Friday, April 27, 2018

GRE HAS TALENT!
Gold Rush students can do it all!  They sing, dance, play instruments, tell jokes and more! Students demonstrated all of their incredible abilities during our talent show Friday.  We were impressed with their gifts and confidence.  We hope you will be able to join us this evening at 7:00 PM for the final show.  A special thank you to Mrs. Petty for organizing this event!


 

LEARN MORE ABOUT DCSD FUNDING CHALLENGES - MAY 16 @ PONDEROSA HIGH




FIRST GRADERS SYNTHESIZE THEIR LEARNING
Gold Rush explicitly teaches all students essential thinking strategies to promote critical thinking.  First graders are currently working on summarizing and synthesizing new learning around their science topic of insects.  As students are reading about an insect that interests them, they are summarizing the most important information they learned.  They are also synthesizing what they read.  Synthesizing requires students to reflect on how information from multiple sources fits together and how their background knowledge, or schema, on the topic evolves after reading multiple texts.  Click here for more information on these thinking strategy.  We are proud of students' incredible thinking and excitement!    





APPLE AWARDS
We enjoyed celebrating first grade teacher, Mrs. Martino, and kindergarten assistant, Mrs. Dale, at the District Apple Awards.  Both Mrs. Martino's and Mrs. Dale's love for children and commitment to furthering each child's social, emotional and academic development make them incredible educators.  We appreciate their hard work and dedication.



CLASS PLACEMENT PROCESS & PARENT INPUT - DUE TODAY
Creating balanced class lists that meet the needs of all students is a difficult endeavor.  This process involves hours of thoughtful dialogue between classroom teachers, administrators and other staff members.  We know that creating a strong learning environment is essential to students’ success and we therefore take this responsibility seriously.  Please be assured that we take each child into consideration.  Please see our process below.

·     Teachers identify the social and academic needs of each student.  They refer to existing data and record pertinent information to assist them in their decision-making.

·     Teachers meet as grade level teams to form class lists that are balanced.  Balanced classrooms meet each student’s academic, social and emotional needs.  Teachers consider each child’s personality, academic strengths, needs and friendships. Learning specialists, the specials team and administration also collaborate with classroom teachers to provide feedback.

·     Each grade level team submits a draft of class lists.  I review final lists to ensure all parent input has been considered.  Classroom teachers approve any changes I suggest given parent feedback to ensure classes remain balanced. 

·     Class lists are finalized in mid July to reflect the addition of students joining Gold Rush in the summer.

This process is consistent across grades K-4.  Our 5th grade team collaborates with the teachers at Cimarron Middle School to ensure students’ success in 6th grade.

We strongly believe that this detailed and collaborative process creates learning environments that benefit all students.  Please remember that our ultimate goal is to create classes that promote the success of each child.  Please also know that your child is placed in a classroom for specific reasons and that our process benefits all students.  Because of the input and thought given by teachers, parents and administrators, we are reluctant to make changes once this process is complete.  It may be hard to believe, but moving one child can disrupt the balance of an entire classroom. 

We do value parent input and welcome any insight you wish to share about your child’s strengths, needs and learning style.  We will take into consideration all pertinent information that you share with me on or before Friday, April 27th.  While we welcome your input, we cannot honor specific teacher requests.  Please put your thoughts in writing and address them to me (Jenny Brown).  I will accept either a letter or email (jjbrown@dcsdk12.org).

I cannot express enough how important it is that your thoughts are in writing.  As you can imagine, I receive a great deal of parent input and verbal information is difficult to track.  I also prefer that you direct this communication to me, as I am ultimately responsible for reviewing final class lists in July when teachers may not be available.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions regarding our process or your individual child.  I would be happy to speak with you further.

UPCOMING EVENTS
* April 27: Legend Art Show & GRE Talent Show - 7:00 PM
* May 7-11:  Teacher Appreciation Week
* May 10: Kindergarten Round Up - 6:00 PM
* May 16: Parker Regional Mtg. Regarding The State of the Budget - 6:00-7:30 PM @ Ponderosa
* May 17: SAC Mtg. - 4:30-5:30 PM @ Gold Rush
* May 18: Gold Ticket Theater Performance
* May 22: Kindergarten Field Day
* May 23: Grades 1-5 Field Day
* May 24: Legend High School Graduation
* May 25: Last Day of School - K & 5 Graduation