LCES Panther Cub Communication #35
Week of April 28-May 1, 2025
  | Para traducir al español, desplácese hasta el final y haga clic en la bandera  . |
| LCES Families, The last weekend in April, it’s crazy how fast the year is moving! We will begin adding important dates to this communication. Please pay close attention as we have lots of upcoming events and activities. As always, reach out to the front office with any questions. On Thursday, we had a community meeting to celebrate the HOWL of curiosity. Our kindergarten students and teachers led a very engaging community meeting. There was also a special presentation from our ELD kindergarten students who retold the story of “The Three Little Pigs”. Congratulations to our students of the month who were nominated for the HOWL of curiosity!   The week of May 5-8, we have our end of the year, DIBELS testing for kindergarten through second grades. This is a very important assessment that we are eager to administer and celebrate the reading growth in our students. Thank you for ensuring your student is here at school that week and they are rested and ready to perform their best! Have an awesome weekend! Brandi Lovely, Principal blovely@lakecountyschools.net | |
| K-2 Specifics | |
| May HOWL (Habit of Work & Learning) Focus: Creativity For the month of May, we are celebrating the HOWL of creativity. Creativity means, “I can think of new and interesting ways to tackle projects and challenges.” The Student of the Month for each crew will be announced at our next community meeting on May 29th. If your student is chosen by their teacher, we will reach out at the beginning of that week to let you know! Semester 2 Attendance Challenge:  We also have an exciting semester-long attendance challenge to share! This semester, K-2 students who have 1 or fewer absences will have the opportunity to attend a Rockies baseball game in Denver at Coors Field on May 22nd! We will be checking attendance from Jan 6th-May 1st to see who qualifies. Families will be notified if your student has earned this opportunity the week of May 5th. The game is at 1:10 pm so students will come to school as usual, board the buses at 10:00 am, enjoy the game, and return back to school between approximately 5:30-6 pm. The tickets are offered to only students and staff at a reduced rate so we are unable to welcome parent volunteers for this event. Students may opt out of attending if parents so choose (Opt out deadline: May 7th). LCIS is also doing an attendance reward at this Rockies game as well so please look for specific information from LCIS in their parent communication as the criteria is slightly different between schools. Make sure your student is present at school every day as long as they are healthy in order to earn this opportunity! We are so excited for this special event! HOWLs Challenge: It is the last quarter of the school year which means it is time for our Quarter 4 HOWLS challenge! Your student will try to earn as many HOWL Dollars as they can by June 9th for the chance to have cotton candy and extra recess with the principals on June 16th! The top six HOWL dollar earners in each class will win. If your student wins, we will send home paper communication as well as a message from the front office. Students can earn HOWL Dollars by showing any of our HOWLs to any staff member in the school. The HOWL that we are focusing on for May is creativity. From the School Nurse: Colleen Nielsen, RN Colorado has had its first reported Measles case this week. Measles is more than just a rash. It is a serious respiratory illness that can cause lifelong problems like hearing loss, brain damage, and even death. Measles is preventable with a vaccine. Please reach out to your provider to check on your student’s vaccination status. If measles was to be found in our student population, your student will be excluded if not fully vaccinated. If you have questions, please email me at cnielsen@lakecountyschools.net    We need volunteers! Sign up to volunteer at: https://signup.com/go/iGRLKLV Questions? Speak with Mrs. Northcraft, the art teacher at LCES: jnorthcraft@lakecountyschools.net Necesitamos voluntarios! Regístrate para ser voluntario @:https://signup.com/go/iGRLKLV Preguntas? Hable con Mrs. Northcraft, profesora de arte en LCES: jnorthcraft@lakecountyschools.net | |
| K-2 Project Dream Information | |
| Hello Project Dream Families, Elementary School Information & Policies If you have any questions about Project Dream, please reach out to Raquel. Raquel Contreras | LCES Site Supervisor | 719-293-5363 | rcontreras@lakecountyschools.net | |
| Preschool Specifics | |
