Important Dates 

January 29 -  Early dismissal, 11:45 am

January 29 - Parent University, 7-9 pm, CHHS

January 31 - Pocketbook Bingo, 6:00 pm, Multipurpose Room

January 31 -  Report cards

February 5 - Principal's Coffee, 9:30 am

February 10-14 - Kindergaraten Registration, by appointment only

February 17-21 - Winter recess,  schools closed

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CET Newsletter January 24, 2020

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

Message from the Principal, Mrs. Kelly Maloney

Dear CET Families,

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” This question has been posed by our art teacher, Mrs. LaFuente, to all second grade students. Students are currently creating self portraits that depict their chosen career or trade. They have been discussing a wide array of careers and trades including some unique careers such as farrier and pastry chef.  One of our students is interested in being a research scientist to find a cure for Alzheimer's! Of course, there are a number of students who want to be professional athletes and even more who want to design computer games or be Youtubers! Ask your child what they want to be when they grow up or better yet, tell them what you wanted to be when you were their age! 

Our Principal’s Coffee this month was on the topic of technology. Our Director of Technology,  Deba August, spoke about student privacy and shared digital safety tips. She shared a plethora of resources that can be found on the district website.  One site that she recommends for parents is commonsensemedia.org .     I spoke about how technology is used to support student learning and instruction, and the devices that we have in classrooms (iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, desktops). A few parents wanted to know specifically what  digital resources and programs their child was using and the amount of screen time their child was exposed to during the school day. As educators, we are very mindful of the amount of screen time a child is given, and as a result screen time is limited. In the primary grades, students rotate through centers, one of the centers often includes the use of technology.  In the intermediate grades, students are using technology programs to reinforce mathematical skills and concepts, and to acquire and share information. They are learning how to use the Google platform to create and share documents. If you have any questions regarding the use of technology in your child’s classroom, please reach out to your child’s teacher. They would be happy to discuss this with you.  

The Principal’s Coffee also included a presentation on Wait Until 8th , a national grassroots initiative to help alleviate the stress felt by children and parents over having a smartphone . CET parent, Jeff Hirsch, spoke in depth about the pledge, and will be presenting again at the Parent University on January 29. The presentation was well-received; it was relevant, informative, and provided options that could replace the need for pre-teens to have a smartphone.

Report cards will be available via the eSchool Parent Portal on the afternoon of Friday, January 31.  In order to help you understand your child’s report card grades, I want to explain the scoring indicators that we use to communicate a child’s skills and understandings of the New York State Next Generation  Learning Standards . Each skill or concept is graded with a numeral system of 1-4. The difference between a 3 and 4 is the thoroughness of understanding. A “4” means that the child has an understanding of the concepts and skills beyond expectations and consistently exceeds standards while a “3” indicates that the child has an understanding expected at this grade level .  A “2” means that the child has a partial understanding of the concepts and skills expected at that grade level.  A score of “1” indicates that the child does not demonstrate an understanding of the concepts and skills expected.  For the January report card, students are graded based on where they should be and what they should know at this time of the year. 

The rating scale for Behaviors that Promote Learning communicates the frequency (consistently, sometimes, rarely) in which a student demonstrates behaviors that will help to ensure their academic and social-emotional success in school. 

All children receive report card grades in art, library, music, and physical education. 

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s report card, you should contact your child’s teacher(s) directly. If you have difficulty accessing the eSchool Parent Portal or if you would like a hardcopy of your child’s report card, please email or call Jean Flandreau in the main office. Her contact information is Jean.Flandreau@chufsd.org or 271-5184 x3215.  

Just a reminder that students have a half day on Wednesday, January 29 . Dismissal begins at 11:45 am; lunch will NOT be served. If there is a 2 hour delay, the half day will be cancelled. Students would then arrive two hours later and remain in school until the regular dismissal time (2:30 pm). Lunch would be served. If my Jim Witt long range weather calendar is correct, the weather should not interfere with our plans. 

Enjoy the weekend! Don't forget the Hoops for Heroes event taking place at the high school on Saturday, January 25th!

