February From Our Teachers

Leawood Elementary School

Valentine Party Times

Parties will be held on Thursday, February 14th.  The classroom times for each party are listed below.

Preschool

·       AM Ladybugs: 10:45-11:30 

·       PM Ladybugs- 2:45-3:30

·       Dragonfly: 11:00-11:45am

Kindergarten 10:00-11:00am

1st grade  1:30-2:30pm

2nd grade  1:00-2:00pm

3rd grade  2:30-3:30pm

4th grade  2:30-3:30pm

5th grade  2:45-3:30pm

6th grade  2:15-3:15pm

6th Grade News

Sixth grade is once again (and maybe the last time) collecting pop tops for the Ronald McDonald House Charities.  Start saving, and send them in with your child throughout the spring. Each month our Pop Top Club will collect them from your child’s classroom, weigh them, and graph the results.  At the end of May, the class that collects the most pounds of pop tops will get a pizza party. Thank you so much for supporting ten years of collecting.

~ Mrs Story, 6th Grade Teacher

SOLAR POWERED RACE CARS

Fourth grade has been building SunnySide Up solar powered race cars. Our BIG learning has been centered around renewable resources. Students learned that solar energy creates clean, renewable power from the sun and benefits the environment. Alternatives to fossil fuels reduce the carbon footprint at home and abroad, reducing greenhouse gases around the globe, These cars are easily assembled. “Build your own solar car using the supplied coroplast, or build onto recycled materials – customize as you want. The solar panels are easily removable for further experimentation. Solar motors are sensitive and strong.” In addition to building their cars each group has created a wevideo.com, Stop-Motion Animation, to document the process of their building. Stop-Motion Animations will be viewed on the day of the races. 

Students are using the Next Generation Science Standards and the Scientific Method to answer the question, “What modification(s) will I need to make to my car to make it the most efficient race car.” Please look at your emails for further communication about our racing day. Students will invite family members and peers to come watch each fourth grade class race outside! “Vroooom, Vroooom! May the best car win!” 

~ The 4th Grade Team

THANK YOU TO OUR LOCAL VETERANS

Our sixth graders are writing biographies and wanted to write about someone important.  Who is more important than our Veterans? The local VFW post came through with 8 volunteers, and families supplied the rest of the Veterans we interviewed.  In all, we heard the stories of 14 Veterans. The next step is composing meaningful stories to share.

Music Happenings

Leawood Rock Band has begun! Rock band will meet Wednesdays after school from 3:45-5:30pm. Our spring concert will be April 23rd. Students pick an instrument to focus on (ukulele, drums, guitar, bass, keyboard, or singing) and learn critical thinking, creative, listening, performing, and collaborative skills playing together with bandmates. Read the permission slip for more information. Contact Mr. Zigman if you have any questions or if you have an instrument you might be willing to donate to our program.

4th, 5th, and 6th graders recently finished up an electronic composition unit using the desktop audio workshop program Soundtrap. Take a listen to music compositions from Mrs. Story’s 6th Grade and Mr. Lomba’s 5th grade! Mr. Lupo’s 6th grade and Mrs. DeHerrera-Schnering’s 5th grade class compositions are coming soon. The greatest hits are going to be featured in morning announcements as theme music.

~ Mr Zigman,  Music Teacher

From the Library

Our Scholastic Book Fair is a reading event that brings the books kids want to read right into our school. It’s a wonderful selection of engaging and affordable books for every reading level.

Spring Scholastic Book Fair Dates/Shopping Hours

February 11th: 3:45-4:30pm

February 12th: 8:30-9:00am, 12:00-8:00pm

February 13th: 8:30-9:00am, 12:00-8:00pm

February 14th: 1:00-4:00pm

We need volunteers to help set up the book fair on February 7th from 1:00  to 4:00. Volunteers will receive a 10% discount on all purchases. Please sign up HERE if you’d like to help.

We look forward to seeing you and your family at our Book Fair! Remember, all purchases benefit our school.

Lisa Pepper, Digital Teacher Librarian

A message from Instrumental Music:

Thanks to all those who came out to support our young musicians in our Columbine Area Music Concert! I very much enjoyed listening to all of our students perform, and it’s always a joy to see the progression of ability through the years of music instruction.

There are two very important dates remaining on our calendar for the year:

Spring Band and Orchestra Concert

Thursday May 9:

Columbine High School Gym

Students arrive at 5:30pm

Performance at 6:00pm

Performance will conclude by 7:00pm

Please plan to stay for the duration of the performance.


Spring Advanced Band and Orchestra Tour (6th grade only)

Tuesday April 30: During the school day, not an evening event.

The advanced band and orchestra will travel to all area elementary schools during the school day to share the joy of music with younger students, and help us recruit the next year of instrumental music students. I am seeking chaperones for this event. Do you enjoy helping students pull off fun events? Would you be interested in riding a school bus to five different elementary schools in one day? If yes send me an email and we will talk more. More information on this event will be forthcoming.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Eric Whaylen, Instrumental Music Teacher

Eric.whaylen@jeffco.k12.co.us

From the Instructional Coach

What Do Teachers Do on Workdays?

A large part of an instructional coach’s job is to provide professional development for the teachers in a building.  Like most parents, you probably wonder what we do on those days!  I would love to tell you how we have spent some of our professional development days this year.

Our school focus this year has been on differentiated instruction.   If you've ever been into our classrooms, you have seen teachers working in small groups with students.  They have spent countless hours analyzing data for each student and finding the skills they are ready to learn today.   This provides structures for students to receive extra support if needed, as well as opportunities to give enrichment to those who are ready for it.  I have been fortunate to be able to partner with members of our district special education department, gifted education department, and our assessment department  to plan for and facilitate some of this professional development with me.  This work has helped the teachers refine their instruction and truly meet every child’s needs in all content areas.  

As always, I encourage you to email or call me here at school (303) 982-7860 if you have further questions about the time we spend learning to improve our instruction to meet the needs of your children.  

Aimee Crispin, Instructional Coach

 P.E. News from Mr. Gonzales

 The year is really coming along and our kids are really working hard. Our gymnastics unit is under way as well as our after school gymnastics program.  It looks like our kids are really getting many of their stunts down.  It is very exciting to see how much our kids are advancing and growing.  This includes every level of skill.  It seems like every day we have so many students learning new and different skills. Along with our gymnastics, we will be having our climbing wall and ropes.  Our spring floor helps keep our kids safe during these activities. We have swinging games with the ropes to compete by earning or losing points.  Students have to use their math skills to add, subtract or multiply during the games for their teams. The gymnastics  program doing  very well as our kids are preparing for grade level night programs and a day program as well.  Each student will have an opportunity to show case what they are doing.  Grade level nightly programs for our after school gymnast are as follows.  Everyone is invited to come and watch in the Leawood Gym. Program times are 6:30-7:30 pm.

Thank you---F.T. Gonzales/Leawood P.E.

Leawood Spelling Bee

Congratulations to our Leawood Spelling Bee finalists: Abigail Maritneau (1st place) and Katie Schmalz (2nd place)! They will be competing in the Columbine Area Spelling Bee on Tuesday, February 5th at 6:30 pm in the CHS Auditorium.  Come cheer them on as they vie for a spot at the Colorado State Bee later this Spring!