2025 is off to a fantastic start! We're so proud of the academic and social progress our students are making. Our dedicated teachers continue to use data to ensure every child's needs are met. As we look ahead to state testing in late March and April, we know our students are prepared to shine. Please encourage them to attend school regularly, get plenty of rest, and show us what they know. We're confident their hard work will be reflected in their results, and we're excited to see them finish the year with continued success!

Important Testing Dates:

March 25th- 28th: NWEA reading and math

April 8th -25th: CMAS 3rd-5th Grades

April 22nd -25th: Dibels

State Testing Reminders:

• Prioritize Rest: Ensure your child gets plenty of sleep the night before each test. A well-rested mind performs best.
• Plan accordingly: Help your child arrive at school on time and prepared. Discuss testing schedule and any specific needs they may have. Encourage their best effort: Remind your child that we value their best effort. Encourage them to stay focused and try their hardest.
• Attendance is key: Please make sure your child is present at school on all testing days. Consistent attendance helps create a focused and supportive testing environment.

Exciting News for next year's 6th Grade students!

We're pleased to announce that our current 5th grade students will remain at Gilcrest Elementary for the upcoming school year and their 6th grade year! This means:

• Your child will continue to benefit from the familiar and supportive environment of Gilcrest.
• 6th graders will have the opportunity to participate in middle school sports programs.
• To prepare them for middle school, students will transition between classrooms for different subject areas, fostering independence and adaptability.

We understand you may have questions, and plans are actively being developed. Please watch for further communications from the district regarding these changes. We're committed to ensuring a smooth and successful year for our new 6th-grade students. Please reach out to your child's teacher or myself if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

Building Success in School: Partnering for Grit and Resilience

We know that you are your child's most influential teacher. What happens at home plays a crucial role in their success at school. While our dedicated teachers work hard to nurture academic and social growth, the majority of your child's time is spent outside the classroom. By working together, we can create a powerful support system that fosters well-rounded, successful students. In each newsletter, we'll share practical tips to help your child thrive.

Cultivation Grit and Resilience

We've observed a growing trend of "learned helplessness" among some of our students. This means they tend to give up easily, expecting others to do the work for them. Just as in the workplace, where independence and problem-solving are valued, we want to equip our children with the grit and resilience necessary to overcome challenges. These skills are fundamental to their academic and personal success.

Here's how you can help at home:

• Embrace a Growth Mindset: Encourage your child to use the word "yet" when faced with a challenge, instead of "I can't do it", try "I can't do it yet." This emphasized the importance of learning and progress.
• Teach, Don't Do: Resist the urge to do everything for your child. Take the time to teach them new skills, even if it takes longer. This fosters confidence and independence.
• Set meaningful Goals: Help your child set goals that align with their interests. Encourage them to reflect on their progress and celebrate their achievements.
• Play Thinking Games: Engage in games that require strategic thinking and problem-solving. Teach them how to handle both winning and losing gracefully.
• Praise Effort, Not Just Results: Focus on praising your child's effort and perseverance, rather than solely on the outcome. This reinforces the value of hard work and resilience.
• Encourage Household Contributions: Involve your child in household chores and tasks. This instills a sense of responsibility, teamwork, and boosts self-esteem.

By working together, we can empower our students to develop the grit and resilience they need to succeed in school and beyond.

Gilcrest Lil' vike Families and Friends,

As February unfolds, we find ourselves in a month filled with moments to celebrate, reflect, and cherish. the days are slowly getting longer, hinting at the promise of spring ahead yet the warmth of winter still calls for cozy evenings by the fireplace. This month brings a chance to pause and enjoy time with loved ones, whether through heartfelt Valentine's day cards, shared laughter, or simply being together. It's a reminder that even small acts of kindness and connection can brighten the coldest days.

February also offers us opportunities to celebrate milestones and traditions. From the playful prediction of Groundhog Day to honoring past President's legacies on President's Day, these moments allow us to engage students in learning about history and community. We're also thrilled to mark the 100th day of school this month - a bright milestone showcasing how much our students have grown, both academically and personally, since the start of the year. Their resilience and excitement for learning are inspiring, and we couldn't be prouder of the progress they've made.

As we embrace the warmth of chocolates, kindness, and bright beginnings let's continue to work together to support the success of every student. Whether it's cheering them on, helping them navigate new challenges, or encouragement they receive a school and at home makes all the difference.

Here's to a fantastic February filled with growth, joy, and meaningful moments! Thank you for your continued support of our school community.