| Hello Center Families, Have you walked by and noticed that our outdoor classroom is getting a new look? We are having a “squishy” pad installed that will make this space a little safer for those running, playing feet. The black pad was the first phase and is what is going to give some cushion between the concrete and our kids. The second phase will be to add the “prettier” top coat. This will occur prior to Monday. This space will remain completely closed through next week while everything dries and sets completely. We are excited to see the final project and the weather is warming up enough to get it back in use for daily outdoor play. I have a clarification regarding Kindergarten pre-registration. This is not a need for Center families (if you already did it, sorry for the extra step). We have your information since you are already enrolled with our district and our school. You will get a packet and the registration link in July to officially register with the rest of district enrollment. In the meantime, we will be sharing information later this spring regarding any sponsored Kindergarten transition events. The Round Up events that are being held are to help our school connect with other children in the community that will be ready for kindergarten next year. We want to be sure we know of these families so they can be sent official July registration packets. I apologize for the confusion on my end with the process. In terms of preschool enrollment, all returning families must complete an application by May 14, 2025 to be considered in our first selection process. Please take a few moments to drop off the updated application for next year. These are in our front entrance for easy access. Bus families please request an application from your bus monitor if one is needed. Have a great weekend, see you Monday! Tanya Lenhard –PreK Director Office phone: 719-486-6928 Cell: 719-293-1055 tdlenhard@lakecountyschools.net Classroom and Curriculum Updates: – This week our classrooms introduced the letter Ii and letter character Inny Inchworm. Remember to keep practicing the /i/ sound at home. – Your child may come home singing and doing the motions for “Bat, Bat” or “Row, row, row your boat”. Rhyming is an important step in getting ready to read. Practicing nursery rhymes is a wonderful way to help prepare your child to be a reader and they are just plain fun! – We have also been focusing a lot on listening for the first sound in words. Help your child to listen for the /ssss/ at the beginning of the word snake or the /c/ at the beginning of the word cat. – Here is the link to the letter and sound video that was discussed at conferences. Watch to learn the animal name, letter sound and gesture and practice daily with your child. – English letter/sound video Spanish letter/sound video Kelly Horning Assistant Director Office Phone: 719-486-6927 khorning@lakecountyschools.net Family Engagement Corner  What exciting times here at The Center as we look ahead to the 2025-2026 School Year! If your child will be returning to The Center, please complete and submit your 2025-2026 Application along with any required documentation as soon as possible. You can find the application on our website, on the round table at The Center entrance, or ask for one in the office. Early Literacy: Building the Foundation for Reading Continuing with our topic “Helping my child learn to love books and reading,” this week we will look at another predictive variable proven to aid in building a strong foundation for reading: Phonological Awareness.  Phonological Awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in spoken words. It’s a key skill for learning to read and spell because it helps children understand how words are made up of individual sounds. Essentially, it’s about being able to hear, identify, and play with the sounds in words, including rhymes, syllables, and the smallest sound units (phonemes). Need a more detailed breakdown? Phonological awareness is about understanding the sound structure of spoken language. It’s not about letters or writing, but about the sounds themselves. So…why is this important? Strong phonological awareness helps children learn to read more easily because it directly impacts their ability to decode words and understand their meaning. So, what skills are involved? – Rhyming: Identifying words that sound alike. – Syllabication: Breaking words into syllables (e.g., “cat” = /cat/). – Segmenting: Separating words into individual sounds (e.g., “cat” = /c/ /a/ /t/). – Blending: Putting sounds together to form a word (e.g., /c/ /a/ /t/ = “cat”). And, what are some activities to support phonological awareness? – Singing nursery rhymes and songs: Many songs have rhyming words and rhythm that can help children develop phonological awareness. – Playing word games: Activities like rhyming games, identifying syllables, or segmenting and blending sounds can be fun and engaging. – Reading aloud: When you read aloud, pointing out the sounds in words and playing with the sounds can help children develop phonological awareness. Original articles: Early Literacy: Building the Foundation for Reading – EdwardsOG Rhonda H. DeVoe Preschool Family and Community Engagement Manager Office Phone: (719) 486-6925/Cell Phone: (719) 293-1403 rdevoe@lakecountyschools.net | |
| PK-2 Important Dates | |
| May 6 PK & Kindergarten Registration, LCES Library 4:00 to 7:00pm May 15 LCSD Art Show, LCES Gym May 29 Community Meeting, curiosity led by specials, LCES Gym 8:00 | |
| Fliers | |
  May Menus will be uploaded next week! Digital copies of May Menus are available in our front entrances or in the office! Please feel free to stop by and grab one. The Art Room has a lot of great supplies, but we are always looking for extra interesting items to use for creativity! If you would like to donate any of these items, please drop them off in the Art Room at Parent/Teacher conferences this week. Or, send them with your student to drop off in the office or art room. Thanks so much for supporting our creative students! Mrs. Northcraft Lake County Elementary Art Teacher jnorthcraft@lakecountyschools.net          | |
