Thanksgiving Visits, Getaways

By Isabella and Spencer

I'm staying home, and my grandmother is coming.-Kaan, 7th grade

I'm going to Florida with family and seeing "The Blind Side" and "New Moon."-Kelsey, 6th grade

Going to Grandma's house with relatives and having Thanksgiving dinner.-Georgia, 8th grade

I'm going to Mexico on a cruise with my mom and dad.-Jason, 6th grade

Staying home and looking forward to eating a lot of food.-Tim, 8th grade

Looking forward to seeing relatives, and staying home this year-Jack, 6th grade

Looking forward to going to aunt's house. I've been going to my aunt's house for almost 20 years now. Looking forward to having very little responsibilities, eating lots of foods, watching many movies, and hoping to get some time to act like a kid again.-Mr. Berger, Middle School English teacher

8th Graders' Ready For Philly!

By Lana

Always wanted to go and I'm very exicited!-Georgia

Looking foward to going and learning about the history that took place there.-Megan


Unfortunately, I won't be going to Philadelphia, but I will be going on a Caribbean Cruise, which I am very excited about!-Emma

Go Where the Wild Things Are

By Spencer

When the movie "Where the Wild Things Are," directed by Spike Jonze, came out in theaters October 16, it got mixed reviews. Some people truly adored it and other critics hated it. When I saw the movie on October 17, I thought it was a masterpiece. The movie was rated PG, but there were a lot of scenes too emotional for many young viewers, I thought. Most critics thought the movie was too dark and too sad. From my personal experience, I thought the "wild things" were Max's emotions. In the story, there are a lot of emotional things in his life, like a divorce between his parents (they are not together in the movie), his sister's friends wrecking his snow fort and hurting him and his sister not doing anything about it. In all, I thought the movie was extremely good. Also, it stayed true to the storyline most of the time. Lastly, I think that you should not take kids younger than 8 to this movie
partly because they will not get it and it's too dark.

Update on School Absences

By Staff

We've noticed that some of our classmates who got the flu have been out for just a day or two over the last week while others have been out for several days at a time. It seems to be affecting people differently.

School Superintendent Gloira Colucci sent an email to parents today updating them on the number of illnesses that have been reported this week. Here is her latest report:

While we had a relatively low number of clustered illnesses last week, we did experience an increased number of absences on Monday. Today's absentee list is still a long one, but the numbers are down from Monday. Our school nurse, Judy Dunstan reports that there are still a variety of reasons for the absences and parents are being cautious. The elementary grades have more presumed H1N1 cases while several middle school school parents are also reporting cases of strep throats as well as bad colds and coughs. We advise parents to check in with your practioners to rule out other viruses or bacterial infections and get the appropriate medication. We continue to monitor the number and types of illnesses and clean and disinfect surfaces throughout the day and in the evening. We are also in daily contact with the Putnam County Health Department.

For more health information, visit:

GUFS Flu Update Resource Page
http://www.gufs.org/site_res_view_folder.aspx?id=ddde0890-c2de-476a-a5a0-cf20fd77305f

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/

Putnam County Health Department
http://www.putnamcountyny.com/health/

Philly Trip Postponed

By Staff

School Principal Mrs. Impellittiere announced today that, in light of the number of eighth-grade students who are absent, Mrs. Foppiano was able to reschedule the trip to Philadelphia to NOVEMBER 23. The eighth graders WILL NOT be going to Philadelphia tomorrow, November 5, but will be going on November 23. All times for departure and returning are the same. Eighth graders were disappointed because they were looking forward to the trip but also like the new date because it runs right into the Thanksgiving break.