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FAIRMOUNT FOCUS EXECUTIVE BOARD For additional coordinator info, FAIRMOUNT ELEMENTARY GROCERY A big thank-you to everyone who purchased or reloaded their grocery cards in October.
A $25 gift card to Regal Cinemas goes to: Keep using those cards! Each time you reload you earn money for your PTA and for your school fees. A BIG THANK-YOU TO: Stacy Atkins and all of the volunteers who helped with the Student/Parent Breakfast—The kids loved having breakfast with their parents at school, and the food was wonderful‼ Thank you to those who made the Fairmount Directory possible so we can all more easily keep in touch: Soumita Datta, Mia Coffing, Susan Bobroske, and Nancy Eckley. Thank you for your countless hours of work! Fairmount Directories are on sale in the office. The cost is $10.00, and you will be automatically enrolled in the PTA upon purchase.
Thank you to those who donated items to the clinic last month! They are very appreciated and will be going to good use!
FLU INFORMATION In the United States, millions of people get sick, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized and thousands to tens of thousands of people die from flu and related complications every year. While it is not possible to predict how severe the 2016–2017 season will be or which viruses will dominate, one constant is the need for annual vaccination to help decrease the impact of this contagious disease. An annual flu vaccine is the first and best way to protect you and your family from the flu. People should be vaccinated before flu activity begins. CDC recommends that people get vaccinated by the end of October, if possible. A few things to note for this flu season: * Only injectable flu vaccines (flu shots) are recommended for use this season. Learn more about what’s new for the 2016–'17 flu season by visiting the CDC website HERE. You can join the effort to fight the flu by getting your flu vaccine and encouraging people to protect themselves and their families by doing the same. Jefferson County Public Health will have flu vaccines available later this month at its regular immunization clinics and at its upcoming Shots for Tots and Teens clinic on November 5th in Arvada. Please call 303.239.7078 for flu vaccine availability or to make an appointment for any other clinic services. Thank you!
Earns Moo-la! Thank you to those families who have contributed to the success of our partnership with Longmont Dairy for the “Milk Caps for Moo-la†program-—we receive five cents for every cap we collect! With your support, so far this school year we’ve collected 4,800 caps, raising $240 for our school! How can you help if you aren’t already participating? Just start saving Longmont Dairy product caps if you already have products delivered to your home (or sign up with Longmont Dairy if you wish to be part of their delivery program http://www.longmontdairy.com/sign-up.php). Collect caps from family, friends, and neighbors, too! Clean caps should be placed in bags with the student’s name, grade, and number of caps enclosed written on the outside of the bag. Please place bags of caps in the “Milk Caps for Moo-la†container right inside the main entrance of our school. Our Fairmount PTA sponsors the monthly prize drawing from students who have collected and contributed caps. To compete in the monthly drawing, students must place caps in the collection container by the last school day of each month. The monthly winner is then revealed the next week during the morning announcements. This school year’s “Moo-la†monthly winners below have each received a $5 gift certificate to Little Caesars Pizza: Be sure to have your caps in by January 31 to be included in the December/January drawing! Feel free to contact the Fairmount “Moo-la†parent volunteer, Kim Wheeler, afwheels@earthlink.net, with any questions you may have. YEARBOOKS
Yearbook packages and individual items are now ONLY available for purchase online HEREthrough Friday, March 31, 2017. Check the Fairmount PTA websiteto see if you have already purchased your yearbook(s) by Clicking Home, Previous Orders at the top right of screen, Order Number. Click here to see a list of packages and individual items!
Dates to Remember DEC. 2: Kindergarten Field Trip DEC. 7: 5th Grade Show DEC. 20: Holidays Around the World 1st Grade Program DEC. 21: 6th Grade to Mountain Vista DEC. 22–JAN. 6: Winter Break
HAPPYHOLIDAYS
| INSIDE THIS ISSUE: PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE Student Achievement I would like to share student achievement information with you that is reported on Fairmount’s School Performance Framework. It will come as no surprise to anyone that Fairmount students achieved at high levels! Fairmount students scored at the 92nd percentile for all Colorado schools in English Language Arts and the 96th percentile in math! I wish to thank our dedicated, professional staff, as well as our parents, for all their support. Our students are successful because of our combined efforts. School Performance Framework (SPF) Family–School Communication Survey If you did not participate in the survey but have questions regarding your child’s progress, I encourage you to communicate with your child’s teacher. We only schedule parent/teacher conferences at certain times of the year, but we are available to answer questions every day! Let us know when there’s something on your mind. If you’re unsure about how to provide your input regarding school issues, please join us at our Accountability or PTA meetings, participate in surveys that might come home, or feel free to email me or drop by the office anytime. If you’re still wondering where student rights are addressed, refer to the Student/Family Handbook (Code of Conduct), which is linked on our school website under the Parents tab. As always, if you have a question, comment, or suggestion, please call the office, stop by, or email me at smills@jeffco.k12.co.us.
MOUNTAIN VISTAHOLIDAY PROJECTRemember, participation forms are due by December 2nd. You can also sign up via the Fairmount PTA Website! All students participating in this wonderful project will have the chance to draw a resident name on Thursday, December 8th. The wrapped gifts need to be turned in to the school lobby on either December 15th, 16th, or 19th so that they are ready for the sixth graders to deliver following their musical performance on the morning of Wednesday, December 21st. If you signed up to donate a gift and do not receive your resident name and gift request by December 9th, forgot to sign up and still wanted to participate, or have any other questions about this program, please contact Terri Kilgroe at 303.216.2776 or northstar@kilgroe.com. The residents at Mountain Vista Nursing Home are eagerly anticipating the beautiful program and the chance for some personal interaction with the students. Thank you for helping the sixth graders make the residents’ holidays a little brighter! Did you know that you and your family can visit the residents at Mt. Vista? The residents love receiving visitors anytime throughout the year! All you need to do is call Mt. Vista at 303.421.4161 and they will let you know the best times for your visit. Fairmount First Graders CelebrateIt will be a joyous celebration filled with music, dancing, speaking, and costumes when the first graders present “Holidays Around the World†on December 20th in the gym at 6:30 p.m. for families (and at 2:30 p.m. for K–3). The children will be dressed in costumes from seven different countries and share what they have learned with the audience. The holidays include Santa Lucia (Sweden), Kwanzaa (African-Americans), Hanukkah (Israel), Chinese New Year (China), Ramadan (Turkey), Las Posadas (Mexico), and of course Christmas (USA).
