Werner Weekly

Stay up-to-date with the Werner School Calendar

• Sept. 10- PTA Meeting, 9:05-10:05, Staff Lounge
• Sept. 12- Werner Dines Out, Papa Johns
• Sept. 13- PTA Movie Night, 6-8 pm, Playground
• Sept. 18- Odyssey of the Mind Info Meeting, 6-7 pm, Media Center
• Sept. 27- Fall Fun Festival, 4:30-6:30 pm

Dear Werner Community,

Thanks for your participation with this week's Back-to-School Orientations! It was great to see so many of you. If you missed this time, please check in with your child's teacher. Also, down below is the short video from me regarding some changes this year in case you missed it at Back-to-School.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your time with family!

Best,

Hayden Camp

Principal

• Back-to-School Orientations- Thanks for attending classroom Back-to-School nights this week! We will post information from our school-wide programs and specials in the Werner Weekly (see down below).
• PTA Meeting- Our Werner PTA will have their first meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10 starting at 9:05 in the staff lounge. We hope you can make it!
• Werner Dines Out and Movie Night- Check out the upcoming opportunities sponsored by our PTA next week! The fliers down below have more info.
• Cell Phones/Smart Watches- We just want to continue to clarify that cell phones and smartwatches will need to be stored in student's backpacks during the school day or with your child's teacher. This is in response to PSD's new policy (see below).

• Aug. 14, 2024

  Dear PSD community:

  Cell phones, headphones, and other electronic accessories can be amazing resources, but they can also be a major distraction. Social media apps found on electronic devices can harm students’ mental health, exposing them to cyberbullying, hate-based content, false information, and content that may cause them to feel bad about their bodies or socioeconomic status – all available in an easy-to-access format that can feel hard to escape.

  Classrooms work best when students disconnect from social media and personal devices and connect with their classmates, their teachers, and learning. To help make that possible, PSD schools will enforce policies requiring preschool through eighth-grade students to store cell phones, headphones, and all other electronic accessories out of sight and on silent at school unless they have permission from an administrator/designee or it's written into their IEP, 504, or HCAP. This will help students focus on curriculum and ensure classrooms offer a phone-free and social media-free learning environment.

  Sincerely,

  Poudre School District

• Parking on Highcastle Drive- Please adhere to No Parking signs along Highcastle Drive. We have had some issues with cars parking near the crosswalk and blocking site of our staff and students walking across. Thanks for your help with this!
• Spirit Gear- Our wonderful PTA has set up one stop shopping for spirit gear and PTA membership on the website, Givebacks. See the attached flier or go to this link.
• Volunteering and Needs- Please see the communication down below regarding volunteers and current needs.

• Odyssey of the Mind - If your student is interested in a fun and creative team challenge, attend the OM informational night on September 18 from 6-7pm in the Media Center. See the Info flyer and Problem synopses overview for more details. If you have questions, contact Butterscotch Culhane at bculhane@psdschools.org

• Library Checkout is Monday for all students.
• If we have no school on Monday, books will be due the following week.
• You can always turn books in early (put them in the classroom cart), but checkout is always Monday.
• Reading Levels:
• I try to have all grades choose 1 book that is close to their reading level.
• Kinder - 1 pink or yellow book
• 1st - 1 pink, yellow, maybe orange
• 2nd - 1 pink, yellow, or orange
• 3rd - 1 yellow, orange, or blue (they should also know their exact range)
• 4th & 5th - they should know their range
• They may also choose other books that may be a higher reading level.
• All grades can check out up to 3 books.
• If they forget any books (even just one) they cannot check out books.
• It is always our goal to have students check out books.
• I may email you as a reminder that your child has forgotten books to help them get their books back to school.
• If books do not come back for several weeks the reminder may contain a bill to pay for a replacement book. Using School Pay is the easiest way to do this.
• If a book is damaged or ruined please return it and let me know. If it can be repaired it will be. If not you will be responsible for paying for a replacement book.
• Volunteers
• I may need volunteers at some point. I don’t know how it will all feel this year yet and if I will need help.
• I may end up needing help with cleaning books, reshelving, helping students, or book repair.
• Link to my Library Learning Page
  

Julie Flemister

Welcome back to another great school year. For those who do not know me, I am the School Counselor at Werner. My name is Julie Flemister and my office is located just west of the cafeteria. I am fortunate to teach in each classroom social emotional skills, including but not limited to, getting along skills, conflict resolution, bully proofing, mindfulness, and Acts of Kindness.

