Important Dates 

October 9 -  Yom Kippur, school closed

October 11 - Picture Day

October 14 -  Columbus Day,  school closed

October 20 -  Run Against Hunger

November 5 - Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 11 - Veteran's Day, school closed

November 12 - Parent/Teacher Conferences, 5-8 pm

November 26 - School Picture Retakes

November 28-29 - Thanksgiving Recess, school closed

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CET Newsletter October 4, 2019

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

Message from the Principal, Mrs. Kelly Maloney

Dear CET Families,    

I enjoyed striking up conversations with students about their favorite t-shirt today!  It was a great way to get to know students a little better. Our purpose for having students (and staff) wear their favorite t-shirt was to help facilitate conversations. By asking, “Why is that your favorite t-shirt?” connections can be made, and further conversation started. For example, one of our students wore a shirt with horses. When I asked her, “Why is that your favorite t-shirt?” She explained that her dad was from Montana. I then asked her if her dad had horses when he lived in Montana and she said “no, he had a parakeet.” Our conversation continued as I shared that I once had two parakeets, and I always wanted a horse!   “Wear Your Favorite T-shirt Day” is part of the Start with Hello program. See Mrs. Bianchi’s article for more information on this program. 

With Halloween around the corner, I want to communicate to you our Halloween plans. As a result of numerous conversations with various stakeholders including the Health and Safety Committee regarding the safety of our students, faculty, staff, and spectators,  we will no longer be holding an outdoor Halloween parade. We will however have an indoor parade on the morning of Halloween, Thursday, October 31.   The indoor parade is only for the students and staff; no visitors will be permitted to attend the parade.  We hope to have the parade videotaped and made into DVDs that can be purchased through the PTA. Students can wear their costumes to school.  Weapons, sharp objects, and masks that are bloody, scary, or obstruct clear vision are not permitted. We recommend that you keep any costume accessories at home as these tend to get lost.  Additionally, please send in a change of clothes for your child if they need to change out of their costume.  To help put us in the Halloween spirit, we have asked class parents to solicit parent volunteers to help decorate classroom doors the eve before Halloween. Stay tuned for more information about Halloween door decorating. Halloween is an exciting day for children and we want to do everything possible to make this a fun day while ensuring their safety. We thank you in advance for your understanding of the changes we have made. 

Dismissal time is a challenge for us and we need your help.  PLEASE do not make dismissal changes at the last minute unless it is an emergency.  We need all change in dismissal notes by 8:30 am.  Additionally, please email Laura Sherry, our Welcome Center aide, as well as your child’s teacher of any dismissal changes. You can also send in a note. The note (or email) should include your child’s first and last name, and teacher along with the dismissal plan. Our school website has a form, “A Note to School” under our Quick Links tab that makes communicating dismissal changes easy!  As I mentioned at Back to School Nights, bus change requests should not be made for playdates . Once again, we thank you in advance for your cooperation.  

Enjoy the weekend!

Warmly,

Kelly

News from the Assistant Principal, Mrs. Kerri Bianchi

“Start with Hello”

One simple word can make all of the difference in the world to a child who is feeling alone or isolated.  

This week CET students, faculty and staff participated in activities centered on the Start with Hello program.  Start with Hello is a program developed by the Sandy Hook Promise in hopes of addressing students who suffer silently from being left out or feeling alone/invisible.  The goal is to help students feel safe, accepted and seen.  The program raises awareness and helps educate students through activities, announcements and education.  At CET, we shared morning announcements about kindness and friendship and we encouraged students in all grades to sit with new/different classmates in lunch.  On Thursday, we all wore name tags so that students had experience greeting each other by first names and we practiced/modeled making eye contact and saying hello.  Many students spent time brainstorming and sharing conversation starters to engage with their peers. Students wrote positive/kind messages in chalk around the school and worked on including others in recess activities.  Friday morning students were greeted by the 4 ^th grade chorus as they sang the “Hello” song and held signs that said HELLO in many different languages. We also encouraged students to wear their favorite t-shirts to school to serve as conversation starters and a way for students to find things they have in common with their peers. 

The Start with Hello program helped to support our ongoing efforts to meet the social and emotional needs of all of our students.

News from Robin Woolley ,   School Counselor   

Social and Emotional Learning

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.  There are 5 core competencies as shown in the diagram below.  

