving and widening of our back parking lot. The District Office parking lot is now available for visitor parking. We are still in the process of building a storage area to house the dumpsters.

Just a reminder that only students in 3rd and 4th grade are permitted to walk or ride their bikes to school. A note should be sent in to their teacher stating that they will be a walker. Please review pedestrian and bicycle safety rules with your child.  A bike rack is located at the back of the school, and another one will be in the front.

A lot of information has been sent home this week. Please be sure to check your child’s backpack for milk forms, Tiger Cub contracts, PTA membership forms, and Internet agreement forms to name a few!   Much of what has been sent home, can be found on our website under the Forms tab or under the CET PTA tab. 

As a way to keep you in the loop with what is happening at CET, a biweekly newsletter (this newsletter) will be sent home via K12 Alerts. Additionally, your child’s teacher will keep you updated through newsletters and emails.  Each teacher has a web page that can be accessed through our chufsd.org website under the Class Pages tab. I have also taken to Twitter to highlight the great stuff occuring at CET! Please consider following us at #CETelementary. If not, you can always see our tweets on our CET website (at the bottom right corner).  If you do not want your child’s picture publicized, please be sure to complete the form “Withholding of Consent to Appear in School District Media Releases” (Policy 1130-E). Once again, this document can be found on our website under Forms.

Mrs. Bianchi and I look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming Back to School Nights. We will begin the night with a general meeting in the Multipurpose Room.  Afterwards, you will go to your child’s classroom to meet their teacher and hear about grade specific curriculum, student expectations, and special events.

Enjoy the cooler weather!

Warmly,

Kelly Maloney,  CET Principal

News from the Assistant Principal, Mrs. Kerri Bianchi

Each year I like to focus my first newsletter article on the importance of Social Emotional Learning.  At CET we strive to create a community of accepting and empathetic staff and students.  This year we will continue to revisit our REACH expectations and acknowledge students who display Respect, Effort, Acceptance, Cooperation and Honesty.  Over the next week or so, Mrs. Fitzgerald, School Psychologist and Mrs. Woolley, School Counselor, and I will spend time talking with each grade level about how REACH should look in various parts of the building.  I would like to share the expectations with you so that you can feel comfortable reinforcing these expectations at home.  Students show respect by listening and following the directions of their teachers, teacher aides, lunch monitors, and other adults in the building and by using kind words, using equipment and materials correctly and treating others the way that they would like to be treated.  Students show effort by, always doing their best and trying to include others.  They demonstrate acceptance by taking responsibility for themselves and their actions and by embracing differences in others and getting to know them.  Our students show cooperation by taking turns, following directions and helping out when needed. Finally, CET students demonstrate honesty by being truthful, taking responsibility for their actions, playing by the rules and showing good sportsmanship.  During the grade level assemblies we will also reinforce the concept of our CET Buddy Bench which is located in the center of the playground.  We will explain to students that the Buddy Bench is a place that students can go if they are feeling lonely or having difficulty finding someone to play with.  We encourage students if they see someone sitting on the Buddy Bench to go over and ask the student to play with them.  By fostering and reinforcing these positive behaviors we are promoting a positive school environment where everyone lives by the Golden Rule.

P lease spend some time reviewing and discussing our Student Handbook at home and remember to have your child sign and return the Tiger Cub contract to school. Looking forward to a great year!

News from  Lauren Fitzgerald, School Psychologist and Robin Wooley, School Counselor

C.E.T. Elementary Counseling Services 2018-2019 

The School Counseling and Social Emotional support programs at C.E.T. are intended to help all children and their families have a successful elementary school experience.  We work closely with each other and all members of the Croton-Harmon community to ensure that our children have the social and emotional skills necessary to be independent lifelong learners, able to contribute to the well-being of society.  Below are just some of the many services that are provided throughout the year to assist our students.   

• Classroom lessons focused on social and emotional skills
• Classroom observations 
• Short term building level individual counseling
• IEP mandated counseling
• Building level and IEP mandated small group counseling
• Behavior Interventions
• Crisis Intervention
• Check-ins
• Problem solve and provide support when dealing with personal problems 
• Help identify and assist students with academic difficulties 
• Assist administration with coordination of character education and other SEL programs.
• Coordination of Response To Intervention (RTI) meetings/services
• Assist staff in teaching curriculum dealing with social and emotional concerns
• Provide support for parents
• CSE/504 Coordination
• Coordinate assistance with school supplies and school lunches if financial assistance is needed
• Communicate with and make referrals to community resources and agencies when necessary

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.  We are looking forward to a wonderful year!   

