DECEMBER

This Week
Monday
* EPR help Session @ 7:45 in the Gold Mine Room
* Staff lunch provided by the Berge family
* Wear plaid!

Tuesday
* Snack attack in the lounge
* Ugly sweater day

Wednesday
* SD: Holiday love in the office conference room
* Wear red, green, or blue

Thursday
* Qdoba Taco Bar
* Wear sparkle, shimmer, or shine
* Release EPRs by 4:00

Friday
Happy holidays!

Reminders:
* EPR reminder -- If a child is on an ALP, ELLP, READ Plan, IEP, or 504, a teacher may select a box on that child's EPR where any of the four components of the GVCs or grade level outcomes have been modified as suggested by his/her plan.  The teacher will check the box that reads "personalized plan."  This shows up as an asterisk beside the rating with the identifying "personalized plan" language to guide parents.

* Teacher grants were directly deposited if you typically receive direct deposit.  Please check your check stub and let me know if you have questions.

* Below are the READ Plan cut scores. If you have students who fell below the cut score on their MOY assessment, we will write their plan in January. There is no 30 day window to reassess for MOY.

* Teachers, please remind students which door they are to exit the building at the end of the day.

* Please see the current box top contest being put on by PTO.

4th Grade Technology CoTeaching
Fourth grade nonfiction readers were busy this week. Students worked on digital literacy skills while completing a performance task. Each student was given six resources that provided clues to help solve a mystery. Students had to use the various digital resources including, newspaper articles, pictures, maps, and matrixes to determine where a mystery fossil had been discovered. As students discovered clues they recorded them on a digital chart. Once all the clues had been found, students synthesized their findings within an infographic. Most fourth graders are still working on their infographics, but please check out some "work in progress" samples below.

Student Sample #1
Student Sample #2


Happy Birthday

Hays Padrnos - December 25th

Melissa Robart - January 7th

Go For the Gold

* Thank you Stacie Martino for hosting our holiday party!
* Thank you Karen for a wonderful concert!
* Thank you Anita and Christi for a great kindergarten registration night!
* Thank you Kristi, Jenny, Libby, & Allison for covering classes.

Golden Nuggets

Morning Announcements: Rayens

Lounge Duty: Evans/Carmack

DECEMBER

This Week
Monday
* 7:45 EPR help session in the Gold Mine room

Tuesday
* Leadership team meeting in the Gold Mine room
* 2nd grade plan day

Wednesday
* SD - EPR collaboration in the Gold Mine room

Thursday
* 1st grade plan day
* 12:00 Jenny admin meeting
5:00-7:00 Kindergarten orientation

Friday
* 9:00-10:00 Choir dress rehearsal - Grades 3-5 only
* 4:00 Holiday party
* 7:00 Choir performance

Reminders
EPRs
* Click here for expectations for comments and basic navigation strategies. All students should receive a personal comment and comments when they are not meeting standards. Please remember that report cards should not be a surprise.
* Kristi will host a help session will be held on Monday, December 11 at 7:45 in the Gold Mine room
* Report cards need to be shared with specials, sped, Kristi, Jamie, and Stephanie Brown.
* Report cards should be completed and submitted by the end of the day on Thursday, December 21st.

Istation
* Administer to all students 12/4-12/15 for the middle of the year window.

Safety
* All teachers must walk their students out of the building at the end of the day due to safety issues.  Please be at the front of your line or work with the teacher next door to have one person cover the front of the line and the other the back of the line.

Holidays
* Please let the office know when you are having your holiday party by clicking here.
* Our staff party is Friday, December 15th at 4:00 at Stacie Martino's house. Her address is 16793 Firebrick Dr. Parker, 80134. Dinner will be provided. Please bring your own drinks.

Misc.
* Staff development will be in the Gold Mine room this week to collaborate with SPED around EPRs.
* Teachers grades 3-5, please continue to track students' accommodations.

Opportunity

An award has been established in honor of Nancy Intagliata, a former teacher at Cougar Run Elementary. She died from cancer in February 2016 and her family would like to honor her legacy and her values by paying it forward to Douglas County educators and staff whose lives have been impacted by a cancer diagnosis. 

This award is a $2000 cash gift to any employee of any Douglas County elementary school. The applicant need only complete a simple application with a short statement describing how he or she has been personally impacted by cancer. This impact can include a personal fight with cancer or a loved one’s fight with cancer. The award money can be used in whatever way the recipient sees fit. 

Applications are due March 1, 2018, and the award(s) will be announced on May 1, 2018.

Details and application can be found at www.alegacyfornancy.org

Welcome!

Please welcome Katie Houseman, our new RtI assistant.

