The Cove Connection 

Sunday, May 5th, 2023

Issue #35

For Previous Issues Click Here

On Tuesday we will begin CA Assessment of Student Progress and Performance (CAASPP) testing for 3rd-5th grade students.  

Testing Schedule- Testing will occur in the morning between roughly 8:15-9:45am Tuesday- Thursday.  ELA (Reading and Writing) is the week of 5/10, Math (and science for 5th grade only) the week of 5/17. 

Home Support- Staff, students and parents form one team to ensure that kids are well-rested and ready to give their best effort over the next couple of weeks. Teachers will make every effort to reduce stress on students. At home, please encourage healthy breakfasts and getting to bed early.  Our children look to us in these situations that can be stressful; please provide calm reassurance and perspective that they can do this and we believe in them. Please have students bring books to read if they finish early. 

Arrive on Time- Bring students to school on time (please don’t schedule morning appointments). Each morning, teachers will be creating a safe, comfortable environment to transition students into the tests. Late arrivals will be unsettling to your child and will be disruptive to the testing environment. If you must pick your child up for an appointment, please do so after testing.  

Testing Approach/ Philosophy- At Cove, we focus on the whole child, and we use multiple measures to determine a child’s progress and proficiency. CAASPP results offer some insights into student learning: by individual, by grade level, by content strand, and as a whole school. It will help us look at trends and see how we can adjust to meet student needs moving forward. The scores are not used to determine whether a student moves on to the next grade.

I ask that we, as the adults in their lives, remind our students that they have been working hard, problem-solving, learning different strategies, showing their work and practicing their skills all year. Whatever task is before them, they should put their best effort forth, believe in themselves and know that they can do this. They have a team of teachers, parents and their principal cheering them on!  

Sincerely,

Michelle Walker, Principal

School & PTO News

J.E.D.I Challenge Walk n Roll Raffle Winner- Simon!
Congratulations on your new bicycle courtesy of Cleary Bikes!

For anyone else who is interested in a new bike, Safe Routes has organized an awesome 20% deal all Summer long (ends 8/31) on Cleary bikes. 

A few photos from our Teacher Appreciation Week!
Thank you parents and Coyotes for your thoughtful flowers and cards! Our PTO sponsored a festive lunch Wednesday, and Cove staff enjoyed chair massages Thursday. They also received a pair of Cove School branded pajamas. We are so lucky to have such an incredible group of educators at our school.

Parent Ed Recap Raising Resilient, Persistent Kids: How to Teach Our Kids the Skills They Need to Thrive with Dr. Nina Kaiser. The Zoom recording and slides from the presentation can be found here. Thank you to the Cove and Neil Cummins PTO and our Cove Parent Ed rep, Lilliane Sommers.

Bus Passes for the 2023-2024 School Year are now on sale. Click here for routes, information, and to purchase

Lost and Found Updates  Come and Collect Your Things! Two Walk Thru Dates: May 16 & May 17 Lost & Founds Sale Date: May 26, 7:30am-8:30am everything for $1. All items, regardless of ownership will be for sale. 

Join The Cove PTO Board The Board is looking for new members to fill the Board for the 2023-2024 school year. If interested, please email 2023-2024 Co-Presidents, Kate Kropf and Catherine Wold at president@covepto.org.

Flannel, Fur & Fizz More than 200 parents, teachers and staff attended the SPARK spring event at The Junction in Mill Valley Friday night! Thank you to event co-chairs Lori Stein and Jen Corteville for putting on such a fun event and to the many volunteers who helped out. We loved dancing under the lights, celebrating our community, and most importantly, raising money for our schools. We’ll share more details soon! 

SPARK Open Board Positions Volunteering with SPARK is super rewarding. We are looking to fill the following positions. Please click here for more details and job descriptions.   

• Cove VP: One person to shadow the current VP’s in the role for 2023-2024, who will set up to be a co-VP in 2024-2025. 

• Annual Giving: One person to shadow current AG Co-chairs in 2023-2024, who will step up to co-chair 2024-2025.

• SPARKBiz: Two co-chairs 

Mother’s Day Sip & Shop at Biz Partner Nicolette Celebrating all the fabulous mothers next Saturday, May 13th at Nicolette in Larkspur! Pop by for some Rose (all day) and gift yourself or a loved one something special. 10% of your purchase goes back to SPARK.

District News

Board Updates 

A Special Board Meeting has been scheduled for May 11, 2023 to vote on the final layoff notices for 2023-24. The next regularly scheduled Board Meeting will be on May 17, 2023 at 6:00 in the Hall Library. Cove’s Zero Waste program will be celebrated. The Board will vote on the Facilities Master Plan and a Resolution for National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Additionally, Trustees will be presented with the LCAP draft and a wellness report. The meeting will also be live streamed via Zoom (link; passcode - lcmsd). Please know, public comments will only be taken by in person attendees; public comments via Zoom will not be available. If you cannot attend the meeting, public comments are welcome via email (mokeeffe@lcmschools.org) and will be included in Board Meeting minutes. We hope to see you there.

Community News

Please click link for Community News that includes updates from:

• CM Town Recruitment

• CM Park and Rec Offerings & Camps

• Marin Chinese Cultural Association Lion Dance at The Library

• Twin Cities Softball Fan Day at Piper Park

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.