We are back from vacation and kicked it right into high gear! There is so much happening at Cole School for the last 32 days of school. Be sure to check the list of events and dates in this newsletter to keep up with all the culminating learning events, field trips, and year end celebrations.

Third grade classes had gorgeous weather on Monday and Tuesday for their field trip to Boston Tea Party Museum. Many thanks to the teachers for organizing and to the chaperones for attending. This field trip was funded thanks to the dues collected by the PTO. Fifth grade hosted the Community Meeting on Monday afternoon and focused on a review of the Habits of Mind. Click this link to see which habits we've learned about and why they are important to our learning.

We are looking forward to Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week next week with the "Cole School Teachers and Staff are Wicked Oz-some!" We combined a Wicked theme with the use of the word "wicked" around the Boston area. Please encourage your child to write a note of thanks and appreciation to their teachers and staff including specialist teachers, aides, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, crossing guard, and Officer Phelps to be hand delivered on Tuesday. Thanks for being wicked helpful and supportive to make this a wicked special week for teachers and staff.

In keeping with our reading of The Anxious Generation and the focus on the use of technology/amount of screen time and its effect on children and teens this year, we completed a technology usage audit at Cole School to learn more about how often iPads and MacBooks are being used in the classrooms. On average, students at Cole School are using iPads and MacBooks for about 30 minutes a day, and most often, they are using them to access iReady. There are slight variations with some increasing use towards 4th and 5th grade due to the use of technology for longer written pieces. We will continue to monitor this as a staff and work to ensure that the use of technology is meaningful for students.

At School Council this week, we discussed potential improvements to include in the School Improvement Plan. One parent representative shared that she always gets voicemail when calling the office which can be frustrating when you need to speak to someone. Please know that you can dial "0" at anytime and that will bring you right to the office and a live person to talk to.

We celebrated a huge group of Magnificent Meerkats this week including our own Ms. O'Malley, Mrs. Badger, and Mrs. Louchheim. We also celebrated Mrs. Williamson and Ms. Carroll who is finishing her last day of student teaching at Cole School today. The students were nominated for so many wonderful reasons included growth in interpersonal skills, persistence with challenging academic tasks, and for showing kindness and positivity throughout the day. Keep shining brightly, Magnificent Meerkats!

We'll be starting to learn about a new Habit of Mind on Monday at our Connections meeting. We'll focus on Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations through the reading of a delightful book called Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. In this story, Floyd's kite gets stuck in a tree. He uses his shoe to try to knock it down, but it also gets stuck. He continues to use other objects that also get stuck. If Floyd had only stopped to use the Habit of Mind of Applying Past Knowledge to a New Situation, he would probably have stopped throwing objects up into the tree sooner!

The Institute for Habits of Mind (habitsofmindinstitute.org) offers more information on how to strengthen this Habit of Mind with your children and for yourself.

New learning can be challenging and too often we forget what we already know. This happens for our children as much as it does for us. Sometimes we see our children approach a situation as if it is the first time rather than realizing that they may already have some prior experiences that might help them to meet this new challenge. When we ask them to pay attention to what they already know about the topic content and/or strategies they used to solve a problem, they are tapping into their memory bank of learnings.

When a child transfers learning to a new situation, they are building their intellectual muscles. Learning is not just an accumulation of isolated facts or skills — it is finding the connections or patterns that paint a bigger picture that is more easily stored in your memory for future use.

When your child talks with you about new learning topics, consider asking one or more of the following questions:

• What does this situation or problem remind you of?
• What do you already know about this?
• What are some experiences that you can relate this to?
• What parts of the situation or problem do I need more clarity on?
• What words are you unclear about?
• What about this is just like something else you know? Can you come up with an analogy such as “when I see this, it is just like this… or the way this operates is just like the way XX operates.”

