Cougar Connections

Our fourth graders took a trip this week to the NRW High School pool to learn some lessons in water safety! Physical education teachers Mrs. King and Mr. Baker taught students how to inflate their clothing in case of an emergency. The students also learned floating and basic swimming strokes. They had a lot of fun jumping in and practicing their new skills!

Optimism represents a state of hopefulness and confidence about the future. Optimistic Cougars have a positive vision of what their future looks like, even when facing setbacks. They stay focused on the good in any situation and are strong leaders who inspire others to think positively.

North Rose-Wolcott staff were joined by staff from the Lyons Central School District for a professional development day highlighting school safety. Keynote speakers Reichen and Carly Posey, who were impacted by the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy in 2012, shared their experiences with staff and noted the importance of safe schools. More information on their presentation is available on our website, nrwcs.org. NRW staff also had the opportunity to attend sessions on various aspects of safety and to work with Lyons teachers. It was a very beneficial and productive day of learning!

We are recognizing staff members who go above and beyond and make a positive impact with Cougar Kudos! Anyone who is part of the NRW community may nominate any staff member. Whether it’s a teacher who motivates their students, a bus driver who shows kindness, or a staff member who lends a helping hand – we want our entire community to hear about it!

Read more about the wonderful staff members who received Kudos this month on our website -- and if you want to nominate someone for a future edition of Cougar Kudos, fill out our form at www.nrwcs.org/kudos!

The North Rose-Wolcott Central School District is committed to fostering effective communication between schools, families and the community. We have established a process for working through questions and concerns so that we may come to solutions quickly and effectively. Please visit our website or see the graphic below for more information on who to contact with a question or concern.

Our North Rose-Wolcott faculty and staff play a crucial role in helping to ensure each student leaves the NRW family with pride and preparedness for their future path. Check out our current job openings at www.nrwcs.org/employment.

Friday, November 6: Early Release Day, Grades UPK-4

Friday, November 6: Elementary Parent Teacher Conferences

Saturday, November 7: NRW High School Craft Fair, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Tuesday, November 10: Veterans Day Assemblies

• Middle School: Breakfast at 8 a.m., assembly at 8:45 a.m.
• Elementary School: Breakfast at 9:15 a.m., assembly at 10 a.m.
• High School: Assembly at 1:30 p.m., refreshments to follow

Thursday, November 12: Board of Education Meeting, 5 p.m., District Office LGI

Friday, November 13: End of Quarter 1

Monday, November 16: JV and Varsity Winter Sports Start

Tuesday, November 17: National Honor Society Induction, 6 p.m., High School Auditorium

Friday, November 20: Go Home Early Drill

Monday, November 23: Elementary Report Cards Go Home

Monday, November 23: Middle School Quarter 1 Awards, 12:45 p.m. (gr. 5-6) and 1:30 p.m. (gr. 7-8)

Tuesday, November 24: NRWE Cubby Club, 9:30 a.m. (gr. UPK-1) and 10:20 a.m. (gr. 2-4)

Tuesday, November 24: Middle School Cougar Pride Assembly, 1:30 p.m.

November 25-27: Thanksgiving Recess - NO SCHOOL

Thursday, December 3: High School Winter Concert, 6 p.m., Auditorium

For the most up-to-date event information, visit www.nrwcs.org/calendar.

We are in our 6th year of Primary Project at NRWE. Primary Project is a nationally recognized play-based intervention that helps students in universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) through second grade get off to a good start in school. It is proven to improve the child’s confidence, social emotional abilities, and school adjustment. A specially selected and trained Child Associate, Bobby Jo Mendenhall, meets weekly with individual students in a playroom setting. The School Counselor, John Bittner, provides professional supervision and consultation to the child associate for every child.

At NRWE we run two 12 week sessions per school year allowing approximately 35 students to participate. Nearly 40% of all students participate by the end of second grade. Some of the outcomes we have seen frequently are increased school connectedness and improved social advocacy skills.

In addition to partnering with Children’s Institute for Primary Project we are also working with them on year 4 of a research study to determine the efficacy of the program at the UPK level. Previous research has suggested positive outcomes for our youngest students and this study looks to delve deeper into the effectiveness and specific outcomes.

