Coyote Connection

• • February 1-12: Kindness Carnation Gram Sale
  • February 8-9: Boys and Girls club closed.
  • February 13: Valentines for Seniors Due Date
  • February 16: No School
  • February 19: No School (Presidents' Day)
  • February 20-March 8: ACCESS Testing for ML students
  • February 21: Popcorn Money Due
  • February 23: Popcorn Friday
  • February 26: Class Picture Day
  • February 29: Panda Express PTO Fundraiser
  • March 1: Coyote Pride Ticket Drawing
  • March 6: No School (Professional Learning/Collaboration)
  • March 15: End of Quarter 3
  • March 18-22: No School (Spring Break)

  
  

  Family Engagement Meetings at 8:15am (in the library)

  • March 1
  • April 5

Hello Desert Sage Families!

What a whirlwind we had in January with a lot of intense weather. We hope you had a lot of fun with your families doing a variety of winter activities. We also hope you spent some time doing some reading, writing, math or other academic ventures to help us towards our school mantra of high levels of learning for all. We are truly all lifelong learners and we always learn a lot by working with our coyotes.

We have a lot of things coming up in the next quarter! We are excited to have a lot of events as well as a lot of wonderful learning as we head into our Springtime testing period. I would like to issue two challenges to our coyotes over the next quarter. See if you can read for 20 minutes every day, and let's keep our attendance up over 95% for this next session. We believe in you, and we can do hard things!

Beau Dahlgren

Our Multi-Cultural Family Night is on Thursday, May 2, 5:30-7:30pm. We want to learn about the different cultures of our families and celebrate the diversity of our school. We need your help to make this event successful. If you are interested in participating, please click on this link https://forms.office.com/r/D45J0yLNK4 and complete the form by Friday, February 15.

The Boys and Girls club will be closed to members February 8 and 9 for staff training. Regular club hours will resume February 12.

PTO Thanks to You...

Thanks for your support in our Texas Roadhouse Dine and Donate Night. This money is used to continue to support our students and staff in activities. We hope you enjoyed the yummy food.

Thanks for having your kids continue to read over the break for Snowball Reading. Congratulations to all the prize winners.

Thanks for making Friday more fun with an outstanding response to Popcorn Friday. We will be continuing making Friday fun with Popcorn.

Looking Forward...

Popcorn Friday:

February 23rd is Popcorn Friday. Money will be due back Wednesday, February 21st. Each bag of popcorn is $0.50 with a limit of 2 per student. Keep an eye out for the form to come home for payment options.

Kindness Carnation Gram

We have partnered with Heaven’s Essence Floral again this year for the students to share kindness with each other.

Your child will be bringing home a piece of paper with 2 Kindness Grams on it. You may make as many copies as you need to. We will be collecting filled out Kindness Grams and money at the beginning of class on February 2, 6, 9 and 12. We will deliver the Kindness Grams with a carnation to all recipients on Wednesday, February 14th.

The price is $3 per Kindness Gram or $5 for 2 Kindness Grams.

Valentines for Seniors:

We have partnered with a local senior center this year to bring a little extra kindness and joy.

We are asking students to make Valentines and bring them in to school for us to deliver to the

Seniors. The last day for Valentines to be turned in is February 13th.

Panda Express Restaurant Day:

Please join us in purchasing from Panda Express for some great food and a portion of the sales from your order will be returned to the school. This great opportunity is an online only ordering opportunity. Use the code and instructions in the flyer below.

2nd Annual Jog-A-Thon

We will be hosting our 2nd annual Jog-A-Thon on April 26th. It's an evening of jogging, fun and food trucks. We will be sending home the fundraising papers at the beginning of April. Fundraising will earn you a chance at winning some of our great prizes. All students are welcome to participate in the Jogging (even if they have not been able to fundraise). Some of the donations we have for prizes are a game play certificate at Top Golf, 4 tickets to a Boise Hawks game, tickets to Birds of Prey, tickets to the Warhawk Air Museum and tickets to the Old Idaho Penitentiary. We need some more parent volunteers to help with the night. Please reach out if you are available to help by emailing desertsagepto25@gmail.com

Next Meeting

Come join the PTO at their next meeting, February 6th from 4:30-5:30.

