December 18, 2015

Volume 4 / Issue 16

IN THIS ISSUE:

- Note from Dr. Beekley
- Harlem Wizard Player Visits CES
- Kindergarten Field Trip to Aaron Manor
- CES Lunch Accounts
- Lego Robotics Club
- December Fitness Calendar
- Social Development News
- PTO Holiday Craft Night
- PTO Cultural Arts Program
- Valley Shore YMCA

Digital Backpack

Harlem Wizards Flyer

YMCA Holiday Splash Week Flyer

Friday, December 18th

- PTO Holiday Craft Night
(6:00-8:00 pm - Gymnasium)

Monday, December 21st
- PTO Cultural Arts Program/Performance - dancEnlight

Tuesday, December 22nd
- Grade 4 Snow Day Play

December 23rd-January 1st
- Holiday Break

Friday, January 8th
- Grade 2 LEARN Field Trip to New Britain Art Museum

Tuesday, January 12th
- PTO Meeting
(7:00 pm - CES Library)

Friday, January 15th
- Early Dismissal
(Professional Development for Staff)

Monday, January 18th
- Martin Luther King's Birthday (No School)

Thursday, January 21st
- Student Banking & Box Tops Due

Thursday, January 28th
- Chester Board of Education Meeting
(7:00 pm - CES Library)

Tuesday, February 9th
- PTO Meeting
(7:00 pm - CES Library)

Wednesday, February 10th
- Grade 2C LEARN Field Trip to Eli Whitney Museum

Thursday, February 11th
- Grade 2M LEARN Field Trip to Eli Whitney Museum

Friday, February 12th
- Early Dismissal (Professional Development for Staff)

Monday, February 15th
- Presidents Day (No School)

Tuesday, February 16th
- Professional Development Day (No School for Students)

Wednesday, February 17th
- Possible Snow Make-up Day

Thursday, February 18th
- Possible Snow Make-up Day
- Student Banking & Box Tops Due

Friday, February 26th
- PTO Bingo & Basket Raffle Night

Monday, March 7th
- Grade 2C LEARN Field Trip to Bushy Hill Nature Center

Tuesday, March 8th
- PTO Meeting
(7:00 pm - CES Library)

Wednesday, March 16th
- Grade 2M LEARN Field Trip to Bushy Hill Nature Center

Thursday, March 17th
- Student Banking & Box Tops Due
- Grade 2 Field Trip to Charlotte's Web Play

Tuesday, March 22nd
- PTO Book Fair

Wednesday, March 23rd
- PTO Book Fair
- Early Dismissal (Parent/ Teacher Conferences)

Thursday, March 24th
- PTO Book Fair
- Early Dismissal (Parent/ Teacher Conferences)
- Chester Board of Education Meeting
(7:00 pm - CES Library)

Friday, March 25th
- Good Friday (No School)

Tuesday, March 29th
- S.T.E.A.M. Fair Open House

Wednesday, March 30th
- S.T.E.A.M. Fair Judging

Tuesday, April 12th
- PTO Meeting
(7:00 pm - CES Library)

Thursday, April 14th
- Student Banking & Box Tops Due

Friday, April 15th
- Early Dismissal (Professional Development for Staff)

April 18th-April 22nd
- Spring Recess

Monday, April 25th
- Possible Snow Make-up Day

Tuesday, April 26th
- Possible Snow Make-up Day

Friday, April 29th
- Arbor Day

Friday, April 30th
- State Invention Convention

Tuesday, May 3rd
- PTO Teachers' Appreciation Lunch

Wednesday, May 4th
- ACES Day
- Spring Arts Festival

Tuesday, May 10th
- PTO Meeting
(7:00 pm - CES Library)

Tuesday, May 17th
- Grade 3 Field Trip to Trash Museum

Thursday, May 19th
- Student Banking & Box Tops Due

Thursday, May 26th
- Chester Board of Education Meeting
(7:00 pm - Location TBD)

Friday, May 27th
- Early Dismissal (Professional Development for Staff)
- Memorial Day Program

Monday, May 30th
- Memorial Day (No School)
- Memorial Day Parade

Tuesday, May 31st
- Possible Snow Make-up Day
- PTO Spring Clothing Drive

Wednesday, June 1st- Friday, June 3rd
- PTO Spring Clothing Drive

Thursday, June 2nd
- Grade 6 Unity Day (JWMS)

Wednesday, June 8th
- Grade 4 Field Trip to State Capitol

Monday, June 13th
- Field Day

Tuesday, June 14th
- PTO Meeting
(7:00 pm - CES Library)

Wednesday, June 15th
- Early Dismissal (Last Day of School - depending on number of weather/ emergency days used)

A NOTE FROM DR. BEEKLEY

As we approach the winter break, I would like to take this opportunity to wish each of you and your families a most happy, healthy holiday season! I hope that you will have a chance to relax and enjoy some special times with your children. As always, I am so proud of how hard they have been working each and every day! Children are truly one of our greatest gifts.

On behalf of the entire Chester Elementary School staff, we wish you a happy holiday season and offer our sincere thanks for your support. We look forward to an exciting and fulfilling 2016.

Remember, December 22nd is a full day of school. Dismissal is at 3:00 PM. No school on December 23rd. School resumes on January 4, 2016!

