Week of September 26, 2016

Please see our Thursday Fliers HERE

Year of Awesome Events:

As part of our Year of Awesome, Iron Horse staff and students will give back to our community in different ways each month. We will be sending out an update before each month to let you know what our monthly school focus is and how you can help support this effort. 

In October, we would like to give back to those who are less fortunate in our state. We are calling our drive Socktober. During the month of October, we will be collecting new, unused pairs of socks to give to students in need. Please drop off your pairs of new, unused socks in your child's classroom. The classroom that has donated the most socks will win a special classroom party hosted by Mrs. Wyoming America, Erica Pederson. Thank you for supporting our efforts! 

Red Ribbon Week October 3-6:
Please complete this form to give permission for your child to participate in our helicopter landing. 

We are pledging to be drug free at Iron Horse. In support of these efforts, we will have 4 spirit days to encourage our students to remain drug-free. These days were determined by our Student Leadership Council, which consists of 5th grade students making a difference in our school. 

Our Spirit days: 

• Monday, October 3-Bright or neon colors -"I am too bright for drugs"
• Tuesday, October 4-Dress the same as a friend -"Friends don’t let friends do drugs"
• Wednesday, October 5-Wear your favorite jersey or t-shirt - "Team up against drugs"
• Thursday, October 6-Heavenly Hat Day $1 - Wear red, white, blue in celebration of our military and Red Ribbon Week

We will end our week with a Helicopter landing by the National Guard on October 6th at 9:15am. Please join us to celebrate our school's pledge to be drug free! 

Volunteer Applications:

When you turn in your volunteer application, please be sure to include a copy of your drivers license. In the case that you have an out-of-state license, we will also need your social security number. We cannot process applications that are not complete. Applications are currently taking 3 weeks to process. Thank you! 

Trunk or Treat Business/Family Sponsors:

We need you! Our Community Trunk or Treat is right around the corner! We will be holding our Trunk or Treat event on October 21 from 5-6 pm. 

We are looking for Iron Horse families and/or small/large business sponsors to decorate your cars and hand out candy to our students. You can have your business name on your car or trunk somewhere.  We will put all sponsors names in our next Newsletter too!

Business Sponsors- Fee per car: $ 25  -this goes back to our school

Family Sponsors-  FREE

It will be a fun night to dress up and be creative with your trunks! 

Please join us! RSVP to Janel Neuenschwander  janel@janelneuhomes.com

THANK YOU!

Upcoming Events:

October 3-28: Socktober Collection - Please place new, unused socks in your student's classroom

October 1-20: Candy Collection for Trunk or Treat - Please place bags of candy in the office

October 6: Helicopter Landing for Red Ribbon Week - 9:15am on the field

October 7: No School - Teacher Professional Learning Day

October 10-14: No School - Fall Break

October 17: Students back to school

October 18: Outdoor Education Meeting for 5th Grade Parents Only - 6:30pm in the Learning Commons

October 19: PTO Meeting - 3:45-4:45 pm

October 19: SAC Meeting at Legend High School - 5:00-6:30pm

October 20: Picture Retakes

October 21: Trunk or Treat - 5:00-6:00pm in the IHE Parking Lot

October 24: Texas Roadhouse Rolls Sales Begin

October 31: Halloween Parties - 8:30-9:30am 

Week of September 19, 2016

Please see the Thursday Folder Fliers HERE

Bus Loop:
Please DO NOT drop students off in our bus loop. This area is reserved for our buses and there is no supervision in this area before buses arrive. Parents who drop off in this area will be asked to move. Thank you!

Fun Run:

It’s not too late to pay pledges!  In order to have the funds to purchase the literacy program, and, if possible, a shade structure for the playground, we have to collect payment on outstanding pledges.  Payments can be made on funrun.com or by sending cash or a check (made out to Iron Horse PTO) to school with your student.  Thank you again for supporting Iron Horse!

School Directory:

Time is running out to get your form in to be included in the printed Iron Horse directory.  Please turn in your form as soon as possible.  The form can be found on the Iron Horse website under Thursday Folder Info and clicking into the Thursday Flyers.

Donuts for Dads:

Calling all dads (and any other adult who would like to attend)!  Come enjoy a breakfast with your student on Friday September 23^rd from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 am.  We will be serving FREE donuts, fruit, coffee, juice and milk in the cafeteria.  When you’re finished head on over to the book fair in the library!  Special thanks to Tara Holmes for chairing this event for PTO.

Trunk or Treat:

The PTO is excited to have Trunk or Treat! Join us Friday, October 21st for safe trick-or-treating with Iron Horse families. Families or businesses can purchase a parking spot and decorate the trunk of your car for the lil' goblins to come get candy. 