When reflecting on the end of a particular task, reflect on questions with your child that will help them to transfer learning to new situations, such as:

• What strategies were most helpful to you? When else in (school) (life) (work) might this strategy be useful?
• What new ideas or insights did you have when working on this topic? What insights might influence you as you take on another challenge or project?
• What do you really not want to happen again?
• What would you like to happen again?
• What do you want to be sure to remember?

This week we finished our unit on Courage- which brings us to the end of Kindness in the Classroom curriculum for the year! We practiced being brave enough to be kind by doing random acts of kindness. We will finish out the year with the remaining Habits of Mind in all grades, and also puberty education in 5th grade.

Seasonal Allergies: Allergy season is upon us. If your child has seasonal allergies make sure they are started on their regular allergy medications at home, zyrtec, flonase, eye drops, inhalers, ect. Daily showers ensuring hair and face is washed will also help with pollen exposure. Daily allergy medications should be given at home. We do not give that here in the health office.

Ticks: We are starting to find quite a few ticks on kids here in the health office. Remember to check your child for ticks if you're spending time outside or have pets.Ticks most often attach in the armpits, hairline, groin, legs, thighs, or in and behind the ears. The deer tick, which is very small, carries the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. American dog ticks do not carry Lyme disease, however they do carry other less common diseases, so they should be avoided as well.

Ticks should be removed as soon as possible using a pair of fine point tweezers, grabbing the tick as close to the skin as possible, and pulling straight out with firm and steady pressure, making sure there are no remnants of the tick left. Be sure to clean the site with soap and water or alcohol afterwards.Typically, a tick must be attached to someone for at least 24 hours to be likely to transmit Lyme disease.

Early Lyme disease has symptoms that usually occur between 3 and 30 days after a tick bite. A person infected with Lyme disease may get an expanding rash that looks like a bull’s eye, but this is not always the case. They may also experience flu-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue or aching muscles.

Reminder about Injuries: If a child has an injury that requires an orthopedic device such as crutches, cast, walking boot, splint, sling, etc., a note from the provider should accompany the child when returning to school. Such notifications should clearly detail all restrictions and identify the date when participation in PE/ recess may resume. Our fax number is 781-659-2850. Providers may fax to us directly. Written notification from a parent is required when it is necessary to excuse a child from physical education short term and the PE teacher should be notified as well.

Extra Clothes: The health office is running low on extra clothes, underwear, and socks for students. Students often come to the health office with accidents, spills, or if they are wet from recess. If you are cleaning out your child’s wardrobe, we would love extras! Please consider donating any basic t-shirts or shorts to the heath office that they might have outgrown. If you see a good deal on basic shorts and shirts, think of us here! I will also gladly accept any NEW packs of socks and underwear.

We started our Volleyball Unit this week! With age-appropriate striking items, balloons (K), beachballs (1st), rubber balls (2nd) and volleyball trainers (3rd-5th), students worked on bumping, setting and serving with partners. All grades also had the Jump Rope Challenge!

UPDATED:

• Students participating in the Cole School Book Challenge have read 2,328 books so far this year! Third grade so far is leading, but it is close. The last day to submit a book is extended to May 9th.
• The last day to submit a birthday book form is May 9th.
• The last day for book checkout is May 23rd.

May

May 2 - PTO Stay and Play

May 5-May 9 - Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week

May 5 - Town Meeting

May 5 - MCAS Grade 4 Math 1

May 5 - North and South River Watershed Enrichment for Grade 5

May 5 - Connections Meeting, reading Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

May 6 - MCAS Grade 4 Math 2

May 7 - Elementary Early Release 12:20pm dismissal for all students

May 7 - Grade 3 American Revolution Presentations in Cafeteria

May 7 - PTO Variety Show Rehearsal 12:20-3pm

May 8 - MCAS Grade 3 Math 1

May 9 - MCAS Grade 3 Math 2

May 9 - Grade 1 (1L and 1St) Field Trip (Thank you, PTO!)

May 12 - Grade 4 High Tech High Touch Enrichment (Thank you, PTO!)

