August 2nd: Back to School BBQ from 5:00-7:00pm

August 5th and 6th: No CLC

August 5th and 6th: Pre-Assessment Days

August 7th: FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

August 15th: Back to School Night 5:30pm-7pm:

August 24th: Corn Roast Parade 8:30am-11:30am

September 2nd: Labor Day - No School, No CLC

September 13th: Walk A Thon 1:30pm-3pm

September 19th-20th: Conferences: No School, CLC Open

October 3rd: CLC Family Open House 4:30pm-5:15pm

October 3rd: AAK Showcase 5:30pm-7:00pm

October 11th: Camp Read A Lot 1:30pm-3:00pm

October 14-18: Fall Break, No School, CLC Open

October 31st: Halloween Parade and School Dance 1:30pm-3:00pm

November 1st: AAK Closed, No School, No CLC

November 6th: PTO Literacy Night 5:30pm-6:30pm

November 21st: “Winterfest” *School Performance

November 25th-27th: No School, CLC Open (CLC Closes at 3:30 on the 27th)

November 28th - 29th: No School, No CLC

December 12th: CLC Club Performances

December 16th: AAK Giving Day 1:30pm-3:15pm

December 17th: Celebrations Around the World 1:30pm-3:15pm

December 18th: Polar Express Day 1:30pm-3:15pm

December 19th - January 7th: Winter Break, No School

Join us for our Back To School BBQ from 5:00 - 7:00pm on Friday, August 2nd.

Dinner and drinks will be provided. Pulled pork sandwich or a hot dog, baked beans, coleslaw, and chips.

Class lists will be posted! Bring your school supplies to drop off when meet your teacher.

Meet other families and make some new friends before the first day of school.

Your student's teacher will be in contact with you to schedule a short meeting with your student on July 5th or 6th for pre-assessment. This is a great time for your student to meet the their teacher one on one before the first day of school as well as take a short pre-assessment that helps teachers kick start small groups for the year.

Please fill out a CLC 24/25 Enrollment Form for each student Kindergarten - Fifth Grade.

Pre-K Students do not need to have a form.

https://forms.gle/1N58cTPaXj6BFiBm8

Hello AAK Families!

I hope you are all enjoying your summer.

I just want to send out some reminders regarding student health for the upcoming school year. There is a lot of important information below, please read through in its entirety.

STUDENT MEDICATIONS:

Any students needing medication at school will need to have our Medication Authorization form completed by your child's provider. If your child has any allergies/asthma that will require medication at school, then we will also need an Action Plan completed by your child's provider. All the required forms will be attached to this letter.

If your child has an allergy or asthma, that requires rescue medication (inhaler, EpiPen) we require ALL these documents and a current medication (still in the original box), prior to the student attending classes.

If you need any help with the above-mentioned items, please reach out. I am happy to go through them or help with resources to obtain medications. GoodRx and Single Care are great resources for finding discounts on prescription medications.

STUDENT IMMUNIZATIONS:

All immunization records should be turned into the office prior to the start of school. If you are a returning student and have new or updated immunizations, please bring those in as well!

To be compliant with the state Immunizations your child would need one of the following:

1. Provide proof of current immunizations.

2. Provide an exemption for immunizations; medical and non-medical exemptions are available (please see description below).
3. Make an appointment with the child's provider to receive required immunizations.

Medical exemptions:

Students with a completed Certificate of medical exemption signed by an advanced practice nurse, a physician assistant/associate, or physician licensed to practice medicine or osteopathic medicine in any state or territory of the United States will need to submit this Certificate only once unless the student’s information or school changes.

Non-Medical exemptions (see link below to complete the online module):

o Submit the Certificate of nonmedical exemption WITH a signature from an immunizing provider in Colorado who is a medical doctor, doctor of osteopathic medicine, advanced practice nurse, physician assistant/associate, registered nurse, or pharmacist OR

o Submit the Certificate of nonmedical exemption received upon the completion of CDPHE’s Online Immunization Education Module.

Colorado law requires all students attending Colorado schools and/or any licensed childcare facility, to be vaccinated against certain diseases unless they have a certificate of medical or nonmedical exemption on file. You must file a certificate of exemption at each school, or childcare facility the student attends each year. The annual expiration only applies to nonmedical exemptions which expire each year on June 30th. To protect unvaccinated children, students with an exemption from one or more required vaccines may be kept out of school or a childcare facility during a disease outbreak.

If you would like to submit a non-medical exemption, please click the link below.

Online Immunization Education Module

If you have questions about any of the above information, please feel free to reach out anytime. We are looking forward to another great school year!

Sincerely,

Carrie Martin, BSN, RN

School Nurse

Academy of Arts and Knowledge

cmartin@aakelemetary.org

Here is the link to the 24/25 School Supply Lists, School Calendar, and

descriptions of all AAK events for the 24/25 school year.

https://www.aakelementary.org/forms-information

This form has not yet been released by the State of Colorado. All families must fill this form out regardless of income. We will send the link out as soon as it is published.

