October From Our Teachers

Leawood Elementary School

Looking for where to sign up to support our Halloween classroom parties? 

Click below:

HEALTHY Party Sign-ups

*A Message from the Instructional Coach

Whether you are a teacher, parent, or guardian we share a goal of helping children learn and be successful.  The last six months have been challenging and it is now   As you know, parent teacher conferences are coming up the third week of October. These conferences are crucial in establishing an effective home-school partnership and may look and feel different this year.  These are just a few tips to prepare for a successful conference:

We look forward to seeing you October 13 and 14!

Jamie Kelley, Instructional Coach 

A Message from Band and Orchestra!

It's not too late to join! Follow the link here to our music website www.columbineareamusic.us

Mr. Whaylen is still seeking volunteers to assist with our first band and orchestra concert on Thursday November 7th. You will still be able to see the concert, we just need some help with programs and students finding seats during the student’s arrival. Please contact eric.whaylen@jeffco.k12.co.us if you’re interested in helping out! 

Eric R. Whaylen 

Instrumental Music

Columbine Articulation Area

eric.whaylen@jeffco.k12.co.us

News from PE

We are also getting ready for our annual Leawood Invitational Track Meet at Jeffco Stadium on Tuesday, October 8.  This year we will have our 3rd-5th grades participating.  We will have more info as we get closer to the meet.  It has been so exciting to be back with our kids in P.E.

PLEASE NOTE!  We will NOT be able to provide a bus home from the track meet.  You MUST make arrangements for your student.  We will send home permission slips the first week of October so we know how your student will be getting back to Leawood.

Thank you,

F.T. Gonzales/Leawood/P.E

From the Library

It’s almost time for our fall Scholastic Book Fair.  Please come visit the fair to find a variety of fun, interesting, and award winning books for children.  We depend on proceeds from the book fair to purchase new books for our school library.  

Scholastic Book Fair Sale Hours:

Monday, Oct. 14: 3:45-4:45

Tuesday, Oct. 15:  8:30-9:00, 3:45-4:45

Wednesday, October 16: 8:30-9:00, 3:45-8:00

Thursday, October 17: 8:30-9:00, 3:45-8:00

We need help unpacking books and setting up the fair on Thursday, October 10th between 12:00 and 3:30.  No need to sign up. Just stop by to help anytime during these hours.  

Thank you in advance for supporting our book fair!

3rd Grade News

Mr. Boogert and Ms. Bole wrapped up their butterfly life cycle unit with a release party in the garden. Students were sad to see their winged children fly off into the great unknown, but were proud parents to see how much their caterpillars had grown. Go ahead, ask any third grader from Leawood to tell you the four stages in the butterfly life cycle! It was a day to remember!

4th Grade News

Fourth Grade

For the past few weeks fourth graders have been learning about our solar system! Check out our paper mache planets from both Mrs. Henkes class and Mrs. Burnham’s classes. Thank you to all of our parent volunteers who were willing to help to make our planets possible!

Calling all 5th grade Knitters

Once again I will be hosting a knitting club, starting on Wed Oct 23.  I will get permission slips to people interested, but I wanted to give everyone a heads-up.  We will meet in my classroom afterschool from 3:45-4:45. I will also send home a list of supplies that they need to come with.  Last year we had almost 30 kiddos learn this new skill, and we made scarves for the homeless shelter.

Mrs. Story

Mrs. Wheeler’s Art News October 2019

SAVE THE DATES FOR ART SHOWS!!!

OCTOBER 1-31, 2019

Kindergarten Art Show at Columbine Library!!!

Come view our very own Leawood Kindergartener’s artwork at the Columbine Library!  Artwork will be on display from October 1st until October 31st! I am looking for some parent volunteers that would be able to meet me there to quickly hang the artwork during my lunch/planning on Tuesday!  :) Please email me if you’re available: kate.wheeler23@gmail.com. 


NOVEMBER 1, 2019

3rd and 5th Grade Art Show at Pirate Art Gallery!!!

All 3rd and 5th grade students have been invited to participate in a student art show at Pirate Art Gallery for their annual Dia De Los Muertos Art Show! 

This will be my 3rd year participating in this student art show and it’s one of the most fun art shows I’ve been to!  El Dia De Los Muertos (or Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday celebrated from Halloween eve through November 2nd. It’s a happy time where family members remember their loved ones who have passed and celebrate their lives. Pirate does a wonderful job of honoring this holiday with real family altars, student artwork, food, drinks, pinatas, face paint and live Aztec dancers!  I HIGHLY encourage all students, families, friends, teachers to join us at the art opening on Friday, November 1, 2019 at Pirate Art Gallery, 7130 W 16th Ave, Lakewood, CO 80214.  

*For questions about helping with this art show OR to opt your student out of show their art, please email me.

Upcoming Art Shows: 

2nd Grade: Second grade students will have an art show on the same day as their 2nd grade performance, November 21, 2019.  We have been creating artwork that coincides with their musical!  

4th Grade: Fourth grade students will have an art show on the same day as their 4th grade musical performance, in March 2020.

1st Grade: First grade students will have their artwork hanging at Columbine Library the months of April and May 2020!  More details to come in the spring.  

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL)

We are off to a great start with Second Step, our school’s social-emotional curriculum. This curriculum works at building skills for learning, empathy, emotion management, and problem solving. If you haven’t yet, please create a free account on www.SecondStep.org to learn more about Second Step, and connect with your child’s social-emotional learning. In creating the account, you will need to enter a 12 digit code, based on your child’s grade. Here are the codes for Second Step:

Hopefully you received the letter I sent home in Friday Folders a couple weeks ago, introducing myself, and explaining my role at Leawood. My name is Melissa Bushmann, and I am the Social Emotional Learning Specialist here at Leawood this year. As part of this role, I will be supporting students across the entire school, and either visiting your child’s class every other week to teach Second Step, collaborating with the full-time social worker at Leawood, Jennifer Magri, to teach Second Step, or supporting your child’s classroom teacher in teaching the curriculum. Here are the skills your child’s class has covered so far:

A great way to learn more about what your child is learning in Second Step is to ask them questions about what skills they are learning, why they might be important, and create some open space for both of you to share your thoughts with each other. As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions, wonderings, or concerns you may have. 

Melissa Bushmann (Ms. Melissa)                                    Social Emotional Learning Specialist melissa.bushmann@jeffco.k12.co.us

COLUMBINE ROOTS GARDEN

Summer has ended, and our garden is slowing down.  We had an AMAZING summer full of growth and many harvests! Thank you to everyone who helped water and maintain the garden this summer! Though lots of our vegetables are slowing down, there are still plenty of tomatoes to be harvested, so feel free to stop by the garden and pluck a few for yourself and your family! We will begin the winterizing process later on in October.  

We are also fortunate enough to have a local Boy Scout choose our Columbine Roots Garden as his Eagle Scout project.  We are asking for volunteers to come out on Saturday, October 5th to help put up our chain-link fence and build a leaf-shaped bed under the leadership of Garin Marshall.  This project is scheduled from 9-11 am.  Hope to see you there!