The Coyote Howler

Dear CRES Families,

I have some great news to share! I learned last week that, based on last spring's CMAS test scores, CRES has been designated by the Colorado Dept. of Education as a Colorado Distinguished School -- one of three in TSD! We will be recognized at the board of education meeting on Wednesday, February 19th. This is a reflection of the hard work of our students, staff, and you -- our wonderful and supportive school community!

By now you should have received a message from your child's teacher regarding spring parent/teacher conferences. If you did not receive it last week, please contact your child's teacher. There is no school for students on Monday, 2/17, (President's Day) or Tuesday, 2/18 (TSD professional development day). We look forward to seeing your students back at 9:00am on Wednesday, 2/19/25.

We are noticing an uptick in the number of students who are arriving late to school (not related to inclement weather). Thank you for ensuring students arrive between 7:45a and 7:57a so they can get to class on time. We serve free breakfast each morning. Breakfast is served from 7:40a - 7:55a. We are happy to have your students eat breakfast at school -- please just be sure to get them to school with enough time to eat breakfast before the 7:57a warning bell sounds. Thank you!

Shine on,

Deon Davis, Principal

PS: Thanks to everyone who helped make the Valentine's Day parties a fun success!

The CRES PTO is organizing meals for the upcoming conferences and we would appreciate your support! Please consider donating one or more items to help ensure our staff is well-fed during this busy time. Sign-up to provide food items HERE. Sign-up to volunteer with set-up/clean-up HERE. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Tricia Vincent at cres.fc.pto@gmail.com.

Get ready to read! It is simple to participate. You just read, read, read and track your minutes from March 3rd-14th. A Google Form link will be shared closer to the start date. All reading counts: read on your own, have someone read to you, read an ebook, or listen to an audiobook. Prizes will be awarded for the top readers in the school!

Supersonic Phonics and Decodables collections in Sora are leveled collections containing early readers for students that help them practice their early literacy skills! All of the books are available in simultaneous use so students don’t have to worry about placing holds.

Check it out! https://soraapp.com/welcome - Students sign in with their TSD username and password. Need help logging in at home? Contact Mrs. Opfer at kim.opfer@tsd.org

Thank you for your attention to the important matter regarding immunizations. Please see the linked state immunization annual parent letters, available in both English and Spanish, for the 2025-2026 school year.

Our wonderful, hard-working, friendly and flexible head custodian, Mrs. Kringlie, has accepted a position in another school and will be leaving CRES at the end of the month. She loves CRES and we love her, but there are some life circumstances that make this move make sense for her. We sure are going to miss us, and she'll always be a Coyote. If you get a chance to thank her for her service here, please do!

VERY IMPORTANT -- Please read this information about conferences.

Pack the Stands Event - Mountain View HS Unified vs. Loveland First Responders Basketball Game

Join us for a night of basketball and community spirit at Mountain View High School as the MV Unified Basketball Team faces off against the Loveland First Responders.

• Date: Wednesday, February 26

• Time: 6:30 PM

• Location: Mountain View High School

• 
  

Let’s pack the stands and show our support for these incredible athletes. Free pizza for students — bring your friends, cheer on the teams, and be part of this exciting event. We look forward to seeing you there!

Dear Families,

As we continue in the winter season, it’s important that your contact information in the Parent Portal is updated to receive any communications regarding school closures or school delays. Please add emergency contacts to your child’s profile also in case you are unable to pick up your child if school is closed early.

Information to assist families in updating their children’s contact information in the Parent Portal.

Congratulations to "Miss K!" Miss K is an awesome teacher for students who are learning English as a second or third language. She works both here at CRES and at Centennial Elementary School. I had the honor of helping to celebrate Miss K at the February Loveland Rotary meeting.

Congratulations to "Miss Bailey!" Ms. Bailey is a Math Corps tutor who works with students in small groups to develop and remediate essential math skills. We recently received word that, of all the Mtch Corps tutors in the state of Coloardo, Miss Bailey's students have grown the most!

