Thursday, August 30, 2018

Week of August 27, 2018

Thursday Folder Flyers:

MLO/Bond Election News:
Parents/Guardians, please review the letter here regarding the Bond/MLO election and its potential impact on our school and staff. 

Parents Entering the Building During Rolling Entry:
While we love to have (and encourage!) parents in our building, one of the areas that we work on with our students is developing independence. One way that we encourage this is by having them walk to their classrooms on their own each morning during our rolling entry. This time also allows our teachers to connect with their students individually before the day starts. Because we want to encourage independence, please refrain from walking your student to their classroom - our entry door is a "kiss/hug and go" spot, unless you need to speak to someone in the office. If you feel that your child needs assistance getting to their classroom, please let the door greeter know and a staff member will help escort them to class. 

If you need to speak to the classroom teacher, please set up an appointment for another time, so that they can welcome their students without interruption. Thank you for supporting your student's growth and independence! 
Leah Gilbert:
We are excited to welcome author Leah Gilbert to Iron Horse! Ms. Gilbert will be meeting with grades K-2 on Friday, September 7th. Ms. Gilbert's new book, A Couch for Llama, is available for purchase by accessing the order form here. All orders are due by Friday, September 14th. 
Homecoming Parade:
Please join us on September 5th for the Legend Homecoming Parade! The theme is All American. Any student who would like to participate is welcome to join us. Each student will need to bring a bag of candy to throw to the crowd and should wear IHE spirit wear, red/white/blue colors, or dress up as something "all-American" (baseball player, Olympian, cowboy/girl, engineer, movie star, etc).

 All students who are participating should meet Mrs. Bloomfield and Mrs. Carlson in the lower Legend parking lot at 4:45pm. 

 In order to participate, every parent must fill out a waiver for their student and sign their student in with Mrs. Bloomfield and Mrs. Carlson. If you, as a parent, are also wanting to participate, you must complete a waiver as well.  Please click here to complete the required waiver. Any student/parent without a signed waiver, will not be allowed to participate in the parade. 

 All students must be picked up by a parent/guardian when the Iron Horse float reaches Cimarron Middle School. This typically takes about 10-15 minutes and occurs before the end of the entire parade. 

 If you are an active, veteran, or reserve military member, we invite you to join us! Please complete this form so that we can honor your service to our country during the parade. 
New Logo:
The votes are in and our new logo is shown above! Voting was very close - this design won by just 6 votes! We will be using this logo on our letterhead and our website. Thank you to everyone who voted!

 Student Leadership Team:
Students Leadership Team applications will be available tomorrow evening via Mrs. Hayes' webpage. If your child is interested in applying, please visit the page over the weekend! 

 PTO News:
Lot's of fun events coming up for the year!  Look for more info in next week's Thursday folders. Please connect with us on "Iron Horse PTO" Facebook Page.  Coming up: Legend Parade, Teacher Meals, Trunk or Treat, and Read-a-Thon.  Contact Janel or Pam if you have any questions or ideas! 303-877-5883 

 State Assessment Results:
The state's School Performance Frameworks came out this past weekend. The performance frameworks measure attainment on the key performance indicators identified in SB 09-163 as the measures of educational success:
  • academic achievement
  • academic longitudinal growth
  • postsecondary and workforce readiness
State identified measures and metrics for each of these performance indicators are combined to arrive at an overall evaluation of a school’s or a district’s performance. For schools, the overall evaluation leads to the type of plan schools will implement. 

 The School Performance Framework assigns to each school one of four plan types:
  1. Performance Plan
    The school meets or exceeds statewide attainment on the performance indicators and is required to adopt and implement a Performance Plan.
  2. Improvement Plan
    The school does not meet statewide attainment on the performance indicators and is required to adopt and implement an Improvement Plan.
  3. Priority Improvement Plan
    The school does not meet statewide attainment on the performance indicators and is required to adopt and implement a Priority Improvement Plan.
  4. Turnaround Plan
    The school does not meet statewide attainment on the performance indicators and is required to adopt and implement a Turnaround Plan.
Below is a graph showing our school performance framework scores for the past 3 years. Our Spring 2016 score was 43.1, placing Iron Horse on an Improvement Plan. In Spring 2017, our score was 58.2, placing Iron Horse on a Performance Plan. For Spring 2018, our score rose even more to 72.0, again placing Iron Horse on a Performance Plan. We are so proud of our continued achievement and growth, and are excited to see the gains our students will make in the coming year!  

Our achievement performance as compared to the district and the state are shown below. These graphs represent achievement in each grade level. 
  • 3rd Grade Achievement:
  • 4th Grade Achievement:
  • 5th Grade Achievement:
  • 5th Grade Science:

Our growth performance as compared to the district and state are shown below. This graph represents grades 4 and 5. Growth is measured as students move from grade to grade, and continue to take the CMAS assessment. Since 3rd grade has only taken CMAS once, growth data is not reported for that grade. 


Upcoming Events:
September 3: NO School - Labor Day
September 5: Legend Homecoming Parade 4:45pm
September 10: Texas Roadhouse Restaurant Night for IHE 4:00-10:00pm
September 19: PTO Meeting 3:45-4:45pm
September 19: SAC Meeting 5:00-6:00pm
September 21: NO School - Teacher PLC Day
October 2: Fall Conferences 4:00-6:00pm
October 4: Fall Conferences 4:00-8:00pm
October 6-14: NO School - Fall Break

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