what is C-5?

MISSION
The Cocke County Cradle to Career Coalition, C-5, broadly seeks to accelerate progress toward cradle-to-career outcomes for children in Cocke County through proactive, collaborative engagement of all community stakeholders.  The initiative strives to achieve this result through collective impact efforts.

VISION
All Cocke County students will graduate from high school with the necessary skills to pursue post-secondary opportunities and to become productive citizens.

PURPOSE
C-5 will work with all sectors of the community to improve the well-being of children in Cocke County, ensure that all children have an equal opportunity to a healthy, strong foundation to thrive as learners, and support the children of Cocke County on their educational journeys from birth to career. 

desired outcomes

Kindergarten REadiness

All children in Cocke County will enter kindergarten ready to learn.

3rd Grade literacy

All children in Cocke County will exit 3rd grade reading on grade level.

Ready Graduate

All students in Cocke County will graduate ready to enter postsecondary education
​or the workforce.​

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May's CDTK skills

Personal Information 

• This month's skill is personal information. Parents/caregivers who have been following will remember that personal information was introduced in September with children knowing their full name, address, phone number, age, and birthday. In October, the focus was on letter recognition with children recognizing and naming uppercase and lowercase letters. Throughout the year, parents/caregivers have been encouraged to let children practice holding a pencil, markers, and crayons. The May skill brings all these previous skills together.  
  
    
• When entering kindergarten, children should be able to print their first and last name. They should use the proper form of using an uppercase letter for the first letter of both the first and last name and using lowercase letters for the remaining letters. (Example: Judy Smith NOT JUDY SMITH). Printing their names in all uppercase letters is hard for children to “unlearn;” so, it is much better for them to learn the correct way from the start.  
    

Gross Motor Skills 

• The gross motor skill for May is outdoor play. This includes any outside play such as running, hopping, riding a bicycle, and throwing/catching/kicking a ball. Check out the Born Learning Trails in the playground area of the Newport City Park and around the walking track at the Cosby Rural Medical Center. The trail will give you some fun ways to get your body moving and then take home a free book (or two, or three) from one of the Little Free Libraries! 

  
Fine Motor Skills

• The small muscles in the hands are slow to develop, and practice is very important to strengthen the muscles and help the child develop this skill. For May, your child should practice writing their name. If families/caregivers have access to being outside, children can collect rocks, pick up sticks or twigs, and help plant flower/vegetable seeds. 

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SPOTLIGHT ON RESULTS:

• ABC Bus- an alternative learning space for children
• October 2021- participated in the Newport Harvest Street Festival with Unify Cocke County 
• December 2021- participated in the Newport Christmas Parade and distributed almost 400 books, along with over 100 toys and other items. Traveled to every county school with school supplies donated by Walmart in Newport. Teachers were able to "shop" for free classroom supplies!
• 2022- Two events with the Newport Housing Authority- 62 children played games and took home a snack bag with books and activities
  

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The ABC (Alphabet, Books, and Creativity) Learning bus is a mobile unit designed to provide an alternative learning space for children and students in Cocke County. Repurposing of the bus was made possible through a partnership between the Cocke County School System, Cocke County Cradle to Career Coalition (C5), and Save the Children.

The Cocke County School System provided the bus, and funding provided to C5 by Save the Children was used for the refurbishing. The bus is equipped with a new heat/air system, a generator to provide electrical outlets both inside and outside the bus, new LED lighting, and Bluetooth accessible speakers. Instead of normal bus seats, the inside of the bus has tables and chairs and storage cabinets, as well as new flooring. The bus has many purposes, including distribution of books, learning resources, and even food, as well as creating a learning center in community locations.

​Learn more about the ABC Bus HERE.

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Working alongside families, schools, and communities to support children across Cocke County.

Kindergarten readiness     third grade literacy     Food Security