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FOX NEWS
Fall River
Elementary
2015
The Courage To Be Outstanding!!
Dear parents and guardians,
Thank you to all of the kids, parents, and staff who are helping our 2015 state tests run so
smoothly. We are so proud of how hard the kids are working to show us their best! A
special thank you to Mrs. McIntosh, Ms. Douglass, and all of our classified and
office staff for their excellent coordination and support of this event! Tests continue
through March 27th, and then pick up again in the middle of April, with Science for 5th
graders and Social Studies for 4th graders. Final testing occurs in May. Please see
detailed schedule in this newsletter and emails.
This month we have our Volunteer Luncheon, which is a chance for us to formally say
thank you for all you do. However, there is really no way to adequately thank all of you
who volunteer at Fall River; we absolutely could not have such a fabulous school
without your fabulous support. Your time, care, dedication, and love for both children
and education is inspiring, and we are grateful every day for all of you!
On the topic of fun events, don’t forget to join us for the ever amazing musical
extravaganzas arranged by our music teacher, Ms. Aurand! The 1st graders perform
April 1st and 2nd graders April 2nd (both here at Fall River). The Spring KidZing
Concert is at the end of April and the 3rd grade School House Rock Concert is last
week of school. The kids have put a tremendous amount of work into these shows,
and they’d love to entertain you and your family. Please join us at FRES for the 1st and
2nd grade shows and Vance Brand Auditorium for the KidZing and 3rd grade shows
to support the performing arts and Fall River Elementary!
As the weather gets better, please remember that if you are walking dogs to and from
school, meet your students across the crosswalk in the park so we can avoid any humandog conflicts on school campus. Also, please keep an eye on the weather so you can send
a jacket when we get one of our surprisingly cold or windy spring days. We look forward
to seeing even more of you walking and riding bikes to school with all of this nice weather;
a little exercise in the morning is a great way to wake up those brains! Don’t forget
to sign up for Trip Tracker to earn some Trip Tracker Bucks for your walking/
riding/carpooling morning commute (see our website for details)! Thank you for
encouraging kids to be outside, and to do so safely.
As Spring moves in, all of us have a bit of extra energy; if you could take a few minutes to
review school behavior expectations with your kiddos, you can help us make it to the
end of the year with our so-far stellar behavior record intact. It’s especially important to
remember to play safe on the playground, no matter how excited we are when it is
actually warm and sunny! We all know Fall River ROCKS (Respectful, Outstanding,
Community, Kindness, and Safety), and we want to ROCK all the way through until the
last day of school. Thank you for your supporting us in delivering excellence in
education and for having the Courage to be Outstanding!
--Dr. Guthals
Upcoming
Dates

April 1
Late Start
School Starts at
11:25am

April 1
VOLUNTEER
LUNCHEON
11:30am-1:00pm

April 6-10
SPRING BREAK!!

