LCES Panther Cub Communication #18

by zalmeida · December 5, 2025

December 8th-11th, 2025

Para traducir al español, desplácese hasta el final y haga clic en la bandera

LCES Families,

Thank you so much for joining us on Thursday as we celebrated the HOWL of Responsibility!

We loved seeing so many of you there, and we hope you enjoyed the wonderful meeting led by our talented kindergarten team. Your partnership and enthusiasm make these moments truly special for our students!

Next week, our K-2 students will take the DIBELS literacy benchmark assessment, an important tool that helps us understand each child’s progress in key reading skills. We encourage you to talk with your student about giving their very best effort.

We’re also excited to invite you to our Family Fun Night Winter Festival happening next Thursday. Come enjoy a festive evening where you can meet Santa, decorate sugar cookies, create ornaments, and play games together. It’s always a joyful event, and we’d love to see you there to celebrate the holiday season!

As the weather gets colder, please remember to send your child with warm clothing each day, as we will continue going outside throughout the winter months. If your student is in need of warm winter gear, don’t hesitate to reach out to the front office, we are here to help.

Thank you for your continued support and for being such an important part of our school community!

See you on Monday,

Brandi Lovely, PK-2 Principal

blovely@lakecountyschools.net

LCES Important Dates (PK – 2nd)

December 8-11: K-2 DIBELS literacy benchmark testing

December 11: PK-2 Family Fun Night Winter Festival 6:00-7:30 (flier)

December 11: K-2 Dollar Day- finger puppets (flier below)

December 15-18: Holiday Spirit Week (flier)

December 18: PK Trail 100 Celebrations with Santa (times to be announced soon)

December 18: K-2 Panther Day during Specials, cookie decorating

December 19-January 4: No School, Winter Break

Helpful Link: Lake County School District Calendar

K-2 Specifics

DIBELS Testing: Next week, December 8-11, kindergarten through second grade students will take the DIBELS literacy benchmark assessment for middle of year. We are excited to see student literacy growth as the result of continuous focus on literacy skills including specific, targeted interventions for every child. This test is important to gauge the effectiveness of our instruction and interventions and we encourage you to talk with your child about doing their very best.

IXL Challenge: Our IXL challenge is happening right now! Each student who uses IXL and practices ‘recommended skills’ for at least 60 minutes, will be entered into a raffle drawing for a pizza gift certificate! This platform is research based and proven to have a strong impact on student academic achievement. Please encourage your child to use IXL throughout the week and reach out if you have any questions about how to login. The winner will be announced next week in family communication.

Interested in more literacy resources? Check out this website from CDE: https://www.readlearnleadco.org/

HOWLs Challenge: Our quarter 2 HOWLs challenge is well underway and we are excited to have lunch with the principals for those winners on December 17th! Remind your students to continue showing our HOWLs each and every day: collaboration, respect, responsibility, craftsmanship, compassion, perseverance, curiosity, creativity.

Attendance: See details about the semester 1 attendance challenge in the fliers section below!

K-2 Project Dream

Updated Contact Information:

LCES Project Dream has updated contact information due to a leave of absence for our Site Supervisor, Raquel. If you are need to contact Project Dream at LCES, please use the following methods:

For day-of changes to your afterschool plan, please contact Zee Almeida before 2:30 pm: 719-486-6890 zalmeida@lakecountyschools.net. This is the best way to communicate changes.
To reach a Project Dream staff member during programs in the case of an emergency (3:15pm to 6:00pm Monday -Thursday, 7:45am to 3:30pm Friday) please call the LCES Project Dream cell phone: 719-293-5363. Please leave a text message if we do not answer.
If you are unable to reach anyone in a true emergency, please call Mike Adler at 719-427-7003
For changes in registration (add days, reduce days), please email Raquel Contreras at rcontreras@lakecountyschools.net

Healthy School Meals for All Election Results

Propositions MM and LL were passed by voters in the recent election, which allows the Healthy School Meals for All program to raise and retain additional funding. This means there will be no changes to our breakfast and lunch program this year. All students will continue to have access to a free, nutritious breakfast and lunch each school day.

