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

Everyone at DMPS was ready to welcome back many of our students on Monday, February 15th, for the resumption of a five-day school week. Unfortunately, nature had other plans. The National Weather Service has a Wind Chill Warning in effect until Noon on Monday, February 15. Because of that, tomorrow is a "virtual snow day" at DMPS. The forecast for the start of the school day is a temperature of -11 degrees with a -28 degree wind chill; the air temperature is expected to remain below zero and the wind chill below -20 degrees throughout the school day. Classes for all students will be held online. There will be no school activities or athletics, and no Metro Kids care. District and school offices will be open by appointment. We expect classes to resume as planned on Tuesday. Please visit our web site for additional information: https://www.dmschools.org/about/emergency-weather-closing-info/weather-closing-information/

Please note the time change of our next CMPG meeting. We will meet March 8th at 5:30 p.m. virtually.

At the close of our CMPG meeting, we will host a virtual pep rally at 6 p.m. Families are invited to tune in for a fun night featuring the Brazilian Twins and the talents of our very own Cowles families! Stay tuned for more details!

We are currently looking for Cowles parents who are interested in serving on the 2021-2022 CMPG board. If you are interested in learning more please contact Nikki Kosby at nicole.kosby@gmail.com and Courtney Pink at courtneylpink@gmail.com. Elections for board members will take place at our April 12th meeting.

CMPG is hosting a virtual all-school pep rally to kick off our fundraising campaign on March 8. We need your talent to build school spirit. We seek short (about 90 seconds or less) video submissions of spirited performances to celebrate Cowles Montessori. Some ideas include:

• A Montessori cheer

• Music performance

• Shout out to staff

• Shout out to any that have received top honors

• Skit to highlight our Montessori roots

• Spoken word poetry

• Something goofy – think pie in the face, crazy costume, etc.

• Interactive game for the virtual setting

We are also looking for a few youth willing to be MCs – it will be pre-recorded and scripted. For questions and for instructions to submit a video, please email TevaLee@gmail.com. All submissions need to be sent in by Friday, February 26.

We haven't seen many of our Cowles family this year. This will be a great chance to see familiar faces and celebrate together as a school.

Teva Dawson

CMPG Board Member

5. Love Me Do - The Beatles

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrN2nWe4kPI

4. Give Love - Andy Grammer

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDnI_931k40
  

3. If I Ain't Got You - Alicia Keys

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1wR39htJlY
  

2. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tepYJno7rU

1. A Love Song - Kid President, Lennon, and Maisy

• https://youtu.be/e1BUtr4ElcY
  

Disc Jockey Principal Johnson, or DJPJ, was inspired as a creative way to connect with students.

Dear families,

We want to provide some clarification about our attendance system for our in-person and virtual learning settings beginning on Monday, February 15th.

Communication will continue to be extremely important. Parents/guardians should contact their student’s school if the student is unable to participate in daily instruction for both virtual and in-person learning due to illness, internet connectivity issues, or other extenuating circumstances. School office staff will receive this information, update student attendance records, and be able to support your family.

Families that have selected 5 day in-person instruction:

If your family has chosen in-person learning, the expectation is that they will be in the classroom 5 days a week. With this, teachers will monitor student attendance based on students physically present. Teachers will mark a student as ‘participating’ if they are in the classroom. Teachers will mark a student as ‘not present’ if they are not in the classroom. In our on-going efforts to support your student, it is important to communicate with the office when your student is unable to attend in-person instruction. This will allow our staff and teachers to support your student academically.

Families that have selected 5 day virtual instruction:

Teachers will continue to monitor daily student participation following the same criteria in the virtual setting. This can include synchronous learning participation, canvas module participation, work submission, and office hour meetings.

If parents want to book an appointment time to speak with Nurse Ann, click on the link below:

Nurse Ann's Office Hours

There are a few changes to be aware of following decisions from the state and school district.

