August 31st – Sept. 3rd, 2026
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Dear LCES Families and Guardians,
What a fun week it has been at LCES! We are still buzzing with excitement after our Houses Reveal yesterday, see the pictures below! Every student and staff member is now officially part of one of our 10 Houses, and the energy in the building was incredible!
Our goal with Houses is simple: have fun, make new connections, and build strong relationships. Throughout the year, students will have opportunities to connect with children and adults across kindergarten through 5th grade, building relational skills, confidence, and a stronger sense of belonging within our school community.
Watching students cheer, celebrate, and discover their Houses together was such a special moment. We are excited to see where this new LCES tradition takes us!
A Quick Attendance Reminder
Tardy time for all K-5 students is 8:00 a.m. Thank you for prioritizing your child’s learning and attendance. Being at school and ready to learn on time each day makes a meaningful difference!
Questions or Concerns? Start with Your Child’s Teacher!
As a final reminder, please reach out to your child’s teacher with any questions or concerns. Your child’s teacher is your first go-to person for anything related to your student and is an important partner in your child’s success. If you need help contacting your child’s teacher, the front office is able to share contact information.
It has truly been a fantastic week at LCES, and we are so grateful to share this year with your children. Here’s to a great year of connection, belonging, and fun!
Warmly,
Brandi Lovely, PK-5 Principal
Front Office: 719-486-6890
From the Front Office:
Power Hub App is back up and working!
Thank you for your patience while Power School worked on the app. It is back up and able to take payments.
Please let the office know if you have any other troubles or need help with accessing the app.
LCES Important Dates (PK – 5th)
August 24-September 3: K-5 Beginning of Year DIBELS reading benchmark assessments
September 7: No School, Labor Day
September 9: K-5 Open House at LCES 6:00-7:00pm
K-5 Specifics
DIBELS Testing: We will continue our beginning of the year DIBELS assessments this week. These tests help us measure how well kids are learning and gives us a direction on interventions for the school year. This assessment is also important because it is influential in making big decisions for our district regarding student performance. We will finish testing all K-5 students through the first week of September and thank you for talking with your student about doing their best at school! We look forward to sharing these assessment results with you at parent teacher conferences in October.
Come Have Lunch With Your Student!: We would love to welcome you into our school for lunch! Sharing a meal with your child is a wonderful way to see our new building, connect with your student during the day, and experience our school community.
Please review the LCES Lunch Visitor Flyer for important visitor expectations, and be sure to sign in at the front office when you arrive. We can’t wait to have you join us!
Lunch Schedule (Kindergarten–5th Grade):
Kindergarten: 10:35–11:00 a.m.
1st Grade: 10:55–11:20 a.m.
2nd Grade: 11:35–12:00 a.m.
3rd Grade: 11:40 a.m.–12:05 p.m.
4th Grade: 12:05 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
5th Grade: 12:40–1:05 p.m
August Panther HOWL (Habit of Work & Learning) Focus: Respect
For the month of August, we will celebrate the HOWL of Respect. Respect means, “I see the value in others and I treat everyone with kindness.”
Attendance: Week 3 of school, attendance continues to be high! Year to date our overall average daily attendance is 95%. Beginning in September, students who have perfect attendance every 2 weeks will be entered into a raffle for a free pizza from the Famous!
K- 93% 1- 95% 2- 97% 3- 98% 4- 91% 5- 96%
Perfect Attendance Pizza Informational Flyer.png
K-5 Project Dream
Reminders & Updates
– All Project Dream programs take place at Lake County Intermediate School (1000 W 6th St.)
– Transportation schedules are posted on our LCES Project Dream information page (link above).
– For afterschool, please do not pick up before 5:15p, as students will be in activities and their departure before the end of activity can cause disruptions.
– Students who bike to school can load their bike up on the activity buses that transport students between LCES & LCIS. This may change when we begin transporting students via large school buses.
– Due to our current waitlist, please let us know if your plans have changed and you no longer need your student to attend any Project Dream program.
Registration
A combination of high program interest and capacity limitations for afterschool and Friday programs have resulted in a maximum of 3 days of afterschool and a waitlist for both afterschool and Friday programs. We are sharing the following updates to give a timeframe for expanded capacity and moving students off the waitlist to help families make better plans for their students this Fall.
We expect to be able to open more spots for afterschool and Friday programs for grades K-5 (LCES) beginning September 8th, the Tuesday after we return from Labor Day Weekend. Our goal is to move as many families off the waitlist as possible at that time. Waitlist spots are determined by the date we received your request, with the earliest requests being highest on the waitlist. We do not publish what spot a student is on the waitlist. We will reach out to families to confirm their added days prior to the Labor Day weekend.
