My name is Dawn Thompson and I have been a teacher at Cottonwood both in the classroom and art room for 19 years.  In my class, I want to invite risk-taking in art making and art thinking, allowing for the exploration of diverse techniques and artists to the world community.  My goal is to open children's mindset and encourage pride in being an artist. I feel that art should be connected to other academic disciplines with interdisciplinary studies and collaborations between teachers, where students can explore the concept of a cohesive community interweaving the arts with literature, history, the environment, and much more. Most important of all, I believe art should be fun!

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Hi, my name is Jessica Bird. This is my second year at Cottonwood and my sixth year of teaching overall. I began my career teaching music in California and am now so happy to be at such a special school in Colorado. I’m very grateful I get to work with every student in the school as their music teacher. In my class, students will nurture their musicianship, concentration, coordination, and creativity as well as practice academic and social skills. My goal is for students to build community through joyful music making and to have opportunities to experience a variety of music through singing, dancing, listening, moving, playing instruments, composing, conducting, improvising, reading, writing, and playing games. I believe that music is for everyone and that good musicianship comes from quality musical experiences. My primary instrument is the trumpet but I also love singing and playing other instruments. I also love hiking, traveling, learning, and spending time with my family.

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Hello my name is Jason Mondragon. I am going into my 11th year of teaching P.E. and my third-year teaching at Cottonwood. In addition to teaching P.E. I coach a wide variety of sports outside of school including soccer, volleyball, basketball and Swimming. In my class we will focus on making fitness fun. Children will learn how to move their bodies and stay healthy. We will learn many different types of sports and help children to find their passion for staying active. Teamwork, sportsmanship, Co-operation and perseverance are just a few of the life skills we will focus on in class.  In my spare time I enjoy staying active, coaching, and being with my family.

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Hello, I’m Scott Rogers. This will be my 6th year as your STEM teacher at Cottonwood Creek and beginning my 32nd year in the district. I have been fortunate to teach and lead in some amazing schools in Cherry Creek but the students, staff and parent community at Cottonwood Creek are the best! Teaching STEM is the best position in the entire school!! I have the opportunity to work with every student in the building while we learn, question, design, create, tinker and problem solve. In STEM curiosity is encouraged, mistakes are opportunities to learn new things and having a growth mindset helps when challenges get hard. Applying the principles of science, technology, engineering and math should be engaging and fun! In my time away from school I enjoy time with my family, watching my kids participate in lacrosse, horse jumping and hockey. The 4 of them who are in college, high school and middle school keep us busy. Being a Colorado native, I love being outdoors mountain biking, hiking, fly fishing and skiing.

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