April 13
PTO Meeting
7pm

April 14
Smash Burger
Fundraiser
10am-10pm

April 17
1st Grade
Pastries for
Parents
8:30-9:00am

April 27
KidZing Concert
7pm @
Vance Brand
ART NEWS
Hello Fall River Families,
We had an awesome time in the month of March with our artist-in-residence,
Sara Brown. She was simply amazing and the kids had a great time learning
about quilting and creating a quilt block of their own. Grades 1-5 and full day
Kindergarten all participated in creating one part of a collaborative quilt. Sara
Brown with the help of her mother and father, Chris and Ted Broers took the
students blocks and sewed an amazing piece that we look forward to unveiling
this coming May. A special thank you to all the parent and grandparent
volunteers who donated their time and experience to make this project
successful for our students.
The District Art Show is also coming this April! The district show will be held at
the Exhibition Hall at the Boulder County Fairgrounds. It will run from
April 13th-April19th with open house on Thursday, April 16th from 5:00 pm-6:30
pm. Look for a note home in your child’s Friday fox folders with more
information on these exciting upcoming art events.
Mrs. Luckow
Art Specialist
PRESCHOOL NEWS
In March, preschoolers learned the letters L,O,G, and X. We decorated our classroom with
kites and lizards. We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday by turning our hand prints into Thing
One and Thing Two and decorating the hallway. We are having fun doing lots of rhyming.
Preschoolers will be having a pajama days on April 2nd and 3rd, remember to wear your
pajamas to school those days!
Miss Julie and Miss Carol
DONATIONS NEEDED
EVERY CLASSROOM IS IN DESPERATE NEED OF KLEENEX. IF
YOU COULD HELP OUT, WE WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!!
YOU CAN GIVE THEM TO YOUR CHILD’S TEACHER OR DROP
THEM OFF AT THE FRONT OFFICE. WE ARE SO VERY THANKFUL FOR THE AMAZINGLY GENEROUS FAMILES WE HAVE AT
FALL RIVER!!
MUSIC NEWS
PLC ENRICHMENT:
ALL STUDENTS WILL BE CREATING STOMP MOVEMENTS WITH CHINESE JUMP ROPES WHILE
WORKING HARD ON FLEXIBILITY AND YOGA DURING ENRICHMENT TIME FROM 9:00-9:45am
every morning….
FALL RIVER MUSIC CONCERTS:
st
1 Grade concert will be in our gym on Wednesday, April 1st at 6:00p.m. (Yes, this is a late
start day but it is NOT an April Fools joke!!
2nd Grade concert will be in our gym on Thursday, April 2nd at 6:00p.m..
3rd Grade concert; “Schoolhouse Rock” will be at the Vance Brand Civic Auditorium at 7:00p.m. on
Wednesday, May 20th.
Fall River KidZingers will be performing their Spring concert on Monday,
April 27th from 7:00-7:45p.m. in the Vance Brand Civic Auditorium
FUN FRIDAY!
Fun Friday for the month of APRIL and MAY will be drumming and rhythmic based learning using
“STOMP” techniques and Just Dance! ALL grades will be participating in this activity. We will be outside for
MANY of these Fridays; weather permitting!
Thank you for your continual support of the Fall River Music Program.
Musically Yours, Ms. Rachel Aurand
COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
April is the final month for Enrichment Classes for the 2014-15 School year. It has been fun
learning with your students this year, and I look forward to working with them again next
year.
We will be offering the following Classes in April after school: Late Start - Kidz in
Locomotion, Science Matters Extreme Electricity, Pinspiring Kids, Sticky Fingers Cooking
School, Crackpots Flowerpots, Flag Football Skills Camp, Basketball Skills Camp, Dabble Learn
to oil Paint.
As always if you register for a class and do not hear from me, you should consider your
student enrolled. I will send letters home if a class roster fills before I get your student's
registration. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at
west_erika@svvsd.org.
Thank you,
Erika West
Enrichment Coordinator
Fall River Elementary School
ASSESSMENTS
The Colorado State Assessment System is designed to measure Colorado
student’s mastery of the Colorado’s academic content standards. In December of
2009 Colorado adopted revised academic content standards progressing from
early school readiness to postsecondary competencies reflective of both workforce readiness and 21st century skills.
In 2012 Colorado implemented the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program
(TCAP) to reflect changes in the state adopted academic content standards and to
provide information to teachers as they began incorporating the revised content
standards in their daily instruction. In 2012 Colorado became a governing member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers
(PARCC) consortia which is currently developing new assessments in English