We are so fortunate to have these amazing educators as part of Team CRES!

Future Wildcats and their families are invited to Lucile Erwin Middle School for Incoming 6th Grade Parent Night on Thursday, February 20th, from 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM.

This event is a great opportunity to learn about 6th-grade course registration, meet the teachers, tour the school, and explore programs like IB, Gifted & Talented, and Dual Language Immersion. Families will also get information on focus classes, clubs, athletics, and activities.

We hope to see you there! For more details, visit lems.tsd.org or contact the LEMS front office.

Give a hearty Coyote Ridge welcome to two new Coyotes!

Mrs. Hannah Mogle has been hired as our new Faculty Assistant. She's been on the job for two weeks, and she's doing GREAT!

Mrs. Tanjee Eubanks has been hired as our new School Health Office Aide. She started on Monday, Feb. 10th and she is ALSO doing great!

Welcome, ladies!

We had a great response to our Elementary Spin and Dance Camp last year so we are doing it again! This camp will be a short introduction to the unique activity that is colorguard/winterguard. Students will be introduced to dance and flag choreography. This is open to any TSD or local charter students. The camp will be taught by our amazing Director of Guards, Mrs. Katelyn Kellogg, her staff, and some select high school colorguard students.

The camp will be happening March 10th-11th at Lincoln Elementary (thank you Principal Stotter) and March 12th at Loveland HS where the camp students will get to perform as part of our Winter Ensembles showcase. After they perform, they'll get to see the "big kids" doing the same activity which I'm sure will be a highlight for them and their families. This performance will be free of charge, donations to the LHS Bands program accepted but not expected.

Here is a link to the Spin and Dance Camp flyer.

Schools on the Move Challenge

• Healthy Kids 5210 Challenge is a one month program (sponsored by Healthy Kids Club, UC Health) to encourage students, teachers, school staff and families to learn and practice healthy habits.

• Research shows that doing something for 18 days or more can form a habit.

From: February 1-28

For: Students, Staff, and Families

Why

• Research shows that good nutrition, plenty of sleep, and daily activity leads to better concentration, increased attention, improved memory, better moods, less fatigue and improved brain function.

• HEALTHY KIDS LEARN BETTER!

Join the Challenge – practice healthy habits AND GET a FREE T-SHIRT!!

SCHOOL CHALLENGE – Students will fill out the yellow log

FAMILY CHALLENGE – Fill out the blue or white family log

Logs must be entered online by Wednesday March 5. If you would like to have your challenge log entered by a staff member, please send it to school by Tuesday, March 4 They will not take late submissions.

Extra student calendars in ​C​RES front office​. Link to extra Family logs.

Thank you,

Deb Luithly

PE Teacher

UCHealth’s “Healthy Kid Connection Newsletter

Please be sure to pack a snack with your student each day.

The front office is running low on snacks for students who didn't bring snacks. Please consider picking up an extra box of (individual bags) of: goldfish crackers, pretzels, granola bars, etc.

We appreciate your donations -- so do the hungry kids!

Partners is a non-profit organization with the mission to empower youth and community members to achieve their full potential through mentoring, prevention education, and strategic partnership. This January, for National Mentoring Month, Partners challenges you to Resolve to Make an Impact. Partners offers a variety of ways for you to make tangible positive impacts on local youth through mentoring. Our school works with and our students truly benefit from the mentors from the Partners program -- please consider joining or suggesting it to others in your life.

• Become a Mentor-- Partners is currently seeking Community-Based Mentors to get matched with one of the youth currently on our waitlist. We have a great track record of making compatible matches based on interests, goals, location and schedules, plus we offer helpful training and one-on-one support to help volunteers be successful!

• Become an Activity Volunteer– Partners hosts monthly activities for youth on our waitlist and we currently need more volunteers to help us reach more youth. You’ll sign up when an activity works with your schedule, transport a kid or two, and engage with the youth at the activity. It’s a lower commitment way to get involved!

