2-23-17 FSE Thursday Blast

2-23-17 FSE Thursday Blast

Upcoming Events

• Friday, February 24th Dreaming about Kindness: Dress in PJ's
• February 27th: March Madness Reading Week
• March 3rd: Book Character Dress Up Day
• March 8th 7pm PTO Meeting in the Learning Commons
• March 17-26 Spring Break

Screenagers a MUST SEE Movie

• Please join some of our staff in the viewing of this movie at Douglas County High School on March 15th at 6:30.  Please see link here for information.  A powerful movie about the effects of screen time on our kids.

Safety Reminders

As the weather is again getting slippery, please remind your bike riders to be very careful on the roads as they can be very slick.  It is also an important reminder to walk bikes on all the sidewalks surrounding the school.

Kindness Video

Check out this awesome news story on our 5th grade kids leading our kindness campaign.  Truly proud of the modeling they are doing for our entire community on what it means to be kind!

CLICK HERE for the Video.

FSE Congratulats our Apple Award Nominees
Congrats to Brooke Basner and Debbie Petrillo!  We love you!

Why Creativity is Important!

Interesting Article in Money Magazine! 

In an interview with Mark Cuban, the billionaire software developer and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, he warned that even people with in-demand skills like computer coding could soon be displaced.  He goes on to say, "That might have been a great job a few years ago, but you might be out of work in five years by the automation of automation, where computers learn how to write software better than humans can."  He states that "the work is changing and the new skill will become more in-demand than ever, that new skill being creative thinking."  He believes that in 10 years there will be a greater demand for liberal arts majors than there were for programming majors and maybe even engineering.  He claims that, "when the data is all being spit out for you, options are being spit out for you, you need a different perspective in order to have a different view of the data."

One of our learning targets that we weave into our core content lessons is how to think through the creative process.  We are teaching kids how to generate ideas, refine them, be open to others ideas and create something with these new ideas. These are all elements of the creative process that we think are deeply important in our education of young students.  Our focus this year has been how to be open with others ideas through mathematical thinking.  Allowing students to share different ways of solving a problem, sharing it and then learning how others went about it the same way.  It is very exciting to see how this will be valued in the world that we are preparing our young students for.

ENRICHMENT
Girls on the Run will start the week of March 6th.  Girls on the Run inspires girls to a lifetime of self-respect and a healthy lifestyle through an innovative program that combines training for a 3.1 mile run/walk race with a fun, health education lesson plan. We will meet Mondays and Wednesdays after school.  Open to all 3rd through 6th grade girls.  Registration opens February 6th.  For more information about the program go to www.girlsontherunrockies.org.  Questions?  Contact: Marleigha Lossin at mmlossin@dcsdk12.org

FSE Happenings

Battle of the Books!

Making Fractions Meaningful

Math Practice with Mrs. Sprigg on Kahoot

Digging Deep with Mrs. Duelm's Kids Research!

Design Thinking in Mrs. Zellmer's Room

Mrs. Steppuhn's Illustrator's

Mrs. Brown's Creators!

Math Problem Solvers with Mrs. Jaimes

2-16-17 FSE Thursday Blast

2-16-17 FSE Thursday Blast

Upcoming Events

• Friday, Feb 17th and Monday Feb. 20th No School
• Thursday, Feb. 23rd Picture day
• February 24th Dress in PJ's and Dream about Kindness
• February 27th: March Madness Begins (more info to come)
• March 17th: No School: Teacher compensation day
• Week of March 20th Spring Break!

Kiss and Go Safety

• Please remember that the kiss and go lanes are where you drop kids off.  Please do not wait in your cars with your kids, as this causes a big traffic back up.  You are more than welcome to park in the lot to wait if you arrive too early.

Kindness Week

This week we talked about how to be kind on technology including email and social media.  We talked with students about what digital citizenship was and why it is important to think about how we treat each other on the many platforms that the internet provides.  Students learned about what a digital footprint is and why it is important to be aware of what you are putting out on the internet because it never goes away.

Next weeks theme is being kind to yourself.  Our goal is to bring awareness to positive self talk.  We want students to understand that we shouldn't get down on ourselves when we make a mistake and that it is a normal part of life.

We will end our kindness campaign on Friday the 24th with an all school pajama day so we can start dreaming about kindness.

FSE Happenings this Week!

2-9-17 FSE Thursday Blast

2-9-17 FSE Thursday Blast

Upcoming Events

• Friday, Feb 10th Dress Up in Peace, Love and Kindness (Hippie Clothes)
• Friday, Feb 10th Student Council Meeting 8:15 in the Learning Commons: Please wear shirt for yearbook picture
• Feb. 10th-14th Student Council Selling Candy Grams at lunch in Cafe
• Wednesday, Feb. 15th PTO Meeting 7pm in the Learning Commons
• Thursday,  Feb. 16th Dress Up in Crazy hair or clothes for Crazy for Kindness
• Thursday, Feb. 16th SAC meeting in the Learning Commons 8am
• Friday, Feb. 17th Professional Development Day: No School for Students
• Monday, Feb 20th: District Holiday No School

FSE Apple Award Nominees!

