Cole Miners' Dig
January 10, 2025
It was a mighty cold week that forced us to have several days of indoor recess, but thankfully students were able to end the week with outdoor recess today. As a point of information, we go outside for the 30 minute recess block whenever possible, but there are times when we call indoor recess for inclement weather (heavy rain, extreme cold or heat, thunder/lightning). In the winter, we use 22 degrees as a guideline, but we also factor in windchill, time of day (early recesses can be colder), and student preparedness for outdoor play for 30 minutes. The goal is to have students outside everyday whenever possible though so please help your children dress for outdoor play in cold weather.
The Bus Ambassadors met on Monday morning with Mrs. Benner to create Bus Kits. The materials for the bus kits were funded by the Cole School PTO and will provide simple activities for students to keep them busy while riding the bus. Bus Meetings will take place next week and the Bus Ambassadors will share the expectations for the use of the bus kits with the bus riders.
We have some recent staffing changes to share with the larger community so that you can help us welcome these new people to Cole School. Mrs. Jackie Fitzpatrick is substituting for Mrs. Uhlman through the end of February and then for Mrs. Rinkus from April vacation through the end of the school year. Mrs. Marina Kryskina, a Cole School parent, has been hired to work as a Building Aide and will provide coverage during the day wherever needed. Mr. Benjamin McKelvey will be working as a short term substitute Building Aide while Mrs. Bou Raffoul substitutes for Mrs. Deptula in kindergarten through the beginning of March. Welcome to Cole School!
As a reminder, the Norwell Education Foundation funded the purchase of six copies of Jonathan Haidt's book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness to support the book discussion group we had here at Cole in November. If you are interested in borrowing the book, please let us know and we'll send it home to you. In the meantime, to continue our discussion, take a look at Jonathan Haidt's research that he included in the book that makes a compelling case to delay smart devices for children. A community group is also meeting this week to continue the conversation as well. See Community News section for more details.
Thinking Flexibly
On Monday, students met with Connections groups to listen to the story A Little Spot of Flexible Thinking by Diane Alber. Students learned how to "think like a palm tree" rather than "thinking like an oak tree." Be sure to ask your child about thinking flexibly and thinking like a palm tree.
Here is more information from The Habits of Mind Institute on Thinking Flexibly written by Bena Kallick and Arthur Costa to help you continue the conversation at home:
Do you ever find yourself fixed in your way of looking at a problem? Perhaps you, or someone you are working with, stop thinking and just say “my mind is made up, don’t confuse me with more facts.” Have you ever known someone who has difficulty in considering alternative points of view? Their way to solve a problem seems to be the only way. When you get to that point, you are not thinking flexibly!
Flexible thinkers have the capacity to change their minds as they receive additional data. They engage in multiple and simultaneous outcomes and activities, draw upon a repertoire of problem solving strategies and practice style flexibility, knowing when it is appropriate to think broadly and globally and when a situation requires detailed precision. They create and seek novel approaches and have a well-developed sense of humor. They envision a range of consequences.
Flexible thinkers have a great deal of control. They know that they have and can develop options and alternatives to consider. They understand means-ends relationships being able to work within rules, criteria and regulations. They can shift from the short term, immediate reactions to the bigger picture. They are able to work with people from different cultures and who represent diverse perspectives because they recognize the distinctness of other people’s ways of experiencing and making meaning.
Flexible thinkers are able to shift, at will, through multiple perceptual positions. One perceptual orientation is egocentrism—perceiving from our own point of view. By contrast, allocentrism is the position in which we perceive through another persons’ orientation. We operate from this second position when we empathize with other’s feelings, predict how others are thinking, and anticipate potential misunderstandings.
Another perceptual position is “macro-centric.” It is similar to looking down from a balcony at ourselves and our interactions with others. This bird’s-eye view is useful for discerning themes and patterns from different kinds of information. Since many problems are solved with incomplete information, flexible thinkers have the capacity to perceive patterns and can jump across gaps of incomplete knowledge when some of the pieces are missing.
Yet another perceptual orientation is micro-centric—examining the individual and sometimes minute parts that make up the whole. This “worm’s-eye view,” without which science, technology, and any complex enterprise could not function, involves logical analytical computation and searching for causality in methodical steps. It requires attention to detail, precision, and orderly progressions.
Flexible thinkers display confidence in their intuition. They tolerate confusion and ambiguity up to a point, and are willing to let go of a problem trusting their subconscious to continue working creatively and productively. Flexibility is the cradle of humor, creativity and repertoire. While there are many possible perceptual positions—past, present, future, egocentric, allocentric, macro centric, visual, auditory, kinesthetic—the flexible mind is activated by knowing when to shift perceptual positions.
So, is there any hope for those who would be considered rigid, fixed and set in their ways? Yes. An amazing discovery about our human brain is auto-plasticity—your ability to “rewire,” change and even teach yourself to become smarter.
Practice thinking flexibly by getting into the habit of asking yourself such questions as:
- How would someone else look as this plan?
- If I were (person's name), how would I feel?
- What are some alternative solutions to this problem?
- What can I learn from someone with whom I disagree?
- As I consider this plan, what are my long-range goals and what immediate steps must I take to achieve them?
Happy New Year! This week, we wrapped up the Inclusiveness unit in all grades. We talked about fair and equal, and how being inclusive involves both fairness and equality. We practiced with an animal moves relay race where everyone either had to move like the same animal (equal), or where each person got to choose which animal move was best for them (fair) - when we voted, each grade said that the "fair" relay was more fun!
November and December were busy months for respiratory illnesses here in the health office and for many of you at home. I have made progress plugging away at the health screenings this fall and notifying families when students are flagged, but I still have more grades and classes to finish up in the coming weeks. Please continue to be on the lookout for communication from the health office if/when additional, follow up, or testing may be needed.
As a reminder, please make sure hearing and vision screens are being done each year at your child’s well visit. The health screenings at school are an additional safety net to catch issues. If you have any concerns about hearing or vision problems in the meantime you may always go ahead and schedule your own appointment with a specialist. If a student has classroom accommodations that are needed, be sure to follow up with the school so that we can ensure a successful learning environment for them.
Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns about the screening process.
In PE/Gym all grades used teamwork, cooperation and communication skills to achieve different levels of a fun game called Cross the River. By using rocks (colored dots) and tree stumps (milk crates), teams were able to experience self-discovery, creative thinking, and problem solving to reach the island and the other side of the river.
Library: Cole School Book Challenge Update!
The Norwell Schools Web site has been redesigned and the path to get to the COLE SCHOOL BOOK CHALLENGE TRACKER (to log books in) is a little different:
Go to: www.norwellschools.org and click on -- Our Schools -- Grace Farrar Cole Elementary -- Students -- Library. Then proceed as usual clicking on COLE SCHOOL BOOK CHALLENGE. The direct link is here: https://cole.norwellschools.org/welcome/cole-school-book-challenge-2024-2025. Email michelle.ready@norwellschools.org with any questions!
January
January 20 - No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 27 - Community Meeting 2:30pm
January 29 - Early Release Day - all students dismissed at 12:20pm
January 29 - Kindergarten Field Trip (Thank you, PTO!)
January 29 - Lunar New Year
Looking Ahead
February 3 - Baking for Good Presentation for Grade 4 Students
February 7 - Tentative 100th Day of School (if no snow days)
February 7 - World Read Aloud Day
February 10 - Connections Meeting, reading A Bad Seed by Jory John
February 12 - School Council Meeting 3:30pm
February 14 - Valentine's Day
February 17- February 21 - February Break
February 24 - Community Meeting 2:30pm
