The Cardinal Connection

Families,

What a wonderful first week of school we’ve had! Our students kicked off our Let’s Glow theme with smiles, excitement, and an eagerness to learn. Classrooms were buzzing as students practiced routines, built strong classroom communities, and focused on positive interactions with one another. It has been inspiring to see the high level of engagement across the building, and we know this is just the beginning. We are truly looking forward to a year of growth, celebration, and many opportunities to GLOW together!

Mrs. Jacobs & Mrs. Gearheart

As the school year gets underway we ask that families are understanding that there may be delays with buses. We do our best to dismiss on time, however, we are taking extra precautions in the first weeks of the year to ensure that everyone is placed on the correct bus.

In addition, buses may encounter traffic or other delays and may arrive later than expected at Cooke. We do our best to send text messages to the families of those delayed buses. We usually send a text that the bus is running late and then another text to alert families that the buses have arrived, loaded and left Cooke as well as the time they depart.

We encourage you to use the Where's The Bus app on your phone or call Transportation at 322-0251 with concerns. Our priority in these situations is to keep our students safe while waiting and being in communication with Transportation. We ask that you limit calls to the main office and do not come to the school to pick up your child unless it is an emergency.

Arrival:

• Parents/Guardians should not get out of the car. Our staff will assist your child getting out of the car if they can't open the door.
• Children should exit the car on the passenger side- closest to the sidewalk. Please do not allow your child to exit on the parking lot side.
• Do not drive around other cars to exit. Remain in line.

Dismissal:

• Starting next week, car line will start dismissal at 3:45 PM.
• When you enter the parking lot, a staff member will tell you which lane to move into. DO NOT switch your lane for any reason. We have a system that organizes car numbers and moving lanes without being told to do disrupts the entire car line and students being able to go to the correct location.
• Parents/Guardians should not get out of the car. Our staff will assist your child getting into the car.
• All students must enter their car on the passenger side of the vehicle ONLY.
• If you are at a point in the car line that is not loading, do not call your child over to your vehicle. We have a system that you must follow. We only load cars 1 through 10.
• All students should be picked up by 4:05 PM.
• Please be attentive during car line. We rely on all drivers to move when the line moves.
• You must have your 25-26 Car Tag. All old tags must be disposed of. When you do not have your car tag, it slows down our dismissal process. We will be enforcing the use of ONLY 25-26 car tags beginning on Tuesday. BE PREPARED!

Help your child become more independent by teaching them how to open common food packages. This helps ease frustration when students are eating breakfast and lunch here at school.

If you are having trouble logging into the Infinite Campus Parent Portal, please click Forgot Password? Forgot Username? below the login area. Please do not call the school to ask for your login information. The school does not have access to this.

Besides the Cardinal Connection, Cooke uses social media to communicate school happenings! If you haven't followed us, do so today! We are on Facebook, Instagram and X.

We know you love it when the stores put out the fresh & new items for the school year! Cooke will provide the necessary supplies to be used while at school. Families are not obligated to purchase school supplies, however, if you choose to donate supplies, please use the list below!

It is very important to read through our Cooke Family Handbook! It is full of information about our school and may answer questions that you have about the routines, procedures and expectations at our school!

Many of you have reached out looking for ways you can support our school. We would love to have donations for our MTSS School Store. Students visit this store once per month and use their Cardinal Credits they've earned for being respectful, responsible, and ready. We put together an Amazon Wish List. If you choose to donate, the items will be shipped directly to Cooke Elementary School. As always, thank you for your support!

The Cooke Choir ‘25-’26 season is starting soon! Choir is an extracurricular activity available to our 4th and 5th grade students this year. Rehearsals are scheduled for Wednesday mornings at 8:00 AM. If your child is interested in joining choir this year, you may find the link to the registration form below. We are offering admission on a first-come-first-served basis, so do not delay to register! Registration closes on September 19th at 8:00PM.

All of our rehearsal dates are included on the first page of the registration form. Please make sure to mark these dates on your calendar. Our first rehearsal of the season will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

All orders placed online will be delivered to the school and will go home with students. We anticipate orders will be here in about 3 weeks after the closing of the online store.

We have a translate feature! Simply click "translate newsletter" and you can pick from many different languages!

¡Tenemos un botón de traducción! Simplemente haga clic donde dice "translate newsletter" y podrá elegir entre muchos idiomas diferentes.

The Red Clay Consolidated School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, handicap, veteran status, domicile, genetic information, or any legally protected characteristic. Inquiries should be directed to Human Resources at 302-552-3783.