Cotopaxi Early Learning Center is getting ready for spring weather! The students have been busy making kites to hang up in the preschool. We are working on their fine motor skills with crumbling tissue paper and gluing the pieces on their kite.
We're into our unit on poetry! 4th graders are learning about figurative language, like similes and metaphors. They have also done rhyme poems, and are working on developing memory poems.
Vaping concerns among youth. According to the American Heart Association, one in four high school age kids report using e-cigarettes, also known as vaping. And not only are more kids and young adults using e-cigarettes, they are using them more often.
At a time of heightened stress, anxiety, and grief in our communities, caring conversations can help a young person quit or prevent them from becoming one of nearly 8,000 kids who start vaping every day.
Please see more information at the “Nurses Corner” on the main website about vaping and the guide “Vaping - What Families Need to Know to Help Protect Children, Teens and Young Adults”.
Cotopaxi Early Learning Center has been busy reading “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” and “Chicka Chicka 123”. They are fun stories about the alphabet and numbers. The preschoolers made trees using the letters in their names to tell a story.
School Board Meeting - tonight @ 5 p.m.
***ZOOM Meeting Information
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75997793114?pwd=MDRvVnMxK0FocTlvTHRGYVJVNm81Zz09
Meeting ID: 759 9779 3114
Passcode: bKHW1A
This week Kindergarten took time to mix science and math lessons. The goal was to build a contraption that was able to have a ball rolled from top to bottom without breaking.
High school juniors, sophomores, and freshmen have been busy practicing for the upcoming SAT and PSAT tests. They took practice reading and writing/language use quizzes in English class. They then learned how to score their tests in order to get an idea of what their overall English score may be for the state assessments. SAT and PSAT tests are April 13-15.
It's Testing Season! Springtime brings flowers, green grass, and happy birds. It also means standardized testing! Here are a few test-taking tips to better support student success: 1. Get enough sleep, eat a nutritious breakfast, and stay hydrated. 2. Think positively, relax, and focus on doing your best! 3. Read all directions carefully. 4. Read each question carefully and answer the entire question. 5. Skip questions you can't answer; go back to them later. 6. Read all multiple-choice answers before choosing one. 7. Avoid answers with absolute words like "never" and "always". 8. Take your time and focus- even if other students finish early. 9. Review all answers, if time allows, to avoid careless errors.
Now, take a deep breath, try to relax, and DO YOUR BEST!!! :)
Mrs. Schoech's middle school Reading/Language Arts classes are brushing up for CMAS and NWEA! They are thinking their way through eight different "test prep" stations that review the skills they have been working on in class all year long. Topics covered include word connotation, context clues, figurative language, author's tone, theme, short responses, and multi-paragraph responses. The collaborative groups immersed themselves in identifying, discussing, analyzing, and applying knowledge related to the skills they will need to succeed on the upcoming end-of-year state and district assessments.
8th graders and high schoolers filled out "pitch tendency" charts so they could be aware of how to play certain notes on their instrument.
All high school volleyball games this week have been canceled due to Covid quarantine guidelines. They will be rescheduled if at all possible. All middle school volleyball games are to be held as scheduled.
Coming soon....The North versus the South in the Civil War!
First grade has begun learning about maps and the different ways we use them. They have learned about the cardinal directions and how they relate to our school. This week, they will create maps of common areas of their life, such as classroom, school, and home.
On Wednesday, 3/31, we had a lockdown drill. The students and staff did great! Deputy Fetterhoff and Deputy Sanger assisted Mrs. Van Esselstine and me with the drill. The drill exposed a few things that we need to address but overall we did very well. Make sure you ask your children about the drill and use it as a discussion starter to reinforce what they learned.
COVID-19 testing can now be done at Cotopaxi by Debbie Eggleston, school nurse.
The BinaxNow testing can be conducted on those who are symptomatic, have been exposed to someone who has tested positive, or on a continuous basis for screening of asymptomatic individuals. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is providing these free resources to schools to increase safety of in-person learning and to help decrease transmission rates of COVID-19 in communities.
Please contact Nurse Debbie at deggleston@cotopaxire3.org or 942-4131 ext. 237 if you would like more information or discuss the need for a COVID-19 test for your child or family member.
Conversation with the Superintendent - Community Town Hall tonight at 6PM March 30, 2021 at 6 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74797128145?pwd=Mk0rYTNjRTZoT2xTeDZVd3lKN2wxQT09
Meeting ID: 747 9712 8145
Passcode: 7E5zcr
Second grade is very excited for the last quarter. We celebrated the 100th day of school by doing different activities using 100. We also had fun cheering for our girl’s basketball team!
The Fremont Center for the Arts will be holding the annual Fremont County Schools show April 2-30. Typically Cotopaxi submits between 35-50 pieces of middle and high school art. This year the amount of work each school is allowed to submit is limited due to Covid. The annual art show is judged and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons will be awarded. Check out https://www.fremontarts.org/ for more information on the show.
Pi Day is on March 14, and any day that combines fun, education, and pie is a day worth celebrating! Not only that, but the fourteenth of March is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, so all together it’s nothing short of a mathematician’s delight. So, we celebrated with a few little “pi”s!
Third graders have been busy over the last three weeks learning about the Vikings. Students were introduced to the people of the Viking Age: the men, women, and children who spoke the Old Norse language and lived in an area of northern Europe called Scandinavia, the countries we now call Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Students learned about the culture, region, and everyday life of the Norse people, who made a living through farming, fishing, and trading. Students also learned about the Viking explorers who traveled across the ocean to settle in new lands, including Greenland, Iceland, and Newfoundland.