Hello Kindergarten families,
KES has partnered with Second Step organization, and they will providing mini lessons to your K child during the school year. Please read the family letter attached which further explains the program and its goals. Thank and have a great day.
Hello KES Kindergarten Parents/Guardians,
On October 31st KES will be conducting a Halloween Parade. Please read the following details.
1. The event will take place from 9:45am-10:05am.
2. Students will walk with their classmates and teachers doing a full loop of the KES parking lot in their costumes.
3. Parents can line the sidewalk and take pictures while cheering on their children.
4. Parents and family members will not be permitted to participate in the parade and/or enter the building during that time.
5. Students will not be permitted to wear masks and/or bring prop weapons that can be deemed dangerous.
6. If you do not want your child to participate in the event, please know we will have alternative activities for them in the cafeteria.
7. Kindergarten parents. Please send your child to school in full costume that day.
8. At the conclusion of the parade students will re-enter the building and head back to their classroom.
9. Finally, we are asking that parents do not take their children out of the parade lineup due to safety concerns.
This will be a really fun event to connect KES and the community. If you have any questions, please let me know. Have a great day.
Sincerely,
John Fratto
KES Principal
Hello KES parents/guardian's
I hope you all had a great week. Below, please find updates for the weeks ahead. Enjoy the long weekend.
10/18- Costume Caper KES Cafeteria 6:30PM
10/17- PTO Meeting 6:30PM.
10/21-10/25- CKLA & AimsWeb (Math) benchmark assessments.
10/29- Fall picture retakes.
10/31- Halloween Parade 9:45am.
March is Disability Awareness Month and the Carmel Central School District has a lot of informative, helpful and interesting activities planned. Please take a look at the attached schedule. We look forward to seeing you.
Carmel Central School District residents who volunteer with fire departments or ambulance corps will see a 10 percent reduction in their school taxes in return for their service.
The Carmel Board of Education voted February 25 to give volunteers with at least two years of service a 10 percent cut in the property tax assessment of their primary residence. The vote was unanimous.
“For example, the impact in the Town of Kent would result in an $800 savings for each person receiving the exemption,” Assistant Superintendent of Business Ken Silver said.
The reduction would cost the remaining taxpayers 1.2 cents on every thousand dollars of assessment.
“If your home is assessed at $400,000, the property owner would be paying $4.80 in addition each year for the volunteers who are risking their lives,” Silver said.
More than 35 volunteers attended the board meeting and School Board President Melissa Orser thanked them for keeping the community safe.
“We are giving you a little bit back for giving us a lot,” she said.
The volunteer tax break will help the entire community in the long run.
“Anything we can do to assist with local fire companies’ recruitment and retention benefits the entire community,” said Trustee John C. Curzio II. “If we ever had to go to a paid fire service, town taxes would increase as much as 50 percent, which would result in a huge burden on our community.”
Third graders in Kent Elementary School celebrated Lunar New Year with a noisy art project.
Art Teacher Rachel Berry first asked the students in Kenneth Ryan’s third grade class what year they were born. Many said they were born in 2016.
“That’s the Year of the Monkey” Berry said. “They say it means you are creative, talented and have influence over people, but that you can also be easily discouraged.”
That got the students’ interest.
“That part is not me, getting discouraged,” Everly said. “If people make fun of me, I don’t care.”
Lunar New Year is a holiday widely celebrated in Asia, Berry said. Then she helped them create Pin Drums, which are used to make loud noises during parades and celebrations.
The students cut out circles, colored in pictures of dragons, firecrackers, snakes and more. They fastened strings tied with beads to a circle of oak tag so the beads could make a loud noise when flipped back and forth.
“This makes me want to go to China now,” Lucas said. “Chinese food is the best.”
One group of four-year-olds served their teacher a make-believe breakfast while another played with building blocks and a third practiced cutting out pictures.
It was a busy day in Carmel Central School District’s first Universal Pre-Kindergarten program, which started on Monday, January 6.
“We want to teach them everything they need to know before kindergarten, but we do it in a fun way,” said Theresa McCaffrey, Executive Director of Little Leaf preschool in Carmel.
Little Leaf is one of three preschool programs chosen to provide services to the 75 students who enrolled in Carmel’s first semester of universal pre-kindergarten. Creative Kids and Kids Cottage preschools are also hosting the program.
School Superintendent Erin Meehan-Fairben made starting Universal Pre-Kindergarten one of her first goals for the district. The program, which is funded through state and federal grants, is provided at no cost to district families.
“The benefits of early childhood education are clear, and include improved school readiness, better academic performance and a reduced achievement gap,” said Dr. Fairben, who took over as Carmel’s School Superintendent in July and got to work right away to ensure that all of Carmel’s students would have access to good preschool education. “It is an investment that lasts a lifetime.”
Musicians from Carmel High School returned to their roots on Friday and performed for students in the elementary schools they once attended.
Band Teacher Meghan Cabral introduced the musicians and gave the youngsters a hint of the kinds of instruments they can learn to play as they move up in the grades. Orchestra Teacher Peter Ballantoni wore a fitting Santa hat as he led the string instruments in playing holiday favorites.
The Kent Elementary students, wearing their coziest winter pajamas, gathered in the cafeteria for the show. They sang, swayed and clapped along to the music.
“We opened for the Rockettes on Tuesday at Radio City Hall in New York City,” Chorus Teacher Bryan Lynch told the Kent Elementary students. “You are now going to get to hear the songs we sang for the Rockettes.”
Once or twice a month, students in Stephanie Ryan's third grade class at Kent Elementary School are visited by a mystery reader. This week, the clues to the mystery were: "He walks around a lot, has a beard and can do The Griddy."
The last clue was a give-away, and some students knew that Principal John Fratto would be the mystery reader. The Griddy is a dance that originated with football players in the end zone.
"Fratto often makes visits to the classroom and has gotten to know students, and because of this, they have gotten to know him as well," Ms. Ryan said. "I mean, what’s cooler than having a principal who can do The Griddy?"
Mr. Fratto read the book "Enemy Pie," by Derek Munson, which teaches a valuable lesson about not judging people before you truly get to know them. The principal and teacher selected the book because sometimes children are quick to make judgments, and they thought a funny, realistic fiction story might help some of them with real life situations.
