Cottonwood Creek Cougar Chronicle
August 2020
Message from the Principal, Mrs. Katie Johnson
Dear Cottonwood Creek Families,
Welcome to the 2020-21 school year. I hope this CCCC finds you all healthy and safe. As we return back to school next week, I want to acknowledge the fact that many of us will return with mixed emotions. However, as a Cougar family, I know we will come together and make the most of the situation we are in. It is important to remember that there are different perspectives, values , feelings and experiences that we all bring to Cottonwood Creek; it is that very thing that makes us the Cougar family. We will continue to work together to make this another year full of opportunities for students to connect, engage and learn.
This year will be unlike any year in the past. Not only are we living through the Covid-19 pandemic, but there is a growing awareness of the racial inequalities and injustices in our country. In Cherry Creek School District, we are committed to deepening our understanding of these issues and addressing them. Our staff will continue to provide a safe space for all our students to be the very best version of themselves.
As we enter this school year, a year full of unknowns and change, I am glad to be here with you - the Cougar Family. It is together that we will make this another great school year for your children, our staff and our community.
Much appreciation,
Katie Johnson, Principal
Phase In Week: August 17th-21st
In an effort to provide support to students and staff and to ensure that everyone
understands safety protocols, we will implement a gradual return to school based on the
following schedule. This schedule provides three days for Kindergarten assessments, which will be completed Monday-Wednesday.
Monday, August 17th: 5th grade only
Tuesday, August 18th: 4th grade only
Wednesday, August 19th: 3rd grade only
Thursday, August 20th: 2nd grade only
Friday, August 21st: Kindergarten/1st grades only
Your child will only attend school one day next week based on the schedule above. Please know that bus service will be provided along with our Before and After Care program. If you have questions about our Before and After Care Program, please contact our B&A Director, Karen Spears (kspears@cherrycreekschools.org). Please know you must be registered by 12:00pm the day before and attending in-person learning at Cottonwood Creek to join our Before and After Care Program. This program is also capped at 30 students due to physical distancing requirements.
Should I send my child to school?
Parents will soon have access to an app as a temperature and symptom check before sending
their children to school. Please use this app to determine if you should send your child to school. This app will also be used by staff to determine if they should come to work.
Information about this app will be shared as soon as it is available.
If your child is going to be absent, please call our attendance line at 720-554-3295. It is helpful if you can make this call by 7:45am on the day of your child's absence.
Physical Distancing, Cohorting and Masks
Physical distancing/Cohort distancing will be implemented throughout the school day to the greatest extent possible. Our students will be cohorted by classroom for a majority of the school day. Our teachers have worked hard to remove non-essential furniture from their classrooms to allow more space for physical distancing.
All staff and students are required to wear masks daily except for lunch, snack, recess and during strong physical activity. During those times, we will continue to implement physical distancing to the greatest extent possible. We will manage this in a developmentally appropriate manner and our district has provided videos to ensure all of our staff and students are trained appropriately on how to wear their masks.
Students who decide not to comply - we will first work with individual students to educate them on the requirement to wear a mask in the Cherry Creek Schools; second, we will provide official documentation of the requirement and provide a final warning; finally we will transfer the student from in-person to 100% online school if they continue to make the choice not to comply with the requirement to wear a mask. Communication with the parents will be a critical part of this entire process.
Soft Start Arrival and Breakfast
We have created a student arrival plan and have included our entrance map to maximize physical distancing and cohort distancing as students arrive in the morning. Students should not arrive on campus prior to 7:45am. At 7:45am, Cottonwood Creek staff will open and monitor the entrances to ensure that students have a mask before entering the building. Classroom teachers will be in their classrooms ready to greet students. When students arrive, they will hang up their backpacks and coats then follow the classroom handwashing plan.
Breakfast: Breakfast will be delivered to the classroom. Students who eat breakfast at school will do so in the classroom. Until we have a better idea of how many students will eat breakfast at school, we would like to ask families to complete the brief survey above to let us know which days your child will be eating breakfast at Cottonwood Creek the week of August 24-28th (if any). If you have more than one child in the school, please complete the form for each child. This form is temporary.
Walkers: We have a large percentage of families who walk their children to school. This is part of what makes Cottonwood Creek an exciting place in the mornings. Please help us keep our staff, students and community safe by wearing your masks and socially distancing. Please do not arrive on campus prior to 7:45am. Students will report directly to their assigned doors to enter the building. The playgrounds will not be open prior to the school day, so please do not arrive early. When you arrive on school grounds, you may escort your child to their assigned grade level cohort entrance and say your good byes. Then I kindly ask that you leave the school grounds. We need to be mindful of large gatherings on school grounds.
Bus Riders: Students will be dismissed from the bus one grade level cohort at a time with their masks on. Students will then go directly to their assigned doors.