Robin Woolley, School Counselor ~ robin.woolley@chufsd.org ~ 914-271-5184 ext. 3217  

Lauren Fitzgerald, School Psychologist ~ lauren.fitzgerald@chufsd.org ~ 914-271-5184 ext. 3224

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  WORLD LANGUAGE

     Welcome back to the 2018/2019 school year!  I am so excited that the World Language Program will be starting its second year here at CET!  At the beginning of this school year, all classes will be reviewing some topics from last year before engaging in new subject content.  This year as the curriculum changes and grows, new themes will be explored and topics from last year will be expanded upon in order to increase student’s proficiency in the target language.  As we complete each unit, your child’s work will be sent home in their backpack for you to view.  I ask that you periodically check my webpage to look for activities, games and songs that might be a helpful and fun way for your child to review topics we are studying in class.  I am looking forward to working with your children this year and hope to continue making learning a new language fun and exciting for them! 

Muchas gracias,                                

Señora Lisa Percoco  

News from Christine Martins, School Nurse

LICE!  

Lice.  No parent likes to get “that” phone call from me.  (Although, as one parent put it to me after I’d called to tell her that I had found lice in her child’s hair, she’d take a “lice call” over a “broken bone call” any day!”)  As dreaded as it is, it’s important to remember that lice (AKA pediculosis capitis) are more of a nuisance than anything else.  

Thanks to the CET PTA, the students in our school will be having lice checks next week.  So... what exactly are lice?  Lice are small insects that live close to the scalp.  A full grown louse (louse=singular, lice=plural) is about the size of a sesame seed and varies in shades of grayish-tan.  Lice are oftentimes hard to spot as they don't like light- once you part the hairs on the scalp, a louse will move fast to hide.  Nits (lice eggs) are easier to spot.  Nits are tiny, about the size of a poppy seed, but sticky.  They are attached to a strand of hair, close to the scalp, and will not blow away when blown on.  It is important to remember that nits WILL NOT spread infestation.  Only live lice will.  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) discourages the "no-nit" policy that some schools have.  According to the AAP, if lice are found on a child's scalp, they should be sent home from school, treated at home, and returned to school the next day.  If only nits are found, the child should finish out their school day, get treated at home after school, and return to school the next day.  Here at CET, we follow AAP's recommendations: children found to have lice are sent home, children with nits are allowed to finish out the school day.  Children treated for lice are checked by myself for several weeks following treatment.  

Which brings us to the actual treatment of lice.  It is an onerous but rewarding task.  Special shampoos and combs can be purchased over-the-counter at local pharmacies such as SaveMor or CVS.  It is best to follow the instructions on the packaging.  Most products involve washing hair with the shampoo and combing out the nits and lice with the comb provided.  This treatment should be repeated on days 9 and 18.  I say the words "onerous" because it is time consuming and "rewarding" because you will be able to visibly see each louse and nit as you comb it out of your child's hair.  It is important to wash clothes, bed linens, hats... in hot water and run them through the clothes dryer to kill off the lice.  Anything that cannot be washed should be bagged for up to 2 weeks.  

Lice are spread by close, hair-to-hair contact.  They do not hop or fly.  Please remind your child to not share hats, scarves, hair ties with other children.  Inspect your child's hair and scalp from time to time to check for lice or nits.  Lice tend to prefer the areas behind ears and at the nape of the neck.  

Please remember, while we all cringe at the thought of lice, it is only a nuisance!  A tedious, time-consuming, dreaded nuisance, but a nuisance none-the-less.  Lice does not reflect hygiene or cleanliness.  It does not reflect social standing.  Lice does not discriminate!  

Check out this child-friendly article on lice:  https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/lice.html?ref=search  

Thank you and Thank You to the CET PTA for organizing the Lice Check!

CET PTA

Dear CET Families,

ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL PROCEDURES

School will begin at 8:00 a.m and end at 2:25 p.m., with the first buses departing school at 2:35 p.m.

• All doors will be locked after morning arrival (8:10 a.m.) and remain locked all day.
• Visitors must enter through the front doors. A video intercom will be used to allow visitors access to the building. Visitors should be prepared to show photo ID.
• Students who are dropped off must be dropped off at the back of the building between 8:00-8:10 a.m. After 8:15 a.m., all students arriving must be dropped off at the front of the building.
• Students who are picked up at the end of the day will need to be signed out in the library between 2:25-2:40 p.m.

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 Updating You and Your Child’s Information in the K12 Alerts System 

To be sure we have the most up-to-date information for you and your child, you may access K12 Alerts by either logging on to the CET Homepage where you will find “Parent Portal/K12Alerts” or by accessing the Croton-Harmon School District’s Homepage and clicking on “Parent and Resident Portal/K12Alerts”. Once you log in to the K-12 Alert System, you will be able to make any necessary changes to your or your child’s information .

If you have any questions please contact Denise Cuomo, 914-271-4793, ext. 4200.