-Mrs. Dunlap

Celebrating 100 Days of Learning and Growing Together!

Mark your calendars for a milestone event - Wednesday, February 19, 2025. As we celebrate the 100th day of school! This special day is all about recognizing how far we've come in 100 days of learning, growth, and fun.

The Importance of Regular Attendance

As the school year progresses, maintaining regular attendance is key to your child's academic success, consistent attendance not only helps students stay on track with their learning but also allows them to fully engage in classroom activities, build strong relationships with their peers, and develop essential social and academic skills. Missing just a few days can create gaps in understanding, making it harder for students to catch up.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the incredible individuals and groups who continue to make a difference in our school community.

Parents: we are grateful for your support. Your involvement and partnership mean so much to us!

Substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, and support Staff: Your unwavering commitment ensures that learning never stops, no matter the challenges. Thank you for always stepping in when needed!

PTO and District committee members: Your contributions to our school community make a meaningful impact. Thank you for your support and dedication!

Boosting Winter Literacy Skills

the winter months offer unique opportunities to engage your child in literacy activities that are both fun and educational here are some ideas to keep the reading momentum going during the colder season.

Create a cozy reading nook: Designate a special, comfortable space in your home for reading. Fill it with blankets, pillows, and a variety of books to make reading time inviting and enjoyable.

Incorporate Winter Themes: choose books and stories that revolve around winter settings or holidays. This seasonal relevance can make reading more engaging and relatable for your child.

Interactive storytelling: Encourage your child to act out scenes from their favorite winter stories or create their own tales. This enhances comprehension and makes reading a dynamic activity.

Winter word games: Play games that involve winter-related vocabulary to build language skills. For instance, a game of "I Spy" during a neighborhood walk can introduce new words and concepts.

Family reading Challenges: Set up a reading challenge where family members set goals and track the number of books read or minutes spent reading. Celebrate milestones to motivate continued participation.

By integrating these activities into your winter routine, you can foster a love for reading and support your child's literacy development in enjoyable and meaningful ways.

Happy New Year and Welcome Back!

I hope you had a wonderful winter break and that your holidays were filled with warmth and memorable moments with your families. The new year is always a time of reflection. It is a time to take stock and consider where we have been and where we hope to go. It is a time to set goals, think big dreams, and put our best selves forward. There is excitement in the air filled with hope and possibility! We are in this together - if you or your child needs any level or type of support, I hope you won't hesitate to reach out. I wish you all the best for a happy, healthy 2025!

Semester 1 is complete and report cards will be on their way to your homes later this month. Please take some time to review your child's report card with your child. Here are some questions that may help guide your conversation at home:

• How do you think your year has been going so far?
• What are you proud of?
• What do you think is your greatest strength as a learner? Why do you think so?
• What do you think is the most challenging part of your school day? Why?
• Is there anything you want to change or improve in the second semester? How do you think you'll do it?

There are two ways of thinking about problems, using a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. In a fixed mindset, the belief is that this is the way that things are and there isn't much you can do about it. In a growth mindset, the belief is that setbacks or challenges are learning opportunities and you can grow from them. Talk to your child about having a growth mindset and give an example where you used a growth mindset when faced with a challenge.

Make sure to celebrate your child's efforts! I am proud of all our Lil Vike learners! Each day, learners are growing in their social/emotional and academic learning! I look forward to another semester of learning and growing together.

Attendance Matters

Attendance is essential to strong outcomes for students and consistent attendance provides the best opportunity for students to consistently engage in learning. Daily attendance and engagement in learning are essential to student success at all grade levels. Colorado law directly connected to attendance focuses on compulsory school attendance, truancy, and school finance. Important student attendance definitions of rates and terms include:

Truancy: truancy is defined as an unexcused absence. The rate is calculated by dividing the reported Total Student Days Unexcused Absences by the Total Student Days Possible.

Habitually Truant (Student Count): A student is counted as habitually truant if the student had four unexcused absences in one month and/or 10 unexcused absences in one school year.

Chronically Absent: A student absent 10 percent or more of the days enrolled during the school year is chronically absent. All absences are included - unexcused, excused, and suspensions. The rate is the percentage of students enrolled who are chronically absent.

Colorado law states that parents are responsible for the school attendance of their children. Parents, if your child is going to be absent, please call to report the absence. Parents are responsible for their child's regular attendance.. Our goal is to have ALL students that are able to attend more than 95% of school days. Absences impact the teaching and learning for all students in the classroom. If your child must be absent for an excusable reason, please report the absence within 24 hours.

