It’s Always A Good

Day

To Be A

HORNET

Prairie Heights Elementary Newsletter

Dear Prairie Heights Families,

Welcome to the second semester of the 2014-15 school year!!

Starting this school year the state is administering an online assessment for Literacy and Math. The new online assessment is called, Colorado Measures of Academic Suc-cess (CMAS): PARCC. Students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade will be taking the test starting in March. Students will take one of the three tests a day for a total of three days. The re-sults of the tests will be made available in November.

I am so pleased to inform you that Mrs. Ronda Smith has accepted the full time teach-ing position as our Science and Physical Education teacher. Prior to January she was substituting while we interviewed candidates. Please join me in welcoming Mrs. Smith as a teacher at Prairie Heights !!!

Our annual Bingo for Books event will be held on Friday, February 27th. This is a time when all families come to eat dinner, play Bingo, and win coupons for books at our book fair. Mark your calendars now so you can attend.

Every Friday we recognize students for their SWARM behavior. This is a time for all of us to recognize students, have student performances, build pride, and make announce-ments. Parents are always welcome to watch our SWARM assemblies, which start at 8:00am in the gym/cafeteria.

It is ALWAYS a great day to be a Hornet !

Educationally Yours,

Dr. Grant E. Schmidt, Principal

Kids . . .

See how many of the first 100

sight word can you find in this

newsletter.

Circle each one and bring

back to your teacher for a

prize. Good Luck!!!

Kindergarten

Warm Greetings From Preschool Our program has just started a new study.....All About Balls. We are having fun learning about dif-ferent kinds of balls, what they are made out of, if all balls bounce, if all balls roll and who uses balls. Several of our students have brought in balls from their home, to share during this study. We are also working hard on learning the names of the letters and the sound they make. help us welcome w our new friend, Alley! The preschool program is in need of some items for our class. If you could donate any of these items, we would be very grateful!

quart size zip lock bags (with the actual slide zipper, easier for the kids to open and close)

box of fruit loop cereal

tree cookies (these are tree trunks cut into slices about 2 inches thick) various sizes would be

great. We are looking for 20 tree cookies. If someone has some large tree limbs and a chainsaw and can cut us some tree cookies, we would be so happy!

6 cans of cheap shaving cream

As a reminder, if you would like to provide a snack or treat for special occasions, please be sure they are store bought with the ingredient label provided. This is our practice to ensure that chil-dren with allergies are safe. Thank you so much!

Miss Jody and the Preschool Team

PTO NEWS February 24 SAC/PTO Meeting - 6PM

February 26 Bingo for Books Event

March 30 SAC/PTO Meeting—6PM

Head Hornets

February March, First Grade News

The First Graders are reading stories about taking journeys. Students will be assigned a family project to do

at home. They are to create a poster, book, brochure, or report about a place they would like to take a journey to

and present it to the class the week of March 8.

Continue to read with your child every evening and keep track their reading time for a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pizza

certificate.

As we are nearing the end of the year I wanted to thank you for working so hard with your child on reading

their decodable books and practicing their high frequency words. Students must be able to read over 100 words by

the end of year test. Also, continue working with your child on math facts. Students need to have 100% on both

their addition and subtraction facts.

Thanks to Mrs. Rudin for helping teach a health unit. Students are learning that some of the important ways

to stay healthy is to be mentally fit, eat nutritious foods, and get plenty of exercise. As a part of this students are

learning how to be more purposeful and thoughtful about their behavior, work, and participation in class. As learn-

ers, children need to be able to focus on their work. Learning to be more mindful of their work will help them to fo-

Hello to all 2nd grade families, I will be sending practice sheets of the Principal’s Math Facts home again. Only 2 students have earned 100s. One on the addition test and one on the subtraction test. In third grade their goals will change to 100 expectations on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by the end of April.

All 2nd graders will be bringing home reading passages to practice their fluency skills. Only let them read the passage for 1 minute. Keep track of the number of words that they need help with, subtract those words and the number left is the total number of words accurate for a 1 minute reading.

Each night have your 2nd grader begin at the front of the story and read for only 1 minute. They will be graphing their own growth on reading fluency. Next week I will send a note letting you know the number of words they are expected to read in a story, the first time they see it. They will be tested at the end of April on the District’s Reading Assessment.

All 2nd graders should be reading material 20 minutes every day, including the weekends.

I will be sending letters to each family letting each of you know what areas your 2nd grader needs support in at home, so they can each reach the goals set for them by the state of Colorado. As a team every 2nd grader will reach or exceed the goal that has been made by the state.

