NEWSLETTER September 2017 Mesa Elementary From Your Principal Mesa’s Vision Statement: “At Mesa Elementary we will collaborate with families to foster strong relationships within the greater community. Our efforts will focus on delivering a rigorous, standards-based, data driven curriculum to ensure the academic success of all students. Our staff will seek out professional growth opportunities enhancing our knowledge of best practices. We will create a positive, supportive, nurturing learning environment leading to the development of respectful, responsible and resourceful students.” In This Issue: From Your Principal Upcoming Events Happenings at Mesa Superhero Fun Run/Walk Info. It is my privilege and honor to serve as your principal. I am looking forward to an excing year of learning and growing with your children and working with our professional staff and you, our parents and community members. I feel truly blessed to be the new instruconal leader of such an outstanding school community. I have been dedicated to the field of educaon for twenty years. During this me, my experiences having included teaching elementary and secondary as well as being a special educaon. Most recently, I served as assistant principal at Weikel Elementary on Ft. Carson. I am eager and excited to begin what promises to be the best year ever for Mesa Elementary. The upcoming year is going to be "Excellent" as we connue to provide first-rate academic experiences for your children that arerigorous, relevant and build relaonships. As principal, it is important to me that everyone who steps through our doors is excited to be here! This atude enables us to meet the challenges of academic excellence in a posive, fun and nurturing environment. As a school leader, I am commied to working relessly to provide challenging educaonal opportunies for children each day. Collaboraon between teachers and parents will play a large part in the success of our community. Open communicaon is vital to ensure a successful home-school partnership throughout the year. Parent involvement is an important aspect of every child's educaon and is the primary factor in a students' success in school. Our job is to connue to strive for excellence and make Mesa Elementary School world class. Our remarkable staff, involved parents and commied students come together to make Mesa Elementary a wonderful and unique place. When we ALL work together as a school community and do things with our students' best interest as the focus, we will be an EXCELLENT school! If I can ever be of assistance, please call or email me! It is through being a collaborave community with consistent, honest, and open communicaon that I can best serve our students. Thank you for the opportunity to serve our AMAZING community as we move into a new and excing school year. Please take a moment to look for Mesa on Facebook and Twier. We will be using social media as a way to communicate with our families throughout this school year. Addionally, please watch for my weekly email containing informaon on Mesa pracces and events. Throughout this year, remember to DREAM BIG!!! We have great things planned for our Mesa students and families. #DreamBIGMesa
Transcript
NEWSLETTER
September 2017
Mesa Elementary
From Your Principal
Mesa’s Vision Statement: “At Mesa Elementary we will collaborate with families
to foster strong relationships within the greater
community. Our efforts will focus on delivering a
rigorous, standards-based, data driven curriculum to
ensure the academic success of all students. Our staff
will seek out professional growth opportunities
enhancing our knowledge of best practices. We will
create a positive, supportive, nurturing learning
environment leading to the development of respectful,
responsible and resourceful students.”
In This Issue:
From Your Principal
Upcoming Events
Happenings at Mesa
Superhero Fun Run/Walk Info.
It is my privilege and honor to serve as your principal. I am looking forward to an exciting year of learning and growing with your children and working with our professional staff and you, our parents and community members. I feel truly blessed to be the new instructional leader of such an outstanding school community. I have been dedicated to the field of education for twenty years. During this time, my experiences having included teaching elementary and secondary as well as being a special education. Most recently, I served as assistant principal at Weikel Elementary on Ft. Carson. I am eager and excited to begin what promises to be the best year ever for Mesa Elementary. The upcoming year is going to be "Excellent" as we continue to provide first-rate academic experiences for your children that arerigorous, relevant and build relationships. As principal, it is important to me that everyone who steps through our doors is excited to be here! This attitude enables us to meet the challenges of academic excellence in a positive, fun and nurturing environment.
As a school leader, I am committed to working tirelessly to provide challenging educational opportunities for children each day. Collaboration between teachers and parents will play a large part in the success of our community. Open communication is vital to ensure a successful home-school partnership throughout the year. Parent involvement is an important aspect of every child's education and is the primary factor in a students' success in school.
Our job is to continue to strive for excellence and make Mesa Elementary School world class. Our remarkable staff, involved parents and committed students come together to make Mesa Elementary a wonderful and unique place.
When we ALL work together as a school community and do things with our students' best interest as the focus, we will be an EXCELLENT school! If I can ever be of assistance, please call or email me! It is through being a collaborative community with consistent, honest, and open communication that I can best serve our students. Thank you for the opportunity to serve our AMAZING community as we move into a new and exciting school year. Please take a moment to look for Mesa on Facebook and Twitter. We will be using social media as a way to communicate with our families throughout this school year. Additionally, please watch for my weekly email containing information on Mesa practices and events. Throughout this year, remember to DREAM BIG!!! We have great things planned for our Mesa students and families.
#DreamBIGMesa
Please visit Mesa’s website
http://mesaweb.ffc8.org/
for the latest Mesa news and information!
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5th grade will begin taking the Cognitive Abilities Test
(CogAT) on September 5th. This assessment provides us with
essential information to better meet the educational needs of
your student. This assessment will give us information on how
your student thinks, reasons, and problem solves in the
verbal, quantitative, and spatial areas. Our teachers will use
this information to challenge your student academically.
The assessment will be given in three one-hour
sessions over the course of three days as part of classroom
instructional time. The assessment
consists of three different sections:
the verbal battery, non-verbal
battery, and the quantitative
battery. Upon completion of the
assessment, results will be shared
with you and your student’s
teacher.
Follow Us
Box Top$ for Education
Keep a lookout
for these
on specially
marked boxes!
