Dear Columbia Crest Families,

So much excitement, at home and at school. There are events (Christmas Program, class parties, special dress up days, PTO Bazaar and Santa Shop) that keep us in the spirit of the season, but we must not lose sight of the important learning that happens every day at school and how that carries over at home as you continue to read with your child everyday and support them with organizational skills and keeping up on assignments. We decorate, we practice for programs, we give students opportunities to create with their classes, however we also know that the holidays can be stressful for a variety of reasons. We want to support the whole child so if you see signs of stress, we have a counselor that can meet with your child.

We want to take this time to thank you for your involvement in the month of November. The Veteran’s Day program was amazing. Did you see the picture in the Dispatch Newspaper of CC A-STEM receiving a big check because of the grant Mr. Hunter wrote so that we could have new risers? You will see them at the Christmas Program! The picture and article are included in this newsletter.

Also, thank you for your participation in the Orange/Grapefruit sale. Classes will benefit, the ASB will have money for activities, you will have a healthy snack and students will receive fun prizes for sales. You helped us sell 130 cases! Thank you to all for helping us surpass our goal of 100.

The Food Drive will help area families with the needs they may have. The winning class was 3rd Grade! Their generosity has earned a donut party. “DONUT let anyone go hungry” was the Honor Society theme as they collected food for their Community Service project. The entire school generated close to 500 donations with a grand total of 493 items.

With Appreciation,

Principal Shew

Our goal is to increase our attendance at all of our PTO meetings. We hope to see you at one of our general meetings. Fresh baked goodies and child care are available at each meeting. Please come see what being in PTO is all about.

Mark your calendar for our next PTO Meeting on Wednesday, December 18th at 2:30p.m.

Please click below to read the PTO Monthly Newsletter.

Kindness means you are concerned about other people. Kind people think about another person's feelings, not just their own, they help someone who are in need, and they are kind even when others are not.

Harvest:

We had a very successful harvest. Aside from everything students ate while tending the garden, we were able to harvest over 70lbs of carrots, 40 lbs of beets, 40 lbs of Kohlrabi, and 30 lbs of turnips. These were either processed and served fresh as snacks, or they were preserved and saved for a later snack

Snack Program: Middle school students collected produce from our harvest, as well as excess produce (apples, plums, and pears) from local farms. Students cleaned, sliced and served some of this produce as daily snacks. They dehydrated that which could not be served fresh. The dehydrated snacks are used as snacks throughout the winter months. In addition to the nearly 200lbs of produce we processed from our own garden, we collected over 200lbs of produce from local farms!!

Berry Patch: We have moved our berry patch into the garden fence due to excessive pressure from deer. We now have strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries within the garden fences

Pollinators: We have increased our pollinator habitat within our garden and school grounds. We have added mason bees, bird houses, bat houses, an edible flower garden, and a year round aerated water feature.

Gates: We have installed gates to our garden fence to fully prevent deer and elk form raiding our crops!!!!

Winter Greenhouse Program: We have started an experimental winter greenhouse program. The question we are researching is whether or not the sun has enough energy to continue plant growth in the winter months. We are able to keep the temperature stable, but do not have lighting in the greenhouse. With luck, we will be able to provide salad greens at lunch at least a few times this winter. Or we will learn that there are better ways to use the green house during winter.

Hoophouse trial:

We have installed our first seasonal hoop house. It is a simple pvc pipe frame with plastic sheeting. We have also applied for a grant for the supplies to equip all grade level beds (k-8) with removable seasonal hoop houses

Rain Barrels: We have installed an elevated rain barrel system that can be directly connected to our drip irrigation system.

🎼🎹Wonderful work, Mr. Hunter🎼🎹

Columbia Crest was awarded and received a $4,450 Music Matters grant check from Washington Music Educators Association for the purchase of new choir risers to replace four old risers from the early 1980's. Bill Klouse, the regional director for WMEA, presented the large publicity check for the grant at our Veterans Day program today. The new risers will be delivered in time for our Christmas Program.

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind”

December brings us to our new character trait of the month, kindness! As with our past month's character trait there will be lessons in each grade level for us to dive deeper into what kindness really is and how we can practice it, no matter where we are. The holiday season is often about kindness and gratitude and we want to keep those feelings at Columbia Crest all year long. November 29th is Random Acts of Kindness Friday if your family wants to start practicing our character trait a little early and look for those opportunities for random acts of kindness at home and in our community. The kindness focus in December will also be a great introduction as we get ready for Random Acts of Kindness week in February.

As always if you have questions or concerns for me please don’t hesitate to reach out; j.sotl@eatonville.wednet.edu or 360-879-1709

Mrs. Jessica Sotl

• Dessert size plates
• Bowls
• Forks
• Spoons

Principal: Mrs. Allison Shew

Secretary: Ms. Lindsay Fitzer

CCA Office Hours: 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Student Hours: 7:45 a.m. – 2:15 p.m.

Attendance Message Line: 360-569-2567

Transportation: 360-879-1900

Email: a.shew@eatonville.wednet.edu
Website: www.eatonville.wednet.edu/CCA
Location: 24503 SR 706 E Ashford, WA 98304
Phone: (360)569-2567
Facebook: facebook.com/ColumbiaCrestASTEM
Twitter: @CC_STEM_School