A Message from Principal Miller:

Even though the weather keeps changing on us and the leaves are falling outside, the academics here at Coxsackie Elementary remain constant. The teachers and students have gotten into their routines and procedures for class lessons and homework. Please continue to check your child’s planner, emails and/or the teacher’s website for homework, projects, school-wide events and any other information from the classroom. We appreciate your support and time necessary in reinforcing reading and math skills. This month, Ted Scheu will be our visiting author. Mr. Scheu is a very funny, kid-loving poet from Vermont. To maximize the impact on our students, this visit has been scheduled for early in the year to provide for numerous opportunities for follow up. A POET author was chosen to inspire and connect with reading and writing poetry. A special thanks to our Author Committee for organizing this visit and our PTO for their support. I invite our family members who are veterans to join us for our Veteran’s Day Assembly on Friday, November 6th at 9:15 in the Cafe. Our 4th Grade students, led by Mrs. Greenaway, do a fantastic job of preparing this assembly as a way to thank our veterans. Other important events can be found on the calendar at the end of this publication or on our website. Now that the holidays are approaching, keep the school routine going, lower the stress, and stay in touch with your child's teachers. Above all, enjoy the Thanksgiving season. Here’s to pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes!!!!

The VoiCE November 2015

~Mrs. K. Miller

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FROM THE NURSE’S DESK: Mrs. Lackie Children’s Illness: Top 5 causes of missed school

Common cold Stomach flu Ear infection Pink eye Sore throat

When to stay home: Has a fever higher than 100.0 F Is vomiting Has diarrhea Is in the first 24 hrs of antibiotic treatment for pink eye or strep throat

Generally, a child can return to school when he or she:

Has no fever for 24 hrs without fever lowering medication Has not had vomiting or diarrhea for the past 24 hrs. Is rested enough to pay attention in class

Prevention for One and All Common sense can go a long way toward preventing illness. Teach your child the basics:

Keep your hands clean. Remind your child to wash his or her hands before eating and after using the

toilet or blowing his or her nose. Suggest soaping up for as long as it takes to sing the ABC’s. Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. If you can not reach a tissue in time, cough or sneeze in the crook of your elbow. Keep your hands away from your eyes and out of your mouth. Avoid anyone who is sick.

As your child gets older, he or she will be less prone to common illnesses and recover more quickly from the illnesses that he or she does catch. Information revised from an article from the Mayo Clinic

Elisha Lackie, RN

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Community Service Updates Project Good Cheer

This month Coxsackie Elementary Community Service members will be asking for your help in a very big way. With help from the Blue Star Mothers Organization, we would like to send a huge stack of “cheer” to our United States service men and women who are stationed overseas to help cheer them up. Many service men and women greatly miss their families and friends. If Coxsackie Elementary students all work together, we could help put a smile on their faces and a good feeling into their hearts. We will have some colored paper available (11 ½ x 8), that we can give to each classroom teacher. Every child can take a piece and create something special to send to a service man or woman. You can use your own paper too! We just ask that the paper be no bigger than 9x12 in. in size. The items must also be flat so they can be shipped safely and remain intact. Some examples of items that you can make are cards, colorful pictures, creative stories, and even joke books. We are running this project from now until Tuesday, November 24, 2015. Please consider helping out. We can make a difference in the lives of those who make a difference for us every day!

Adopt a Unit November is Military Recognition Month. The Community Service Program will be collecting supplies for a unit serving overseas. Classroom connectors will visit your classrooms daily to collect donation items for the troops. Our collection will run for 2 weeks only, from Friday, November 6th to Friday November 20st. Thanks in advance for your support.

CDs Stationary New Socks Books Trial Size Personal Care Items Eye Drops Handi Wipes Unscented Soap Powdered Drink Mix Magazines Puzzles Small Toys to hand out to kids Instant Cups of Soup Instant Coffee and Tea Bags Cocoa

Q tips Toothpaste Sun block spray on Socks White cotton – long enough for boots Crew (not ankle) socks- All sizes 9-11 Disposable dry washcloth Wipes for glasses Moleskin – for feet Tootsie Pops Pop Tarts Fruit Snacks/Rollups Pretzels Hard Candy

Packs of Chicken or Tuna Cereal Bars Granola Bars Sunflower seeds and nuts Cookies and Crackers Beef Jerky and Slim Jims Dried Fruit Oatmeal Playing Cards Kleenex Deodorant Desitin or Balmex clear or ointment (not the cream) Gold bond or baby powder

**PLEASE DO NOT SEND CHOCOLATE OR STRONG SCENTED ITEMS**

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The Coxsackie Elementary community has a wonderful opportunity to once again participate in the stewardship of Earth and its creatures by collecting specific kinds of plastic to be turned in and recycled by the TREX company. The TREX company takes these plastics and melts, mixes, and creates new materials like durable decking, park benches, and other long lasting plastic items. Community Service members will have several receptacles in the foyer of Coxsackie Elementary (between the double doors of the main entrance) and down classroom hallways, to place your clean, dry plastic bags and wrappings in. This contest runs from November to mid-April. More details regarding the complete list of plastic items that can be collected and brought in will be coming through backpack mail shortly. Some items to consider collecting are clean, dry, plastic grocery bags, bread and cereal bags, pellet stove bags, dry cleaning bags, and plastic wrappings from toilet tissue, paper towels and cases of water. Our Community Service members are excited to help and hope that you will feel their passion for a cleaner earth and assist in this worthwhile endeavor! Last year, Coxsackie Elementary students won for their area, and were presented with a park style bench made from Trex materials! It can be seen in our lobby, near the library. Stay tuned!

