The Frontier Valley Back to School Night was well attended, and we hope you were able to enjoy the event this year. It is always a pleasure connecting with our families, and showcasing some of the learning that has taken place during the first few weeks of school. The staff at FVE works hard to create a positive learning environment for your kids, and we know they put in extra time and effort to make our events great for all of you. Frontier Valley strives to be the heart of the community and we work diligently to bring our families together in a variety of ways. Our school collaborates with the Frontier Valley Educational Alliance (FVEA), and we typically plan a large community event once a month. Some examples of our larger community events are the annual Fun Run, Drive in Movie, Trunk or Treat, etc. FVEA also schedules several other events throughout the year (ie-Restaurant Nights, Book Fair, etc). We would love to see our families enjoying these planned events as much as possible. All of the scheduled events for the month will show up in these newsletters, and we hope this will help you with your family planning.

We would also like to highlight our “student greeter” program at FVE. Mr. Maurice, our building engineer, has implemented this program at Frontier Valley for years, and it gives our intermediate students a chance to take on some leadership roles in the school. You might have noticed these students wearing yellow vests in the morning during arrival. The main goal of this program is for the students to help maintain a positive and safe environment for the school. Our student ambassadors will be greeting fellow students in the morning, and helping to create a positive start to the day. If you see some of our students in their yellow vests, please give them a huge “Thank You” for their service!

Last, we wanted to share that our school will be participating in the Legend High School Homecoming parade! The parade will take place on Wednesday, September 27th starting at 6:00pm. The route begins in the lower student parking lot at Legend High School and ends in the parking lot at Cimarron Middle School. All of our 5th grade students will have the opportunity to walk the parade route this year to represent our wonderful school. More information and details for our 5th grade parade participants will come through classroom news. All students in grades kindergarten through 4th are invited to line the parade route to cheer the parade participants on! This is a wonderful community event for our entire feeder. We hope to see you there! Thank you for sending your “Smart Cookie” to our wonderful school.

Cheerfully,

Kiersten

Donations are needed for our monthly Buffalo Cart that provides snacks for our FVE staff. September's cart will be on Tuesday, September 26th. Donations may be dropped off at the front office by September 25th. If you are able to donate, please click HERE.Thank you for supporting our staff!

We would like to highlight our Positive Phone Call program. Teachers have been nominating students for outstanding behavior since our first day of school. The students are so proud to share their accomplishments with all of you through a quick phone call home from Mrs. Hall or Ms. Pursley. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of our little buffaloes!

DCSD is hiring for a variety of positions, including bus drivers, transportation assistants, educational assistants, BASE workers, kitchen assistants, building engineers, security dispatchers, grounds and maintenance and so much more. Learn more and apply today at www.dcsdk12.org/careers.

In an effort to be as prepared as possible, we are sharing our delayed dismissal procedures with you now. We are hoping that this will help you to know what to expect in the event of severe weather happening near dismissal time at school. A delayed release happens when it is necessary to hold dismissal due to unsafe weather conditions, such as lightning or torrential rain. We will notify parents of a delayed dismissal by 3:15pm by sending out text messages and emails via our messenger system. We will also update our marquee message at the school.

During a delayed release, parents may enter the building to sign their student out directly from their classroom or can wait in their cars until the storm has passed and students are released.

LIGHTNING: We monitor lightning using Weatherbug. Per District policy, if lightning is within 8 miles of Frontier Valley at dismissal time, students are held in their classrooms until the storm passes.

TORRENTIAL RAIN: Dismissal may also be delayed for torrential rain. Luckily, storms producing torrential rain are generally fast-moving. Once the rainfall has decreased, students will be dismissed as usual.

TORNADO WATCH: Dismissal may also be delayed if we receive a tornado watch directive. A watch can indicate an increased risk for severe weather that may be capable of producing a tornado. Once the tornado watch has been lifted, students will be dismissed as usual. NOTE: If we receive a tornado warning directive, our entire building will go into a shelter in place stance. This means all staff and students will take cover. We recommend parents seek shelter until the National Weather Service lifts the directive.

ONCE DEEMED SAFE TO RELEASE:

1. Students who get picked up will find their ride in the pick-up lane or at their regular meeting place.

2. Students who ride the bus will board the bus and be dropped at their regular stop.

3. Students who walk or ride a bike will head home.

4. Students who go to BASE or after-school clubs will report at the regular dismissal time (3:30pm)

Update your pickup permission list now (before a delayed dismissal is called). Plan ahead, so that everyone is prepared. Email ​jjohnson11@dcsdk12.org to add or delete people from your children’s permission for pickup.