For more information about the program you can reach out to Mr. Bittner or Mrs. Mendenhall or check out the following websites:

-Children's Institute: https://www.childrensinstitute.net/programs-services/primary-project

-North Rose-Wolcott: https://elementary.nrwcs.org/primary-project

Special Area Awards

UPK - Millie Patt

K - Tripp Norton

1st - Horatio Shove

2nd - Leo Drock

3rd - Gavin Munger

4th - Willow Smith

Cubby Club Awards - Being Safe

UPK - Octavia Franco, Ozias Bowman, Leanna Martin

K - Finnegan Brown, Gwen Milliman, Nina Chavez-Vasquez, Maizey Miller

1st - Fenton Ciaramella, Jeremy Lopez Ochoa, Adelaide Hilliard, Morgan Benjamin

2nd - Charlotte Cerio, Alexander Adams, Camilla Hewitt, Quincy Storto

3rd - Ava Shove, Isabelle Pinckney, Zeph Lenton, Selina Barber

4th - Everleigh Brantley, Melvin Richardson, Amy Gomez-Ochoa, Yacxiel Martinez-Fernandez, Justin Flynn

Tips for Teeth

Brush your teeth 2 times a day. Replace your toothbrush every three or four months, or sooner if the bristles are frayed. A worn toothbrush won’t do a good job of cleaning your teeth. Gently move the brush back and forth in short (tooth-wide) strokes. Brush the outer surfaces, the inner surfaces, and the chewing surfaces of the teeth. Clean between teeth daily once a day. Tooth decay-causing bacteria still linger between teeth where toothbrush bristles can’t reach. Eat a balanced diet that limits sugary beverages and snacks. See your dentist regularly for prevention and treatment of oral disease.

Students have been busy learning in all subject areas! In Being a Reader, students are going to be working on Unit 3 and learning different strategies to help them better understand what they read. These strategies include asking questions, visualizing, making connections, finding important information, summarizing, and putting ideas together. In Science, students have finished their first unit on waves. One of their favorite activities was learning about Morse code and creating their own secret messages with illustrations while working with partners. In Social Studies, students are learning about Native Americans, with a focus on the Iroquois. They have been working in small groups to research topics such as Iroquois art, longhouses, celebrations, and villages. During writing, students are finishing and publishing personal narratives about special memories from their own lives. In November, they will begin creating their own fiction stories! In Math, students are continuing Unit 2, where they are learning about factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers, patterns, and solving multi-step word problems.

We are very excited to invite our community Veterans to a Veterans Day breakfast and assembly on November 10, 2026. Breakfast will be provided and will begin at 9:15 a.m. followed by a school-wide assembly at 10:00 a.m. Please be sure you submitted your RSVP. We are looking forward to celebrating our local Veterans at NRWE!

As the weather begins to change, it is important that students have jackets, gloves, hats, boots, and eventually snow pants. Teachers will attempt to take students out each day for their recess. When the temperature is below 20 degrees, students will be required to stay inside for recess.

If your child is in need of any outerwear, please feel free to reach out to your child’s teachers and/or Miranda Motyka (mmotyka@nrwcs.org).

Just a friendly reminder to please make sure your child brings their school badge with them each day. Students use their badges for bus transportation, cafeteria purchases, and checking out library books.

Having badges with students each day also helps our bus dismissal process run more quickly and smoothly.

Thank you for helping us with this daily routine and for your continued support!

The last day for students to turn work in for quarter 1 is Friday, November 13th.

Quarter 1 progress reports and report cards will be sent home via mail as a paper copy and will also be sent electronically through ParentSquare. This will give families an opportunity to become familiar with accessing these documents electronically.

Moving forward, progress reports and quarterly report cards will be distributed through ParentSquare. We encourage all families to make sure they are connected to ParentSquare and that their contact information is up to date. If you do not have access to ParentSquare, you will receive progress reports and reports via mail.

Progress reports and report cards are just one part of our ongoing communication with families. We encourage parents and guardians to continue monitoring their child’s academic progress and to reach out to teachers or our counselor, Mary Finn with any questions or concerns.

If you have difficulty accessing ParentSquare or your child’s academic information, please contact the Middle School Main Office for assistance.

Yearbooks are now available for sale! Visit www.jostens.com/bts/1052504 to order yours!

Please reach out to Crystie Weigand at cweigand@nrwcs.org or Kathleen Vona Winters at kvonawinters@nrwcs.org with any questions!

