I am out of town, as I write this (ah, the wonders of technology!), due to a family emergency. And (as these kinds of situations tend to affect us), life’s priorities become more clarified in these times.

As I watch my children deal with their life’s circumstances, I stand in awe at their maturity and wisdom and strength. And I find myself thinking that, as a parent, I must have done something “right” through their young years so that, in spite of the mistakes I inevitably made, they have become strong adults.

This need to help our children be ready for the world (outside the protective confines of home, school, church, etc.) is a strong piece of the Coyote Creek culture. There is no formal curriculum or formal staff development about how to help the whole child grow, but as we work with your children on a day-to-day basis, that concept is one of the underlying beliefs that inform our interactions with students. We try to look beyond these young years toward the kind of world these children are currently living in, and the world they will be facing as they grow up into adults who will be taking care of us as we age. We feel our obligation is to prepare them for the future world, and that cannot be done through textbooks alone.

I have a small tile on my desk with a message that reflects this philosophy. Its message is that we should be preparing our children for the world rather than trying to make the world conform to an easy life for our children. The best gifts we can give our children as they grow is an understanding of themselves, the ability to “seek first to understand” those with whom they live and work, and the ability to adapt to the inevitable changes that are a part of our daily world. These skills will take them much farther than will the mere memorization of dates in history, for example. The concepts and understanding of human behaviors involved in those specific dates are far more important in preparing for life in the world than are the actual dates.

So here’s to the joy of watching our children grow into mature, productive, happy citizens of the world.

Jan

P.S.—The Instructional Insights page will be taking a vacation – watch for its return in January.

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Sisters Jazmin and Arianna Suarez have sassy new haircuts after donating their long hair to Locks for Love. Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss.
Hannah Gunter recently performed in Little Women, a production by Christian Youth Theater at the Pinnacle Dinner Theater.
Skylar Berdaus and Taylor Theobald, with their Gold Crown Volleyball team, came in second place in a recent volleyball tournament.

INFORMATION BOARD
This is a current listing of all items that can be found on our Information Board, which is located just outside the Music Room. The listing we are providing will give all parents an opportunity to see what is available, and they can have their student pick up any of the items from themain office, or parents can call our office to “order” items that can then be sent home with their student .

• 5th Grade Ski Passport
• Bonfils Blood Center
• Child Health Plan of Colorado
• Destination Imagination
• Douglas County Schools 2006 Annual Report
• Douglas County Youth GuideHealth One Magazine
• Vertical Sports

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Field Trips

Novemer 20
2 AC Butterfly Pavilion
December 4
1BCD Miss Nelson Takes a Field Day
December 7
2 BC Littleton Town Hall Arts Center
December 8 3 CD Museum of Nature & Science
March 22
3 BD Mizel Center
March 29
3 AC Mizel Center
May 11
3 ABC Teikyo Loretto Heights

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Lost and (TONS!) Found

It is only November and already we have a large collection of winter coats in our lost and found! Many of our Girl Scout troops volunteer monthly to sort the lost and found. If an item is labeled with a student’s name, the item is returned to them when the piles are sorted. But please don’t wait! Our lost and found is located by the cafeteria doors. Please check to see if one or two of the many items we have belongs to you!

Douglas County Health Advisory Committee

Douglas County School District, Health Advisory Committee is looking for interested parents to participate as members. The purpose of the committee is to discuss health related issues and advise Health Services and the various grants that Health Services coordinates. The committee follows the Coordinated School Health model and has representation from all the eight components of school health. Those components consist of the following:
Health Services Psychological and Social Services
Staff Wellness Health Education
Nutrition Services Healthy School Environment
Physical Education Community Partnerships
The committee meets on the 2nd Wednesday evening of the month at 6pm, at Eagle Ridge Elementary in Lone Tree. A recent accomplishment is that members of the Health Advisory Committee were the chief writers of the District’s new Wellness Plan.
An attempt is made to have equal representation from each of the District’s 8 High School feeder areas and we currently are in need of parents for the following feeder areas:
Highlands Ranch High School
Douglas County High School feeder area
Ponderosa High School feeder area (we do not have any representation from this area and have not had for some time)
ThunderRidge High School feeder area
If your student(s) attend any school, elementary, middle or high school in those catchment areas, we would like to hear from you. You do not have to have a medical background to be a member, just have an interest in school health.
Contact Paulette Joswick or Janet Booth at Health Services, 303-387-0513
or email Janet at Janet.Booth@ dcsdk12.org.

Coyote Creek Leadership Team


Jan Dow- Principal
Kristi Montagrifff- Assistant Principal
Kit Orlowski- Building Resource Teacher

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Coyote Creek S.A.C.
The School Advisory Council for Coyote Creek meets on the third Monday of every month, with the exception of December, June, and July. Current members of the Coyote Creek SAC are:

Chairperson
Colleen Thompson
Vice-Chair
Kim Adair
Recorder
Julie Hayes
PTA Liason
Tammy Niederman
DAC
Kathy Malory

Voting Members:
Lisa Kounter
Kathy Mallory
Mike Gilchrist
Colleen Thomspon
Kim Adair
Laura Richards

Nonvoting Members:
Kristi Montagriff
Kit Orlowski