8-25-16 FSE Thursday Blast

Dear FSE Families,
We are finishing up our third week of school and I hope your family is starting to settle into this new routine.   Our students have settled in nicely and as you can see by out twitter feed on our website lots is happening this year!  Students are engaged, excited and learning right along with their teachers!  We are so excited about the work we are doing this year and hope you are too. As always if you have questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out to me, my door is always open.

Sincerely,
Kelli Smith, FSE Principal

First Lego League is Coming to FSE
If your children are interested in participating in this awesome opportunity please see these links.

• First Lego League Team 4-6
• Robotics K-3
• We are so excited to introduce a dynamic, STEM LEGO Engineering Club for the children of Flagstone Elementary School.  
  
  
  Students in K though 3rd, the Early Engineers LEGO Club, will explore STEM through engaging hands on projects while learning robotics using the LEGO WeDo Robots. 
  
  
  Students in 4th through 6th will learn how to build, program and design the LEGO EV3 robots and have the opportunity to compete on a Flagstone Elementary FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robotics team. 
  
  
  These STEM after school clubs generate a world of curiosity within the minds of the children and truly leave lasting impressions filled with inspiration! Space is limited. Registrations for the Flagstone LEGO STEM After School Clubs will take place at a Parent Informational Meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 30th, right after school.  Plan to come and see these terrific little robots for yourself!
  
  

Morning Drop Off
The week we have consistently had 30-40 students waiting outside our front door without adult supervision as early as 8:40.  Please make sure that students are not dropped off prior to 8:55, a good rule is to plan on dropping them off by 9am.  Please help us by following this rule and ensuring the safety of our students.  Let me know if you have questions.


FSE Expedition is Coming!
A blast was sent home Wednesday night with all the specific around this event.  Please mark your calendars for September 16th!


Letter from Our School Nurse

Dear Parents,

We have had reports  of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease  in your school. 

Please review the attached information about this condition to help decrease further spread of illness and keep students and staff healthy at school.

Infectious diseases can be spread in a variety of ways, please follow these recommendations:

● Wash your hands. Thorough and frequent handwashing is a proven & effective way to prevent many common infections.  Use alcohol based hand sanitizers if soap and water are not available.

● Contain your coughs and sneezes. Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough. To avoid contaminating your hands, cough or sneeze into a tissue or into the crook of your elbow.

● Stay home when you are sick. Stay home for at least 24 hours after fever is gone (without  medication!!) to lessen the chance of infecting others. Pleaser refer to student and staff attendance guidelines also attached to this email.

If you have further questions, please contact your health care provider or your school nurse consultant ( contacted listed below) 

Thank you for collaborating and working together to keep all students safe and healthy!

See this link for more information.

Sincerely,

Beth Mackin RN, BSN

Inclement Weather
We are in the middle of the season for crazy weather in Colorado.  Please be prepared by reading our inclement weather procedures on this page.  Should we have a delayed dismissal it is important that you know how we are keeping your children safe.  If you have any questions please let us know!


EpiPen Information

Mylan doubling the eligibility for patient assistance, effectively eliminating out-of-pocket expense for uninsured and under-insured patients

Company to cover up to $300 of out-of-pocket cost at pharmacy; reducing patient cost by 50% off Mylan list price

Mylan also to open pathway to provide EpiPen® Auto-Injector directly to patients

http://newsroom.mylan.com/2016-08-25-Mylan-Taking-Immediate-Action-to-Further-Enhance-Access-to-EpiPen-Epinephrine-Injection-USP-Auto-Injector

Spirit Wear

• Please get your orders in by August 31st!

Lunch Opt Out Form

• Students are allowed to get seconds at lunch and that is deducted from their lunch account.  If you do not want your child to get seconds please make sure to fill out this opt out form. Opt out from for students getting seconds or snack at lunch.  We will also start selling snacks (ala cart) after lunch beginning September 5th.  If do not want your child to spend from their account on this please also fill out the above from.  If you have questions regarding this please email our cafeteria manager, Reva at: reva.straine@dcsdk12.org 

Halloween Costumes at School

Please give us your feedback.  See this survey.

8-18-16 FSE Thursday Blast

8-18-16 FSE Thursday Blast

Thursday (TODAY) August 18: Back to School Night--Parents Only Please

• 6:00 pm first teacher presentation
• 6:30 pm second teacher presentation

Friday, August 19: 3:30 Friday Spirit Assembly

Monday, August 22nd: Fire Drill

Monday, August 29th: 8 am first Sticky Fingers Cooking Class
Wednesday, August 31st 6th grade Outdoor Education

#oneflagstone Please tweet using this hashtag if you see something you love at FSE! We would love to have it illustrated on our website under our timeline. Please note to not take pics of students faces to protect their privacy.

Morning Start

Our rolling start has been amazing!  Please remember to not drop off your children before 8:55 am because we do not have supervision. If you are driving your kids please do not let them leave your car until 8:55.  

FSE Spirit Wear

We will be doing two orders this year for FSE Spirit Wear.  Please have your fall order in by August 31st.  Here is the order form.  Please return your order form along with payment to the office by August 31st.  