School News

It is the end of the calendar year, and the school year is almost halfway over as well. It always goes quickly, but time seems to continue to accelerate. The school year is going well and in our mid-year meetings with teachers, they have been pleased with the academic and social growth of our students. The next three weeks will speed by, numerous activities are happening from Mid-year testing, Santa's Shop, and special classroom activities, to a special pizza lunch! The town of Gilcrest provides a fun pizza lunch for all of our students on the Friday before Winter Break. We are fortunate to have the town's support! There is so much happening- please be sure to check out the Upcoming Events section as well as ClassDojo!

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and have time to spend with those you love. There are many different celebrations this time of year, but family is usually the center of them all. As part of the Gilcrest Elementary family, we wish you all the best and look forward to a great 2025!

Mrs. Dunlap

Reminders

• The GES Annual Food Drive is happening now through December 13th!
• The last day of school in December is the 20th!
• Students return on Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Upcoming Events

• 12/3 - 12/20 Mid-Year NWEA testing
• 12/3 - 12/13 3rd & 4th swimming lessons at VHS
• 12/4 - Board of Ed, meeting- 6:30 pm at ESC
• 12/9 - 12/20 Spirit Week and Santa Shop
• 12/20 Town of Gilcrest Pizza Lunch, End of Quarter 2, and Winter Parties at 3:00 (Unless otherwise specified)
• 1/10/25 - quarter 2 Awards Assembly at 8:15 am

Hello GES Families, It has been an amazing Fall but temperatures are definitely changing! It’s time to get the gloves, hats, boots and heavy coats out for the kids. If you need any help with these items please reach out to myself, or anyone in the office and we can provide assistance. We’re wrapping up October which is one of our busiest months of the year. We conducted parent-teacher conferences, with conferences comes our annual book fair. Both were very positive and well attended. Closing out October was our Halloween celebration. The kids were able to participate in some fun activities before parading through the school to show off their great costumes and then wrapping up the day with the classroom parties. Thank you for your help in making the parties an enjoyable time for the kids. This year our last day of school before kicking off Thanksgiving break will be November 22nd, and the kids return to school on December 3rd. It is hard to believe that after their return the students will begin working on their Middle of the Year testing. As we work together during the year, I encourage you to let me know how you and your child/children are experiencing school. When the families and the school work together and have open communication the students benefit greatly.

Warm Regards, Mrs. Dunlap

Upcoming Events

11/6/24- Principal’s Coffee 8:15-9:15am, Board of Education Work Session 6:30-8:30pm

11/7/24- Picture Retakes 11/11/24 Veteran’s Day

11/15-11/17/24- VHS Fall Play

11/19/24- PTO Meeting 8:30-9:15am, Big Kahuna Limo Award 11/28/24- THANKSGIVING

Help Our School Shop At King Soopers

Help earn money for the school without buying or selling fundraising items, just by shopping at King Soopers! It does not cost you anything to participate, it is FREE and easy. This is not a gift card or credit card program.

All we ask of you is, if you shop at King Soopers and use or are willing to use a Kroger Plus card to please enroll your Kroger Plus card number (which you can choose—most use their personal phone number) on-line at KrogerCommunityRewards.com and search for Gilcrest Elementary.

King Soopers does not use or sell your email address to anyone else. Every time you shop at Kroger using your Kroger Plus card, a percentage of your spending will be given to GES. Please feel free to forward this to other family members and friends. Thank you for your support ! Simply enroll or re-enroll at krogercommunityrewards.com *Select 'Create an Account'

1. Create a digital account. A digital account is needed to participate in Kroger Community Rewards. If you already have a digital account, simply link your Shopper’s Card to your account so that all transactions apply toward the organization you choose.

2. Link your Card to an organization. Selecting the organization that you wish to support is as simple as updating the Kroger Community Rewards selection on your digital account.

1. Sign in to your digital account.

2. Search for your organization here.

3. Enter the name or NPO number of the organization you wish to support.

4. Select the appropriate organization from the list and click “Save”. Your selected organization will also display in the Kroger Community Rewards section of your account. If you need to review or revisit your organization, you can always do so under your Account details.

3. Your organization earns. Any transactions moving forward using the Shopper’s Card number associated with your digital account will be applied to the program, at no added cost to you. Kroger donates annually to participating organizations based on your percentage of spending as it relates to the total spending associated with all participating Kroger Community Rewards organizations.