Please join FSE in congratulating our certified and classified Apple Award Nominees Brooke Basner and Debbie Petrillo!

Student Council Update

• If you still want to buy a candy gram for your child it is not too late.  Please click here for form.  Don't forget the meeting tomorrow at 8:15 am in the LC.

Kindness Week

• Next week is Kindness on Social Media.  We will be using some of the below photos as teaching points during our daily community circles.  Ask your children what they saw and did this week during kindness week.
• Our staff is also joining in the campaign by joining forces with a nonprofit that makes shoes for ill children.  Check it out or help them out by joining our staff in guying a t-shirt.  100% of the profits goes to this awesome cause!  www.peachsneetfeet.com

Teaching Math Effectively

This year  our staff has been conducting book study on one of Jo Boaler's (Stanford Professor and math expert) books called Mathematical Mindsets. We have been learning about how to teach students to have a growth mindset and the benefit for kids as they struggle through problem solving.  She shares methods for teaching math facts that are supported by research.  Boaler affirms that students need to be fluent with their math facts, but she states that timing students creates anxiety that prevents students from demonstrating what they know.  She also claims that timed tests send the incorrect message that math is about speed, rather than problem solving and deep thinking.  Boaler suggests teachers and parents practice facts untimed.  She also suggests pairing visual representations with equations so students build a conceptual understanding.  Click here for 6 ways your can support your child in math.

Summer Camp Opportunities

Summer is a time when memories are made, let Stone Canyon be a part of your child’s story. Sign up for a week of overnight camp and fill their summer with laughter, friendship, and adventure. Check out our website for details about the programs we offer.

Stone Canyon Summer Camp flier

Enrichment

Learning Labs is offering a sculpting class for grades K-6 starting February 22nd. Click the link for more info.

Sculpting Class

FSE Happenings

2-2-17 FSE Thursday Blast

Cancellation:  Our FSAC Meeting that was scheduled for tomorrow, Feb. 3rd will be rescheduled.  We have members that can't make it due to illness.  The rescheduled date will be 8am on Feb 16th.

Upcoming Events

• Friday, Feb. 3rd 3:30 Kindness Week Launches
• Monday, Feb 6th 8:55 am Kindness at Kiss and Go and Front Entrance
• Friday, Feb 10th:  Peace, Love and Kindness Day: Dress Up like  Hippy:
• Thursday, Feb. 16th: Crazy for Kindness Day: Dress up in Crazy Clothes
• Friday, Feb 17th NO SCHOOL: Professional Development Day for Teachers
• Friday, Feb 24th: Dream of Kindness: Dress up in PJs for the day

Kindness Week Launches THIS Friday!  Please see the below events so you can talk with your children about  this important campaign. I would like to give a shout out to Mrs. Duelm's fifth grade class for coming to to me with this idea and working hard to plan an wonderful three weeks for our school.  Check out these hard working kids below!

Friday, Feb 3rd at 3:30 Mrs. Duelm's class will kick off our kindness month at our weekly spirit assembly.  

Monday, Feb 6th Our staff along with Duelm's class will greet all students coming to school that morning in Tutu's or ties or both with these slogans, "You can't be tutu kind." and "Get tied up in kindness." This will kick off a week of teaching about what it looks like to be kind in our community (school, home, neighborhood) each class will use the resources provided on the random acts of kindness website  to discuss this topic each day in their class in morning circle.  We will have daily announcements around kindness and staff will be passing out hearts to kids that are caught being kind.  Teachers are also passing out cards with kindness challenges on them to studetns and they are competing to see who has the most acts of kindness during this time.  This first week will end with students dressing up in hippie clothes to remind us all that it is about Peace, Love and Kindness.(Feb 10th)

The week of Feb 13th all the above activities will occur but we will focus on being kind on social media and teach what this means in our community circle time.  We will end the week on Thursday Feb 16th with kids dressing up in crazy clothes to remind us that we are all Crazy for Kindness.

The week of Feb 20th all the above activities will occur and we will teach what it means to be kind to your self.  Teaching things like growth mindset and positive self talk (much of what they heard Colin O'Brady speak about during is journey).  We will end the week with dressing up in PJ's for the day on Feb 24th to remind us to Dream of Kindness.

 When you see random acts of kindness this week please email them to me or post to twitter with the #FSErocksKINDNESS

FSE Updates

• Please be aware of this dangerous practice happening on social media with students. Click here for article.
• Please fill out your intent to return to Flagstone here:  Please use this link to fill our your enrollment confirmation for next school year.
• Opt In to Receive Text Messages
• Be sure your info is current by logging on to Parent Portal and updating your contact preferences. Make sure Text (SMS) is checked for any phone number/message type that you want to receive texts for. Opt in your phone number with School Messenger. Text ‘Y’ to 68453
• Please help CRPD raise money for Special Olympics, see flier here.

FSE Happenings

Wish Week! Thank you so much to our community for helping us raise almost $3,000 for the Make a Wish Foundation.