Important Dates 

November 11 - Veteran's Day, school closed

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

November 14 - Family Math Night with Greg Tang, 6:30 pm

November 26 - School Picture Retakes

November 27 - Early dismissal, 11:45 am

November 28-29 - Thanksgiving Recess, school closed

December 7  -  PTA Holiday Hop Around

December 11 -  Early dismissal, 11:45 am

December 13 - Winter Concert Parent Performance, 8:45 am

December 23 - January 1 - Holiday Recess,  school closed

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CET Newsletter November 8, 2019

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

Message from the Principal, Mrs. Kelly Maloney

Dear CET Families,    

With a possibility of snow in the forecast for next week, I thought it would be a good time to explain how a two hour delay affects our school schedule. All before school programs (band, chorus, strings, and early morning math) are cancelled on a two hour delay with the exception of Childrenspace. On a two hour delay, our school day begins at 10:00 am.  Any scheduled services that your child might receive such as AIS Reading prior to 10 am would be cancelled.  Lunch will be available as usual. Be advised that the menu listings on delayed openings may be changed due to food preparation time and deliveries.  

I want to give a shout out to our PTA Scholastic Book Fair coordinators, Meredith Hertlein, Kimberly Ragazzo and Ana Teague for their brrrrrrrrilliant work in setting up an Arctic themed Book Fair!  The Book Fair was well-attended, and the money raised from the All for Books Drive brought in over $2000.  This fundraising drive is a win-win!  Our CET library and classroom libraries received over $2000 worth of books and children’s charities received the donation as well as books! Ask your child what books were added to their classroom library. 

I hope that you all will be attending the Greg Tang Family Math Night on Thursday, November 14.   We want you as parents to see how mathematics is taught at CET, and provide you with strategies and resources that can help you help your child grow as a mathematician. Greg Tang’s work is grounded in students building flexibility with numbers, visual representations and application of efficient reasoning.  We are very grateful to CHEF who has provided the funding for not only a Family Math Night but for professional development for our teachers and Greg Tang school assemblies for the kids. Please read Mrs. Lynch’s article below for more information on Greg Tang. 

All students have spent time this week making cards and writing letters to Veterans. Thank you to Nicole Dinis and Ruth Sullivan for spearheading this work. The letters and cards will be distributed at the Veterans Luncheon at the Croton Yacht Club on Monday.  The 3rd grade Kindness Club plans to recognize local veterans at a school assembly on Friday, November 15. A K12 was sent last week regarding this event. 

For those of you who serve our country or served our country, THANK YOU for your service. Happy Veterans Day!

Warmly,

Kelly

News from the Assistant Principal, Mrs. Kerri Bianchi

In anticipation of the colder weather that is sure to head our way soon, I wanted to take this opportunity to review a few guidelines that we follow here at CET in order to have your children outside during the winter months as much as possible yet still maintain their health and safety.  Generally speaking, if the sun is shining and the wind is not too harsh, we will send our students outside if the temperature is above 28 degrees.  We do take into consideration the wind chill factor and the real feel temperature when making decisions regarding outdoor recess.   We encourage students to stay outside for at least 10 minutes on cold days but we do allow them to come in to the Multipurpose Room if they are too cold to last the entire recess time outside.   We also know that the building remains quite warm in some classrooms all winter long and that some children like to wear shorts to school.  With that said we recommend that children who choose to wear shorts in the winter bring a pair of sweatpants to leave in their book bags to put on for outdoor recess.  We also recommend that children dress in layers so that they are comfortable throughout the building.  With the cold temperatures becoming more regular we will make announcements to remind students to zip up their coats and wear their hats and gloves while they are outside.  Once we have snow on the ground, students are encouraged to wear boots and other snow clothes if they would like to play in the snow.  If your child loses a warm winter item please remind them to check the lost and found regularly.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation in dressing your children appropriately for the weather and labeling your child’s outerwear.

