Mrs. Kruse and I had so much fun having lunch on the roof with our Books-With-The-Birds winners! Enjoying the beautiful day with us were Zachary Palmer, Travis Peters, Elise Fitzpatrick, Aubrey Page, Zachary Heschmeyer, and Nathan Heschmeyer. Congratulations to these kiddos, and thanks to everyone for supporting our Fairmount library and PTA!

All students, friends, and family of Fairmount are encouraged to participate in the Fairmount Firebird Virtual Run week. Even your furry friends are welcome! The "race" will be open between May 9, 2021, and May 15, 2021, and can be completed however you like. Choose from among the 5 events or do multiple. Register today! 

Join us at Noodles & Co. for Fairmount's Restaurant Night on April 7th from 4 to 8 pm. The address is 6408 Yank Way in Arvada. We hope to see you there! 

We want to stock the Staff Lounge Fridge and countertops with goodies during Staff Appreciation Week. Please help us! Volunteer here. Items will be due Thursday, April 29, or Friday, April 30 at drop-off or pick-up. Details to come. 

As each year wraps up, we have new PTA positions open up. If you've ever thought about getting involved in the PTA or have wondered how much commitment it takes, please reach out to us. Many positions are a "work from home" type where minimal work is required. 

Open Positions:

• PTA Secretary to keep minutes and set monthly meeting agendas
• Sponsorship Coordinator to help us manage relationships with Fairmount's generous sponsors
• Virtual 5K planning committee to help with the 5K
• Talent Show Coordinator to help us manage the spring 2022 Talent Show
• External Enrichment Coordinator to coordinate our external enrichment programs (the before- and after-school activities). This coordinator could work with already established programs and/or bring in new partners
• Restaurant Night Coordinator to help coordinate fundraising nights with local restaurants

If you're interested in helping us, please contact PTA VP, Laura Warren for more information. 

Please consider joining us for our monthly PTA meetings. We welcome all parents and friends of Fairmount. Your voices are important and needed! Our PTA meetings will be held on the following dates and times via Zoom:

-April 6th - 6:30 PM
-May 4th - 3:45 PM

Check out this month's menu. As a reminder, students who choose hot lunch will come to the cafeteria to pick up their selection and return to the classroom to eat.

Read-a-Thon Update!
Thanks to the wildly successful Read-a-Thon, the Fairmount PTA generously donated $15,000 to our school library. Amazing! These funds will be used to add more than 1000 books to our library collection. These are the categories of books that are being updated:

• Series books
• Diversity and equality books
• Fairy tales and nursery rhymes
• Curriculum connections to extreme weather and Colorado
• High-interest non-fiction books, including biographies

Our Fairmount students will reap the benefits of this incredible gift of books for years to come. We are so grateful to our PTA and the Fairmount community for supporting the library!

Virtual Author Visit
Fairmount is pleased to welcome children’s author and illustrator Brian Yanish for a virtual visit on Friday, April 9th. Our wonderful PTA is paying for this virtual visit as a celebration of meeting our fundraising goal during the Books With The Birds Read-A-Thon! 

Parents can purchase Brian’s books on Amazon. His current titles include: Shark and Bot, Pirate Chicken All Hens on Deck, Junk Re-Thunk, and Scrap Kins Build It Book Volume 1. 

Brian is sending autographed bookplates to us, which can be placed inside his books. If your child wants to have an autographed book, please purchase your book from Amazon (or another vendor) and send it to school with your child from April 9th-April 23rd. Students may bring their books to the library to receive their autographed bookplate.

Battle of the Books
Our Fairmount Battle of the Books team competed in the district competition on March 2nd and took FIRST PLACE! We are so proud of our team, who worked together to beat out 20 other Jeffco schools.

Way to go, Hannah Dill, Rebecca Dill, Ari Guerra, Teagan Peters, Marty Eckert, and Tyler Alcock!!

Digital Citizenship
During April, 5th-grade students will be learning about Digital Footprint and Identity. Students consider the benefits and risks of online sharing and explore how a digital persona can affect one’s sense of self, reputation, and relationships.  

April Digital Citizenship Family Letter

1–After listening to Moe Willems Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay up Late, first-graders decided that Pigeon needed a bed. These young engineers followed the design process as they sketched, built, tested, troubleshoot, and redesigned the bed following time, material, and testing constraints. 

2–Second graders continue learning about the earth’s surface in Science. These scientists are saving doghouses once again! In the first procedure, students tested different materials for water resistance. Based on the results, they chose material to build a roof for their existing dog houses. They tested the roofs with a steady stream of water. Dry dogs equal happy dogs!

3–Perimeter and area were used in full force as third-grade mathematicians designed a zoo section following dimension requirements. Planning and teamwork were a necessity in this Zoo Challenge!

4–“Pop Bottle Waves and Hairdryer Ripples” was the name of the lesson these scientists completed. Day one consisted of different experiments. Day two involved analyzing those experiments from the amplitude of the wave to the height and depth of the crest and trough and finally, the wavelengths' distance. 

5–Fifth graders redesigned their hydrogen fuel cell car bodies to hold all car parts and run as straight and as efficiently as possible. They had to think about wheels, axels, a keeping the chassis light but larger enough to hold all car parts. Precise measurements and readjusting plans were just part of the process!

Check out the STEM website for more information and photos!

Check out Fairmount's Social Emotional Learning and Mental Health website for many resources from crisis intervention to supporting unique learning styles. There are also pandemic-specific articles and activities.

If you or a loved one are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call the Colorado Crisis Services at 1-844-493-8255 (TALK) or 911. The Colorado Crisis Line is staffed by very kind and professional counselors who can help you and your loved ones through the darkest times.