Cooks Chronicle
October 2017
Kids Chat Column
Hello! As you probably know our school has been under a lot of construction, but it is almost done! In the gym we now have nice painted walls, and new finished floors. All the hallways in our school have lights now, and the school playground is almost finished! We are very excited for the equipment to be installed and ready to play on!
Throughout this school year, we have had Miss Ginger who is a high school vocational student. She comes to help out our teacher, Mrs.Warren. We also have lots of other vocational students who are helping out with other teachers. Some of the vocational students come in the morning, and others come in the afternoon.
We interviewed our vocational student, Miss Ginger, and here's how it went...
Question: How do you feel about the construction?
Miss Ginger: “I wish it would hurry up and be done.”
Question: Do you like working at Cooks Corners?
Miss Ginger: “I like working here because I get to be in Mrs. Warren’s class.”
Question: What is your favorite part about working at Cooks Corners?
Miss Ginger: “I love helping kids.”
Question: What’s your favorite part about helping kids?
Miss Ginger: “Watching kids learn new things.”
Question: Why do you want to be a teacher?
Miss Ginger: “I like helping kids.”
Question: What grade do you want to teach?
Miss Ginger: “I want to teach 2nd and 5th grade.”
Question: Would you want to teach at Cooks Corners?
Miss Ginger: ”If I live around the area, I want to live in Florida.”
We are keeping busy with a lot of great things after school:
Team Lead -5th grade
After school sports- 4th & 5th grade
Spell Bowl- 4th & 5th grade
Science Bowl -4th & 5th grade
Math Bowl- 4th & 5th grade
Student Council -3rd,4th,& 5th grade
Robotics Club-5th grade
Stem Club- 3rd grade
Choir-4th & 5th
- Let's Build It Club - 1st-5th grade
- We are also working on starting an Art club.
There are a lot of activities that your can join. All of them are fun!
2017 PTO Read A Thon Fundraiser
The Cooks Corners PTO is excited to hold a Reading Stars Read-a-Thon the week of October 23rd-27th! We will kick off the Reading Stars Read-a-Thon with a special school assembly to get our students excited and interested in being a “Reading Star”! During the week of our read-a-thon Cooks Corners will also be celebrating Spirit Week! How FUN! Throughout the week we will be incorporating time for in school reading, special activities and fun themed days! You can also share your favorite books using the FlipGrid link below!
During the Reading Stars Read-a-Thon and Spirit Week, we hope to continue to encourage and foster our students love of reading, work together toward our fundraising goal and have fun while doing it! All of the money collected stays here, with our school, for our students, and allows the PTO to help fund or supplement various activities, field trips, assemblies, special events and programs throughout the year. Please help us meet our goal by supporting and encouraging your child to participate! If we are successful in meeting our fundraising goal, this will be the only school wide fundraiser the PTO will do this year.
Look for the Reading Stars Read-a-Thon packet of information and schedule of activities for the week coming home on Wednesday October 18th. And, thank you for your help in making this year’s Reading Stars Read-a-Thon a success!
We are looking forward to a fun and full week of reading with our READING STARS!
Sincerely,
Brynn Willett
Read-a-Thon Chairperson
Follow the Cooks Twitter account @CooksValpo and tweet family reading activities at the Cooks handle and use the hashtag #Cooksreadathon2017
Read A Thon Spirit Days!
- Monday: Dress as your favorite book character!
- Tuesday: Bring your favorite book to school and get ready to write to your favorite author!
- Wednesday: We are reading STARS! It's so bright we all have to wear shades, wear your sunglasses!
- Thursday: Stuffed animal day, read to your stuffed animal today!
- Friday: PJ Day get comfy and READ READ READ!
Meet Mrs. Murray
Hello Cooks families! My name is Rachel Murray (students will know me as Mrs. Murray) and I am your new school social worker. I have my MSW and am a licensed social worker. I will be at Cooks on Mondays, Tuesdays, and every other Wednesday. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you would like to discuss a concern, or just to say hello. I am very happy to be a part of VCS!
E-mail: rmurray@valpo.k12.in.us
Give Them LIP
Give Them L.I.P
The Scholastic Book Fair is Coming Oct. 30th - Nov. 3rd!
