What CGS Families Need to Know ✅
📅 Upcoming Dates/Events
Tuesday, September 22nd: Picture Day
Friday, September 25th: School Spirit Day (wear your CGS gear or green & gold)
Wednesday, September 30th: Open House, 5:30–7:30 PM
Thursday, October 8th: Firehouse Field Trip (info coming home soon!)
Friday, October 9th: NO SCHOOL - Staff Professional Development
Monday, October 12th: NO SCHOOL - October Break
Tuesday, October 20th: Picture Retake Day
Wednesday, October 21st: K-5 Literacy Night, 5:30-7
November 4–6: Fall Conferences – Early dismissal (11:40am) all three days
Coventry Public Schools 26/27 District Calendar
✅ To Dos
Fundraising begins Monday for our CGS Walk-a-Thon! Help your child gather some loose change so they can add to their grade-level collection containers!
Visit The Learning Corner section of this update to learn two family fun ways to support learning at home; 1 literacy strategy and 1 math. These strategies are shared by our intervention team!
Complete Annual Update Forms in your PowerSchool Parent Portal.
All forms must be completed in order for your child to attend our October field trip to the fire house!
Currently 79% of families have completed necessary update forms!
🙋 Volunteer Opportunities
Be Flippy the Mascot
Cafeteria/Lunch Duty Volunteering
Scholastic Book Fair
Parent/family volunteers are an important part of what makes Coventry Grammar School such a special place. Whether you're helping in a classroom or lunch room, supporting a special event, joining us on a field trip, or lending a hand behind the scenes, we are grateful for your partnership!
Annually, all volunteers must review our Volunteer Guidelines and Procedures and complete the electronic acknowledgment form. This only takes a few minutes and helps ensure a safe, positive, and consistent experience for everyone.
In future newsletters, this will be a place where volunteer opportunities are highlighted!
A Note from Mrs. Hammer
Partnering for Success: Regular Attendance at School
At Coventry Public Schools, daily attendance is key to your child's learning, growth, and connection. We know life happens, from seasonal bugs to meaningful family events, and our goal is to partner with you to keep your child on track while following state guidelines.
How Excused Absences Work
Absences 1 through 9: The first 9 absences of the school year can be excused for any reason through simple parent/guardian communication. A parent note or digital submission is all that is required.
Absence 10 and Beyond: Starting on the 10th absence, policy requires formal documentation (such as a medical note from a healthcare provider or official paperwork) for an absence to be marked as excused.
Mental Health Days: Students may take up to two (2) excused mental health wellness days per school year with parent permission (these cannot be taken on consecutive days).
10-Day Reporting Window: Written documentation must be provided within 10 school days of your child's return to avoid the absence being recorded as unexcused.
Mindful of the Cumulative Impact We respect family priorities and time spent together. At the same time, we keep an eye on total time out of the classroom to ensure every student gets the support they need:
Chronic Absenteeism (10% Threshold): A student is considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of school days (about 18 days across a full school year), regardless of whether those absences are excused or unexcused. If a child reaches this threshold, our Attendance Team may reach out with tiered supports to help.
Truancy Policy: If a student accumulates 4 unexcused absences in a single month (or 10 in a school year), state policy requires the school to host a truancy meeting so we can collaborate on a resolution.
How to Report an Absence Please notify the school before 9:30 a.m. each day your child is absent by:
Entering the absence in PickUp Patrol (PUP), OR
Calling the school nurse directly at 860-742-4558.
For complete details, please refer to Coventry Board of Education Administrative Regulation #5110-A.
Moving forward, keep an eye out for our monthly attendance celebrations and progress updates as we work together to support our students!
When sending an email communication to me, please also include Mrs. Morrison (kmorrison@coventryct.org).
The Learning Corner
From the Math Room: SUBITIZING
Subitizing refers to the ability to recognize the number of objects in a small group without counting them one by one. For example, when you look at a set of three dots arranged in a triangle, you immediately know that there are three dots without needing to count each one individually. Encouraging subitizing at home can be simple and fun. You can incorporate activities like playing dice games, playing dominos, using dot cards, or spotting patterns in everyday objects. By engaging in these activities, you're not only reinforcing mathematical concepts but also fostering a love for learning and exploration.