Grade 5: This month in ELA students researched Cerebral Palsy and created informational brochures using this information. We are continuing to read our novel, "Out of My Mind" and focusing on story elements in class. In Social Studies, students are comparing and contrasting physical features on maps, namely New York and California. Students are tasked with connecting their learning from Science, Earth's systems (spheres) to Social Studies, naming parts of the geosphere: mountains, hills, and valleys that they see in one or both maps. Students are incorporating their writing skills in Social Studies by writing RACCE responses that highlight these similarities and differences. In Science, students are finishing up the Got Water? unit, whereby they learned how weather/climate interact and impact Earth's systems.

Grade 6: In ELA, we are continuing to read Number the Stars and students will be participating in several projects that go along with the book. Science classes are continuing to work with the scientific method and will be conducting some hands-on experiments. Our next unit is Astronomy. In Social Studies we will be finishing up our Mesopotamia unit and moving into our study of Ancient Egypt. In Math we are finishing our Geometry unit where we are finding the area of lots of different shapes and then reviewing decimals and fractions!

Grade 7: Our 7th grade students have been busy with exciting learning opportunities across all subject areas! In Math, students completed a stock market project, creating mock investment portfolios while applying their understanding of NYS math standards. In ELA, students have begun exploring the horror genre, learning the five key elements of horror writing before creating their own original short stories. Spanish students are strengthening their reading comprehension skills by using context clues, recognizing cognates, and expanding their vocabulary. In Social Studies, students are wrapping up their study of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy and preparing to explore early European explorers and the settlement of the Americas. Students will also make an exciting cross-curricular connection with ELA by studying the Salem Witch Trials alongside their horror genre unit!

Grade 8: 8th Grade Social Studies students are rolling through the American Civil War and into the Reconstruction Era. Students have gone on gallery walks to learn about various leaders of the war, as well as read primary source accounts from those that both experienced war, as well as loved ones at home. Students will be offered Assignment Recovery work to make up any missed Classwork or Homework assignments to improve a grade. Students in Spanish are reading to understand and learning lots of vocabulary along the way. Please encourage your student to study a few vocabulary words for each unit each night. They each have their own personal dictionary in their folders! In Math 8, we are working on our Solving Linear Equations Unit. In Algebra, we just completed solving linear equations and starting the Functions Unit. The 8th grade will be hosting their first block party on November 10. During this time there will be an opportunity for students who are behind on assignments to catch up on their work before the end of the quarter. Students who are all caught up will attend different activities throughout the day.

NJHS is starting the process of our annual Veterans Day Recognition Assembly. We look forward to hosting all of those local heroes that have or currently serve in our nation's armed forces.

Members have also reached out to NRWMS staff and requested to begin Activity Period shifts for our Homework Helpers. This is a great opportunity for students to work alongside one another and provide academic support in a classroom environment.

Lastly, our brainstorming of activities and tasks to work alongside our Elementary students with our mentoring program have started, with plenty of ideas flowing in to become big brothers and sisters to our NRWE kids.

Principal Yarnes and Assistant Principal Canori will join students each week to call home together and share good news about something that happened at school. Cougar Pride calls help recognize students for doing a good deed, brightening someone else’s day, helping a friend, mastering a goal, or overcoming an obstacle!

Check out the North Rose-Wolcott Central School District Facebook page to see which students are chosen each week! Mrs. Yarnes and Mr. Canori are grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge students each week who are demonstrating Cougar Values each day!

The Hub: Our 9th and 10th graders are working hard to stay organized and complete work owed by the 11/13 deadline so that their Quarter 1 report card grades truly demonstrate what they know and are able to do!

We are finalizing our community service projects and gearing up for the competition season. Our State Leadership Conference will be held at the Kalahari Resorts & Conventions & Center in Pocono Manor, PA on March 10-12.

Thank you to the Student Council for helping to host the November Forum. The students really seemed to enjoy the pie-eating contest and had fun running to play the “Stuff a Turkey” challenge. The class competitions are really heating up! The Sophomore Class is currently in the lead, yet the seniors and juniors are close behind. Stay tuned for more class competitions. Thank you.

Mrs. Ragan’s ENL seniors have been hard at work submitting their Common “App” Applications for attending college in the fall of 2027! Students have finished their submissions and now need to work on the FAFSA and Scholarship applications with their families. All students are working hard in their classes learning strategies to study for tests and ways to utilize new vocabulary daily.

Hello! It is finally that time of year! The musical is starting up again and this year we are doing “Footloose”!

Auditions were held the week of November 2. Once we know who will be in our cast, we will be sending out a ParentSquare to set up a parent meeting to discuss several items related to this year's show.

