LCES Panther Cub Communication #28

by zalmeida · February 26, 2026

March 2nd – 5th

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

LCES Families,

On Monday, we celebrated the 100th day of school! It was so fun celebrating with students that we are 100 days smarter. Here’s a few pictures to make you smile:

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, March 4 for an Informational Open House here at LCES beginning in the cafeteria at 6pm. The purpose of the evening is to learn more about school consolidation for next year, hear important updates, and ask questions or share feedback. We will be offering school tours of our learning spaces to familiarize yourself with the new classroom arrangements. Interpretation will be available.

As you may have noticed, our library is packed up and ready for construction. Beginning over spring break, construction will start in the library to renovate the space into two classrooms. If you are curious about the floor plan and learning spaces for next year, we would love to give you a tour on Wednesday, March 4 at our Open House Informational Night. There will be time and space for questions answered from myself and Mrs. Kate Bartlett, our Superintendent. We hope to see you there!

Next week is Dr. Seuss spirit week! The flier is linked below and we can’t wait to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday with these fun days.

Four more days until Spring Break, Panthers!

See you on Monday!

Brandi Lovely, PK-2 Principal

blovely@lakecountyschools.net

LCES Important Dates (PK – 2nd)

March 2-5: Dr. Seuss Spirit Week (flier here)

March 4: Consolidation Family Information Night and School Tours (flier here) 6:00pm, LCES Cafeteria

March 5: K-2 Panther Day during specials and K-2 Dollar Day

March 9-13: Spring Break, NO SCHOOL

March 25-26: Early Dismissal at 11am, Parent Teacher Conferences 12:30-8pm (link will be shared soon to sign up for a time slot)

Helpful Link: Lake County School District Calendar

K-2 Specifics

February Reading Log: This upcoming week is the last week for the February reading challenge. Friendly reminder, please read with and encourage your child to read each day and color in one block for every 10 minutes of reading. We encourage you to read with your child in your home language and please reach out if you need more books at home. Happy Reading!

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

March Panther HOWL (Habit of Work & Learning) Focus: Perseverance

For the month of March, we will celebrating the HOWL of Perseverance. Perseverance means, “I can stick with things even when I’m tired, frustrated, or challenged.” The Student of the Month for each crew will be announced at our next community meeting on March 26th. If your student is chosen by their teacher, we will reach out at the beginning of that week to let you know!

Attendance

Congratulations to our Feb 16th- Feb 26th pizza attendance challenge winner! We hope your family enjoys some delicious pizza and thank you for having zero absences for the last 2 weeks of school! Remember to use the attendance tracking calendar at home with your student to help your student keep on track for all of the fun challenges and prizes we have regarding attendance this year. See details about our next pizza gift card attendance challenge in the fliers section below!

Semester 2 Attendance Challenge:

The semester 2 attendance challenge is here! 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 20th! We will be checking attendance from Jan 5th-April 30th to see who qualifies. Families will be notified if your student has earned this opportunity the week of May 4th. Students may opt out of attending if parents so choose (Opt out deadline: May 6th). As the event gets closer, we will share more details so check this section regularly for updates! Please note LCIS is 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: We are excited to announce our quarter 3 HOWLs challenge! Your student will try to earn as many HOWL Dollars as they can by March 23rd for the chance to tie dye a t-shirt with the principals at the end of the quarter! The top four HOWL dollar earners in each class will win. If your student wins, we will send home a paper parent communication in their backpack. You will also receive a text message from the front office. Students can earn HOWL Dollars by showing any of our HOWLs to any staff member in the school.

K-2 Project Dream

To make changes to after-school arrangements, the front office must be contacted by 2:30 PM if you plan to pick up your student before 3:35 PM.

LCES Project Dream Information

Raquel Contreras

LCES Site Supervisor

719-293-5363

rcontreras@lakecountyschools.net

The Center Specifics

Dear Center Families,

For the first week of March, our building has Dr. Seuss spirit week! Help your child dress in the theme for reading and for fun!

Monday – Top Hat Monday! Wear a hat and red and white stripes

Tuesday – Grinchy Green Day! Wear green

Wednesday – Wacky Sock Day! Wear crazy socks

Thursday – Sleep Thursday! Wear pajamas

As a part of this fun week, classrooms will be focusing on various Dr. Seuss books and other read alouds. There will be some fun activities sprinkled in too!

Please remember that our program is closed from March 6-15 for spring break. Enjoy your weekend, 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,

February 2026 Tuition statements have been posted to your child’s account. You can view these in your Powerhub account. Due date is by March 5, to avoid any late payment fees. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me.

Do you need your 2025 Tax Statement for child care payments, please reach out to me directly, I will complete and get these to you within a week of the request.

Please remember school starts at 9:00, if your child will be dropped off after 9:30 please call the front office (719-486-6890) or Marissa (719-427-7075), so we can make sure we include them in meal counts for the day.

We have seen an increase in illness in preschool over the last week. To help during this cold and flu season focus on proper handwashing with your preschooler at home. We follow the “How Sick is Too Sick” guidelines for illness, your child could be sent home for symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, throwing up, not able to participate in daily activities, etc. Children can be at school if they have been symptom free for 24 hours without medication. If you need to call your child in for the day please call the front office (719-486-6890) or Marissa (719-427-7075),

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

In the spirit of Dr. Seuss week, we want to highlight the importance of reading with your child at home. Here is an article from Reading Rockets that shares some tips for families and creating this practice at home.

Read together every day – Read to your child every day. Make this a warm and loving time when the two of you can cuddle close.

Give everything a name – .Build your child’s vocabulary by talking about interesting words and objects. For example, “Look at that airplane! Those are the wings of the plane. Why do you think they are called wings?”

Say how much you enjoy reading – . Tell your child how much you enjoy reading with him or her. Talk about “story time” as the favorite part of your day.