If you have any questions, please contact our Customer Service Center. Whether you’re a customer or an organization, get started today!

Note: If you are a customer, make sure you have a preferred store selected to view participating organizations. If you are applying on behalf of an organization, please select a store in the same area as your organization.

School Attendance Matters

We want to partner with our community to build a culture where everyone understands why going to school everyday matters and what they can do to ensure students are in school. Even being tardy on multiple days means your student is missing out on crucial instruction and community building in his/her classroom. Please let us know if you need support with getting your student to school. We are here to help. For those times that your student is ill, please call the Attendance line at 970-350-4201 option 6.

Teamwork

Here are 5 reasons why teamwork is important and why it matters to you:

1. Teamwork benefits from differing perspectives and feedback. A team environment allows individuals to bring their diverse perspectives to problem-solving, which in turn increases their success at arriving at solutions more efficiently and effectively.

2. Teamwork leads to learning. Individuals have their own set of skills and strengths. When the whole team works as a unit, everyone has an opportunity to learn from each other.

3. Teamwork can improve efficiency and productivity. One person working on a project is always going to take longer to complete it in comparison to the collaborative efforts of many. Efficiency rules when work is appropriately divided within a team, responsibilities are shared, and tasks are more likely to be finished within a set time frame.

4. Teamwork cultivates communication and strong work relationships. Teamwork can be effective in building great work relationships. We do not mean that team members must be the best of friends. Rather, a great working relationship flows from the right frame of mind where you collaborate with positive intent, with respect, and active listening.

5. Teamwork brings an expanded sense of accomplishment. When a team works on a project as one unit, the sense of accomplishment we experience expands beyond our individual achievements.

Thursday, November 7 is Picture retake.

Access Code: X94DJ3

Two types of students will come to Retake Day

1. Students Who Were Absent:

These students were absent for the original picture day. They will need to have their picture taken in order to appear in the yearbook. They may use their original order envelope or pick up another from the school office.

2. Students Who Want a Retake:

These students are not satisfied with their original pictures. Have them bring their entire picture package to the photographer. The photographer will retake the picture and we will reorder the package that was originally ordered.

Online Order Form for Pickture retakes)/Order.aspx?StudioPath=studio5portraits.preorderphotos.com\&AccessCode=X94DJ3)

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We will be having our annual Halloween parade and parties on Thursday, October 31 beginning @ 2:45. We will be spending the majority of the day learning, so please follow the guidelines below.

• Students can wear their costumes to school as long as it doesn't interfere with classroom activities, for example, recess, morning movement & PE
• Teachers will give students time before the parade to get their costumes on.
• No face paint or masks representing blood or gore.
• Absolutely NO weapons or items that could represent a weapon is allowed.

We will begin our parade outside by the preschool playground, then circle around to the picnic table area, and then back into the building to their classrooms. Parents are welcome to watch from the table and grass areas. For inclement weather, we will move inside and have parents go to the gym where our students will parade through and then go to their classrooms for their parties. We appreciate your cooperation with our guidelines as we aim to keep all students feeling sage while enjoying their holiday parties here @ GES.

Dear Families,

Get ready- the Scholastic Book Fair is coming to our school! This is a great opportunity to connect with your child over the thrill of bringing home new books to dive into again and again. Studies show that kids read more when they choose books for themselves. and fostering a love of independent reading leads to a wide variety of benefits --including academic success and improved mental health.

Here is everything you need to know about the Book Fair:

Dates: October 22-25, 2024 Tuesday & Thursday 8 am-8 pm (open during P/T Conferences)

Wednesday 8 am-4 pm and Friday 8 am-1 pm

Location: GES Library

There's even more info on our school's Book Fair homepage

While you're there, set up a Book Fair eWallet, the digital payment account that allows your child to shop for books at the fair without cash. Then share your eWallet link so friends and extended family can add funds.

When you fund an eWallet, you'll have the opportunity to contribute to a giving initiative called Shair the FAir. Your contributions directly support our students who need help buying books from the fair.

Many of us still remember the rush of finding the perfect book as a Scholastic Book Fair. I hope you'll join your child at our school's Fair and share a reading experience they'll remember forever.

Happy reading,

Jennifer Dunlap

Interim Principal

Gilcrest Elementary School

PS: Need one more reason to visit the Book Fair? Every purchase at the Fair benefits our school.