CFL May Family Newsletter
May 2024
How to translate Smore Newsletters (English) or Cómo traducir boletines informativos de Smore (Spanish)
Student Led Conferences~May 5th and May 12th
End of Year Student Lead Conferences are right around the corner
Monday, May 5th 11:00AM-7:00pm
Monday, May 12th 8:00-4:00pm
We are excited for our upcoming Student Lead Conferences. Several reminders have gone home in student backpacks. Please call the office if you have any questions.
Preschool News
Dear Preschool Families,
It’s hard to believe we are already in our final month of school! Our preschool staff is looking forward to an exciting and joyful few weeks as we wrap up a wonderful school year together.
This month, we are continuing to learn all about insects! The children have been exploring this theme through art projects, bug hunts, stories, and hands-on activities. It’s been such a fun way to engage with science and nature, and the curiosity and enthusiasm from the children have been a joy to see.
We’d love for you to join us for a special end-of-unit event:
Insect Celebration of Learning
Tuesday, May 13th
10:00 AM for Morning Classes
2:15 PM for PM & Full Day Classes
Families will rotate through stations including:
Our teachers and students are so excited to share what they’ve been learning—please mark your calendars and plan to join us for this fun and meaningful event!
We are also awaiting the results of our Clayton Colorado Shines rating and will share that information with you as soon as it becomes available. Thank you for your participation in the Parent Surveys and Raising a Reader—your feedback is incredibly valuable and helps us continue to grow and improve our preschool program.
As we head into the summer months, we will be sending out resources and fun activities you can do at home to help your child stay engaged and continue to build kindergarten readiness skills. Be sure to keep an eye out for those!
Finally, thank you for all your support throughout this school year. Whether your child is heading to kindergarten or returning for another year in preschool, we are proud of the growth they’ve made and grateful to have been a part of their journey.
May Intervention News
Spring has sprung. I hope you all had a wonderful break. This last bit of school goes so fast. There is so much to do, and so little time. Students will be getting ready for the end of year benchmark testing, as well as Student Led Conferences. If you would like to help ensure your child is ready for these important events, please talk to your child’s teacher. I know that they will have plenty of great ideas, and would love to share them with you. As the Reading Interventionist I have one obvious suggestion. Read! Read! Read! I know it sounds redundant, but reading is the best way to help your child succeed. If you don’t already, you may want to set up a reading time at home where everyone in the family looks at books for even 10 minutes each day. I promise this will help more than anything else. Parents who read daily, have kids that read. If you can model for them how important reading is, they will start a lifelong enjoyment of reading. Have a wonderful spring, and as always, keep reading.
Sincerely,
Melissa Bradley
Reading Interventionist
Hello CFL Families,
This month’s topic around technology is Screen Time: Quality over Quantity. From what I’ve researched so far, recommendations for screen time are the following - zero for ages 2 and under except for occasional video chatting with family. For ages 2-5, one hour per day of HIGH QUALITY programming. Ages 5 and over, viewing quality content over hours of mindless shows or video games.
Here’s a few reasons why. For one, kids need engagement in all five senses to fully develop. This means talking, playing, reading, singing and engaging in activities that include sound, sight, touch, smell and taste. Otherwise, their frontal lobe could remain underdeveloped. That also lessens their ability to decode social interactions. Next, sensory overload of colors, images and stories at an extreme quick pace lead to excess cortisol, our stress hormone. Overactive dopamine is another reason to view quality content. Our brain gets used to immediate gratification, leading to compulsive or addictive behavior, even in our children.
I hope this information has been useful to you. I’ve definitely learned a lot!
-Ms. Landry
ELL News
Dear Beautiful Families,
This year is quickly coming to an end! I have enjoyed every moment of our learning adventure. Your children have learned so many new skills and they have taught me so much, we will continue our learning until the very last day of school!
Having your child read one of their books to you daily will enhance and continue their reading path, talking about the pictures in the story will increase their vocabulary knowledge.
Reading aloud to your child daily will help with their listening and comprehension skills.
Practicing their sight words will be a big benefit as well because next school year new words will be introduced to their foundation word bank. Have them use them in a sentence for you.
Providing a pad of paper and pencil and encouraging them to write and draw about the books even if it is just copying the text in the books or their sight words. As they write they will become more and more confident & creative and start writing their own ideas and stories.
As you go about your daily tasks, talk with your children about what you are doing or what you see will strengthen their vocabulary, speaking skills and following directions.
Thank you for sharing your children with me. I have loved every moment of learning and laughing with them. I will really miss my first graders as they move on to 2nd grade. I look forward to seeing my returning students! If you have any questions or concerns please contact me.
Melanie Kerrigan CFL~ELL mkerrigan@garfield16.org
Jessica Cornejo
What's Happening in PE at CFL
Hello Families,
I have had great pleasure teaching your kiddos this year! Thank you for sending them to school everyday. We have many events coming up this month. Please continue to check your child's backpack as there will be a lot of information coming home this month. We have our Challenge Course days the week of May 20th. Here is the list of what classes will be going each day. Permission slips and more information to come.
Tuesday:
AM: Mrs. Dunlap and Mrs. Bennett
PM: Mr. Clark and Mrs. Weems
Wednesday
AM: Mrs. Woj and Mrs. Brown
PM: Ms. Boseman and Mr. Baltazar
Thursday
AM: Ms. Yutkowitz and Ms. Brassfield
Field day is on Thursday, May 29th from 11:30-2:45. We will be outside most of the day. This event is for current CFL students, no siblings please. Here are a few things to help us make this a successful field day:
Have your child wear clothes they can move in and tennis shoes. They may also wear hats to keep the sun out of their face.
A change of clothes as they will get wet. No swimsuits.
Send a water bottle with their name on it.
Apply sunscreen before they come to school.
-Mr. Cora
Music News From Mrs. Volk
It is hard to believe that this is the last newsletter I will be writing for this school year!
As I reflect on the year, I can't help but think about the amazing work the students of CFL have done. I can't help but be in awe of their perseverance and grit as I remember seeing them work so hard to achieve their goals, musical and academic.
As we approach conferences, there will be some papers in student's portfolios showcasing a little bit of what your student has learned in the music room this year. I encourage you to ask your student questions about what you see on those worksheets and share a musical moment together.
Thank you for the amazing opportunity of working with your students. It has been an amazing year and I look forward to many more!
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
970-285-5702 ext. 2131
Musically,
Mrs. Volk~
Center For Family Learning
Email: kfrees@garfield16.org
Website: https://cfl.garfield16.org/
Location: 100 E 2nd St, Parachute, CO 81635, USA
Phone: 970-285-5702