Kelly

News from the Assistant Principal, Mrs. Kerri Bianchi

Social and Emotional Learning continues to be a top priority and focus at CET.  We strive to find programs and approaches that effectively engage and benefit our students and staff while connecting to the development of the Profile of a Croton Harmon Graduate.  Through our Second Step curriculum, taught by our teachers in each classroom, age appropriate REACH assemblies and grade level lessons identified in our Social/Emotion curriculum, we strive to strengthen empathy in our students.  While it is essential to be empathetic towards others, it is also extremely important for students to learn to identify and regulate their own feelings/emotions.  To that end we are working with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligences to roll out RULER at CET.  The  RULER Approach to Social and Emotional Learning is a school-wide approach designed for use in kindergarten through eighth grade to promote emotional literacy, which includes Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating emotions.  We have started our RULER rollout by introducing a new “Feeling Word of the Week” each week.  Daily morning announcements pertaining to the word of the week include a definition of the word, a Spanish translation, a connection between the emotion and ones feelings of pleasantness and energy level, strategies to deal with the feeling and examples of how one’s body my physically react to the feeling.  So far we have explored the feeling words Excited, Annoyed and Bored.  Once students have learned to recognize their emotions they are asked to plot those feelings on a mood meter which measures and individuals energy level and pleasantness. Mood Meters will be appropriately displayed throughout CET and serve as a visual tool and reminder for students to identify and regulate their emotions.  The RULER approach also asks students and staff to express how they would like/desire to feel while they are at school and to develop Charters to serve as a guideline for how to achieve that feeling.  These Charters will be developed for individual classes as well as more generally to communicate expectations for recess and lunch.  It is important to have a common understanding of how people would like to feel and then provide a means for which they can achieve that desired feeling.  The RULER approach serves as an additional tool/approach to ensure that we are meeting all of our students’ social and emotional needs.

News from Lauren Fitzgerald,   School Psychologist    

Children’s Books about Mental Health 

Recently, I came across an article from the Child Mind Institute that reviewed many different children’s books about mental health. The article was also helpful because it split the books up by topics. Books are a great way to begin discussions with your children about hard or complicated topics. Unfortunately, I find that many of these conversations are happening at younger ages than we would expect because of different world events and living in a society that is so news driven. Below I’ve listed some children’s books that I like to use in my sessions at CET. I hope you find them to be helpful as well!

• I Said No! A Kid-to-Kid Guide to Keeping Private Parts Private
• Written by Zach and Kimberly King, illustrated by Sue Rama
• What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid’s Guide to Overcoming Anxiety
• Written by Dawn Huebner, illustrated by Bonnie Matthews
• Wonder
• Written by R.J. Palacio
• In My Heart: A Book of Feelings
• Written by Jo Witek, illustrated by Christine Roussey
• When Sophie Gets Angry — Really, Really Angry…
• Written and illustrated by Molly Bang
• When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death
• Written and illustrated by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown
• Red: A Crayon’s Story
• Written and illustrated by Michael Hall

CET PTA   

For those who want to want to share the Winter Concert with family or watch it again, we are offering DVDs of the event for $10.  The form is on the cetpta.com website.

Pocketbook Bingo is coming up.  If you are interested in having a fun night out with some friends, send in $40 cash in an envelope labeled “Pocketbook Bingo” and join us on January 31 ^st from 6:30-8:30pm at CET.  You can bring your own snacks or we will offer some for sale.

Lastly, you should have received home a Greeting Cards flyer.  If you are interested in purchasing the cards, the forms are due back by Monday, February 3 ^rd .  To see what type of cards are in each box, go to YouTube and search for Cards for a Cause.

News from Patricia Lynch, Math Teacher  

C.E.T. Loves Math!  

Your child’s C.E.T. report card will be posted online next week.  Although this may cause a little anxiety in parents and students alike, please know that in Math, as in all subject areas, students are assessed on their retention and application of the New York State Learning Standards.  Although the standards are updated every few years, they basically continue to revolve around the same grade-level concepts.  I can assure you that we are proactive with any Math Standards updates and plan extensively to ensure your child has ample opportunities to master these standards.  Our Eureka Math program is based on the EngageNY Modules and is ranked among the best programs for elementary level mathematics year after year.  

In addition, our district ‘Portrait of a Croton-Harmon Graduate’ goals are evident in our Math Program.  Our math projects and problem solving activities revolve around this portrait and encourage ‘out of the box thinking’ and extensions of the standards.  