• Become a Monthly Donor– Partners can only offer our top-quality mentoring programming with financial support from our community. Donations pay for case management and support, regular group activities, mentor trainings, insurance, evaluation–all best practices of mentoring. When you give monthly, you help us build a consistent base of support we can depend on as we add new youth to our services.

Want to learn more from our Staff? Join us for one of the following Mentor Drive Events:

• January 23, 2025 – 4:00-6:00pm – Sky Bear Brewing, 272 E 5th St, Loveland–New Mentor Drive

• January 24, 2025 – 12:00-1:00pm – Zoom Volunteer Info Session - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83352117567?pwd=dg7r6zTgRyaTXHud1WSkPN6vUJtLdI.1

• January 30, 2025 – 4:00pm-6:00pm – Odell Brewing, 800 E Lincoln Ave, Fort Collins—New Mentor Drive

Learn more about Partners here: https://poweredbypartners.org/

What? Talent Show already? YES!

The annual CRES Talent Show will be February 28,

2025 this school year. Ms. Smeltzer will be sending home the Talent Show permission slip the week of January 21-25, so look for it. In the meantime, be thinking about and practicing for what kind of talent your student would like to do.

Planning ahead….students who are interested in being in the Talent Show will need to try out on either the afternoon of February 6 or 7 after school and must attend the dress rehearsal on February 27 after school, so make sure and add those dates to your calendar. Again, more information will be coming home this week.

Also, please note that this is the last year we will have consecutive years of Talent Shows. Beginning next year, we will begin a new tradition of having a talent show every other year. So, no Talent Show next year.

Thank you for your continued partnership regarding student attendance! We just received news that our latest chronic absenteeism rate is down to 8%. This is the lowest rate in the school district! Let's keep working together and get it even lower. When you miss school, you miss out!

We all know that weather will fluctuate as we work through the fall. Thank you for keeping an eye on the forecast each morning and sending your child with appropriate outerwear for the conditions.

Students can expect to be outside for recess unless it is less than 15*F, or raining steadily. Students have a nice long lunch recess, and they will not have an option to be inside unless we cancel recess for all, due to the weather just described, so please send them with gear.

Also, please, please, please don't make us throw out your student's nice winter gear! If you label every item, we will return lost gear to your child, but if it's not labeled, we can't help it. Trust us, all black bib overall snow pants look the same! Thank you for helping us to help you by labeling your child's jacket, caps, GLOVES, and snow pants.

The CRES Health Office is in need of gently used girls' and boys' pants, sizes youth XS-L. If your family has some to donate, please drop them off in the front office. Thank you!

Did you know that Coyote Ridge is part of a larger IB continuum within Thompson School District? Coyote Ridge houses the Primary Years Programme but there is also a Middle Years Programme (6th-8th grades at Lucile Erwin Middle School and 9th-10th grades at Loveland High School) and a Diploma Programme (11th-12th grades at Loveland High School). Take a look at this month’s DP Newsletter to learn more about what is happening at the other end of our continuum in the Diploma Programme! If you have any questions about what any of the IB programmes look like in TSD, please reach out to CRES IB Coordinator, Emily Rau at emily.rau@tsd.org.

Spirit wear is still available! Click here for spirit wear.

Here's the link to the article about crocs.

Debbie Luithly

deborah.luithly@tsd.org or 970-679-9409

An important goal of an IB education is to see students taking action as they take their learning deeper.

Check out this Action and Learner Profile Award video to see how you can share the action your child is taking at home. Remember, no action is too big or too small!

If you have any questions regarding Action or Learner Profile Awards, please contact your child’s teacher or Emily Rau, our IB coordinator (emily.rau@tsd.org).

Kindergarten Lunch Help Needed!

If you ever wonder what the kindergarten lunchroom experience is like, check out this funny video--it pretty much nails it. Our newest students need lots of help--some of them can't even see over the salad bar! They're awfully cute, and awfully slow, so please come help if you can. You are welcome to stay through all the lunches, but the biggest need is from 10:45 - 11:30a. If you are able to help, even just once, on any day of the week, please call or email our faculty assistant, Myriah Groover ("Mrs. G.") at: myriah.groover@tsd.org. Many thanks to the awesome parents who have been helping out already this year!

