Cottonwood-Oak Creek Schools

🎉✨ You’re Invited! Verde Tech High School Back to School Open House! ✨🎉 Get ready to kick off an amazing new school year! Join us for our Back to School Open House and celebrate the start of another year of innovation and learning at Verde Tech High School. 📅 Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2025 🕚 Time: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM 📍 Location: Verde Tech High School Come meet our dedicated teachers and staff, tour classrooms and learn about our exciting programs. This is a great opportunity to: ✅ Meet your teachers and classmates ✅ Pick up class schedules and supply lists ✅ Get your questions answered We can’t wait to welcome you back! Let’s make this school year our best one yet!

🌞 Show Us Your Summer Adventures, COCSD Families! 🌞 What have your students been up to this summer? We want to know! 🎨 Have they picked up a new hobby? 📚 Learned something new? ✈️ Traveled somewhere exciting? 🌵 Or just enjoyed the simple fun of summer in Arizona? 📸 Share your favorite summer photos right here on our Facebook page and include the hashtag for your school — like #DDB, #VTHS, #CCS, #OCS or #MVP — so we can see what students from each campus have been up to! Let’s fill our page with sunshine, smiles, and all the things that make summer break unforgettable. We can't wait to see your photos. #COCSDProud #COCSDSummerFun

📣 Summer Update from Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District ☀️ Our school offices are currently closed for the summer break and will reopen the week of July 14th to assist families with new student enrollment for the upcoming school year. We hope everyone is enjoying a safe and restful summer! 🏖️📚 If you're planning to enroll your child in one of our schools, we look forward to welcoming you starting that week. Stay tuned here for more updates as we get closer to the start of the new school year! 💙🍎 #COCSD #EnrollmentInfo #BackToSchool2025 #CottonwoodAZ

🚀 Tech Time at Camp Innovation! 🧠💡 Our campers had an amazing afternoon with Mrs. Aston, diving into all things STEM! From designing with 3D printers 🖨️ to creating art with 3D pens ✍️, these future engineers brought their ideas to life. They also got to program coding bots and master the coding mouse game 🐭🤖 — problem-solving and creativity were in full force! Thank you, Mrs. Aston, for guiding our innovators through such a fun, hands-on experience! 💥

Our older campers got an unforgettable hands-on experience at The Science Vortex — dissecting real cow eyeballs! 🐄👀 With curiosity and courage, they explored the inner workings of the eye, learning about lenses, retinas, and how vision works. It was an up-close look at biology in action, and they absolutely loved it! Big thanks to the team at Science Vortex for making science so memorable! 🧠🧪

📚🌲 Survival Stories & Tent Time at Camp Innovation! 🏕️🔥 Instead of desks and chairs, our campers cozied up in tents this week as they finished the adventure-packed novel Hatchet by Gary Paulsen! ⛺📖 Reading about wilderness survival just hits different when you're hanging out in your own little campsite — no mosquitoes, but plenty of imagination. 🐾🪵 Big shoutout to Deb Earl for turning the classroom into an immersive reading retreat! 💡❤️

🚍 Now Hiring: Bus Drivers for Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District! 🚍 Join our team and make a difference in the lives of local students! Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District is now hiring school bus drivers – no experience necessary! Training is provided, and we’re offering a sign-on bonus for new drivers. ✔ Competitive pay ✔ Flexible schedules ✔ Rewarding work environment Help us keep our community moving safely! Apply today or share with someone who might be interested. 📞 For more info, call (928) 634-9679. 💻 Apply online at: https://cottonwood.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx #NowHiring #BusDriversNeeded #CottonwoodOakCreek #JoinOurTeam

🎬✨ Lights, Camera, CAMP INNOVATION! ✨🎬 We’re thrilled to share that Teddy Armstrong has been busy directing our very own Camp Innovation movie — capturing all the magic happening this summer! From hands-on fun in the classroom to splashing at the rec center, adventures at the library, creativity in art, and movement in P.E., every moment has been full of energy and excitement! A huge THANK YOU to Jay Bird Media for coming out to help bring our story to life and showcase just how awesome Camp Innovation has been! 🎥💙 Stay tuned… you won’t want to miss this masterpiece! 🍿👏

🏕️🐍 Camping Adventures with Ms. Sam! 🐍🏕️ At Camp Innovation, the adventure never stops—especially in Ms. Sam’s classroom, where she transformed the space into a full-on campsite! Tents, lanterns, and all the cozy camping vibes set the scene as kiddos learned all about snakes and how to stay safe and curious in nature. Of course, Ms. Sam brought the magic in style—another day, another amazing outfit! 🌟👗🧢 We’re so lucky to have creative, passionate leaders like Ms. Sam making Camp Innovation unforgettable! 💚✨