Bike Riders: Bike racks will be available by the grade level doors. Please know that these will not be supervised or locked during the school day. You are encouraged to have an individual lock to secure your bike.
Parent Drop Off: Parents will enter the parent drop off lane single file. Please follow the directions of staff and signage. Students must exit the right side of the car with their masks on and immediately go to their assigned doors. Other people in the car MUST remain in the car at all times. Please also review the map and directions below.
Before and After Care: Students will be escorted by B&A staff with their grade level cohorts. They will exit near Kids Club and then enter the building through their grade level assigned doors.
Specials
Special teachers will see every grade level every day and will rotate on a two-week cycle. This rotation schedule will soon be available on our Cottonwood Creek Website. For specials, students are cohorted by classroom. Our daily schedule includes cleaning between classroom cohorts, to the greatest extent possible, using the district provided cleaning solution.
Lunch/Recess
For the 2020-21 school year, students will eat lunch prior to recess, and our schedule will be staggered. In addition, students will eat lunch as a classroom group (single cohort) assigned to a section of tables in the cafeteria or innovation space. Visual cues will be marked to provide guidance for physical distancing as students line up to pick up their lunch and find a seat to eat their lunch. Classroom teachers will provide time in their schedule prior to lunch for students to wash hands. Masks will need to be worn in hallways on the way to lunch. Students will be responsible for picking up their own area after they eat, and our staff will disinfect the area between each cohort. After lunch, students will be escorted out to their grade level playground for recess. Masks are not required during recess; we will be providing break away lanyards for students to attach their masks to in order to prevent misplaced masks. When students return to class after recess, the classroom teachers will provide time for students to wash their hands.
Controlled Dismissal
Before and After Care
Students will meet their leaders at their grade level assigned door, where they will be escorted to Kids Club by a staff member.
Bus Riders and Day Care
Students will exit their assigned doors and report to the front of the building, where they will wait in a grade level cohort for bus riders.
Walkers/Parent Pick Up
Students will be escorted by their teacher and exit the building through their assigned doors. They will immediately walk around to the front of the building to wait at the grade level cohort out front near the parent pick up lane. Grade level teams will stagger their exit through these doors. Students who walk home may not linger outside of the building or stay to play on the playground. If your child is meeting a sibling, the older sibling will exit their assigned door, and walk around the building to the younger siblings grade level cohort out front and follow teacher direction.- 2nd-5th Grade parents are encouraged to designate a space off campus to meet if they walk to pick up their child.
- Kindergarten and 1st Grade parents are encouraged to meet their child outside the grade level door for pick up. However, if you are not on time, you will need to pick up your child from the grade level cohort out front.
- All parents and visitors on school grounds: Please be sure to wear your mask and social distance at all times.
Teachers will escort remaining students to the parent pick up lane and students will gather in the spaces marked for the grade level cohorts. Please do not load until you enter the loading zone, and be sure to pull all the way forward to the last sign. Students must wear their masks until they are in the car. Again, we ask that all other people in the car remain in their cars and follow the guidance in the image below.
Water Bottles
Visitors and Dropping off Items
All visitors must come to the front door and use the doorbell to communicate the purpose of their business with the front office. All visitors must wear a mask in order to enter the building. Due to the size of our foyer, we will only allow one visitor in at a time.
If you are signing a student out of the building, the parent will sign the student out and wait for the student outside the main doors to ensure physical distancing.
Our visitors will not be allowed beyond the second set of doors. If you have items such as a lunch, coat, etc. to drop off for your child, we will have a small table in our foyer for you to place items. Please make sure the item is labeled with your child's name and classroom teacher. Please note we will not be allowing visitors to provide food/treats/snacks to cohorts. You may only provide food for your child.
The Titan Family Portal: Cafeteria Meal Accounts
The Titan Family Portal is a secure, online system that allows parents to:
- Make an online payment to thier children's cafeteria meal accounts
- Remotely monitor their children's accounts
- Set up automatic recurring payments
- Set up low balance e-mail message alerts
- Submit an online applicationg for free and/or reduced meals
Back to School Night
Every Friday will be School Spirit Day!
