The following students were recognized during the month of September for doing something positive for the staff or other students. Each student who is nominated receives a certificate of recognition and each month we randomly select students to receive a fun prize from Mr. Troast. September PAW Award Winners are:

Pre-School: Milani Smith

Kindergarten: Ellie McMahon and Kennedy Radar

1st Grade: Harper Clinton and Jasper Widner

2nd Grade: Cooper Hickman and Walter Von Holten

At conferences, teachers will touch on our current curriculum and explicit reading practices. I encourage you to watch the NBC News video regarding the shift in how schools are teaching reading. Cottonwood is ahead of the game and has been explicitly teaching phonics and phonemic awareness for the last few years.

One of the other important topics at Conferences for our 1st and 2nd graders will be W.I.N time. or What I Need? Monday-Thursday our students receive explicit instruction based on data that we collect throughout the year. When we test in the Fall, Winter, and Spring we analyze that data and look for specific skills that our students need to work on. Our students are split into groups of 4-10 students to work on that specific skill with a teacher for 15 instructional days.

After those 15 days, we collect more informal data, and we adjust groups based on need. We do this every 15 instructional days. The goal is for students to be able to move from skill to skill as they master skills. Ultimately, it's our goal to provide the instruction that our students need each day. If you have questions about W.I.N time and how we are utilizing data, please feel free to reach out to me.

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on October 18th from 3:40 pm to 7:40 pm and on October 19th from 8 am to 8:00 pm Classroom teachers will be reaching out to parents with their available conference times. We encourage all parents to attend conferences in person, but if your schedule cannot accommodate, teachers can meet with you via phone call or Zoom. During conferences, your child's classroom teacher will discuss current progress and relevant data based on the beginning of the school year. Please remember there will be no school on Friday, October 20th.

We are in search of parent volunteers to help with our book fair. It takes a lot of time and effort for our staff to prepare and run the book fair each year. In addition, our staff is working hard to get ready for fall conferences. It helps our staff if we have parent volunteers help run the book fair during the week, especially, on October 12th and 13th. If you are willing to help, please complete the sign-up genius below.

Please NOTE that this year we will not be accepting checks as a form of payment. Cash and Card options are available.

Halloween Costumes: Students are able to wear their costumes at school with the following guidelines:

Students choosing to dress up may wear their costumes to school. Students will not be able to change into their costumes during the day so it should be something they are comfortable wearing all day. As always, costumes should be:

• School-appropriate without reference to blood, guts, gore, and/or guns.
• No toy weapons can be part of a costume.
• Face paint and costume masks are discouraged for all students.
• If a costume has a mask, students will be asked to put the mask away during instructional time during the day.

Halloween Parties classroom teacher will send out information with their classroom specifics. Classroom parties are not meant to be a major disruption in our day. We encourage families to sign their children out after their parties have concluded. Please be respectful when leaving the building as dismissal will be taking place shortly after. Parties will only be 30 minutes from the time the parade ends.

Halloween Parade: We are excited to announce that we will be having our annual Halloween Parade in collaboration with Sunflower. Students will walk a large loop beginning in the bus loop of each building. Students will walk along both sides of 303rd entering the bus loop of the other school and circling back to their own school. See the map below.

You will be able to see both schools' parades by any of the viewing locations on the map. Please abide by the following guidelines:

• Parents may park in any of the school parking lots (CW, SES, PMS, or PHS) and walk to a viewing area.
• Parade visitors must stay in the viewing areas.

Our parade is weather dependent and we will make adjustments accordingly.

Panther Pumpkins are back at Cottonwood. Last year, your challenge was to decorate your pumpkin as your favorite book character.

This year your challenge is to decorate your pumpkin to be representative of what you want to be when you grow up. When I grow up, I want to be... Do you want to be a doctor, vet, sports star, lawyer, teacher, police officer, or fireman... Use your imagination and see what you can come up with.

Next Step: We encourage students to bring in a small/ to medium-sized pumpkin. You can use a variety of materials to make your pumpkin including paint, construction paper, pipe cleaners, glue, glitter, or anything you have lying around your house. Pumpkins can be brought to school the week of October 23rd and will be on display until November 1st. Be creative and we can't wait to see those pumpkins!

Please, no carved pumpkins!

Please save the date for November 29th at 6:30 p.m. for our 2nd Grade Music Program. This is an adjustment from our original December date posted at the beginning of the year. Our Music programs occur at Paola High School in the main gym. Doors open 30 minutes prior.

• October 5th: Kindergarten Field Trip
• October 9th-13th: Book Fair
• October 9th and 10th: Dental Clinic
• October 9th: Board Meeting 6 pm
• October 13th: Fall Donuts with Mr. Troast
• October 17th: First Grade Field Trip
• October 18th: Parent-Teacher Conferences from 3:40 pm to 7:40 pm
• October 19th: Parent Teacher Conferences 8:00 am to 8:00 pm
• October 20th: No School
• October 23rd- 27th: Acts of Kindness Week
• October 31st: Halloween Parade/ Parties starting at 1:30 pm
• November 17th: 2nd Grade Field Trip

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me: corey_troast@usd368.org or call the school at 913-294-8050

Email: corey_troast@usd368.org
Website: https://www.usd368.org/vnews/display.v/SEC/Cottonwood%20Elementary
Location: 709 Hedge Ln, Paola, KS 66071, USA
Phone: 913-294-8050