Crosswalk Help Needed

Can you help keep our students safe? We have had wonderful community volunteers join our staff members in ensuring crosswalk safety for our students. All it takes is 20 minutes per week, unless you would like to do more.Please view the options in this Crosswalk Monitor Interest Form.

Please review the revised family student handbook!

1. October 8th: SAC from 5:00 - 5:45; PTO @ 5:45pm

2. November 12th: SAC from 5:00 - 5:45; PTO @ 5:45pm

3. January 14th: SAC from 5:00 - 5:45; PTO @ 5:45pm

4. February 11th: PTO @ 5:45pm

5. March 11th: PTO @ 5:45pm

6. April 8th: PTO @ 5:45pm

7. May 6th: PTO @ 5:45pm

Did you know that we have a new Chromebook insurance option! Details can be found on our Tech 4 All website. Let us know if you needmore information.

Here is the updated Year at a Glance document. It will be revised as events are added and dates are confirmed. Thank you for taking a look!

We will be continuing this year to partner with and ask for your support in ensuring that your child is in school each day. You did a great job last year and our chronic absenteeism rate fell, but I know we can still improve on it.

The unfortunate reality is that, although we try, there is no way to actually "make up" the learning that is missed when a student is absent, whether that is due to illness, appointments, or other reasons.

Students that miss just two days per month are considered to be chronically absent and at risk for academic and social difficulties.

Students are in school for 170 days per year. This means that there are 195 days each year that they are not in school. Students are literally out of school more than they are in school. Thank you for reviewing the district calendar and planning trips and outings during non-school times. Thank you!

The short version:

Students and families should only use the crosswalk(s) south of the school parking lot. The crosswalk north of the parking lot will not be supervised, and should not be used.

The backstory:

Parents, we made this important change to our safety procedures last year, for students who walk to and from school. There are three crosswalks near the school on Avondale. One is north of the school parking lot and two (perpendicular to each other) are south of the parking lot.

As our neighborhood has aged and we have been able to accept more choice students, we have fewer walkers than in previous years who use these crosswalks. Student safety is a vital concern and we want to ensure that there is always an adult crossing guard, but we have had an increasingly difficult time finding enough staff and volunteers to serve as crossing guards at the north and south crosswalks each morning and afternoon.

Our solution is simple. We are asking our students and parents to use only the south crosswalks when walking to/from CRES and to NOT use the north crosswalk, which will not be supervised. This presents no real inconvenience to walkers since students and families need to enter and exit the playground area from the south end of the school, near the garden, anyway. This change will also reduce the number of students crossing the driveways into the parking lot -- another hazard to pedestrians.

If you live on the east side of the school and your children will be walking, please instruct them to use the south crosswalks. We will have staff out there at the start of the year to redirect crossers to the south crosswalk. Thank you for helping us to keep all students and families safe!

The City of Fort Collins is getting started on a project to improve the College and Trilby Intersection, Thank you for planning accordingly.

Please be aware that we will be asking all visitors to show ID to the camera and state the reason for the visit before being admitted to the building. While this is not an entirely new practice, the biggest difference is that we will require it for all parents, even those that we recognize, so thank you for understanding the necessity of this practice and bringing your ID with you to the door. We continue to welcome our volunteers and awesome parent community in the building, we just need to do everything we reasonably can to ensure controlled access to our school.

The TSD VITAL program encourages parents and community members to share their time and knowledge with Thompson students by becoming authorized volunteers. We welcome and appreciate your involvement. If you are new to volunteering in the Thompson School District, please register at https://www.thompsonschools.org/volunteer.

We will be sharing more information about volunteering at CRES soon.

Please note: Even if your only volunteer activity is to attend a spring field trip, you must complete this process. Toward the end of the year, they close this window and we'd hate for you to miss the trip because you hadn't signed up in time.

