CFL November Family Newsletter
November 1st
How to translate Smore Newsletters (English) or Cómo traducir boletines informativos de Smore (Spanish)
Mission and Vision Statements
CFL Vision
At CFL, we are an uplifting crew who embrace our students, staff, and families in a kind and fun learning environment where all can grow.
CFL Communication
Dear CFL Families,
Even though the weather keeps changing on us and the leaves are falling with brilliant colors of orange, red and yellow to decorate our school grounds, the academic process here at CFL is staying constant. The teachers and students have established their routines and procedures for class lessons. November is an important time for us all to reflect on the many blessings bestowed upon us. I am certainly thankful for the many blessings in my life, including working with the amazing students, CFL families, teachers, and support staff at The Center For Family learning.
I wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate some of the great things that I love about CFL, the staff, the community and especially the kids:
We love your kids and their parents!
Our students are putting in the work and are growing as readers and mathematicians!
Our Support Team for jumping in wherever they are needed.
The front office staff is amazing! They are there for everyone for anything and everything.
All the staff members who go above and beyond for our students each day.
Parents who support our special days with supplies, treats and so much more.
The stories parents share with me.
Throwing the football and playing basketball with a bunch of screaming Kinder and 1st graders.
Our District leaders for always being supportive and leading us in the right direction.
Our maintenance crew makes the CFL beautiful outside and inside.
There are so many things that I am thankful for being the Principal at CFL and this is only a taste. With Thanksgiving just around the corner and Christmas shortly behind this is a time to celebrate friends, family and what we are thankful for.
Reminders to Review:
Tuesday Folders: Be sure you are receiving your child's weeklyTuesday Folder. Be sure to read all handouts as they are filled with important CFL information. This will help you to stay up to date with all the happenings at school.
Outdoor Wear: temps are falling, and it is important to send your child to school with appropriate outdoor wear (hats, coats, gloves, etc.). Weather permitting and unless the temperature is below 20 degrees, students will go outside for recess.
Raptor Management System: All Garfield 16 schools have a new visitor process. If you have not already stopped by the front office with your ID to be put into the system.
Just a reminder that students and staff will be on Thanksgiving Break from November 21st-25th
With Gratitude,
Kim Frees (Principal)
Thankgiving Feast November Information
We will be having our traditional Thanksgiving Feast on Friday, November 18th. We are so excited! You should have received a Thanksgiving Feast food sign up in your child's Tuesday Folder. If not, please call the office and we will get you one. I will also attach a form below. Please return this sign-up as soon as possible.
This is not a school day for our CFL students. If you have other children in the district, bring them to school. This event is for our CFL students, families and at home siblings as we do not have room, supplies or food to accommodate BUE, GVMS and GVHS siblings.
All students that participate will need to be accompanied with their families or an adult. Students can not show up alone or without an adult.
Families can come anytime between 11:00 am--1:00 pm.
We look forward to seeing everyone!
Atendance Matters
Dear Families,
Our goal every school year is to ensure that every student attends school regularly.
Showing up for school has a huge impact on a student’s academic success starting in kindergarten. Parents play a key role in making sure students get to school safely every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and in life.
We realize some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. But, we also know that when students miss too much school regardless of the reason, it can cause them to fall behind academically. Your child is less likely to succeed if he or she is chronically absent—which means missing 18 or more days over the course of an entire school year.
Research shows:
Children chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade.
We don’t want your child to fall behind in school and get discouraged. Please ensure that your child attends school every day and arrives on time. Here are a few practical tips to help support regular attendance:
Make sure your children keep a regular bedtime and establish a morning routine.
Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
Ensure your students go to school every day unless they are truly sick
Avoid scheduling vacations or doctor’s appointments when school is in session.
Talk to teachers and counselors for advice if your children feel anxious about going to school.
Develop back up plans for getting to school if something comes up.
Call on a family member, neighbor, or another parent to take your child to school.
PLEASE SUPPORT CFL IN OUR HOLIDAY WREATH FUNDRAISER
All orders are due by November 11th. Wreath will be here on November 29th. If students sell more than one wreath we are asking that families come and pick up the wreaths at CFL that day or at the earliest convenience. The students will deliver wreaths to those who purchased them. Thank you for your support.
