Panther Cub Communication #7
Week of September 18-22, 2023
Panther Cub Families!
We had an awesome week at LCES this week. Our DIBELS 8 testing went really well, we wrapped up our start of the year Cornerstones with PK, and we had a great time with The NED show. Overall, it has been such a positive and inspiring start of the school year.
Here are some highlights from our preschool cornerstone time on Tuesday. Students built their dream school and were playing caterpillar tag.
Preschool Cornerstone:
Principal Coffee Chat:
I will be going over school wide data and sharing more about DIBELS at our next Principal Coffee Chat on Tuesday, September 26th from 9-10 AM or from 6-7 PM in the library. Rolls provided in the morning, cookies in the evening. We hope holding this at two times will allow each of you an opportunity to attend. Translation provided.
NED Show:
As you know we recently hosted an all school event called The NED Show. We trust your student was encouraged by the show which inspires everyone to become Champions at school and in life!
The NED Show yoyos are still available for purchase to support the free show and message. The sale will run from September 18-28. The order form is below or we have additional copies available. Please use cash or check made out to LCES. If your student has already purchased a yoyo, here is an important link to help them get off to a good start with proper string length adjustment, click here.
Additionally, here are a couple of our favorite follow up home resources from the Then NED Show website. You may want to use these with your child as they are designed to go hand in hand with the program.
If you’d like additional resources, they are available here.
And don’t forget to ask your student what they learned in the show about Never giving up, Encouraging others and Doing your best!
Thank you all again for the privilege of getting to work with you and your students every day. Please reach out at any time if you have questions or concerns.
Thanks,
Katie Pongrekun
Principal, LCES
| Staff of the Week Highlight! |
Each week this year in family communication, we will be highlighting a staff member in the building. If you want, please feel free to send emails, handwritten notes, or letters of encouragement to that staff member.
Clare Mulcey- Literacy Specialist
Clare grew up in a military family where they traveled a lot, in and out of the country. For 8 years she taught kindergarten through second grade. Last year she took on the role of Literacy Specialist here at LCES. She is a registered nurse with her M.Ed in Elementary Education and is currently working towards her Reading Specialist Endorsement. A fun fact about Clare is that Barack Obama responded to a letter she wrote him during his presidency regarding the humanitarian crisis and his “red line” remarks about Syria. She will forever keep this in her safe as a special memento. In her free time Clare enjoys photography and travel. Thank you Clare, for all you do!
Send Mrs. Mulcey an encouraging note at cmulcey@lakecountyschools.net
Lake County School District-Staff of the Month-Aug. 2023
Lake County School District has AMAZING staff and we’d like to highlight some for the month of August.
Click here to read more!
| K-2 Specifics |
Attendance: Every week that students have perfect attendance they are awarded 5 HOWLs dollars for responsibility. As part of our LCES Work Plan, we have a school attendance goal of 94% for the year. When students are here they are able to learn, when students learn they are set up for lifelong success. This week our attendance percentage by grade was as follows:
- Kindergarten: 92%
- 1st Grade: 92%
- 2nd Grade: 95%
Thank you for bringing your children to us each and everyday.
Thank you all for adjusting to our new breakfast and start times! We have noticed that more students are eating breakfast now and ready to learn. We have started to be able to get most students to their classes on time. As a reminder, breakfast is served daily at no cost to students from 7:30-8:00. We ask that you please have your child to school no later than 7:45 if they want to eat breakfast. Our first class of the day starts at 8:00.
| Preschool Specifics |
Curriculum:
- Preschool Room – This week children will be learning the classic tales, “The Lion and the Mouse” and “The City Mouse and the Country Mouse”. Kindly check your child’s yellow folder for any resources provided for these activities to connect learning at home.
- 2 ½ Years Old Room – Children will continue learning the routines and expectations in the classroom as well as potty training.
- We are in week 6 of the second step, children will be learning how to ask for what they need or want. Here is the link to this week’s lesson.
Newsletter and In-Kind
- Thank you families for turning in your August in-kind form. If you haven’t done so you can still turn them in by sending the paper copy to your child’s teacher or scan the QR code:
- Here is the link to our September newsletter and In-kind form. English and Spanish
Child Care Parent Survey
We are in the process of gathering data for the child care needs in our community. We ask families to take this short survey to support our process by clicking this link or scanning the QR code below. Kindly complete this survey by September 28th. Thank you in advance!
Head Start Families
- Policy council ballots went out last week, if you haven’t turned in your ballot please send them in your child’s yellow folder by Monday, Sept. 18th or drop them off in the front office ballot box.
Reminders:
- Remember to have your student to school at 9am. Breakfast is served from 9:00-9:20.
- Be sure to put your student’s yellow folder in their backpack to return on Monday so that we can fill them back up with important information. Thanks for helping with this.
- If you still have orientation paperwork such as Parent Agreement, Health forms, Goal Settings, Child and Adult Food Care Program form during orientation, please place them in your child’s yellow folder under the Return to School section or drop it off at the front office.
If you need to add any additional people to your pick up list, please reach out to Marissa at 719-486-6890.
| Important Dates PK-2 |
| September 14 | |
| September 18-28 | NED Yo-Yo Sale |
| September 19 | Picture Retakes (flier below) |
| September 21 | K-2 Dollar Day (flier below) |
| September 26 | Principal Coffee Chat 9-10 AM or 6-7 PM (Translation provided both times) |
| September 27 | 5:30-7:00 PK Family Fun Night- Health |
| September 28 | K-2 Community Meeting- Collaboration led by 2nd Grade |
| September 28 | Panther Day- Fall Leaves |
Picture Retakes are only for students who did not get a chance to take a picture during orientation, pictures are needed for school ID’s. If you would like your student to take a picture for purchase please fill out the form that your student brought home on Thursday, If you don’t have on you can request one from the office. You can also order online on mylifetouch.com. Please call the front office at 719-486-6890 to let us know that you are purchasing pictures so we can make sure your student gets a picture taken.
LCES MENUS:
| Project Dream Information |
If you ever have any questions or concerns about Project Dream, please reach out to Raquel Contreras, our LCES Site Supervisor (719-293-5363 or rcontreras@lakecountyschools.net).
Project Dream Special Event Day– September 22
Depending on weather forecasts, Project Dream will either be traveling to the Buena Vista River Park or the Fish Hatchery on Friday, September 22nd. If your student attends Fridays with Project Dream please make sure they arrive with a water bottle, hat, and jacket so that they can fully enjoy the outdoors on this day. We will be sending out communication next week as the day gets closer. On this day, please ensure your student arrives to their school no later than 9:30am. We will not be back at the schools until 2:45pm.
If you need to pick up your student before 2:30pm on this day, reach out to Raquel Contreras to make arrangements.
Transportation Update:
We have secured a large bus for some of our major after school stops. The new Monday-Thursday bus schedule was sent out on September 4th. You can find all current transportation routes and more information here: https://www.lakecountyschools.net/project-dream-final-information/
| Fliers |
September Dollar Day (only for K-2 students and families)
