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Cottage Grove Elementary
Important
Dates
Culver's Night
May 12
5-7pm
CGE at the Twins
May 15
General PTO Mtg
May 19
6:30pm
Media Center
Books & Breakfast
May 21
CGE Book Fair
May 26-29
May 2015
From the Principal's Desk
This is the last newsletter for this school year! Thank you to all who volunteered at
Cottage Grove Elementary this school year! We hope you know how much your
involvement and contributions this year have benefitted our students and school
community. We couldn’t do it without you. I would also like to extend a special thank
you to our PTO Executive Board and committee chairs for the countless hours they
volunteered throughout this year. Their commitment is truly appreciated.
We have begun preparing for the 2015-16 school year! Class placements are being
developed for 2015-16. Parent Input forms were due on April 24th and specific teacher
requests will not be honored unless there is an extenuating circumstance and a
meeting with the principal took place prior to April 25th. This allows the teachers to
build balanced classrooms and carefully consider a placement that will be the best
learning fit for your child. Additionally, class lists will be sent out electronically this
year rather than being posted on the front doors of the school. This information will
be sent out on September 2nd and will not be provided prior to that date.
Labor Day is a bit later this year and therefore our school start date is not until
Tuesday, September 8th for Grades 1-5 only. PreK and Kindergarten start date is on
Thursday, September 10th. More information will be coming throughout the summer.
Fall Open House will be on September 2nd from 5:00-6:30 p.m. and Fall
Parent/Teacher Conferences will be on Oct. 8 th and Oct. 13th. This year we will be
using an electronic conference sign up system. You will receive more information
about this new process in August included in our welcome back information via the
mail and email. Please mark these important dates on your calendar as soon as
possible!
Enjoy the summer months with your family. Remember to read, rest and relax!
Theresa
Important Information about 2015-16 School Year
You will be receiving information throughout the summer from CGE and the district
regarding transportation, school supply lists, open house etc. Please be watching for
this information in August.
Lost and Found
The lost and found is overflowing again! Encourage your child to look for lost items.
Next time you are at school, take a moment to look for your child’s lost clothing
items. All unclaimed items will be donated to local charities on June 9th.
Fifth Grade Track and Field Meet
The 5th grade district track and field meet will be Wednesday May 27 9:30-1:45 at Park HS. If it rains, the
make- up will be Friday May 29.
Every 5th grade student was given an informational flyer and a permission slip to be looked over, signed, and
brought back to school.
2015 Field Days information
Dates:
Monday June 1 morning session will be all of 5th grade and the AM pre-k students.
Monday June 1 afternoon session will be all of 2nd grade and the PM pre-K students.
If needed, the rain make up will be Wednesday June 3.
Tuesday June 2 morning session will be all of 4th grade students and all of 3rd grade students.
Tuesday June 2 afternoon session will be all of 1st grade and all of Kindergarten students. If needed, the rain
make up will be Thursday June 4.
Sign up information:
The following link will take you to the Sign Up Genius to sign up to volunteer:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090a48aeab23ab9-2015
Thank you,
Gina Tester
ColorCycle
The Student council will be sponsoring a new program this spring. Crayola is working with schools to
help kids understand the importance of their role in protecting the environment. Crayola has
established "ColorCycyle," a program to convert used markers into a liquid fuel source. When it comes
time to clean out desks, student council will be collecting used markers and sending them into Crayola
to be recycled. You can learn more by visiting www.crayola.com/colorcycle.aspx
Thanks,
Desi Faletti
Licensed School Social Worker
Art Sparks has concluded for the year! Many thanks to all the wonderful volunteers that help
make this program happen and for helping bring the joy of art into the lives of so many
students! This program is simply not possible without all of the ART SPARKS volunteers coming
in each month to all the many classrooms! I would like to extend A BIG THANK you from myself
and Cari for all of your time and commitment to the program. Cari will be taking over ART
SPARKS next year as the new ART SPARKS Coordinator— CGE will look forward to her
communication and all of the great portfolios and art projects for the 2015/2016 school year!
Thanks again to all the ART SPARKS Volunteers for making this program possible!
Stephanie Williams & Cari Randles
School Supplies Delivered Free to Your Home!!
We are pleased to announce that our school is participating in the School Tool Box program.
Avoid the cost, time, and inconvenience of back to school shopping.
Here’s how:
 Register at Schooltoolbox.com
 Shop on-line (teacher approved supply list provided) BEGINNING May 15th!
 Customize your order (only order the supplies that you need)
 Supplies delivered to your home
Watch for the Informational Flyer coming soon.
In addition, every order that we make to School Tool Box will provide a meal to a starving child
through STB’s One Box, One Meal, Two Kids program in partnership with the Feed My Starving
Children organization.
Thank you for supporting your PTO.
Cottage Grove Elementary School is proud to announce that we are going to have a
spelling bee on May 8th at 1:45 PM. Students in 4th and 5th grade will be participating in
this extraordinary event. Each classroom will hold a mini spelling bee sometime before
May 6th. Families of the finalists will be invited to attend the final bee. Good luck spellers
in 4th and 5th grade. Any questions please contact Mrs. Gerfast, Mrs. Skarphol, or Ms.
Anderson.
Attention 5th grade families!!
5th grade graduation will be on June 4th at 1:30pm. More information to come later in May
CGE will be having a BOGO Scholastic Book Fair. This is a great way to encourage summer reading. This
book fair will run from Tuesday 5/26/15 to Friday 5/29/15. The hours will be from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Students will be bringing home a flyer featuring some of the books that will be for sale.
There will be a Books and Breakfast event the morning of May 21, 2015 from 7:15-8:25. All students
and their parents, grandparents, and guardians are encouraged to attend. Come and read a book,
receive a free book and eat a yummy donut. In addition a $5 Book Sale will be at CGE during this event.
All books are priced $5 and CGE will earn FREE books based on the sales of the event. Come enjoy
breakfast with your student, get some summer reading material, and support your school at the same
time. Free bookmark with purchase! Please fill out and send back the form your child will be bringing
home so we know how many people to expect.
Summer reading information will soon be posted on the CGE website. This will highlight many various
summer reading programs students can participate in, great books to read and apps and other
technology to use to make reading meaningful and fun. CGE is even going to have a reading incentive
program of our own. Summer checkout at CGE will once again be offered. Keep an eye out for this
information!
Hello Parents,
The Cottage Grove Elementary PTO board is looking for parent volunteers to serve on the board and in
coordinator positions for the 2015-2016 school year. Being involved with the PTO is a great way to get
to know the school staff as well as the inner workings of the school. Please consider volunteering for
one of these rewarding positions!