• Five day per week/in-person learning begins on Monday, February 15th
• Fully Virtual students will continue their schedule as normal on Monday, February 15th

The school day and school calendar will change slightly to accommodate a plan with the Iowa Department of Education in order to make up instructional time when the district was all virtual at the start of the year:

• March 1st and 2nd are now normal school days for students (no longer Professional Development days for staff)
• April 23rd is now a normal school day for students (no longer a Parent-Teacher conference day for staff)
• June 3rd is now a normal school day for students with an early-out release (no longer a Professional Development day for saff)

Below this message is a FAQ document you may refer to regarding school picture ordering and retakes.

If you have any further questions regarding pictures you can reach out to Inter-State: http://www.inter-state.com/support or http://www.inter-state.com/callme

In many ways, Dr. Maria Montessori modeled how to be a social reformer. During her time living in multiple countries, she was an advocate for marginalized persons with feminism, social justice, and race, to name a few. Today, we are responding to the call to be social reformers in the form of active anti-racism. Black history is our history, and we are excited to celebrate this month and beyond. Here is a list of what we can do to celebrate as a community:

Adults:

• Speak up for our students by sharing ideas on social media.
• Explore your history, experiences, and personal thoughts about race.
• Engage in learning about anti-racism through literature, media, and organizations.

Environment

• Create brave and safe spaces for your family members to talk openly about race.
• Engage in peaceful anti-racism rallies virtually and/or safely in-person.
• Make mistakes and learn something from those mistakes.
• Remind yourself that with practice, patience, and determination, we grow.

Children

• Read or share books with children and engage in discussions about race (See the Des Moines Public Library Black History Month Challenge below, begins February 13th).
• Explain race concretely (e.g., reasons why skin tones are different, how society labels individuals base on race, etc.)
• Allow children to engage in brave and safe discussions about abstract concepts with race (e.g., historical concepts regarding slavery, "Black Lives Matter," why individuals choose to kneel during the National Anthem, etc.).

International Montessori Week

• When: Week of February 22nd
• What: Celebration of the 114th Anniversary of Montessori Education
• Focus: Peace, race, and social justice

The Education Bill Tracking webpage provides regular updates during the Iowa legislative session on bills related to education in Iowa. Information about new bills, including names, numbers, and sponsors are provided.

As the session continues to move forward, there are certain session milestones that bills need to clear to stay alive. These milestones are listed within the session timetable

Early Childhood Department/School Readiness Goals & Learning Targets – 2020-2021

• 85% of 4 year-olds will meet or exceed kindergarten readiness in the Literacy Domain of GOLD including concepts of print, alliteration, letter names and letter sounds.
• 80% of 4 year-olds will meet or exceed kindergarten readiness in the Math Domain of GOLD including counts, quantifies and connects numerals with quantities.
• 90% of 4 year-olds will meet or exceed kindergarten readiness in the Social/Emotional Domain of GOLD, follows limits and expectations.

District Board Goals

LITERACY

• Goal 1: The percent of all third grade students on track in reading will increase from 52% to 72% by June 2023, as measured by FAST.
• Goal 2: The percent of black male third grade students on track in reading will increase from 35% to 72% by June 2023, as measured by FAST.

ALGEBRA

• Goal 3: The percent of black male students earning a ‘B’ or higher in Algebra 1 by the end of 9th grade will increase from 17% to 35% by August 2023.

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

• Goal 4: A goal will be developed once a baseline measure for social emotional learning is determined.

Cowles Montessori School Improvement Goal

Goal 1: The percent of all third through eighth grade students proficient and/or on track for college and career readiness in math will increase from 81% to 85% by Spring of 2023 as measured by state assessments:

• By 2020 - 82%
• By 2021 - 83%
• By 2022 - 84%
• By 2023 - 85%

#WeAreCowles #heartsintheheights #BLM #AntiBiasMontessori

Email: shannon.hines@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