Clip more to earn more!
It’s an easy way to help earn
money for your school.
Mesa now has a Facebook and Twitter page! Please follow us to hear about recent events and happenings
going on around Mesa. Feel free to use our new hashtag.
#DreamBigMesa Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MesaElementaryFFC8/
Follow us on Twitter:
https://www.twitter.com/MesaElemFFC8
PTO Meeting
Parent Teacher Organization
This month we will be holding 2 meetings to discuss the
Community Fun Run.
The next meeting will be held:
* Tuesday, September 5th
3:00 pm : Cafeteria
* Monday, September 18th
3:00 pm : Cafeteria
Please join us as we discuss the many volunteer opportunities
in our school!
5th Grade starts COGAT Testing
Calendar Of Events
Friday, September 1
NO STUDENTS
Monday, September 4
LABOR DAY
NO STUDENTS
Tuesday, September 5
5th Grade starts CogAT
Friday, September 8
Progress Reports
Sent home
Wed., September 14
Curriculum Night
4:30 p.m.—6:00p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 14
Box Tops Due
Thursday, Sept. 21
Picture Day
Saturday, Sept. 30
Community Fun Run
Begins at 9:00 am
Friday, October 1
End of 1st Quarter
Early Dismissal: 11:30 am
Monday, October 9
NO STUDENTS
Friday, October 13
1st Quarter Awards
3rd-5th: 8:00am-9:00am
1st-2nd: 9:00am-9:45 am
Thurs. & Fri. Oct. 19 & 20
Parent Teacher conf.
NO STUDENTS
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You won’t want to miss our 5th and 1st
grade students singing, dancing, and playing during
curriculum night coming up soon on September 14th.
Also, if your child was in 3rd grade last year and is now a 4th
grader, please start dusting off those recorders. They will
need them this year in music starting in October. No worries
if you are a new 4th grader to our school, I will
have one for you.
There is some amazing creativity happening in the art room! In
September each grade level will begin their first big project.
Kindergarten is learning about Andy Warhol and printmaking. 1st
grade is learning about stained glass murals. 2nd grade is
storytelling, like artists from the Paleolithic era. 3rd graders are
studying line and landscapes. 4th graders will be learning how to
draw self portraits by practicing realism. 5th graders will explore
personal identity in some large silhouette pieces. We will begin
our discussion about art skills and how to use those skills beyond
the classroom as well.
Making Music
Art Avenue
September brings us exciting new adventures at Mesa Elementary. As we are moving into Fall, we will be talking about school-wide expectations for behavior and growth mindsets. Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd will be reviewing the GREAT Matrix and practicing applying what we have learned. 3rd, 4th and 5th will be learning about keeping a growth mindset. Growth mindset refers to knowing that our brains will continue to grow and learn throughout our lifetime. Our minds are always capable of learning new and more complex information.
Ask your student about our new Classroom of the Month contest. Each month, 3 classrooms will be chosen as Classroom of the Month; one from Kinder and 1st grade, one from 2nd and 3rd Grade and one from 4th and 5th. Classrooms are chosen based on the number of Class Compliments they receive from Mesa Staff throughout the building. Any staff member can complement a class using our Class Complement Form.
Class Compliment winners for August are: Mrs. Bannon’s for K and 1st
Mrs. Kleinheksel for 2nd and 3rd
Mrs. Brooks and Mr. Kahle tied for 4th and 5th
Congratulations to these Students and Teachers!
Counselor’s Corner
Mesa Elementary School Parent Right to Know:
Mesa Elementary School is a Title I school. Under the provisions for Title I all teachers serving students must meet the qualifications for “Highly Qualified” as an elementary educator. We are proud to inform you that all teachers at Mesa Elementary School meet these rigorous standards. As a parent you have a right to inquire about the qualifications of your child’s teacher or paraprofessional. In order to do so you should contact Mr. Henry Gonzales at (719) 382-1300. He will be able to provide you with this information. If you have any additional questions about our Title I status or programming, please feel free to contact Principal Megan Oleson at 719-382-1370 or [email protected].
Title I
When picking up on Camino Del Rey, Corte Amino, or Monterey Way please be courteous and DO NOT BLOCK
ANY OF THE NEIGHBORING RESIDENT’S DRIVEWAYS. Thank you!
From your Title I Interventionists
Welcome Back!
I hope everyone had a restful summer. Welcome back to another wonderful year at
Mesa Elementary. Here are some tips to help your student get into books and back
into the swing of reading after a summer of fun.
1. Try out the libraries around town. We have great libraries in Fountain and Colorado Springs. They are full
of books that your child may have not seen before, bright lights, cool carpets, cool displays, and
opportunities that not encountered before. This may ignite their interest in reading.
2. Let students read what interests them even if it is not what you might want them to read. Comic books
or magazines might be a starting place. Reading something that they are interested will spark their
interest in reading other books. One can hope that this will lead to a strong love of reading.
3. Start reading children’s books yourself. Your child maybe impressed that you are reading something they
may have read, and you can carry on an in-depth conversation about the book, and characters.
Happy Reading
Amy Byerly, Reading Intervention Teacher
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Thursday, September 14th, 2017
4:30-6:00 p.m. Your child’s teacher will provide detailed information regarding:
Grade level academic standard
Curriculum overview—Reading, Math, Writing, etc.
School policies
Behavior expectation
Classroom procedures, field trips, special events, etc.
Parent Portal access information
Educational websites to use at home
Volunteer opportunities
You won’t want to miss our 5th and 1st grade students singing, dancing, and playing!
We will be serving FREE PIZZA at the end of the event!
