Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Safety Concerns in the Circle



While dropping children off in the circle, we are asking that you please remain in your car, allow children to get out on the sidewalk, and refrain from passing other cars in the circle. 

Just as the bus puts up a stop sign while children are exiting, the same rules of safety apply to cars and trucks in the circle.

We greatly appreciate your cooperation as we want to keep all of your children safe.

Thank you : ) 


Fourth Grade News

Fourth grade students have been moving forward academically! In Reading Street we have focused on figuring out the author's purpose in a piece of literature and on the genre of fables.  Students have begun writing their own fables modeled after those they read!

Our focus in math this month has been multiplication.  We have been using many different strategies to help students learn and memorize their facts, including games, flash cards, partner activities, and timed tests.  As we move forward, it is critical that all students know their multiplication facts so that long division and fractions are easier to manage.

We have wrapped up our unit on the Northeast Region of the United States in Social Studies, and have just begun our study of the Southwest region.

We continue to focus on Responsive Classroom strategies to help create a feeling of community and purpose in each of our classrooms.

Mrs. Egan, Mrs. Gilligan and Mrs. Zieff love teaching fourth grade and feel the year is successful so far!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wishing all of the Cove Community a Very Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am Sincerely Honored and Thankful to be the Principal of the Cove School!

~Lisa Oliver


Cove Kindergarten

 The Kindergarten classes have been hard at work!!! We have learned just about all of our letter-keyword-sounds through the Wilson Fundations Program. They have demonstrated a great ability to apply these skills to their reading and writing – VERY EXCITING!!!



Just as the 1st grade has, we have also finished our first unit of Reading Street. The kids really seem to enjoy the books!!

We have also started seeing our 5th grade book buddies once a month. Two of the 5th grade classes and the kindergarten classes come together to read books and complete activities related to literacy.  It has been so fun to watch them all bond and cooperate together.



Although it hasn’t been fun to lose an hour of our daytime light, it was a great experience for the kids to physically see with their eyes what the time change results in! We have also been documenting what the season changes look like – especially with the plants and the trees.

Voting, Thanksgiving and community helpers have been the main focus of our social studies this month. It’s hard to believe that we are going to be learning about all the different winter celebrations and how people and animals need to prepare themselves for the cold winter months!!! Didn’t we just start school? We can’t be almost December already!! J  Keep a lookout for information about our Kindergarten celebration of Winter Warmth which will be held Thursday, December 20th at 1.






The Kindergarten students have been experimenting with various supplies to enhance their understanding of numbers 0-19 (including the use of tens frames, dominoes, 1:1 correspondence activities, etc.). We have also experimented with pan balances and weight, higher/lower numbers, shapes, estimation. We have even started exploring addition.

            Phew! We have been busy!!!! Now, it’s time to take some rest and be thankful that we have such great kids in our classrooms.

 We hope you have a restful Thanksgiving!!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Fine Arts: The First Thanksgiving


The Third Grade Pilgrims have been very busy in Art and Music class this month. Mrs. Lally (Cove art teacher) and Mrs. McDonough (Cove music teacher) created an integrated unit studying “The First Thanksgiving” through music, drama and art projects. Highlights included performance of a mini musical entitled “Pilgrims,” making original pilgrim costumes, acting out the Mayflower trip and the creation of replicas of the original Mayflower sailing boat. Below are pictures of the children performing and singing in costume as well as students posing with the “Mayflower creations.” 





Ms. DeCourcy’s , Ms. Kelley’s and Ms MacPherson’s classes performing the mini musical “Pilgrims.”





Ms. Foley’s, Ms. MacPherson’s and Mrs. Sweeney’s class posing with their Mayflower replicas.


November Preschool News

We are in the middle of our FRIENDS unit. The children are talking about friendship, how to be a good friend, and different ways to resolve conflicts with friends. Through the Story Time books, the children are hearing about the importance of being truthful, helping friends, enjoying special times together, and getting along. Our first book was “The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza)” by Philemon Sturges; this story was linked to our theme by showing that friends often ask one another for help. In “Matthew and Tilly” by Rebecca C. Jones, we heard how friends sometimes get angry with each other, but good friends make up. In “Dandelion” by Don Freeman, the children learned that when we are among friends we can just be ourselves because friends like us just the way we are. Our last book will be “Hooray, a PiƱata!” by Elisa Kleven, ; this story shows that friends care about each other’s feelings and try to help each other solve their problems.

In the spirit of working together and solving problems, we have turned out Dramatic Play areas into Pizza Shops and Grocery Stores. The children have had lots of fun taking orders, making pizza, and working the cash register. They explored pizza dough, painted pizzas, made a classroom Friendship Book, and shopped at their classroom grocery store. At home, parents can show children their shopping lists and name the items they will be buying. Families can also help their children understand that written words have meaning by reading store signs, street signs, and discussing what they mean. It has been an exciting month for us and we look forward to more exciting times.

Cove Preschool Teachers and Paraprofessionals







Monday, November 19, 2012

First Grade News


First grade students are almost finished with their first Reading Street unit, and they are looking forward to beginning a new unit on communities after Thanksgiving.  During literacy time, the children have been busy learning to read sentences with fluency, and to write sentences correctly. They have also been working hard to improve their ability to read and spell sight words,  short vowel words, and words containing digraphs such as th, ch and sh.  


Many math activities in first grade have focused on identifying and counting collections of coins, telling time to the hour, and practicing skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s.