Happy Birthday
Allison Hawk - December 12th
Krista Hardin - December 16th
Amy Fugier - December 17th

5th Grade Technology CoTeaching
This week in 5th grade students analyzed and interpreted weather patterns using multiple data points. Each student created a Google Form that allowed input of weather data points including the date, mean temperature in degrees, barometer in pounds per square inch (psi), humidity in percentages, dew point in degrees, wind direction, wind speed in miles per hour (mph), visibility in miles (m), and a brief description of the weather. After collecting historical weather data for specific cities for ten days, students met with other budding meteorologists with cities in the same region. These region groups identified trends and connections based on the weather data. To show region weather trends in a different way, students used an interactive weather map to label temperature fronts, air pressure, and precipitation.

*Conferring with Readers and Writers

 *Strategies That Work

* The Next Steps in Guided Reading

Go For the Gold
* Congratulation to Ashley Dalcerri on her engagement!!
* Congratulations Allison Hawk for completing you admin program!
* Congratulations Karen Petty for selling your house!
* Thank you Gail Golish for supplying more flatware in the lounge!

Golden Nuggets
Morning Announcements: Dalcerri
Lounge Duty: Brakefield/Braden

December

This Week
Monday
* 7:30 EPR help session in the Gold Mine room

Tuesday

Wednesday
* 7:30 Book Study
* Jenny feedback on goals

Thursday
* 3rd grade plan day
* Jenny admin meeting

Friday

Reminders:
CMAS (Formally PARCC)
* Teachers in grades 3-5, please begin documenting accommodations for CMAS testing. A google form was shared with you to track these accommodations. Please see Libby if you have any questions.

EPRs
* Click here for expectations for comments and basic navigation strategies.  All students should receive a personal comment and comments when they are not meeting standards.  Please remember that report cards should not be surprises.

* A help session will be held on Monday, December 4, in the Gold Mine Room at 7:45.

* Report cards need to be shared with specials, sped, admin, Kristi and Jamie and Stephanie Brown.

* Report cards should be completed and submitted by the end of the day on December 21st.

* Kristi will host an EPR help session on Monday morning at 7:30 in the Gold Mine room.

IStation
* Administer to all students 12/4-12/15 for the middle of the year window

Blog
* Please post your December blog post.  Please include upcoming learning and ways parents can help at home.  If you can highlight math videos that showcase how students solve problems that would be great! See Jenny's parent blog post below.  You can cute and paste this exact post if you'd like.

HELPING YOUR CHILD WITH MATH HOMEWORK

Math homework can often be a frustrating experience for children and parents.  Parents were often taught traditional algorithms and do not know the strategies students are learning today.  While these strategies promote a deeper conceptual understanding of key math concepts, it is difficult for parents to see the benefits when they are unaware of them themselves.

We have a great resource that will help!  The Math Words and Ideas site from the Investigations Math Series has links to math videos that explain how all concepts are taught at each grade level.

 Click here to access this site.

Simply click on your child's grade level at the left-hand side of the screen.  When you click on a math concept additional subtopics appear.  Each subtopic includes a short video explaining strategies taught at school.  In the example below, third grade was selected on left and arrays was chosen under the concept of multiplication.

Watching these short videos are a great way to review how and why concepts were taught a certain way.  You may even consider watching with your child.  The presentation below provides a few additional tips to promote a love of math at home.

Click here for the presentation.

Misc.
* On December 13 during staff development please plan on meeting in the Gold Mine.  This time will be decidicated to collaborating on RtI and Sped students.

* Our holiday party will be on December 15th after school at Stacie Martino's home. More details will follow, but put it on your calendar. You won't want to miss it?

Technology CoTeaching in Kindie
This week our kindergartners began studying the Sun. In order to digitally keep track of schema and new learning they learned the ever important skill of taking a screenshot in different iPad apps. Drawing Pad was used first to illustrate what they thought their schema was about the Sun. Then they took screenshots of their drawings, uploaded them to Seesaw, labeled the different parts of their schema drawing, and recorded their voice to describe their schema. Next as nonfiction readers they researched the Sun using Pebble Go and took a screenshot of a page that gave them new learning. After uploading their Pebble Go screenshot on Seesaw, students explained their new learning by labeling, drawing pictures, and recording their voice.

Please look at the examples below:
Schema Reflections:
New Learning Reflections:

 *Conferring with Readers and Writers

 *Strategies That Work

* The Next Steps in Guided Reading

Happy Birthday
Christy Schwalick - December 5th

Go For the Gold
* Thank you Christy Dismang and Anita Rudman for participating in our open enrollment open house Tuesday night!
* Thank you Jenny Brown for filling in for feedback meetings!

Golden Nuggets
Morning Announcements: Hawk
Lounge Duty: Petty/Simpson