Principal's Chat
Happy October, which also marks the end of the 1st quarter! We are settled in and are working hard to master all things needed to continue to grow individually and as a school. A very important part of mastering all standards, in all subjects, is READING!
We all know that reading is a huge part of what takes place on a daily basis at school, but many might wonder, What are we actually working on? Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis are the authors of The Comprehension Toolkit. While reading their blog, I came across The 6 Comprehension Strategies Every Reader Must Learn, which is a great summary of what teachers are working on every day with your children! These strategies are great to also keep in mind when you are reading with your children! And remember, a child is never too old to be read to or partner read with a loved one!!
Keep on Reading!
The 6 Comprehension Strategies Every Reader Must Learn
by, Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
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Monitor Comprehension When readers monitor their comprehension, they keep track of their thinking as they read, listen, and view. They notice when a text makes sense or when it doesn’t. They distinguish between what the text is about and what it makes them think about. Only when they are “thinking about their thinking” can they make sense of what they read and also recognize when meaning has gone astray.
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Activate and Connect Whether we are connecting, questioning, or inferring, background knowledge is the foundation of thinking. Readers can’t understand what they hear, read, or view without thinking about what they already know. To comprehend, learners must connect the new to the known. Kids must be prepared not only to think about what they already know but also to revise their thinking when they encounter new and more accurate information.
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Ask Questions Curiosity is at the heart of teaching and learning. Questions spur curious minds to investigate. Questions open the doors to understanding the world. As readers try to answer their questions, they discover new information and gain knowledge. To develop as critical thinkers, kids must be taught to think about and question what they listen to, read, and view. Questioning is the strategy that propels learners forward.
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Infer and Visualize Inferring is the bedrock of understanding. It involves taking what you know—your background knowledge—and merging it with clues in the text to come up with ideas and information that aren’t explicitly stated. Inferential thinking helps readers to figure out unfamiliar words, draw conclusions, develop interpretations, make predictions, surface themes, and even create mental images. Visualizing is sort of a first cousin to inferring. When readers visualize, they construct meaning by creating mental images, seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and even smelling in their imaginations. Inferring and visualizing enable kids to get a deeper, more robust reading of the text.
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Determine Importance For too many years, kids have been asked to pick out “the main idea” without being shown how or explaining why. Once kids know how to merge their thinking with the information, they need to be able to figure out what makes sense to remember. No one can or should remember every fact or piece of information read. Instead, readers need to focus on important information and merge it with what they already know to expand their understanding of a topic. Kids need to be shown a way to use information to develop a line of thinking as they read, surfacing and focusing their attention on important ideas in the text.
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Summarize and Synthesize Synthesizing information nudges readers to see the bigger picture as they read. Thoughtful readers integrate the new information with their existing knowledge to come to a complete understanding of the text. As readers encounter new information, their thinking evolves. They merge the new information with what they already know and construct meaning as they go. As they distill nonfiction text into a few important ideas, they may develop a new perspective or an original insight.
October Birthdays
10/2: Kobe Brown
10/3: Eva Senese & Amil Vohra
10/4: Ryan Arrizola & Kyler Music
10/5: Mr. Meyer
10/11: Kyla Coolman & Bailey Webb
10/12: Ella Morris & David Vorkapich
10/14: Mrs. Winters
10/15: Trinity Clemans, Ian Johnson & Jude Tipton
10/17: Kyle Carter, Malia Howlett, Thomas Krueger & Mia Trapp
10/21: Marin Anderson & Daniela Villalba
10/23: Lochlain James
10/26: Aubree Moore & Clara Warren
10/27: Ani Gilliana & Rachel Harris
10/29: Eason Krischke
10/31: Jackson Jobbe
Keeping the Lines of Communication Open
- What was a highlight of your day?
- What was a challenge you encountered and handled on your own?
- Is there anything with school (or friends) I can help you with?
- I am proud of you because you...
