LCES Parent Update 4/8/2022

LCES Families,

Thank you all for a great week at LCES!  We have a lot of events and activities coming up that we would love to have each of you here for.  Listed below are all the events in April.  Please reach out if you have any questions on any of these events. 

Thursday, April 14th: Celebration of Learning:

Please join us on April 14th from 6-7 PM for our Celebration of Learning!  Students have been working diligently to prepare presentations on what they have been learning about in class and are excited to share these with family and friends.  We will start at 6 in the gym and then move into classrooms to see student work. 

Curriculum Night:

Hello Parents & Community Members,

LCSD has been conducting a literacy audit over the last year and has been updating the school board throughout the entire process. Our Literacy Leadership Team identified the need to look at new PreK-8th Grade literacy curriculum after a thorough examination of our current literacy curriculum. Once this need was identified, the Literacy Leadership Team began auditing multiple CDE approved literacy curricula. After a thoughtful, research-based process, the best scoring curriculum was CKLA.

The Literacy Leadership Team has been presenting this process and the new potential curriculum to each school and their staff for feedback. It is now time to share CKLA with you!

You will be able to examine the sample materials, ask questions of the Literacy Leadership Team, and share your feedback.  Please join us on Tuesday, April 19th at 6:30 pm at the LCIS library.  Your input is an extremely important part of this process!

Please keep in mind that this night is only looking at PreK-8th Grade literacy curriculum, we will not be changing our EL Crew & Culture or math curriculum at this time.  Once we receive your feedback, it will be compiled with our staff feedback and presented to the school board at the end of April. The Literacy Leadership Team will make a final recommendation on whether or not we should move forward with CKLA as our new literacy curriculum, keep our current literacy curriculum, or look at another CDE approved curriculum.  Bethany Massey, Superintendent, will then make a final decision and notify the community.

Please email Andi Weigel, aweigel@lakecountyschools.net , with any questions or concerns.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

Andi Weigel

Family Literacy Night for grades K-6!  April 28th from 6-7:30 at LCES

We are having a literacy carnival!  Join us for a night of fun literacy activities set up in different booths.  There will be drawings for book bags filled with books and all students will leave with a bag of free books and activities. 

*Attention 2nd Grade Parents: 

During Tech class the weeks of April 19, April 26, and May 3, we will be administering the Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test 3 (NNAT3) to all 2nd grade students.  This is a universal screener for gifted and talented identification in General Cognitive Ability.

Giftedness is actually quite rare.  We look for a minimum of three nationally-normed achievement tests to qualify someone in an academic area (i.e. Math, Reading, Science, or Social Studies), and also use universal screeners like the NNAT3.  If a student scores in the 95th percentile or greater, this will be used as a data point for giftedness.

You will be notified if your child scores in the 95th percentile or greater on this screener.  If you would like a copy of your child’s NNAT3 report for your information or have any questions, please contact Allison Reigel, LCES G/T Coordinator: areigel@lakecountyschools.net or (719) 486-6963.

Upcoming Second Step Child Protection Unit:

Dear LCES Parents/Guardians,

As you know, we are using the Second Step program in your child’s classroom. The Second Step program teaches children important skills for getting along with others and doing well in school. It also helps our school be a safe and supportive place where everyone can learn.

To help make our school even more safe and supportive, we are also going to use the Second Step Child Protection Unit. In these lessons, students will learn three types of skills:

• Personal Safety. Students will learn important safety rules, such as safety with guns, sharp tools, and fire, and when riding on wheels or in cars. They will also learn ways to help them decide if something is safe or not.
• Touching Safety. Students will learn about safe, unsafe, and unwanted touches, and rules about touching private body parts. They’ll also learn to say no to unsafe or unwanted touches, and to tell an adult if someone breaks rules about touching private body parts.
• Assertiveness. These lessons will also give students a chance to practice asking an adult for help, telling an adult about an unsafe situation, and being assertive to get out of unsafe situations.

To keep your child safe and protected, everyone at school needs to be involved. So all our staff will get special training in how to:

• Recognize and report suspected child sexual abuse
•  Respond to and support children who have been abused or who are facing other challenges
• Use strategies that promote a safe and supportive school climate.

If you have any questions about the Child Protection Unit or the Second Step program, please contact me. If you do not want your child to participate in these lessons, please complete, sign, and return the bottom portion of this letter. For more information on our school’s child-protection policies and procedures, check our school website or contact the school office.

Ms. Christy will be starting these classes with students in grades K-2 the week of April 11th.  If you DO NOT want your child to attend these classes, please email me at kpongrekun@lakecountyschools.net. 

K-2 Concert Prep:

We have a K-3 Concert coming up in May.  Please see below for details on how you can help support your students preparation for the concert:

🎶 LCES concert practice at home: Concert May 3rd!

Since the students are not in music often, I have created online classrooms for them to use at home. This will enable the children to practice our concert songs any time at home. There are two classrooms, one for kindergarten and one for 1^st/2^nd grades. This will ensure that we have a great concert. Below are the links. You may be required to ask to be invited. If so, just click that and I will make sure you have access. If you have any questions, please email me at bmoffett@lakecountyschools.net.

Kindergarten

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yCh6_7-2OcuakOS9HFFe5ZooTdPotMZOBN-0nucjuQU/edit#slide=id.p

1^st/2^nd

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ioAkDL-BAvEkzJFWAQtN8LclLEWCmfGa3yzZeb3yaxs/edit#slide=id.p

Mark Your Calendars:

• April 14th: Celebration of Learning 6:00-7:00 PM
• April 19th: Parent Curriculum Night
• April 28th: Community Meeting 8:10-8:40 Parents welcome to attend
• April 28th: Joy of Reading Literacy Carnaval Night
• May 3rd: K-2 Music Concert
• June 2nd: Kindergarten Round Up/Ice Cream Social (Details to come!)

Again, thanks for a great week.  Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. 

Katie Pongrekun

LCES Principal

Other Announcements/Upcoming Community Events:

Rockies Rock 2022!

Dear families,

With spring fast approaching, the GOL! team is working hard to bring you another awesome summer of Rockies Rock Adventure Camp. We write to share some important dates and updates  to this summer’s program.

Important

dates:

April 18th – Open enrollment begins (there will be a two-week open enrollment period)

May 2nd – We will start confirming admission and filling spots

Important

update:

After much discussion and consideration, we will be shortening camp by two weeks to better align with the LCSD summer break. This new schedule will make it more possible for LCSD staff to work at camp, thus helping us address a camp staff shortage. The resulting four week schedule will allow us to put our best efforts into creating magical experiences for your kiddos, while also providing LCSD staff with some much-deserved time off.

Rockies

Rock 2022 Schedule:

Session 1:

July 5th – 14th (due to the July 4th holiday, the first week of camp will run

T – Fr)

Session 2:

July 18th – 28th

We appreciate your understanding and support, and hope this announcement gives you ample time to plan your summers accordingly!

Best wishes,

and warm thoughts of summer,

The GOL! Team

Announcement from Project Dream

There is no Friday programming on the following dates:  May 20, Jun. 3, Jun. 17.