We expect another expansion of our capacity later in the Fall, likely after the Fall Break. If we still have a waitlist at that time, we will prioritize enrolling families without days before expanding to four days. Do not expect your student to have four days of afterschool this Fall.
A reminder, our online registration through school registration closed on July 29th. If you submitted registration for Project Dream after July 29th, you need to contact Blanca Rodriguez directly to be on the waitlist for afterschool and Friday programs. Many families have already taken this step and have a spot on the waitlist, but feel free to reach out to Blanca to confirm.
Lake County Intermediate School
We are so excited to host all Project Dream programs at Lake County Intermediate School. We’ve received questions from students and families about LCIS, and we’ve posted more information on our LCES Project Dream information page (link above).
Blanca Rodriguez | Student Coordinator | 719-293-0115 | brodriguez@lakecountyschools.net
Thank you and see you at LCIS!
The Center Specifics
Dear Preschool Families,
Wow! It is hard to believe we are almost in September! With a new month right around the corner, I wanted to share some important dates to get on your calendar.
- September 7th – Our program is closed for Labor Day.
- September 8th is our 30 day timeline to have an updated physical or well child exam on file. Please reach out if you need any support with meeting this requirement. We are happy to share resources. You can send these in your child’s yellow folder, give them to your child’s teacher or bus monitor, or email them to Tanya Lenhard tdlenhard@lakecountyschools.net or Marissa Martinez mamartinez@lakecountyschools.net.
- September 18th – Fall Home Visits occur for our families enrolled in Head Start. More information to come!
- September 24 – Mark your calendars, The Center will be hosting it’s first Family Fun Night for this school year. The theme is health and safety. More information to come!
Our school year is in full swing! Enjoy your weekend, we will see you Monday!
Tanya Lenhard, Director
719-486-6928 (work); 719-293-1055 (cell)
tdlenhard@lakecountyschools.net
Classroom News!
In our classrooms we utilize a “clean up” song to signal to our preschoolers that it is time to clean up. When the music comes on this is our cue to stop our play and clean up our area. This year the cleanup song is “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” from the Lion King. It is just long enough for our classrooms to get all the materials put away at the end of playtime. Our bins are labeled with pictures of the materials, and our shelves are labeled with the same pictures so children understand where things go. We are getting good at this routine!
Next week we will be starting our first CKLA Domain– All About Me! During this domain children will:
- Learn about their 5 senses
- Discuss how and why they are special – we are all different!
- Identify body parts
- Learn the names of their peers
- Practice with drawing and writing tools
Our nursery rhyme next week is Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. Here is a link so you can try it at home! https://supersimple.com/song/head-shoulders-knees-and-toes/
From the Assistant Director
Dear Families,
It’s been a great second week! It’s been great to see all the happy faces during drop off.
A few reminders:
- Tuition was posted to your child’s account in Powerschool, to pay by card you must have the powerhub app, you can also pay cash/check in the main LCES office. Due date is September 1st.
- If you need to confirm your child’s pick up list, add/drop a person please reach out to Marissa at 719-427-7075.
- Turn in your completed DECA and ASQ screener, this can be sent in your child’s yellow folder or brought to me directly.
- Don’t forget to turn in your child’s current Physical (Annual Well Child Check), this can be put in your child’s yellow folder or brought to me, our 30 day deadline is September 8.
I hope you all have a great weekend. I look forward to seeing you all next week.
Marissa Martinez
Assistant Preschool Director
mamartinez@lakecountyschools.net
Office: 719-486-6927
Cell: 719-427-7075
Family Engagement Corner
Hello PreK Families!
I would like to take a moment to introduce myself! I am so excited to be a part of the PreK team this year.
I have been with the school district for five years. I started as a Club Leader with the after-school programs and then served as a Site Supervisor for four years.
I was born and raised in Leadville and went through the school district as a student myself. Now, I am so excited to be a part of the district as a staff member!
As the Family and Community Coordinator for PreK this year, I am excited to get to know all of our families, learn from one another, and help build a strong sense of community. I look forward to meeting everyone and making this a wonderful year for our PreK families!
I am so happy to be here and can’t wait to get to know you all! 💛
Raquel Contreras
Family & Community Coordinator
rcontreras@lakecountyschools.net
Cell:719-293-1403
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Fliers
