| Attendance Line Number - 490-3062 | April 21, 2006 |
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Shepardson's Home Page: http://schoolweb.psdschools.org/she/ |
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| In this issue... |
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| Attendance Line Number - 490-3062 | April 21, 2006 |
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Shepardson's Home Page: http://schoolweb.psdschools.org/she/ |
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| In this issue... |
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It must be spring! The chicken and geese eggs are nesting in the incubator in the kindergarten room. This activity serves many purposes but especially reminds us of the preciousness of life. Once the hatching begins, it also reminds us of the hectic yet fun times the spring brings. We are extremely busy with our normal educational life along with the concluding and evaluative events and data collections while preparing for school to start in the fall. This team is so professional that they continue to keep their energy going in spite of the increase in demands. I so appreciate how they remain focused on your children every day.
Deadlines for the remodeling project are coming to a close. A new facility will be built to the east of the current kitchen, extending into the parking lot. It will be our new lunchroom, will serve the Base Camp program before and after school, and be available for multiple uses during and after school. This new facility will ensure that the gym is upgraded with a new flooring and other features. Having the gym used for physical education only has been an important and needed goal. Our best hope is the current flex room will provide new office spaces for our counselor and ELL/Literacy teacher. Having the team inside the facility is a benefit that will serve our entire program.
This move will allow us to use the mobile for our frequent need for space for smaller instructional groups. If financially possible we will keep the small conference area in the office area but our counselor Rea Kreider will now have more space for the small groups and multiple student activities that he currently sponsors. Our investigation with other schools having this type of model proved that more students and parents seem to find this location more comfortable than coming into the office for conversations. Moving the ELL/Literacy teacher will also facilitate easier communication between her and the staff and our students.
This change in the office area would also allow us to reconfigure the current workroom into a more efficient space and include a special area for teachers. They meet and have lunch in the pods, classrooms, or wherever they can find space now. We expect that this common area will allow for more communication between pods that now is very difficult with our limited overlapping time. We are also considering a few other options that would result in more small group instructional spaces.
Remodeling is a journey that will create some inconveniences for all of us. Construction will begin on June 1st. and will end when we return to school in January, 2007. The parking lot will be much smaller during construction, with it extended into the primary playground when the project is completed. (The basketball hoops will be relocated for the younger students). Our goal is to have at least the same number of parking slots and an improved traffic pattern for picking up/dropping off children. We appreciate in advance your understanding and patience as we work together to improve our instructional facility and program.
The deadline for how we will use our reduced staffing has also arrived. The staff and SIT have agreed on what appears to be our only viable option for next year. In addition to less staffing, the "cost" for the office positions per hour has increased. This year we had to make some tough decisions to ensure that we continue to offer the best program for our diverse, instructional needs.
Even though we were allocated only 2.5 teachers for grades 1, 2 and 3, we strongly felt the need to keep these three grades with 3 full time teachers next year. I anticipate that enrollment will grow next fall and I want these class sizes to be able to handle any growth. Our projections are strong enough to keep our specials at the current rate of art, music, PE, media and counseling at 100%. To maintain a program that serves the "whole child", we highly value the professionalism provided by our highly qualified teaching team. Research continues to show that teachers are the most important factor in a child's academic success!
To provide the best professional staff, the cuts will be coming in the classified area. We will be reducing the Office Clerk position to 5 hours but attaching the 3 hrs. of Health Tech to maintain it as an 8 hr. position. We have investigated what other schools do and have found that this arrangement is very typical of schools our size or larger. We will probably have more opportunities to seek volunteers to assist us in the office next year as we look for other ways to make the office workload reasonable. We will maintain the computer lab assistant and the media assistant, with the latter choosing to reduce her hours slightly. There will be fewer paraprofessional positions next year, making our need for reliable volunteers to be even greater. Teachers are in the process of determining how best to use their para support for gifted, literacy and differentiated services. We appreciate your understanding and support in our efforts to provide the best instructional program for your children next year.
Enjoy a wonderful weekend with your children and family!
| - | Mary Kay Sommers |
| email: msommers@psdschools.org |
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| CALENDAR | April 21, 2006 |
| APRIL 2006 | MAY 2006 | ||||
| 22 | Sat | District Science Fair | 2 | Tue | PTO Meeting-7:00 pm |
| 25 | Tue | Choir Music Program-6:00 pm-Gym | 3 | Wed | Talent Show Try-Outs-3:00-7:00 pm-Gym |
| 27 | Thu | Student Council, Choir and Class Group Pictures 8:00 am | 5 | Fri | Sock Hop-5:00-8:00 pm |
| 27 | Thu | Human Growth & Development Meeting for parents of 5th Graders-7:00-7:45 pm | 5 | Fri | Last day to charge lunches |
| 27 | Thu | Kindergarten Date Night-5:30-7:30 pm | 11 | Thu | Talent Show-8:45-9:45 am-Gym |
| 28 | Fri | 6th Graders to visit Boltz & Lesher-9:30-11:00 am | 11 | Thu | Mom's night in Kindergarten-5:30-7:30 pm |
| 29 | Sat | Cindy Mueller 4K Run-9:00 am-Shepardson | 19 | Fri | NO SCHOOL |
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Noah wrote a poem and the poem was selected to be published in the National Anthology of Children's Poetry. This was a national competition for children of all ages! Noah loves to read and write poetry. He writes poems for his mom, dad and family members. His ideas come from books, drawings and thoughts. Way to go, Noah!