We are seeking donations of candy for this event. We want the kids to go trick-or-treating a number of times so the more candy, the better! Bins for candy donations will be in the IHE office.

Events like this rely on volunteers and donations, so we look forward to your participation in this new IHE event. Be on the look out for more detailed information.

Halloween Parties:

Students will be allowed to come to school in their costumes (with regular clothing underneath) on Monday, October 31st to celebrate Halloween. Classroom parties will be held from 8:30-9:30am with breakfast treats (8:30-9:15 for All day and AM Kindergarten, 1:15-2:00 for PM Kindergarten). Students will then remove their costumes and continue with their learning. Costumes must follow the following guidelines:

• No blood, profanity, gore, or otherwise offensive items/decor
• No masks or face paint
• No weapons or items that could be construed as being a weapon

Please contact your student's teacher if you have any questions. 

Spring Assessment Day:

We have determined that our spring assessment day will be held on Friday, March 3rd. This is our second, and final, assessment day for the school year. Students will not attend school on this day but will come in for an assessment time only with a parent/guardian. More information will be sent home as this date gets closer. 

District Accountability Committee (DAC) Meeting: 

The DAC Forum is an opportunity to discuss district level issues including budgeting, parent engagement, etc. This forum will be held on October 25th from 6-9:00pm. Please see the DCSD District Accountability Committee site for more information. 

Upcoming Events:

September 23 - Donuts for Dads 7:30-8:15am in the Cafeteria

September 23-29 - Book Fair in the Learning Commons: 8:00am-4:00pm, Open until 7:30pm on Wednesday, the 28th

September 26-29 - Conferences for all grade levels

October 7 - No School for Students: Teacher Professional Learning Day

October 10-14 - No School: Fall Break

October 17 - Students back to school

Week of September 12, 2016

Our kids marching in the Legend Homecoming Parade on Wednesday

Legend Homecoming Parade:
Our kids had an awesome time walking in the Legend Homecoming Parade! It was great to see our feeder schools come together to support our high school. Thank you to all who could attend! 

Toys/Playing Cards/Etc.:
Toys, playing cards (pokemon, etc), beyblades, or other non-instructional items are not allowed at school. We have had multiple issues with students who are playing with these items, trading them, etc. during lunch, recess, and in the hallways, which distracts from instructional time. Please remind your student that these items should stay at home. Thank you for your support! 

Parent Volunteers:
If you would like to volunteer in the classroom or on field trips, you will need to complete our volunteer application and include a copy of your driver's license. Your application will be sent to our district safety and security office for approval. The approval process typically takes 2 weeks. You will not be allowed to volunteer in the classroom or accompany students on field trips until this process is complete and you have been approved by the district safety and security office.  

Fall Conferences:
Fall conferences will be held the week of Sept. 26-29. During these conferences, teachers will be sharing assessment data, classroom data, and setting goals for your student for the year. Conferences are scheduled through the Conference Scheduler System. Please find the link here or it can be found under "Online Scheduler" in the Parent section of our school website. In order to schedule a conference, you will need to choose Iron Horse as your school. Then, you will the school password "Engineer". Then, you will enter your student's ID number and verify their birth date. From that point, a list of teachers will be displayed. Check the box next to each teacher you would like to meet with. If you have more than one student, you can answer Yes to the question, "Do you want to schedule conference for another student?". This will allow you to see the schedules for all of your students' teachers at once. Finally, you will be able to choose a time that works for your family. Please contact your student's teacher if you have questions about times. If you have questions about the scheduling system, please contact Janet Nolan, our registrar. 

Fall Book Fair:
The Fall Book Fair will be arriving on September 23, 2016! The book fair helps generates funds for our library to purchase books and materials.  We will be open for Doughnuts for Dads and conferences.  IHE PTO will also be selling a select amount and sizes of Spirit Wear.  Come in early to get your spirit wear shirt before they are all gone!

Book fair Volunteer Sign Up Genius; each volunteer will receive 10% of their purchase!

Book Fair Schedule:

9/23, 9/26, 9/27 8:00-4:00

9/28 8:00-7:00

9/29 8:00-12:30

Fun Run:

Thanks to the support of our generous community, we have surpassed our Fun Run pledging goal!  Now it is time to collect payment for those pledges.  It’s not too late to pay on funrun.com or send cash or a check made out to Iron Horse PTO to school with your student.  We will use the funds collected for our literacy program and, if possible, a shade structure for the playground.  Thank you again for supporting Iron Horse!