CFL Goal Setting Update
At CFL students set individual literacy goals. When they meet their goal they sign their name on a gumball and put it up on our Goalball Machines. October was a busy month for our students. We have had many students meet their literacy goals this month.
ELL News
Greetings ELL Families!
I can’t believe it is already November, as we say in our classroom, "Clock! You go too fast!” Your children and I have had fun learning and building a student/teacher relationship in a stimulating , engaging and safe environment. I have witnessed tremendous growth and progress in their learning. Their excitement is contagious!
We have had our assessments and have been reviewing the areas we can improve in. I’m working on building a personalized pathway for each student to meet their needs. We continue to work on vocabulary development, phonics, reading fluency and reading comprehension strategies.
Starting in January ELL Students in grades Kindergarten-12th grade will participate in the ACCESS assessment. ACCESS provides a standardized measurement of academic language proficiency for English Language Learners (ELL) Students throughout the state of Colorado. Each form of the test assesses the four Language domains of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. This information allows us to monitor individual ELL student progress on an annual basis.
Thank you for sharing your precious children with me.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out to me. mkerrigan@garfield16.org
Melanie Kerrigan
ELL Teacher CFL
Intervention News
The goblins, and monsters have left. It’s time to start being thankful. The year goes by so fast, especially when you have little ones at home. As you are preparing for this wonderful time of year be sure to remember to cherish time with your children.
As a Reading Specialist, of course I believe that reading is one of the most important things you can do with your child. I also believe that any and all time with your kids should be fun and memorable. Below are some ways you can spend a couple of extra minutes with your child, and still enjoy being with them when it’s over.
Fall is a perfect time to read outside. On a day when the weather is nice, go outside, with a cup of cider or cocoa and a book to share.
Everyone loves to bake in the fall. Spend some time baking up a favorite snack with your child. Be sure to have them “help” you read the recipe. They can find sight words such as: the, and, can.
Check out your local library. There are so many great books to choose from with fall themes in mind.
Writing and reading are connected more than we think. If you can’t be with that special family member this holiday, help your child write him or her a note to mail.
Practicing sight words can be boring, but we can make it fun too. If you have some colored paper you can have kids make leaves and write the sight words on them to practice later.
Whatever you do with your child this season, make it fun, and create memories.
Important Reading skills to aupport your child
Phonological Awareness:
Phonological Awareness is the understanding that a spoken word is made up of different parts and that each of these parts makes a sound. For example, the word bat includes the sounds /b/, /a/, and /t/, and the word batter can be broken into two syllables that make the sounds /bat/ and /or/. Phonological Awareness is an essential building block for Phonics. Readers need to be able to distinguish or make out, and the individual sounds in spoken words before they can fully master matching sounds to the letter.
Phonics:
Phonics instruction teaches children how to connect the sounds they hear in spoken words to the letters they see in written words. For example, a student who can connect sounds to letters knows to read “th” in then as a single sound /th/, rather than the sound /t/ and the sound /h/. Students have to learn many different connections between sounds and spelling patterns. There are so many connections that learning Phonics can feel like learning the rules to understand a hidden code. But this skill is mastered by taking one step at a time, learning one rule and then another, and so on. Once students can make these connections quickly and easily, they can start to read for meaning.
High-Frequency Words:
High-Frequency Words are the words that appear most often in what children read. Words such as the, and, and they are high-frequency words. Because these words appear so often, readers must learn to recognize them automatically. Also, these words are often spelled in ways that can be confusing. Words such as could and there do not follow the rules that connect sounds to letters in most words. Learning to recognize these words automatically helps students read more quickly and easily, which gives them a better opportunity to understand what they are reading.
Vocabulary:
Vocabulary is the name of the words a student knows. The more words a student knows, the easier it is to understand what the student reads. Good readers know the meanings of many words. Students grow their vocabularies by hearing and learning new words, talking about words, and being taught specific words.
Melissa Bradley
Reading Interventionist CFL
PE News
Hello CFL Families,
Please help your student remember to bring shoes for PE everyday. Boots are good for snow but not in the gym, thank you. This month we will be continuing to work on our locomotor movement patterns. Students will earn a bead for their beads and charms bracelets everytime they master a movement!. We will be progressing our ball handling skills into throwing for accuracy and the new skill set of dribbling with a variety of balls. Please reach out with any questions you may have about your kiddo. Thank you.
