1 Table of Contents Page Jacque’s Note 2 Community News 3-12 MS News 13-14 HS News 15 Senior News 16 January 7, 2015 Wednesday Packet Important Dates/Information *January After School Program has begun. Be sure to submit your payment online or directly to the Business Office. PAC MEETING Thursday, January 8 8:00 am In Conf. Room B HOMECOMING PLANNING MEETING (Following the PAC Meeting) Thursday, January 8 10:00 am In Conf. Room B HOMECOMING SPIRIT WEEK- The 80’s Are Back Monday-Friday, January 12-16 See Spirit Week Flyer for each day’s attire. HOMECOMING Thursday-Saturday, January 15-17 See Homecoming Flyer for Schedule of Events. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. HOLIDAY Monday, January 19 No School Offices Closed
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Table of Contents Page
Jacque’s Note 2 Community News 3-12 MS News 13-14 HS News 15
Senior News 16
January 7, 2015
Wednesday Packet
Important Dates/Information *January After School Program has begun. Be sure to submit your payment online or directly to the Business Office. PAC MEETING Thursday, January 8 8:00 am In Conf. Room B HOMECOMING PLANNING MEETING (Following the PAC Meeting)
Thursday, January 8 10:00 am In Conf. Room B HOMECOMING SPIRIT WEEK- The 80’s Are Back Monday-Friday, January 12-16 See Spirit Week Flyer for each day’s attire. HOMECOMING Thursday-Saturday, January 15-17 See Homecoming Flyer for Schedule of Events. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. HOLIDAY Monday, January 19 No School Offices Closed
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Welcome Back!! We missed you and each other! The holiday vacation is always a nice break but I am sure we are all ready to get this party started!! As fast as first semester went, second semester will be even faster! I am sure that there are still twenty-four hours in a day and seven days in a week, but it seems as if everything is speeding up on a daily basis! Staying busy keeps us happy, so I am not complaining, but I am issuing a caution that we should buckle up and get ready for an AWESOME RIDE! We welcome our new families at this time of year. It is not easy to start a new school in mid-year, but our staff, students and PAC mentors do all they can to keep our newcomers informed and comfortable. I encourage all of you to attend our school events and get to know each other. This is an exceptionally cool community! A major contributor to our successful programming is the TCS communication system and our continual practice of assessment and adjustment. Just as a good teacher checks in with students and determines what to do next by what the student demonstrates they understand, our entire staff checks in with each other to be sure our systems are working efficiently and that we are continuing to accomplish the mission of the school. Our regular homeroom calls are just a small part of this system but the information we receive from our conversations with you is important. Next month you will be asked to complete a parent survey that we will use to map our programming and adjustments for the future. The last survey results were instrumental in supporting the replacement classroom space for our aged building A (now demolished) and our increased investment in and emphasis on technology use in the classroom. Your comments and suggestions made a huge difference. Please take the time this year to respond honestly and constructively to the survey. We know we do a terrific job but we also know that there is always room for improvement! Second semester marks a real turning point for our students, both veterans and those newly enrolled in August. With eighteen weeks under their belt, the skills they have been honing are beginning to gel. The knowledge on which they are building is expanding at a faster rate and the confidence they are enjoying is becoming stronger each day. Most of the growth occurs deep inside their heads and hearts and is not immediately visible to us. However, what we do see is a lighter step, a quicker smile and an increase in conversation and activity. For some, the transformation may be slower than others, but it is there…I see it in the brief encounters I have between classes and as I tour with guests. These are remarkable teens and they are capable of remarkable accomplishments! I am so glad we are on this journey together! Thank you for your partnership so far this year and for the memories and celebrations we are promised for the remainder of the year!
January 7, 2015
Jacque’s Note
Amazon Smile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable
organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. Go to
www.smile.amazon.com and designate The Cottage School as your
charity of choice.
Does your family buy Ziploc bags, Kleenex or General Mills products? These are just a few of the brands that are part of the BoxTops program. This is easy, just cut out the BoxTops logo and send in to school with your child.
Switch and become a Georgia Natural Gas customer and help your school earn
money! Georgia Natural Gas will donate $5 every month to your school just for
paying your natural gas bill. If you are not already signed up, please visit
www.onlygng.com/TRUEBLUECHOICE for program details.
Kroger offers support of TCS through their Community Rewards program. You can participate by going to Kroger.com, registering your card and then choosing TCS (school #36692) under ‘Community Rewards’. Every time you use your Kroger number for gas or groceries, TCS gets credit.
