Cole Courier
January 19, 2018 Volume 13 Number 8
NEWSLETTER
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Message from the Principal
Mike Pinto
More Than Just Math and Reading: More than just math and reading is emphasized at Cole. A simple walk through classrooms at day's end will find rooms looking similar to this one. You will hear me say during afternoon announcements, "Look at the floors, look at the closet doors. Are all chairs stacked? Is every book, pencil, and piece of paper off the floor? Are all the tabletops and desktops clear? Because at Cole Elementary, Miss Tonya (Custodian Tonya Jinks) cleans the building, but does not clean up after us. There's a big difference." Raising citizens requires a bigger lens than simply learning math and reading. It involves little touches like how you leave a space after you are finished with it. It also involves pieces like lending a hand to others and doing our part. I'm always so proud at the end of an awards program or program at school how parents step forward and mobilize to help stack chairs and put things away. Many hands make light work. Just know that at Cole, we are teaching many things more than math and reading. We feel in the end, we will have better citizens for it.
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Kindergarten Roundup
The Tippecanoe School Corporation will host Kindergarten Roundup for the 2017-2018 school year Wednesday, April 11, 2018, at all 11 of its elementary schools. Parents/Guardians enrolling an incoming kindergarten student must contact the school before roundup to acquire a username and password for online registration. Also before roundup, parents/guardians are asked to gather all information needed for the child's emergency contact list, as this information will be needed for online registration. Families must also provide the child's immunization record, proof of residency and legal birth certificate (not the certificate presented by the hospital) or passport during roundup. Please contact the school if you have any questions or concerns. Children must be five years of age on or before August 1, 2018 to be eligible for enrollment in kindergarten. If you have a child who will be entering kindergarten at Cole next year, please call Cole at 523-2141 and ask for Kelly. We will also be scheduling a time for you to bring your child on April 30.
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PTO Laundry and Trash Bag Sales
The Cole PTO will be sending home flyers with students for their annual trash bag and laundry sales on Friday, January 26. These forms will be returned on Friday, February 2. There will be a movie night on Friday, March 2 from 6:00-8:00 during which the orders can be picked up for distribution.
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BrightBytes
We are partnering with BrightBytes, an educational research organization, in order to learn more about our students' school and home technology use for learning. We are reaching out to ask you to take part in the Technology & Learning questionnaire. Your participation is essential in helping us form a more complete picture of technology use for learning in your students' lives. Please know that all of your responses will remain anonymous to protect your privacy.
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Kilowatt Kitchen
Kilowatt Kitchen is set to visit your school on 2/8/2018. This program is designed to help your students save energy through a fun educational experience—and we know your students will have a blast at the show.
But we have an important goal in mind: we intend to save 10 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy this school year. That may seem like a lofty goal – but we've done it before with the help of participating schools, and we intend to do it again!
To achieve this goal, every family at your school can request a FREE energy efficiency kit for their home from Duke Energy. When your families and staff request and use these kits in their homes, energy is saved – and we can measure it. We invite your school to take the My Energy Kit Challenge: save 20,000 kWh by reaching 100 kit requests. Every school that meets the challenge will automatically win $250.Plus, your school will earn another $250 for every additional 100 kit requests. And, in December 2017, the school that has requested the MOST kits will win the grand prize of $2,500.
To request your FREE kit and credit your school:
Go to MyEnergyKit.org
OR
Call 1-855-386-9548
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See Something; Say Something
School safety is everyone's business. An easy approach to share with your child is the simple phrase: "See Something; Say Something". If you notice something odd or out of the ordinary, say something. It might be nothing, but if we all are vigilant about matters of safety and share when something is concerning, we will all be safer in the end.
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TSC High Ability Parent Education Camp
Tuesday, January 30; 6:00-7:30 PM
Tippecanoe County Public Library Wyandotte Branch
(Timberstone Homes Meeting Room)
5542 E 50 S, Lafayette, IN 47905
- No child care will be provided at this event
- No RSVP necessary
"Social and Emotional Traits of High Ability Students"
Dr. Kristen Seward, Purdue GERI, guest speaker
Dr. Seward is the Associate Director of the Purdue
University Gifted Education Resource Institute (GERI).
She holds B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue
and is also the Coordinator of the Gifted, Creative, and
Talented Licensure Program for GERI. She is also a
clinical assistant instructor in the Purdue Department of
Educational Studies.
All Parents...you are invited to learn tools and tips for your High Ability
Child.
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Counseling Update
During the month of January I will be visiting all classrooms to talk with students about having a "growth mindset." With the start of the new year it is a great time to remind ourselves to keep trying, even when we feel like giving up. Cole Cubs will get the chance to think about how challenges or "mistakes" can actually become the best opportunities to learn and grow.
"I can't do this… YET!"
"Change your words, change your mindset."
Mrs. Burton
Family STEM Night
February 23 (6:00-7:00)
An exciting evening of family learning is planned for you on February 23 from 6:00-7:00 Cole hosts Family STEM Night. This is a chance for you to come with your child to school and complete interactive and educational activities set up in different classrooms. It is free and open to all Cole families. Movie Night and Trash Bag Pick-up will follow at 7:00. Please see the link below with a list of donations needed to make this event a reality.
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RAD KIDS
RAD Kids is a program that will be coming to Cole for all fourth graders in March, April, and May for thirty minutes twice a week. RAD stands for Resisting Aggression Defensively. This program will be led by TSC School Resource Officers Rob Rush and Aaron Gilman and will culminate in a graduation the last week of school. Students will learn a variety of skills including 911 calling, bicycle and fire safety, and how to remain self and get help in an emergency. The program focuses on the student self advocating and having confidence and skills to protect themselves through a variety of defensive moves in the event of immediate physical harm. This program is a natural lead in to our Cole Professional Academy in fifth grade and assists our school's focus on social and professional behavior as well as leadership and civic skills for our students. It also emphasizes the Life Skills of Respect, self control, common sense, pride, and initiative. Grade 4 parents, look for information to come home soon that will need to be completed and returned for this program.