Although we have been busy learning about the history of Thanksgiving and discussing the many things that we are thankful for, first grade teachers want to remind parents that the December  holidays will be here soon! Please look for more information regarding a special holiday performance in the coming weeks!  

Happy Thanksgiving!  -The First Grade Team

Cove Veggie Bar is Open!



Veggie Bar Options

Students may enjoy veggies as a side (included with the purchase of a school lunch

Vegetables can be purchased as a school lunch, served with lettuce, protein, grain and dairy

A third option is to purchase veggies as a side via a la carte for $0.75

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Fifth Grade Student Council

The Cove School Student Council is off to a fantastic start! Our Council is comprised of almost 50 students from all three classes. The students have been busy volunteering at school-wide events and getting ready for our first Community Meeting, which will be held on Friday November 16. The theme of our meeting is promoting a “culture of excellence” at Cove. The students have been working on creating posters and a presentation that will define this concept for their fellow students. 




 Each month we will continue to recognize our Star Students. Star Students are chosen by their classroom teachers because of their demonstration of traits which exemplify a “culture of excellence”.


 The Student Council is also sponsoring a Thanksgiving food drive to benefit Beverly Bootstraps. You may drop your donations off in the lobby until Monday November, 19. Thank you for all of your help and support!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Please Help in the Circle


I am respectfully asking that all parents follow the traffic procedures in the circle. This is to ensure safety of all children. : ) 

This includes not passing other cars, getting out of your car, or letting children out on the opposite side of the sidewalk. Please refrain from beeping your horn at fellow parents.

We are working hard to keep children safe and move the line as quickly and safely as we can.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation - Lisa Oliver

Beverly Bootstraps


Beverly Bootstraps HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE November 13-19th. 

Bootstraps is looking for donations of holiday food items such as stuffing mix, sweet potatoes/yams cranberry sauce, apple juice, gravy, chicken broth, olives, canned nuts, and cake/bread mix. 
 Please bring items to Cove School. 
 Contact Mrs. Scherer or Ms. MacLean for more information.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Third Grade News


With the speedy approach of Thanksgiving, third graders are looking forward to learning about the Pilgrims’ challenging journey to America, their vital friendship with Squanto, and the hardships and events that led to the first Thanksgiving. We’ll be using our reading comprehension skills, such as sequencing and comparing and contrasting as we read “Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims.” Mrs. Lally and Mrs. McDonough have also coordinated their third grade art and music projects around this historic time in American history. 
Stay tuned for pictures!
In science, we will continue studying the three states of matter. We will learn how states of matter change as we do simple investigations to observe evaporation, condensation, freezing and melting. In math, we will continue reviewing fact families, learning strategies for solving word problems, and exploring new addition and subtraction algorithms.

Third Grade Teachers: Jenn DeCourcy, Erin Foley, Madonna Kelley, Erin Sweeney

Can You Help?




Once again, the fifth grade is collecting new and slightly used items for the Inn Between shelter in Peabody. We have been doing this for several years, and the people at the shelter have really come to rely on the generosity of the Cove School community. All donations can be sent to the school between now and Friday, December 7th.  A notice will be going home outlining the specific needs of the families who are currently in the shelter, however all donations are welcome. 

 Gift cards to local stores such as Target, Walmart, and CVS are especially helpful. 

Thanks in advance for your generosity and support!

Step It Up!


For the past 4 weeks the fifth grade has participated in a city-wide program through our local Y called, “Step It Up”. Every 5th grader in the city was given a pedometer and sheets to track how many steps they took every day. They had to record HOW they got those steps (recess, soccer, hiking, walking around the house) and total up their numbers each week. The school with the most steps wins the coveted “Step It Up Cup”. After spending a year at Centerville, the cup is coming back to Cove! Congratulations to Cove School’s class of 2013 for accumulating 7,961,752 steps over 4 weeks! A special congratulations goes to Mrs. Dunleavy’s class for being the top step earners in the whole city!



Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Crazy Hair Day!!!

Friday November 9th
$1 Donation (send via backpack)


Cove Crazy Days will be held once a month during the school year.  Funds collected will be deposited into the PTO's general fund to support events and programs.  If funds are no needed for any given month, they will be donated to a good cause, to be determined by the PTO Executive Board or by vote at PTO meetings.

Thank you for your contribution to Cove PTO!!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

PTO News

Election Day Bake Sale - November 6th


We're thinking BIG this year! In addition to baked goods we're looking for donations of cooked foods to go: chilies, meatballs, and lasagna, yogurt and fruit parfaits, quiches, sandwiches, etc.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner food ~ anything goes!

Drop off baked goods Monday 11/5 or Tuesday 11/6: drop off cooked foods Tuesday 11/6

100% of the proceeds go directly to the children of Cove School.  We also need volunteers to work the sale.  Team up with friends for sales shifts or to cover child care.

Contact Carol Nearis at hospitality@coveschool.net  Thank you!!!

Fall Fundraiser!



We are looking for volunteers to help us on Wednesday, November 14th from 9:30am-2pm. 
 
We are expecting to take delivery of the Fall Fundraiser items that day. Any hours you can give us would be GREATLY appreciated! We are thrilled to report that Cove did over $20,000.00 in sales which leaves us with over $10,000.00 in profit! Thank you for all of your HARD work! 
 
Please email Nancy Stanley at ptovpfall@coveschool.net to volunteer your time.