Mr. Cora
Afterschool Programs
We started our first session of afterschool programming on Tuesday, October 25th. Programs run on Tuesdays from 4:30 - 5:30. We have seven different programs available to our students. We currently have 80 students participating. The programs we are offering this time are Kid’s Creations, Science Fun, Spanish Club, Cooking Club, Games & Puzzles, Art Club, and Kindness Rocks. The programs filled up quickly so we appreciate your flexibility in switching to a different program that may not have been your child’s first choice. We will have a culminating event on December 6th where students will be able to showcase their learning from the programs. We will have 2 more sessions this school year so look for the fliers to come home. We have tentative start dates of January 10th and April 4th for our next sessions.
Pre-School News
Please help us reinforce with your child the importance of coughing and sneezing into their elbow. This helps us dramatically cut down on the spread of germs here at school, and is the preferred method promoted by most pediatricians. Please join us in practicing this skill with your child in your homes. Encouraging your child to blow and/or wipe their nose on a tissue and then throw it away themselves is also a huge help in “germ control” here at school.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please stop by the office.
Meri Nofzinger~Director of Preschool
A note from our District Nurse
Hello everyone – This is an update from CDPHE. We will send more information as soon as it becomes available.
- Link: https://cdphe.colorado.gov/influenza - click on the far-right box in the gray bar at the top of the page to access the graph below
We are seeing a rapid increase in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) across the country and here in Colorado. Hospitalizations, especially in young children, are now threatening pediatric bed capacity.
Please stay home when sick and follow public health guidance on when to return. Specifically for influenza and RSV, individuals should remain home from school or child care until fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications and other symptoms have been improving for 24 hours, this is true even if they have tested negative for COVID-19. More information can be found here: How Sick is Too Sick and Infectious Disease in School and Child Care Settings
Remember, COVID-19 vaccines and annual flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone aged ≥ 6 months who does not have contraindications.
The 2022-23 Guidance for Prevention & Control of Non-COVID-19 Respiratory Illnesses in Schools and Child Care Settings was recently released and includes guidance on managing, reporting, and controlling respiratory illnesses in schools and child care settings.
Family Resource Center
Please do not hesitate to reach out to our School Based Family Resource Center for more information.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Claudia Flores Cruz
Center Coordinator
970-285-5262
Grand Valeey Givers
Grand Valley Giving Tree Registration Open! The Grand Valley Givers hope that these gifts will help make the holiday season brighter for families in need of assistance. Families can register throughout the month of October. Registrations will close on November 1, 2022. Follow this link to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe8qa5tB-QgopOoN5w5PqxWB-dKKAiWQEuiPMo-duNrIQf2wA/viewform
Grand Valley Giving Tree registration is open!. Grand Valley Donors hope these gifts will help make their holiday season brighter for families in need. Families can sign up for the entire month of October. Entries will close on November 1, 2022. Follow this link to register: https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSe8qa5tB.../viewform
Transportation and Bus Routes
In an effort to even out busloads and to achieve quicker drop-off times, some bus routes have changed. Please click the button below. If you have questions please call the Transportation office at 970-285-5700 ext. 5130.
If you need more information please contact our Transportation Director - Steve Gardner at
970-285-5700 ext 5130
Breakfast and Lunch Menus are available on our district and school website!
School Breakfast and Lunch menus are currently being created and updated for the start of the school year. If you are ever looking for the breakfast and lunch menus, please visit our district Nutrition Department Website where you can link directly to each month's menus. These menus can also be accessed on the CFL Website. Menus will be posted as soon as they are ready for the year!
Please keep in mind that menus have the potential to change A LOT depending on staffing issues, and product availability. Our Nutrition Department does their best to honor the posted menus, however they can be heavily impacted for a variety of reasons. If you ever have any questions, please call 285-5701 ext. 4180 with any questions or email jwilliams@garfield16.org
Center For Family Learning
Email: kfrres@garfield16.org
Website: https://cfl.garfield16.org/
Location: 100 E 2nd St, Parachute, CO 81635, USA
Phone: 970-285-5702