The Sailor Signal
Cottage Lake Elementary - August 22, 2020
Cottage Lake is almost ready to set sail
I can hardly believe we are almost ready to launch the school year in a few short weeks. This past week was an incredibly busy one for our staff! For teachers, many stepped away from their summer break to engage in virtual learning around our new Learning Management System (LMS), Schoology. There were classes offered all day Monday through Friday. I believe the highest class count I heard from a staff member was 12 classes they attended last week. WOW! This is all voluntary for staff to attend, but it will help in our launch moving forward. If staff didn't attend this training, we will offer some of the classes for them this next week and offer asynchronous learning, as well.
For our office, it was incredibly busy! Sarah and Teri are working hard to make sure we have all students enrolled in our school, withdrew students if families are choosing a different option for fall, and ensuring students are assigned to classes. We are managing materials delivery to the school and prepping for teachers to stop by to gather items.
Our school custodians, Chris and Steven, are also busy making sure classrooms are ready for teachers to stop by and ensuring we maintain the rigorous cleaning schedule. For me, I was busy attending classes, managing enrollment, planning professional development for staff, and finalizing our hiring of staff. I am happy to announce we are fully staffed to start the year! I completed our final hire late Friday afternoon. Phew!
Cottage Lake is almost ready to set sail into the 2020-21 school year. There are final touches to be checked over, but we will be ready to welcome students and families on Wednesday, September 2. I can't wait to see our students very soon!
The remaining information is organized for you into new or time sensitive information and then repeat items from the August 15 newsletter.
•• New & Important Information ••
Technology Pick-Up or Trade-Out
If you are in need of a device for your student(s) or a hot spot due to not having internet, please complete this technology request form. Once this has been submitted, our technology teacher, Mr. Paganini, will be in contact with you to schedule you a specific time to come to school to gather the requested items. Additionally, please complete a request for each student who needs one. (This is specifically if you have more than one student in your home.)
Technology pick-up will occur between Friday, August 28 - Tuesday, September 1.
Family training for Clever and Schoology
If you are a 1st grade family and have experienced trouble getting logged into Clever, that is because we have just finished hiring a new teacher. Don't worry, your student is still enrolled. :) We will make sure all families can access their student's online information as we launch the year.
School Supplies
At this time we ask that all students have the following items available as their learning tools:
- writing utensils (pencils or pens)
- crayons
- colored markers
- glue sticks
- scissors
- paper for note taking (loose or within a spiral-bound or composition notebook)
- an organization tool for their work (bins or boxes, a notebook, an accordion folder, etc).
Some teachers may also provide some additional materials at our Materials distribution time during the week of September 14. If you would like more information regarding school supples, Visit our School Supplies webpage to learn more.
The Northshore Schools Foundation is generously providing in-home school supply kits for families in financial need. Complete the Northshore School Foundation’s In-Home School Supply Kit form to request supplies or please reach out to Sarah McKinnon in our front office. Sarah can be reached at (425) 408-4201 or smckinnon@nsd.org.
Materials Pick-Up
We will share more information about this soon.
Free and Reduced lunch application
Remember: families must reapply every year!
Repeat of Information from August 15 newsletter
Classroom Placement
As teachers prepared for training for our new Schoology learning system next week, we had to go “live” with our class lists. Please note, student placement has NOT been finalized. We are still working on enrolling new students and unenrolling those not attending Cottage Lake in the fall. Additionally, we are watching our numbers so very closely right now, as they are directly tied to our staffing allocation. Please understand that at this time, we have turned off ParentVUE for this reason. We anticipate turning this back on for families on Tuesday, August 25.
Lastly, as in years past, your family will be receiving a letter from your child’s new teacher during this last week of August. This letter will arrive electronically to families.
First Day of School - September 2, 2020
School Day hours
Attendance Matters!
This year, we will be taking attendance every day, Monday through Friday. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each day and we are also developing a system that will record those who need to participate in learning in an asynchronous manner. More information is still to come, but do plan for your student to attend school each day. Attendance matters!
Community Building weeks
Student and Parent Conferences
Families of students with IEPs, you can expect that your child's conference may include the case manager or team members for your child's specific plan, or there may be a separate meeting scheduled, depending on circumstances. Families of students with 504s, we will also connect with you on whether there are needed/suggested edits to the supports your child receives given the virtual environment context. During these three weeks, you and your students should be meeting with the adults they will interact with at Cottage Lake.
Instructional Schedule overview
Around September 2, our teachers will share the individual grade level/teacher schedules with you. We will be working hard to align our grade level work, so we will have a consistent weekly schedule. The shared schedules will include both synchronous [live] teaching, asynchronous [recorded] learning and activities, along with instruction in whole-group and small groups to provide the support children need. I will also recognize these schedules will likely evolve over the first few weeks of school, as teachers get to know student’s learning needs. While our team is still finalizing what each part of the school schedule will include for content areas, you can expect that the school day will be divided into three big parts (9:00-11:00, 11:00-1:00 and 1:00-3:30). Within the 9:00-11:00 and 1:00-3:30 time blocks, your child's schedule will have some live teaching, some asynchronous or independent work periods, and some small group sessions. Every student, regardless of grade and schedule will have lunch, movement and options for asynchronous learning occurring between 11:00-1:00 daily. Students will experience instruction in Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies and Social Emotional Learning across the week. Students will also have Music, PE and Library embedded in their weekly schedules. In total, we have instructional blocks that account for 4.5 hours of school learning four days/week. Wednesdays will look slightly different, as the focus will be more on small groups, 1:1 learning and providing teacher office hours.
If your student(s) are supported through Special Education services, we will be working with classroom teachers to see when is the best time to provide support for their goals. For some students, this may be push-in support or pulled for small group/1:1 service delivery. Our teachers will be working very hard to get this up and scheduled quickly.
Lastly, teachers and grade levels will be working on creating their grade level schedules this next week. This will take a bit of time, but teachers will share those with you as soon as they are able.
Jennifer Welch, Principal
Email: jwelch@nsd.org
Website: https://cottagelake.nsd.org/
Location: 15940 Avondale Road Northeast, Woodinville, WA, USA
Phone: 425-408-4200