Each country will feature a special presentation. There will be a Santa Lucia processional, Kwanzaa candle-lighting ceremony, Hora dance, Chinese dragon dance, Turkish dinner, piñata-breaking, and maybe even a visit from Santa if we’re lucky! The first grade Social Studies curriculum provides an exposure to several cultural holidays. What a festive event to share with family and friends.
Shalom, Salaam, Gung Hey Fat Choy, and NEWS FROM THE LMC The 2nd Annual Hour of Code Is Coming! Old Technology:
Spelling Bee . . . Save the Date! PTA HAPPENINGS The holiday season is quickly approaching and we are all looking for gift ideas. Gift cards are a quick and easy option for those hard-to-shop-for loved ones. Although King Soopers does not allow us to use our reloadable grocery cards to purchase gift cards from other retailers, Safeway does! So . . . please consider purchasing a reloadable Safeway gift card to make all your gift card purchases. Every time you load money onto the card, you are helping support the Fairmount PTA and earn money for your own school fees for next year. Using the card does not cost you anything extra—you pay for the face value of the card and can then reload it as needed. Then 2.5% of everything loaded onto the card goes directly into an account for your family. Please contact Deb Schillie to purchase a card: grocerycards@FairmountPTA.org. In addition to the King Soopers/Safeway cards, our other big fundraisers are the Silent Auction and the Fairmount 5000. Due to the success of the Silent Auction, the PTA voted to purchase an additional classroom set of Chromebooks and the charging cart. The teachers are very excited about the Chromebooks and have already started to incorporate them into their curriculum, so thank you to everyone who participated in the Silent Auction. Congratulations to our Directory Art Contest Winners: Visit www.FairmountPTA.org today! Programs & Events Sixth Grade to Visit Mountain Vista—Each year, our sixth grade students collect gifts from Fairmount families to give to the residents at Mountain Vista Nursing Home. Students visit Mountain Vista the day before Winter Break begins to present a musical program and the gifts to the residents. The residents look forward to it, and our students really enjoy the time together. Participation forms were already sent home in your student’s Friday folder. If you didn’t receive a form and your student would like to participate, please check the front page of our website, www.fairmountpta.org, or contact Terri Kilgroe at northstar@kilgroe.com. Our December PTA meeting has been cancelled. Please contact a PTA Board member if you have any questions. The next meeting will be February 7, 2017, at 3:45 p.m. in the Fairmount Library (child care provided). Thank you for all of your support of Fairmount PTA and our wonderful school! We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. —The Fairmount PTA Board THANK YOU to 1ST BANK of Arvada at Westwoods for their continued support of Fairmount!
C.A.R.E. AWARDSEach month, the Fairmount teachers recognize students who demonstrate C.A.R.E. behaviors by posting their accomplishments on the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is located in the hallway leading from the cafeteria to outside. Below are the students being recognized for the month of December 2016.
Get your acts ready over holiday break for— Fairmount’s Talent Show 2017
Limited tryout slots available—signup sheets will be posted on December 12th. Spots are limited to ensure participants who put significant thought and effort into a performance get to show off their talents. So start practicing! Tryouts: Jan. 11th and 12th, 5:00–7:00 p.m. More information to come in Friday folders and school emails. Direct questions to Mary Sinesi, msinesi@sbcglobal.net. *Depending on how many students sign up and the amount of volunteers, only one act per student, meaning one cannot be in a group if doing a solo act and vice versa.
COMMITTEE REPORT The Accountability Committee met on November 10, 2016. Sally Mills began the Principal’s Report by explaining the latest School Performance Framework for Fairmount Elementary. This report is generated by the Colorado Department of Education and shows how Fairmount’s test scores compare with the rest of the state. Fairmount received the highest rating of “Performance Plan.†In academic achievement, our students rank over 90% with an “exceeds†rating, and students have a “meets†rating for academic growth. On the English Language Arts portion, Fairmount ranked in the 92 percentile; in math, in the 96 percentile; in science, in the 85 percentile. Congratulations to our students and teachers! The Unified Improvement Plan for this year was also discussed. In each grade, teachers meet once a week as a team for planned instruction, which is called Professional Learning Communities. Once again this year, a representative from Jefferson County Schools will come to Fairmount to observe our teachers’ practices and offer instructional help during a school review. For this year’s goals in math, based on MAP testing, teachers want to decrease the number of students scoring in the Low range from 7% to 5%. They want to increase the number of students scoring Average and above from 80% to 85%. The goals for reading are based on DIBELS testing for grades K–3. Teachers want to lower the percentage having problems from 8% to 4% and raise the percentage of students meeting the benchmark from 84% to 90%. For the short survey given by Fairmount, the results showed that communication between teachers and parents is good. Teachers want to reiterate that they are always available for phone calls, e-mails, and meetings about your student, not just at conference time. The Family Partnership Survey will again be given by Jefferson County this year. The Committee’s next meeting will be January 19, 2017. Please join us to learn more about our school. | ||||
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