Have you ever had concerns that your child lacks patience, seems easily distractable, or has difficulty getting along with others? Perhaps s/he struggles with multi-step directions or tends to have very "black and white thinking?" Would you believe that you can help your child develop and grow these important skills in a way that is actually fun for all involved? Well, believe it!

The traits described above may indicate that your child would benefit from practice in developing her/his executive function skills.

"Executive function and self-regulation skills are like an air traffic control system in the brain—they help us manage information, make decisions, and plan ahead. We need these skills at every stage of life, and while no one is born with them, we are all born with the potential to develop them."

A really great way you can help your child build these important skills is by simply playing board games! It could be a family game night or just the two of you, but board games teach important skills, including: taking turns, perseverance, dealing with setbacks and frustration, fair play, communication, and so much more. Importantly, it is much better with actual games rather than computer-based games.

Talk about a win-win situation -- your child develops skills while all of you have a fun time playing games!

If you would like to learn more about executive functioning and how you can help your child develop these important skills that will have a life-long impact on her/him, see this link to Harvard University's website about it.

Annual Family Check-In (AFC)

Once again it is time for families to review their Annual Family Check-In (AFC) information. It is important to complete this step as we start gearing up for the next school year.

The Annual Family Check-In is required for ALL current students in Thompson School District. Families are required to have a parent or guardian in the student’s current primary household review and sign permission forms and update (if needed) the student’s household information, emergency contacts, and health information.

Annual Family Check-In is located in the Parent Portal Account. For assistance, please contact Portal@TSD.org.

Parents, a few reminders:

The Attendance Line is 970-679-9490. Please leave details in your message concerning why your student is out that day, including illness symptoms.

Cutoff time to order Hot (#1) Lunch is 9:30 am. If your student will be late due to an appointment, call the office by 9:25 to notify the cafeteria.

Those new to CRES may not realize that one of our students was tragically struck and killed by a distracted driver several years ago. Please do your part by staying off your phone, keeping your eyes up, driving slowly and responsibly in the kiss and go lane and on Avondale -- even after you drop off your own child -- and by not parking in or blocking the crosswalks. Thank you!

A few years back one of our 5th-grade Exhibition groups selected Safety/Distracted Driving as their topic, and they created this video as part of it. It's only three minutes long. It may save a life. Even if you read nothing else in this update, please watch this.

Erica’s Law

We the students of Coyote Ridge Elementary School

hereby proclaim that any person riding anything with

wheels (besides a car, bus, plane, or train)

must wear a helmet and follow the safety guidelines

of the road

AT ALL TIMES!

This rule will be called Erica’s Law,

in memory of a dear friend we lost.

Please help us keep our students safe by driving slowly around the school and please do not text and drive. If dropping students on Avondale, please be sure that they use the crosswalks.

We had a few close calls last year, and I know we can do better. Please help us to keep all students and staff safe by observing these safety protocols.

If you are parking in the lot and walking your student around, please use the kiss-and-go crosswalk which is near the office.

Please note that the kiss-and-go crosswalk is not monitored. Therefore adults must walk their child across, in either direction. Please do not drop your child off in the parking lot and send them on their own to cross. There are two lanes of traffic in the kiss-and-go lane and it is very difficult to see children crossing.

Also, please instruct your children to use the crosswalks in Avondale and not run across the street elsewhere.

The TSD Early Childhood program is currently accepting applications for 2024-25. Here is the website for information about the program: https://www.thompsonschools.org/preschool. You are also welcome to call the office at 970-613-5052.

Link to EC flyer.

We partner with the YMCA of northern Colorado to provide on-site afterschool care.

YMCA REGISTRATION LINK

If you find yourself wondering, "...where did I see that?" check out the archive! This archive contains newsletters from last year and this year.

Email: deon.davis@tsd.org
Website: https://www.thompsonschools.org/coyoteridge
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoyoteRidgeIBWorld