May
2026
It’s hard to believe that we are already entering the final month of the 2025–2026 school year. What an incredible year it has been! Our students have grown so much—academically, socially, and emotionally—and we could not be more proud of the progress they have made. Thank you for your continued support both at home and at school. Your partnership makes all the difference, and we are already looking forward to what the 2026–2027 school year will bring.
There is a lot packed into this final newsletter of the year, including information about our Fun Run, Falcon Friday, Staff Appreciation Week, and all of the events that will help us wrap up the school year strong. At the end, you will find important dates not only for the remainder of this year, but also for what lies ahead, including Summer School Open House (May 28), Meet the Teacher Night (August 20), and the first day of school for 2026–2027 (August 25).
Have an amazing summer, and thank you again for helping make this such a special year at Fairview.
Sincerely,
Dr. Simmons
Principal
Our Fun Run schedule for Tuesday, May 12th is posted below. If you'd like to come and watch your child run, you're more than invited to come and do so.
Fairview would like to honor the many different cultures represented in our school community. We will have our Parade of Nations on Monday, May 4. Students will assemble @ 2:10 PM in the library. If they want, they are invited to wear any traditional dress or other clothes that represent their country. They will then parade into the gym carrying their country flag. Please sign up with this link by April 30. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Siewert, ELL Teacher, at csiewert@cpsk12.org I hope everyone will join in and be celebrated!
Summer School Open House
Come and meet your child's Summer School teachers on Thursday, May 28th between 4:30–6:00 PM
*Note: Bus routes will be available to view in Infinite Campus on May 28.
PTA does not meet in May. Thank you for all your support this year!
Fairview students in grades 3, 4, and 5 participate in the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) each spring. These assessments provide important information about student learning and also factor into our building and district Annual Performance Reports.
At this point, MAP testing is complete for 3rd and 4th grade students, and 5th grade began testing this week. We are proud of the effort our students have shown so far and look forward to finishing strong.
As a reminder, you can continue to support your child by ensuring they get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and arrive at school on time each day.
We are also excited to celebrate our students. 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students who demonstrated great effort and a positive attitude during testing will earn a field trip to see the new Mario Galaxy movie on Friday, May 15. We are proud of the way our students have approached this important work.
All make up testing for students who were absent will be completed by May 8.
We are excited to welcome our future Smithton Wildcats! All incoming 6th grade students and their families are invited to join us for an informational evening at Smithton Middle School.
📅 Date: May 5
⏰ Time: 6:00–6:45 PM
The evening will begin with a brief presentation at 6:00 PM, where we’ll share what to expect in middle school and how we support students during this important transition. After the presentation, families are invited to explore the building, and get a feel for what it’s like to be a Smithton student.
We’ve loved having our feeder elementary students visit throughout the year, and we look forward to partnering with families as you take this next step into middle school.
We hope you can join us!
From the Gym
Hello Fairview Families!
Well, we’re headed down the homestretch; hang in there!
Grades 3-5 have begun the Spring portion of Fitness Measurements—Sit and Reach, Trunk Lift, Height, Push-ups, Curl-ups, PACER and the Mile Exercise. It’s always fun to watch the kids compete against themselves in the hopes of showing some improvement from their Fall scores. Grades K-2 are reviewing games and activities using skills we’ve been practicing all year long.
Please check their A,B,C,D schedule and get those tennis shoes on. If they don’t have them, they may not get to participate in all of the day’s activities. This continues to be a huge struggle. There have been some situations where kids have had to sit out. Please help them be successful. It’s a real bummer if your child has to sit and watch because they forgot tennis shoes.
Finally, if you’ve been in the gym lately you might have noticed the pictures on the bulletin boards. They are of our kiddos in action!! If you wish, send me a photo of your child doing something active or being outside and I’ll get it up on the board. You’re welcome to send in a hard copy pic or email me one and I’ll get it up! Thank you to those of you who have sent in pics!
As always, thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Mr. Wright anwright@cpsk12.org
From Technology
We are winding down our year with some fun in the computer lab. All grades had two rotations of Minecraft Education, which of course they enjoyed greatly. Each grade level was assigned a different project to build. From there we moved onto the Keynote app. It is such a great app for so many things. I especially like to use it for presentations, but this month we used it to learn to do animation. We designed a scene and then animated the objects within our scene. It’s fun to watch how creative the kids can be. We ended the month using the Garage Band app and letting them create their own music with the many different instruments within the app. Enjoy your spring!
Annette Kemble
Media Instructional Aide
From the Media Center
Media Center News!
What a great year of reading for our Fairview students. Almost 18,000 books have been checked out from our media center so far this year!
The last checkouts will be the week of May 4-8 and all books will be due back by May 14.
It is time to do a deep search for missing books! We charge $10 for books that are lost or damaged to offset the cost of buying a new book. If books are found within one year, the money will be refunded.
It is important for students to continue reading all summer to maintain the reading growth they made all year at school. Students can join the Summer Reading program, Unearth a Story, from the public library, as well as one from CPS. More information coming soon. All reading counts so help your child find books they love – graphic novels, picture books, historical fiction, funny books and more. Reading aloud to your child, at any age, will help their understanding of books, build language skills, create a common bond, and so much more. The Reading Programs are fun ways to encourage students to keep reading!
