Cole Miners' Dig

It was a great week of teaching and learning at Cole School! Students and staff celebrated our school counselor, Ms. Anna Mullen, on Monday for School Counselor Appreciation Day. They also ended the week honoring our School Crossing Guard, Ms. Mary Wood, for School Crossing Guard Appreciation Day. We are so fortunate to have these two caring professionals working at Cole School each day helping our students in very important ways!

Today students celebrated the 100th Day of School! This day offers students many fun opportunities to show what they know in counting by ones, fives, and tens to 100! We also had some 100 year old students join us in classes today! I know many classes also used the number 100 in their movement breaks in creative ways (100 jump and jacks, planks for 100 seconds, etc). Be sure to check out the Cole PTO facebook page for pictures!

Administration of the winter screeners and diagnostics have been administered over the last two weeks. After all make ups are completed and the data has been analyzed, teachers will reach out to families of students that will receive additional support from the reading, literacy, or math specialists. This will take place after February vacation week.

The PTO BINGO Night was a great success with some good old fashioned BINGO fun! Many thanks to the PTO for putting together this fun community event and to the teacher volunteeers that came to help!

Fourth grade students enjoyed the Geography Show enrichment sponsored by the PTO and the dues collected from families. This geography show reinforced all that fourth grade students have been learning this year in Social Studies and will continue to learn as they work to memorize all the states and capitals soon. Thank you, PTO!

Next Friday we'll celebrate the School Bus Drivers and School Resource Officer Phelps. Please take a moment to remind your child(ren) to say an extra heartfelt thank you to their bus driver and Officer Phelps next Friday.

Congratulations to this week's Magnificent Meerkats for consistently demonstrating expected behaviors, helping to make our community a positive place for teaching and learning! Way to go, Meerkats!

February

February 9 - 3rd Grade Mad Science Enrichment Program (Thank you, PTO!)

February 9 - 5th Grade Field Trip (Thank you, PTO!)

February 13 - School Resource Officer Appreciation Day

February 13 - School Bus Driver Appreciation Day

February 16 - 20 - February Vacation Week

February 23 - Community Meeting - Grade 3 Hosting - Parents welcome to attend!

February 26 - Incoming Kindergarten Orientation and Information Session 5:00-6:00pm

Looking Ahead:

June 5 - Field Day

June 11 - Grade 5 Celebration (for grade 5 parents and grade 5 students only) 6-8pm

June 16 - Last Day of School - Early Release (tentative)

Hi Cole Families! Continuing with our Second Step unit on Empathy & Kindness, 1st grade will have Social Emotional Learning (SEL) next week with me. We will read “All Kinds of Families” by Suzanne Lang. The link to the read-aloud is below so you can see what your child is up to during SEL. Next week, teachers and staff will meet to review the data collected from the Winter screeners students have taken over the past few weeks. We will then be able to form small groups to provide additional support for students in math, ELA, and SEL.

1st grade - All Kinds of Families

We want to make you aware that we are seeing an increase in gastrointestinal illness symptoms (vomiting and/or diarrhea) among students. While GI illnesses are common during this time of year, we are monitoring the situation closely and taking steps to reduce further spread.

Symptoms are most consistent with a viral stomach illness, such as norovirus. This type of illness spreads easily, especially in group settings.

Please keep your child home if they have vomiting or diarrhea, and do not return to school until they have been symptom-free for at least 24 hours without medication.

To help prevent illness:

- Wash hands often with soap and water

- Avoid sharing food or drinks

- Clean high-touch surfaces at home

- Remind children to tell an adult if they feel sick

Our school is reinforcing handwashing and enhanced cleaning procedures. If your child becomes ill or you have concerns, please contact the health office.

Please see the Norovirus fact sheet here and refer to the norovirus symptom checklist if you are wondering when your child should stay out and when it is okay to return.

Thank you for your help in keeping our school community healthy.

We finished our Gymnastics Unit this week. K-2 continued to work on rolls, weight on hands and balances. Grades 3-5 memorized their gymnastic performance with a partner. They also had an opportunity to judge their classmates on why they specifically liked a performance.

Variety Show Alert!
TODAY (1/30) is the FINAL day to sign up! Don’t miss your moment in the spotlight—sign up HERE or at coleptonews.com.

And the fun doesn’t stop there… February Fun kicks off next week!
• Tue 2/3: Bingo Night + Papa Gino’s Takeout
• Wed 2/4: PTO Meeting
• Fri 2/6: Work out & give back—raise money for the PTO! Sign up HERE