Even though meals are free for all students, we ask that families continue to provide household income information by completing the Federal Economic Data Survey (FEDS Form). This information helps schools receive full federal funding, which directly supports meal programs, after school programs and other nutrition initiatives. Please contact Leslee Torsell ltorsell@lakecountyschools.net or Mary Jelf mjelf@lakecountyschools.net for more information on how to complete the FEDS form.

Las propuestas MM y LL fueron aprobadas por los votantes en las recientes elecciones, lo que permite al programa “Comidas escolares saludables para todos” recaudar y conservar fondos adicionales. Esto significa que no habrá cambios en nuestro desayuno y almuerzo programa este año. Todos los estudiantes seguirán teniendo acceso a un desayuno y almuerzo gratuito y nutritivo cada día escolar.

Aunque las comidas son gratuitas para todos los estudiantes, pedimos a las familias que sigan proporcionando información sobre los ingresos familiares rellenando el Federal Economic Data Survey (FEDS Form). Esta información ayuda a las escuelas a recibir financiación federal completa, que apoya directamente los programas de comidas, los programas extraescolares y otras iniciativas nutricionales. Póngase en contacto con Leslee Torsell ltorsell@lakecountyschools.net o Mary Jelf mjelf@lakecountyschools.net para obtener más información sobre cómo completar el FEDS Form.

The Center Specifics

Dear Center Families,

Hello and Happy December! December brings many fun events to the program, here are a few things to get on your calendars.

December 11 – PreK-2nd grade Winter Festival Family Fun Night at LCES 6:00-7:30
December 15-18 – Holiday Spirit Week, fun dress up day themes for each day of the week
December 18 – Preschool Trail 100 Celebrations, each child receives a gift funded by the local Trail 100 Legacy Foundation. Classrooms have scheduled time in the library to receive their gift from a special guest. Families are welcome, invited, and encouraged to join us for this special event.

Please check your child’s yellow folder and attached fliers for more information on the above events.

With the arrival of snow and the colder temps, it seems that winter is here! Our preschoolers go outside several times a week. Please be sure to send your child with their winter gear including snowpants, boots, hat, mittens/gloves, and a jacket to school. These items can stay at school and be sent home on Thursday or you can request with your child’s teacher that they come home daily. Our program will go outside unless the “real feel” temperature is less than 10 degrees. It is important that children have their gear here so they can play outside comfortably. Please see Marissa’s note below if your child is in need of any of this winter clothing. We will utilize the indoor playground for recess on days where it is not possible to get outside due to weather conditions or cold temperatures.

Last, I want to introduce our families to a new staff member in our program. We were said to say good-by to Ms. Sheryl before Thanksgiving break but are very excited to invite Ms. Leonela into our program and our program support team. She is excited to get to know our classrooms and all of our preschoolers.

Have a great weekend! Stay warm, we will see you Monday!

Tanya Lenhard, Director

719-486-6928 (work); 719-293-1055 (cell)

tdlenhard@lakecountyschools.net

From the Assistant Director

Hello Families,

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Break, it was great to have all students back this week.

If you are in need of winter clothing for your child please reach out to me or your classroom teacher. Winter clothing is starting to come in, and has been passed out this week to your child.

Tuition for December is due today, you can log into Powerhub to make this payment.

Have a great weekend.

If you have any questions, please free to contact me:

Marissa Martinez

Assistant Preschool Director

719-486-6927

mamartinez@lakecountyschools.net

Family Engagement Corner

We would like to highlight a couple of resources we have in our preschool vestibule for family use.

First is our Free Little Pantry. This was designed by a former kindergarten teacher, Kelly Ridgeway (Kelly Fernee) and her kindergarten class many years ago as a service learning project. It has been sustained by families over the years. Leave what you can, take what you need.

Next is our Shared Library. This was put together last year by Lisa Benton, one of our preschool teachers who currently teaches Kindergarten right here at LCES. Feel free to leave a book or take a book. This is intended for you to bring books for other families to enjoy and to take a new one home to read with your family.