Image courtesy of Tuomas Lehtinen at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

FAIRMOUNT FOCUS
Published monthly by Fairmount PTA
Editor, Deb Hall
(editor@fairmountpta.org)

EXECUTIVE BOARD
President, Kristi Mladenovic
(president@fairmountpta.org)
Vice President
(External Enrichment),
Jodi Williams
(VP@fairmountpta.org)
2nd Vice President,
Sally Mills
(smills@jeffco.k12.co.us)
Secretary, Angie Parsons
(secretary@fairmountpta.org)
Treasurer, Becky Asbury
(treasurer@fairmountpta.org)
Fundraising Chair,
Jessica Nauslar
(jnauslar@yahoo.com)
3rd Vice President
(Classroom Support),
Mara Orchard
(classroomsupport@fairmountpta.org)
4th Vice President
(Internal Enrichment),
Laura Warren
(enrichment@fairmountpta.org)

For additional
coordinator info,
click here.

FAIRMOUNT ELEMENTARY
15975 W. 50th Ave.
Golden, CO 80403

Main Office: 303.982.5422
Attendance: 303.982.5400
Bus Terminal: 303.982.1998

GROCERY

CARDS

A big thank-you to everyone who purchased or reloaded their grocery cards in November.

Congratulations to
raffle winner
KERRY MARTIN,
who won a $25 gift card to Amazon!

Keep using those cards! Each time you reload you earn money for your PTA and for your school fees.


WONDERFUL NEWS:

So far this school year, Fairmount PTA has raised $16,746 with your reloads!
That brings us to 107%
of our goal of $15,700!

A BIG

THANK-YOU

TO:

Terri Kilgroe for coordinating the annual sixth grade visit to Mountain Vista Nursing Home. We know those gifts are so appreciated and that it is such a great lesson of generosity for our kids. You always do such a great job!


Student Council would also like to extend a big thank-you to the Fairmount Community for your participation in the holiday donation drive. Urban Peaks, a shelter for homeless youth between the ages of 15 and 21, needed necessities and received a large donation from our generous community. Fairmount is overflowing with students who CARE.

FROM THE

CAFETERIA

Go to the January
LUNCH MENU
here!

YEARBOOKS
ON SALE
NOW!

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

JAN. 9:  Students return to school

JAN. 11–12:  Talent Show Tryouts

JAN. 16:  No School (MLK Jr. Day)

JAN. 20:  5th Grade Young AmeriTowne

JAN. 24:  4th Grade Show

JAN. 31:  End of Choice Enrollment Round 1 & Kindergarten Registration

FEB. 3:  Talent Show

HAPPY

NEW YEAR

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

• Mountain Vista Holiday Project
  
• News from the LMC
  
• PTA Happenings with Reflections Art Contest Winners
  
• Yearbooks on Sale Now
  
• Fairmount Firebird Chase Sponsorship
  
• C.A.R.E. Awards
  
• Fairmount's Got Talent 2017
  
• & much more . . .

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
—Sally Mills

Student-Based Budgeting and Student Enrollment

Even though this school year is only halfway over, we are already beginning the budgeting process for the 2017-18 school year! This will be the third year that Jeffco has used a method called Student-Based Budgeting or SBB. The goal of SBB is to give schools more autonomy and flexibility to better align resources for individual school needs. For this model, we have been able to make site-based decisions for staffing and spending. This method differs from years past when our district would allocate the number of teachers per grade level and make more decisions on how we used our resources.

Our budget will be based on an estimate of how many students we expect to be enrolled next school year. This budget is adjusted up or down based on actual enrollment at the October count. It is important for us to have the best possible estimates so that we can plan for the ideal number of classrooms, teachers, and open-enrolled students. We also would like to avoid an unexpected budget loss next fall that would occur if we overestimate.

How do families help with this budgeting process? To help us determine the number of continuing students, we will send home a family survey on January 13. We need a quick turnaround on this survey, so we ask that you return it by January 20. We will ask you if you are planning, at this time, for your students to return next year. To estimate our incoming kindergarten class, please register your new student by January 31.

The first round of open enrollment is through January 31. If your student is already open enrolled at Fairmount, you do not need to do anything other than complete the family survey on whether your child will return. Students who are already accepted as open enrolled are guaranteed seats at Fairmount through sixth grade. If you have a child/sibling whom you plan to open enroll, please do that in the first round. Based on our estimate of neighborhood students, we will accept a limited number of open enrollment requests.

As always, if you have a question, comment, or suggestion, please call the office, stop by, or email me at Sally.Mills@jeffco.k12.co.us.

MOUNTAIN VISTA HOLIDAY PROJECT

It has been another successful year for our Mountain Vista Community Project! Mr. DeWinkle led the sixth graders in an amazing musical program for the residents. The generous families donated enough gifts for every resident to receive one! This important program has a long tradition that could not happen without the help of all the fabulous volunteers who helped 215 kids draw resident names, the teachers who graciously allowed us to conduct the drawings, the volunteers who helped collect and transport the gifts, Sue Bobroske and Nancy Eckley for all the additional support, Mr. DeWinkle for putting together the music program, Steve and the staff at Mt. Vista for gathering the resident gift requests and everything they do to prepare for this program, the amazing Fairmount families who donated much-appreciated gifts, and most importantly, our sixth grade students for bringing so much holiday spirit to the residents at Mt. Vista. This is a project where, as they say, it truly takes a village. Thank you all for everything you have done to support this amazing program.

