It's been a great week of learning at Cole School! We celebrated Neurodiversity Week across the building, thanks to our amazing team of teachers for putting together the daily quote and links to helpful videos to share in the classrooms as well as sharing books about neurodiverse characters. The bulletin boards and hallway postings were so interersting - many students stopped to read more about famous neurodiverse people through history as they walked through the halls.
On Wednesday, we celebrated National School Crossing Guard Day and surprised our awesome crossing guard, Mary Wood, with a basket full of thanks! Mary does an amazing job keeping everyone safe and traffic flowing no matter the weather. Thank you, Mary!
Report Cards will be available in Aspen today after 3pm. Please take a moment to review your child's report card and celebrate their growth with them. It's a wonderful opportunity to set goals for the last trimester of the school year.
Attendance letters are being sent home today with any student that has 6 or more excused or unexcused absences this trimester.
If you drop your child off in the morning, you MUST use drop off loop behind the school. If you would rather park and walk your child to the front door, you may do that. Students should not be walking through the parking lot by themselves in the morning. There are too many moving vehicles and close calls happening.
The kindergarten students will be hosting this month's Community Meeting focused on integrity on Monday, March 25th at 9am in the gym. Parents and families are welcome to join us at the Community Meeting.
The School Council will be sending out the Spring Family Survey from April 1st - April 12th. The survey will be sent to the first contact only in Aspen. The email will come from Panorama Ed and often goes to spam or junk. Reminder emails will be sent out during the two week window to encourage participation in taking the survey. The information gathered helps the School Council to write goals and action steps in next year's School Improvement Plan.
Time is flying! It's time to begin our placement process for the 2024-2025 school year! The Parent Input Survey for Placement will be shared via email on Monday, April 1st and is due by Friday, April 26th (no exceptions). We are looking to gather all pertinent information in order to create the most balanced classrooms possible.
The digital form will be reviewed as part of the placement process. The information will be kept confidential and released only to pertinent staff. You are welcome to include any information you feel is important for us as we build each class, however, we will NOT take into consideration specific teacher requests and we will NOT guarantee that we will be able to separate certain students or place certain students together. Although parents have shared concerns with other staff, only concerns submitted on this form will be considered as final input. The goal is to create the most balanced classrooms for learning for all students.
The placement process is:
· The current teacher starts the class lists without a specific teacher’s name attached. The goal is to create a balanced classroom and not to customize a class to fit a particular teacher.
· Teachers review their current list to determine the needs of the current students. They consider combinations of students that have not been productive.
· Grade levels meet to make tentative class lists for the next year. The factors that guide this stage are student strengths, gender, class size, number of sections for each grade and the pertinent information from the parent input form.
· The lists are reviewed by staff members and by administration to verify that the classes are balanced and appropriate.
· The final step is for the principal to assign specific teachers to each class.
· Fifth graders will receive their teacher assignments from Norwell Middle School.
· The principal reserves the right to make any changes necessary to ensure well-balanced classes.
Check out this week's 28 Magnificent Meerkats! These students were nominated by staff and students for their consistent positive behavior and for being excellent role models for others. Some examples in this week's nominations include:
- She is consistently a positive model to her classmates. She is kind, compassionate, intelligent, and thoughtful. She always puts her best effort into her work. She is a cooperative classmate who treats everyone, both peers and teachers, with respect.
- He is just all around awesome! He deserves to be nominated again because he is flexible, kind, hardworking, focused and participates in all we do. He is an incredible role model in our class.
- She goes above and beyond to help her teachers and classmates each day. She is thoughtful, kind and hard working. Her integrity shows in all that she does!
March
March 25 - Grade 5 Parent Information Night for Puberty Lessons 6:30-7:30pm
March 28 - District Band Concert at NHS - 7pm
March 29 - No School
April - Mark Your Calendar
April 1st - School Committee Budget Hearing 7pm
April 1-5 - National Assistant Principal Week - let's shower Mrs. Benner with appreciation!
April 1 - Parent Information for Placement Google Form Shared via Email
April 1 - 15 - Cole School Spring Family Survey - link sent via email from Panorama Ed
April 1 - Variety Show Practice for Grades 3-5 3:20-5:00pm
April 3 - Cole School Spirit Day - wear rainbows or as many colors as you can for National Rainbow Day as selected by raffle winner and kindergarten student, Thea
April 3 - National Aide Appreciation Day
April 5 - Grade 4 MCAS ELA Session 1
April 8 - Grade 4 MCAS ELA Session 2
April 9 - Grade 3 MCAS ELA Session 1
April 10 - Early Release - All students dismissed at 12:20pm - Parent Conferences
April 10 - Variety Show Practice for Grades K-2 12:20-3pm
April 11 - Grade 3 MCAS ELA Session 2
April 11 - Evening Parent Conferences
April 15 - 19 - April Vacation Week
April 23 - Bus Driver Appreciation Day
April 23 - Grade 5 MCAS ELA Session 1
April 24 - Grade 5 MCAS ELA Session 2
April 24 - National Secretary Appreciation Day
April 24th - PTO Meeting - Superintendent Keegan sharing at 2pm
April 26 - Parent Information for Placement Google Form Due
April 26 - Community Meeting 9:00am
Upcoming Mark Your Calendar
May 6th - Town Meeting
May 9 - Cole School Variety Show at NHS
May 29 - Art Show
May 30 - Grade 4 Concert
June 7 - Field Day
June 10 - Grade 5 Band Concert
June 13 - Grade 5 Celebration 6-8pm (Grade 5 Students and Parents only, no siblings or other family please)
June 17 - Tentative Last Day of School
