MAY 2024 From Our Teachers
Leawood Elementary School
Volunteer Breakfast
Volunteer Breakfast, Friday May 10th 8-9am in the Leawood Library
We would like to honor our wonderful volunteers by hosting a breakfast, provided by the staff. Come and enjoy a hot breakfast, sides, coffee and juice along with some handwritten notes and cards from our students.
Chromebooks
Students in 1st through 5th grade who will still be attending a Jeffco school next year will bring their Chromebooks home for the summer. 5th graders will bring their device to middle school. Families are encouraged to manage the usage/access to the device as they feel is appropriate. Securly Home is a great tool for this. For more information about how to use Securly, visit our district webpage.
*Students in Kindergarten will not take a device home over the summer. However, if a kindergarten student is enrolled in Jeffco Reads, the school will issue a device to the student.
**If your student will not be attending a Jeffco school next year, they will need to leave their Chromebook and charger at school at the end of the year and not bring it home this summer.
Check out this Jeffco Help article for more information and resources.
Garden Update
Thanks to all the Columbine students who showed up Saturday, April 20th for Day of Service to clean the Garden! They pulled weeds and now the garden beds are ready to go! If you are able to donate any seedlings, please contact your teacher. We will be planting soon!
From Band & Orchestra
4th Grade Families - All 5th grade students have the opportunity to join Band or Orchestra next year! Students will get the opportunity to hear this year's band and orchestra students perform at an assembly the week of May 6th and this information sheet will be sent home. We are also hosting a Skate City fundraiser on Monday, May 13th to give prospective students a chance to skate with Mrs. Welch and Mr. Graversen! So, if you'd like to help us raise money for some new school instruments, or if you just want to learn to skate, then come join us at the Littleton Skate City from 6-8 PM! Please see this Skate City Flyer for more information. Check out the band/orchestra website if you have any questions and we look forward to meeting our future students soon!
From the Instructional Coach
End of Year Happenings
During the month of May, students will continue to demonstrate their learning. Students have worked with their teacher to set goals for their growth in reading and math. They will take their final MAP reading and math assessment showing students how much they have grown in each of these areas. Students in kindergarten through third grade will also complete the EOY, End of Year, DIBELS reading screener. Information about both assessments and scores will come home in Friday folders on May 17th.
Looking ahead, we are also excited to start planning for next year. Teachers have already begun working hard to create class lists for the fall. A lot of time and thought goes into creating a balanced environment for all students. All staff members work collaboratively to create balanced classes. This process is very intentional, and we solicit information from many sources, including you.
The following criteria are used when making the final decisions for placement:
Principal and/or teachers do not take parent requests for specific classroom teacher assignments. We will, however, consider specific student needs and styles, and friendships
Each classroom will be balanced with student achievement, gender, leadership, and behaviors.
Students who consistently demonstrate that they cannot get along socially will be separated.
The number of students in each classroom will be as equal as possible. New students will be evenly distributed among classes as they enroll.
Although parent requests will be taken into consideration for student placement, it does not guarantee placement of the student into a particular class or with a certain teacher. Final class placement of a student will be made by the building principal. We look at a variety of factors like academic skills, social skills, gender, etc to ensure that students have a start the year off in a positive learning community.
Summer Learning
This year students have an opportunity working on reading and math skills at home this summer. Students will maintain their Lexia accounts where they can continue to practice and apply their reading skills. This summer, students will also have opportuntiies in math. Students in grades K through 2 can use Zearn to practice and review their math skills. Students in grades 3 through 5 can use MAP Accelerator.
For all 3 programs students will login through Clever, clever.com, using their district login credentials. When there, they can click on the program they want to launch and can begin. If you have questions, please reach out to jamie.kelley@jeffco.k12.co.us