Francis Tabone, Head of School

Cindy Surdi, Assistant Head of School

Cooke Center Grammar School (Last)
Newsletter (Of The Year)
Dates to Remember:
HAPPY SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!
September 8th First Day of
School!


In this issue:

Club Getaway 1

Eat Bread and Write a Letter 2

Graduation Math 3

Math Cont. 4



Eighth Graders
Forced To Hunt For
Their Own Food
During Overnight
Trip To
Club
Getaway

That is just not true. But if they had to, they could have. Our seniors who are ready to go off to
high school, had the time of their lives on an overnight trip to Club Getaway. For 2 days they got
a chance to do some extreme sports and nature activities. At night they danced at Club Geta-
ways nightclub. Then they retired to the campfire for some smores before turning in. Activities
included zip-lining, ropes course, tree-top scal-
ing, rock wall climbing, archery, karaoke, plenty
of food, and lots of games. In this way we
watch our 8th graders move on to bigger
things. We send them off with some lasting
memories as they move into high school next
year. This time of year is always bitter sweet.
We must say goodbye to our friends, but know
they will be great successes in High School.
Good luck to the class of 2014!
Food is a big part of the experience. All you
can eat is certainly no way to learn self-
discipline, but it is a good way to celebrate.
Students and staff were treated to great
food all day and night.

We have an amazing dedicated staff. All
staff who went were on duty for the entire
48 hours. They do not get a break. And
while it is fun it is a tremendous amount of
work! Thank you too all!!!

This is one way staff takes revenge on
students who dont bring in homework! Or
is it the way students take revenge on
staff for all the homework they made
them do?
Mirna climbs 12,000 feet to the top of
the canopy. From up there she does a
base jump back down to the forest
floor.
After wrestling a bear to the ground,
Allia quickly rescues a nest of baby
birds from the jaws of a mountain
lion.

Page 2

Use It, Dont Lose It
Handwriting Practice Ideas

Use the following ideas to encourage handwriting practice so good skills remain strong. Handwriting is something
that is easily accessible to a child. With a little encouragement, children can practice letters and numbers just about
anywhere, anytime.

Lists:
Shopping
Vacation
Camping
What to take to the pool
Picnic
To-do
Special projects
The Path of Yeast
Resistance





Did you have your daily bread? Our friends at Le Pain
Quotidien treated Ms. Josies class to a day of bread
making and eating! We have had other classes visit in
the past. We want to thank the wonderful folks at Le
Pain for their generosity in hosting. The kids have a
great time and learn a tremendous amount. As you can
see here, Haidyn prefers jam with his bread. Aaryan is
proofing the bread (left). Ocean (top right) is inspecting
the quality of the dough. All of the students had a great
time, especially us here in the office. The class brought
back some rolls that they baked. I can honestly say it
was the best bread around!
Activities:
Write thank you cards
Send invitations
Write letters to friends and relatives
Find a summer pen pal exchange letters weekly or monthly
Keep a list of summer vocabulary words
Create a summer journal
Finger-trace in the sand at the beach or park
Play games, write with sidewalk chalk
Paint with water (writing letters/numbers) on the driveway
Create stories with friends
Make cards
Send postcards

Page 3

Happy Graduation To All Students

I was fortunate enough to attend all the
Cooke Center Graduations this year.
CCGS, CCA, and Skills all saw their gradu-
ates moving on to the next phase. I took
comfort in the fact that all though we say
goodbye, none of the students we work with are
gone for long. Even those leaving the Skills pro-
gram come back for the Alumni program. It is a
wonderful feeling to watch our students grow and
learn, not just for a year or two, but for many years
and into their adult life. Most teachers and educators do
not have the opportunity to see how our students fare,
we are the lucky ones.

Last night at the high school graduation, I saw several
graduates from years gone by. Two alumni even came
with their own children to watch the celebration. I spoke
to one student who is in community college, another
who works in a hospital and wants to be a radiologist,
another who is awaiting Access training. One of our
students who never misses a Cooke event has gone on to a successful career in the theater as a performer in a childrens theater group. There were several
students who work with day-hab without walls, others in AHRC or YAI programs.

What is an outcome of a graduation? This is a topic that the senior staff have been evaluating for a long time.
What is the goal of any school or program? Is it to prepare students for the real world, as is so commonly
cited? Is it to get them to be ready for higher education? Employment? All of those things?

I truly believe our job is simply to work with students to help them identify and target their own outcomes. We
help them to become more independent so there are more opportunities afforded to them. Exposure to con-
tent, social situations, language use, physical development, all create an environment where they can in-
creasingly make choices and decisions for themselves, develop interests, likes and dislikes, and begin to
plan for themselves how they most want to spend their time. A great education being child centered, truly
means laying out the world in meaningful steps and contexts, and letting our kids decide where they want to
go. I do believe, that an outcome of graduation is simply students making choices, good or bad, for them-
selves. I mentioned in my speech that a choice is a choice no matter how small or big, that is always the goal.