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Digital Citizenship
"I am grateful that I didn't have access to social media until high school. It would be really hard to be a kid, think like a kid, and have an outlet with adult consequences at their disposal. It's a lot of responsibility." Emily Prause
These words were shared with the fifth grade Cole Professionals in January during Miss Yu's presentation. The message: be careful what you post and how you comment. The words and images are there forever and can have consequences. Please continue to have dialogue with your child about safe social media posting and use.
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From the Health Office
As a reminder, medications must not be sent to school with a child. A parent must bring the medication in the original prescription bottle to the school and meet with the nurse. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Nurse Hudgins or Mrs. Gibson in the Cole Health Office.
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Cole Cafe Helps Us INtegrate
What is your child's favorite vegetable or fruit offered during lunch? You might be surprised at the wide variety of options that are offered to students each day. Whether it's strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, bananas, peaches, or pears, fruit is always in abundance. There is also a wide variety of fresh vegetables offered including carrot sticks, celery, and salads. It's also not uncommon to see students chomping on raisins or dried cranberries. TSC offers our students many options during their mealtime that are both delicious and also healthy. Ask your child, "What's your favorite?"
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Cole PTO
It's hard to believe that we are already looking at the 2018-2019 school year, but we are. We have a PTO meeting at 6:00 on February 6 in the Kelley Library. At that meeting we will be electing officers for next year. We will also have a presentation by Lori Shofroth from TSC Food Service.
So far the following list of parents have stepped forward:
President: Jasmine Reed
Vice-President: Crysta Kas
Secretary: Paula Holmes
Treasurer: Emily Flynn
If you are interested in adding yourself to this list, please contact Mr. Pinto or current president, Julie Cummings. We will still need many hands next year to serve as committee chairpersons as well.
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Cole Professional Academy
In January, the Cole Professionals in fifth grade were shared information regarding volunteerism, service to others, the art of a handshake and idle chit chat tools, and information about the professional manner with which to comment on social media. The Cole Professional Academy continues to offer our students a wide range of knowledge that would otherwise not necessarily come their way. We continue to appreciate all the support offered to this program and the efforts of the staff and community to make these days a reality.
February 23: Personal Integrity
(Job applications, plagiarism, sportsmanship)
March 2: Success at Home (Money/Time Management)
April 24: Cole Professional Academy Graduation
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Big Events - Plan For Them Now
April 24: Cole Professional Academy Graduation
May 1: Grade 4 and 5 Pond Day
May 2: Grade 3 to Fair Oaks Farms
May 3: Grade 5 Chicago Trip
May 10 & 11: Grade 4 to Camp Tecumseh overnight
May 11: Grade 5 to Martell Forest
May 11: First Grade Mother's Day Tea
May 14: Fifth Grade Celebration
May 16: Third Grade Wax Museum
May 18: Kindergarten Celebration
May 22: Field Day
May 23: Awards Day: 1st & 2nd (9:30); 3rd & 4th (10:15)
May 24: Grade 4 RAD Kids Graduation Ceremonies
May 25: Talent Show
Book Mobile
The Book Mobile runs twice a week to Stockwell and Clarks Hill. Teach visit the Book Mobile stops at 9510 Pearl Street in Clarks Hill (The Church) from 6:30-7:00 and 6931 Church Street in Stockwell (The Church) from 7:15-7:45
Dates:
January 22
February 5 and 19
March 5 and 19
April 2, 16, and 30
May 14
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Volunteer Information
As per Tippecanoe School Corporation Policy 8120 – Volunteers, each volunteer who is in direct contact with students will be required to submit a Limited Criminal History Record Check in order to volunteer within the school. Any chaperone who wishes to attend a field trip must also have a completed and approved Limited Criminal History Record Check as well. These forms are available on the TSC website and have been sent home already. Please contact Kelly Kesterson in the Cole Office if you have any questions.
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E-Flyers
TSC supports 'green' efforts and as such to help ensure students receive information about community services or events, flyers from non-profit outside organizations are posted online in a section called E-Flyers. All E-Flyers can be accessed from any TSC School Website: www.tscschools.com by clicking the 'students' or 'parents' link in the upper right hand corner of the webpage. E-Flyers will be posted on the 15th and 30th of the month so be sure to check regularly for newly posted information. If your qualifying organization is interested in posting an E-Flyer, go to www.tscschools.com E-Flyers section to submit the information.
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Register for TSC Alerts and Notifications
With the launch of the new TSC websites, the TSC and each of its schools will be transitioning away from Pinwheel for SMS (text) alerts and notifications and will instead utilize the communication options available within the new website. Parents/guardians, staff, and students can sign in to the website and register to receive alerts, calendar reminders, athletic updates, and more.
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We are at the point in the school year where the months of January and February seem to crawl along as we wait for March and the inevitable spring. We try very hard to have our students go outside for recess. When the wind chill is 15 degrees or above, we go outside. Sometimes the wet and precipitation doesn't allow our exit outside as well. In those cases we hold indoor recess in the hallways or the gymnasium. It's not ideal, but we still have a recess - a break in the action in our day to laugh, move, and unwind.
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January - 2018
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JAMES COLE ELEMENTARY
6418 E. 900 S. • Lafayette, IN 47909 • (765) 523-2141