Calendar of Events – May 2008

Friday                    May 2                    5th Grade Track Meet at Olathe High School Track
Friday                    May 2                    10:45  AM  Kindergarteners Eat Lunch at School !    
                                                             12:00  PM  Kindergarteners Eat Lunch at School !
Mon-Fri                 May 5-9                 National Teacher Appreciation Week
Monday                 May 5                    No Lunch/Breakfast Charges from this point to the end of the year.
Tuesday               May 6                    9:00 a.m.- 5th Grade Visit to Middle Schools
Thursday              May 8                    4:00 PM-School District Retirement Reception—Pavilion
                                                             (Please join us in honoring our retiring teacher Gloria Cox
Friday                    May 9                    12:10-1:10 2nd Grade Mother’s Day Tea– Mrs. Riddle & Ms. Brown
Friday                    May 9                    2:05-3:05 2nd Grade Mother’s Day Tea– Mrs. Sawyer & Mrs. Cox
Monday                 May 12                  5:30—Band Info. & 7:00 p.m.—Parent Night at Columbine
Tuesday                May 13                  8:00 a.m.—4th Grade Water Festival at Baldridge Park
Tuesday                May 13                  7:00 p.m.—PAC  in Library
Wednesday          May 14                  5:30-Band Info. & 7:00 p.m.—Parent Night at Centennial
Thurs/Fri                May 15-16            4th Grade Field Trip to Mesa Verde
Wednesday           May 21                  8:30-Mrs. Slawinski/9:15-Mrs. Pankey Kindergarten Promotion
Wednesday           May 21                  12:15-Mrs. Mohney/1:00 Mrs. Smuin Kindergarten Promotion
Wednesday          May 21                  12:45-2:00 5th Grade Promotion in the Gym
Thursday               May 22                  LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
Thursday               May 22                  9:00-11:00 a.m. 3rd—5th Grade Field Day
                                                              11:00-11:30 PICNIC LUNCH SERVED
                                                               12:00- 2:00 p.m. Kindergarten—2nd Grade Field Day

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT NEXT YEAR WILL BE ON AUGUST 18TH
THIS WILL BE TWO DAYS BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS

Mark your calendars for the week of August 4-8. Please call the school and leave a message during this week to confirm your child's return to school for the 2008-09 school year.

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

            As the 2007-2008 school year draws to a close, I would like to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication in making this another excellent year at Cottonwood. 

            Our students at Cottonwood are great.  They have done their best all year long and learned from their teachers.  We now have an excellent Student Council that represents their school.  They bring fresh new ideas and offer a perspective that only children can provide.  Our “Make a Difference Day” projects truly resulted in a better school, neighborhood and community thanks to their efforts.  “Pennies for Peace” donations have helped students learn to appreciate that they have the opportunity to have an impact on their world.  I am especially proud of our fifth graders.  We ask them to model being good students for younger students.  This class has excelled in their leadership.  They will be missed.

            Our teachers at Cottonwood have excelled as well.  I have said many times that I have never enjoyed working with a group of people more in my thirty year career.  Our staff puts kids first and their interactions with children every day reminds me how much they care.  Hard work and dedication to their profession is evident around every corner.  Our children know they can count on their teachers to help and to care.  The occasional tear or scraped knee is tended to by teachers who reach out to make it all better.  The teaching at Cottonwood is as good as you will find in any classroom in Colorado.

            Our parents help to make Cottonwood a school of excellence.  Volunteers work in classrooms in the hallways and behind the scene to constantly make our school better.  Thanks to our PAC, we have over $30,000 each year to bring about school improvements.  In addition to new books, special field trips and the support of teaching our children, we now have a technology plan in place that will map the spending and improvement for the next three years.  We have laid the groundwork for Smart Board Technology at our school and will see the benefits next year when our computer lab provides the first taste of Smart Board Technology for every classroom.  All students will see the exciting opportunities that learning with the latest technology can provide.

            Yes, it’s been another great year at Cottonwood.  As our fifth graders move to the next level of learning, I am confident that the middle schools will benefit from a great class coming their way.  We hope everyone enjoys their summer vacation and returns next year renewed and refreshed and ready to do it all over again.  I sure will.

Very sincerely yours,

Dr. Russ Tomlin

Back to School Night

Please put August 18th on your calendar for next year’s Back-To-School Night.  In order to allow students and teachers to meet before the first day of school on August 22nd we’ve planned our Back-To-School Night early this year.  Please plan to come!

Field Day - Wednesday, May 22, 2008

The fun’s about to begin.  If you would like to be part of it, please contact Mrs. Brooks as soon as possible! Field Day for 3rd through 5th grade students will run from 9:00 to 11:00 pm. Kindergarten through 2nd grade students will have their field day from 12:00 until 2:00.  We need at least 3 volunteers at each station with 11 stations running at each time slot. We will need lots of help to run this exciting all-school event. Please call the school today at 249-2539 if you are interested in helping.

Parking Lot Re-Design for August

This year we made a change to our parking lot design after a careful review by the Montrose City Engineer, District Representatives (Risk Manager, Transportation Manager, Property Services Supervisor), Parents and members of our Staff.  The plan successfully separated the busses and cars.  It made it possible to dismiss all students at the same time, rather than ending instruction for the day and sending bus riders on their way ten minutes before the rest of the class was dismissed.  In short, there were a number of improvements made that we were pleased to see.  After lots of training for the drivers who use the parking lot, routines were established and the process flowed pretty smoothly.  We successfully dismiss nearly 500 students in a 15 minute window of time.  This has been done with safety as our first priority and we’ve avoided any serious injury to our students. 