News from Robin Woolley ,   School Counselor   

Fostering Independence and Resilience in Children

One of the most important things we can do for our children is to foster a sense of independence and resilience.  Too often we try to protect them from the “bad” in the world, “fix” all their problems for them and make sure that they never feel distress.  We think we’re taking care of them, but are we actually doing them more harm than good? When I feel the need to swoop in and “fix” things after hearing about something that has upset one of my children, I stop and remember a quote from Ann Landers that my father shared with me when my first child was born.  “It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.” Listen to your child, help them identify how they’re feeling, empathize with them, and then help them to problem solve ways that they can deal with their feelings and maybe solve the problem on their own or with your help  Don’t rush in with your own ideas, but listen to how they want to solve the problem and encourage a positive solution. Sometimes you will get involved, but allowing them to take the lead on problem solving builds the critical thinking and a sense of accomplishment and independence needed to be resilient. Below are several resources on building resilience in children that I hope you will find helpful.

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/emotional-wellness/Building-Resilience/Pages/Building-Resilience-in-Children.aspx

http://www.fosteringresilience.com/7cs_parents.php    

https://www.heysigmund.com/building-resilience-children/    

https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Children-Well-ebook/dp/B00767930I

News from Christine Martins ,   School Nurse 

The Flu

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the flu is a “contagious respiratory illness caused by the influenza viruses”.  Flu season can last from early Fall to late Spring.  The flu can be a mild case, or a severe one.  Typical flu symptoms are fever, cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, fatigue, body aches.  (Please keep in mind that some people who get sick with the flu do not get fevers!)  Per the CDC, the flu virus is “spread mainly by tiny droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk.  These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby.  Less often, a person might also get flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes.”  Check out this fact sheet:   https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/influenza/seasonal/  

Please keep your child home if he or she is showing signs of the flu or any illness.  This is with everybody’s best interests in mind.  If your child is sick or unwell, they won’t be able to focus in class and will most probably have a miserable day…  You will also be exposing others in the school to whatever your child is sick with; classmates, teachers, staff as well as their own family members at home.  

The best way to protect yourself and your family from the flu is by prevention; namely, vaccination.  It is ALWAYS beneficial to get the flu shot, regardless of how effective it is for the current flu season!  ANY amount of protection is better than ZERO protection!  Getting the flu shot will help lessen your chances of getting sick with the flu and it might also lessen the severity and duration of the illness if you were to get sick.  Remember, flu season can last until May!  Speak to your doctor if you or a family member has not received the flu shot yet this season.  On a side note- it does take a couple of weeks after receiving the flu shot for flu antibodies to develop in the body; in other words, for the flu shot to become “effective”.  Get the flu shot sooner rather than later!  Check out this link for more information on the flu vaccine:  https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pdf/freeresources/general/strong-defense-against-flu.pdf

Another way of preventing you or your family from getting the flu is by preventing the spread of germs.  The CDC has posted this article on practicing “good health habits” to help prevent illness:   https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/actions-prevent-flu.htm  These six health habits are simple and easy to follow.  They include: avoiding close contact with sick people, staying home when sick to help prevent spreading the illness, covering mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing and throwing used tissues in the trash, washing hands often…  

Here in the nurse’s office, we also do our part to help prevent the spread of germs.  In between each student, we wash our hands with either soap and water or Purell.  Our desks, counters, cots, light switches, thermometers, stethescopes…are cleaned regularly.  I also review proper handwashing techniques with students when they come in to the office and have them wash their hands.  

To get more information on the flu, check out these kid-friendly articles with your child; they are available in English and in Spanish:

https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/center/flu-center.html?WT.ac=k-ra  

Happy November and stay healthy!  

