Dear Leighton Families,

We sure have had a busy month with snow days and Professional Development Days. Our staff was busy learning and growing last Friday so as to continually strengthen their skills and refining their practices as we model that learning is social through collaboration. We are very grateful for these days which allow us to continue to provide rich opportunities for our students. As a reminder, there will be another PD on Friday, March 4th so we may continue with professional learning as a district. Thank you to Mr. Roberto, Dr. Milcetich, and our Board of Education for making these days of learning and collaboration possible so we can continue to help our students thrive.

We also wanted to be sure to welcome Mike Acomb back to our Board of Education this month. We are looking forward to continuing to collaborate with him as we continue to foster excellence in the Aurora City Schools.

We celebrated 2-22-22 or "Twosday" this past week and had some fun with numbers on this day as well. Our Leighton staff had fun dressing up in Tiaras, Tutus, and Ties as well as some festive students! We even had a little building wide dance party at 2:22 to the Power of Two song! Leighton Pride is always building wide!

Just a quick reminder to please dress for the weather as we have seen some cold temperatures lately. Boots, snow pants, hat, gloves, and scarves are all encouraged when the temperature allows for outdoor recess.

It's so hard to think that we only have 3 months of school left! As we round the corner into March and "Spring ahead", we also continue to reflect on all the learning and growth that has occurred these last few months of school. We will be preparing for our State Tests coming up starting in April and will include testing dates in the next newsletter. It is so awesome to see our students flourish in using strategies to support critical thinking, being innovative in their approaches to problem solving, and engaging in collaborative partnership with each other to embody that learning is social, and, through engaging in the "process" the product will come.

I am one proud principal each day and every interaction I have with our learners is one filled with learning, collaboration, care, and belief that they can accomplish anything they put their minds too. Thank you for your continued partnership and support as we keep our students at the center!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kind Regards,

Mrs. Michelle Nizen, Building Principal

Mrs. Maria Goodman, Assistant Principal

Our UDL (Universally Designed Lessons) hone in on each focus skill allowing us to explicitly teach those skills, reinforce them, and connect them to our strategic vision including our 6 competencies of a learner (critical thinker, collaborator, innovator, resilient, balanced, and empathetic). Ms. Mazzella also capitalizes on teaching these skills in her classroom lessons focused on various topics including friendships, growth mindset, perseverance as it relates to school work, etc.

We are looking forward to announcing our next Golden Fork winners next week for demonstrating our 3 pillars in the lunchroom and at recess while following all the expectations. Congratulations went to Mrs. Parker, Ms. Most, and Mrs. Samelko who earned the Golden Fork last week and will be getting ready to pass it along to the next winning classes to display outside their classroom doors.

Our next monthly PBIS office raffle will be Friday, February 25th. Students will continue to turn in their caught being good tickets to the office and a building-wide drawing will take place, where caught being good tickets will be read over the announcements and students will pick a prize from our PBIS rewards cart.

Here are some great resources to support your PBIS efforts at home. Thank you for your partnership!

https://www.pbis.org/resource/supporting-families-with-pbis-at-home

https://www.pbis.org/resource/supporting-families-with-pbis-at-home

Spring Fundraiser Kickoff!

Welcome to the Foertmeyer and Sons Spring Flower Fundraiser! Please take a minute to view our kick-off video to learn more about the flowers. To order these amazing plants, go to www.fundraiseit.org and enter the unique code on the catalog your student is bringing home or you can look up by last name.

You can purchase flowers until 11:59pm on 03/11/22 and they will be delivered to the school on 05/15/22. Parents are responsible for pickup of all items ordered. An email reminder will be sent approximately 3 days before pickup day.

When can I shop? The online sale for Aurora Elementary PTO is from 12:01am on 02/25/22 until 11:59pm on 03/11/22
Who benefits from my purchase? Your fundraising assistance will help Aurora Elementary PTO.

Interested in knowing if orders have been placed for your student?

1. Goto www.fundraiseit.org
2. Click Check My Student's Online Sales link in the For Families box
3. Enter your Student's unique web sale code
4. View all of the orders placed using your Student's provided link

Thank you for taking the time to help us reach our goal!

March 1st- 3rd- Donut Day has been cancelled for this year but we are hoping to bring it back next year!

PTO ELECTIONS: There are board positions for next year!

It's a wonderful way to volunteer in your child's school! Please consider joining the PTO board and helping to plan fun and meaningful events for our elementary schools!!! If you have any questions, or would like to talk to a current board member, see the emails below:

PTO President: Katie Stump auroraptopres@gmail.com
Craddock Vice President: Lindsey Twarogowski auroraptocesvp@gmail.com

Miller Vice President: Erin Toler auroraptomesvp@gmail.com

Leighton Vice President: Natasha Rodriguez-Olah auroraptolesvp@gmail.com

Treasurer: Ashley Keating auroraptotreas@gmail.com

Secretary: Bridget Sable auroraptosec@gmail.com

Head Room Parent Communication:

If you would like to receive communication from your head room parent, please click on the link and fill out the form.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeKGjTwj3kvxBeEWJHYTk9Dh7tg_pBsEKtoOQFhWd1GE3jeFQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Join us Leighton Elementary School families! We want each of our students to pledge to take care of their hearts – and minds. We’re excited to learn about heart health and emotional well-being while having FUN and SAVING LIVES. Help your kiddo choose their personal challenge to BE KIND or BE ACTIVE today! Any questions, please reach out to Mrs. Barnes @sslackford@aurora-schools.org.

Here is our Leighton Elementary School link: http://www2.heart.org/goto/LeightonES

#kidsheartchallenge #hearthero #hearthealth

As a reminder, please monitor your child for any COVID-related symptoms and contact our school nurse if you have any questions. We appreciate your attention to this.

• Check your child each day for COVID-related symptoms. If your child is showing any symptoms whatsoever, it is best to keep him/her home to monitor.
• Students sent home with a fever, may not return to school until they are fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours. This means if your child was sent home on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. with a fever, he/she may not return to school until Thursday. If your child does return the next day, our school nurse will be calling for you to come to pick him/her up. Thank you for your support and efforts in this area.
  
• We have COVID-19 home testing kits available that we can send home with any child or family should you question symptoms or exposure. We will be able to answer any questions about these kits should the need arise.
• Please make sure your Final Forms medical information is up to date. We will closely read the health sections to address any medical concerns.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Tanski in the clinic at 330-954-2285 or email her at atanski@aurora-schools.org

**** If your child will be absent for an extended period, please reach out to your child's teacher and they will get school work ready for your student for the period of the absence. You may pick up the work outside the main office on a table that will be labeled with your student's name. We are a google district and utilize google classroom in our 3-5 classes. Please check in with your child's teacher about any google classroom posting and/or assignments in his/her absence.