May 12 - Puppet Storyteller to Kindergarten (Thank you, PTO!)

May 12 - Community Meeting 2:30pm Kindergarten Students Hosting - Parents welcome to attend!

May 14 - MCAS Grade 5 Math 1

May 14 - School Council Meeting 3:30 pm

May 15 - MCAS Grade 5 Math 2

May 15 - Grade 1 (1R, 1A, 1Sh) Field Trip (Thank you, PTO!)

May 15 - Grade 4 Fitness Field Trip (Thank you, Mr. Thornton and PTO!)

May 17 - Town of Norwell - Voting Day

May 16 - Early Release - 12:20pm dismissal for all students

May 16 - PTO Variety Show Rehearsal 12:20-3pm

May 19 - MCAS Grade 5 Science 1

May 20 - MCAS Grade 5 Science 2

May 21 - Grade 5 Fitness Field Trip (Thank you, Mr. Thornton and PTO!)

May 22 - PTO Variety Show at Cole School

May 23 - Grade 3 Fitness Field Trip in morning (Thank you, Mr. Thornton and PTO!)

May 23 - Grade 2 Fitness Field Trip in afternoon (Thank you, Mr. Thornton and PTO!)

May 23 - Grade 4 Enrichment (Thank you, PTO!)

May 26 - No School - Memorial Day

May 28 - Art Show

June

June 2 - Grade 1 Field Trip (Thank you, PTO!)

June 2 - Kindergarten Field Trip (Thank you, PTO!)

June 2 - Connections Meeting

June 3 - Kindergarten Habitat Day (2 classes)

June 4 - Kindergarten Habitat Day (2 classes)

June 5 - Grade 2 Field Trip (Thank you, PTO!)

June 6 - Field Day - Fingerprint and CORI required for all volunteers

June 9 - Screening for all incoming kindergarten students in the library

June 9 - Delilah the Whale Kindergarten enrichment (Thank you, PTO!)

June 9 - Grade 4 Biography Fair

June 9 - Grade 5 Band Concert

June 12 - Fifth Grade Celebration 6-8 pm - Grade 5 parents and grade 5 students ONLY

June 13 - PTO Stay and Play

June 16 - Grade 5 Move Up Day to NMS

June 17 - Move Up Day for Grades K-4

June 17 - Last Day of School

VARIETY SHOW IS BACK!

Thursday, 5/22 @ Cole School!

Sign Up Form Due Friday, 4/4/25:

https://forms.gle/nb4ErQ1SQfiWnXw77

Volunteer & Donations:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B45A8AE2FAB9-55632848-2025#/

The 2025 Norwell Recreation Fishing Derby is scheduled for Saturday 5/10/25 at Jacobs Pond. The event is FREE for all participants however, online pre-registration for all attendees (adults and children) is required for one of three “75 Minute” time slots at: https://secure.rec1.com/MA/norwell-ma/catalog or https://tinyurl.com/fishingderby2025. The Fishing Derby is a “rain or shine” event. Please bring your own rod, tackle, and buckets/live wells. Kayaks and non-motorized boats are allowed on Jacobs Pond!

Family and friends of ALL AGES are invited to participate in the annual Catch & Release Fishing Derby. Participants ages 15 & up must have a valid Massachusetts freshwater fishing license to participate. To obtain a license go online to: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/licensing/ or at Belsan’s Bait & Tackle in Scituate.

Check-In at Woodworth Field entrance on Route 123 across from Jacobs Pond. Parking is available at Woodworth Ballfields and Jacobs Lane Parking Lot. Free bait will again be provided by Belsan’s Bait & Tackle for as long as it lasts! Prizes and Awards will be announced after the event and winners will be contacted the week of 5/12/25.

*Event Sponsorship Opportunities and Raffle Prize Donations are being sought! Please contact ggrey@townofnorwell.net for more information!

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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact George Grey at 781 659 8046 or email ggrey@townofnorwell.net