Cowles Montessori Crier

“Human flourishing, as Maria Montessori put it, means becoming a person of one’s time and place with the means and wherewithal not only to function within but to shape society (NCMPS, 2019).”

“All humans (CHILDREN and ADULTS) flourish in society (ENVIRONMENT).” - Cowles Montessori Vision

Dear 8th Grade Cowles Parents & Guardians,

One of the ways we will be our 8th Grader's time at Cowles is through a video that will be shared out with our community through the Cowles Crier and CMPG Facebook page. Mrs. Dare would like to use a picture of your child, their first name, and a brief sentence to tell others their favorite thing about Cowles. We could use your help to make this happen. Please send Mrs. Dare the following:

1. A picture of your 8th Grader to use (or permission for Mrs. Dare to find one from school activities)
2. The answer to the question: “What is your favorite thing about Cowles?”
3. Please let us know if you have special requests regarding your child’s image or first name, and we will work together to honor your child

Thank you,

Mrs. Dare

kara.dare@dmschools.org

Cowles Green Thumb Families:

The Cowles building may be closed, but the gardens are still there and ready to grow all Spring/Summer long! The Garden Committee has been hard at work and would like to offer you The Opportunity Of The Year: Adopt a garden plot for the Spring/Summer.

There are 17 raised beds (five 4’x8’, twelve 2’x8') in our schoolyard up for adoption for this spring and summer. You can sign up for more than one raised bed. Most beds are ready to go, but for full disclosure, some of the beds could use some tending, including additional soil and compost. The Garden Committee can help with that. We have soil and compost on-site to move.

Food and flowers can be grown in these beds for home use, shared with others in the school, and/or donated to local food pantries (yes, they will take fresh produce). Our goal is to make these Together Gardens, and we invite everyone and anyone to participate. We hope to host a Fall harvest meal with the bounty from the Gardens. That is definitely something to look forward to this coming school year!

Raised beds are a perfect opportunity to try vegetable gardening for the first time. The garden committee members are willing to share their knowledge and experience, so there will be plenty of support for you.

How it works

Any interested family may adopt a raised bed to tend through fall. If needed, we will provide plants and seeds (squash, tomatoes, beans, etc.) recommended for this planting season. We have selected ones that will do well with weekly attention and which will produce their bounty in time for a fall harvest. Your time investment would include tending to it at least weekly by watering and weeding as needed.

You may choose to use your own tools; however, we do have a fair number of tools available in Cowles's greenhouse. Once assigned a raised bed, we will staple a sign with your name on the raised bed to denote it is yours. To enjoy a full growing season, flower beds should be planted by May 17, So sign up for your spot now!

Watering

There is one spigot on-site, a short walk to the garden beds. We have hoses, or old milk jugs or buckets will work as well. A well-mulched garden bed will not need much watering after plants are established.

Resources for vegetable planting

The garden committee will be happy to share their knowledge and experience, so don't be afraid to try something new. Also, here are some excellent online resources:

• Iowa Planting and Harvesting Timeline for 25 common garden vegetables

• Small plot vegetable gardening

• Planting a vegetable garden (attached)

Questions?

Feel free to email the Garden Committee at: bretmcf@icloud.com, savannah.calaway@dmschools.org, jennifer.gelner@dmschools.org, tevalee@gmail.com or adam.egherman@dmschools.org, if you have questions about this or any other garden matter.

If you are interested in signing up for a raised bed, please click here to get to the sign-up page.

Thank you, as always, for your support of Cowles. We hope this gives you and your family an opportunity to do something that benefits both the school, your family, and our community.

Please continue to be well and do what you can to stop the spread of this highly contagious virus.

Best,

The Garden Committee

Cowles Montessori School

During this time of distance, we are still connected as a Cowles community. Though we are unable to be together physically, we can still come together in spirit. The garden committee invites our Cowles families to grow our rock garden.

We are dedicating this garden to the joy and community that the late Deb Rock-Schroeder helped foster during her 8 years at Cowles.

How to grow our garden:

1. Gather some rocks- there is a small supply of river rocks under the tree in the garden, if needed.
2. Paint your rocks any way you would like: Cowles Spirit, in honor of Deb Rock-Schroeder, peace, encouragements, and more.
3. Bring your rocks to our Cowles Community Rock Garden in front of the school under the tree.
4. Snap picture of your contribution to the garden and send it to: savannah.calaway@dmschools.org

- The Cowles Montessori Garden Committee

Technology Support:

For technological assistance, email us at: bts.cowles@dmschools.org

DMPS@Home:

• The main place to go for accessing information and support for distance learning:
• https://www.dmschools.org/onlinelearning/

DMPS Canvas Coursework:

To access your child's Canvas Course, go to: https://dmschools.instructure.com/

• The username is (your student ID #)@student.dmschools.org
• The default password is the child’s birthdate: MMDDYYYY

Microsoft Teams

You will receive a calendar invite from your child's teacher to Join the Microsoft Teams Meeting for Virtual Class Gatherings and 1-on-1 check-ins. There are 3 ways to join Microsoft Teams (App, web page, phone call):
- Step 1: Click on "Join Microsoft Teams Meeting" in the calendar invite

- Step 2: It will pull up another page, in the middle it will say:

• "Already have the Teams app? Launch it now". Click on "Launch it now". Click on "Join Meeting"
• OR you can "Join on the Web instead". Click on "Join Meeting"
• OR you can receive a phone call from the Teams app (it will have a 319 area code)

- Step 3: Mute your mic. There tends to be a lot of unwanted audio feedback if too many people have their mic turned on. You or the teacher can turn the mic on if it's your child's turn to speak.

For all humans to flourish in our current society, we are exercising “social distancing” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this process is to slow the spread of the virus. It is a collaborative effort to “flatten the curve,” which is a process to reduce the number of individuals needing medical attention and to not overwhelm the current health care responders with those in need. This means that students are not able to attend and learn in their traditional school environments. Distance learning programs were developed to ensure the highest level of safety for our school community and to continue the academic growth and development of our students.

• The Cowles building remains closed
• As soon as we are granted permission, we will schedule times for staff and families to safely to gather their belongings

#WeAreCowles

Email: todd.johnson@dmschools.org
Website: cowles.dmschools.org
Location: 6401 College Avenue, Windsor Heights, IA, USA
Phone: 515-242-7818
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CowlesMontessori/
Twitter: @CowlesDMPS