The main problem we’ve encountered with the design was that it was far too complex for those unfamiliar with the intent of the design.  Our Annual Parent/Staff Satisfaction Survey made it very clear the design of the parking lot was still problematic.  Things flowed very smoothly for those familiar with the plan, but drivers who came into the parking lot for the first time were unsure of where to go and how to handle 40 cars all backed up waiting for the pick-up process to begin.  It was impossible to enter the parking area without waiting in the long line of cars.

Attached you will see the preliminary design prepared by an architect hired by our school district.  The architect has designed a plan that strives to maintain the best of the previous plan while making it possible to better separate parking and the drop-off / pick-up area.  We are also meeting with representatives from the City of Montrose to coordinate plans for the future expansion of Woodgate and to address the concerns our neighbors in Otter Pond have reported.  Our hope is that a more coordinated effort with the City of Montrose will result in a more efficient system.

Final stages of the design and the construction work will be completed this summer.  Parents and teachers have provided a number of suggestions for improving the plan all year long.  Those ideas will be considered as we attempt to provide a parking lot design that will best meet the needs of our growing school.  More information will be provided for parents before the beginning of school in August. 

We have planned a “MEET THE TEACHER NIGHT” on Monday, August 18th from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.  This year all students (Kg to Fifth) will be encouraged to come to Cottonwood that evening and prepare for the first day of school.  Be sure to pick up a final diagram of the parking lot so that we can have a smooth start to our school year.  Thanks in advance for your patience and cooperation.

Traffic Circulation For Cottonwood Elementary Design Proposal

(Please see below for map.)
Concept:
The parking area is divided into two loops with parking in the center of each loop. Traffic within each loop is one way. Parking spaces are angled to facilitate ease of parking and to reinforce one way traffic movement. The north lot is for parents to park and escort students to the school. Parents should walk to the designated

The south lot is designated for student drop-off. The staff parking is in the interior of the lot to prevent parents from parking in this area. (additional staff parking can be designated in the north lot) The full drop-off loop has a designated drop zone for students to walk to the building without crossing any drive lane.

1. Traffic enters from Woodgate Road

2. Parents dropping off students proceed straight ahead to drop-off loop
   a. Parents wanting to park turn left into parking loop

3. Parents dropping off students stay close to curb

4. After dropping-off student, parent enters drop exit lane
   a. Students walk on sidewalk or striped drop-off area
   b. Signage indicates drop-off only; no parking
   c. Interior parking is reserved for staff only to discourage parents from using it to walk students across active drive lane

5. Staff parking in internal striped area of drop-off

6. Parents enter parking loop

7. Internal parking for parents – staff may use excess parking on north end of lot

8. Parents exit to the north from east side of lot loop; or from west side of one-way loop – we want to allow exit from this drive to reduce the amount of time parents drive thru the loop.

Help Needed for 2008-09 School Year

We are looking for two lunch para’s to help with our lunchroom/playground supervision next year.  The hours are from 11:00—12:30 and lunch is provided.  If you would like to spend some extra time with your child and his/her friends and make a little extra money this might be the job for you.  Please contact the office at 249-2539 if you are interested.

Thank You Cottonwood Parents and PAC Members!

What a great year we have had at our school, and it has been made better by the enormous support of our Cottonwood Families. As a group, we raised more than $32,000 through Sally Foster, Winter Festival, and Box Tops.

• Contribute $2,000 to our Fifth Graders for their Camp Red Cloud Trip
• Contribute over $2,000 for our Fourth Graders to go to Mesa Verde
• Purchase 8 Projectors for a total of $8,000 – every 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom now has a mounted projector in their room
• Purchase Planners for all 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders
• Contribute $1,000 to our Cottonwood Library
• Contribute $2,000 to help our new teachers add to their classroom libraries
• Fund many smaller grants for teachers and staff

Since our PAC does much more than fundraise, we have been able to accomplish the following through the hard work of many parents and grandparents:

• Organized and Ran the Winter Festival!!!!
• Sponsored Ice Cream Social and participated in Back to School Night
• Published Student Directory
• Helped re-establish Student Council
• Organized food for teachers during conferences
• Organized Box Top and Labels Program
• Maintained PAC Website with meeting minutes and important information
• Coordinated Room Parents for each Teacher and a Grade Rep for each grade level
• Organized the Teacher Wish List Board
• Supported teachers with their own classroom websites
• Helped Student Council with Star Gazing Evening
• Helped develop Technology  Plan for School
• Provided snacks for CSAPs
• Organized Teacher Appreciation Week

The PAC is made up of many parents and grandparents, some of whom do not attend our monthly meetings, but their time and effort does not go unnoticed. It takes many, many parents and grandparents with many different skills and talents to accomplish the goals of the PAC. I would like to thank every parent who has helped to make our school a better place this year.  Whether you contributed an hour of your time or hundreds of hours of your time your contributions are appreciated.

A special thanks to our PAC Officers this year who really made things happen: Barbara Bynum, Sherri Lowe, Corin Middleton, Nita Edgar, Shawna Lopez, and Tracy Delio. Hope to see you involved again next year!

Suzi King, PAC President

MAY PAC Meeting  - Tuesday, May 13th
6:30 - Social time / 7:00 - Meeting begins
(Childcare is available in the gym)