Collins Coyotes Howler Newsletter
September 21, 2020
Collins Coyotes
Location: 1920 128th Street East, Tacoma, WA, USA
Phone: 253-298-3400
Facebook: facebook.com/collinscoyotes
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Important Dates
September 29, 5pm - parent information ZOOM meeting
September 30, 7:45am - parent information ZOOM meeting
October 5 - NO SCHOOL, teacher training day
**more information to come
Message from Dr. Mondloch
I want to welcome our new and returning families to the 2020 school year. Oh, what a year it has been so far! Thank you for your patience as we worked to get laptops to students, updates made and other technology challenges ironed out. We fully expect that there will continue to be some bumps in the road, so when that happens, please reach out. We will continue to work to improve the connectivity and other issues happening during live conferencing until it works for each and every student.
We couldn’t have been happier to see our students and families during conferences the first week of school. We appreciated being able to see those sweet, albeit masked, faces of our Collins Coyotes in person and the opportunity to show off our (almost-finished) new school. We think it is beautiful and we look forward to filling it with students on a regular basis, hopefully in the near future.
We have a change in specialists this year. Due to personal reasons, our music teacher, Mr. Gaulke is taking a year off. We will miss him while he is gone. In the meantime, we are offering Spanish with Maestra Marshall. We are excited to offer a World Language because acquiring a new language has many academic, cognitive and social benefits for students. And, it’s fun! We know with the limited amount of Specialist time, this will be an exploratory course, but we hope it sparks a lifelong interest in learning other languages and about different cultures.
Unfortunately, our beloved YMCA teacher, Coach Anthony, has embarked on a new adventure to become a residential electrician. While we are so sorry to see him go, we appreciate all the energy, joy and activity he brought to Collins and wish him the very best in his new career. While we are engaged in distance learning, other YMCA staff members will be providing fitness activities online starting on September 21st.
Because our school is growing, we were able to add a fourth specialist to the mix: Art! We know art is important and a great creative outlet for students. Please welcome Miss McKee, our new Art teacher! She is excited to bring more art into the lives of our Coyotes.
Please find important information in this newsletter including a link to our Distance Learning Parent Handbook, a recording of me reading a story with tips for virtual learning, an invitation from our PTA, contact information for getting assistance and more.
One thing that we know for sure is that this year will be unpredictable, and we have to be flexible and prepared for a variety of scenarios. The district is working hard to bring students back as soon as safely possible, while still providing a full-time virtual learning option for families who prefer that. While we are still in the planning stages with multiple variables and may not have all the answers, please feel free to join us for a parent Zoom meeting and we will do our best to share information and answer your questions.
We appreciate our amazing Collins families. Take good care!
Best regards,
Barb Mondloch
Principal
Ms. McKee, Art
Ms. Houston, Special Education
Maestra Marshall, Spansih
Parent information ZOOM meeting
September 29th at 5pm SignUp invite link: https://signup.com/go/BiRjQNi
September 30th at 7:45am SignUp invite link: https://signup.com/go/vxmfNdF
Change for Wednesdays during Virtual Learning
A note from our counselor, Ms. Bobbi!
Greetings families! As we embark on a year like no other, I want to remind you that I am here for your student and family! You have access to my Canvas page which has links to several resources, requests to visit, opportunities for students to explore self- care and practice calming techniques along with a weekly lesson. These lessons are not graded but serve as an opportunity for discussion to help build resilience and confidence.
We are starting with lessons from Sean Covey’s book- 7 Habits of Happy Kids. The first two weeks will focus on Habit 1- Be Proactive! When kids are taught to be proactive they learn to be responsible, in charge of their own behaviors, actions, attitudes and moods. They show integrity by doing the right thing even when no one is looking. The purpose of teaching proactive behaviors is to help children stop and think before they act. Sometimes we react to a situation immediately without taking the time to think about the results of our actions.
These strange times have filled our lives with uncertainty. Teaching our children to be proactive, to do their best with todays challenges will encourage confidence and help them understand they can achieve great things despite barriers. This is a promising new school year and we will be stronger for it! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there is any assistance you or your family needs. Can’t wait to see you all soon!
Behavior Motivators
Positive reinforcement is no more a crutch for children than money, praise, and public recognition are crutches for adults. Even in the workplace, savvy managers and supervisors understand that recognition and rewards for a job well done will increase productivity and result in harder-working employees. This is true even though employees should just be responsible and do their work well.
Regarding bribery, we agree that bribery should not be used with children. However, appropriate reinforcement is not a bribe. A bribe is a reward given to a child to shop misbehavior. Examples of bribes can be seen every day in the grocery store. If a mother promises to give her child a cookie if he stops crying, that’s a bribe. The use of a reward in this way is never appropriate. In order to increase or maintain a behavior, proper positive reinforcement is given only after an appropriate behavior.
Parents: Do you wonder if positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior will kill a child’s natural motivation? The answer is a strong “No!” – not when reinforcement is used appropriately. Most behaviors are bult on many rewarding, positive experiences. For example, when we learn a difficult skill, it may be necessary to have an external reward of some type to keep us going during the learning process. However, when we master the skill (such as a musical instrument, sport, or artistic skill), the behavior can become rewarding in itself.”
Jenson, William. Parenting Through Tough Kid Moments. Eugene, OR: Pacific Northwest Publishing, 2018.
PTA Information
Hello!
It’s time for another exciting school year to start and an important part of Collins Elementary School is our PTA.
Collins’s PTA supports critical academic needs, is an active voice on decisions that impact your community. We invite you to join and PTA For Your Child because increasing our membership, even by one.
There is no wrong or right way to be involved – anything you can give, whether it’s time or money, will support your child’s potential. We invite you to join because we can do more together than apart. It only takes 5 minutes:
www.memberplanet.com/s/collinspta/20-21ptamembership
In order to keep our PTA running, we need your talent. We are looking for board and committee chairs to be part of our community. We strive to do more for our Collins family and would love to have you with us as community leaders.
Open positions:
*Treasurer: serves as chair of the budget committee. The treasurer also presents the budget, maintains accurate financial records, prepares financial reports, and performs other duties as defined in section 7 of the WSPTA Uniform Bylaws
*Vice President: Vice President is the executive vice president who presides at meetings in the absence of the president and acts as assistant to the president.
Membership: Membership duties include member retention and recruitment, as well as the maintenance of member rosters and administration of the membership database.
Communications: duties may involve newsletters, social media, and/or website leadership
Programs: duties include the coordination of various PTA programs and events. Some PTAs have a Reflections chair, and volunteers leading specific activities, but no Programs chair overseeing all programs.
*mandatory positions
If there are any interests or suggestions please reach out to us!
Sincerely,
Shauna Orallo, President
Collins PTA 5.5.20
SCHOOL CHEER
Collins Coyotes
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We believe in doing our best!