The teacher spotlights continue, this time with Mrs. Call! Annie Call is new to Cherry Creek this year, and was an intern teacher at Hobble Creek Elementary last year. Mrs. Call went to BYU to study education, but she also received a minor in TESOL and Family Life. She met her husband at BYU, and they have been married for four years. Some fun facts about Mrs. Call include her talent for talking in movie quotes, enjoying going to the library, loving Netflix, and she can sing! Her favorite teacher gifts are clorox wipes and peanut butter M&M's.

Today in Mrs. Finch's class, our speech-language pathologist, Miss Barrett, and speech-language technician, Miss Collins came in to teach an exciting group lesson about pumpkins! The class discussed all about what pumpkins are used for, what they are made of, and how to describe them. Then, we used a pumpkin for a fun experiment. In a carved out pumpkin, students put in baking soda, a few drops of dish soap, and vinegar. Each student voted on a hypothesis they thought would happen. Sure enough, the pumpkin erupted with foam! What a fun way for the students in Mrs.

Last week, the Student Lighthouse Team met for the first time, had a great time getting to know each other, and learning how they would work together this year. The Student Lighthouse Team is comprised of one student from each class in the school. Mr. Duncan came and spoke with them about being leaders and how to help people feel welcome and happy. They also brainstormed with Mrs. Sumsion and Mrs. Call, their leadership mentors, about how they could serve the school this year.

Last week, Cherry Creek celebrated National School Lunch week with the help of our incredible lunch room staff! They do so much to encourage our students to try new foods, eat well-balanced meals, and keep their bodies healthy. Nebo School District also has a Student Wellness Policy for parents to be aware of: 

The first Victory Assembly of the school year was today, celebrating students receiving the "Leader of the Month" and "Top Croc" awards. On the way to the assembly, students receiving these awards were applauded by their fellow students during a victory lap around the school with Crocky, the Cherry Creek mascot. At the assembly, Mr. Duncan drew names of an additional 25 students who received a Croc Card in the month of September. These students were invited to the Croc Cave for games today with Mr. Duncan. 

Today, we're putting the spotlight on Mrs. Finch, one of our fine special education teachers! She teaches students grades 4-6 in reading, writing, and math (math being her favorite!) Ever since she was young, Mrs. Finch has known she wanted to help special education students, so she attended Utah State University to do just that. She is married to her high school sweetheart, has one daughter, and a son on the way! If she had all the time in the world, she would spend time at her family's cabin, eat junk food, and dance. Mrs. Finch is a former dance instructor, and is very talented! Mrs.

Starting this year, teachers at Cherry Creek are spending extra time after school on early-out days to participate in CMI (Comprehensive Math Instruction) training. Today's lesson was on how to better engage students and strategies to help students reason among themselves instead of getting answers from the teacher. It's an impressive sight to see our dedicated Cherry Creek teachers working together to improve their own knowledge and skills!

Cheryl Nielson is one of our incredible fifth grade teachers! She attended practically every university in Utah--BYU, USU, UVU, and SUU--to earn her Master's of Education and Math & ESL Endorsements. Mrs. Nielson is married to her best friend from high school, although they didn't date until after high school. She has three kids, one of whom is serving an LDS mission in Chile. In her (very spare) time, she enjoys running, reading, and gardening. When she gets stressed, she likes to organize closets. Her guilty pleasures is a pan of brownies and a good book.

Due to a cold and wet weather forecast on Friday, we have decided to move the Croc Walk and Carnival to Monday, September 26 from 5:30-7:45 p.m.  Our PTA has put in a lot of time and effort to make this a great event and we do not want the weather to spoil it.  Sorry about the change!  We appreciate your understanding and hope that you can all attend on Monday evening.  It will be a fun and uniting event!! 

Our first spotlight this week is Chelsie Bergera, one of our kind and caring kindergarten teachers! Mrs. Bergera loves being a teacher at Cherry Creek because she loves the staff, students, and parents she gets to work with. She has always been inspired to be a teacher because of the teachers she had growing up. Mrs. Bergera attended UVU and SUU to earn her master's degree and endorsements in ESL and Early Childhood Education. She loves teaching writer's workshop. If Mrs.