COLEBROOK SCHOOL
APRIL NEWSLETTER
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Dear Families,
It’s hard to believe we are heading into April, and it proves a fast month as we return from our spring recess and move right into the final quarter of the school year. This is a busy time when we help students continue to master grade-level skills, develop positive social-emotional behaviors, and grow the love of reading, mathematics and learning about the world. April also brings warmer weather, which allows us to continue the practice of our safety and security drills.
We complete 12 state-mandated drills throughout the school year – eight in the fall and the rest in the spring. While most are fire drills, we also practice lockdown drills, a Hold-in-Place drill and Shelter-in-Place drill.
At West Irondequoit, we value safety and security. As principal of the school, I prioritize the safety of every student and staff member. To this end, we practice lockdown drills, which are used to safely secure all students and staff in classrooms while locking down the building. For our youngest learners, I announce a lockdown drill for the first time using the following verbiage, “We have been practicing different types of drills here at school and this week, you have been practicing a lockdown drill with your teachers. A lockdown is used when we need to stay in our classrooms in order to be safe. During the drill, it is very important to listen to your teacher’s directions. You will sit very close together, almost like pickles in a pickle jar. We will come around to each classroom and let you know that you are able to come out of lockdown.”
Any planned lockdown drills practiced later through the year are announced by “Lockdown, Lockdown, Lockdown.”
We are prepared to act swiftly and safely in the event of different emergencies. If we were ever to evacuate the building and relocate off-campus due to a flood, gas leak or other emergency, we have a careful plan in place, called a Reunification Plan. Students and staff would walk off-campus to a designated reunification site. There we would enact our plan for reuniting students and families in a calm and organized fashion with the help of district and emergency personnel.
During this process, families would be contacted via our Blackboard mass notification system with details regarding why the school needed to be evacuated and directions on how to pick up your child at the alternate location. The relocation sites for many of our K-3 buildings include local churches and other school buildings within the district. Our Plan is well-designed to ensure that our students are safe and calm within the alternate location. Additionally, the plan is designed with the purpose of reuniting students with their families in a smooth and efficient manner.
As part of West Irondequoit’s commitment to safety and security, our Leadership Team continues to collaborate with experts in the field to strengthen emergency protocols. Furthermore, we continue to work with our faculty and staff to consider various perspectives. As always, we hope that we never have to utilize our emergency response plans, but we continue to emphasize the planning process so that we are prepared. Please know that the safety of your children continues to be our top priority.
Thank you for your partnership,
Brenna Farrell
CONTACT INFORMATION
Address: 210 Colebrook Dr.
Principal: Brenna Farrell | brenna_farrell@westiron.monroe.edu
Main office: 585-336-1600
Fax: 585-336-0866
Secretary: Melanie Maloney | Melanie_Maloney@westiron.monroe.edu
Website: westirondequoit.org/colebrook_school
Health Office: 585-336-1608
· Nurse: Lona Cornell
Transportation: 585-336-2992
District Office: 585-342-5500 | District website: westirondequoit.org
UPCOMING EVENTS
April
4/3-4/7- NO SCHOOL Spring Recess
4/14- K-4 HALF-DAY Parent-Teacher Conference Day
4/16- Report Cards Available
May
5/12- PTSA Playground Night
5/16- District Budget Vote/BOE Election, 6 AM - 9 PM
5/25- Parent Orientation for Incoming 4th Graders at Iroquois 6PM
5/29- NO SCHOOL Memorial Day
June
6/6- Sports Day
6/13- Third Grade Recognition 9am
6/13- Kindergarten Celebration 12:30pm
6/14- Flag Day Celebration
6/19- NO SCHOOL- Juneteenth
6/21- Last Day of School K-6
6/21- Report Cards Available
Link to full calendar: westirondequoit.org/colebrook_school
Art helps students prep for challenges
The artistic process produces a mindset that encourages life-long aptitudes that will prepare a learner for real-world challenges. Developing and manifesting concepts requires original thinking, tenacity and discipline as students research, refine and problem-solve to create meaningful work. The arts employ the concept of “adaptive cognition,” which is the ability to respond effectively to the unanticipated. This is what how we approach art in West Irondequoit.
Third-graders in Mrs. King’s classes have been busy creating gnomes with model magic (see picture). The process develops foundational learning about armatures, additive sculpture, pinch, coil and slab techniques that will expand as they move through the art program.
John Perry’s sixth-grade students are creating tempera paintings (see picture) where students work from dark to light and layer colors to create an image of a tree that gives the illusion of three-dimensional form. Students are working on their ability to manipulate brushes and develop better control when painting.
Dake students in seventh and eighth graded extend their use monochromatic values by using oil pastels to create the illusion of depth on their Op Art Vector Value drawings (see picture).
Throughout the art program students create, present, respond, and connect to the arts. This is achieved through exploration into the connections between art, art history, interdisciplinary learning, and direct observation of the world. Knowing how to both create and understand visual communication is a skill that extends beyond the art room and into every area of our lives. New research documented in the book, Your Brain on Art (Magsamen and Ross), claims that engaging in an art project for as little as 45 minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by 10 years. So why not skip the gym tomorrow, and go make some art?
Disabilities Awareness Month
A goal of our district during Disabilities Awareness Month has been to give students a general understanding of various disabilities that exist in our world and our schools and promote inclusion. Each week has had a focus, such as Down "We talked about how when we do this, it's not to make fun or light of disabilities, but rather to understand various perspectives."
Exercises included Syndrome, Neurodiversity, Vision, Hearing & Speech and this is Autism Awareness Week. This video is one example. It shows the beginning of a presentation by Rogers/Southlawn Library Media Specialist, Katie DeNoto, to start Vision, Hearing and Speech Week. "We talked about different topics (non-verbal communication, lip reading, reading and mobility) and the students had to do various exercises and activities that helped to show perspective of someone with a disability," Ms. DeNoto said. conveying a simple sentence to the class without talking, mouthing a word for the class to lip read, reading sentences that were backwards with no prior instruction. Students talked about how disability and intelligence are not automatically linked, but rather that people with different abilities just have to find the path or tool that works for them to be successful.
Women's History Month
In addition to March being Disabilities Awareness Month, another West Irondequoit Heritage Month theme is Women’s History Month. We have celebrated it with various learning opportunities. For example, Ms. Totsline’s class at Southlawn read a book and watched a video on Ruth Bader Ginsburg (see picture). Mrs. Ferrari’s second-graders at Colebrook researched and then spoke via Zoom video conferencing with Shannon Huffman Polson. She is the first woman to fly Apache helicopters, serving in the U.S. Army on three continents.
2ND GRADE FIELD TRIP TO THE MUSEUM AND SCIENCE CENTER
Do you:
Have a new cell phone number or email address?
Have a new work phone number?
Need to update your emergency contacts?
Be sure to keep your child's school informed of any changes to your phone numbers or emergency contact information. Update info directly on the Parent Portal or send in a note with your child. Thanks!