Week of December 17, 2018

Thursday Folder Flyers:

Science Matters at IHE

Spanish After School at IHE

The Iron Horse Staff wishes you a wonderful holiday break filled with special times enjoying family and friends. We will see you on January 7th to begin our second semester! 

Spelling Bee:
We are proud to announce that Sawyer Joyce, 5th grader, is our spelling bee winner! He will be representing our school at the district spelling bee. Our runner up is Abigail Novak, 4th grader. She will represent our school in the event that Sawyer cannot attend. Congratulations to all of our wonderful spellers! 

Elementary Progress Reports for 1st Semester:
Elementary Progress Reports (EPRs) for 1st semester will be available on December 22nd at 8:00am. Students will receive in overall grade in each content area based upon their achievement and growth towards Marzano's Critical Concepts (in Reading, Writing, and Math) and the Colorado Academic Standards (in Science, Social Studies, Art, Music, and PE). Students will also receive grades on our behavior expectations. To access your student's EPR, please use the following steps:

· Go to the Iron Horse Website 

· Click on the Parent Resources Tab

· Select Parent Portal and use your credentials to log in.

· Click "View Elementary Progress Report" under your child's picture
From there, you can access your student's progress report for this semester. 

New Safety Measure at Iron Horse:

Douglas County School District (DCSD) recently rolled out the Raptor Visitor Management system at our school. This system is used by many schools throughout the district and state, and will give us an additional layer of safety for our students. We are committed to protecting everyone at Iron Horse and this system helps support this commitment.

Here is how the system and our process will work:

• Everyone who is visiting classrooms, joining kids for lunch, or attending a meeting or an event will have their ID/driver’s license scanned. The ONLY database that the Raptor system checks IDs against is the sexual predator database. This system does NOT check any other databases.
• All DCSD schools will be using this same system very soon. Once you have scanned your ID at any school location, you will be saved in the system. Therefore, if you forget your ID in your car, DCSD schools that are utilizing Raptor will be able to look you up by your name.
• All guests will be given a sticker to wear while they are in our school that is printed by this system. This sticker will have your name, the photo from your ID, and the date and time. For our frequent guests, we will try to save printing costs by placing your Raptor ID in a protective badge sleeve so you can reuse the sticker throughout the year.
• Each new school year (in August) we will rescan all IDs for the current school year

This system will be in place beginning Monday, January 7, 2019. Please remember to bring your ID with you so we can scan it and get you logged into our system. If you have any questions, please reach out to me and I’ll work to find an answer for you. Thank you for your partnership in keeping our students and staff safe!

News from the Art Room:  

Hello everyone!  I wanted to let you know that late orders for Original Works are expected to arrive sometime in mid-January.  While this doesn't work for the upcoming holidays, items make great gifts throughout the year.  We've got Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and possibly some birthday's on the way.  Thank you for all of your support, and have a happy & safe holiday season!

Upcoming Events:

DECEMBER

December 21 - January 6: NO SCHOOL - Winter Break

JANUARY
January 7: Welcome Back!
January 16: PTO Meeting 3:45-4:45pm, SAC Meeting 5:00-6:00pm
January 18: NO School - Teacher Training Day
January 21: NO School - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 23: McTeacher Night at McDonalds - 4:00-7:00pm (Mainstreet Location)
January 29/30: Family Art Nights 5:00-7:00pm

Week of December 10, 2018

Thursday Folder Flyers:

Stock Show

DCSD Community Events

New Safety Measure at Iron Horse:

Douglas County School District (DCSD) recently rolled out the Raptor Visitor Management system at our school. This system is used by many schools throughout the district and state, and will give us an additional layer of safety for our students. We are committed to protecting everyone at Iron Horse and this system helps support this commitment.

Here is how the system and our process will work:

• Everyone who is visiting classrooms, joining kids for lunch, or attending a meeting or an event will have their ID/driver’s license scanned. The ONLY database that the Raptor system checks IDs against is the sexual predator database. This system does NOT check any other databases.
• All DCSD schools will be using this same system very soon. Once you have scanned your ID at any school location, you will be saved in the system. Therefore, if you forget your ID in your car, DCSD schools that are utilizing Raptor will be able to look you up by your name.
• All guests will be given a sticker to wear while they are in our school that is printed by this system. This sticker will have your name, the photo from your ID, and the date and time. For our frequent guests, we will try to save printing costs by placing your Raptor ID in a protective badge sleeve so you can reuse the sticker throughout the year.
• Each new school year (in August) we will rescan all IDs for the current school year.

This system will be in place beginning Monday, January 7, 2019. Please remember to bring your ID with you so we can scan it and get you logged into our system. If you have any questions, please reach out to me and I’ll work to find an answer for you. Thank you for your partnership in keeping our students and staff safe!

Bullying Versus Social Conflict:
As parents, it is difficult to see our children struggle with peer relationships. When students engage in negative peer relationships it is often termed as "bullying". I wanted to share excerpts from a post by Officer David Gomez that I recently ran across. This post does an excellent job of defining the difference between bullying and social conflict. 

