Collins Coyotes Howler Newsletter

Creating connected, capable, contributing citizens who achieve their highest potential every day

Location: 4608 128th Street East, Tacoma, WA, USA
Phone: 253-298-3400
Facebook: facebook.com/collinscoyotes

1/22 - Full day of school, 4:05 dismissal

1/23 - Café/ Té con la Directora, 4:30

1/24 - Coffee with the Principal, 8:30

1/27 - NO SCHOOL, teacher training

1/29 - Full day of school, 4:05 dismissal

1/30 - Multi-Cultural Celebration, 6-7:30

2/3-2/7 - Counselor, Psychologist, OT/PT Appreciation Week

2/5 - CHAMPS assembly, 1:20

2/12 - Full day of school, 4:05 dismissal

2/14-2/17 - No school, Mid-winter break

Ms. Bobbi, our award-winning school counselor, goes above and beyond every day to set up Coyotes for success. In addition to her day-to-day work helping solve problems, providing supports for students and families, and teaching lessons, Ms. Bobbi runs our Meaningful Work program, student council and most school-wide assemblies. She also is a leader on our Foundations team (that ensures a multi-tiered system of school-wide behavior supports), and our Problem Solving Team (a team that works together to support students with intensive academic or behavioral needs). Ms. Bobbi is a great listener and helper. She takes great care of our Coyotes and families, making sure they have what they need.

Ms. Aar, our speech therapist, works with students to help them speak correctly and communicate effectively, important life skills. She also goes the extra mile and digs deeply to make sure our speech students get just what they need to be successful. When she is not at Collins, she is working at Ford.

Mrs. Glick, our school psychologist who also works at Harvard, helps us when students are struggling with academics and/or challenging behaviors. She helps us determine what supports students need, and how best to implement them and measure their effectiveness.

Ms. Harkins works at lots of schools helping students who need help with fine motor skills. She is a fountain of knowledge when students have challenges with hand-writing sensory, or other issues.

Ms. Hara is our physical therapist. We are so grateful for her positive nature, great ideas and helpful support for students who qualify for PT. Our students thrive under her care. All of these fine professionals team with the rest of our staff to give our students the skills they need to be healthy and successful. They are fantastic professionals and we are grateful to have them on the Collins team.

Coffee with the Principal

Are you interested in learning more about our school? Would you like to ask questions or share your thoughts about how we could better serve our students? Then join us for Coffee with the Principal. Each year Dr. Mondloch likes to meet with parents to talk about our programs at Collins, our improvement efforts and to get ideas and input from family and community members. There will be two of these events in January, one in Spanish on January 23rd at 4:30 p.m. and another in English on January 24th at 8:30 a.m. Both will be held in the Collins conference room. Please join us as we share and learn together!

Café/ Té con la Directora

Quiero invitar a los padres de alumnos de Collins a una conversación conmigo en español (lo mas que pueda yo) para hablar sobre los programas en Collins, nuestro sistema de apoyo para los estudiantes y para oír sus opiniones e ideas sobre como podamos servir a sus hijos mejor. Favor de venir el 23 de enero a las 4:30 de la tarde. Si aquella tarde no sirve, hay otra oportunidad pero inglés el próximo día, el 24 de enero, a las 8:30 de la mañana. Ojalá que nos veamos!

Clothing donations are greatly needed

Seeking gently used or new:

• Boys and girls under wear size 4 and up
• Boys and girls shoes
• Boys jeans or sweat pants size 4 and up
• Boy socks
• Girls jeans or leggings size 4 and up

If your child has come home with borrowed clothes from school, please wash and return to the health room (except under wear).

Donations are greatly appreciated!

It’s Time to Refer 3rd and 4th Grade Students for the 2020-2021 Highly Capable Student Program!

