Cooks Chronicle
November 2015
A Note from the Principal
What an awesome month we had in October! The Walk-A-Thon and Harvest Fest were both very successful events. Thank you to everyone who helped make these events great.
We are excited to announce that Cooks Corners participating in Speak Up 2015 from October 1st through December 18th! This survey will help us answer questions, such as:
· How are our students using technology for learning in and out of school?
· How important are the use of technology to our teachers and parents? What types of technology would our teachers like and how would they use it in the classroom? Do our ideas about technology align with our students’ parents?
· What are the hot trends in emerging technologies (e.g. mobile devices, online learning, gaming, simulations)?
Speak Up is an online national research project that provides an easy way for students, parents, and educators to participate in our decisions about technology, as well as contribute to the national dialogue about educational technology. Since 2003, Project Tomorrow has collected the viewpoints of nearly 4 million students, educators and parents – the Speak Up dataset represents the largest collection of authentic feedback from these key educational stakeholders.
As a participant in Speak Up, we receive free, online access to the aggregated results with state and national comparisons, providing us with valuable data that can be used for our strategic planning, professional development and budgeting plans during the school year.
Taking the survey is easy!
Follow these instructions to take the survey:
- Visit http://www.bit.ly/SU15survey.
- Select your group (e.g. parents, educators)
- Search for your school by entering your zip code (46385) or by selecting Indiana and selecting your school’s name from the list.
- Read the instructions and begin the survey.
We look forward to Cooks Corners’ strong participation in Speak Up 2015! Be sure to take the survey from October 1st to December 18th. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.
Later this month, Mrs. Beck will be retiring. She has worked for Valparaiso Community Schools for 28 years, and touched the lives of hundreds of children, parents and staff. We will definitely miss her knowledge, smiling face, honesty, and guidance at Cooks. She is looking forward to spending more time with her beautiful grandchildren, but we hope she comes back to visit often.
Lastly, I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am very thankful to be a part of the Cooks family, and living my dream!
Dream. Learn. Achieve.
AR Principal & Star Club Members
Clara Warren
Amil Vohra
Emily Cheuk
Principal's Club (60 Points)
Kate Norrod
Ian Dutz
Amy Yu
Congratulations to all of our members!
PTO News
2015 Cruising for Cooks Walkathon which was a huge success. We raised $11,000, enough money to meet our budgetary needs for the 2015 - 2016 school year. We appreciate everyone’s efforts in collecting and making donations. Also, thank you to the parents who helped organize the fun activity stations at the walk and poured water for our thirsty students.
Two weeks after the walkathon the PTO held another super fun family event - The
Harvest Fest! The students and their families enjoyed painting pumpkins, relay races, bobbing for apples and a hayride around the field behind the school. Thank you to Debbie Anselm, Rosie Ralfaski and all the parents on the committee for orchestrating this program.
The PTO is looking for parents to join an ad hoc budget committee that will be led by the PTO Treasurer, Rosie Ralfaski. The committee will decide how much, when and on what the money in the PTO savings account will be used. If you are interested in participating in this committee please contact Rosie Ralfaski at rosieheise@comcast.net or Amy Cheuk at amy_cheuk@hotmail.com. The committee will start meeting after the New Year and will meet throughout 2016.
Music Notes
From the Kitchen...
Food and Nutrition Services is thankful to serve wonderful students every day. We've created a special lunch to celebrate Thanksgiving on Tuesday, November 17. Our tasty menu features Turkey and Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli, Fresh Baked Cornbread and our Secret Recipe Apple Crisp with Whipped Topping. Remember...eat well, grow strong!
~ Miss Polly & Miss Johanna
Student Council
Our 2015-2016 Student Council President is Mackenzie Jones and our Vice President Kate Weber
Classroom Reps
3G: Ian Dutz, Kate Norrod & Ian Kennedy
4A: Isaac Siewin, Peter Pierchicki & Chris Fisher
4V: Nick Carlson, Sam Osborne & Jacob Ray
5B: Megan Nelson, Henry Harris & Riley Clark
5W: Olivia Costa, Audrey Smith & Jackson Smith
Meeting Dates are on Monday mornings beginning at 7:45. Meeting will be held on:
Nov. 16 Dec 7 Jan 4, 25 Feb 1, 29 Mar 7, 21 Apr 4, 18 May 2, 16
Other dates will be added when needed.
Nov.3-16
Team Lead
Birthday Book Club News
The Cooks Corners Birthday Book Club is getting very close to having 75 members! I’ll be drawing names for prize winners again very soon when we reach 75 members!
Our newest members are: Madelyn Tedesco, Jadah Walker, Jacob Richey, Lena Petrouski, Avery Krischke, Coe Krischke, Mrs, Nichole Murphy, Miss Nicole Vowell, Tyler Wittmer, Mrs. Karol Kennedy, Devon Alsman, Mrs. Dawn Heckard and Charlotte Natzke.
Thank you to everyone for adding all those great new books to our library!
Barnes & Noble Book Fair
Thank you to everyone that came out to Barnes & Noble on Tuesday, November 3rd in support of our Media Center! A fun time was had by all! We played games, made crafts, decorated some beautiful desserts, completed a scavenger hunt, listened to some great stories from Mrs. Gonzales and Mrs. Wendahl and had our picture taken on the cover a Wimpy Kid Bookl! Thank you to our great staff for coming out and manning stations all evening to keep things running smoothly!
Thanks to your generosity, we earned a gift card with which to purchase books for our Media Center worth almost $800! Thank you so much!! It helps so much to add books that students ask for.
Winners in the drawing for grand prizes were: Riley Clark, and Evan Courtney each won a Minecraft T-Shirt and a Creeper, Anika Anderson and Malia Howlett each won a Glow Planes Kit, and Rachel Harris and Charlotte Natzke each won a copy of the book, Party Food for Kids! Lots of students won prizes for knowing their Wimpy Kid Trivia and completing the Scavenger Hunt! Congratulations to all our winners!
Dates to Remember
Nov. 10 PTO Meeting 6:00 pm
Nov. 16 Last day for Supplies for GI's
Nov. 17 Thanksgiving Lunch
Nov. 19 Porter County Spell Bowl
Nov. 25, 26, 27 Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 21 - Jan. 1 - Winter Holiday
Reminders
Trading Cards
Pokemon cards, baseball cards etc are no longer allowed at school.
Book Rental
Just a reminder, book rental payments are due. Parents can pay online, through Skyward, or submit a check (payable to Cooks Corners) to the school office. Thank you!