Attendance Line Number - 490-3062

January 9, 2004

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Shepardson's Home Page:
http://schoolweb.psd.k12.co.us/schools/she/

	PRINCIPAL REFLECTIONS		THE 2003-2004 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE
	CALENDAR		ENRICHMENT PROGRAM - WINTER SESSION REGISTRATION
	2004-05 KINDERGARTEN PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT		READING BEYOND VANILLA! (OR FAMILY R AND R AT SHEPARDSON)
	THANK YOU, RUSTY HAMILL--- OUR LEMAY CROSSING GUARD		ATTENTION VOLUNTEERS
	PREPARING FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 2004!		WILBUR WAS "SOME PIG!" THE FESTIVAL WAS SOME FUN!
	WINTER IS HERE !!		MULTI SOURCE SURVEYS
	ART REMINDER		PTO CORNER
	ROBOTICS TEAM		How to Contact SIT / PTO / VIPS

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Happy New Year! A good time for reflection and appreciation! We always return refreshed and excited to work with and for your children. We hope your holidays were very special.

Attending two evening meetings with parents at PTO and SIT this week reminds me of how fortunate Shepardson is to have so many parents who volunteer. I continue to be so impressed with the time that so many of our parents give in so many ways to help us educate and care for all children. It is a true joy to watch parents volunteer to help when requests are made. As only one example, Jennifer Burkhart volunteered to translate our newsletters in Spanish for our families. I know you are giving up time with your family to assist with the multitude of special programs and events that are offered. Being around such positive, caring people who say "I can do that for you" gives me such energy to keep working hard for all of you. I am so grateful for all that you do for our children and families at Shepardson!

It is also that time of year when we begin planning for the 2004-05 school year as well as the many special events. We rely on the newsletter to communicate these events with you. As a reminder, former parent Dave Roschke posts the current and past newsletters on our website. I often use it as a quick way to check on an event. I encourage you to "bookmark" this site.

Parent conferences will begin on January 27th. Please call or drop by to schedule a most important time with your child's teacher before Jan. 16. The office is open from 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Anyone who has not signed up will be assigned a time. We look forward to our working together to help your children perform their personal best. Thanks for calling! (226-6370)

Best wishes for 2004!

-	Mary Kay Sommers
	email: msommers@psd.k12.co.us

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JANUARY 2004			JANUARY 2004
Wed-Fri	Jan. 7-16	Sign up for parent conferences	Fri	Jan. 16	Multi Source Surveys due today
Tue	Jan. 13	Lesher Parent Evening 7:00 pm	Mon	Jan. 19	NO SCHOOL - M. L. King Day
Wed-Thu	Jan. 14-15	Winter Enrichment Registration 8:00-8:30 am & 3:00-3:30 pm	Tues	Jan. 20	NO SCHOOL - Elem. Teacher Workday
Thu	Jan. 14	National Geographic Bee 1:40 pm	Tue	Jan. 20	2004-05 Kdg Parent Information Night 6:30 pm
Fri	Jan. 16	End of Quarter	Tue-Thu	Jan. 27-29	Parent Conferences (School in session)
Fri	Jan. 16	ML King "Walk for Peace" 1:45 - 2:30 pm	Tue	Jan. 27	Parent Reference Night R & R 5:30 - 7:30

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Parents of next year's kindergarteners are invited to Shepardson's Parent Information Night on Tuesday, January 20 from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. to learn about the kindergarten curriculum, tour the kindergarten classrooms, meet the teachers, and learn about the half-day and full-day kindergarten programs. Parents will receive registration forms to complete and return on Registration Day, February 5. We encourage all Shepardson parents to share this information with your neighbors who may only have preschool children. We are anxious to welcome our next kindergarten class to Shepardson! For more information, contact school at 226-6370.

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THANK YOU, RUSTY HAMILL--- OUR LEMAY CROSSING GUARD We appreciate the caring that our favorite Crossing Guard, Rusty Hamill, gives to all of the students who cross Lemay Avenue, often during times of busy traffic. He has worked this spot for over 10 years and is there for their 8:30 arrival, their 3:00 dismissal, and for the arrival and dismissal of the kindergarten students at lunchtime. His dedication to this position, but more importantly to your children, is unwavering. We are so fortunate to have such a fine gentleman with a huge heart here every day to ensure that your children are safe. Please help me in thanking him for his dedicated service to Shepardson students! Last year Student Council member Abby Miller interviewed him and found out some interesting details: Rusty was born in Bruster, Kansas. He remembers that the doctor came in a horse and buggy in very bad weather. At least that's what his parents said. He has a bunch of interesting stories to tell. One of his sons has a genius IQ! He also tells police when he sees someone speeding. As for his family, he has seven children, thirteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild! One of his hobbies is poetry. He has memorized a lot of poetry and has even started to write his own. Another hobby he has is horseshoeing. One time he was in the K Class 65 - 70 and he got second place in the world! His advice to everybody is to eat a bowl of oatmeal everyday. Thank you, Mr. Hamill, for taking such good care of our Shepardson kids!