Birthday Treats
Our Cougar Staff
Google Translate
English:
Please note that due to the high demand for specific email communication from schools and teachers, we will be unable to translate all documents using human translation. Many documents may come home with translations provided using Google translate and may not be 100% accurate. Thank you for your understanding. If you would like more information about how you can translate emails and documents yourself using Google translate, go here: English
Amharic:
እባክዎን ልብ ይበሉ ከት / ቤቶች እና ከመምህራን ከፍተኛ የጽሁፍ የትርጉም አገልግሎት ፍላጎት የተነሳ ሁሉንም ሰነዶችን ሰዎችን በመጠቀም በጽሑፍ መተርጎም አንችልም: ብዙ ሰነዶች የማሽን ተርጓሚ በሆነው "Google translate " በመጠቀም የተተረጎሙ ሰነዶች ወደቤትዎ ልላኩ ይችላሉ እናም 100% ትክክል ላይሆኑ ይችላሉ ። ስለ መረዳትዎ እነመሰግናለን። "Google translate" የምባለዉን የማሽን አስተርጓሚን በመጠቀም ኢሜሎችን እና ሰነዶችን እራስዎ እንዴት መተርጎም እንደሚችሉ ለማወቅ ተጨማሪ መረጃ ከፈለጉ እባክዎትን ይህን ልንክ ይመልከቱ ። Amharic
Arabic:
يرجى ملاحظة أنه نظرًا لارتفاع الطلب على اتصالات البريد الإلكتروني من المدارس والمعلمين ، لن نتمكن من ترجمة جميع المستندات باستخدام الترجمة البشرية. قد تصلك العديد من المستندات إلى المنزل مع ترجمات مقدمة باستخدام ترجمة Google وقد لا تكون دقيقة بنسبة 100٪. شكرا لتفهمك. إذا كنت تريد المزيد من المعلومات حول كيفية ترجمة رسائل البريد الإلكتروني والمستندات بنفسك باستخدام ترجمة Google ، فانتقل هنا: Arabic
Chinese:
请注意,由于学校和教师对特定电子邮件通信的需求很高,我们将无法使用人力翻译来翻译所有的文档。许多文档可能带有使用 Google translate(谷歌翻译)提供的翻译,并且可能并非 100% 的准确。感谢您的谅解。如果您想了解有关如何使用 《谷歌翻译》以翻译电子邮件和文档的更多信息,请转到此处:Chinese
Korean:
학교와 교사의 특정 이메일 통신에 대한 수요가 높기 때문에 사람이 모든 문서를 번역 할 수는 없습니다. 학교에서 보내는 많은 문서들을 Google 번역기를 사용하여 번역본과 함께 제공 될 수 있으며 100 % 정확하지 않을 수 있습니다. 이해해 주셔서 감사합니다. Google 번역을 사용하여 이메일과 문서를 직접 번역하는 방법에 대한 자세한 내용을 보려면 여기로 이동하십시오 : Korean
Russian:
Пожалуйста, обратите внимание, что из-за высокого спроса на конкретные электронные сообщения со стороны школ и учителей мы не сможем перевести все документы с помощью человеческого перевода. Многие документы могут прийти домой с переводами, представленными с помощью перевода Google (Google translate), и не могут быть на 100% точными. Спасибо за Ваше понимание. Если Вы желаете получить дополнительную информацию о том, как самостоятельно перевести электронные письма и документы с помощью Google translate, перейдите по ссылке: Russian
Somali:
Fadlan la soco sababta oo ah baahida weyn ee loo qabo isgaarsiinta emaylka gaarka ah ee dugsiyada iyo macallimiinta, ma awoodi doonno inaannu turjunno dhamaan dukumiintiyada anagoo isticmaalaya tarjumaadda qof ah. Dukumiintiyo badan ayaa guriga ku imaan kara iyagoo wata turjubaanno la lagu soo turjumay iyadoo la adeegsanayo tarjumaada xaga Google oo laga yaabo inaysan 100% sax ahayn. Waad ku mahadsantahay fahamkaaga. Haddii aad jeclaan lahayd macluumaad dheeri ah oo ku saabsan sida aad ugu tarjumi lahayd emaylka iyo dukumiintiyada naftaada adoo adeegsanaya tarjumaada Google, halkan ka fiiri: Somali
Spanish:
Por favor, tenga en cuenta que, debido a la gran demanda de comunicaciones específicas por correo electrónico de parte de las escuelas y los maestros, no podremos traducir todos los documentos mediante la traducción humana. Muchos documentos van a llegar a casa con las traducciones proporcionadas usando el traductor de Google y pueden no ser 100% precisas. Gracias por su comprensión. Si desea obtener más información acerca de cómo puede traducir correos electrónicos y documentos usted mismo usando el traductor de Google, vaya aquí: Spanish
Vietnamese:
Xin lưu ý rằng vì nhu cầu cao về vấn đề email và tài liệu do trường học và giáo viên gửi đến cho phụ huynh, chúng tôi sẽ không thể cung cấp cho bạn tất cả các tài liệu do thông dịch viên dịch. Bạn sẽ nhận được nhiều tài liệu được dịch bằng Phiên Dịch của Google, nội dung có thể không chính xác 100%. Cảm ơn bạn hiểu cho điều này. Nếu bạn muốn biết thêm về cách để bạn có thể tự dịch email và tài liệu bằng Phiên Dịch của Google, vui lòng truy cập vào đây: Vietnamese