Cougar Connection
March 2022
Cactus Valley Elementary
222 Grand Ave. Silt, CO 81652
Main Line: 970-665-7850
Attendance Line: 970-665-7874
Our vision is to develop happy, high achieving students and staff
A Message From The Principal and Assistant Principal
Dear Cactus Valley Families,
Will March come in like a lion and go out like a lamb? It’s hard to believe the official start to spring is around the corner, and in a few weeks we’ll be enjoying a week off for spring break! These longer, warmer days bring about a sense of renewed energy and a brightened spirit for the possibilities that lie ahead! Along with these warmer days brings the thawing, which also means a very wet playground! Our students are playing hard and sometimes get pretty wet or muddy while they romp around. Feel free to put an extra pair of pants in your child’s backpack to help keep them warm and dry in school IF they need it. We would also like to emphasize with our families that breakfast is served at 7:30 in the morning. If your child is eating breakfast they will need to be here NO LATER THAN 7:50 to receive a meal. School begins at 8:00 and all students should be finished eating by that time.
The Yearbook Order Form for the 2021-2022 school year can be accessed at the following link:
mymjthomas.com, click “yearbooks” and enter code cactusyb2122, OR send in $20 in an envelope with their child’s name and teacher’s name.
With spring also comes our state testing windows. Third through fifth grade students are given the CMAS assessment each year, which is designed to give schools and teachers more information about students’ understanding of the Colorado Academic Standards, and data that can be used to improve our instruction. The testing is only a portion of the students’ day, and for the remainder of the school day they will be participating in regular classes and learning. We appreciate your help with attendance of your student during these times. Testing at Cactus Valley Elementary School will begin the week of April 11th. A formal schedule for each grade level and their testing sessions will be shared at the beginning of April.
Calendar Reminders:
Tuesday, March 8th Spring Pictures
Tuesday, March 8th 5:00-8:00 Culver’s Night–Enjoy a dinner out to help support CVE!
Thursday, March 10th is the end of our third quarter. Can you believe it?
Sunday, March 13th Daylight Savings Begins...spring ahead one hour!
Thursday, March 17th will be the end of quarter assembly. Look for information from your child’s teacher.
Spring Break begins Friday, March 18th. Students return to school on Monday, March 28th.
Remind your child to check the lost and found!
Here’s wishing you all a Happy Spring! Thank you again for your support of the staff and students at CVE. Together WE CAN, WE WILL continue to make a positive difference in the lives of our children!
Sincerely,
Kelly Detlefsen, Principal
Simone Richardson, Assistant Principal
Counselor’s Corner
Quarter three is almost over and Spring Break is right around the corner. Our Student Council led Kindness Challenge ended on Valentine’s Day with Mrs. Zimmerman’s first grade class winners overall for the school with a Root Beer Float Party. Our grade level winners for an extra fifteen minutes recess were: Kindergarten, Mrs. Kirk’s class; 1st grade, Mrs. Zimmerman’s class; 2nd grade, Mrs. Schaffner’s class; 3rd grade, Mrs. Mexted’s class; 4th grade, Mrs. Nelson’s class and 5th grade, Mrs. Plano’s class. Please remind your students that kindness should be practiced year round.
Here is what we are learning in Character Education this month. 5th grade will be learning about Resiliency and why it’s an important skill to know. In 4th grade we are discussing the Safe2Tell resource, which is an anonymous tip line started by the Colorado State Government, for students, teachers and parents to let caring adults know when they hear information about someone who might be threatening harm to themselves, others or the school. Here is the link for more information: https://safe2tell.org/frequently-asked-questions-2 .
Kinder, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade will focus on Respect and how they can show it in the classroom and on the playground with their words and actions.
If you have a student in need of coats, hats, gloves or boots, please call or email me and I can help your student get what they need. Also, The River Center delivers 6-7 non perishable food items weekly to supplement food for families who need extra support. It is distributed on Wednesdays. If you are a family that could use the supplemental food, please contact me and I can get you signed up.
If your student needs mental health support, IMatter is a program that will provide 3 FREE counseling sessions for ANY Colorado youth. Visit the IMatter website (www.imattercolorado.org) to get your student connected with a therapist. For social/emotional or other types of assistance, please contact me, Amy Chabin, at 970-665-7764 or achabin@garfieldre2.net.River Center News: https://conta.cc/3C4GLwL
4th Grade News
Math: Students are busy exploring multi-digit multiplication. They are learning to visually represent this process and exploring how associative and distributive property work. Students will move into division strategies and how to apply these strategies to word problems.
Science- In science we are busy with our earth science unit. Students are taking the roles of geologist and exploring where fossils come from and how they are formed. We will also learn about how the three different types of rocks are formed.
Reading: In March we will be continuing to read about volcanoes and other natural disasters. Students will continue to work on and improve their abilities to find the main idea and describe the structures of our nonfiction texts. Then we will look at character traits and inferencing in our narrative piece on Pompeii.
Writing:
Writing will turn to research on natural disasters. Students will be forming questions and searching for the answers online, in videos, and in books from the library. They will then write a narrative about a character dealing with that disaster. We will be focusing on describing the character and setting.
Important News/Dates:
3.1-3.3- Spirit Week
3.7- End of Quarter
3.8- Spring Pictures
3.8- Culvers Night
3.21- Start of Spring Break