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Sixth grade parents: A reminder of upcoming parent nights at our two "neighborhood" junior high schools. These meetings will provide you with good information to help both you and your child be prepared for the next transition.

Lesher Parent Evening		January 13th at 7:00 pm
Boltz Parent Evening		February 26th at 7:00 pm

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As most of you know, the weather here in Colorado can change by the minute. We have already had our first (but hopefully not last) taste of winter weather. Please remember to dress your children appropriately. We suggest watching a news station in the evening to see what the weather is going to be. Poudre School District's weather policy states that if the outside temperature, with the wind chill factor, is above 10 degrees, the students will be going outside for recess. Please remember that the children can be outside for as long as 25 minutes. We thank you for helping your child dress appropriately.

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Please remember what day your children have art so that they do not wear their 'Sunday Best' to art. Students do wear paint shirts when they are working on a messy project and are asked to keep their paint shirts on until the whole room is clean but accidents still happen. Crayola.com has stain removal tips if you ever have trouble getting a stain out.

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ROBOTICS TEAM Congratulations to Shepardson's three great Robotics Teams! With the help of three adult coaches, 14 Shepardson kids spent the fall learning how to build and program Lego robots to accomplish various tasks. They participated in the Poudre Lego League's Robotics Competition, "Mission to Mars," on Saturday, November 22, at Poudre High School. The competition was great fun - there were kids and Legos everywhere (and a few "martians")! The Shepardson teams did very well and learned a ton! Thanks to every one who participated, and especially to the team coaches: Roger Pearson, Karen Ghavam, and Asad Aziz.

Marz Starz: Ameen Ghavam, James Kim, Caroline Buck, Mollie Pearson, Sadia Aziz, Coach Karen Ghavam. JinXed RCX: Scott Male, Eric Cha, Paul Mill, Ilya Smirnov, Coach Asad Aziz. Team Suicidal: Erik Hansen, Ryan Bennett, Curt Lorio, Kimeon Young, Peter Tang (not pictured,) Coach Roger Pearson.

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Shepardson Elementary Cordially invites you to attend

The 2003-2004 National Geographic Bee
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
1:40 p.m.- Gym

After weeks of studying and practicing, 30 students who qualified to participate in the "Bee" will be given a final "quiz" to determine who our school champion is. This will be our first year to hold a "public" Bee. Please join us for this fun and exciting event.

For additional information on the National Geographic Bee, please contact Becky Woodcox, Enrichment Coordinator, by calling 226-6370 or by sending e-mail to bwoodcox@psd.k12.co.us.

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2003-2004
Enrichment Program
Winter Session

Wednesday, January 14 and Thursday, January 15
8:00 - 8:30 a.m. and3:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Media Center

It's time to kick off another exciting round of classes for the Shepardson Enrichment Program. The Winter Session class list and registration flyer is attached to this newsletter. Look for it to find complete details about Winter Session classes.

Please direct all questions regarding Enrichment classes and registration to Becky Woodcox, Enrichment Coordinator, by calling 226-6370 or by sending e-mail to bwoodcox@psd.k12.co.us. Thanks for your continued support of the Enrichment Program.

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Vanilla ice cream, good lip-licking vanilla bean ice cream, is like the queen of the beehive. There is none other. But seldom is vanilla the flavor that we order when we stop into a Ben And Jerry's Ice Cream Store. Instead we laugh at the clever flavor names, narrow our choices by sampling, and settle on one that satisfies our sense of adventure.

Reading is like that. Students at Shepardson read. They read fiction; they read non-fiction. They read harder and longer fiction. They read more complex non-fiction. They read Harry Potter. They read various genre. They read Award books. But sometimes they need the treat of a Ben and Jerry's sampling of reading. They need to expand their selections. How? By reading for R and R: reference and research!

Family R and R Night is coming soon. It will offer the many flavors of reading choices that you can give your sons and daughters to whet their appetites for reading beyond books. Scheduled for Tuesday evening, January 27th, the same night as one of the parent-teacher conference nights, you can sample the newest of reference and discover the process of logging on to World Book Online from home. WBO has been purchased for Shepardson students for a year. Be the reading role model for your children by sharing in a brief but lively fact-finding adventure through a variety of information sources. Browse the 2004 edition of the hard-copy World Book. Make the almanac, the thesaurus, the atlas, and other reference sources supply the answers to your quest.

