Columbus Connections

Welcome to our weekly newsletter for Columbus Elementary families! Every Friday we will share good news, important information, and of course our STAR STUDENTS with you.

This week has been filled with holiday cheer at Columbus. The student council culminated the holiday toy drive this week with their meeting on Wednesday afternoon. Please see the article below for more information. Our fifth graders had two amazing concert performances last night at Westlake HS. All of the boys and girls did an outstanding job. Some of our fifth graders took a Holiday STEAM Challenge in the library. They had a to design and construct a holiday tree using books and other materials. We ended the week with the always fun Ugly Sweater Day. Please see some pictures below in the around Columbus section.

Friday, December 22nd

• Early Dismissal @ 11:40

• Please see information below.

Wednesday, January 3rd

• School Reopens

All schools in NY State are required to have an annual emergency early dismissal drill. We will be having our drill on Friday, December 22nd. Students will be dismissed at 11:40 am. Pick-ups will be in the cafeteria starting at 11:40 am.

Message from Student Council Co-President Maibel Griffin: During the month of December the Columbus Student Council has been hard at work. We started a Toy Drive for children who live in foster care programs and resident programs at the Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry, NY. All of Columbus has been very helpful donating gifts. You would not believe how many donations we have gotten! We collected over 150 donations in only four weeks! Some of the items donated were games, toys, sports balls, dolls, craft kits and stocking stuffers. All the teachers, students and their families have been so supportive of this cause. Our student council’s families donated wrapping paper, tape and bows for the presents. The student council officers have spent many of their recess periods helping wrap all of the gifts. Mrs. Valvano and Mrs. Galbo delivered the gifts to the Children’s Village and they were very thankful. They can’t wait to hand out the holiday gifts to the children. We really appreciate the spectacular generosity shown by our community. Hopefully the Toy Drive will become an annual tradition for our Student Council!

School Calendar

Transportation

Food Service

Curriculum and Instruction

Columbus Elementary School Homepage

Gum Chewing

Students should not be be chewing gum in school or sharing gum with classmates.

Student Attendance

If your child is going to be absent, please use School Dismissal Manager to report their absence. As always if you have any health-related questions you can call the Nurse's Office, at 769-8537.

Visiting the Building

Please be prepared to show your photo ID whenever you visit the building. You will not be able to enter without it. Thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation.

Cell Phones and Wearable Smart Devices

Please be advised Columbus students should not have personal communication devices with them during the school day. If they choose to bring a device to school, it should remain in their backpack. They are responsible for the device. If a child is wearing a GPS tracking device for safety purposes, we ask that it be placed on the teacher's desk during instructional time. They will be allowed to wear it during lunch and recess.

Such devices include, but are not limited to:

• Cell phones

• Wearable devices/smart wearables/tablets that are capable of recording/viewing audio, photographic, or video content

• Wearable devices/smartwatches/tablets that are capable of sending/receiving text, audio, or video messages