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Welcome to 4th Grade!!
Welcome to 4th Grade!!
Welcome to the 2024-25 school year!
A Little About Me
My name is Hope Crawley and I am so excited to start another year with two of my favorite things: kids and teaching. This is my twenty-sixth year in education and my twenty-fourth year teaching full time. I have taught grades: second, third, fourth, and sixth. I have a Master's degree in education and a Bachelor's degree in psychology and elementary education. I am also a wife, mother, and community member. My family and I are all Colorado natives. We love to hike, bird watch, explore new places, and enjoy lots of different music. My husband works in the automotive industry and our daughter is a grown recent college graduate. We are so proud of her!
Pictured above is our dog, Ripley. He is our aussie/husky puppy. He is very smart, but also full of a lot of energy and keeps us on the move!
It is going to be a great year! I can't wait to learn more about all of you, and work together in the year ahead.
Important Dates:
March 10-13: Parent- Teacher Conferences
March 17-21: Spring Break: No School
April 4 - PTO Auction @ Candeeland
April 8-24: CMAS Testing: Please see our school website for exact dates and additional information.
April 25: No School
April 28: No School
Remember families you can find important information about state testing including schedules and opt-out information on the NRE website.
Family Fun Ideas To Explore and Learn About Colorado
Every month I post on my website and send an email encouraging families to visit places in Colorado. I have linked the websites to all of these places if you would like more information. I truly hope you are able to take advantage of the beautiful state we are so privileged to live in.
Family Fun: Spring
Here are some fun family places that you might like to visit to enrich your child's learning this spring.
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo: This is a great zoo in Colorado Springs. They also have opportunities to feed giraffes and other animals. It is a beautiful zoo and now is the time to visit the spring babies!
Denver Nature and Science Museum: This is a great museum for families! Right now they have a cool exhibit on Jurassic Oceans coming up.
Denver Mint Tours: This is an amazing tour that shows kids how our money is made and our state history. It usually takes some planning ahead to get into this tour. It is a great way to kick off spring break or summer call and schedule a tour today.
Denver Capitol Tours: Our capitol building is beautiful and full of amazing artifacts. The kids also get to see where the government makes and votes on our laws. These tours are booked already this spring, but now is the time to call and set up for this amazing learning experience this summer.
Happy trails,
Hope Crawley
February Fun Family Events
Denver Center for the Performing Arts: Our arts center downtown has some amazing shows that are family friendly. Our symphony is also incredible. I know many of our students are exploring music and playing an instrument. This might be a fun experience for your family.
Lone Tree Arts Center: This is a smaller venue but has enriching shows. It is a great place to gain a little artistic culture near home.
Arvada Arts Center: This is another local arts center, a bit north of Denver. It has a variety of cultural opportunities and some great kid shows your family might enjoy.
Color Me Mine or Arts on Fire : These are local art studios where families can do some fun art projects and enjoy one another.
Art, music and theatre are great activities that can renew us all during the winter months. They can be great ways to have a little fun, entertainment and education too. Colorado is full of amazing opportunities that I hope your family can enjoy and explore together!
Best wishes,
Mrs. Crawley
January
If you have a chance to visit the National Western Stock Show. It has been a Colorado tradition for over 100 years. The stock show is January 11-26 and here is the schedule of events: NWSS Schedule. There are lots of educational opportunities about our local agriculture and economy.
November & December
Hello Families,
This is the start of a very busy time of year for families. So I thought I would share a few fun family places for you all.
Some of the most common events this time of year are: Denver Zoo Lights and the Denver Botanic Gardens: Blossoms of Light. However, there are some lesser known events and places I thought I would let you know about too. Here are a few:
Byers-Evans House: This historic home belonged to some prestigious families in our state's history. The women of these families were key in building our state's cultural arts and William Byers was the publisher of the Rocky Mountain News.
Molly Brown House: This is one of the homes of the indomitable Molly Brown. She was a famous Coloradan who was a philanthropist, survivor of the Titanic, and influential spokeswoman for many causes and rights of others. This is a great home to visit and learn about this fascinating woman in our state's history.
The Littleton Historical Museum has a historical holiday night on December 8th from 5:00 -8:00. This is an outdoor event that highlights historical happenings in Colorado in the late 1890's/early 1900's. It often has storytelling, hayrides, music, cornbread and cookies, and historical lessons in the house by the chickens. It is a ticketed event and tickets can be purchased at the museum. This is a great local museum to visit any time, but a lot of fun on this night!
Hudson Gardens: This is a small garden close to home. It is a beautiful garden that people use for a variety of events. This time of year it is filled with lights for you to enjoy no matter how you like to celebrate this season.
Polar Express & Ice Sculptures
The Gaylord Hotel is hosting an ice sculpture event this year featuring the story The Polar Express. This special event is supposed to be chilly, so bundle up.
I hope you all are able to explore our beautiful state of Colorado and experience our rich heritage and shared culture.
Happy trails,
Mrs. Crawley
October
Students created a Colorado brochure about places in Colorado that they would like to visit. Please have your child share with you where he/she chose as a favorite place in our state.
September
Hello Families!
September is finally on the horizon and we are hoping for some cooler weather. I thought I would share with you some possible places you might want to explore as a family.
Here are a few places you might want to try:
Rocky Mountain National Park: This is a beautiful National Park. Try out your new free park pass here. Your child's free pass becomes available in September and will come home next week. Note that for September - mid October there is a timed entry into the park. This means that you have to sign up ahead of time to enter the park. Many people love to visit this park in September to see the autumn colors and elk. Sign up early and make sure to have your child try the Junior Ranger program. It's a lot of fun and educational too!
Littleton Historical Museum: This is a small free museum, close by, that features the local history of Littleton from the late 1800's -early 1900's. They have live animals and historical events throughout the year.
Chatfield Farms Botanical Gardens: This is a beautiful garden with a historical farm that is also close by to Highlands Ranch. Throughout the year there are also wonderful events held here. Check out the link below about the corn maze.
Corn Maze: This is a large corn maze that begins September 15th through the month of October. September is a great time to explore the corn maze and enjoy having your child problem-solve their way through this puzzle with you!
I hope you are able to enjoy time learning together as a family and explore our beautiful state.
Enjoy,
Hope Crawley
August
Western Welcome Week : This is a historical celebration of Littleton, CO, just 5 minutes north of Highlands Ranch. It is a really fun week. It begins August 9th-18th. I love panning for gold in the Platte which is on Saturday the 10th or Hawkquest at the Carson Nature Center on Tuesday night. Check out the website for all of the fun events!
Colorado Journey: This is a local mini golf place that highlights fun historical places and/or events in Colorado. It is a lot of fun and you can get a lot of good ideas for places to visit throughout Colorado.
Carson Nature Center: This is one of my all time FAVORITE places to go! Make sure to go into the visitor center to check out the cool animals and explore the river table. We will be reading about flood plains and the river table is a fun, interactive way to learn about flooding.
This natural area is along the South Platte River which is a major water source in our area. It is fun to bike, walk, fish, birdwatch, catch crawfish, frogs and minnows, and a ton of other outdoor activities. Their educational programs are fantastic. If I could take all the kids here to all of their nature programs I would. The night hikes are fun too (depending on how you feel about nighttime). In September and October they also have great events.
Four Mile Historic Park: This is a great historic park downtown. Right now they are having a new light display. I am looking forward to seeing it soon. In the past I have enjoyed learning about Native Americans and our state's gold rush at this park.
Contact Me:
Email: hlcrawley@dcsdk12.org
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