Parent Volunteer Room:

Teachers have begun to put projects in the parent volunteer room to be completed by volunteers.  Please stop by to see if there is a project that you could help complete for our teachers.  The volunteer room is located in the Berry Pod, room 207.  Each grade level has a basket on top of the cabinets that they have put projects in for parents to complete.  Thank you for your time!

FSE Expedition (FSE FUN RUN)

This year our annual fun run sponsored by our PTO will occur on Friday, September 16th with the Expedition kickoff--pep rally from 3-4 pm in the gym on Sept 7th.

Girls on the Run Information

Watch for details. Online registration starts August 15.Practices are twice a week for 75-90 minutes. Practice beings week of September 12th and runs through week of November 14th.

Go to www.girlsontherunrockies.org or www.girlsontherun.org to learn more about this program.

See links on our website for flier and more information.

Reminder-CogAT Referrals due Friday!

• The CogAT is the Cognitive Aptitude Test.  It is given to all third and sixth grade students in Douglas County School District as a means of gathering information about students' thinking.
• The CogAT measures verbal, non-verbal, and spatial thinking skills.  The scores help guide programming for students who may demonstrate different thinking styles.
• Students in grades 1, 2, 4, and 5 are eligible to take the CogAT through referral.  Teachers or parents are able to refer a child to take the CogAT.
• The scores are also used as part of a student's profile to determine eligibility for gifted programming.
• If you feel that your child should take the CogAT, please sign and return the paperwork by 4:00 pm tomorrow.
• Paperwork can be found at the very bottom of the GT page and accessed by clicking here.
• Contact Jennifer Radford with any questions.

Donations Needed

As you begin purging summer clothes, things that don't fit etc., think about donating to FSE. Our health office is in need of all sizes of clothes.  We use these clothes when students need and extra pair due to accidents, rips, etc.  If you have any to donate please contact our front office and they would be glad to take them.

See the links page on our school website here for fliers and enrichment opportunities

• Sticky Fingers Cooking Class
• Girls on the Run
• Spanish Club

Thursday Blast 8-11-16

Greetings FSE Families,
We have had a fantastic first week of school! Our staff has done and AMAZING job engaging with kids from the very first minute they walked into their classrooms.  Our focus this week was to spend time getting to know classmates and the teacher while building some lasting friendships.  I hope your child came home and told you just that!

We have a busy couple of weeks ahead, please see the below info on everything happening!

Calendar of Events

• Friday, August 12th is our first Spirit Assembly. The time has CHANGED.  We will now have our assemblies from 3:30-3:50 each Friday afternoon in the gym. 
• Monday, August 15th is our school picture day.  Your teachers will be sending home order forms.  
• Wednesday, August 17th 7-8pm PTO Meeting in the Learning Commons.
• Thursday, August 18th Back to School Night 6:00-6:20 first presentation, 6:30-6:50 second presentation.  Parents only.
• Friday, August 19th 3:30-3:50 Spirit Assembly in the gym.

Safety Reminders:
Please remind your children to walk their bikes once they get on the sidewalks surrounding the school.  We want to make sure that our walkers are not hit by any fast moving bikes.

Our rolling start is going very well!  Please make sure that you are not dropping your kids off prior to 8:55 am since there is no supervision.  If you are dropping them off in the kiss an go and arrive early please have them wait in the car with you until the doors open at 8:55.

Please remember that dogs are NOT allowed on campus, even on a leash.  We want to ensure the safety of all our students and staff.  Thank you in advance for adhering to this district policy.

Rolling Start
We have gotten some positive feedback on the rolling start!  What we are seeing is that kids are calmer, less anxious and able to get settled in their classrooms in a very organized way.  Starting Monday we are asking that parents say goodbye at the door rather than walking their children all the way to the classroom.

Spirit Assembly

We have moved our assembly time to the afternoon to accommodate our teachers schedules better.  Please join us each Friday from 3:30-3:50 for student recognition and FSE spirit!

Birthday Policy

Please review our parent handbook that is located on the right side of our FSE website.  In the handbook is our new updated birthday policy.  This year we are encouraging birthday treats to be healthy.  Celebrating students birthdays at school is such a special thing for our kids and we want to continue this tradition.  Please make sure that whatever healthy choice you decide to bring in is store bought as well.

#oneflagstone

Please log onto your twitter account and start following me on twitter at kmccallsmith.  I have also included the #oneflagstone twitter feed on the front page of our website so you can see all the posts. All our staff are on twitter and are tweeting awesome things everyday about what is happening in our classrooms.  Our tag line to search all things FSE is #oneflagstone!  Please join us in tweeting all the awesome things happening at FSE this year!
Our Facebook Page is here too!

Back to School Night

Our Back to School Night is this Thursday the 18th from 6-7 pm.  Our teachers have lots of important information to share and are asking that students stay at home so parents can focus on this info.  We will have two presentations, one at 6:00pm and one at 6:30 pm.  Please let your child's teacher know if you have any questions.

FSE PTO
Our PTO is currently welcoming new members!  If you are interesting in hearing about our PTO please come to our first meeting of the year this Wednesday at 7 pm in our Learning Commons (library for those who are new!) we hope to see you there!

Link to Current Fliers/Enrichment