Every grade level receives lessons on mindfulness (how to calm our brain when we are feeling upset), how to keep our power when dealing with mean people and/or bullies, power of kindness, and then each level is taught a relevant topic based on need and age.

•Kindergarten: Friendship Skills

•1st Grade: Problem Solving Skills

•2nd Grade: Building confidence in school and believing in themselves using the Andrea Beaty series

•3rd Grade: Conflict Resolution Skills

•4th Grade: True Colors to help awareness of who they are as a learner and building confidence in school

•5th Grade: Xello - Werner is one of the few elementaries introducing Xello in 5th grade. The district uses Xello at the secondary level to help students explore interests and post-secondary options. Werner students that continue in the district will be able to reflect on the information from this year for continuous learning in the career exploration field.

I also have lunch with many of the students, so please do not be alarmed if your student comes home and says they had lunch with the counselor. I feel it important to know each student, so if something does come up, they are comfortable coming and talking with me. I also help in crisis, talking with students, and working with parents on helping their child feel successful in school.

Please let me know if you ever need community resources. My email is jflemist@psdschools.org.

Hayley Wells

hramerswells@psdschools.org

Fridays only

This year I will be using Purposeful People curriculum and will be discussing with all grades:

–

–Respect

–Responsibility

–Gratitude

–Empathy

–Perseverance

–Honesty

–Cooperation

–Courage

Creativity

One of the cornerstones of success, for our school, are our volunteers. Our volunteers help support instructional and clerical needs, supervise on field trips, and help plan fun parties for our classrooms. Our volunteers help in so many ways to support classrooms and our whole school.

Over the course of the coming weeks, teachers will be recruiting Room Parents to help support the coordination of their volunteer needs. If you are interested in supporting your child’s teacher with this, please submit this form by August 30. Our Room Parents also help support as a point person for needs from the PTA when coordination with classrooms is necessary.

If you are only interested in serving as a volunteer, stay tuned for communication from your child’s teacher in the future. As we have building-wide needs, we will send out communication and post on our Werner website: https://wer.psdschools.org/about-us/volunteers.

All volunteers must be registered through PSD. This is required for even one day of volunteering. If you have not registered, please go to the PSD website: https://www.psdschools.org/community/volunteers.

Thanks for your support of Werner!

Classroom Volunteer Needs will communicated by teachers in the future. We do have some school volunteer needs for now. If you are interested in helping support in any of these areas, please email Mr. Camp (hcamp@psdschools.org).

• Garden Help- Do you enjoy gardening? We are in need of volunteers to help support the maintenance of our front garden. If you are interested, please email Mr. Camp (hcamp@psdschools.org).
• DAB (District Advisory Board) Representative Needed- The District Advisory Board advises the district on a number of issues and is made up of parent representatives from each school and acts as a link between the community and the district. If you are interested, please email Mr. Camp (hcamp@psdschools.org).
• SAC (School Accountability Committee) Representatives Needed- Our SAC meets about 4-6 times each year to discuss school improvement efforts. School Accountability Committees (SAC), which are made up of parents and staff, offer guidance on academic action plans, budget priorities, safety issues and other areas. If you are interested, please email Mr. Camp (hcamp@psdschools.org).

Paying for school fees and/or lunches is easy using SchoolPay. Below is the link for signing your student up, paying fees and/or adding funds to your student’s meal account.

PSD offers an easy and secure way to make payments to your child’s school on-line with a credit/debit card for fees and other charges as well as your child’s meal account through the District’s payment portal, SchoolPay.* The Pay Fees/Charges web page has information and instructions on paying fees and other charges online or go directly to the SchoolPay website.

Fees may also be paid in person at your child's school, paying with cash or check.

Throughout the year, we ask our community for photos that could be used for our yearbook and/or social media. This relates to school events only (e.g. classroom parties, field trips, school events, spirit days and enrichment opportunities). You can upload pictures to our 2024-2025 Werner Photo Album throughout the year. Please be mindful to not include photos of students that may not have permission.

Save the Date

September 10th- First PTA Meeting of the Year (9:05am-Staff Lounge)

September 12th- First Werner Dines Out of the Year- Papa Johns (all day & all locations in NoCo)

September 13th- First Outdoor Werner Movie Night- “Inside Out”

Happy September Wildcats! As we continue to adjust to the new school year, we want to extend a warm welcome to both returning families and those who are new to our school community.