TIPS:
When asking your child to subitize, try to avoid using the word “count”. Instead, ask your child to “say the number ". For example, instead of “Count the number of dots you see,” try “Say the number of dots you see on the card.”
Focus on small amounts first, like one, two, and three. Then add in larger amounts. With two dice you might say “I know there are 7 dots because I rolled a 5 and a 2”.
Dice Games:
Rolling Up: Both players roll their die at the same time. Once a player rolls a one, then they roll until they get a two, then three, and so on. The first player to roll one to six wins! (extensions include: players rolling more than one dice, roll to 12 with two dice or 18 with three dice, etc.)
Rolling War: Each player rolls their dice. The player that rolls the higher number wins the round. (extensions include: each player rolls 2 or more dice and can tell the total number)
Board Games: Replace cards or spinners with a die when playing board games (ie. Candy Land)
From the Reading Room: MYSTERY WORD THIEF
Turn segmenting into a secret agent decoding mission.
How to play: Tell your child, "An international mystery thief has stolen all the words! I have the secret audio code to unlock them, but it's broken into pieces." You say the individual sounds very slowly: /f/ /l/ /o/ /p/.
The Goal: Your child has to act as the secret agent, put the clues together, and shout out the whole word ("flop!") to recover the stolen item. You can switch roles and let them be the thief who breaks the word into secret sound pieces for you to guess.
CGS PTO News & Events
Mum Fundraiser
Thank you to everyone who purchased mum vouchers and helped make our Mum Fundraiser such a success. Your support means so much to our CGS community and directly helps enrich the experiences of our kiddos. We’re grateful for the enthusiasm and generosity shown - thank you for being a part of it!
Scholastic Book Fair
CGS is hosting our annual Scholastic Book Fair on September 30th during Open House! We are still looking for volunteers to help make this event run smoothly. Please use the link below to sign up - we’d love to have you join us!
Picture Day
Picture Day is Tuesday, September 22nd! 📸
A few things to know:
• There is nothing to turn in or pay for ahead of time.
• Your child will bring home a QR card with instructions for viewing and ordering photos.
• Photos should be available to view and order approximately 12 days after Picture Day.
• 20% of purchases go back to the CGS PTO!
• Retake Day will be Tuesday, October 20th.
You can always reach out to the PTO at cgsptoct@gmail.com for any PTO related questions, concerns, or ideas to strengthen our school community!
Reach out to the PTO at cgsptoct@gmail.com for any PTO related questions, concerns, or ideas to strengthen our school community!
A Peek Inside Our Week
Our photo gallery to step right into the excitement, learning, and connections made this week. The energy in our building is so high, you’ll feel like you were right there with us!
Some highlights include: fine motor work in K, a visit from Officer Stebbins, and PBIS raffle winners!
We encourage you to take a look together with your child to spark some great conversations about their week.
And NEW this week…we’re featuring the students recognized as “High Tide Heroes”. These are students who have demonstrated ABOVE and BEYOND, role model behavior and have been nominated by a CGS staff member!
Meet Our Coventry Grammar School Staff
This week, we’re putting a “spotlight” on:
Ms. Laura Barnett (Kitchen Supervisor & The G.O.A.T Lunch Lady)
Mr. Matt Kyer (Library Media Specialist & Producer of Morning Announcements)
Ms. McKenna Lerch (Grade 1 Teacher & Resident Choreographer)
Click the links above to learn more about each staff member personally and professionally, as well as put a face to some of the adults your child(ren) may come home talking about!
Fundraising Starts MONDAY! Are Your Coins Ready?
Fundraising for our first inaugural CGS Walk-a-Thon for Coins, Kindness, and Community begins MONDAY. Students are encouraged to bring in loose change.
Grade-levels will be working together to raise money through the collection of coins. Each grade-level has a container in our Main Lobby! Collection containers will also be available during Open House if family members would like to contribute to our fundraising efforts.
All money raised will go directly back to the CGS community and larger Coventry community when each class “graduates” from Grade 2!
MyRide Bus App
Many of you have reached out to the Main Office regarding the status of your child’s bus based on information in the “MyRide” bus application. Please note that in these first few weeks of school we are not finding the information to be accurate. Hopefully once we get more solidly into the school year it will become more reliable.