PCE November Principal Report

Dear parents,

October has flown by and I cannot believe that we are already starting to see Christmas decorations around town!

We have been super busy here at PCE and the kids have been actively learning each day!  Our building is full of activities and I love seeing the excitement each day in the classrooms!

I would like to thank all our families for their participation in our "Believe Kids" fundraiser. We raised close to $15,000  for our school and our students. Soon we will take that money and turn it into resources for our classrooms and students.  PCEA will put out information on how we spent the money when that time arrives.

I also wanted to thank you all for the support and vigilance this past month as we had the challenge of lice in our building.  Unfortunately, this is a concern that is affecting many schools in the metro area this year.  As of now, we feel, we have this concern under control.  I would appreciate if parents would continue to stay attentive so we can continue to be proactive with keeping our school clear.

I wanted to inform the community of our PARCC score results for last year.   We have earned the level of Performance which means-The school meets or exceeds statewide attainment on the performance indicators.  This is the highest level that can be earned for an individual school.  95% of our students did participate in testing and their scores were recorded. We met expectations both in academic achievement and academic growth. This is only one snapshot of the great work our students accomplish in their years at Prairie Crossing. Our teachers and students work hard each day to reach academic excellence each and every day!

The subject of class sizes and budget utilization was discussed during our last SAC and PCEA meeting.  Last year while planning our budget, the top priority was class size.  In working with the budget for this year, I worked hard to keep classes lower in primary and still keep intermediate manageable. Sometimes enrollment is very hard to predict due to so many factors.  We have done well except for our 5th grade classes, where unpredictable growth in this grade level has brought us to numbers of 31 in each class.  Although this is a pretty typical class size in many buildings, this is higher than we would like at PCE. We will soon post for additional positions to support our 5th grade students and teachers and should have this in place no later than our return from winter break.
To give you perspective on our class sizes currently:

Kindergarten's average class size is 18
First Grade's average class size is 22
Second Grade's average class size is 20
Third Grade's average class size is 24
Fourth Grade's average class size 24
Fifth Grade's average class size is 31
Sixth Grade's average class size is 29

Providing our students with the best opportunity to learn and grow is important to us, as we continue to enroll students, we feel it is necessary to be proactive with support.

I hope to see many of you throughout the next few weeks as there are many activities throughout the building--This Friday is Dads and Doughnuts which is always a popular event!  

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to know more about our PARCC scores or planning for next year.

Sincerely,

Carrie Rotherham

PCE Principal Blog September 2016-

Good Afternoon PCE Parents!

We have made it through our first month of school and what an exciting month it has been!

Our sixth graders have just made it back from Outdoor Ed and had an amazing time!  They of course were complimented on their fabulous behavior!  While at Covenant Heights they were able to learn about water ecology, maps and compasses, geology, and Colorado Wildlife.  They enjoyed a hike in the Rocky National Forest, learned how to work as a team through the the low ropes course and challenged them selves on the zip line!  We had an outstanding group of adults supporting them and they worked very well together!

Soon some of our sixth graders will be highlighted on FOX 31 news as a follow up story to the kidney campaign they worked on last year with Mrs. Bennett to help support Mrs. Wright.  The story will give a update on how Mrs. Wright is doing now and also what the kids are still doing to help support her, now that she has received her new kidney.  We are so proud of all their work and passion they continue to show every day!  We will let everyone know when it will air.

Next week our annual fundraiser will start.  PCEA will partner with BELIEVE Kids again this year. Next Thursday we will have a kickoff and students will receive all their information. Please remember this is an optional fundraiser!  If you would prefer not to participate you do not have to! You can always choose to donate directly to PCEA with one donation for the year.  Please email Amy Rickards at rickards91005@msn.com if you have any questions about donations or volunteering for PCEA.

I know that many of you get our email blasts on Thursday and check our website but we are also looking for a different way to communicate with our parents in a quick and easy way.  Many of our parents use an app called "Remind".  It is a texting app that will send out quick messages directly to your phone that you can sign up for.  In order to sign up you can

 text @4k4kb to the number 81010 or use  

https://www.remind.com/join/4k4kb.  I will not have your actual cell phone number or any of your personal information, but you will receive information from the school in a text message form if you choose to opt in to the group.  Again this is OPTIONAL.