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Under the direction of our phenomenal music teacher, Mrs. Caren Everett, our third graders performed songs, dance and rhythms to music from around the world. They sang in 7 different languages, sharing music from every continent representing 16 different countries! Learning about the world through music as they learn about it in the classrooms is by far the effective and memorable way to develop a better appreciation for the rich heritage and environments around the world. What a magical evening! Thanks so much, Third Graders! You represented all the children from around the world...the world you will know so much better than we will. You are amazing. Thank you, Mrs. Everett, for the extra time, incredible skill and tremendous patience to allow children to learn about the world through music. |
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The Poudre School District student art exhibition, Designs & Images, is currently on display at the Foothills Mall. The exhibit features work from schools K- 6 and is a vehicle for celebrating the artistic accomplishments of students that result from good art instruction. Like language or mathematics, art involves the use of complex symbols to communicate. If you have a chance to view the exhibition, please keep in mind the 'products' you see are the result of a problem solving process taught by art educators. With limited space art teachers choose work that shows what is learned from a curriculum perspective. The Shepardson art display is located outside of Foley's and runs April 18 - April 28. A special thank you to Michelle Ahlbrandt for getting student art work ready for display. |
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The entire fourth grade at Shepardson was able to participate in National and Global Youth Service Day on Friday, April 21 at Riverbend Ponds in Fort Collins. Currently, beavers are causing extensive damage along this portion of the Poudre River by taking down too many cottonwood trees. The students painted a sand mixture on cottonwood trees so that beavers will leave them alone and chew the non-native crack willow trees instead. That way, the natural habitat will be preserved, and the beavers can continue to populate the area without endangering their own habitat. The parents joined their fourth-graders and the city officials and naturalists that were on-site Friday, as well as the local media. A United Way representative gave each student a T-shirt recognizing his/her part in Youth Service Day 2006. The event was organized by the Habitat Helpers, a leadership group of six fourth-graders: Kacie Binder, Rachel Carlson, Ben Gratias, Danielle Larson, Linnae Sidinger and Kari Van Zyl. It is led by Cheryl Gratias, who applied for a national grant for the event. The group received a $500 Disney Minnie Grant for workday expenses such as bus transportation, 76 pairs of work gloves, snacks and water. The Shepardson group was one of just 35 individuals or groups nationally to be awarded a grant, among nearly 500 applicants. The six students also presented an assembly to the fourth-graders on Tuesday, April 18 to prepare the entire grade for the workday. The group shared its research on healthy river habitats, the role beavers play, and the importance of natural areas to our community. In conjunction with that, a Master Naturalist from the City of Fort Collins presented an age-appropriate program on beavers for the fourth-graders. A representative from United Way 2-1-1 also addressed the students about the value of volunteering and the impact kids can have in our community. |
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As spring approaches, the activity level of students seems to match that of the insects arriving on the scene. Counselor Rea Kreider has trained fifth and sixth grade Peer Mediators to assist students in grades 1-4 in solving their problems on the playground at lunch. However, we would like to invite additional adult "eyes" and "ears" for the 5/6 playground this year. Although we are currently exceeding district standards for the supervision ratio, we would appreciate extra help during lunch (12:40 - 1:00). If you are interested in helping in any way, please contact or leave a message for Rea Kreider at school (226-6370). He will be training volunteers to help make this experience comfortable and highly effective for all of our needs. Our students are wonderful and the spring weather makes supervision even more enjoyable. Thank you for considering assisting us at this time.
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At the end of this school year, Dave Roschke will be "retiring" after managing our website for the last 10 years. We feel so fortunate to have a parent serve Shepardson in this critical way, long after his children have moved to higher levels. His commitment to our school community is truly "above and beyond". We are so thankful for his valiant and dedicated service to Shepardson!!!
Thank you, Dave Roschke!!!
We are now looking for a volunteers to take his place. In addition to keeping the home page and other pages up to date, Dave prepares and posts the newsletter every two weeks, SIT and PTO meeting notes once a month, and other information such as the Annual Report. Dave will work with us through the transition and believes that the district may have other options for us to consider. For one, we'd like to consider posting notices to parents through on-line email alerts of new information. We are sure there are several talented and/or interested parents who are intrigued with this special opportunity! Contact Mary Kay for more information at msommers@psdschools.org.
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Friday, May 5 - 5:00-8:00 pm.
Tickets are $2.00 each and will be sold in advance on May 4 & 5 from 8:00-8:30 am and 3:00-3:30 pm. Pizza, snacks, refreshments, entertainment by KOOL 105.5 school store, photo ops, and lots of fun!! Join us!!
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May 5 will be the last day to charge lunches! Thanks!
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I want to thank everyone for supporting my first attempt at the Original Works fundraiser this past school year. Thanks to you, we raised over $2600 for the art department. Mile Hi Ceramics inspected my kiln and recommended that repairs (approx. $500) would bring my kiln back into perfect working order so I opted for that versus buying a new kiln. The remaining funds will be used for future art supply purchases.
I must also recognize Janet Brull and her team for all the work they put into collecting and organizing the orders that eventually came home to you.
I have had many requests to do this fundraiser again next year. If, over the summer, your child creates a work of art that you would like to use for the Original Works fundraiser that would be wonderful. Remember the size of the paper needs to be 8 x 10.5"
Thank you for your support of the arts!
Mrs. Pibal, Art Teacher
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