Mrs. Kemble, who teaches Technology specials, is retiring this year. We will miss her and we wish her well in all that lies ahead!
Thank you so much for your support of the media center!
Valerie Harre, Karen Weber and Annette Kemble
From the Art Room
It has been a great year in the art room, it’s hard to believe summer break is around the corner. Students are finishing up their still life projects, which will be uploaded to Artsonia soon and then making their way home! Kindergarten, 2nd and 4th grade have also been working on artworks to display during Literacy Around the World Night. We will spend the last few art classes reviewing skills and creating art before summer break. I encourage you to let your kids create this summer! Please reach out with any questions.
Lindsay Robb
From the Music Room
April has flown by in the music room. We’ve been singing new songs, playing lots of music games, and of course, dancing and playing instruments. We’re wrapping up the school year with our music room variety shows, exploring on the keyboard piano lab, and celebrating good behavior with music award days. It’s been a great year for music at Fairview! Have a fabulous summer!
Mrs. Dexheimer
From the Counselor
In the month of May, all grades will be finish up careers and then talking about how to use our coping strategies to handle transitions and life changes.
During the last week of school, we will be doing our annual Falcon Fly Up! All classes will spend approximately 30 minutes visiting a classroom in the next grade level up (Kindergarten will visit 1st grade, 1st grade will visit 2nd grade, etc.). Our 5th graders will go back to kindergarten to see how much they have learned in elementary school! Although they do not necessarily visit the teacher they will have in the fall, this event helps our kids feel more comfortable about the transition to the next grade level by giving them the opportunity to see a classroom, meet a teacher, and ask questions about the grade they are going to.
Change can be really difficult for some kiddos. Helping them understand what is in their control vs. not in their control can help! Here is a helpful graphic from Big Life Journal that can guide a conversation about this topic with your kiddo. They can feel more confident when they take charge of the things they CAN control and find ways to set aside the things they CAN’T control. For example, if your student is worried about changing grades next year, they could focus on preparing for the next grade by reading a book about it or asking an older friend questions, practicing coping strategies to use when they have any anxious feelings, etc. It also helps to normalize tough feelings—it’s NORMAL to feel nervous or worried about a big change! Remind them that you know they may be experiencing big feelings and that they have done hard things before and you know they can do them again!
As always, if there are ways our counseling team can support your student or family, please let us know!
Lillian Hoell
At the end of the school year, we are going to raffle off items to our students who showed growth on their iReady assessments! We've been talking this up ALL YEAR to our students; it has really motivated them to give their best effort each time that they take the test.
We're asking families to consider donating items that we can use as raffle items during the last week of school. We usually do big ticket items during the Fairview Fever Festival, but for this, we're aiming much smaller. Ideas include, but aren't limited to: By May 15th
- New packages of Pokémon cards
- Magnatiles
- Gift cards ($5-$10)
- New sets of bubbles
- New sidewalk chalk
- New outdoor play toys: footballs, basketballs, etc.
- Full sized candy bars
Thanks, in advance, for helping us celebrate our kids' growth and learning! We truly appreciate your continued support of our Fairview Falcons.
If your child will be absent for the day, please call and report their absence or email jhouston@cpsk12.org. If we do not hear from you, we will call to check on their wellbeing.
Please help us avoid unnecessary congestion on Fairview Road during morning drop-off. Your cooperation keeps everyone safe and on time!
✅ Do:
Continue straight to the roundabout at Fairview & Rollins if the circle is full.
Re-enter the circle by heading south on Fairview to pull in safely.
Unload quickly and carefully to keep cars moving.
❌ Don’t:
Stop northbound traffic by waiting to turn left into the circle when it’s full.
Block the flow of cars already unloading in the front circle.
Thank you for helping us make morning drop-off safe, smooth, and efficient for all Fairview families!
If you need assistance over the Summer, our office will be open from 8:00 AM-4:00 PM June 1-26. We will be closed to the public between June 29- July 16, but our normal hours will resume on July 17.
Friday, 5/1: Falcon Friday 7:50-8:30
Week of May 4th: Staff Appreciation Week
Tuesday, 5/12: Fun Run and Field Day
Thursday, 5/14: 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony, 6:00-7:30 @ Smithton Middle School
Monday, 5/18: Senior Honor Walk 1:30
Thursday, 5/21: Last Day of School (early release at 12:50 PM)
Thursday, 5/28: Summer School Open House, 4:30-6:00 PM
Monday, 6/1: First day of Summer School
Friday, 6/19: Juneteenth Holiday, NO SUMMER SCHOOL
Friday, 6/29: Last day of Summer School
Thursday, 8/20: Meet the Teacher Night, 4:30-6:00 PM
Tuesday, 8/25: First Day of School
Dr. Simmons
Mrs. Salas
Contact or follow us
Email: jhouston@cpsk12.org
Website: https://www.cpsk12.org/Domain/16
Location: 909 South Fairview Road, Columbia, MO, USA
Phone: 573-214-3590
Facebook: Follow us here!
Twitter: @FVEFalcons