Cory Elementary School

Cory Caregivers,

Thank you to the Fine Arts Committee and the PTA for supporting students attending the symphony.  Kids really enjoyed the experience! 

What a great week at Cory! Students have been learning, growing, and setting meaningful goals. This week in TSEAL, we focused on understanding what is and isn't in our control — an important skill for managing emotions and building resilience.

To extend this learning at home, here are some conversation starters and questions you can explore with your child using the "Circles of Control" concept:

In Our Control (Inner Circle):

• What is one thing you can control about your day?

• How do you handle it when something doesn't go your way?

• What choices did you make today that you feel good about?

• When you feel upset, what can you do to calm yourself down?

Not in Our Control (Outer Circle):

• What happened today that you couldn't control?

• How did you feel about that?

• What could you control about how you responded?

• Who could you ask for help when something is out of your control?

Growth Mindset Questions:

• What's one challenge you faced this week, and how did you handle it?

• What's something new you're learning to do?

• How can we use our "growth mindset" when things are hard?

These conversations help students internalize the skill of focusing energy on what they can influence and accepting what they cannot — a valuable life skill! 

We hope everyone has a wonderful and restful weekend! 

Joan and Anna

Reminders: 

• Heelys are not allowed at school! They are not safe at school. 

• Please do not pull into the parking lot and drop off your child by the fence. You must pull into a parking lot space to drop off your child. 

• Please pack healthy snacks for the students to eat during the snack break. 

• On P.E. days, please make sure your child is wearing shoes appropriate for P.E.  

• Please do not park in the handicap spots unless you have a handicap pass.

• Please do not use the small parking lot for pick up or drop off of any students.

• Please do not park in the Reserved family spots at any time even after school lets out as families can be picking up students later and have purchased those spots for anytime!

• Please do not stop in the middle of the parking lot to drop off kids. 

• When picking up your student early please give the office a little bit of time to call your student down to leave. We do not pull students before you get here. Please pick up your students by 2:45

• Remember to make sure that students come prepared for the weather as we will go outside unless it is too cold or too wet

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Feb 27th - No School for Students - Work day for Teachers 

• March 6th -PTA Meeting @ 8:30

  • Book Club - The Anxious Generation Discussion - 9:30 - 10:30 

  • Girl Scouts selling cookies at the end of the day

• March 8th - Daylight Savings

• March 10th - Choice 2nd Round Opens @ 10:00

• March 11th - Individual Spring Picture Day 

  • 5th Grade group picture Day (first thing in the morning)

• March 16th - Spring Family Conference Day - No Students

• March 30th - April 3rd - Spring Break 

• April 7th - CMAS Testing Begins 

• April 10th - PTA Meeting

• April 16th & 17th - 5th Grade Trip to Balarat 

• April 24th - Cory Auction

Food for Families

We are partnering with the Merrill Middle School food pantry/ backpack program to ensure all families have access to food. If you are in need of food during this time for your family, please read below! If you would like to receive extra groceries one-time per month, please complete this private and anonymous survey, so we can provide the food items that your family likes to eat and match your preferences.  Anonymous survey 

Food will be anonymously dispersed on:   Friday, March 6 / Friday, April 10 / Friday, May 8

Hi Cory Families - We did it!  Thanks to all the families who supported our Kids Heart Challenge!  Together we made healthy choices, learned lifesaving skills, and supported kids with special hearts through donations to charity! 

Click here: http://www2.heart.org/site/TR?fr_id=12402&pg=company&company_id=522168 to see our school’s final results!

This year, our school’s service project with the American Heart Association empowered students to:

• Learn about heart health and practice kindness

• Take part in Finn’s Mission including learning Hands-Only CPR

• Raised awareness throughout our community and helped fund the mission of the American Heart Association

• Are able to apply for wellness grants and earn equipment for PE or recess.

On behalf of the American Heart Association, THANK YOU for helping us build a Nation of Lifesavers!

***Any remaining thank you gifts earned by our students will be ordered and take about 4-6 weeks to arrive at our school***

Share Your Cory Memories!

We’re collecting photos for the 2025–26 Cory Yearbook and need your help! Upload your favorite pictures from school events, classroom fun, and Cory celebrations. It’s easy — just visit https://books.yearbooks.me/ca/3r54megdwut898hesercck5w9xgmswg6p and use the code Pics4Cory! to submit. Let’s fill the yearbook with all the amazing moments that make Cory special!

Mental Health Corner: 

What is TSEAL? Transformative Social Emotional Academic Learning

“Transformative SEAL” is a process whereby young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting, relationships that facilitate co-learning to critically examine root causes of inequity, and to develop collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being.

This form of TSEAL is aimed at redistributing power to promote social justice through increased engagement in school and civic life. It emphasizes the development of identity, agency, belonging, curiosity, and collaborative problem solving

It's critically important that school wide TSEAL implementation intentionally nurtures an environment in which educators gain social and emotional competence by learning, collaborating, and modeling their social and emotional skills. Along with these social and emotional skills, schools must also fold in conversations about race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, language and ability so that the conversation about TSEAL takes into account the student’s fullest identities. It is recommended that schools do a deep dive into understanding how educators, students, and community can navigate conversations about race, sex, gender, ableism and other social identities in order to establish systems and supports that strengthen both adult and student Social Emotional Academic Learning.

Come along on our Cory TSEAL journey! 

• Unit 1: Positive School Culture and Classroom Community  - Value of the month is Caring  

• Unit 1 Part 2: Sportsmanship - Value of the month is Caring  

• Unit 2: Self-Awareness - Value of the month is Caring  

• Unit 3: Self-Regulation and Management  

• Unit 4: Social Awareness & Gratitude - Value of the month is Inclusion 

• Unit 5: Relationship Skills and Responsible Decision Making: Bullying Prevention - Value of the Month is Respect 

• Student Equity Experience 

• Unit 6: Circles of Control, Lizard Brain Wizard Brain, Size of the Problem - Value of the Month is Respect 

• NEW! Unit 7: Unit 7: Responsible Decision Making & Growth Mindset - Value of the Month is RESPONSIBILITY 

Our goal is that students leave Cory not only academically prepared but emotionally literate—able to repair harm, build healthy relationships, and contribute positively to their communities. Education coupled with consistent, supportive measures is what helps students internalize these skills and reduce incidents like bullying.

Below are the resources we shared during the evening:

• Presentation - 25-26 Cory Anti-Bullying Parent Presentation

• Parent handouts and resources - Cory Parent Anti Bullying Resources

ALL students will be starting the Safe from the Start program in February 2026. Please watch this introduction video linked here to learn more about the program:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_8qE8BjLQk1kfQjoLOn4m8_Ub84_GGZy/view?usp=drive_link