Vice President – duties include attending monthly board meetings and the 3 general meetings,
aide the President and perform the duties of the President in their absence.

Secretary – duties include attending monthly board meetings and the 3 general meetings, and
keeping the minutes of the board and general meetings.

Directory Coordinator – collect family information and assemble the directory and attend the
monthly board meetings and the 3 general meetings.

Spirit Wear Coordinator – work with our vendor on pricing, create and distribute the order form
to students, collect order forms, submit the consolidated order to our vendor, distribute the
finished items to students and attend the monthly board meetings and the 3 general meetings.
Please let me know if you have any interest in or questions on the above positions.
Thank you!
Courtenay Dugas, PTO President
[email protected]
CGE has a new website!
This is part of a district effort to update all of the school websites
to an updated format that will work well on mobile devices. Here are a few tips to help you navigate
the new site.
In order to locate individual teacher websites go to the About Us Menu>Staff Directory>locate the
teacher’s name and click the website link next to their name.



Resources such as the assessment schedule, supply lists, the CGE monthly newsletter, Learning
Locator directions, etc. can now be found under the Parents menu.
Click on the Upcoming Events tab in the center of the home page to get a list of upcoming events
for CGE. If you click more events, you will see an expanded number listed on Monthly calendars.
Students will find the websites they are used to going to under the students menu. Some sites
are menu items, but if they head to the media center link, there are sites for each grade level.
What is a “Learning Locator?”
The Learning Locator is a code that is developed based upon how a student performs on a standardized
state assessment. The most recent assessment that generated this code was our winter OLPA (Practice
MCA Test) assessment that was taken for both reading and math.
The goal of the Learning Locator is to provide teachers, parents, and students with targeted resources
that are specifically matched to the student's performance on the measured standards.
Learning Locator is designed to provide targeted resources in order for student’s to meet their existing
performance level and also to move them to the next level.
Using the Learning Locator website
Using the Perspective for Families website will increase parent and student understanding of the
resources available.
You can find directions to access this site on the CGE website under Parents-select Learning Locator
Directions which include a direct link to the Pearson Website.
Thanks
Ann Galbus
Media Specialist, Cottage Grove Elementary
South Washington County Schools
Phone 651-768-5811 Fax 651-768-5815
[email protected]
www.sowashco.k12.mn.us
Culver’s Nights:
Save these dates!
May 12th
Culver’s will give CGE 5% to 15% of
all sales from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Come join the fun with free face
painting, washable tattoos, and a
chance to socialize with classmates!
You will also be able to enter your
name in a drawing for a prize! The
winner will be
drawn and
announced
during
morning
announcements on the following
day. THANKS!
Turn Trash into Cash!
Submit bags of 25 items to office
before
8 a.m. daily for prizes.
Campbell’s labels
[Bar code and symbol only]
Boxtops
[With current expiry date]
Used Ink Cartridges
Target has a great program to give back to schools. It is very quick and easy if you have a Target
Visa or Debit Card. Sign up on the website below or you can call 1-800-316-6142.
Target (www.target.com/redcard/tcoe)
Take Charge of Education
Enroll your Target Visa Card or Target Debit Card and designate Cottage Grove
Elementary as your school. Target will donate 1% of all your REDcard purchases at
Target to CGE.
PTO Contacts
President
Courtenay Dugas
[email protected]
Vice President
Amy Loetz
[email protected]
Treasurer
Amanda Reigert
[email protected]
Secretary
Jennifer Bartle
[email protected]
Carnival Coordinator
Kim Bihm
[email protected]
Raffle Coordinator
Courtenay Dugas
[email protected]
Spirit Wear Coordinator
Jennifer Bartle
[email protected]
Art Sparks Coordinator
Stephanie Williams
[email protected]
Cari Randles
[email protected]
Jennifer Blomberg
[email protected]
Recycle Program
Jen McLoughlin
[email protected]
Weekly email/Original Art
Anne VanKleek
[email protected]
Wolfpup Newsletter
Therese Wolfgram
[email protected]
Culvers Night
Jen McLoughlin
[email protected]
Amanda Reigert
[email protected]
Painless
Fundraising/Directory