The Werner Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) plays a crucial role in supporting our school, teachers, and most importantly, our students. We are dedicated to fostering a positive and enriching environment where every child can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

JOIN THE WERNER PTA

From our annual Fall Festival to this year's Read A Thon, we have some memorable events planned and would love your help. Although membership doesn’t obligate you to volunteer hours or attend meetings, we always love to meet more of our Werner community and have your support in any way you can give it.

• Sign up for the PTA HERE to receive a free Werner yard sign & notifications of upcoming events.
• *****New this year***** Wildcat Spirit Wear is launching with new shirts, hoodies, and stickers! Visit our Givebacks website HERE for a one stop shop for everything your PTA has to offer.
• For any questions please email the PTA at ptawernerelementary@gmail.com

FREE MONEY FOR YOUR SCHOOL! Did you know there are ways to donate money to the school by doing things you already do? - If you shop at King Soopers with a loyalty card they will donate to Werner when you sign up here.

- If you like to eat out, the PTA hosts Werner Dines Out once a month and the restaurants we partner with will donate back to the school anywhere from 10-15%!

- American Warehouse is now offering rewards back to Werner for any purchase you make throughout the whole year. Just mention Werner at checkout!

Your Werner PTA

Follow us on FACEBOOK to stay engaged with school events, Werner families, and see what the PTA is up to!

Your 2024/2025 PTA Board

PTA President | Gladys Kanode

PTA Vice President | Caitlin Papp

PTA Treasurer | Patti Haswell

PTA Secretary | Juliana Potts

PTA VP of Community Programs | Marissa McNulty

PTA Past-President | Nicole Kidd Connect with us at PTAWernerElementary@gmail.com

There Is No Wrong Way to PTA. How Do You PTA?

Thank you for supporting the Werner Elementary PTA!

Aug. 19, 2024

Dear Poudre School District community:

We hope you’ve had an excellent start to the new school year and have been able to join your teachers and classmates every school day so far. It’s important to make and keep good attendance habits from the very first day of school to have a successful year.

Students who attend school regularly perform better academically and are more likely to graduate from high school than students who are chronically absent (defined as missing 10% or more of school days, excused or not). Unfortunately, one in three Colorado students are chronically absent, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

PSD has a goal of 95% average daily attendance. While a goal of 100% attendance doesn’t leave space for occasional student illness, going to school 95% or more of the time helps students stay on track with their schoolwork and feel more connected with staff, peers, and activities at school, which has positive impacts on student mental health and belonging.

Absences can add up quickly and negatively impact a student’s progress. Missing just a couple days each month means a child is losing out on more than 10% of in-class learning. To help families track absences and offer support, schools will send parents and guardians a letter if their child passes the following thresholds:

• Absent 10% or more of school days so far in the school year

• Absent 15% or more of school days so far in a school year

• Absent 25% or more of school days so far in a school year

These percentages account for both excused and unexcused absences. Unexcused absences are days missed for any reason not listed in the excused absence list in the Student Code of Conduct (page 11). Leaving school for vacations, work (outside of a work-study program under school supervision), or appointments that can take place outside of school hours/have not been pre-approved by a school administrator are examples of unexcused absences for a student.

Parents and guardians will also receive letters if their child becomes habitually truant by having four or more unexcused absences in one month or 10 or more unexcused absences in a year.

PSD staff want to be partners with families in getting students to class. Please contact your school if you have questions or need attendance support.

Sincerely,

Poudre School District

• PSD sends frequent emails to currently registered volunteers, but those are getting lost in some recipients' junk mail folders. If you are registered as a volunteer with PSD, please check your junk mail & mark those sent by "Volunteer Coordinator" as safe to receive.

• For those who are not yet registered to volunteer but want to help in our schools please visit - Volunteer Registration

One of many ways information is shared is through the PSD Now community newsletter, which features timely information about the latest happenings in the district. This is emailed to families and interested community members about every other Thursday.

Here is the most recent newsletter of PSD Now. For archived newsletters and information about how to sign up, go to: https://www.psdschools.org/department/communications.

An award-winning neighborhood school in Fort Collins, Colorado

Email: hcamp@psdschools.org
Website: https://wer.psdschools.org/
Location: 5400 Mail Creek Lane, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Phone: (970) 488-5550

Attendance: (970) 488-5551
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wernerwildcats/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/werner_elementary/
X (Twitter): @WernerWildcats