Important Dates 

October 21 -  Run Against Hunger

October 31 - Halloween Parade

November 2-8 - PTA Scholastic Book Fair, CET Gym

November 6 - CET Parent/Teacher Day Conferences,  no school for students

November 15 - CET Parent/Teacher Evening Conferences, 5:00 PM

November 22-23 - Thanksgiving Recess, school closed

November 27 - CET School Picture Retakes

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CET Newsletter October 19, 2018

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

Message from the Principal, Mrs. Kelly Maloney

Dear CET Families,

This week a number of our faculty members attended the first of three workshops on critical thinking and problem-solving. As you may recall these skills are represented in the Profile of a Croton-Harmon Graduate. The purpose of this professional development is to examine what critical thinking and problem-solving looks like in classrooms K-12, and to design learning experiences that promote critical thinking and problem-solving. What is critical thinking? As a district, we have defined it as “Critical thinking is the process of continuously asking questions while acquiring knowledge, developing a plan, evaluating a claim, supporting an idea, and considering different perspectives to revise and enhance one’s thinking.”  Through my classroom visits and observations, I do see evidence of critical thinking in action.   Just this week, third grade students were conducting investigations on plants. Students planted three types of seeds and tested how well they grew in different environments. Through daily observations and by measuring their seed’s growth, students are developing their own understanding of the germination process and testing out their understandings.  The emphasis of the Science 21 curriculum is on investigations that are student directed as well as hands-on and inquiry-based.

Another component of the Profile of a Croton-Harmon Graduate that we are focusing on this year is Empathy. Michele Borba, author of Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World , defines empathy as “Seeing with the eyes of another. Listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another.”   She identifies 9 essential competencies of empathy: emotional literacy, moral identity, perspective taking, moral imagination, self-regulation, practicing kindness, collaboration, moral courage, and altruistic leadership abilities.  Before students can empathize, they must be able to identify their own feelings and read the emotions of others. How do you know when someone is feeling upset or frustrated? How is anger different from sadness? Can you have more than one emotion at the same time? Can you have conflicting emotions?  At CET we use the Second Step program to help students develop emotional literacy. Read alouds, classroom discussions, and role-playing also helps develop emotional literacy. What can you do at home to build empathy? Expand your child’s “feeling vocabulary”. Add words such as annoyed, disappointed, ignored, calm, frustrated, distracted, confident, and anxious.  Turn the volume off the television for a few minutes and try guessing how the characters/actors feel based on their body language, or read a wordless picture book. Instead of asking how another person might feel, ask your child how do they feel? Children need to be able to express their own feelings before they can identify how someone else might be feeling.

With an emphasis on critical thinking, problem-solving, and empathy, we are working towards our mission of promoting a love of learning in a warm, positive environment, and empowering each student to thrive academically, creatively, and socially, and to become responsible citizens.  We appreciate all that you do to help us in this endeavor.

Warmly,

Kelly

News from the Assistant Principal, Mrs. Kerri Bianchi 

The Croton-Harmon Social Emotional Learning Committee (SELC) is excited to announce the 5 ^th  Annual district wide recognition of Unity Day on October 24, 2018.  SELC is charged with the alignment and monitoring of all district efforts that provide social/emotional support to our students, staff, and families.  

Unity Day is a nationally recognized day in which students and educators take a stand against bullying. 

Many activities are planned district wide as we join in uniting against bullying and celebrating friendship. At CET we have some special, developmentally appropriate ways of recognizing Unity Day. 

• School wide Assembly and Walk to kick off the day!
• “Mix it up Lunch and Recess”-Encouraging students to interact with new friends
• 4 ^th  grade announcements about friendship and unity will be made all week.
• All students are encouraged to wear orange on Wednesday, October 24 ^th .
• Staff and students will participate in a unity paper chain activity.
• Paper doll decorating will be offered. 

We are looking forward to an exciting week! 

News from Lauren Fitzgerald, School Psychologist  

Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation in Children

According to the Center on the Developing Child, through Harvard University, Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation skills are, “the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. Just as an air traffic control system at a busy airport safely manages the arrivals and departures of many aircraft on multiple runways, the brain needs this skill set to filter distractions, prioritize tasks, set and achieve goals, and control impulses.”

Over the past couple of weeks, I have begun teaching many of the students I work with about self-control or learning how to control one’s impulses. Some things that parents can try at home include:  

• Model when you are practicing impulse control by explaining your thinking process. Example: “I really want to do this, but I won’t because…”
• Practice “STOP and THINK” methods with your child. Have him or her STOP by counting to 5, taking deep breaths, or something similar. Then have the child practice asking questions like:
  • What will happen if I do this?
  • How will this affect others?
  • Will I regret this?
  • Encourage games where your child must wait, or where they must STOP and THINK before acting (Example: Simon Says)
  • Encourage your child to participate in team sports or group activities
  • Have your child learn to delay gratification by using formal waiting periods for things he or she wants to do or have
  • Require your child to earn some things that they want
  • Prepare your child for situations that require impulse control
  • Role play situations where impulse control may be difficult
  • Cue your child before they enter a situation that calls for a specific behavior you’re targeting and then reward them for using self-control

News from the CET PTA

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.