🎨✨ Shoutout to our amazing and creative Camp Innovation teachers—especially Ms. Janet, who brought the sparkle with some foil art fun today! 🌟🎨 Our campers loved exploring their artistic side with texture, shine, and LOTS of imagination. This is what happens when creativity meets passion in the classroom! 💡❤️ #CampInnovation2025 #FoilArtFun #CreativeKids #AmazingTeachers #21CCLC #COCSD #ArtMatters #InspiredLearning #HandsOnFun #ThankYouMsJanet

🎨✨ Art class at Camp Innovation is always cooking up something colorful and creative! Whether it's vibrant tie-dye masterpieces or whimsical wind chimes, there's never a dull moment! Our campers are hands-on, expressive, and loving every minute of it. Big ideas, bold colors, and even bigger smiles! 🌈🔔 #21CCLC #CampInnovation #COCSD #ArtExplosion #TieDyeFun #WindChimeMagic

🌱 Camp Innovation is so grateful for our partnership with Bent River Farms! Thanks to their support, our campers are learning hands-on lessons that connect us to nature, sustainability, and so much more. We couldn’t do it without our amazing community! 💚🐐🌾 #COCSD #CampInnovation #21CCLC #BentRiverFarms #CommunityPartners #LearningOnTheFarm

Verde Tech staff recently attended the AVID Summer Institute in San Diego, CA. It was a great opportunity to connect with other educators and bring back new ideas to support our students and school community.

🎉 Shoutout to our incredible COCSD educators! 🎉 Our first-year teachers and dedicated mentor teachers represented Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District at the K-12 Beginning Teachers Institute in Tucson this week! 🌵📚 This powerful professional learning experience focused on growing instructional practices, building confidence, and connecting with educators from across Arizona. We’re proud of their commitment to students, to each other, and to lifelong learning! 💙👏 #COCSDProud #TeacherLeadership #MentorMatters #AZEducation

🚀 Science in Action at #CampInnovation2025! Our curious campers are exploring the power of air pressure with a vacuum chamber experiment! 🌬️✨ They’ve been watching air-filled objects and even food expand and shrink as the outside air is removed. Why? Because when pressure drops, the air inside pushes outward—until it escapes! When the air is let back in... POOF the objects shrink smaller than before! 🤯🔬 Hands-on learning = big "Aha!" moments. We LOVE it here at #CampInnovation2025! 🧠💥 #STEMfun #FutureScientists #ScienceRocks #COCSD #21CCLC #MindBlown #ExperimentTime #LearningIsCool #VacuumChamberMagic

📚🌟 The Arizona Community Foundation recently hosted Yavapai County Superintendent Steve King for an inspiring educational summit that brought together nearly 30 attendees from across the Verde Valley, representing a wide range of non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting local youth and families. Superintendent King spoke on key topics including the Science of Reading transition, the effects of poverty on education, the importance of early childhood investment, and the need to provide 21st-century opportunities for all students. He also highlighted innovative efforts like the VACTE Teacher Ed pipeline and shared insights on Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) in Arizona. It was a powerful reminder that we are better together—and by working collaboratively, we can build a brighter future for every child in Yavapai County. 💪📖✨ #EducationMatters #ACFYavapai #YavapaiStrong #WeAreBetterTogether

Our campers are incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such fun, positive, and dedicated young leaders. JR Staff, your energy, kindness, and willingness to jump in wherever needed make a big difference each day. Your focus on building meaningful relationships and creating joyful experiences does not go unnoticed. Thank you for being role models, team players, and bright lights in our program. We appreciate all you give to our campers—and to our whole Camp Innovation community! Keep shining! 🌟

🌿🔬 Camp Innovation + Science Vortex = Summer Science Magic! 🔬🌿 Our incredible partnership with Science Vortex has sparked so much excitement and learning at Camp Innovation! Campers have explored the outdoors with nature scavenger hunts by the river 🌊, got creative making bugs out of recycled materials 🐞♻️, and dove into awesome engineering projects like ball launchers, structure building, musical instruments and more! 🛠️🎯 Huge THANK YOU to Laurie Altringer for bringing the wonder of nature and the power of STEM to life for our campers — your creativity and energy have inspired us all! 🌎💡

Marble painting, Fuse beads and Play doh. Camp Innovation is exploring the right side of the brain in this class.

💪🌟 Camp Innovation Leadership Team Gives Back! 🌟💪 Under the guidance of the incredible Mrs. Felix, our Leadership Team took a break from camp fun to serve the community at Manzanita Outreach, where they packed food boxes for local families in need. 🥫📦❤️ With Mrs. Felix leading the way, these young leaders showed teamwork, compassion, and a true commitment to making a difference. We’re so proud of the way they’re stepping up—not just at camp, but in the community too! Way to go, team! 👏👏👏