Please come support us at the NRWHS Craft Fair on Saturday November 7th at the high school. There will be several vendors selling food, clothing, artisanal items and other crafts, as well as featured performances by several NRW students. The proceeds from this event help us to fundraise for the show. This year we are going to be purchasing items to help balance and improve the sound of the pit with our actors on stage, t-shirts for the students, on top of our usual purchases of lumber, costumes and other materials. We hope to see you there!

The Caring Cougars toured the Wolcott Library, mailed letters from the Wolcott Post Office, and enjoyed the beautiful Wolcott Falls. We really enjoy learning experiences in our own wonderful community!

On November 24th, we will welcome our friends from the elementary school and middle school for our annual “Friendsgiving” Celebration.

The first concert of the year is soon approaching! We will be performing along with the high school choir on Thursday, December 3rd at 6:00pm. I am unbelievably excited to announce we will have a performance from the Jazz Band students as well. The bands will be performing a variety of holiday classics as well as some classic band repertoire too! We cannot wait to see you there and help you to get in the holiday spirit!

Art Club painted faces for Homecoming Week and the Community Halloween Party. They are hoping to paint faces at this coming Saturday’s Craft Fair. At our last meeting we started our Meccha Chameleon challenge to paint actual 3D printed little figures to blend in with our art room. We are planning some upcoming holiday fun in the art room as well as a field trip for the winter months.

Varsity Club ran their first Pep Rally and brought some NRW Spirit to our Fall game days. We are already planning some fun for the upcoming sports seasons.

The Interact Club hosted the Community Halloween Party on Friday October 30th. Multiple clubs and classes across the school participated in hosting games, a haunted house, and the trunk or treat. Our building was packed with families from all over the area enjoying the evening. We thank the members of the community for supporting this traditional event here at the high school.

Following Thanksgiving, Interact will be meeting on December 9th with the Wolcott Rotary to continue building their partnership. Wolcott Rotary supports Interact in many ways, including providing scholarships for graduating seniors, as well as a scholarship for one student to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Award camp in July. Together, Interact and Wolcott Rotary completed and installed the large Adirondack chair at the Wolcott Falls park this summer.

October was a busy month in the library! We made dozens of spooky skeletons for our Hack 'n Craft this month, and by the end, students were showing off their creativity by using the same basic methods to customize other fiendish friends!

Our Cougar Life Skill of the Month was strategies for taking care of our mental health - easy ways to restore balance and take a breather when things get overwhelming. After all, your mental health shapes your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and overall quality of life - and that's sweeter than a bowl of Halloween candy!

To connect with the spooky season, the library also promoted our selection of macabre stories as well as offering “Frightful Friday” the day before Halloween where we read scary stories and watched creepy videos all day. It was Spook-tacular!

In November, look for a reappearance of one of last year’s favorite activities - the return of the button maker!

Our ELA classrooms are buzzing with close reading, creative writing, and thoughtful literary analysis! Here's a look at what's happening:

11th Grade ELA | The Great Gatsby and the American Dream

Our 11th graders are deep into their novel study of The Great Gatsby, exploring its portrayal of the American Dream and considering how that dream has developed across generations. Through their reading and discussions, students are examining the connections among ambition, opportunity, success, and the world around them.

AP Literature | Creating and Interpreting Poetry

Our AP Literature students have written poetry of their own while strengthening the skills they use to interpret poems. By approaching poetry as both writers and readers, they are developing their voices and exploring how a poet’s choices shape meaning.

12th Grade ELA | Tracking Their Thinking Through Dracula

As our 12th graders read Dracula, they are developing detailed document logs to organize their observations and track their thinking. These ongoing records support careful reading and provide a foundation for deeper literary analysis.

Gemini | Bringing Literary Analysis to Life

Our Gemini students are transforming their completed literary analyses into class presentations. Beginning Friday, they will share their interpretations with classmates, bringing their written work into discussion and practicing how to communicate their ideas clearly.

Students are growing as readers, writers, and communicators—making meaningful connections with literature and finding thoughtful ways to share their insights.

The Alumni Art Show was a great success with many students being inspired by our NRW continuing artists. Now our high school artists have their first exhibit being installed in our art gallery. The Collision of Worlds show opens on 11/4 during our parent teacher conferences and will stay up into December. Our kiln is currently down and we are waiting on a clay order, so our ceramics room has been doing some creative problem solving in the meantime. Hopefully we will have more 3D work in the coming months.