The Cove Connection 

Sunday, September 18th, 2022

Issue #6

For Previous Issues Click Here

Principal's Message

As a district, we are focused on deepening our practices in CGI Mathematics instruction. This week, our first coffee chat of the year focused on Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) with an emphasis on questioning and how our brain processes information. Here you can find the slide deck and here you can find a 5 minute video summary. 

What is Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) in Math? 

The emphasis used to be on procedural and skill fluency, but now procedural and skill fluency, conceptual understanding, and application are equally valued. With the Common Core Standards there are now two sets of math standards: 

• Standards for Mathematical Content (What students need to learn by grade level)

• Standards for Mathematical Practice (How we teach and how students should engage with mathematics from kindergarten through 12th grade)

In CGI, students are taught to explain their thinking. Children discover (and teachers celebrate!) multiple strategies for solving a problem. Research has shown that children make deeper connections and foster greater conceptual understanding when they engage in fewer problems and solve them in multiple ways rather than many of the same type of problem.

Additionally, children are offered problems that are at their level. They have the option to use different numbers, based on the level of challenge they need. This allows for deeper and more challenging exploration of the given concept and promotes higher level thinking skills. 

CGI Professional Development: To support teachers in this style of teaching, we are engaging in professional development with Momentum in Teaching. In August before school began, teachers spent a day revisiting CGI (approaching math problems from a child’s perspective, looking at various problem solving strategies and problem types, the continuum of student thinking, and questions to elicit students’ mathematical ideas) and mapping out CGI problems. We will continue this work on November 1 (professional development day).  We have also planned several grade level CGI Lab Days with professional development leaders to practice CGI techniques in classrooms alongside the coaches!

Join us to learn more about CGI! We will be holding more parent coffee chats on CGI that will include topics such as: compare and contrast, error analysis, counting and grouping, modeling strategies you might see you child use, and strategic thinking in a math class.

The next coffee chat is scheduled for 8:30am on October 27th at Neil Cummins.

Sincerely,

Michelle Walker, Principal

School & PTO News

Caption: So many wonderful happenings in the Cove community! 

Clockwise from top left: Dance with E.N.A. at Friday’s assembly, Kindergarten students working cooperatively during choice time- social emotional learning moments! Teachers engaging in professional development around reading assessments, 1st grade Cove parents hosted K parents  to welcome them to the Cove community, Staff engaging in Book Club around equity, CGI Math Coffee Chat at Cove.

Safe Routes BUDDY UP!  At Fridays Assembly students heard about Safe Routes to Schools new contest called BUDDY UP!  to encourage students and their families to walk, Park and Walk, bike, carpool or ride the bus together. At the end of October, Safe Routes will conduct a county-wide raffle of five $50 gift cards and the winners will be selected based upon their commitment and story of success. Participating is easy, sign up here: Buddy Up Entry Form now through October 14th.

Save the Date- Cove Fall Family Picnic Thursday October 20th 5pm-7pm. Tacos, Entertainment, Music & More! Details to follow.

Thank you to our Contributing PTO members! Click here for a list of those who have contributed as of September 14th. We welcome your contribution to make The Cove School an incredible place for not only the kids, but for staff and parents. Log into your Actionaly account or click here to donate to the Cove PTO. Your donation is tax deductible.

Spirit Wear Fridays Show off your Cove school spirit by wearing Cove spiritwear or Cove colors every Friday.

Annual Giving Campaign If you do one thing this week, make a tax-deductible Annual Giving donation to SPARK. Annual Giving gifts are put to use immediately for this school year and are the most impactful way to support SPARK. All gifts, no matter the amount, make a difference for our three schools. Donate today!

SPARK Fun Run October 2nd Purchase before Monday, September 19th at 9m and get a free t-shirt with each paid registration. Sign up to volunteer here if you can help out

Biz Partner Spotlight: Twenty Five Co. As a family-owned and operated design showroom in Novato, they specialize in tile, cabinetry and plumbing fixtures, shower doors, tile-in floor vents, warm flooring, setting materials and even turf. Their designers welcome the uniqueness that each client brings to the showroom.  Please visit www.twentyfivecompany.com for more information.

District News

Public Hearings Public Hearings to take place during Board Meetings this year are: Sufficiency of Instructional Materials (September), LCMEA/CSEA/LCMSD sunshining of proposals for negotiations (winter), Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) (May/June), and 2023-24 budget (May/June). Notifications will be published at each school site, within the board agenda, and on the LCMSD website.

Community News

Please click link for Community News that includes updates from:

• What's happening at the Corte Madera Library 

• St. Pat's CYO Hoops

• Dance with E.N.A.

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.