Cooper Mountain Newsletter
November 2, 2017
Dear Cooper Mountain Families,
I so enjoyed the evening of fun during our Harvest Family Festival last Friday night. Hundreds of members of our school community joined us here at Cooper Mountain to play games, participate in a costume parade, and enjoy some pizza and/or doughnuts!
Thank you to our PTO who organized and ran the entire event. It was a wonderful evening.
This week I want to share some observations of learning trends in the area of reading.
Our students have many strengths:
They can read independently.
They can respond to their reading verbally and in writing.
They are gaining awareness of their strengths and their metacognition as a reader.
They can find EVIDENCE in the text to support their opinions and answers.
Our students also have obstacles to their comprehension:
They struggle to determine intended meanings of words in nonfiction text. They also struggle to interpret nonliteral meanings of words and phrases.
As a staff, we will use this data as feedback - What are we doing well that we can keep doing? What can we do differently to teach to the challenges? And here is where you, as our learning partners, can help.
As you are reading with your child, focus on some of those difficult words. Ask your child - What do you think (insert the tricky word) means? How could you figure it out? Help your child use the illustrations, the captions, the subtitles, background knowledge or surrounding words (context) to make a good guess at the meaning. Feel free to help, to share how you would figure it out and congratulate your child for the effort! And by all means help them with a definition. Word acquisition is an extremely important part of becoming a skilled and capable reader.
Enjoy your exploration of words together - and thank you for your reading partnership.
Kristin
Daily Schedules
Being on time means inclusion
Learning Targets
Upcoming Events
This Week
November is one of our shortest instructional months as we have two national holidays and one grading day. There are just 17 days for us to fill with teaching and learning. Every one of them count! We are so glad your students are here and on time EVERY DAY!
Assessment/Grading Day for Teachers
NO SCHOOL for students
Monday, November 6:
Principal's Chat 8:45 in the Staff Room
Come for an informal conversation about Cooper Mt Life!
Friday, November 10:
Veteran's Day National Holiday
NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, November 14:
Picture Retakes - If you were absent on Picture Day, this is the time for your child to get a photo taken. Your child needs to bring the picture packet with them. If you want your child to have a Retake, send the original photos back to school with your child. Call us if you have questions.
Friday, November 17:
Family Movie Night here at Cooper Mountain 6-8 pm
Wednesday-Friday, November 22-24
Thanksgiving Holiday
NO SCHOOL
Cooper Mountain School
Email: kristin_lemon@beaverton.k12.or.us
Website: https://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/schools/cooper-mountain
Location: 7670 Southwest 170th Avenue, Beaverton, OR, United States
Phone: (503) 356-2070
Twitter: @CooperMtnES
Announcements
EMERGENCY EARLY CLOSURE
We are approaching the season where we start to think about snow/ice and the possibility of school closing early. It is vital that we have updated information from you regarding how your child will get home should we have to end school early due to inclement weather. Please think about any changes you need to make since you completed the Enrollment Verification online. I highly recommend that you have a backup plan in case you are stuck in traffic for hours (remember last winter?) and can't get to your child. Do you have neighbors who could pick up your child when they're picking up their own? Parents or other family members who are available during the day? It might ease your anxiety if you have a Plan A and a Plan B!
Contact the office if you feel you need to make a change - and try to do it before we have snowflakes falling. Thank you!
Parents, we request that students do not bring personal items, including toys, from home. They become a distraction to your child and others, and we want to safeguard against anything happening to your personal property. School supplies and books are welcome, but please don't bring fidgets, puppets, figurines, etc. unless they have been requested by the teacher for a specific purpose. I know that we have several toy-like objects in our Student Store - we are reminding students that those purchases go in their backpacks and are then left at home for play. (Erasers and pencils are welcome, of course!) Please help your child understand our policy.
LUNCH
Those of us who supervise lunch are constantly trying to find the balance between a happy social time for students and a time for them to actually eat lunch. We cannot force children to eat, so we would love your support in reminding students that their nutrition is important. 20 minutes is certainly not leisurely, but it is enough time to eat the lunch you've sent or that we provide here. We would love you to encourage your child to eat more than they talk - that's what we're trying!
Monthly Theme - Gratitude
Grateful for incredible and kind students at Cooper Mountain
Grateful for skilled and passionate staff at Cooper Mountain
Grateful for those beautiful, colorful, crunchy leaves!
Grateful for a challenging and rewarding career. I am a lucky person!
Gratitude and Giving
We are in the middle of a large fundraising effort to purchase two stools (students love these) for each classroom. The stools move a little bit which is helpful to many of our learners - the movement helps them focus. I have attached the information below, and I hope you will consider making a tax deductible donation. We only have until February to complete the project or we lose the funding. Please note that Ms. Zindle created the project, but the project benefits the entire school. See below!
Cooper Mountain would love your support. Click on this link to see how you can help students focus on learning!
https://www.donorschoose.org/project/moving-students-are-learning-students/2852399/
Moving Students Are Learning Students | DonorsChoose.org project by Ms. Zindle My students need hokki stools which will allow them to move while they work. This is an entire elementary school project. Beaverton school district is adopting a program called Culture of Care, whi...