School Directory:

Time is running out to get your form in to be included in the printed Iron Horse directory.  Please turn in your form as soon as possible.  The form can be found on the Iron Horse website under Thursday Folder Info and clicking into the Thursday Flyers.

Donuts for Dads:

Calling all dads (and any other adult who would like to attend)!  Come enjoy a breakfast with your student on Friday September 23^rd from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 am.  We will be serving FREE donuts, fruit, coffee, juice and milk in the cafeteria.  When you’re finished head on over to the book fair in the library!  Special thanks to Tara Holmes for chairing this event for PTO.

Students Who Cross at Hilltop and Tallman:

Please remind students who cross that they should wait for our crossing guard to help them cross unless they are crossing with a parent. It is a very busy intersection and we want our students to get home safely. Thank you for your help with this!

Thursday Folder Fliers

Upcoming Events:

Sept. 21 - School Accountability Committee (SAC) Meeting 4:00-5:45pm in the Learning Commons

Sept. 21 - PTO Meeting 6:00-7:00pm in the Learning Commons

Sept. 23 - Donuts for Dads 7:30-8:15am in the Cafeteria

Sept. 23-29 - Book Fair in the Learning Commons

Sept. 26-29 - Fall Conferences

October 7 - No School (Teacher Work Day)

October 8-16 - Fall Break - No School

Week of September 5, 2016

Boosterthon Fun Run:

Thank you for supporting Iron Horse!  We have had a so much fun with our Iron Horse Elementary Fun Run!  Since we are so close to meeting our goal for our literacy program and, if possible, a shade structure for the playground, we are leaving pledging open for a few more days!  Pledge payments are due on September 14^th.  Please log onto funrun.com to pay your pledge or send payment with your student to school.  Thank you again for all your support!

 School Directory: 

The PTO is creating a student directory to be distributed to Iron Horse families.  If you would like to be included, please complete and return this form as soon as possible.  Please email iheptoparker@gmail.com with any questions.

Legend Spirit Week:

We are excited to support our Legend feeder family by joining them in spirit week next week. Please have your child help us support our feeder by following along with the spirit days below:

Monday:         American Day (Red, white, blue, USA gear, etc.)

Tuesday:        Oscar Tuesday (Wear all gold)

Wednesday:   Light it up Day (Wear neon and bright colors)

Thursday:      Wear Legend Titans gear (blue, white, navy)

Friday:           Black Tie Day (Wear black tie, formal, dress up)

PARCC Testing Results:

All students in grades three through five take a state assessment in the spring called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career, also known as PARCC. This assessment looks at achievement in reading, writing, and math. Fifth grade students also take the CMAS, or the Colorado Measure of Academic Success that measures their knowledge of science concepts. Iron Horse students outperformed the state and district in the areas of Science and English Language Arts. Students had inconsistent achievement in the area of math. As a new math resource (EnVisions) was implemented two years ago, it is typical to see inconsistencies until the resource is fully established. Iron Horse is committed to providing an excellent education for our students, and will continue to work to support our students' achievement in these areas. 

Cold Stone Creamery Spirit Night:

Cold Stone Creamery Spirit Night – Support Iron Horse and get some ice cream!  Mention Iron Horse and the Iron Horse PTO will receive 15% of your purchase at Cold Stone Creamery (17051 Lincoln Ave, Unit L) on September 13^th.  Please join us!

Legend Homecoming Parade:

The parade will start at 5:00pm on Wednesday, September 14th and will run from Legend to Cimarron. We are excited to be a part of the fun and hope to see you there! 

Child Passenger Safety Week:

Child Passenger Safety Week is September 18-24. September 24 is National Seat Check Day:

http://www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov/cps

Here is a link to a flyer that states Colorado law regarding child safety in vehicles:
https://www.codot.gov/safety/seatbelts-carseats/carseats/assets/6495-cps-colorado-law-flyer-eng-r2-2.pdf

American Academy of Pediatrics thoughts on child car safety:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/4/788

South Metro Fire Station provides free car seat inspections in Parker and Lone Tree every Wednesday.

http://www.southmetro.org/360/Car-Seat-Inspections

Thursday Flyers

Upcoming Events:
September 13 - Cold Stone Restaurant Night
September 14 - Legend Homecoming Parade - 5:00pm
September 21 - SAC Meeting 4-5:30pm, PTO Meeting 6:00-7:00pm in the Learning Commons
September 23 - Donuts for Dads: 7:30-8:15am in the Cafeteria 
September 23-29 - Book Fair
September 26-29 - Fall Conferences - Scheduling information coming soon