Cowles Montessori Crier
Week of Jan. 22nd
Cowles Montessori Mission
Important Dates to Remember
Family Skate Night! - Skate North - Thursday, February 1st - 5:00pm
Parent-Teacher Conferences - Week of February 5th
Sweetheart Dance - Friday, February 9th
Staff PD Day (No school for students) - Monday, February 19th
All City Jazz Festival - Tuesday, February 20th
Fine Arts Day - Tuesday, February 27th
Counseling News
We have not only entered a new year, but this week starts the second semester of the 2017/2018 school year. Typically, this is a huge period of social, emotional, and academic growth for school age children. This semester, we are implementing two new school-wide programs for our students, ZONES OF REGULATION and PROJECT WISDOM. Both of the programs are used in other schools across DMPS, but as usual, we will be customizing them to fit with the Montessori Philosophy.
ZONES OF REGULATION is an extension of our Cowles Peace Process and it will be used in all classrooms, PreK—8th grade. You will soon notice posters throughout the building that show blue, green, yellow, and red zones of behavior. The Zones of Regulation is a systematic approach used to teach self regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete colored zones. The Zones of Regulation framework provides strategies to teach students to become more aware of and independent in controlling their emotions and impulses, manage their sensory needs, and improve their ability to solve conflicts.
PROJECT WISDOM is a series of brief weekly messages that will be loaded onto the Cowles website that share mini lessons on helping students make wiser decisions. The students will be recorded giving the messages and those videos will be uploaded on to the Cowles Montessori Website. Some of the topics that will be covered are: Goals for the New Year, Reaching for Greatness, Underneath the Anger, Overcoming Obstacles, Tough Choices, Wisdom of the Ages, and Prejudging. These simple, but powerful messages are meant to inspire deeper level conversations in the classroom and at home. PROJECT WISDOM was purchased by Cowles and there are extension activities and reading lists available if any family is interested.
In the days and weeks to come, be watching for ZONES OF REGULATION posters and PROJECT WISDOM videos on our website.
Hope 2018 is off to a happy and healthy start for you all.
Tracy Lepeltak, Cowles Counselor and Dean of Students
Healthy News
Happy January! Winter has come- along with illness. I report daily to the IDPH (Iowa Department of Public Health) with the number of children and staff absent due to illness. I also report symptoms, especially influenza-like, as necessary. Absences greater than 10% are investigated and sources of an outbreak are considered. Our highest percentage absent was about 3.2% during the week of December 18th, 2017. So far in 2018, I am aware of several cases of strep throat and Influenza A affecting Cowles students and staff.
A good way to prevent the sharing of these viruses and bacteria is to keep your child home from school if they are not feeling well or have a fever. Even a low-grade fever could indicate that they are mounting an immune response. If I see a student with a low-grade fever and symptoms, I will be contacting you. If they are sent home with a fever of 101 or higher, they need to stay home for 24 hours and may return when they are fever-free WITHOUT the use of fever reducing medications such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen. Another good way to keep Cowles and our community healthy is encouraging good, frequent handwashing with your children and practicing it at home. And finally, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the flu vaccine for everyone 6 months and older. It is considered to be the single most effective thing you can do to protect from influenza illnesses and complications. I recommend going to the AAP website for very useful information from doctors and scientists who are dedicated to children’s health.
Let’s work together to keep our school and community healthy in 2018.
Thank you!
Nurse Robin
Where is the Pink Tower? HINT: Old Fire Station Downtown
Find the Pink Tower
Have fun helping your child locate the Pink Tower!
Click on this link to locate the CMPG Facebook Page, then locate the Pink Tower Survey link: https://www.facebook.com/CowlesMontessori/
Montessori School Outcomes
- Intrinsic Motivation
- Creativity and Originality of Thought
- Social Responsibility
- Autonomy
- Confidence and Competence
- Spiritual Awareness
- Academic Preparation
Contact Cowles Montessori School
Email: todd.johnson@dmschools.org
Website: cowles.dmschools.org
Location: 6401 College Avenue, Windsor Heights, IA, United States
Phone: 515-242-7818
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CowlesMontessori/
Twitter: @CowlesDMPS