Wow! What a great first week of school! It has gone by so fast with so much excitement and so many things to do. Everyone is ready for a weekend to rest and recharge before starting the first full week of school. Enjoy every second of it!

Will you be picking up your child at dismissal any time this year? If so, please write your child's last name in LARGE and BOLD lettering and place it in the passenger side window. Students must enter the car on the passenger side only. Drivers must not get out of the vehicle for any reason. If you must get out of your car or if your child requires assistance with car seats, we ask you to park in the parking lot and have your child dismissed as a walker.

Room Parent Volunteers make a big difference in the life of the classroom. They help teachers coordinate celebrations, field day t-shirts, collections/donations for classroom projects and activities, and tokens of appreciation for appreciation days. In addition, you may be called upon to help the PTO with large school community events like the Winter Fair and the Variety Show, or to help round up more volunteers from your child's class to help with the events. We hope to find two parents per classroom to take on these important positions. If you're interested, please sign up here by Friday, September 27th: Room Parent Sign Up

We are in need of two new Cole School Council Parent Representatives who will join our current parent representatives, Mrs. Sally Godin and Mrs. Liz Bersell, to help guide our school as we move forward to implement the goals in the Cole School Improvement Plan. This position holds a 2-year commitment with a monthly meeting from 3:30-4:15pm. Interested parents can learn more about School Councils and their roles in school improvement here.

If you would like to nominate yourself or another Cole School parent, please send Mrs. Burns (eliza.burns@norwellschools.org) the name and a brief bio introducing yourself to the community. This bio will be used for the ballot as these are elected positions. Nominations will be accepted through Friday, September 20th. An election ballot with all nominated parents will be sent home the following week in preparation for the first School Council Meeting on October 16th.

Mark you calendars for the upcoming Open House/Curriculum Night on September 19th. Students and families are welcome to come visit the classroom and specialist areas, meet the teachers, learn more about the grade level curriculum, and see the classroom.

Grades 1 and 2 - 5:00-5:45

Parking Lot Turn Over - 5:45-6:15

Grades 3, 4, and 5 - 6:15-7:00

We will be reviewing expected behaviors with the students before Open House/Curriculum Night, but please also preview the expected behaviors with your children before entering the building:

1. Children MUST stay with their family for the duration of the event (no running through halls)

2. Visit your child's current classroom and specialists only so previous year's teachers can focus on their new students and families

All parents and guardians are reminded that one of Norwell Schools' main initiatives this year will be embarking on the creation of a new five year Strategic Plan. Parents, guardians, and community members are invited to the High School Little Theater on Monday, September 9, at 6:00 p.m. to participate in a focus group and share their thoughts on our next strategic plan.

The Teaching and Learning Alliance (TLA) consultants will conduct the focus group. Participants will be given the opportunity to identify strengths, challenges, and opportunities for the community, schools, and students.

We are hiring! We are still looking to hire one Special Education Aide and Norwell Food Services is also looking for help. If you're interested in applying for the special education aide position, please contact Eliza Burns at eliza.burns@norwellschools.org. If you are available during the school day and are interested in working in a fun, fast-paced environment in Food Services, please reach out to Judy Crooks at judith.crooks@norwellschools.org.

Last year we started recognizing nominated students each week who consistently show expected behaviors during the day at Cole School. Students and teachers nominate students. If nominated, students come to the office on Thursday mornings to hear their nomination and to take a picture together. We'll begin recognizing nominated students next Thursday!

This year, we'll be teaching all students about the Habits of Mind. There are 16 Habits of Mind that are derived from studies of what successful, “intelligent” people do when they are confronted with problems to solve, decisions to make, creative ideas to generate, and ambiguities to clarify.

These Habits of Mind can serve as mental disciplines. Students, parents, and teachers, when confronted with problematic situations, might habitually use one or more of these Habits of Mind by asking themselves, “What is the most intelligent thing I can do right now?” (Costa & Kallick, 2008)

We'll share information about each of the habits in the Cole Miners' Dig so that families can use the same language at home and encourage the development of these habits that take daily practice to strengthen over time.

Happy back to school! We are starting with our weekly SEL lessons in all grades on Monday. Students will see me each week for a lesson, which is reinforced in classrooms, Community Meetings, and Connections. This year, we will continue to follow the Kindness in the Classroom curriculum, in addition to the Habits of Mind. Classroom teachers will teach Second Step Bullying Prevention lessons throughout the fall. I can always be reached at anne.walsh@norwellschools.org.

Welcome back! It looks like everyone has grown over the summer! I just wanted to take a minute to remind folks at home of some of the health protocols we follow here in Norwell.

• The child must remain home until 24 hours free from vomiting/diarrhea. If a child is sent home from school vomiting, they must be out of school the following day.
• Children who have had a fever of 100.0 or higher will be sent home and may not return to school until 24 hours without the use of antipyretics (ie Tylenol, Motrin, etc).

If your child has a communicable disease, please notify me via email or phone call. Some examples on when students may return to school as follows:

• Strep throat, Scarlet Fever, and Conjunctivitis - 24 hours after the first dose of prescribed medication.
• Hand, foot, and mouth (Coxsackie virus) or Fifth Disease (Erythematous infectiosum)
• Impetigo - 24 hours after medical treatment has begun, lesions should be covered in school.
• MRSA - Antibiotic treatment (Bactrim) for 24 hours before returning to school, lesions should be covered.

Head lice: Remember to check your child's head frequently for head lice, as they can be common in school aged children. If found at school, parents/guardians will be notified and directed to treatment options to occur outside of school.

All medications, prescription or non-prescription, can only be administered under the following conditions:

• A written medication order is required for prescription medication and over the counter medications.
• A written parent/guardian authorization form is required for all medications.
• All medications must be in the original pharmacy labeled container.
• All medications must be brought to the school by the parent/guardian and given directly to the school nurse.

In our first week in PE/Gym Class, kindergarteners worked on gym rules, spatial awareness and locomotor movements (galloping, skipping, hopping, jumping, high knees, butt kickers and running).

Grades 1 & 2 worked on gym rules, spatial awareness, locomotor movements and a game of Freeze Tag!

Grades 3-5 worked on gym rules, a fun tag game called Bananas and played a cooperative team building game called Crazy Cards. In the Crazy Cards games, students had the goal of working together to accomplish all the crazy tasks on the cards as quickly as possible. Being brave to try new things, understanding it is more fun to work together to complete a task, laughing, connecting and having fun was the goal.

One of the Crazy Card tasks was organizing a game of Duck, Duck, Goose!

September

September 10 - First day of preschool for 3 yr. olds and 4 yr. olds

September 16 - Picture Day

September 17 - Constitution Day

September 19 - Curriculum Night/Open House

September 23 - Instrument Rental Night for Gr. 5 Band Students

September 26 - Norwell CARES Day

October

October 2 - Elementary Early Release - 12:20 dismissal for all students

October 7 - Gr. 4 Field Trip

October 7 - Connections Meeting