Cottonwood Creek Cougar Chronicle
September 2019
A Message from your Principal, Katie Johnson
Dear Cottonwood Creek Cougars,
It has been an exciting start to the 2019-20 School Year. It was great to see so many of you at various events already this school year. If you were not able to attend Back to School Night, my brief welcome back video is available on our school website by visiting the "About us" page. As stated in my welcome back message, this is a year of opportunities. It is my goal to ensure we provide multiple opportunities for you and your children to connect, to engage and to learn.
In August, we held our very first R.O.A.R. Assembly. R.O.A.R. (Respect, Own it, Attitude, and Responsibility) is an acronym we use throughout our school to establish expectations. During our R.O.A.R. assembly, our staff and students had the opportunity to connect by celebrating what it means to be a Cottonwood Creek Cougar, and an opportunity to engage and learn as we played a jeopardy game to set assembly expectations for the school year. Our Cougar, Clyde, even made a guest appearance. It was a great way to kick off the school year.
As we enter into the 2019-20 school year, I encourage you to look for opportunities to connect, engage and learn more about Cottonwood Creek. Throughout the year, I will use texts, emails and the monthly Cottonwood Creek Cougar Chronicle to inform families of various opportunities we have for you and your children. I'd like to use this opportunity to share a few of the many ways available to you, as families of Cottonwood Creek Elementary School.
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Conferences as scheduled in the fall and in the spring. Fall conferences will be scheduled beginning Monday, November 4th. Watch for more information to come. Conferences are a great opportunity to meet with your child's teacher to learn more about your child's performance, both academically and social-emotionally. Aside from the scheduled conference weeks, you are always welcome to reach out to your child's teacher. Collaboration between school and home is key to a successful school year.
Cottonwood Creek Advisory Committee (CCAC)
formally known as Principal Accountability Committee
This committee is intended to provide an opportunity for communication and transparency between administration and our community. Attendance is open to all and we welcome your participation and support. This to be an opportunity to address topics of interest and/or concern. During our first CCAC meeting, we will review our school's test results from the annual state-wide testing (CMAS). I encourage you to attend. Our first meeting is Thursday, September 26th from 6:00-7:00 in our innovation space.
P.A.S.S.(Partnerships for Academically Successful Students)
The District P.A.S.S. is comprised of parents, Cherry Creek teachers and administrators, and community members. P.A.S.S. supports the district's goal of Inclusive Excellence and is a critical component of systemic equity transformation. P.A.S.S. at the district level, is led by the Executive Director of Inclusive Excellence and supported by the P.A.S.S. Steering Committee, and serves the purpose of engaging community members in meaningful and effective partnerships that lead to positive outcomes for all students, but more specifically, students of color. P.A.S.S. is a structure that fosters the intentional building of relationships between the school and the parent communities in an effort to create an inclusive learning environment for all students. P.A.S.S. also gives parents and guardians of students of color voice and direct access to administration. P.A.S.S. at the school level, is led by the administration. This year I will guide our Partnership for Academically Successful Students. Please join us for our first Cottonwood Creek P.A.S.S. meeting on Thursday, October 10th from 6:00-7:00pm in our Innovation Space.
PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization)
Our PTO supports the entire student body of Cottonwood Creek Elementary School through the cooperative efforts of our staff, families and community. We are fortunate to have such an amazing community to support the work we do at Cottonwood Creek. Our PTO helps us provide many opportunities for our students, families and staff to connect, engage and learn. Throughout the year, our PTO sponsors several opportunities for you to connect with other families, engage with our school community, and learn more about Cottonwood Creek Elementary School. I'd like to personally invite each of your to our first General PTO Meeting on Friday, September 13th at 8:00am in the cafeteria.
To learn more, please visit our PTO website: http://cottonwoodcreekpto.com.
Here's to a great year of opportunities...to connect, to engage, and to learn.
Respectfully,
Principal
Alone we can do so little; Together we can do so much. ~Helen Keller
Drop off/Pick Up Information
August in Digital Media
Hi Cottonwood Cougar families - August in Digital Media has been an adventure! Students have been learning how to navigate the library in order to be more independent for their checkout times. Our first week, students participated in a digital scavenger hunt in order to locate areas of the library and innovation space. For the rest of the month, primary students learned how to use Chatterpix Kids, an app that makes images talk. Intermediate students explored genres in the library, learned how to use the library catalog from any device connected to the internet, and began exploring ebooks and audiobooks in Overdrive, our school district’s online book catalog. All students can access both the catalog and Overdrive from their my.cherrycreekschools account. I’m looking forward to movie making with Cottonwood students in September. Stay tuned!
From the Music Room
Welcome back Cougar family!! School is back in session and so is the music making in the music room. The first few weeks were dedicated to identifying how we R.O.A.R. in the music room as well as remembering how to work/play as a music making community. Name games, greeting songs, and partner activities got students actively making music together as a community of learners. Third grade jumped right in learning songs and pieces for our show which is based on the book, “Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain” by Verna Aardema which will be on November 14. Volunteers have signed up and are ready to start working on costumes and set. (We could always use more help! If you missed out on volunteer sign up for the music room, contact me at mpedregon@cherrycreekschools.org) Choir registration went out and students have been signing up for our third and fourth grade choir which will start rehearsing in a few weeks. Things are moving along! I look forward to another amazing year making music with the students at Cottonwood!
-Mr. Pedregon
Have you heard your child or child's teacher talking about IRLA? Read below.
Cherry Creek GT (CCGT)
Cherry Creek GT (CCGT) is the local affiliate of CAGT (Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented). We are a parent education and advocacy group seeking best practices around gifted education and awareness. For more information go to our website- www.cherrycreekgt.org
CCGT is sponsoring guest speaker Dr. Amy Rushneck, executive director of Center for Bright Kids, UC Boulder. Come join us for a riveting evening as Dr Rushneck describes opportunities through her organization CBK and WATS- Western Academic Talent Search!
Who: Dr. Amy Rushneck
Date: Thursday, Sept 19th
Time: 5pm
Location: Sky Vista Middle School
Cottonwood Creek Elementary School
Email: kjohnson177@cherrycreekschools.org
Website: https://www.cherrycreekschools.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=31
Location: 11200 East Orchard Road, Englewood, CO, USA
Phone: 720-554-3200