Every Monday: Chess Scholars - 3:20pm - 4:20pm
Every Tuesday: Choir - 8:00am-8:30am
Scheduled Tuesdays: 4th Grade Afterschool Sports - 3:15pm - 4:30pm
Every Wednesday: Robotics Team Meeting - 3:30pm-4:30pm
Every Wednesday: Drama Kids - 3:20pm - 4:20pm
Every Thursday through 11/2/17 : STEM Club Meeting for 3rd Graders - 3:15pm-4:15pm
Scheduled Thursdays: 5th Grade Afterschool Sports - 3:15pm - 4:30pm
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10/20: Report Cards available in Skyward
10/23 thru 10/27: Read-A-Thon Activities / Spirit Week
10/23 thru 10/27: Red Ribbon Week Activities
10/25: Parent/Teacher Conferences
10/26: 1/2 Day for Students / Parent/Teacher Conferences
10/27: Donuts/Coffee Provided for Bus Drivers
10/27: 1/2 Day for Students / Parent/Teacher Conferences
10/30 thru 11/3: Scholastic Book Fair
11/1: Student Council Meeting @ 7:45am
11/1: Deadline for 1st Grade Families to open 529 Savings through Promise Porter County Program
11/2: Fall Festival & Scholastic Book Fair @ 6:30pm
11/7: Picture Retakes
11/8: Spell Bowl Practice @ 8:00am
11/8 thru 11/21: Major Saver Card Sales
11/9: PTO Meeting @ 6pm
11/16: Spell Bowl Competition
11/17: VCS Board Meeting @ 6pm (TJMS)
11/22 thru 11/24: No School (Thanksgiving Break)
11/29: Student Council Meeting @ 7:45am
12/6: Student Council Meeting @ 7:45am
12/14: VCS Board Meeting @ 6pm (Heavilin)
12/15: VHS Varsity Singers visits Cooks students @ 9am
12/20: Student Council Meeting @ 7:45am
12/21: End of 2nd Grading Period
12/21: 1/2 Day for Students (Classroom Holiday Parties)
12/22: No School for Students (scheduled weather make-up day, if needed)
12/25 thru 1/7: Winter Break
12/29: Report Cards available in Skyward
1/8: School Resumes
AR Principal & Star Club Members
Cade Kennedy
Amy Yu
Owen Morris
Adam Warren
STAR CLUB
Amy Yu
Spiritwear Orders
We hope to be receiving our spiritwear orders soon! Orders will be sent home with students as soon as they are received.
Textbook Rental
Abscences/Tardies
Transportation/ Dismissal Changes
Volunteers - Limited Background Check Forms
Anyone wishing to volunteer in the building or in a classroom, have lunch with their child, chaperone a field trip, etc., is required to have a limited background check on file. These expire after one year. You can pick a form up in the main office, print one from the Cooks Corners website under the Parents tab, or request that one be sent home with your child. Please allow up to (10) days for processing.
In addition to having a limited background check on file, we have a new program called SafeVisitor that we are using each time a visitor comes into the building. Please be sure to always have photo identification with you when you come in to the school. Each visit, your photo ID will be scanned and you will then be given a visitor badge that will have your picture on it for you to wear while you are in the building. Since this is a new process and program, your patience is appreciated as we work out the glitches.
Skyward Access
Lost & Found
If your child is missing an article of clothing or any other item that you think may have been lost at school, please come in and take a look through our Lost and Found items. There are quite a few items that have been turned in.
Cool Weather Attire
With the changing weather, comes a reminder of the weather attire guidelines for student participation for outdoor recess. Students go outside every day for recess, unless the temperature or windchill is in the negative.
50-60 degrees: sleeves, long pants
40-50 degrees: jackets, long pants
30-40 degrees: heavy winter jackets, long pants, hat/gloves
20-30 degrees: heavy winter jacket, long pants, hat/gloves, boots (optional)
20 & below: heavy winter jacket, long pants, hat/gloves, boots (optional)
Snow Play: snow pants and boots are required if a child wants to walk/play in the snow.
**no boots or snow pants, students will be required to stay on the blacktop during recess.
Please make sure to discuss these guidelines with your child. Not having the proper attire will result in a loss of recess. If you are in need of items, please contact our social worker, Rachel Murray, at 531-3040 or by email rmurray@valpo.k12.in.us. She would be happy to help provide you with the proper attire.
Nurse Notes
October 2nd was Child Health Day. Our President stated, "How we treat our young people is a fundamental test of who we are as a society. Today, we reaffirm that all children deserve to grow up in healthy, safe and loving homes, with parents or guardians who nurture, inspire, and empower them to realize their full potential." Such truth. Blessings on all of you wonderful parents!
Mrs. Wendahl