Coyote Pup News 12/19/2025

At Kittitas Elementary School, our mission is to cultivate a welcoming and supportive environment where every student feels safe, valued, and empowered to grow academically and personally, preparing them for future success.

Konner Olman, Bowie Tyson, Amahleya Kirby, Adrian Anderson, Natalie Rheinberger, Theodore Desmarais, Tyson Thurnau, Aria Woodiwiss, Ayiden Pendas, Scarlett Jensen, and Aidyn Kingcade

Our students brought holiday cheer to the stage with two festive Christmas concerts—Jingle Bell Jukebox and Jingle Bell Jukebox: The Flip Side! Families enjoyed a joyful mix of classic holiday favorites and fun, unexpected twists as students sang, performed, and showcased their musical talents. The energy, smiles, and confidence on stage truly captured the spirit of the season. Thank you to our Ms. Miller, our staff, students, and families for making these concerts such a memorable celebration of learning and holiday joy!

Our PTO hosted a wonderful Holiday Boutique this week, giving students the opportunity to shop for special gifts for their loved ones. Classes signed up for designated times, and students enjoyed browsing the festive options while practicing thoughtful decision-making and budgeting skills. They also got to practice money skills with the help of our PTO and teachers. Thank you to our PTO for creating a joyful, organized experience that added extra holiday cheer to our school!

If you have a child who will be age 4 by August 31, 2025, they may be eligible for our Transitional Kindergarten program. See Abby in the elementary school office to enroll. We have two spaces left. (Spread the word to your friends and neighbors, please!)

Second grade students in Mrs. Byers' class enjoyed a cozy holiday celebration today by watching The Polar Express. The experience brought smiles, excitement, and a little holiday magic as students relaxed together and celebrated the season. It was a fun and memorable way to wrap up learning and enjoy time as a grade level before the break!

To help meet our year-end school improvement plan goal to increase our math scores on the SBAC from 41% of students in grades 3-5 passing with a level 3 or 4 to 55%, all classes in our school had a weekly goal to assign either 3 Freckle math assignments or hold 1-2 Coyote intervention times for extra math help (Adjusted for TK and kinder to include math centers). The focus for these activities is on operations and algebraic thinking, an area of need identified during our comprehensive needs assessment this summer by our Instructional Leadership Team (This includes parents and a community organization as members.) Every class in our school met the goal! Our Student Leadership Council selected a student from each class during a lunch period last week to move the Classroom Paw on the graph to "We Met Our Goal!" and celebrate each other!

Students have been hard at work exploring beginning sounds through hands-on picture puzzles. These engaging reading centers help our young learners build early phonics skills while having fun. Mrs. Bremner’s Kindergarten class is off to a fantastic start!

We were excited to welcome Mark from Rowley & Hawkins during breakfast this week. He shared information about the GROWE process, and students had the chance to taste apple cake made with apples from Rowley & Hawkins Farms, along with fresh apple cider. While reviews on the cake were split about 50/50, the cider was an overall favorite!

Students also enjoyed stickers and fall-themed coloring sheets, making the morning a fun and engaging farm-to-school experience. Thank you to Mrs. Brown and Rowley & Hawkins for making this happen!

In this Leader in Me unit on Emotions, TK students practiced a calm-down strategy of "buddy breathing" to use when experiencing big emotions.

Please remember that cell phones, ear buds, Smartwatches, tablets, etc. (any technology device not owned by the district) is prohibited from use on the school campus. If brought to school, it must be turned off and in the backpack. If student has the device out or on their person, it will be confiscated and submitted to the Principal or designee until the end of the day and will be required to picked up by a parent or guardian. If you haven't seen it yet, we are also hoping our families will consider participating in the Wait Until 8 program. Thank you!

Parents, please send me one or two pictures of your children engaged in summertime activities of their interest. I hope to add pictures throughout the fall in our newsletters and our walls with the things our students did this summer: reading, baseball/fastpitch/t-ball, rodeo, wakeboarding, hiking, etc. jenny_lafrenier@ksd403.org Thank you!

Hi all. If you plan on being in our building, we need volunteer background checks completed. Please pick one up from Miss Abby in the main office. She will need a copy of your driver's license/State ID to complete the process. Once she receives the form and driver's license/State ID, it is forwarded to the district office for the background check process. This is not instantaneous, so please allow ample time before you wish to participate in a classroom or field trip. Also, a big reminder, ALL visitors, even before school dropping off your littles, MUST sign in and receive a visitor badge at the main office. Thank you for helping keep our students safe and following basic safety procedures.

12/17 K-2 Christmas Program (9am Dress Rehearsal; 6pm Community Performance)

12/18 Gr 3-5 Christmas Program (9am Dress Rehearsal; 6pm Community Performance)

12/22/25-1/2/26 Christmas Break

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from my herd to yours!!!!

My husband and I are looking forward to spending time around the ranch with family and the animals this holiday season. Thank you all for an incredible December and I can't wait to see you all in the new year, 2026!

Ms. LaFrenier
Principal

Student/Family Handbook 2025-2026

We are a small rural school with around 250 students in grades Transitional Kindergarten through grade five. We have 15 certificated teachers and offer music, PE, and library as specialist times throughout the week.

We value our parent and community volunteers since we know it takes a village to raise productive citizens. What impact are you able to make? See below to contact us.

Email: abby_jones@ksd403.org
Website: https://www.ksd403.org
Location: 505 North Pierce Street, Kittitas, WA, 98934

Mailing Address: PO Box 599, Kittitas, WA 98934
Phone: 5099553120
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kittitasschooldistrict/

Are you worried about your child’s development?

Parents or caregivers who think their child may be developmentally delayed in one or more areas (adaptive, motor, concepts, language, and/or social emotional) can contact their local district to receive a free Child Find Screening. Children ages 3-5 are eligible for a screening.

Learn more here

English: https://docs.google.com/.../1AmS.../edit...

Spanish: https://docs.google.com/.../1R2HkTVfNlR9uT.../edit...

Drop off/Pick up: We want your children to be safe. Please do not drop off or allow students to walk to school before we have supervision out. No earlier than 8:45am on Mondays and no earlier than 7:45 Tuesday through Friday. Additionally, please use the crosswalks and do not walk children out between the cars.

PTO- Please consider joining the Parent teacher organization. All money raised by this organization is meant to benefit the students, staff, and families of KES students. PTO meetings are the first Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm in our library (except January will be the second Tues.) Come join us to plan fundraisers and great events for our students.

Box Tops- If you sign up for the Box Tops app, you can scan your receipts for money sent in to our school. The funds go directly to Kittitas Elementary School's ASB account and our Student Leadership Council gets to determine how to spend the money.