"Bullying Vs. Social Conflict:
"My kid is being bullied" is by far one of the most misused terms parents use to describe what is happening to their child. Let's go over some definitions so that we all have an understanding of what we are talking about. 

Definition: Bullying = Repeated one way harassment of any kind

Repeated = More than one time

One Way = If your child participated in any way, in any part of the events or disagreement, this becomes social conflict

Definition: Social Conflict = A disagreement stated or implied between two or more individuals. 

Social conflict, if not handled properly, can result in name calling, pushing, shoving, fighting, spreading rumors, and many other inappropriate behaviors. Bullying is a term very often misused by kids and parents. The term bullying is often used when the actual interaction between the two parties is social conflict. "

Here is another great definition from the National Bullying Prevention Central in the means of a visual:

Upcoming Events:

DECEMBER

December 17: Holiday Program 6:30-7:00pm in the Gym

December 18: Spelling Bee 2:30-3:15pm in the Gym
December 20: Holiday Parties 8:30-9:30am in Classrooms

December 21 - January 6: NO SCHOOL - Winter Break

JANUARY
January 7: Welcome Back!
January 16: PTO Meeting 3:45-4:45pm, SAC Meeting 5:00-6:00pm
January 18: NO School - Teacher Training Day
January 21: NO School - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 23: McTeacher Night at McDonalds - 4:00-7:00pm (Mainstreet Location)
January 29/30: Family Art Nights 5:00-7:00pm

Week of December 3, 2018

Thursday Folder Flyers:

DCSD Food Allergy Open House
IHE Holiday Store

Parking Lot:

A safety reminder - Please make sure that students are exiting and entering cars from the sidewalk side. Students should not ride scooters to their car or go between cars on a scooter as drivers may not see them. Also, please DO NOT exit your car to help your child in or out. Staff members are happy to help. Exiting your vehicle slows down the line, which inconveniences other parents. Please speak to you students about following these guidelines. Thank you for your support in keeping our students safe!

News from the Art Room:

Our December Artist of the Month goes to Penny in Mrs. Suson's 1st grade and her "Night at the Museum" project.  Congratulations! 

We're still waiting on items from late orders but all other Original Works orders should be out of backpacks and in your hands by now.  Let me (Ms. O'Hara) know if there's anything wrong with your order.  

You should have received an email from Artsonia in regards to our online art portfolio.  As mentioned in the previous Principal's Blog; it's a great way to share what's going on in the art room with you as parents and family other family members.  You as parents are in charge of who sees your child's work.  I can make comments for you to see as well so you get a better idea of how your child is doing.  If you want to make that artwork a gift, you can do that as well by having it printed on various items and a portion of the purchase goes to the IHE art department for supplies.  

Thank you so much and Happy Holidays to you all!

Ms. O'Hara

Art Specialist

PTO Holiday Store Next Week:

Students will have the opportunity to purchase items for their family (including pets) at our PTO Holiday Store. The store will be in the Junction on Wednesday, December 12th through Friday, December 14th from 8:00am-4:00pm. Prices for items range from $.25 to $20. If you are interested in having your student purchase items, please make sure to send in money in a sealed envelope or ziploc with their name on the front. If you are able to help run this store, we would appreciate your help! The sign up for volunteers is linked here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e084faca728a4fc1-iron

Fortnite Information:

We are seeing an increased use of play and conflict based upon the game Fortnite. Unfortunately, this play manifests itself in acting out the shooting of others with pretend guns and play stabbing of peers. Students are also having conflicts due to their online competitions and are bringing this into the classroom and playground. This is causing other students to feel unsafe. As safety is our number one priority, we do take these situations seriously. 

According to Common Sense Media, Fortnite "pits up to 100 players against each other in solo, duo, or up to four-player squads to see who can survive the longest against each other in an ever-shrinking map. The game has a cartoonish style, and the violence, while persistent, isn't bloody or particularly gory, even though you're using melee weapons and firearms to eliminate opponents. While there isn't any profanity in the game dialogue, its online nature could expose younger players to iffy language from random strangers in voice or on-screen text chat." Common Sense Media suggests that the game is most appropriate for children over the age of 13. 

If your child is playing Fortnite at home, please have a discussion with them regarding the play of this game at school. It is imperative that they understand that this type of violent play at school is not appropriate. Thank you for your support! 

Upcoming Events:

DECEMBER

December 7: Choir Concert 6:30-7:00pm in the Gym

December 12-14: PTO Holiday Store 8am-4pm in the Junction

December 17: Holiday Program 6:30-7:00pm in the Gym

December 18: Spelling Bee 6:30-8:00pm in the Gym

December 21 - January 6: NO SCHOOL - Winter Break

JANUARY
January 7: Welcome Back!
January 16: PTO Meeting 3:45-4:45pm, SAC Meeting 5:00-6:00pm
January 18: NO School - Teacher Training Day
January 21: NO School - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 23: McTeacher Night at McDonalds - 4:00-7:00pm (Mainstreet Location)
January 29/30: Family Art Nights 5:00-7:00pm