Look for the registration flyer that went home with your students today, Friday. The flyer describes the sessions and gives you the opportunity to select the one you want. Sign up now for reading R and R!

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Many parents and community members are volunteering precious hours and are not recording this time in our VIPS (Volunteers in Poudre Schools) notebook located in the front entry by the office. Please realize that any time you give to school counts - whether you grade papers at home, help with parties, go on field trips, etc. These hours are totaled monthly and our district can receive additional funding based on these hours. Shepardson is also using this data for grants and nominations to recognize our achievements. Please help us keep more accurate records for our volunteer hours. If you have any questions, please call Kathy O'Donnell at 206-1818.

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Don't you like the word gaiety? Somehow, it fits children and their exuberant spirits during the holiday season and during the Festival of Trees. When the children use that same gaiety to illustrate a holiday story through tree ornaments, their gaiety extends to all of us who share in their lives someway and lets us appreciate their creative expression of literature.

This year, the children will begin benefiting in another way due to the Festival of Trees that was held during the month of December. Because of your generous support at the sale of the trees through a silent auction, the seed money of $49.95 will purchase the fifteen trees for next year's festival. The remaining $358.00 will begin purchasing new chairs for the media center.

Our chairs in the media center are like the furnishings in the house of The Three Bears: some are too small; some are too big; a few are just right! We will be selecting something that will be available to order for several years, something that is all the same color, and something that has a sled-base rather than four legs. We will probably select 16" chairs for the classroom area and 14" chairs for the workstations. Our goal is to purchase 64 chairs: 28 for the instructional and meeting area; 24 for the twelve workstations; 12 for the three tables of the study area.

Thank you, parents, for the generous support that you give to a Festival which gives back to the students in long-lasting ways.

P.S. As you're visiting with your acquaintances during January (the month when many people decide to redecorate), please keep attuned to conversations that mention a couch that someone may be replacing. It cannot be just any couch. It has to be one that is as much an old friend to young readers as the lumpy-bumpy one that they now love. It has to be long and low because they sit in a row to read and they like to fill every space. If you hear of THE special couch that could replace our gray one, please call me at 226-6370.

Margie Bucher

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The purpose of Poudre School District's evaluation system is to improve instruction, enhance the implementation of curricular programs, and measure professional growth and development as well as the level of performance of its teachers. As a part of this evaluation process, Poudre School District will be sending surveys to parents of elementary students for input on teachers who are being evaluated during this school year. Results are compiled, and principals use the data in conjunction with other parts of the evaluation process.

This year the surveys are being sent home today. If your child's teacher is being formally evaluated this year, you will receive a survey. Non-classroom teachers will either send home surveys to their caseload or a sample of the students with whom they work. Please notice the teacher's name that is clearly identified on the form and the directions for completing the survey. Only forms with signatures will be considered as valid input; however, your input will remain anonymous and not shared directly with the teacher. The deadline for returning the forms to your school will be January 16.

Your input is valuable, and we thank you for completing the survey.

Human Resources,
Poudre School District

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Next PTO meeting is Tuesday, February 3
7:00 p.m. in the Shepardson library
All parents are welcome and encouraged to attend!

College Funding Night coming to Shepardson

Are you concerned about how to fund your child's college education? Are you interested in learning about effective college funding strategies? Shepardson PTO has teamed up with a qualified financial advisor to present a free one-hour presentation on how we as parents can begin or continue to effectively invest in our children's future. This presentation has been endorsed by PTO Today Magazine and involves no selling - only useful information.

We are working on scheduling this presentation in February. The exact date and time will be announced in the next newsletter.

PTO Wants You!!!

If you have been considering becoming involved with PTO now is the time to contact us!

We are beginning to form committees and elected officials for the next 2004/05 school year. There are many ways to become involved and you choose depending on the amount of time you would like to commit to. It is our belief that as more parents become involved we can achieve greater things, receive more input and rely less on just a few parents.

PTO is a win/win situation!

Look for specific positions available in the next newsletter.

Questions? Contact JoAnn Caddoo @ 226-3103, coloradocaddoo@msn.com

Or Jennifer Burkhart at 225-1873, burkys@aol.com

KEEP CLICKING!

It's that time of year to start sending in photographs of Shepardson students and events. If you have some great photos, especially group shots, send them in with your child. Each teacher has an envelope in his/her classroom to collect yearbook photographs. Be sure to write the names of the students on the back of the photograph.

Questions? Marcie Dietrich @ 282-9336 or Michelle Murray @ 226-6224

If you have questions or comments regarding PTO,

contact JoAnn Caddoo @ 226-3103 coloradocaddoo@msn.com or Jennifer Burkhart at 225-1873

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