The Sailor Signal
Cottage Lake Elementary - November 1, 2020
A Note from Principal Welch
Dear Families,
Welcome to November! I hope you enjoyed a fabulous fall weekend! If your family celebrates Halloween, I hope your family enjoyed a fun, safe evening. As we enter November, there are several items for us to reflect upon and look forward to.
First, November brings the close of our first quarter of learning. Can you believe we have already been in school for 42 days? There are times this felt like it flew by like a windstorm, but there are times where the days crept by like a sloth. I am proud of our staff and students (and families!) for doing all you have to support the learning so far this year! Thank you! As we have done in past years, teachers will be completing progress information for you, and this will be shared with families later in November. We are still ironing out the final details for these reports (will they be sent home via email or USPS mail), but we are aiming for them to be sent out on November 23. If your child is also served in Special Education (LC, Speech, FSA, OT), your progress reports for your student's goals will also be shared with you at this time.
Then, November brings about a time to recognize and honor those who have served in our armed forces; Veteran's Day. It is a special time to recognize our freedoms in our country and what we also continue to fight for. With this in mind, I want to remind you that Tuesday, November 3 is our country's general election. This is one of our rights as citizens and it is our civic duty to vote. This is how democracy works. If you have not done so already, VOTE! Second, we will honor our Veterans on Tuesday, November 10 with a school-wide assembly. We are still deciding the exact time for this event, but please read a message below from Ms. Gorordo on how students can submit videos for our presentation. This is a new way to imagine the assembly; we are Imagining the possibilities. ;)
Next, November often brings about reflection and appreciation. November also serves as the month between fall and winter. I find November is a time to take a moment to reflect upon what you are thankful for? This can be done individually, but also as families. This November, I am thankful for my family, health, a career I love, and being part of an amazing school and community!
Lastly, November has a few days we will not be in school due to holiday observances. If you find your student will not be in school for any particular reason, it is imperative you let us know at school. We have seen a high number of absences, both excused and unexcused, this past October, so I am hoping to decrease those numbers in November. I also want to decrease our unexcused absences substantially, as well. Attendance Matters! Please read the attendance section below for further information.
I hope you all have a fabulous week ahead!
Take Care!
Jen Welch, Principal
•• SCHOOL NEWS ••
Attendance Updates
We are pulling attendance each day, week, and month to analyze our student participation and attendance. We currently have an alarmingly high number of unexcused absences for October (75!) and we will be following up on those absences in the coming weeks. Due to the high number, we will be starting our RoboCalls again soon. This means if we do not hear from you for the reason why your child is not in attendance, you will receive an automated call reminding you that we need to hear from you to clear up the absence.
We will also start sending our attendance letters out again, as well. Even during remote learning, attendance matters!
I do want to take a moment to also recognize our attendance across the school for October. Overall, we had 97.85% of our students present for the month of October. This is fabulous!!
- Kindergarten - 97.37%
- 1st grade - 96.30%
- 2nd grade - 99.47%
- 3rd grade - 98.83%
- 4th grade - 98.23%
- 5th grade - 97.06%
Keep it up, Sailors!! If I can be of support to you to assist in your students attending their learning sessions, please do reach out. We are here to partner together!!
Veteran's Day assembly
Hello Sailors!
Veteran's Day is coming up very soon, and I'm hoping we can put something together to honor our veterans. Our recognition event will occur on Tuesday, November 12. This will be a recorded performance we can show to our school. The exact time of the performance will be shared very soon.
To make this happen, I need a little help from each of you. Below is a link to a document with instructions and a video about how to be a part of the Veteran's Day assembly performances! It seems like a lot, but it's not too hard, and shouldn't take more than a few minutes of your time🙂. Some of you have learned your songs already, and those who haven't will this week, but you can get ahead by listening to the tracks and learning the songs yourselves so you can submit to be a part of our performances! Submit your tracks by November 6th @ 6:00 PM to be included in the performance.
The instruction sheet can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1US94SmDko_sO6fICmO9wC63xCylOJIOL/view?usp=sharing
The video can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JsJzjprxXLAzRk6IJrRMjz5Xipd7RHlB/view?usp=sharing
Please help me in honoring our Veterans!
Have a lovely weekend,
Ms. G
Free Tutoring by Woodinville High School (WHS) students
The club will offer support with computer science classes, regular help on math or English homework, languages (such as Spanish), and teaching students how to use Schoology (turning assignments in, etc.). The tutors will be recording all of their tutoring sessions, following district policy for zoom meetings, and all tutors must undergo a 1-hour training session before they start to tutor.
