The Cove Connection 

 Sunday, June 7th, 2020

Issue #36

For Previous Issues Click Here

UPCOMING DATES

• March 17- June 11 School Closure; Remote Learning 

• June 7- Lunch Pick-Up, Hall Middle School, 11am-12pm Para información sobre almuerzos sin costo clicke aquí

• June 9- Tuesday, 8-2pm

  • Return Library Books!

  • Lost and Found Last Call!

  • Student Materials Pick Up  (see communication from your teacher) 

• June 10- 5th Grade Culmination for only 5th graders and their families

  • 11am Zoom Ceremony

  • 12-1:30pm Loop Drive Through

• June 11- Last Day of School Zoom Assembly,9am 

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Dear Families,

The end to Cove’s 6th year was certainly not what we expected. Immense forces are converging and colliding in front of us, around us, inside of us. A global health crisis runs parallel to civil outrage. With four days left of the 19/20 school year, we can safely say this year is unlike any other for at least the last 100 years.

We have not had the many, many in-person events that usually fill our calendars in May and June: Open House, class picnics and parties, concerts, plays, etc. All of these events usually give time to process the end of the year and provide closure. 

Feelings always run high at the end of the school year, and this year those emotions are exponential. Our children look to us for assurance, and at present, we ourselves don’t know what the future holds. I encourage you to talk with your children about what is going on inside their hearts and minds (worry about what is happening around our country, worry about getting sick, worry about the unknowns with school next year, sadness about ending this year, changes in friendships, nervousness about SIP being lifted and what that looks like, etc. etc). Listen and validate those feelings. Then, I encourage you to offer some hope. Despite the unknowns and the horrifying images in the news, what are the examples we see of people out there looking to take positive action and change our world for good? 

Here are some assurances I can offer:

• We care very much about our students and families- ALL of them.

• We are working hard to design plans for fall- whatever model that ends up being.

• Your children’s safety and well being is our #1 priority.

• We can work through these challenges. I have confidence that even though there will be many, many challenges along the way, we will seize these opportunities to learn and grow together. 

This is a link to the short video we watched in Friday’s assembly: Our Lives Matter. Here is the context I shared with students before and after showing it.

Thank you for being such a special community. Wishing you all the best summer possible.

Sincerely,

Michelle Walker, Principal

SCHOOL NEWS

Farewell and Congratulations, 5th Graders!- On Wednesday morning, we will bid farewell to our 5th graders in a special culmination assembly followed by a loop drive-through. This year’s 5th-grade class is our first class to have started kindergarten at Cove. They are more than ready for their next adventure, and we sure will miss them!

Progress Reports- Progress reports will be emailed home from your child’s teacher on the last day of school, June 11. Due to the distance learning model from March 17- June 11, 2020, teachers are offering alternate/abbreviated progress reports this spring. While we don’t have the usual data points (we call this multiple measures of progress), teachers know your children well from their time together in the classroom and will be more generally sharing strengths and next steps for your child. 

Yearbooks Yearbook pick up went smoothly last week. We have about 30 people who did not pick up their yearbooks. We will provide these yearbooks to teachers to give to you when you pick up your school materials this week. 

For the Cove Garden We are calling on all Cove worker bees to help out in our garden this summer! We are asking families to sign up to help take care of the garden during the summer. It's super easy, just sign up for a week to: water the garden, remove any obvious weeds and place in the trash whatever the wind drags in!  A great opportunity to be outside with your kids and serve our Cove community and garden! Please contact Florencia: castelanellif@yahoo.com if you are interested. We need help for the month of July and the first two weeks of August.

Monday Lunch Service 

• Click here for menu and more information

• Para información sobre almuerzos sin costo clickee aquí

PTO UPDATES

Goodbye everyone and best of luck to our graduating Class of 2020! 

SPARK NEWS

Fundraising Home Stretch With one week left to go in the school year, and two weeks until we close the fiscal year, we are so grateful to the current families who have supported Annual Giving. We are $40,000 shy of our $1.5M goal. Help us get to the finish line! Not meeting our fundraising goal has financial consequences and may result in SPARK significantly reducing its commitment for the 2020-2021 school year. Here’s how you can help: 

• Make a donation to support our schools. Any amount counts! 

• Increase your donation with Corporate Match. If you made a recent donation this year through Annual Giving or the recent Paddle Raise, check if your company participates here. 

Support Left Bank and Support SPARK Left Bank Larkspur has teamed up with SPARK to offer  Monday night Roasted Family Chicken meals with 20% going back to SPARK to benefit our schools; bottles of Sommelier’s selected wine, as well as kids beverages, are also available.   Last week’s Monday night dinner sold out - call ahead so you don’t miss out this week! Available for pick up and delivery from 12 pm-8:30 pm; order online or call 415.927.3331. Menu here.

We Heart our Biz Partners! They do so much to support our schools - we encourage you to support them when you can, especially during this time. Tell them SPARK sent you! Full list of 2019-2020 biz partners is here.

COMMUNITY NEWS

Please click link to view Community News that includes updates from: 

• Corte Madera Recreation Department has Over 20 Virtual small classes starting June 29th!

• Larkspur Library's Summer Reading Program is Going Virtual! 

• Community Assistance for Marin’s Vulnerable Populations

• Comcast offering Free WIFI

• Marin County Free Library Links

• The Marin County Free Library’s Kids at Home Series 

• Town of Corte Madera Virtual Recreation & Resource Point

• Mental Health Resources

• Camp Kinda: A Free Virtual Summer Camp

Follow Us! #CoveSchool  #WeAreLCMSD

ABOUT THE COVE CONNECTION The Cove Connection is a digital bulletin published by the CovePTO and distributed to The Cove School community each Sunday via email. To submit content to the Cove Connection, please email info@covepto.org. To receive a subscription to The Cove Connection, or to change your email address, send a note to  covesecretaries@lcmschools.org.