Week of February 20, 2017

Thursday Folder Fliers

Legend Toy Drive

Legend Mattress Fundraiser

Thinking Maps:
Teachers spent our Professional Development Day last Friday learning about Thinking Maps. Teachers are excited about this learning and have begun to implement them in the classroom. Please see the Parent Letter below for the implementation timeline and the Circle Map Memo for Families for more information about circle maps. 
Thinking Maps Parent Letter
Circle Map Memo for Families 

Here are some examples of Circle Maps from our students this week:

Kindergarten Map on the Past

4th Grade Map on Electromagnetism

2nd Grade Class Map on Christian the Lion

Students Map from Literacy

1st Grade Map About Me

5th Grade Map for Social Studies

3rd Grade Map in Math

Assessment Day Information - March 3rd:
On March 3rd, we will have our second assessment day. Students will not have school on this day. Instead, you will schedule a time for your child to come in and complete an assessment with their teacher. The portal to sign up for a time will be open from February 23rd until March 1. 
To access the portal:
Go to Iron Horse's Website and click on the Parent drop down menu:

Then click on "On Line Scheduler". 
You will be directed to this screen:

Choose Iron Horse from the elementary school dropdown menu. 

Enter the school password "Engineer". 

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 a 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. 

PARCC/CMAS Assessment:

Students in grades 3-5 will be taking the state assessments after spring break. You can find the schedule for testing and other information on the IHE website. This is a very important assessment that provides valuable information in regards to school/student growth and achievement. We use this data to support the development of our school programming and resources. 

Upcoming Events:

March 3: Assessment Day - NO SCHOOL/Students come during their assigned time

March 8: SAC Meeting - 4:00-5:00pm in the Learning Commons

March 10-16: Book Fair

March 14-16: Conferences

March 17-April 2: Spring Break - NO SCHOOL

April 4-April 18: PARCC/CMAS Assessment

Week of February 13, 2017

Thursday Folder Fliers:

Legend Toy Drive

Red House Update:
Thank you so much for donating textiles to our Little Red House. We have currently raised $80.00 for our SSN program. We are continuing to accept textiles until the end of the year. Please drop off your items - remember that we are looking for towels, bedding, clothing, etc. We cannot accept electronics, TVs, etc. 

Physical Education Update:

Iron Horse students are Jumping Rope this rotation in Physical Education in preparation for our annual Jump Rope for Heart Event.  The students love this unit and improve each day with instruction and practice of their skills.  Our annual event will take place on Friday, February 24th, during the student’s specials time.

Not only is jumping rope a very good cardio endurance activity and a lifelong skill that we continue to develop in making our students aware of the 21st Century Skill of Health and Wellness, it has many more benefits.  Jumping rope requires motor planning and motor sequencing.  Some studies have shown that the ability to develop rhythm and timing can only improve the early reader’s skills  and greatly impact literacy abilities.  Jumping rope integrates many parts of the body and helps to solidify maturing motor skills. Ask your student to show you their favorite trick.

Upcoming Events:

February 16: PTO Spirit Night at Chick Fil-A TONIGHT!

February 17: No School - Teacher Work Day

February 20: No School - Holiday

February 24: Jump Rope for Heart

March 2: PTO Spirit Night at Chipotle

March 3: Assessment Day - Sign Up Information Coming Next Week

March 8: SAC Meeting - 4-5pm in the Learning Commons

March 10-16: PTO Book Fair

March 13-16: Conferences

March 17-April 2: No School - Spring Break

Week of February 6, 2017

Thursday Folder Fliers:

Stone Canyon Summer Camp

Parking Lot:
As a reminder, when you exit the gravel lot, please pull forward and exit through the main parking lot. See above. Please do not turn left to exit. This will ensure that students, parents, and other cars are safe. 

We are also revamping the morning drop off. Cones will be placed in the middle of the road leading to the school. Please use one lane only. You have the option of parking in the gravel lot, the front lot, or dropping students off in the drop off lane. Students should not be dropped off in any of the parking lots for safety purposes. 

Kindergarten Update:
We have garnered enough enrollments to have 2 full day classes next year. We are still accepting enrollments for our full day classes, as well as our 1/2 day option. 

Literacy Funds:
We are excited to announce that we have received a grant in the amount of $4,300.00 from Safeway to use towards our book room. This will allow us to purchase 150 sets of different leveled book titles and 18 Big Books to use for teaching reading to our students. We are beyond excited to increase the amount of books in our resource library. Thank you Safeway! 

Upcoming Events:

February 15: PTO Meeting in the Learning Commons - 6:00-7:00pm

February 16: Chick Fil A Night - Proceeds benefit Iron Horse 

February 16: District Site Based Budget Discussion - 6:00-8pm at Mesa Middle School

February 17: NO SCHOOL - Teacher Professional Learning

February 20: NO SCHOOL - President's Day

February 28: District Accountability Winter Forum - 6:30-8:30pm at Rocky Heights Middle School

March 3: NO SCHOOL - Student Assessment Day (Use Online Scheduler to Make an Appointment)

March 13-16: Conferences

March 17-April 2: NO SCHOOL - Spring Break

Week of January 30, 2017

Thursday Folder Fliers:

Iron Horse Group Guitar Lessons with Mr. Craig

Clean the World Soap Drive:

We are continuing to collect new, unused soap for our soap drive. All soap collected will go to either homeless shelters in the US or overseas to countries where hygienic conditions are difficult. Please consider donating to this worthy cause. 

Kindergarten Update:

We are continuing to accept enrollment for our Kindergarten classes. As we previously stated, we are hoping to open 2 full day classes next year with a monthly cost of $260. At this time, we need an additional 5 students to make this a reality. If you know of a family who is looking for full day Kindergarten, please share this information with them. 

Literacy Update:

Teachers are continuing to work hard at implementing new strategies for literacy in their classrooms. On Wednesday, staff worked with DCSD professional development to discover new ideas for high quality individual activities that engage students while the teacher is meeting with groups. On our upcoming PLC day, staff will learn about Thinking Maps. Thinking Maps are visual representations of student thinking. Be on the lookout for information from your student's teacher about each of the 8 maps and their purpose. 

Battle of the Books:

Our Battle of the Books teams are battling at the Parker Library. Our 3/4 team won their first battle against Cherokee Trail Elementary. 

Here are our upcoming battles:

Feb. 7: 3/4 battles at 5:30pm

Feb. 8: 5th battles at 5:30pm

Feb. 14: 3/4 battles at 6:00pm

Feb. 15: 5th battles at 6:00pm

Feb. 21: 3/4 battles at 6:30pm

Feb. 22: 5th battles at 6:30pm

Feb. 28: 3/4 battles at 4:00pm

March 1: 5th battles at 4:00pm

Fire Lane:

Please do not park in our fire lane to drop off or pick up students. Thank you! 

Upcoming Events:

Now through February 10: Clean the World Soap Drive

February 8: SAC Meeting - 4-5pm in the Learning Commons

February 15: PTO Meeting - 6-7pm in the Learning Commons

February 17: NO SCHOOL - Teacher Professional Learning Day

February 20: NO SCHOOL - President's Day

March 3: NO SCHOOL - Iron Horse Assessment Day (stay tuned for more information)