Sincerely,
Terri Kilgroe

NEWS FROM THE LMC
(Library Media Center)

The Hour of Code Is Here!
Our students are enjoying participating in the global Hour of Code project. Students in grades K–6 are learning how computer coding works in ways that are engaging, yet challenging, for kids. It's fun and challenging for adults too! There are over 50 free online courses available at code.org. Here are the courses that your students have or will participate in by grade level:

Grade K: code.org, then under the purple Students column, select Try Code Studio, then Course 1.

Grades 1–2: code.org, then under the purple Students column, select Try Code Studio, then Course 2.

Grade 3: code.org, then under the purple Students column, select Try Code Studio, then scroll down and click the Angry Birds Classic Maze.

Grade 4:code.org, then under the purple Students column, select Try Code Studio, then scroll down and click either Minecraft or Frozen, student choice.

Grades 5–6: code.org, then under the purple Students column, select Try Code Studio, then scroll down and click Star Wars.

Classes have been scheduled to code in December and in early January. Ask your students about it!

As you explore code.org, you will see the many options to extend this learning for your students. Grades 4–6 have registered and created accounts, so they can log in from home or school to continue where they left off. Feel free to register your younger students as well.

Thanks for supporting your students as they learn this valuable, problem-solving skill. Please let me know if you have any questions: andjohns@jeffco.k12.co.us.

Spelling Bee!
Our school spelling bee is next month! There will be a preliminary written test on Wednesday, January 18, 2016, for interested students in grades 4–6. Those who qualify will then participate in our school spelling bee, which will be held on Friday, January 27, at 9:00 a.m. in the library. Our school is registered with the National Spelling Bee, so we have access to practice word lists. Here is the link to a file with many pages of words to study organized by grade level. Want more motivation? Watch Akeelah and the Bee. Happy spelling!

Author Visit!
Michael Anthony Steele—author, screenwriter, and speaker—will be at Fairmount on Wednesday, February 15. He will be presenting to all students in the library in several sessions throughout the day. The main theme of his presentation is “how kids can say, ‘I Can Do That!’ and be anything they want to be—just like I did! I even explain how I was in elementary school when I was first inspired to become a writer.” For more information, visit michaelanthonysteele.com.

PTA HAPPENINGS

We hope you all had a relaxing break from school and you are excited about the new year. We are positively ecstatic about the wonderful events and programs that are available to our students in 2017! The Talent Show is fast approaching. We have so many funtastically engaging clubs and programs. You can go to our website to view them all. And of course we can’t forget about the Fairmount Firebird 5K Chase!

Reflections Art Contest: In other exciting news, Fairmount has its very own celebrity. Valerie Marchitto, who was one of our top three Reflections school winners, has won the Award of Excellence in Middle School Photography at the Jefferson County Reflections competition and is now going on to the state competition. Congratulations, Valerie!

The Reflections program is a national PTA art contest that is unique because it is not solely based on the student’s artistic ability. The main emphasis is how they convey their vision of each year’s theme through art, music, dance, video, photography, and literature. Valerie’s photograph of the Grand Canyon and her Artist Statement about being an American were truly inspiring!

We had many inspiring entries in the Fairmount Reflections contest this year. There was a heartwarming iMovie about family by Kate Ferguson, a touching story by Samantha Peters, and a unique copper-embossed art piece by Carlie Jefferies. Sam and Nathan Bierbrauer wrote lovely poems, Aubry Grieves created a fun collage of photos she took on vacation, Adeline Brooker made a cute window shade titled “Swirly World,” and Allison Phan drew herself as a princess. Lilli True created a beautiful self-portrait, and Nate Peters did an excellent job describing his life while in a cast. Congratulations to all our Fairmount Reflections participants!

We do not have a PTA meeting in January. The next meeting will be February 7, 2017, at 3:45 p.m. in the Fairmount Library (free child care provided).

New Enrichment Programs!

We are excited to welcome two new enrichment programs to Fairmount in January 2017. Discover Dance and Introduction to Chinese will both begin January 26. Please look in the January Friday folders for more information.

Happy New Year — The PTA Board

Visit www.FairmountPTA.org today!

THANK YOU to 1ST BANK of Arvada

at Westwoods for their continued

support of Fairmount!

C.A.R.E. AWARDS

Each 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 January 2017.

Fairmount’s Got Talent 2017

Friday, Feb. 3rd @ 6:00 p.m.

Come and see some of
the most talented students
Fairmount Elementary School
has to offer!

Plus there will be a
SURPRISE ACT!!!

DON’T MISS IT!!!

*Any questions, please direct to Mary Sinesi: 817-879-2088 or msinesi@sbcglobal.net.