Friday, January 22, 2021

Week of January 18, 2021

 Friday Flyers:

Chipotle Restaurant Night Flyers

Hawks Lacrosse


Masks and Students:
As a reminder, students are required to wear masks on school grounds at all times. This includes when students are exiting their vehicles, waiting for car line pick ups, and walking to areas that are deemed off campus (trailhead and sidewalk along gravel lot, sidewalk along Hilltop). Please have your child put on their mask before leaving the car in the morning. Our teachers are also reminding students as they leave for the day. 

We are also seeing a lot of students wearing gaiters. We have noticed that these tend to not stay up on their noses, thus creating a safety issue. We encourage all of our students to wear well-fitting masks that cover the nose and do not slip for the safety of our staff and other students. With everyone's help, we can continue to stay in school! 

Spelling Bee Winners:
We are excited to announce that Rylee H. is our spelling bee champion for 2021 and Brandon D. is our runner up! In the event that Rylee cannot attend the spelling bee, Brandon will take her place. Congratulations to both of you! 

January’s News from the STEM Room:

This month the students will investigate the role that hills play in making roller coasters move. They will think about the world in terms of energy and begin to make sense of how and why things speed up and slow down. They will create hands on activities that focus on engineering, testing a hypothesis and using results to develop their ideas.


Read-A-Thon:

We are excited to begin our Read-a-Thon very soon! This is our largest fundraiser of the year and all funds earned will be used to support the purchase of materials for experiments for our science curriculum, STEMScopes. 


Chipotle Night for IHE:
Please join us at Chipotle on January 27 for dinner and raise funds for IHE at the same time! Please mention Iron Horse when you order (including online with the code YVNRR67) and we will receive 33% of the night's profits!

PTO Newsletter: 
As a reminder, when you click on any of the links within the PTO Newsletter each month (even if you're not interested), IHE receives a small monetary amount that is given to us twice per year. This is an easy way to support our school!


Gifted and Talented News:

As part of the DCSD Universal Screening process and our commitment to equitable identification for gifted programming, DCSD will administer the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT 7) during the weeks of Feb. 8 - March 5, 2021. This assessment indicates the level and pattern of cognitive development of a student in comparison to grade and age mates. Please see below for specific information based on your child’s current grade. 


 2nd Grade Universal Screen

  • As part of this process, ALL students in 2nd grade who have not been identified for gifted programming will take the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) the week of February 8th.  This assessment indicates the level and pattern of cognitive development of a student in comparison to grade and age mates.  These general reasoning abilities, which start developing at birth and continue through early adulthood, are influenced by experiences gained both in and out of school.  

  • If your child is already identified for gifted programming, they will not participate in this universal screen testing. Your Gifted Education Facilitator will contact you directly with more detailed information about this process. 


Gifted Identification Referral Testing 

  • If your child is in grades K, 1, 3, 4 and you believe he/she needs evaluation for Gifted Identification and Services, you may refer your child for testing by initiating the Gifted Identification Process.  

  • NOTE:  Requesting this assessment automatically initiates the process to evaluate for Gifted Identification. 

  • Upon receipt of this form the Gifted Education Facilitator will connect with you to discuss next steps in the gifted identification process.


5th Grade Universal Screen from November 2020 -  Makeups

  • Students who were not able to take the test in November will take the CogAT during this February window

  • Students who started the CogAT but were not able to finish will have the chance to take the portion(s) that was not completed during this February window. 


eLearners 

Families with students currently enrolled in eLearning will receive detailed information about their CogAT testing options and logistics directly from the DCSD District Team/eLearning Administration.  If you do not receive this information by Jan 22, 2021, please contact the DCSD Gifted Education Team at: gifted.education@dcsdk12.org  


Please see the following for additional information linked below:

2020 - 2021 Spring CogAT UNIVERSAL Screening Letter

Upcoming Events: 
Jan 25: Read-a-Thon Begins
Jan 27: Chipotle Restaurant Night for IHE
Jan 29: Read-a-Thon Ends
Feb 9: Freddy's Restaurant Night for IHE
Feb 10: PTO Meeting - 3:45-4:45pm (virtual link on the school website)
Feb 12: NO SCHOOL - Professional Development Day
Feb 15: NO SCHOOL - President's Day
Feb 16: SAC Meeting - 3:45-4:45pm (virtual link on the school website)