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CET PTA   

This Fall has been filled with fun and festivities.  We want to thank everyone for joining us at this year’s Fall Festival, participating or shopping at the Book Fair, or baking for the Bake Sale.  There have been so many options to come together as a community and there are more to come…

The 2 nd Annual Holiday Hop Around (Pub Crawl) will be taking place this December 7 th starting at 4:15pm at Black Rock Kitchen.  You will receive food, 5 drink tickets, and the possibility of winning prizes for your holiday style.  We will be hopping around to various bars/restaurants until 7:15pm.  If you can’t join us for the hop, join us at the After Hop at the Grandstand starting at 7:30pm.  You will receive one drink ticket, food, and music from a live band.  Last year was a blast so buy your tickets soon at cetpta.com, at next week’s Parent/Teacher conference on November 12 th , or by sending in a check with a flyer your child will bring home soon.

At the After Hop, we will be picking the winners of this year’s Holiday Hop Raffles.  We have 20 raffles to choose from including Front Row seats to Moving Up Ceremony and a parking spot, Tennis with Ms. Maloney, After School Kareoke with Mrs. Horton, Senora Percoco, and Mrs. Rimoli, After School Gym with PE teachers, Kindergarten Lunch with your teachers, 1 st Grade Freeze Dance with your teachers, a Croton Raffle (Franki’s, Baked By Susan, Orangeberry, Black Cow, and Van Wyck Liquors), a Music and Arts Raffle, an Activity Raffle, and a Family Fun Raffle.  For more information, go to cetpta.com.  You can buy tickets for the raffles at Parent/Teacher conferences on November 12 th or at the After Hop.

We look forward to seeing you in your festive Holiday Attire.  If you have any questions, please contact cetpta@gmail.com.

News from Patricia Lynch, Math Teacher  

C.E.T. Loves Math! 

Broccoli is winning over Math homework!  Wha…..?  

Well maybe eating broccoli isn’t winning over math homework at C.E.T. but when children across the country were asked if they’d rather do math homework or eat broccoli, 56% chose eating broccoli! Why does math leave such a bad taste in people’s mouths? (pun) Teachers at C.E.T. want our students to be willing to work hard and think critically while enjoying math tasks. We are succeeding!   

On Thursday, Nov. 14, Math Expert, Greg Tang Jr. will be at C.E.T. all day.  Please consider attending 'Family Math Night' sponsored by C.H.E.F. Thursday evening.  You will have fun playing math games with your child and it will be better than eating broccoli – I promise!  During the school day, teachers will be collaborating with Greg and the students will attend math assemblies.  

If you have not watched Greg Tang Sr.’s Ted Talk, I encourage you to do so.  Here is the link:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnecUrHgTkc  

Also, check out this insightful Ted Talk from Dr. Raj Shah   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmsA0-ZvbfU  

Dr. Raj Shah has spent more than a decade developing ways to link video game concepts with the experience students have in the math classroom. He believes that if kids are happy playing challenging video games for hours on end, then it proves they have the two things you need to be successful in math: problem solving skills and perseverance.  

We want all of our students to be comfortable with the challenges that math brings and to really enjoy math.  A huge thank you goes out to all the wonderful C.E.T. families and to C.H.E.F. for supporting math learning!  See you Thursday night!     

MUSIC SHOW & TELL (GRADES K-3)

TIME CHANGE OF CLASS PERFORMANCE S

There has been a change in performance time for the K-3 Show and Tell performances. All performances will start at 8:45 AM. A reminder with the specific date will be sent home as they get closer. 
 
Thank you,  
Marlena Horton
Music Teacher

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MATH EVENT WITH GREG TANG

Wear your favorite shirt or jersey with a number on it on Thursday, Nov. 14!  We want to show Greg Tang that C.E.T. loves numbers!  

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THANKSGIVING DAY CREATIVE CELEBRATION

The New York Senate is sponsoring a "Creative Celebration" project.  The theme of the Thanksgiving Day Celebration is "What are you thankful for?" 

Please submit your essay, poetry or artwork for inclusion in the Thanksgiving Day Showcase. All entries must be sent electronically to harckham.nysenate.gov Deadline date for entries is 11/25/2019.

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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.



K12 Alerts
Patented (U.S. Patent No. 8,180,274)
K12 Alerts

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