Joanne D. Beekley, Ed.D.
Principal

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HARLEM WIZARDS PLAYER AT CES

Harlem Wizards player Devon Curry visited CES today for a fun 20-minute assembly with our students. This event was presented as part of the outreach effort for Valley Regional High School's Safe Grad program. Please click here for more information on the Harlem Wizards Safe Grad fundraiser game at Valley Regional on January 13th.

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SPREADING CHEER AT AARON MANOR

Our Kindergarten classes visited Aaron Manor on Wednesday, December 16th to share some holiday cheer with the residents! The children sang three poems and colored holiday pictures. It was a special visit for all!

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CES LUNCH ACCOUNTS

Many cafeteria accounts are not up-to-date, and we ask that all accounts be brought current. If you receive a letter with a lunch deficit, please be sure to include all of the information on the check or the front of the envelope if payment is sent to school. You may also pay on-line at any time. Your assistance with this is greatly appreciated by all of us.

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LEGO ROBOTICS CLUB

Chester Elementary School's Lego Robotics Club includes students in Grades 4-6 who have worked collaboratively to create their own unique robot. They have enjoyed exploring, building, and problem solving. Next, they will work with Lego Mindstorms software to program their robot, so that it can move independently!

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DECEMBER FITNESS CALENDAR

Here at Chester Elementary School, we encourage our students to be physically active both inside and outside of the school setting.

Our December Fitness Calendar offers you and your child simple ideas for how to integrate physical activities throughout a busy day. Check it out for ways to get your whole family moving!
Please click here for the December Fitness Calendar.

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SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT NEWS

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEMES

The Social Development Theme-of-the-Month for December is Peace. The Social Development Book-of-the-Month is The Lady in the Box. Please enjoy a description of the book below.

It is wintertime in the city and freezing cold, but not everyone is inside and warm. Ben and his sister Lizzie know that there is a lady who lives outside in a box over a warm air vent. The children worry about the kind-looking lady, and begin sneaking food and clothes out of their apartment for her. Gently told and powerfully illustrated in rich hues, The Lady in the Box deals candidly with the issue of homelessness.

The goal of our Social Development Book-of-the-Month is to integrate literature and concomitant language arts objectives with themes and ideas that support our social development program.

The Chester Public Library is graciously partnering with us on our social development Book-of-the-Month initiative. Our Book-of-the-Month is displayed at the library and there are multiple copies available for families to borrow, so that the discussion begun at school can be shared and extended at home.

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PTO NEWS

PTO HOLIDAY CRAFT NIGHT -- TONIGHT!

Friday, December 18, 2015 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm (CES Gym)

Mark your calendars for the PTO Holiday Craft Night on Friday, December 18 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm in the gymnasium! This is a fun holiday tradition at which students will make a variety of craft projects and enjoy some holiday baked goods and refreshments. Please note that the date of December 11th as noted in the school calendar has been changed to December 18th.

There is no admission charge. We ask each family who attends to donate a healthy snack item to be used by Nurse LeAnn when CES students forget their snacks at school. Good examples of snacks to bring for Nurse LeAnn are granola bars, cereal bars, raisins, pretzels, popcorn, crackers, dried fruit or fruit snack packs.

If you can provide a holiday snack or treat or help with event set-up or clean-up, please email committee chair, Allison Liggett, at (860) 227-9713 or allisono2003@yahoo.com. Also feel free to check out our Holiday Craft Night wiki page: http://ces-pto.wikispaces.com/Holiday+Craft+Night

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SPECIAL EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT!

UPCOMING CULTURAL ARTS PROGRAM AT CES

Monday, December 21: dancEnlight: Ink Passion
(9-10 am) School-wide Performance with Q&A

Ribbon Dance + Calligraphy Workshops
(10 am) 3rd Grades & (10:45 am) 4th Grades

dancEnlight performs Chinese-influenced modern dance and art with an emphasis on culturally related studies and movement with Chinese calligraphy work. This program inspires students to learn and expand their cultural awareness and historical relevance of Asian language arts and modern dance. Curriculum links: Dance, Visual Arts, Physical Education, Language Arts, Music. Choreography: Artistic Director Lorelei Chang; Dancers: Leanne Baldwin, Shelley Collock, Tessa Grunwald, Meghan McDermott, Christine Perry, Hannah Welsh, Haley Zdebski

The Cultural Arts Program is funded and organized by the Chester Elementary PTO, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. It is because of the combined efforts of our community of parents, teachers and administration, that we are able to provide our students with bi-disciplinary programs that enhance the classroom curriculum, offering memorable, enriching experiences, as a student body and at different grade levels. Cultural arts programs may include, but are not limited to, music, dance, drama, theater, creative writing, literature, architecture, painting, sculpture, folk arts, photography, crafts, public media, history, as well as archaeological and natural science.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

VALLEY SHORE YMCA

The world is made up of 71% water. Your children are 100% curious! The Valley Shore will be offering four FREE swim lessons to every child between 3-10 years old during the Winter Holiday break to help keep kids in our community safe, build confidence, and develop a love of water activities. Visit http://www.vsymca.org/splash to register today. Space is limited and registration ends December 20th.

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Chester Elementary School

"It Takes a World of Differences to Make a Difference in this World"
23 Ridge Road / Chester, CT 06412 / 860-526-5797
www.ces.reg4.k12.ct.us