language arts and mathematics for grades 3-8 and high school. The PARCC
assessments are scheduled for implementation in 2014-15.
New general and alternate assessments for science and social studies were field
tested in 2013 and are scheduled for implementation in 2014.
- See more at:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/generalinfo#sthash.Sni920hz.dpuf
4th graders will take the online CMAS Social Studies test this spring. 5th graders
will take the online CMAS Science test this spring. For more information about
the CMAS Science and Social Studies tests for 4th and 5th graders, go to
http://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/newassess-sum
3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will take online PARCC assessments for English
Language Arts (writing, communication, and reading) and Math this spring. For
more information about the PARCC English Language Arts and Math
assessments for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, go to
http://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/newassess-parcc
At this point, we do not have specific information on how the Colorado Growth
Model will be applied to students who took TCAP last year and will take PARCC
this year; please stay tuned for this information. For information on past school
and state accountability data and improvement plans, please go to schoolview.org
3/9
3/10
3/11
3/12
3/13
Math 1
Math 2
Math 1
Math 2
Math 1
5th Grade
5th grade
4th Grade
4th Grade
3rd Grade
3/16
3/17
3/18
3/19
3/20
Math 2
rd
ELA 1
th
ELA 2
th
ELA 3
th
ELA 1
th
3 Grade
5 Grade
5 Grade
5 Grade
4 Grade
3/23
3/24
3/25
3/26
3/27
ELA 2
th
ELA 3
th
ELA 1
rd
ELA 2
rd
ELA 3
rd
4 Grade
4 Grade
3 Grade
3 Grade
3 Grade
3/30
3/31
4/1
4/2
4/3
Make-ups
Make-ups
Make-ups
Make-ups
Make-ups
4/14
4/15
4/16
4/17
Science 1
Science 2
Science 3
Make-ups
4/13
th
th
th
5 Grade
5 Grade
5 Grade
4/20
4/21
4/22
Social Studies 1
Social Studies 2
Social Studies 3
4/23
Take Your Child to
Work Day
4th Grade
4th Grade
4th Grade
4/24
Make-ups
4/27
4/28
4/29
4/30
5/1
Make-ups
Make-ups
Make-ups
Make-ups
Make-ups
Math 1
Math 2
th
th
5 Grade
5/4
ELA 1
th
5 Grade
5 Grade
5/5
5/6
5/7
Late Start
Math 1
Math 2
4th Grade
4th Grade
5/11
5/12
ELA 1
5/13
Math 1
Math 2
3rd Grade
3rd Grade
5/14
5/15
ELA 1
rd
Make-ups
th
3 Grade
5/8
4 Grade
5/18
5/19
5/20
5/21
Make-ups
Make-ups
Make-ups
Last Day of School
HEALTH NEWS
Guideline reminder for keeping your student at home:
Please remember if you child was sent home from school with a fever, vomiting or diarrhea,
they need to stay home for at least 24 hours.
 Strep throat: student may return after taking antibiotics for 24 hours
 Pink eye: student must stay home for 24 hours after treatment from doctor, or free
from eye drainage.
 Cold/respiratory virus: keep student home at the beginning of the cold. This is when it
is most infectious, and/or no longer has a persistent cough.
 Skin rash: student with undiagnosed rash must be seen by a physician for diagnosis and/
or treatment before returning to school with a note from the physician.
 Head lice: your student may return to school after a treatment with lice shampoo.
 Open sores/cuts: all skin lesions must be covered by a bandage or clothing during the
school day.
Chicken Pox/Shingles: student should stay home until there are no new lesions and all
existing lesion have scabbed over.
Keep in mind your student will be sent home with the above conditions and/or has a
temperature of 100.0 degrees or more.
LIBRARY NEWS
-:- Happy Spring from the Library -:Below are some thoughts for changing things up a bit when it comes to home reading.
1. Pick a favorite movie based on a book. Read the book first, then watch the movie. Then compare
the two. Eat popcorn, of course.
2. Navigate family Spring Break activities by using maps and travel guides. Read about the places
you visit and collect brochures along the way.
3. Plan a reading camp out. Build a fort or tent, inside or out, grab some snacks, a flashlight and a
few favorite books. Read to yourself or out loud to your fellow campers.
The Longmont Public Library is coming to visit us at the end of the month. The library’s theme this
summer is “Every hero has a story”. I hope you all can take advantage of their fun and engaging
programming.
I was just looking at our library statistics. Jeff Kinney’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is still our number one
most checked out series. It is closely followed by R. J. Palacio’s “Wonder”, which is a great secondary
(3rd-5th) read. And lastly, Mo Willem’s “Knuffle Bunny” and “Pigeon” books are the third most popular
check outs and perfect for primary (kinder-2nd) readers. Please ask your students about what their favorite books are. If we don’t have the titles in our library, just let me know and I am glad to purchase
them for our collection. Thanks for encouraging the love of reading at home!
-:- Mrs. Myhre -:“Life is a journey, not a destination.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
PTO NEWS
Visit With Trail Ridge Principal
We’ve rescheduled this visit, originally planned for March.
Eddie Cloke, principal at Trail Ridge Middle School, will be attending our PTO meeting on April 13th th
at 7:00 p.m. to talk about the programs Trail Ridge offers and answer questions from parents.
Fourth and fifth grade parents in particular may want to attend just to ask any burning questions you
have, and of course parents with younger students are welcome as well — it’s never too early to
start planning!
Carnival
Fall River Carnival is coming up on May 1st from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. featuring games, activities, food,
prizes, bounce castles, face painting, and so much more. From delicious ice cream to classic carnival
games like the ring toss, this event is fun for students from preschool right on up — and it’s always
open to the public, so bring the whole family!
We do need your help to make Carnival possible. All these great games and booths require volunteers to run them, and we’re counting on Fall River families to make that happen!
Please sign up to run one booth for just one hour on May 1 st: FallRiverPTO.org/carnival-volunteers
All the games are easy to manage (and don’t worry, you’ll have instructions and plenty of help), and
it’s a huge amount of fun getting to give out prizes to so many happy children. With just a little time
from each of us, we really can make this a spectacular event.
We’ll be sending home a form to preorder Carnival tickets at a discount right after Spring Break.
Yearbook
Fall River yearbooks are coming! These full color books feature all the photos families have sent in
showing life at Fall River this year, along with class portraits of every student.
They’ll be available for $15 each — that’s our cost from the publisher; we do not make any profit on
yearbook sales. We offer yearbooks just to give families a great way to remember all the fun events
Fall River has had this year. Look for an order form coming home soon!
GT NEWS
GT reading classes are up and running for both primary and intermediate levels. The primary students are
currently writing fractured fairy tales that are absolutely amazing. The intermediate students are reading and
presenting their books in new and unusual ways.
It is time to start thinking about nominating your student to be tested in the fall if they have not already been
tested. Please send an e-mail to me (Mrs. Whisman) telling me your child's name, teacher, grade level, and
which area you think they might be gifted in.
You can e-mail or leave a letter in my teacher box. Feel free to send any questions my way as well. Thank
you!
whisman_sandra@svvsd.org
When Kids Lie
There are few things that leave parents angrier, or more worried, than when their kids act
"truthfulness-challenged." The good news about lying is that kids do it. What I mean is that all
youngsters experiment with bending the truth, and it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll end up
becoming con men, criminals or politicians. That is, as long as we can help them see that honesty
really is the best policy.
One way of achieving this goal is to apply the following steps:
Use "I feel like you lied to me" rather than "You lied to me."
If your kid replies with "No, I didn't!" this allows you to say, "I know…but I feel like
you did."
Help the child see lying as an index of maturity.
Achieve this by saying, "When I feel lied to, it makes me wonder whether you are
mature enough to handle some of the privileges you enjoy around here, like
television, your video games, and things like that."
In an empathetic way, let the child know that privileges will return when maturity goes up.
"The good news is that when you can prove to me that you are more mature, I'll
know that it's time for you to have these privileges again."
Remember that parenting isn't like a jury trial: There's no need to prove guilt beyond a reasonable
doubt.
Far too many parents get snowed by their manipulative kids and begin to wonder
whether they are jumping to conclusions. I recommend trusting your heart and
saying, "All I know is that I feel lied to, and I know that your life will be a lot
happier if you learn how to avoid leaving people feeling that way."
For more tips on responding to lying, listen to Dr. Foster Cline's CD,Childhood Lying, Stealing
and Cheating (which is available in the Fall River library).
Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible.
Dr. Charles Fay
INTA JUICE
INTA JUICE
INTA JUICE