Please email the Women in STEM Club at wise.club.whs.tutoring@gmail.com for more information.
Got Pictures?
Please use this link to upload pictures you would like us to potentially use for our school website.
Thank you, Sailors!
Our Book Circulation continues!
We are so excited about our book circulation to continue on Thursdays. We appreciate all the feedback we have received and love seeing pictures of your students reading, as well! Below is information regarding upcoming book circulation.
- 1st, 3rd, & FSA - Your delivery is on: Thursday, November 12
- If you want books, please fill out this form http://go.nsd.org/sailorbooks by Sunday, November 8 @ 9:00 PM.
- Kindergarten, 2nd, 4th, & 5th - Your next delivery is: Thursday, November 5
- If you want books, please fill out this form: http://go.nsd.org/sailorbooks by Sunday, November 1 @ 9:00 PM.
ALL grades---- Please click on the button below to locate the book circulation schedule and find the request form in one place.
Happy Reading!
•• District News ••
•• REPEAT of District News ••
Online After-school Enrichment
Community Assistance
Becoming a volunteer
At Cottage Lake, we have always had a very strong foundation of classroom and PTA volunteers. This year, we are all thinking outside the box and looking for new, creative ways we can welcome volunteers into the remote classrooms. As our classrooms continue to establish routines and systems, teachers will be ready to think about how volunteers could be helpful to them.
To prepare for becoming a volunteer, there are several steps we need you to complete. One important note is that our background check form will need to be updated EACH YEAR! In the past, we have asked for them to be updated every two years, but to keep our information the most up-to-date, this is a shift we are making district-wide.
Please visit this NSD LINK to find all the steps you will need to follow to complete your volunteer paperwork. Please click on the bar that says, "Online Volunteer Application Process" for all the steps that need to be completed.
Thank you for considering becoming a Cottage Lake volunteer!
Need Technology?
Does your Cottage Lake Elementary student need a device for online learning? Please use the link below to sign up and sign the waiver. After you submit your form, Mr. Paganini will be in contact with you to set a pick-up time for you. For students in Kindergarten & Grade 1, we are issuing iPads. For students in Grade 2 through Grade 5, we are issuing Chromebooks. Students will keep these devices at home until we return to school.
Meals during remote learning and hybrid learning
Beginning Wednesday, September 9, we are offering free meals for ALL children ages 18 and younger. Students do not need to be enrolled in the Northshore School District to receive meals. This is GREAT news for each of our families; these are your tax dollars at work. I am so pleased this funding has been continued, allowing us to extend these meal services until the end of December.
For quick links:
- CLICK HERE to place an order for DAILY MEALS. [The order window time will be 2:00 PM-11:59 PM the day prior to meal pick-up. Order include breakfast and lunch, including 16oz of milk. Orders placed for a Friday pick-up will also include meals for the weekend.]
- CLICK HERE to place an order for WEEKLY MEAL PACKS. [Weekly Meal Packs will include breakfast and lunch for an entire week, including a gallon of milk. The order window will open at 2:00 PM every Wednesday and close at 2:00 PM every Thursday. Pick up for these meals will be on Wednesday the following week.]
Please consider ordering food! Our district is committed to feeding our children during this challenging time.
Free & Reduced Applications
Remember: families must reapply every year! Only one application per family is necessary.
•• PTA NEWS ••
- Our next PTA Meeting of the year is November 10, 2020 from 7:00-8:00 PM. Please consider joining, as we will have a guest speaker, Mr. Wallinger, our school counselor. :)
- Learn more about the PTA and get your 2020/21 membership at www.cottagelakepta.org.
- Your 2020/21 PTA Presidents are: Carrie Mizenko & Rachel Tarr and can be contacted at president@cottagelakepta.org.
Amazon Smile!
Search: Cottage Lake PTA.
[YES, our PTA accounted is listed in Tacoma, but it IS our school's PTA located in Woodinville, WA.]
After selecting our school's PTA, each time you want to shop, begin with visiting www.smile.amazon.com, and then shop. You must first log into the smile.amazon.com for purchases to be eligible for the cash back opportunity.
Cottage Lake Elementary
Email: jwelch@nsd.org
Website: https://cottagelake.nsd.org/
Location: 15940 Avondale Road Northeast, Woodinville, WA, USA
Phone: (425) 408-4200
Facebook: facebook.com/ourschool
Twitter: @ourschool