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Parent Newsletter March 5, 2020
Principal’s Message
Families,
At our PTA meeting on Feb. 12, we voted to accept our new Home-School Compact. I know that I’ve talked about the process a lot (probably too much!), but bear with me. What we have accomplished as a school community is rare these days! We came together and actually defined what "partnership" means for us. This ensures that we’ll have better plans moving forward. Teachers will do their part. Parents will do their part. But we’ll all do it better because we have clarity. Please read:
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Families are committed to…
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…communicating with school about the needs of their children. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, request info, or volunteer.
…taking advantage of communication from school. Stay on top of weekly info from the school and engage with teachers.
…sharing their traditions, stories, and in-sights with school so that Coates continues to embrace diverse contributions to a com-mon, supportive, and high achieving school culture.
…holding high expectations for their children at home and school.
….promoting reading skills and establishing a reading routine for their children at home.
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Teachers & school staff are committed to…
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…communicating with families so that they are aware of school news, events, and curriculum and have timely, specific information on their children’s progress.
…taking advantage of communication from families. Reply to questions promptly, hold conferences, and proactively contact parents when needed.
…accepting responsibility for nurturing a welcoming school environment for all families and realizing the gift of learning about and supporting each individual student.
…holding high expectations for each student at school and partnering with parents when expectations are not met.
…teaching reading skills and providing families with resources and support for promoting literacy at home.
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Now that we have a Home-School Compact, it’s time to convert ideas into action. See page 2 for some thoughts we gleaned from parents and staff on how to do that. Some changes will be coming this spring. Some will take shape in the fall. All ideas will use this compact as our guiding light. For those who supported this work, thanks for your part in making a great school even better!
Jesse Kraft, Principal
Coates Home-School Compact Making it Come to Life!
Read the Coates Home-School Compact on page 1. Below are just a few of the ideas that have been generated so that we can make improvements consistent with our agreement!
Partnership Idea #1: Better Communication
All teachers send out a weekly communication to all interested parents sharing what’s being taught in class, but it currently comes to parents in different ways (emails, Remind texts) and on different days. Let’s bring consistency to weekly updates. Same day, Same way. To be implemented in fall 2020
Partnership Idea #2: Better Communication
A monthly newsletter goes out on the first Friday of each month (Thursday Folders and News You Choose email). Let’s do a weekly News You Choose. Keep it short enough to digest but timely enough so parents know what’s coming. (Keep Coates Facebook, Twitter & Instagram posting daily). To be implemented in March 2020!
Supporting Academics Idea #3: Reading Routines at Home
Parents want to make sure that their kids are strong readers, but they don’t always get specific guidance on how to promote reading skills at home. Let’s make a comprehensive guide for parents at each grade level that they’d
receive at Back to School Night. Opportunities to learn from our reading specialist would be offered to parents as well. To be implemented in fall 2020!
Partnership Idea #4: Maintain What’s Already Good!
Coates already does so many things that are consistent with the home-school compact. Parents & staff members should work to keep up these great efforts:
• International Night (April 17) as a way to learn about and celebrate each other!
• All PTA events that bring our families together!
• Parent-Teacher Conferences & Teacher-Student Conferences are some of the best ways to rally behind our kids. Keep them up and make even more conferences happen when needed.
• Evening parent trainings and work-shops are very helpful (depending on the topic). Keep offering these!
PTA Events & More!
Families,
A few notes from Coates PTA:
Tomorrow night, March 6 Panera at Worldgate will be fundraising for Coates from 4-8:00. Bring the flyer in this week’s Thursday Folder. Panera will donate a percentage of all sales to PTA!
Coates will be hosting a parent presentation on the dangers of vaping on March 11 at 6:30. Join us to learn how to prevent this habit in our kids!
International Night is taking place on April 17 from 6-8:00. This is one of our best annual events. Families are invited to share their history and culture with each other during this celebration of our diversity and common strengths! You may reserve a table to share artifacts or food from your family’s culture, your child may sign up to share a talent on stage that night, or you can just come as a learner. But mark your calendar! If you want to sign up for a cultural booth or have your child audition to perform, see the flyer in Thursday Folders!
Thanks to the parents who joined us for our President & Principal's Coffee this month. It was great getting to know you. If you or anyone is curious about Coates PTA or would consider helping in a leadership role next year, please let us know! Contact Mrs. Bowman at coatesptapresident@gmail.com or Mr. Kraft at jkraft@fcps.edu
Have a great month!
New Coates Gear!
Coates hats will be available for purchase soon. See Thursday Folders for order forms!
The hat sale is actually part of a special project in Mr. Olsen’s 6th grade class—Making a Business! Kids are managing the promotion, sales, ordering, distribution and more! Any profits will be donated to a charity that plants trees locally where needed. See Coates social media for more info on the unit.
Spread the Word!
Orientation for Next-Year’s Kindergartners
will be on April 22 from 10-11:00
This is a chance for new kindergartners and their parents to learn about Coates. There will also be time to complete registration paperwork after the orientation activities, but we encourage families to complete registration prior to orientation to avoid long lines.
If you have neighbors who have a child who will be 5 years-old by Sept. 30, please tell them about Orientation and encourage them to register their child at school. Many of next year’s families are not yet plugged in to Coates news, so we need word-of-mouth help!
When new families register late, it affects our staffing. FCPS will allot teachers to schools based on current enrollment, and we can’t show our enrollment for next year without registration paperwork! Hiring a new teacher in late August (due to an influx of enrollment) is difficult! National teacher shortages are real, and it’s a challenge to hire late. So spread the word!
Coates Website
Have you checked us out lately?
Go to https://coateses.fcps.edu/ for the following
- SOL Testing Schedule
- Calendar Updates
- Links to Coates social media
- Online Attendance Forms
- Teacher Bios & Contact Info
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