The Lion's Share Newsletter
October 2022
From the Desk of Mr. Miller:
The temperatures are dipping, leaves are beginning to fall, and teachers are walking around with pumpkin spice lattes! Fall really is one of my favorite seasons here in Colorado. With that said, I am excited to share that we have many wonderful opportunities to open our doors to you this month! We really hope you will be able to celebrate your student by attending the numerous events we have planned this month!
To start things off, we will have our Family STEAM Challenge. I know your student(s) would love for you to join us here at school to help build and create a zip-line that will be capable of carrying candy. We will also have our APEX Fun Run! I really hope you can set some time aside to join us here at the school to cheer on your Lion as they run their laps! Next, we will be hosting a Trunk or Treat for the entire family to enjoy! Finally, we will be holding our Family Title Event during Parent/Teacher Conferences at the end of the month! As always, if you are able to attend your student's Parent/Teacher Conference and the Family Title Event, your Lion will earn a $5 gift card towards a book during the book fair! For all the details, please continue reading below, or email me with any questions! Again, we hope you can join us for any (or all!) of these events!
I would like to send a big thank you to our parents that have supported our PTA meetings and our School Accountability Committee meeting. I understand how hard it can be to carve out time during the day or into the night for these meetings. I would really like to say how appreciative I am of our parents and hope that you may consider joining us down the road!
I hope October is a great month for all of you. Please remember to send your Lions to school dressed for the weather as we begin to experience cooler temperatures.
We are looking forward to an action packed October!
Thank you,
Ryan Miller, Principal
Capturing Kids' Hearts Focus for October: Kindness
Throughout the month of October, our students and teachers will focus on Kindness. There will be weekly challenges for our students to partake in that highlights the idea of being kind!
What is Kindness?
Kindness is the ability and willingness to express care and compassion for others. Kindness is a choice to use our time, talent, and resources to better the lives of others and the world through genuine acts of love, compassion, generosity, and service.
Why focus on Kindness?
- Kindness boosts positive emotions. Acts of kindness create neural pathways that enhance feelings of well-being and the natural flow of feel-good endorphins and neurotransmitters.
- Kindness is self-replicating. When we perform an act of kindness, it is likely to encourage others to act in a similar way.
- Kindness reduces stress and anxiety. Kindness promotes positive relationships with other people. Anything that helps you to build bonds with other people helps decrease anxiety.
Kindness in Action:
- Celebrate small things. Start each day with Good Things as a class. Publicly and privately affirm kind and thoughtful actions and attitudes.
- Create opportunities for students to regularly affirm each other. Once a week, dedicate time for students to write notes of affirmation to classmates and school staff members.
- Model Kindness. Be mindful of body language, tone, and mindset. Kindness is learned by example!
Trunk or Treat is Back!
Family Title Event & Parent/Teacher Conferences
And remember...when you attend your Parent/Teacher Conference and the Family Title Event, your Lion will receive a $5.00 gift card to our book fair, which will be good for a book! You must attend the Family Title Event in order to get the gift card! See you there!
Family STEAM Challenge/Count Day
Student Feature
We hope you are as excited as we are to continue our Student Feature! Each month, we will select a student that shows all the attributes of our ROAR behavior. This month, we would love to introduce you to Steven. Steven is a remarkable 1st grader in Ms. Lewis' class. He is always willing to help Ms. Lewis and his fellow classmates. Keep up the great work, Steven!
What do you love most about Grant? "What I love most is specials! I really like P.E. because you get to run around and have so much fun!"
What do you love about being a 1st grader this year? "That every time we do a good job, we get to clip up. We also get to go to STEAM and do puzzles."
What do you think about Capturing Kids’ Hearts: "I like our social contract because I get to write my name on it and I like to practice my name. I also like it because the kids make it and not the teachers. We came up with the words!"
What do you want to be when you grow up? "I want to be a painter. I would like to paint animals like dogs."
What’s your favorite subject: "I love math! I like it because you get to make the math. You can do 5 + 5 = 10, which is fun."
What does it mean to you to be a Grant Lion? "It makes me feel happy because the teachers are nice to you!"
Fun from September!
Important October Events:
Wednesday, Oct 5: NEHS Student Meeting 2:50-4:00
Friday, Oct 7: APEX Fun Run - Kinder & 1st Grade @ 8:15, 2nd & 3rd Grade @ 9:15, 4th & 5th Grade @ 10:15
Monday, Oct 10: Motor Mouth Here
Tuesday, Oct 11: PTA Meeting in Grant's Library 6:00
Thursday, Oct 13: End of 1st Quarter
Friday, Oct 14: NO SCHOOL for Teacher Work Day
Monday, Oct 17: NO SCHOOL for Teacher Professional Development
Tuesday, Oct 18: 2nd Quarter Begins
Wednesday, Oct 19: NEHS Student Meeting 2:50-4:00
Friday, Oct 21: Classroom Fall Parties, PTA Sponsored Trunk or Treat 5:00-7:00
Monday, Oct 24: Book Fair Begins, CSFD Here for Fire Factor Grades K, 1st, & 4th
Tuesday, Oct 25: Book Fair Here
Wednesday, Oct 26: Parent/Teacher Conferences begin @ 3:00, Title Family Event 3:00-7:30, Book Fair Here
Thursday, Oct 27: NO SCHOOL for Parent/Teacher Conferences, Title Family Event 7:30-7:30, Last Day for Book Fair
Friday, Oct 28: NO SCHOOL
Monday, Oct 31: Happy Halloween! Please note that we will have students wear their costumes during our Trunk or Treat and not at school. Thank you!
We are on Instagram!
Find us on Instagram at @grantlions_d11 and on Facebook at Grant Elementary School D11!
Contact Information:
Email: ryan.miller@d11.org
Website: https://www.d11.org/Domain/35
Location: 3215 Westwood Boulevard, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Phone: 719.328.5700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grantelementarylions