If you don’t already have one, get your Publix key-chain sized card in the Central Administration Office. Pick up enough to give to friends and family! Each time you shop, present your card at the checkout counter and Publix will donate a percentage of your purchase to TCS.
Target enables customers to specify TCS as the recipient of a percentage of sales charged to their Target credit card. If you don’t currently have one, inquire the next time you shop at Target. It is simple and easy to sign-up for.
Advancement Angle
News you can use to help raise money for The Cottage School
Happy New Year! Get that first resolution out of the way and give
Parents: Shannon & Aaron Kanner Parents: Scott & Kathy Petty
Bryan Patterson 9th Grade Sabrina Capriotti 10th
Parents: Michael & Amanda Patterson Parents: Tina Perkins &
Daryl Capriotti
PAC PICKS THIS WEEK
Dear Pac –
We want to thank you for your generosity this holiday
season. Your kind gift was appreciated by all. We are glad to be back,
and are ready for a great start to the second semester. Thank you for all
you do for us.
The Cottage School Staff
Don’t forget…PAC Meeting January 8 at 8am in the TCS
Conference Room. There will be a
Homecoming planning meeting directly
following at 10am. We hope to see you
there!
Winter Weather and School Closures
The arrival of the new year often brings with it cold wintry weather to Georgia.
With the storms we experienced in 2014, TCS is ready to address school closures
and updates as efficiently as possible.
We are pleased that so many people have signed up for the REMIND.com alert
systems. If you haven’t done this yet, please take time and do it today. It is a
simple process that will allow us to contact you immediately with school updates
and alerts. To sign up, send a text to 81010 with the message @tcsst.
If there are weather concerns that might cause delays or closures, the first alert you will
receive will come via the REMIND.com system. In addition, you will find school closure or
delays on our website, social media and local television stations and websites (WSB TV,
CBS 46, 11Alive and Fox Atlanta).
Please keep in mind that because a good number of our students live outside of Fulton County, the
weather in your area could be different than what we are basing our decision upon. If there is any
concern about travel due to road or weather conditions in your area, please
make the safe choice for your family. Should your county be closed and
Fulton County is operational, your absence will be considered excused.
REMIND.com
Snow/Ice/School Closing Online Learning Policy
Last year’s snow--and the disruptions that came with it--caused us to look at how we handle teaching and learning outside the classroom’s four walls. We expect that we will experience an occasional snow/ice day off of school, but in light of last year’s extended weather related absences, we decided to have a contingency plan in place. In the event we close campus due to a multiple day weather event, our teachers will post assignments on their ClassWeb pages to keep our students engaged and learning. The workplace, now, allows telecommute options, and being productive while working from home is an important part of the skills of a contemporary worker. Keep in mind: assignments from days when campus is closed are not “extra” work--it’s required work as in the classroom, just like any other assignment. The questions below explain what your teenager can expect on these days.
Where will I find my assignment? Log in to ClassWeb (https://25250netclass.blackbaudondemand.com). Go to the Assignments section of each ClassWeb page. Students can use the assignment calendar to see all assignments for the day, or “My Classes” to see each class’s individual assignment one at a time.
How will I know which assignment to do? We will uniformly post Online Learning work in the “Assignments” section of each course. The first line of the assignment’s description will be “Online Learning” to quickly and uniformly show these assignments. Even if your teacher has no work to be done online, s/he will still post a notice in Assignments saying that there is no work.
When will the assignment be posted by? We will post assignments by 10:00 AM of the day campus is closed. If you don’t see it by then, please email your teacher.
When will the assignment be due? You will need to submit work by 8:00 AM the next day--even if school is cancelled the next day. The assignment’s description will state how to submit the work, whether by email or ClassWeb’s dropbox feature.
What if I don’t understand the the assignment? Do what you always do: contact the teacher to clarify. If your teacher isn’t available, use the directory or social media to contact another student.
What if I don’t have power? This policy assumes that you have power. If campus closes unexpectedly, we’re more confident that you’ll have power than we are that you’ll have all your textbooks. If you don’t have power, the Snow Day work will be recontracted, at the teacher’s discretion, just like any other assignment. The important thing is that you stay warm and dry.
**Often, we are aware that inclement weather is pending. In these circumstances, we will remind students prior to their departure from campus to bring home materials they may need to complete classwork. Homeroom teachers will clarify if you have any questions or concerns regarding the Online Learning expectations.