I recently attended a workshop about SEL and we were asked to identify the most important competency.  As you can imagine, it was very difficult to come to a consensus.  The answers seem to vary based primarily upon what grade level we worked with.  While all of the competencies are important and overlap, I chose self-awareness.  For our elementary students, self-awareness seems to be the cornerstone of the other competencies.  Children who are aware of their own feelings and physical space and who feel confident and have a growth mindset can better manage themselves, their relationships and make better choices in their behavior.   

Here are a few resources to learn more about Social and Emotional Learning and how you can help at home: 

https://casel.org/what-is-sel/ 

https://www.cfchildren.org/blog/2018/09/lets-talk-sel-parents-this-is-for-you/ 

https://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning-parent-resources 

With this resource, you can sign up for a weekly email newsletter with free printables on developing a growth mindset: https://biglifejournal.com/ 

News from Christine Martins, School Nurse

When to Keep a Child Home With Illness 

It can be hard to know when to send children to school if they tell you that they do not feel well. Usually, the best place for them is in school, but there are some times when keeping them home to rest, or, calling your child’s health care provider is recommended. 

Please keep your child home and/or contact your child’s doctor for:

• Fever greater than 100.4 within the last 24 hours
• Having taken a fever-reducing medicine (Tylenol, Motrin…) within the last 24 hours
• Vomiting or diarrhea within the last 24 hours
• Severe sore throat, especially after exposure to strep throat infection
• Honey-crusted sores around nose or mouth
• Severe congestion, large amounts of mucous from nose, sneezes and coughs
• Severe ear pain, or fluid coming from ear
• Severe headache, especially with fever
• Eyes pink with yellow, crusty discharge 

If your child has a fever, it is not a good idea to give them a fever-reducing medicine such as Tylenol (acetaminophen), Motrin or Advil (ibuprofen) and then send them to school because as soon as the medicine wears off, the fever may return and you will be called to come and pick up your child. Also, a fever could be a sign of a contagious illness; by keeping your child home for 24 hours after a fever, or after taking fever-reducing medicines, you are ensuring that your child gets all of the rest he/she needs as well as preventing the potential spread of illness to others.

Vomiting and diarrhea are also signs of a contagious illness. Keep your child home for 24 hours after the last bout of diarrhea or vomiting. Your child will need the time to rest and recover. Again, keeping your child home will also help to prevent the spread of illness.

Please notify us if your child will be absent or late. We here in the Nurse Office also moonlight as the Attendance Office! You can call, email, or fill out an Absence Notification Form on the CET School Nurse/Health Office site. If we do not receive notice of an absence, we will call you to check up on your child!

Thanks and please call with any questions or concerns.

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CET PTA  

Welcome to Fall!  The PTA is busy organizing Picture Day on Friday, October 11 ^th and Fall Festival on Saturday, October 26 ^th . 

To order your children’s school pictures:

1. Go to www.all-starphotos.com

2. Click on “PRE-ORDER SCHOOL PHOTOS”

3. Enter the password “CET19” (all caps, no spaces)

Fall Festival promises to be lively with inflatables, crafts, performers, and carnival games.  Come with your appetite since we will have food from almost all local restaurants.

News from Patricia Lynch, Math Teacher  

C.E.T. Loves Math!

Children love to talk! Teachers love to talk! 

At C.E.T., we listen closely students’ math talk.  It is one way we check for understanding. Talking to your child about mathematical content is a terrific way to see what they know!  Better yet, your child may realize what they don’t understand and what they do understand. This allows them to adjust their own reasoning and will improve their metacognitive abilities and memory for math. When we verbalized our thinking or hear other strategies, we build our own math flexibility for problem solving.

Both children and adults need practice to work out the logic of their ideas and to put together a persuasive argument. This takes time! Practice with reasoning requires that we have other people to reason with — people who can respond to our own reasoning and share their reasoning with us. It is a win-win! Language development strengthens and complex grammar improves when we are asked to clarify our thinking.

Teachers at C.E.T., guide students to use precise math terms and more formal math language in our discussions. Mathematical reasoning is central to our standards. It is a valued and integral part of our district ‘Critical Thinking through Problem Solving’ focus. 

Remember, there are two math vocabulary links off of the C.E.T. Math Lab site under the ‘Student/Parents Resource’ tab. Click ‘Vocabulary and Representations’ -one link is general and the other lists math vocabulary by grade. 

Happy chatting!  

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.