I am delighted to share that the structured literacy approach in our primary grades has been extremely effective. Our youngest Cougars are building strong foundational reading skills that will support them as they continue to grow and encounter complex texts. During my visits to classrooms, our students are using syllabication and other strategies to support their phonemic awareness and decoding of words. They are so happy to demonstrate these skills! This structured literacy approach, along with an emphasis on small group instruction is truly providing our students with a solid literacy foundation.

Our upper grade students have been engaged in our Pilot Enriched Literacy Curriculum and I am proud to share their tremendous achievements. Not only is this curriculum more engaging for students, but it also encourages them to apply their higher level critical thinking skills. In fact, our Fall MAP scores in Grades 3-5 outperform county schools by an average of 20% with our fourth graders meeting or exceeding learning targets at 96%! As I walk through our upper hall, students are actively engaged in literacy circles and discussing texts that excite them. They are quick to share various perspectives and are learning that it is okay to have differing viewpoints. These are skills that they will carry with them as learners and thinkers!

Our Mathematics curriculum remains strong and will continue to be implemented throughout the remainder of the year. Creating designated time for small group instruction will remain a focus where students have the opportunity for re-teaching or enrichment tasks. Our goal is always to meet students at their current level and build upon the skills they have mastered.

As we progress throughout the academic year, we will continue our efforts to meet our school theme of "One School, One Community". In the Fall, we prioritized time for grade level team building, daily class meetings, and models to promote the integration of all students in order to develop a stronger school community. These initiatives are an absolute priority as we stay committed to ensuring that all students develop a strong affinity for learning and a genuine sense of belonging within our school community.

Montgomery County Public Schools requires school volunteers and partnership agencies to complete

certain compliance measures in order to volunteer within our school district.

● Online Recognizing Child Abuse and Neglect Training via their myMCPS Classroom/Canvas

account

● Background check (dependent upon the type of volunteer service, per the Volunteers regulation

and FAQ)

● COVID-19 Vaccination Attestation - Beginning September 20, 2021, volunteers will be required to

upload their Certificate of COVID-19 Vaccination to remain on the volunteer roster.

Please review the Volunteer/Contractor Vaccination Attestation Update for details on this process.

Building entrance is not allowed unless your name is listed on the MCPS approved Volunteer List.

Please do not bring your documents to the main office and ask for entrance. These documents are to be

uploaded for MCPS to approve and update the Volunteer list daily.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/student-leadership/volunteer.aspx

Each month we will spotlight members of our stellar Cold Spring Staff. Enjoy reading about each of them and get to know them a little bit better!