Do you have a student who…

• learns easily and quickly?
• thinks up unusual ways to solve hard problems?
• has a clever sense of humor?
• dislikes doing the same things over and over?
• thinks logically and wants things to make sense?
• is open to new ideas?
• is persistent and wants to keep trying with difficult tasks?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, please refer your student to test for the Highly Capable Student Program. Please complete a Project Excel Program Referral packet online (https://bit.ly/2RRmKGb) by 4:00pm, March 13th. Testing materials are ordered the next day and late registrations may not be able to be accommodated. Please be aware that students who live within the district boundaries will receive first consideration. Out-of-district students who attend Franklin Pierce schools must be granted another year’s release and will be placed in the program after all qualifying in-district students have been served.

If you have any questions, please contact Annette Burnett by phone at (253) 298-3062 or by email at aburnett@fpschools.org.

If you wish for your child to ride a bus other than the one they normally ride, get off at a bus stop other than their normal stop, or change to parent pick-up, please send a note with your child in the morning. We must have a note to allow students to change their of end-of-day routine. Also, in case of an emergency for which you cannot send a note, please call prior to 3:15 (please note time change) to ensure we have time to communicate the change to the teacher and the student. For best service, we encourage you to send a note in the morning with your child; thank you for your support.

We want all of our Coyotes to be safe and supervised at all times. If your student does not ride the bus to school, please use our Bingham Street drop-off area for safety and efficiency. Beginning at 9:15 there will be supervision to welcome students at that area of the school. If you arrive prior to 9:15, it is important that you stay with your child until you hear the 9:15 bell. Please do not drop off in front of the school on 128th, unless you plan to park and come into the office with your child. Thank you for your cooperation!

As the weather becomes colder, it is important that you have a plan for emergency school closures and limited or delayed bus runs. School may be delayed or cancelled in the case of bad weather or an emergency. If the regular school schedule is changed, local radio and television stations will be notified. "School Closed" means that all schools will be closed for that one day only. All school related activities will be cancelled. If schools close early, parents are asked to make arrangements for their child's care.

"Late Start" means that all schools will start late and transportation will be delayed byt he amount of time specified for that one day only. Breakfast will not be served on late start days. School related activities may or may not be altered.

You may find updated school schedule information in the following ways:

~Auto Dialer - The district has the ability to send out a recorded phone message to parents and staff of Franklin Pierce Schools. In the event of an unscheduled school closure or late start, the auto-dialer will be activated. Please make sure the school has a current phone number for you.

~TV news - Look for Franklin Pierce Schools, not Tacoma Schools

~Radio - AM and FM Stations

~Internet - http://www.flashalert.net/news.html?id=4380

~Phone - 253-298-3000

PLEASE TRY THE ABOVE OPTIONS FIRST. If the power is out at school, our phones may also be out.

Penny War January 28th-31st

A fundraiser competition between grades. Each grade can earn points based on the type of coins and bills they collect. Pennies and bills will increase point totals and should be placed in your own grade's bucket. All other coins will decrease point totals so you want to put those in other grade's buckets. The grade with the most points will win a party for each class in that grade. Buckets will be located in the gym before school starts. Expect to see a flier this week

Valentine Grams January 28th-February 7th

Pre-order Valentine Grams. They will be delivered on February 13th. A flier is coming soon!

Essay Contest February 3rd-18th

Washington State PTA's Essay Contest encourages students to write about someone in their life who inspires them. Students of all grades are encouraged to participate. Essays are judged by grade using current common core standards. This contest is open to all students in Washington state attending public, private and home-based school programs. Essays will be due to Collins PTA by February 18th. Info and entry forms will go home at the end of January.

Townhall Style Meeting February 27th

6pm in the Collins gym. Do you have questions about the new school? Have you been wondering what exactly is a school improvement plan? There will be Franklin Pierce School District administrators and our school principal at the meeting to answer your questions. A free dinner will be provided by the PTA. Please join us!

Collins Coyotes

Achievers and Believers

Join the pack!

We believe in ourselves,

We believe in each other,

We believe in doing our best!

Franklin Pierce Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. Questions and complaints of alleged discrimination should be directed to James Hester, Compliance Coordinator for State and Civil Rights Laws; Wendy Malich, Title IX Officer; or John Sander, 504/ADA Coordinator at 315 129th ST S, Tacoma, WA 98444-5099 or at (253)298-3000.