Community Service Updates

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Author Visit Ted Scheu will be here @ CE on

Wednesday, November 4th!

(His name is pronounced, “Shy”)

He is a very funny, kid-loving POET from Vermont!

Ted truly loves visiting schools—helping young writers find their own voices with

poetry. Together they laugh, they thoughtfully observe our world, our

hearts, and then carefully juggle and play with words to create poems of power that share important truths and ideas. The impact

is lasting. In over a dozen years of visiting schools all over the country and the world, Ted has yet to have a single school express anything but pleasure with the outcomes. Kids, teachers, administrators,

and parents seem to agree that Ted has a unique way of connecting with and encouraging young writers. Read the

testimonials in “The Buzz” off of his website at

www.poetryguy.com

Special thanks to CE PTO for providing an author

luncheon for our students, and helping with Book

Sales, and to Mrs. Miller and Mr. Martino for

providing this author visit with school district Arts in

Education funds.

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Picture Re-Take Day is Thursday, November 12th

If your child missed the original

picture day, please contact the main office for a new order envelope.

After school movie on Tuesday, November 17th. We will be showing

Disney's "Inside Out" rated PG. Parents are welcome to

join their children for the show. We will serve a snack in the cafeteria after school

then head to the HS auditorium for the

show. Pick up will be at the Elementary

school at 6pm. Permission slips will

be coming home soon. 

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All-Star Attendance Everyday, when each class has 100 % attendance, they will be able to put a letter on their door. Once they spell PERFECT ATTENDANCE, their class will be rewarded with a popcorn

party thrown by Principal Miller! Some of our classes have already received their first party.

Our motto is “Be on time and ready to learn.” Here are the October results for each grade level:

You can help your child’s class receive a popcorn party by making sure they are on-time each day.

Also, in an effort to minimize lost instruction time for your child, please try to schedule appointments before and after school

whenever possible.

Grade

K 1 2 3 4

Number of Students

44 70 52 58 64

Number of Students with Perfect Attendance

17 19 23 32 34

% of Students with Perfect Attendance

39% 27% 44% 55% 53%

Please join us for our Veterans Day Assembly on Friday, November 6th at 9:15 am in the

Coxsackie Elementary Cafeteria.

Students, Staff and visitors are encouraged to wear RED, WHITE, and BLUE

to honor our Veterans.

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Homework Tips for Families Many times, homework can become a stressful situation in homes. The benefits of Homework are immense and it is important that children and parents both have a positive attitude about the work that is brought home. Below are tips to help manage that homework time and decrease the stress that can occur:

Make sure your child has a quiet, well lit area to do their work - this way they will be able to focus on the assignment, rather than being distracted by other events occurring in the home

Ensuring your child has the supplies needed to do work - although you won’t have copies of text books in case your child forgets, having pencils, paper, crayons, rulers, etc. will help decrease excuse making that the supplies are not at home. If you need to, contact your child’s teacher to ask what the most common items are that will be needed for homework this year.

Be positive about homework - the attitude you show toward the work, will be the attitude your child shows as well

Communicate with the teacher- if you or your child has questions, contact the teacher. They are more than willing to help and explain things further.

Help your child, but do not do the work for them - it is their work and in order for them to get the most out of it, they need to be the ones completing it

In older grades, children should try the homework on their own first - Have them star the problems they need help with and go back to review them together.

Set time limits and provide breaks - watch for frustration and provide a break if it occurs. I recommend using a timer to set a specific amount of time on task after which the child can earn a break. This helps a child know a break is coming and helps them to focus.

Reward progress - if you see your child is making progress in their homework and working hard, give them a small treat. Another idea is to set a homework goal that the child can work towards to earn something larger.

If you want further ideas and information, please visit the following website: http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/homework/homeworktips.pdf

This site provides great information and more tips for helping parents with their children and homework.

Also, if you have any questions or want further information, you

can always contact Mrs. Gokey at gokeyk@cacsd.org

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“Super Kids”

Skills Hayden Taylor

Kindergarten

Thomas Forschner Chelsea Foster

Annabelle Hagen Thaddeus Mallia Bryce Meredith

Leah Walker

First Grade Athena Beers

Kendall Frisbee Remi Galloway

Benjamin Hoglund Zachary Millett Kiernan Russo

Isabella Stapleton Cameron Van Alphen

Second Grade Layla Dunckle

Zadock Favicchio Dylan Hisert

Hannah Lauria Ezekiel Rockefeller

Isabella Wagner Henry West

Third Grade Danielle Horn Jace Kirwan

Drew Pearlstein Ainsley Rausch Marisa Ravera

Zeke Thompson

Fourth Grade Vivien Curik

Natalie Hinrichsen Krossaphino King

Jeslyne Lomio Madelyn McMann Olivia Montanye

Nathan Van Alphen

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November 2015

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5

6 7

8 9 10 11

12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30

Veterans Day NO SCHOOL

Tasting Tuesday

PTO Meeting 6:30-7:30pm

PTO Scholast ic Book Fair – CE Lobby

PTO Fall Fundraiser

Thanksgiving Break

NO SCHOOL

Thanksgiving Break

NO SCHOOL

Thanksgiving Break

NO SCHOOL

AM Assembly: Veterans Day

9:15 am

BOE Meeting MS @ 6:30pm

School Picture Re-Take Day

Kindergarten Alphabet Parade 2-3pm Cafeteria

Author Visit with

Ted Scheu

School Banking

Grades 3-4Strategies

CE Movie Night “Inside Out” @ 6pm

School Banking

School Banking

Early Dismissal @ 11:30am Breakfast &

Lunch served