CMCSI Warrior Word December 7, 2021

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News from the Front Office

November has been a busy month at CMCSI! We held our annual canned food drive; honored our Veterans and First Responders; conducted Parent Conferences; and hosted our annual Fall Festival.

This time of year is busy for everyone so be sure you are receiving our CMCSI Remind Messages with important dates and information and also checking your child's Monday folder each week. (Please email CMCSI@hallco.org to be added to our Remind text group.)

We are looking forward to our homeroom holiday parties on December 17th! CMCSI is excited for our students to celebrate together with their classroom families. Our primary goal is to keep our Warriors safe, so our classroom holiday parties will continue to look different this year. Additional information can be found below and specific details will come from your child's teacher.

We have less than two weeks until Winter Break, so students and teachers are working hard to wrap up a terrific first semester as well as have a little fun. As always, we appreciate your continued support for our staff and school. We're so blessed to be a part of this amazing CMCSI family!

We hope you have a wonderful December and holiday season. Feel free to contact us if you ever need anything.

~ Dr. Betsy Ainsworth, Principal & Mrs. Dana Walker, Assistant Principal

Upcoming Dates

December 7th-Spelling Bee

December 9th-Christmas Chorus Program at 5pm

December 17th-Class Holiday Parties (see information below)

December 20th-January 3rd-Winter Break

January 4th-Students return from Winter Break

January 7th-Report Cards go home

January 10th-MARC Awards

January 13th-Spirit Night at Wendy's in Oakwood (Drive-thru only)

January 17th-MLK, Jr. Holiday-no school for staff or students

January 21st-Parents Night out at DOJO (more information to come)

Thank you to our CMCSI PTO Warrior Walk-A-Thon Sponsors!

We are so grateful to our CMCSI PTO Board for organizing our amazing Walk-a-thon Color Run this fall. Our PTO, Parents, Community and Businesses were so generous with donations. We are looking forward to creating a MakerSpace Lab and making improvements to our gym/ stage area in the coming months thanks to our Walk-a-thon fundraising efforts.

A special thank you to the businesses below who sponsored our annual Walk-A-Thon. We appreciate their support!

Keep Learning Fun for Winter Break

Winter Break is a wonderful time to relax and rejuvenate for our families and students, but it is also an opportunity to offer our Warriors authentic, at-home learning experiences. Here are some ideas to help your child keep up their literacy and math skills over Winter Break:

Read for pleasure. Whether your child is in the mood for The Night Before Christmas or The Polar Express, winter break provides the perfect opportunity to stash schoolbooks and read for fun.
Cook up an easy lesson. Invite your child into the kitchen to help you whip up a special dish — from Christmas cookies to fruitcakes. All of those half-tablespoon and quarter-cup measurements are great practice with fractions.
Write thank-you notes. Penning notes of appreciation to gift-givers teaches gratitude and helps polish writing and spelling skills.
Make the most of car rides. Turn the drive to or from a holiday get-together into an opportunity to practice letters and numbers. You can look for license plates from different states, try to find the alphabet on the license plates, or count the number of red (or white or green) cars you see.
Maintain reasonable bedtimes. With no school to get up for in the morning, it can be tempting to let kids become night owls. A few days before school starts up again, ease back into the regular bedtime schedule so your child can start the year bright-eyed.
Ask for grocery list assistance. Have your child help choose what to buy, decide how much you need, check your supplies to see what you've already got, write or draw pictures on the list, and sort coupons.
Let kids help with online shopping. Need a last-minute gift for Grandma or Uncle Joe? Log onto your favorite shopping sites and let your child help you select presents. This helps children work on their computer and research skills.
Have a family game night. Chances are many of your family's favorite board and card games reinforce skills such as counting, reading, and drawing. Gather the group to play games you usually don't have time for on school nights.