It is impossible to measure the success of an outcome, because with any luck, our students never rest when
they hit a milestone or marker or goal in their lives. We hope that they grow and learn for the rest of their
lives. We hope that they make choices that help them achieve their goals, and then move on tho the next one. For all graduates of 2014We wish you the
best!

Simple Tips for Summer Math Learning
By Jessica Efird
Its the refrain of summer journeys everywhere: Are we there yet? I remember the first time I heard one of my sons ask
this question; we were only 10 minutes into an all-day road trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Although Are we there yet?
is often asked by children, parents find themselves asking the same question about the next school year and whether or
not their children will be ready.

Summer reading clubs and story times can help with early literacy and reading, but it might seem daunting to figure out how
to prepare a young child for math. Heres the great news: youre the right person for the job.

Parents are their childs first teacher, says Kara Tuohy, an elementary school teacher and mom of two young girls in San
Jose, California, and all parents have the ability to teach their children. Everyday activities can turn into math lessons.

Here are some easy tips for summer math learning:
View road trips as a mobile classroom. Turn Are we there yet? into a learning opportunity. Create paper tickets for
each trip and share how many tickets long the trip will be. At even intervals, collect one ticket from your child. This
fun exercise gives children a tangible and visual way to understand distance and time. Using different colors allows
your child to practice patterns and learn early addition problems or fractions.
Use everyday errands as learning opportunities. Laura Burns, an elementary math tutor in Mansfield, Ohio, has her fa-
vorite place to teach her own young children math: the grocery store. We review numbers while we choose grocer-
ies, for example, adding the quantity of apples, looking at prices to reinforce decimals and even doing simple num-
ber recognition while standing in line.

Summer Math continued

Transform routine chores into fun lessons for young children. For preschoolers, the opportunity to be a good helper
can be all the motivation they need. Pam Booker, a mom of twin five-year-olds who works with the Virginia Infant
and Toddler Network in Richmond, Virginia, recounts a story at a local laundromat: Together we sorted colors,
whites and darks, found empty machines, filled them with our clothes, measured capfuls of laundry detergent and
inserted the appropriate number of coins. By using measuring, sorting and counting, Booker created a natural
math lesson.

Turn childrens collections into math lessons. Children love to collect and gather items, especially at the park,
beach, forest or even in the backyard. Encourage children to sort their items by size, color, shape or texture. Tuohy
suggests, If a child loves to be outside and observe nature, the child could do a scavenger hunt where they have to
find a specific number of leaves, rocks, sticks, etc. With an activity like this, the child is actively engaged in a real
experience that is based on his specific interests.

Follow your childs interests to guide learning. No two children are alike, and especially so if you have both a son
and a daughter. Girls often thrive with visual examples, so if your daughter likes the backyard garden, Booker sug-
gests allowing her to measure plants growth with another object and track its growth for a set amount of time.

Your sports-loving son can work on number recognition with team members jerseys, and game scores can be an
early way for them to grasp addition. Burns remarks, I have found when working with boys, the more physically
involved they are in the activity, the better. Cheering at and actively watching or participating in a game can help
the learning progress, as can a walk to make observations about nature and patterns.

In the end, Booker observes that often, the only obstacle [to summer learning] is reminding adults that its im-
portant to play; making things fun and playful when engaging in activities with young children is the key. Using
these simple tips and boredom busters for summer math learning will keep kids occupied and keep you feeling
good about your childs preparedness for school in the fall.

Thanks to Bindia Shah for bring us this article. Bindia will be with CCGS next year, continuing as Math Consultant
and educator!

Twins go beyond just
wearing the same
clothing. Tamara who
admired Ms. Morales
hair wanted the same
do Twins can be role
models as well. No
one is a better role
model than Ms. M!
What happens when your kids go on summer vacation? CCGS has
a LuAu! Our cafeteria became the black sand
beaches of Hawaii, Yes we danced the hula, limbo
danced, and Mr. Green even walked on hot coals
(not really). The greatest staff in the world deserves
the best.
And The Winner Is..
House competition came to an end with Ridge House claiming
victory! Through their tireless efforts collecting pennies for the
penny drive, collecting canned food for the food pantry, games
of skill, feats of strength, and friendly competition, Ridge House
Claims the Cup. For the second year in a row, Stanton House
won second place. Will this be the motivation they need for next
year? No matter who wins, the sense of community is large at
CCGS! Good luck to all the houses next year!