MAV Minute

Greetings Meadowlark Families!

We want to thank our parents for a great start to another exciting school year at Meadowlark! One of our most important events of the school year, Back to School Night, is occurring this week on the evening of August 27th. This event is more that just a chance to meet your child's teacher -- it's an opportunity to set the stage for a successful school year and build relationships with the teacher and other parents in your child's learning community.

Here are our principal points about why you should attend Back to School Night:

1) Meet the Teacher! Back to School Night lets you meet your child's teacher and learn about their classroom, our BVSD curriculum, Meadowlark Project Based Learning, communication expectations, and more. This helps you understand what your child will be learning and how you can work in cooperation with your child's teacher to make it a great year of learning.

2) Learning Community Tour You'll get a chance to tour the learning community and see where your child will be spending their days. Familiarizing yourself with the environment can make the transition to a new classroom smoother for you child and you -- you will get a chance to see the physical environment they are learning in and relate to them when school conversations arise. Meadowlark has intentional learning spaces (the campfire, the watering hole, cave spaces, and life spaces). Asking your child what space they learned in during the day at dinner is a perfect "How was school?" question.

3) Ask questions This is your time to ask any questions you may have about the school year. We are sending slide decks from our teachers, so that parents can review them ahead of time. Remember this is a time to ask about classroom policies and procedures like homework, grading, classroom rules, big moments in the school year, etc. If you have questions about your child, please reach out to your child's teacher after Back to School Night or at Fall Conferences in October.

4) Build Partnerships Education is a team effort between teachers and parents. However, it is also important to meet other parents in your child's learning community and build partnerships with them -- we can support one another with school attendance, homework buddies, and classroom volunteerism. It takes all of us to make Meadowlark the great community it is.

A note about bringing kids: We are in the business of teaching and caring for kids in the Boulder Valley School District. Though the purpose of Back to School Night is about creating teacher-parent relationships, we do not want families to stay home due to lack of child care. However, if you do bring your child with you, please take your child to the teacher presentation and keep your child with you at all times. We will have activities in the classroom for our PK-4 students.

💛🖤 Brent, Jeff and Sarah

At Meadowlark, administrators aim to interact and know all students and families. Of course you can reach out to any adminstrator at any time. However, if you have specific questions about the school or need to contact an administrator, please know that the division of responsibilities are as follows:

Brent Caldwell, principal, is responsible for our 5/6 learning community, 7/8 learning community, and special education. His email contact is brent.caldwell@bvsd.org.

Sarah Grubb, assistant principal, is responsible for our PK/K learning community, 1/2 learning community, and counseling. Her email contact is sarah.grubb@bvsd.org.

Jeffrey Miller, assistant principal, is responsible for our 3/4 learning community, clubs and athletics, and paraeducator staff. His email contact is jeffrey.miller@bvsd.org.

Of course, we expect that any student question or need related to the classroom is addressed with teachers first, as a matter of direct communication and respect.

The deadline for schedule change requests was Friday, August 23rd. We have reviewed and processed all requests, and students have been informed of their updated schedules or reasons for any declines.

If you think your student submitted a request that hasn't been addressed, please first check Infinite Campus to confirm if their schedule reflects the change. If you still have questions, feel free to reach out to Ms. Wagner at kristin.wagner@bvsd.org.

This year, teachers are using TalkingPoints as the platform to communicate and connect with you about your child's progress. TalkingPoints is an easy and safe way families can communicate in their home languages with their child’s teachers for free. Through TalkingPoints teachers send messages to you in English from their phone or computer and it will come to you in your preferred language. Then you can respond or send your teacher a message in your preferred language. This will be an easy and effective way for everyone to stay in touch about your child’s education as well as day-to-day activities. Click here to learn more about TalkingPoints.

So that teachers can communicate with you in your preferred language please take a moment to fill out this form. Only one form submission is needed for the whole family.

Need to clean out your closets? We will take your gently worn clothing. The Health Room is looking for T-Shirts and shorts for grades PK - 4th. We also need plastic grocery bags. Thank you for your help!

Back to School Night is coming up! Join us Tuesday, August 27. There will be 2 sessions so families with children in multiple learning communities can attend both. The first session will run 5:00- 5:45 PM and the second session will run 6:00- 6:45 PM. Come hear what a typical day looks like for your child. Teachers will share more information about schedules, curriculum, project based learning and more. Specialists, special service providers, and administration will be meeting and greeting families in the "Heart" area.

Our grade level learning communities are sending slide decks to parents prior to Back to School Night, so that parents can review the content and be prepared with questions about the classroom. Please view the slide decks, by clicking the following links:

Kinder BTSN Slides

1st Grade BTSN Slides

2nd Grade BTSN slides

3rd Grade BTSN Slides

4th Grade BTSN Slides

5-6 B2SN Slide Deck

7-8 BTSN Google Slides

Again, Back to School night is geared for adults and we do not provide childcare or supervision. Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

1. Go to the RevTrak Dashboard on the Meadowlark School Website
2. Log in using your username and password from the previous year OR if you do not have a current account you will need to establish a new log in
3. Click the Learning Community box and then click the specific Learning Community for your student(s)
4. Complete the Screen as Prompted
5. Repeat process for each additional student

Many schools, including those in BVSD (Boulder Valley School District), have implemented background checks for volunteers, such as CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation) checks.

• CBI fingerprinting will be required for all volunteers who spend time in the building with students. Raptor will be used for "one-time" visits such as grandparents and classroom/school events.

This is a link from the district office for Visitor/Volunteer FAQ where parents can find resources to begin the volunteer application. If you have any questions about the process or requirements, please contact Christie LaPlant at 720-561-7276 or christie.laplant@bvsd.org

An update on Cross Country:

We have a record number of students participating in Cross Country and are off to a great start. Our first meet will be on September 4th. In order to participate, each student athlete must participate in a minimum of five (5) days of official practices. Let's focus on attending practice over the next few weeks!

An update on 8th Grade Girls Volleyball:

Volleyball registration will be due September 12th and our season practices will begin on September 19th. You can find additional registration details on our website. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Jeff Miller or Lindsay Barber!

Ultimate Frisbee is a non-contact outdoor team sport that features a disc and combines the best of football, basketball and soccer. Emphasis will be on having fun and building skills and sportsmanship.

Our Ultimate Frisbee Club spring season is for students in 5th - 8th grade. Practices will be on Mondays and Thursdays from 3:50p-5:00pm starting on Thursday, August 29th and going through Monday, October 21st . Please register your student using this form. Questions may be directed to Marnie Steele (marnie.steele@bvsd.org). Thank you!

Back to School Night is coming up and Meadowlark PTSA needs volunteers to help welcome parents, hand out information sheets, magnets, stickers... AND help with memberships, donations, and anyone looking for Spirit Wear!

Join us Tuesday, August 27th for an additional opportunity to meet fellow Meadowlark parents! There will be 2 sessions this evening, so volunteers can pick a time to help out that also allows them to join their learning community's presentations.

The first session will run from 5:00- 5:45 PM, and the second session will run from 6:00- 6:45 PM. Come hear what a typical day looks like for your child! Teachers will share more information about schedules, curriculum, project based learning, and more! (Note that the school's Back to School Night is geared for adults and childcare/supervision is not provided.)

If you're looking to connect with fellow parents in your child's learning community, helping out at events like this is a great way to start!

August

8/27 BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT 5-7 pm

September

9/2 Labor Day Holiday - No School

9/30 Professional Development Day for Teachers- No School for students