Mrs. Konrad.

Third Grade

The year has been flying by and we have been very busy. I want to thank everyone for mak-ing our Valentine's Day party so much fun. Everyone had a lot of fun passing out cards and eating the goodies. :) We had a blast on our most recent field trip. The third, fourth, and fifth graders had a chance to sing, dance, and play their recorders with the orchestra. I think they had a lot of fun at the park, too! In reading, we have moved on to a unit with the theme of money. We are reading both fiction and non-fiction selections that talk about bar-tering, starting a business, and more. We have been working on fractions and will soon be moving on to geometry. In addtion, we are continuing to practice our math facts. Please continue to work on those at home, too. I appreciate all the support. Please contact me if you have any questions. S. Booker

Music

Hard to believe but the students are starting to practice for our Spring Concert. Mark your calen-dars for May 19th at 6pm! The 3rd-5th grade students finished a unit on recorders by playing at the Link UP! program last week at the Pikes Peak Center. Along with hundreds of other children from surrounding schools, they had a chance to dance, sing, and play some fantastic music! The title this year was, The Orchestra Sings.

The younger grades continue to learn the basics of music with dancing, singing, and instrument playing. All this foundation will make them ready for recorders when it is their turn in 3rd grade. I know they can wait! Miss Rudin

VISIT THE SCHOOL WEBSITE

Prairie Heights Elementary

7930 Indian Village Heights

Fountain, CO 80817

Phone—719-382-1260

Fax—719-382-9589

It’s Always A Good Day

To Be A

HORNET

http://www.hanoverhornets.org/phe/

Parents/Guardian: If your student will be absent or

tardy please call the school office. Notes signed by

parent/guardian and doctors are accepted. Siblings can

not excuse each other

New Staff at Prairie Heights Elementary

Hello, my name is Aimee Lacy and I am the new Para for reading and technology. I am

very happy to be working with your children. The children and staff have made me and

my service dog “Princess” feel very welcome. Thank you for the opportunity to work

with your children through reading.

Return to the Moon

Fourth Grade

The fourth grade class has been busy in January. Besides our regular reading, mathematics, writing, and social studies we did several days preparing for our field trip to the Challenger Learning Center where we participated in "Return to the Moon". What a great field trip as we worked hands on in mission control and in the spaceship. This simulator provided an opportunity to use our knowledge about the moon, but mostly importantly teamwork and a "Never Quit" attitude. We enjoyed the jazz concert when we returned to school. In addi-tion to our normal studies in the March the fourth graders will present a project about a chosen celestial body. We are definitely spacey!

Fifth Grade We are working on fractions now and your student may be having a hard time. I

have told them that there are several ways to the mall. What I mean is that the way you

come up with the right answer is your way to the mall, it may not be my way. The im-

portant thing is that we both get to the same mall, or arrive with the same answer. If you

are working with your student and have a different way of working the problem that they

understand, as long as they can show me how they arrived with the correct answer, I’m all

for it. The important thing is getting the correct answer, and that they understand how to

get it. At the beginning of the year I gave out my phone numbers and I am happy to help

up until 8:00 p.m.

PE

In P.E. classes we got some new equipment in. Now that the weather is a lot warmer, we can do some activities

outside. (for now)

1. Heart disease is the nations number one killer.

2. Stroke is the fifth-leading cause of death in the US.

3. Our children are developing significant health issues that can

shorten their life expectancy:

Almost a third of U.S. children and adolescents between ages 2 and 19 are overweight or obese.

Children who are obese are more than twice as likely to die before the age 55.

Sixty-one percent of children ages 9-13 aren’t physically active outside of school.

On average, American children and adolescents spend nearly four hours watching television every day.

So - be heart smart – exercise 60 minutes a day and drink plenty of water. Try adding a slice of orange, lemon or cucumber to your water for a fun flavor!

March 11 Hat Day

March 16 District 28 Board Meeting --Hanover Jr/Sr High 6:30

March 18 Formal Day

March 21-25 Spring Break

April 1 Parent Teacher conferences

April 20 District 28 Board Meeting —PHE 6:30

May 18 District 28 Board Meeting — PHE 6:30

May 19 PHE Spring Concert 6:00 PM

May 20 AM and PM Preschool Promotion—9:00 AM, 1:00 PM

May 26 Kindergarten Graduation—9:00 AM

May 26 5th Grade Graduation—1:00 PM