If you can't come to the meeting but have time to volunteer or have questions or suggestions, please email desertsagepto25@gmail.com

At Desert Sage, we want families to have the opportunity to celebrate their child's birthday at school in ways that fall within West Ada School District's Wellness Policy. To ensure that you are able to plan accordingly, please note the following:

• Birthday celebrations will happen the last Friday of the month. Please consider sending non-food items such as a favorite book to be read, a game to be played, or donating a book/game to the class in your child's name.

• If the teacher is accepting food for monthly celebrations, healthy options must be included. It is the teachers discretion whether or not to accept any food and to coordinate the inclusion of healthy options.

For more information regarding the Wellness Policy, click on the following link: Wellness Policy

• K-5 (M/T/Th/F): 8:45-9:05am*
• Wednesday K-5: 9:00-9:20am*
• AM Preschool (M-Th): 9:00am
• PM Preschool (M-Th): 12:55pm

*There is no adult supervision outside of these drop-off times. Please do not drop off students before the indicated times. Students are to go to the playground and line-up when the bell rings. If a student arrives after the drop-off times, they will need to enter through the office.

Breakfast is served starting at 8:45am every day except for Wednesdays when it is served starting at 9:00am.

All West Ada elementary schools are closed campuses, meaning parents and community members are not allowed to enter campus without checking in at the front office when students are present. Parents are asked not to access classrooms and hallways for the first two weeks of school as we build routines for students. Therefore, please be sure to drop off your child outside of the campus gates that access the playground or in front of the school.

For the elementary school bell schedule, click here: Bell schedule

• All roads surrounding Desert Sage are 20 mph speed limit.
• On school grounds, speed limit is 10 mph or slower as traffic allows.
• Use the loop at the front of the school for drop-off and pick-up of students. The back of the school building is reserved for staff parking and school buses only.
• There is no double-parking or double drop-off/pick-up. Students must be dropped off and picked up at the curb. All drivers need to stay in the line and continuously pull forward so as not to leave any gaps in the line. Other cars will follow in line and move forward as the line moves.
• Do not pass other cars in drop-off/pick-up area. Please wait patiently in the line until the car ahead of you moves.
• Do not block crosswalks.
• Have student ready to exit the car immediately.
• If you need to get out of your vehicle, please park in the marked spaces in the parking lot. Do not park in the loop or in the daycare line.
• Unless your vehicle is clearly defined as being qualified to use the handicap parking, please be aware and refrain from parking or sitting in your car in these spots. Signs are posted as a reminder.
• Keep the area directly in front of the gate at parent pick-up clear so students can exit the gate and navigate to their parent/guardian.
• Please cross at the crosswalks.
• When conditions are wet/snowy/icy, please slow down and plan on additional time.
• Please refrain from using/checking your cell phone while in the drop-off/pick-up line.

We appreciate your help in keeping our students safe!

If you are visiting the school during school hours (including the playground), volunteering in a classroom, or picking up your child before the school day ends, you must enter through the front doors and check in with the office. When checking in, you will be required to show photo identification (Driver's License or state-issued photo id). As part of our visitor check-in procedures, office staff will need to scan your id.

We also want to make all of our families aware that pets are not allowed on campus when students are present.

Thank you for helping us keep our students safe!

If your child will be absent from school, we ask that you please call our attendance line at (208) 350-4021 by 9:30am and leave a message with your child's name, date(s) of absence, and reason for absence.

If, on a particular day, there is a change from how your child typically gets home, please notify the office before 3:00pm at (208) 350-4020. We will make sure to get a message/reminder to your child before the day ends. Please don't only notify the teacher.

Website: https://www.westada.org/desertsage
Location: 9325 West Mossywood Drive, Boise, ID, USA
Phone: (208) 350-4020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/desertsageelementary/