We have a new meal caterer this year! Fast Fit Foods will be offering a more kid friendly menu that provides a broader variety of fruits and vegetables for our students. They also pride themselves on serving more organic and locally sourced foods than our previous caterer.

All Breakfasts and Lunches are free to all students for the 2024-25 school year!

The breakfast and lunch menu will be posted in dragon mail every week and we will be bulk ordering for meals, so you do not need to order ahead.

If your child has dietary restrictions, we are able to accommodate meals that are dairy free, gluten free, vegetarian, and nut free. Please come into the office to request a meal modification form. This form will need to be filled out and signed by a doctor and returned to the school prior to modified meals being ordered. Please email Jada Kankel jkankel@aakelementary.org. Or call 970-226-2800 if you have any questions.

Pre-K will pull up to the side of the building and park during regular pick up and drop off times to load and unload from carseats. A staff member will be waiting at the side door to check in Pre-K students and take them to their classroom. If students are dropping off before 8:00 or after 3:45, they will come to the front door with an adult to be checked in.

CLC Hours:

Morning - 7:00 - 8:00am (Drop off is from 7:00-7:45) There is NO DROP OFF between 7:45 - 8:00.)

Afternoon - 3:20 - 5:30pm (Please make sure your student is picked up by 5:30, our staff's shifts end at that time, thank you!)

Please call or text the CLC phone at 970-619-1077 if you have an emergency and are going to be late picking up in the afternoon, or if you have any questions.

Student Drop-Off is between 8:00 - 8:10am. Please park and walk your student to the front door. Students may not walk through the parking lot without an adult.

Breakfast will be served between 8:00-8:10 in the cafeteria. There is no drop off from 7:45 - 8:00am because staff is with students or preparing for breakfast.

We have a couple ways for families to pick up their child after school. Families can choose to go through the driver pick up line or you can park and walk into the school at 3:40pm. Please do not walk up and pick up your child during driver pick up. We work hard to ensure every student is safe and is going with the correct adult. It is not possible for us to do this during that time. The line will move much faster once CLC programming begins, in the meantime we ask for your patience.

Student Pick-Up begins is at 3:20pm. The pick up line zig zags through the parking lot to keep cars off Wheaton Drive. Please be sure to pull into this line and have your ID ready to show the staff member collecting student names. We will load your student into your car when you reach the loading area. Please do not park and come up to the building to collect your student, only the person collecting names from drivers has the check out list.

If you need your student early please come to the front office by 3pm and we will get them out of class. If you prefer to not wait in the driver line you may wait until 3:40pm, park and come to the front doors.

In the event of inclement weather or freezing temperatures, we will implement our indoor pick-up procedure. We will send you a text letting you know as soon as we know, but please be aware that if the weather changes at the last minute this plan could be implemented late. Please note, pick-up begins at 3:20pm. If you arrive beforehand, please wait in your car until pick up starts. Here is how it will work:

1. You will receive a text letting you know we are doing Indoor Pick-Up

2. Please park your car

3. Between 3:20 and 3:40, enter through the main entrance with your picture ID

4. Go to your student’s classroom and check them out from their teacher

5. Exit the building through the North West doors (under the stairs)

6. Drive safe and have a great evening!

7. Indoor Pick-Up will end at 3:40, after that time, please pick up students at the front door

Please note that teachers need to focus on safely releasing students and will not be able to conference with you at that time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call! 970-226-2800

Please send your student with a snack for snack time in class (1-2 depending on grade) as well as a snack for afterschool CLC if your student attends!

We have several students who have serious allergies to tree nuts and peanuts. Please do not send items with your student that contain nuts. If nut containing items are sent they will be disposed of and replaced with whole grain crackers or another on hand item by our staff.

Here are a few things that contain nuts that are common in lunch boxes:

Snack Mix

Granola

Cereal

Snack Bars

Nutella

Candy

Macaroon cookies

Lunchables containing candy

You can use Sun Butter in place of peanut butter! Thank you for helping with this.

Our teachers have come up with a fun menu for Birthday Celebrations this year! We are not having food treats this year because many students have allergies or food restrictions and cannot participate in treats. When your student's birthday is approaching show them the menu and decide together what they would like to do for their special day. Email their teacher to let them know what you have chosen. We look forward to celebrating with them!

Birthday Menu

*Pajama Day

*Stuffy Day

*Extra Recess

*Dance Party

*Show and Tell

https://www.facebook.com/AAKElementary

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AAK is a public elementary school serving students in grades K-5 that reside in the Front Range. Our school offers a robust arts program that complements core academics, fosters critical thinking skills, and creates confident, creative individuals with the freedom to reach their full potential, all within a supporting school community.

Email: info@aakelementary.org
Website: https://www.aakelementary.org/
Location: 4800 Wheaton Drive, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Phone: (970) 226-2800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AAKElementary/