We appreciate your understanding when these types of situations arise. Please give our staff grace, as storms can be unexpected and often happen at the end of the school day. As always, we take the safety of our students and staff as a primary concern. Thank you for your help!

With safety being our number one priority, we wanted to remind all drivers to be careful in the school zone. Please avoid parking close to the crosswalks on Canterberry Trail. Our students and crossing guards have a hard time seeing traffic around parked cars too close to the crosswalk. We want to ensure that all of our little buffaloes arrive safely to school. In addition, U-turns in the school area are very dangerous, please help keep our school zone safe for all.

It has been wonderful getting to know our newest Buffaloes in my new student lunch groups. My classroom lessons will continue to focus on problem solving during recess, conflict resolution, and sportsmanship. We will also begin learning about the Zones of Regulation toward the end of September.

Backpack Food Bags:

I am excited that we can offer our FVE students a weekly food bag provided from Parker Task Force again this school year. If you sign up for this program, your student(s) will receive a food bag in their backpack to bring home on Thursday or Friday each week. If you have any questions or if the program would be helpful for your family, please contact me at evanotten@dcsdk12.org

Help Needed!

Career cafe is an opportunity for 5th grade students to learn about different careers and education pathways after high school. I am looking for parents or community members who can spend about 30 minutes presenting to our 5th grade students about your job and what led you to your career. Please fill out this form and I will contact you with more information.

September Mental Health Resources:

I Matter: The program, called I-Matter, is funded by the Colorado Department of Human Services, Office of Behavioral Health. The program provides up to 6 free behavioral health sessions for youth in Colorado.

Article: How to help kids manage worries and have a successful start to the school year.

Our goal in DCSD Nutrition Services is to serve great food to your great kids!

- We have an Elementary program your children may know as “Seconds”...If your child

wants an additional entrée they may pay the additional price of $3.00 for a second entrée

serving. Pricing may vary at Charter Schools.

- We have an Elementary program your children may know as “Snack or Ala Carte

Sales”...If your child wants to purchase an additional Snack item or an A la Carte Sales

item (including milk) they may pay the additional price of $0.50 to $2.50 for an item.

If you DO NOT want your child to have extra food and/or create a negative balance

(charging) on their account, please complete THIS FORM and return to your school, OR, for faster results, complete the online form on the MySchoolBucks.com’s Welcome page. Just click on the BLUE link “Click here to request purchasing restrictions be added to your student’s lunch account.”

Nutrition Services is in need of parent volunteers to help us feed all of our students and staff! If you are interested in helping, please click this link.

Frontier Valley Families!

Our Frontier Valley Obstacle Run fundraiser is kicking off soon! Lookout for more information in the coming weeks.

For now, mark your calendars with these key dates!

● REGISTRATION OPENS - 09/06/2023

Register on MYBOOSTER.COM

● Frontier Valley Obstacle Run Kickoff - 09/20/2023

● Event Day - 09/29/2023

Thanks for your support, Frontier Valley families!

Thank you to all the volunteers and shoppers who made our Donuts with Grownups event and the fall book fair such a success! We hope your kids are enjoying their books. If a book you wanted to buy was sold out, please consider shopping online at Scholastic through Sept. 3 and our school will get 25% of the proceeds. Here’s the link.

Each year, Frontier Valley Elementary joins other DCSD schools to participate in the Douglas County Library’s Battle of the Books program. Battle of the Books is a bowl-style trivia tournament that’s all about books.

This literacy program challenges students in 3rd-5th grade to read up to ten books, set by Douglas County Librarians, and compete in teams to demonstrate their mastery of the content of those books.(Please click HERE for the list of this year's books.) The program begins in the fall with battles at the school level. In January and February, the top teams at FVE continue on to competitions at the Parker Library where they could earn the opportunity to compete at the PACE Center against the top teams from all over Douglas County.

Battle of the Books provides an amazing opportunity for students to foster a love of reading, increase their reading ability and learn excellent communication and sportsmanship skills.

Please register your child at www.myschoolbucks.com

If you have interest in coaching, co-coaching, assisting the teams or have questions, please contact the following Parent Representatives directly:

Jessica Gaal

(614) 326-9812

jessicalgaal@gmail.com

Jaime Jenkins

(206) 607-7719

jaimeljenkins@gmail.com

Please click HERE for the 2023-2023 schedule.

And please save the date for our drive-in movie on Oct. 6! Would you like to help organize or volunteer at this event? Please email Leah Woodbury at leahwoodbury@gmail.com.