A message from the Principal and Assistant Principal
Dear Cactus Valley Families,
It’s hard to believe October is behind us, and we’re already into the 2nd quarter of the school year! We are truly thankful to work at Cactus Valley, and to be surrounded by so many dedicated professionals and parents who all want what is best for our CVE children.
We want to thank all of you for participating in our parent/teacher conferences. Your support and encouragement of your child combined with the support and encouragement from your child’s teacher will help ensure their continued success! We realize the importance of having a strong parent/teacher partnership, and we are thankful for the opportunities we have daily to help make a difference in your child’s life. You can contact your child’s teacher at any time during the school year when you have questions or concerns..
What an incredible turnout we had for our Scholastic Book Fair! We loved having our families back inside CVE, and your support was amazing! There were many happy kids sharing their new books, posters, and trinkets from the Book Fair.
Our Thanksgiving Dinner at school will be held on Thursday, November 16th, and we look forward to having parents join us for this event. Please be sure to fill out the paperwork that went home to RSVP for this event, and include your payment (Cash or Check) when you return this to CVE. WE WILL NOT BE SELLING ANY TICKETS THE DAY OF THE LUNCH.
Prices are: Adults - $5.50 Seniors - $4.00 Kids who are non-cve students $3.00 CVE student - Free. Look for more information about the specific grade level lunch schedule. We are excited to gather again as a CVE family!
As the mornings get frosty and the weather continues to remind us that winter is on its way, we would appreciate your help in making sure your child dresses appropriately for the changing weather. Unless it’s raining or really snowy, you can expect that your child will be outside for recess, and we want them to be warm! If your child is missing any items, please remind them to check the Lost and Found!
Please remember that school begins at 8:00 am. We all know the importance of being on time to school, to work, or to appointments. Teachers arrive at school early to ensure that the final preparations are ready for the full day of teaching. Arriving at school 5 - 10 minutes late causes a disruption to the entire class, not just the teacher who has already started teaching the lesson. If a student arrives 5 - 10 minutes late each day, think about how much instructional time is lost throughout the school year. Our hope is that we can help ensure all students are at school by 8:05.
Our teachers have spent time reviewing reading, math, and writing data for quarter one. Interventions are being provided to both students in need of remediation and students ready for acceleration in their learning. We will be closely tracking our ELA and Math data to ensure we close any gaps that remain. Our school-wide goal is to increase our overall writing proficiency, so ask your child about the compare/contrast writing piece they completed at the beginning of the year. We’ll assess again at mid-year and at the end of the year.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Let’s continue to work together to make CVE the best school for our kids and help us as we develop happy, high achieving students and staff!
Sincerely,
Kelly Detlefsen, Principal
Stacy VanHercke, Assistant Principal
Upcoming Dates/Events:
11/2 Creede Theater Performance for our CVE students
11/2 5:30-7:00 Family Math Night at CVE
11/9 6:00 4th Grade Music Performance
11/13 8:15 PTA Meeting at CVE
11/16 Thanksgiving Lunch-Please RSVP And Prepay
11/20-26 Thanksgiving Break
12/2 CVE Holiday Fair
Counselor’s Corner
The temperatures have dropped and winter is right around the corner. Remind your students to make sure they are dressed appropriately for the weather. Make sure they have hats, gloves, and winter coats (if you need any help with any of these items, please reach out to me). As we enter the holiday season, focusing on gratitude and things we are thankful for, helps each of us get through stressful moments.
In Kindergarten and first grade, we are going to practice how to give an apology. We all make mistakes. A sincere apology is a great first step to repairing any damage, when we say or do something that hurts someone we care about.
In grades second through fifth, we will review what gratitude means and practice ways we can show thankfulness in all areas of our lives.
Totes for Hope has begun. It is a program run through the River Center that gives families 6-7 non perishable food items weekly and is distributed on Wednesdays. If you are a family that could use the supplemental food, please contact me and I can get you signed up. Parents and guardians, please label your students jackets and coats, especially as we enter colder mornings and hot afternoons in the fall season. During this holiday season, if you need help with gifts for your children or food for family gatherings, please reach out and I can connect you with many resources helping with the holidays.
If your family needs emotional support or other types of assistance, contact me, Amy Chabin, at 970-665-7764 or achabin@garfieldre2.net.
Number Sense & Games
Dear Parents-
I came across this article as I was researching ways to help build children's number sense. There are many things you can do at home and one of those ways is through playing board games! With Christmas approaching, adding a new board game to Family Game Night is a great way to bond with your child, build number sense , and have fun! Here is the link to the article:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/board-games-that-teach-elementary-math
Sincerely,
Nikki Foreback
Math and Science Instructional Coach
PE Notes
This month in PE we are starting archery with 4th and 5th grade. This far they have learned about the range and how to be safe. They have also started doing some shooting each day. This is a super fun unit to teach and I hope the kids have as much fun learning and shooting as I do teaching. 1st through 3rd are working on various types and skill levels of body rolls. Examples include log roll, egg roll, pencil roll, and forward rolls. The older kids are asked to create a short routine that includes these rolls. Kindergarten is exploring some of these rolls as well as learning a new game called Spiders and Flies which really works on their spatial awareness. Please help your child remember to wear PE shoes so we can earn stars towards a free day and the Golden Shoe award.
Nate Barth
PE Teacher
CVE
Social Studies News
In Social Studies K&1 finished up their lessons in Junior Achievement where they learned about needs, wants, saving, and earning money. They will work on differentiating past, present, and future and discuss what life used to be like in the past.
2nd grade has been working on natural and renewable resources and will transition into Junior Achievement.
3rd grade has been working on identifying states, and began a unit on Silt History which will be on hold as we also dive into Junior Achievement and learn about our community.
4th grade wrapped up their geography unit by creating a 3D topography map using bowls and 2D maps. They will transition into Colorado's historical timeline and general Colorado History.
5th grade has been working on the 5 regions of the US and will transition into United States history and timelines.
K-5 Social Studies Educator
Tech News
This month we will continue exploring Digital Citizenship through common sense education. The program teaches students how to be respectful, responsible, and safe while using the internet (apps and websites) on devices such as computers, ipads, cell phones, and online games. One area we’ve discussed is balancing device time with other things in our lives. In November we'll explore keeping games fun and friendly and digital trails. A digital trail is a record of what sites you visit and posts you make, so make sure you are leaving awesome, appropriate, and respectful footprints on your path.
We are also learning how to type on a keyboard, using typing.com, it is free so your student can access it at home. It takes lots of practice to learn to type, learning home row is important.
Science News
In November, we are studying forces, vision and light, landforms, matter, and traits as we begin new units in November.
Kindergarten - Pushes & Pulls
1st Grade - Light & Sound
2nd Grade - Changing Landforms
3rd Grade - Inheritance & Traits (continued from October)
4th Grade - Vision & Light
5th Grade - Modeling Matter
I am so proud of how the students have found their routines and learned the expectations in our science classrooms. It makes our class time together more meaningful and our lab days so much more fun!!
Congratulations to Mrs. Plano's 5th grade scientists who won the Golden Science Award for 1st quarter. Not only did they exhibit great behavior all quarter but they also asked thoughtful questions to further their investigations! Who will win for 2nd quarter???
Toni-Marie Yorty
K-5 Science Teacher
Library News
