SEPTEMBER 2011
5 LABOR DAY - No School
9 ILP Parent / Teacher Conferences 4:15 – 8:15 pm
12 ILP Early Release - All students dismissed 12:00 p.m.
13 Individual Student Pictures
19 ILP Early Release - All students dismissed 12:00 p.m.
OCTOBER 2011
7 End of 1st Quarter
10 Teacher Workday—No School
11-19 Book Fair
13 Parent Teacher Conferences
18 Parent Teacher Conferences
20 Skate City 6-8pm
24-28 Fall Break
31 Hats on Day
All parents are welcome and encouraged to visit the school during the school year. We ask your cooperation in the following ways to maximize your time spent at Dartmouth.
· Always call ahead. It reduces the possibility of your arriving during an assembly, recess or special.
· Always stop in the office to sign in and receive a visitor’s name badge to wear while in the building.
· Leave toddlers/infants at home. It minimizes disruption in the classroom.
· Shorter, more frequent visits are preferred by staff members. You’ll get a better picture of life at school that way. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
EARLY RELEASE DAYS
In order to meet the state guidelines requiring teachers to conference with parents regarding Individual Literacy Plans (ILP), conferences will be held on September 9th from 4:15-8:15 p.m.
Because of these conferences, all students in grades K5 will be dismissed early Monday, September 12th, and Monday, September 19th at 12:00 p.m. No lunches will be served on these days.
SCHOOL HOURS/ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
Dartmouth’s school hours are 9:15 a.m. - 3:45 p.m. If your child is eating breakfast, it starts at 8:45 a.m.
Arrival: Classes begin at 9:15 a.m. We request that students do not come onto school grounds until 9:00 a.m. to line up. There is no adult supervision on the playground before school.
New for the 2011-2012 school year, we will have one bell at 9:10 a.m. which indicates it is time to go to class. The morning announcements at 9:15 a.m. indicate that your child should be in class ready to learn. It is very important to have your child arrive on time as they miss out on very important instructional time.
Departure: Please make after school arrangements with your child before they leave for school each day. We ask that you tell your child before school where he or she should go and what should be done after school. Of course we understand that emergencies may arise, but as a general rule, we urge you to make arrangements to make sure your child is picked up by 3:45 p.m.
If it is necessary to pick up a student early for a doctor’s appointment, etc., parents must come into the office and sign out the student. The student will then be called to the office.
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KINDERGARTEN NEWS
Welcome Kindergarten families! We are looking forward to a great and exciting year with you. This year in kindergarten we will be learning to read many sight words along with short stories. The kindergarteners will also become authors. We will go through the entire writing process of planning, drafting, editing, and publishing stories. The genres of writing we work with are Small Moments, How To's, and All Abouts. We will also befocusing on counting with one to one correspondence which by the end of the year will transfer to simple addition and subtraction problems. We look forward to meeting and working with all of you!
FIRST GRADE NEWS
Welcome to a new school year! First graders begin the year with activities that reinforce classroom procedures and expectations to support us in our academic goals. There is great emphasis on personal responsibility for cooperative and independent work as students learn to work toward, and support each other with, their own learning goals.
In reading we stress learning our 100 high frequency words as quickly as possible to reach proficiency in reading and writing. We encourage students to practice until they know all 100 in a snap! Our first grade math expectations include counting accurately to 100 and effective strategies for putting together and taking apart numbers, so that is where we begin the first quarter. In writing we start with stories about ourselves to develop planning, drafting and editing skills. Our social studies unit helps us to learn how to be good citizens in school and in science we begin the year with a study of insects.
We have a lot of ground to cover in first grade and look forward to developing a partnership between school and families to accomplish our goals! It is going to be a fantastic year!
SECOND GRADE NEWS
Second grade is excited to start a new year! We will start the year going over rules and routines of second grade, as well as, a variety of team building activities. We feel that it is important to start the year doing team-building activities since we will be supporting each other’s learning throughout the year. Once the quarter gets into full swing we will be exploring and learning about many fun things. In reading, we will be learning about story elements, predictions and background knowledge, just to name a few. Through the year in reading we will be working on fluency. Fluency is the speed at which the student reads. Our goal is to have them read like they talk and not like a robot! J Small moments are a big part of writing curriculum the first quarter. We will encourage students to write about an event that happened in their life and expand on the details. When your child comes home with a story about what they did that day, encourage them to write about it! In math, we will continue to build upon the skills they have learned in first grade. We will be working on addition and subtraction facts with sums to 40. We really hope to have these facts automatic by the end of the year. Money and time are a tricky skill for second graders; any extra practice of these skills at home will be helpful to your child. We are very excited to start the year off in Science exploring plants. We will also begin our Social Studies units about communities. The second grade team looks forward to a great year working with you and your child!
THIRD GRADE NEWS
We are excited to meet our new 3rd grade students this year. Wooooo! This year your 3rd graders will be learning lots of exciting material. In Writing we will explore mini-genres such as Personal Narratives, Essays, Fiction, and Poetry. This year in Reading we will be focusing on comprehension strategies in a variety of genre. We also have an exciting new Accelerated Reading (AR) program. In Science we will learn all about Aviation, Structures of Life, and Water. Students will learn about communities in Social Studies. In Math students will learn about efficient addition and subtraction strategies with answers over 1,000. Students will also learn multiplication, division, and fractions. We look forward to a wonderful year with your 3rd grade student!
MUSIC AT DARTMOUTH
This year, your child will be participating in a music class designed to foster lifelong appreciation of music through active music making. The sequenced music instruction will help your child develop musical skills and understanding, using music of various styles from the United States and around the world. In addition to developing specific musical skills, your child’s studies in other areas will be enhanced by instruction that links concepts across the curriculum.
You can also reinforce your child’s music learning at home. Consider listening to music together and talking about it. Ask your child to share songs learned in music class. Attend local concerts to help foster appropriate audience behavior. These experiences will help make music meaningful at school, at home, and in the community.
Mrs. Roldan
ART NEWS
Welcome back Dartmouth! I hope you had a good summer. This year we have a lot of new and fun projects planned for art. We will be starting off the school year with our sketchbooks. Your sketchbook will be yours to create art, practice your ideas, plan your projects, take notes, and journal throughout the year. Our first project will be a landscape based off some practice sketches we will be making in our sketchbooks. This year we will also be learning about community in art.
It's going to be a great school year so stay tuned for more updates from the art room!
-Ms. Gonzales
LITERACY CONFERENCES
WHAT IS AN ILP?
The Colorado Department of Education requires all districts to annually report the number and percentage of third grade students who read at or above the third grade level. A student’s reading proficiency is based on an individual reading assessment, and the state third grade reading assessment (CSAP). Additional assessments may also be included.
Students (K-3) who do not read on grade level must have an individual literacy plan (ILP). ILPs are maintained for fourth and fifth graders. This plan is developed collaboratively by school staff members and parents to help students meet or exceed the grade level reading proficiency. It is extremely important for Dartmouth staff members and parents to work together to encourage and develop proficient readers.
WHEN IS A CHILD TOO SICK FOR SCHOOL?
…To school or not to school… The following guidelines were developed to assist parents with this dilemma. If you child has symptoms listed below, we suggest you consult your health care provider before your child returns to school. If your child becomes sick at school, we will call you to take him/her home.
General Guidelines for Keeping Children Home
Due to Illness:
1. Temperature over 100 degrees (orally)
2. Contagious disease like chicken pox (until lesions no longer draining and no fever present) or strep throat (until antibiotic is given for 24 hours).
3. Vomiting or diarrhea.
4. A respiratory infection causing the child to cough constantly or have yellow, brown or green discharge from the nose.
5. Any illness causing the child to be too sick or sleepy to continue with normal school activities.
6. Rash or skin lesions not yet diagnosed or being treated by a health care provider.
7. Lice or nits, until appropriately treated.
INSTRUCTIONAL TIME
Instructional time is not only valued at Dartmouth, it’s a priority supported by state laws, district policies and our community’s focus on learning. Multiple interruptions to classrooms during the school day can create unnecessary delays in instruction. Parents, we ask for your cooperation and support in the following ways. Arrive on time: Students who arrive late for school (after 9:15 a.m.) interrupt the instruction that is already in progress. Students who are late miss important information, and the rest of the class loses learning time while the teacher takes time to repeat what the late student has missed. Students may not be on school property until 9:00 a.m. unless they are here to eat breakfast.
Leave on time: Students who are pulled from their classrooms prior to dismissal (3:45 p.m.) interrupt the instruction that is in progress. Students who are pulled before dismissal miss important information, and the rest of the class loses learning time while the teacher takes time to quickly gather items for the student who is leaving. Students must leave the school grounds immediately after school at 3:45 p.m. If parents are not able to pick up children at 3:45 p.m. they should go to daycare located in the Gym. You may sign your child up for daycare by calling YMCA, Kasey Perrella at 720-810-7280.
DARTMOUTH PTO
Welcome back from your Dartmouth PTO!
We are excited for a new year and have lots of fun activities scheduled.
Our first meeting this school year will be on August 16th at 6:30 pm in the staff lounge. And we meet most months on the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm, childcare is provided by YMCA.
We do 4 Skate City nights, 2 McTeacher’s nights, and various other “family fun” nights throughout the year.
We are always looking for great parents who want to be involved with their child’s school!
Upcoming events:
August
8/22 - Skate City night – 6-8 pm
8/26 – PTO Fall Fundraiser begins
September
9/6 – Meeting – 6:30 pm – Staff Lounge
9/12 – PTO Fall Fundraiser ends
2011-12 PTO Board
Lacy Gonzales-President
Holly Sloan-Vice President
Lisa Maresca-Secretary
Cammie Smith-Treasurer
YMCA BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL CARE
Are you looking for convenient, inexpensive, quality child care for your School Aged child? If so –YMCA before and after school care meets right here at Dartmouth Elementary School. Before School Care is offered from 6:30-9:00am, After School care is offered from 3:45-6 p.m. and Full Day care (when school is not in session 6:30am-6pm) Drop-in care is available upon request.
YMCA will be closed on September 5th in observance of Labor Day. If you are interested in enrolling or have any questions, please contact Kasey Perrella at 720-810-7280.