Please know that we continually review data to ensure that student strengths and needs are identified so that we are providing the right level of support for your child.   We view your child’s success through a team approach with you.  We welcome your insights on your child’s progress and thank you for supporting these math goals at home.  If you would like to learn more about the general NYS Math Standards or our guiding ‘Profile of a Croton-Harmon Graduate’ information, please follow the links below.  Remember that all workbook pages and sprints (quick quizzes) can be found by grade level and module on the ‘Math Lab’ link found on the C.E.T. homepage under the Students/Parents tab. 

New York State Next Generation Mathematics Learning Standards (page 7 and 8 in particular) 

http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/curriculum-instruction/nys-
next-generation-mathematics-p-12-standards.pdf 

Profile of a Croton-Harmon Graduate 

https://www.chufsd.org/cms/lib/NY01913608/Centricity/shared/district/web%20docs/
Profile%20of%20a%20CHUFSD%20Graduate.pdf 

The eight New York State Next Generation Math Learning Standards are specific about the depth of understanding expected for mathematical concepts.  They are: 

1.     Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them 
The first Common Core mathematical practice standard is found in almost every math problem across the board. It means that students must understand the problem, figure out how to solve it, and then work until it is finished. While students work through more difficult problems, they focus on the process of solving the problem instead of just getting to the correct answer. 

2.     Reason abstractly and quantitatively 
When trying to problem solve, it is important that students understand that there are multiple ways to break apart the problem in order to find the solution. Using symbols, pictures or other representations to describe the different sections of the problem helps rather than always relying on the standard algorithms. 

3.     Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others 
This standard is aimed at creating a common mathematical language that can be used to discuss and explain math thinking. Prompting your child to participate in mathematical discussions will help build their overall communication skills. 

4.     Model with mathematics 
Math doesn’t end at the classroom door. Learning to model with mathematics means that students will use math skills to problem-solve real world situations. This can range from organizing different types of data to using math to help understand life connections. Using real world situations to show how math can be used in many different aspects of life helps math to be relevant outside of math class. 

5.     Use appropriate tools strategically 
One of the Common Core’s biggest components is to provide students with the assets they need to navigate the real world. In order for students to learn what tools should be used in problem solving it is important to remember that no one will be guiding students through the real world – telling them which mathematics tool to use. By leaving the problem open ended, students can select which math tools to use and discuss what worked and what didn’t. 

6.     Attend to precision 
Math, like other subjects, involves precision and exact answers. Exactness and attention to detail is important, however within this standards, we know that making mistakes in math is OK!  We learn from our mistakes! 

7.     Look for and make use of structure 
When students can identify different strategies for problem solving, they can use many different skills to determine the answer. Identifying similar patterns in mathematics can be used to solve problems that are out of their learning comfort zone. Repeated reasoning helps bring structure to more complex problems that might be able to be solved using multiple tools when the problem is broken apart into separate parts. 

8.     Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning 
In mathematics, it is easy to forget the big picture while working on the details of the problem. In order for students to understand how a problem can be applied to other problems, they should work on applying their mathematical reasoning to various situations and problems. If a student can solve one problem the way it was taught, it is important that they also can relay that problem-solving technique to other problems.      

CHILDREN'S DENTAL HEALTH MONTH -  FEBRUARY 2020

POSTER CONTEST

This Contest is open to all students grades K-12. Create a dental poster that shows the positive impact of good oral health on your overall health and well-being! Send all entries on or before Friday, March 6th to:

NINTH DISTRICT DENTAL ASSOCIATION
364 ELWOOD AVENUE
HAWTHORNE, NY 10532

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STUDENTS ATTENDING AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

If your child will be attending an afterschool program, please be sure to send in a note that specifies the name of the program and what day(s) he/she will be attending.

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CHANGE IN CALENDAR EVENT

Please note that March 13, 2020 is now a regular school day at Carrie E Tompkins Elementary School.

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  LETTER DAY WHEN A SNOW DAY(S) HAS OCCURRED

When school is closed due to inclement weather, the letter day is rolled over to the next school day.

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EARLY MORNING DROP-OFFS

Just a reminder to use the traffic loop in the back of the building for early morning drop-offs. The loop in the front of the building is for buses ONLY until 8:15 AM.

Your cooperation is appreciated.

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.