Holiday Parties

All class holiday parties will take place on Friday, December 17th in homerooms during the school day.
No visitors will be allowed for parties again this year (this includes no room parents & volunteers, as we are trying to be equitable to all parents).
Your child's teacher will include specifics regarding the party time and party items needed in upcoming class newsletters/ communication so be on the lookout for more information.
If students bring food or items requested by teachers, they MUST be store-bought, commercially wrapped, and unopened. Teachers/ staff CAN distribute foods from a common package this year, but students cannot do so. As always, there are no homemade or opened items allowed.
We are looking forward to our Warriors having safe, holiday fun. Thank you for contributing to your child's class!

School Canned Food Drive Challenge

CMCSI once again partnered with the Georgia Mountain Food Bank, and this year we collected an astounding 2,706 pounds of food. Congratulations to Mrs. Sundermeyer's 3rd Grade class for collecting the most food. Thank you to our Warrior Families for supporting those in need in our community.

CMCSI Yearbooks

Yearbooks are still on sale! We ran out of yearbooks last year, so GUARANTEE your child's copy by ordering in advance. January 31 is the LAST DAY to pre-order and ensure your child gets a copy! To purchase a CMCSI yearbook for your child, please follow the steps below.

Go to www.balfour.com
Select Shop My School, type Chestnut Mountain in the search bar and click on Chestnut Mountain Elementary School.
Select Yearbooks Products & Ads*.
Follow the prompts to purchase your Yearbook and accessories. If you are ordering yearbooks for more than one student, please complete a separate order for each student. This will help avoid confusion on Yearbook Distribution Day.
Be sure to save a copy of your online order so you can provide proof of purchase.

Character Education

December character word is Service. Students are learning that Service means "lending a hand to help someone else." Bryan Ware will be this month's community influencer for demonstrating the importance of serving others. Parents can access the Parent Character Resources to reinforce positive character at home by clicking here. The Spanish version is also available here.

Cafeteria Information

Breakfast and Lunch Menus are available in both English and Spanish and can be accessed by clicking the designated link below.

Access English Lunch menu here

Access Spanish Lunch menu here

Information from our School Nurse

Staying Healthy Mentally and Physically this winter:

Studies show students who are healthy perform better in the classroom and cope better socially and emotionally. Over the Holidays encourage your child to eat a balanced diet, get plenty of sleep, stay active and drink lots of water! Here are some tips from the CDC.gov on how you as a parent can help your child stay socially and emotionally healthy this school year.

Healthy students are better learners.
Make communication with school a two-way street. Read school newsletters and attend parent-teacher-student conferences to learn what is going on at school. Communicate regularly through emails, phone calls, or meetings to discuss your child’s grades, behavior, and accomplishments.
Implement simple SEL strategies at home such as:
- Take time to talk to your child, be an active listener, and acknowledge their feelings to model empathy.
- Focus on your child’s strengths before talking about things they can do to improve their confidence.
- Children learn what they see. Model positive coping skills to identify and manage stressful situations. For example, going for a walk or practicing deep breathing exercises can help.

For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/healthyschools.

Visit https://henrythehand.com/news-events/national-handwashing-awareness-week/ for more information.

Ways to Support CMCSI

Spirit Nights

CMCSI Spirit Nights take place each month! If your family visits the restaurant or drive-thru on our CMCSI Spirit Night, a portion of the sales will be donated to the school! Mark your calendar for these:
- - - January 13 @ Wendy's in Oakwood
    - January 21 is Parent's Night Out @ Dojo
    - March 10 @ Culver's in Braselton
    - May 21 @ Sliced in Oakwood

Kroger Plus Card Community Rewards

Be sure to link your Kroger Plus Card to CMCSI here. Cards must be relinked EVERY YEAR. CMCSI earns when you shop at Kroger!

Publix Partners

Sign up for Publix Partners here. This enrollment is required EVERY YEAR. Enter your phone number at check-out & we earn money!

Box Tops for Education

Bottled Water for Classrooms

Since our water fountains cannot be used this year, we provide bottled water for students who forget their water bottles. If you would like to donate a case of water (regular sized OR small bottles are great too!) to your child's classroom or the front office, we would appreciate it!

THANK YOU to our 2021-2022 CMCSI Partners in Education

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