We are always looking for ways to improve our communication with our families!  Let me know your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Carrie Rotherham

Welcome to the 16-17 school year!

Welcome to a New School Year at Prairie Crossing!

I would like to welcome all of our new and returning PCE families to a new school year!  We are so excited to start a new year with all of our wonderful students.  Our staff has been preparing all the classrooms and our enthusiasm is building each day!  I hope that each and every one of you have had a wonderful summer and have had the opportunity to build many family memories to last a lifetime.  

I want to take this time to give our parents some helpful information and reminders for the first days of school and some year long helpful parent information.

Our first days of school:

We will have a time on Thursday August 4th for students to drop off supplies between 2:00 and 3:30.

Grades 1 through 6 will report to their first day of school on Monday August 8^th.  Buses will pick up at scheduled times and lunch will be served.

Kindergarten students will participate in Assessment days on Monday August 8^th and Tuesday August 9^th.  You can sign up for assessment days through the welcome letter from your teacher.  Kindergarteners first official day will be Wednesday August 10^th.

Our annual Flag Raising

We will once again hold our annual flag raising ceremony on the playground to give us more space!  This year we invite our 1^st through 6^th graders to join us on Monday August 8^th for this long standing tradition.  Kindergarteners will run a slightly different schedule the first two days but all are welcome to attend.  We will begin our ceremony as close to 8:40 as possible to officially welcome the 16-17 school year. We hope to see you there!

Save the Date

August 24th --PCE Back to School Social---5pm-7pm.

Crosswalk Safety:

As you know safety is very important to us and we would like to make sure that we do all that we can to keep all of our students safe--but we need your help too.  This year we will continue to have staff members at the two major crosswalks that service our school.  There will be one staff member on the corner of Bradbury Ranch and Auburn Hills and also on the corner of Bradbury Ranch and Firebrick.

There is NO CROSSWALK in the middle of Bradbury Ranch so we are asking that children DO NOT cross and that parents do not make illegal U-turns in the front of the school on Bradbury Ranch. This is extremely dangerous for our students and families.

Parking by the Bus Loop:

We are also asking that during drop off and pick up times that families refrain from parking along Auburn Hills outside of the bus loop.  This is a very narrow street when cars are parked on both sides of the street and our buses have to make very wide turns in and out of our bus drop off area.  It is also very dangerous for children to cross through the bus loop, we would like to keep this area clear until all buses have left the school in the morning and afternoon times.

Bus Arrivals and Departures:

Staff members will be outside to greet students in the morning and assist them to the busses in the afternoon.  Please remember that all students require a Z-Pass to ride the bus. Click here for more information on Z-passes.

All busses are identified by a bus route number and an animal.  In the first days of school we will create “Bus Tags” for our younger students (k/1) to ensure that they are guided to the correct bus each day.  If your older child is riding the bus for the first time and you are concerned, please contact their teacher and they we will make sure they receive a tag also.

Kiss and Go Lane:

We ask that parents pull all the way to the end of the first mobile when using our "Kiss and Go" lane in the front of the school.  This allows for as many cars as possible to pull in before children unload and helps to alleviate traffic build-up on Bradbury Ranch.  We will have staff members outside each morning to assist children out of the vehicles.  We ask that children exit on the right side of the vehicles due to the left lane being a passing lane for exiting cars.  Cars should never be left unattended in the Kiss and Go lane, you are always welcome to park and come into the school with your child if needed.  If your child still requires assistance buckling his/her car seat, we ask that you do not “park” in the kiss and go lane but rather park in the parking lot to safely secure them in their seat.

Signing Students In and Out

Remember we do have security procedures inside also.  If you are coming into the building you must sign in and be prepared to show a photo ID when signing out a student.  A person must be on the emergency contact list to sign any child out of the building.  Please check and update your emergency contacts for this school year and throughout the year to assist us in keeping our students safe. 

Attendance line 303-387-8202

Pre-School Parents:

This year our pre-school programs will run on slightly different time frames. Pre-School A-AM Drop-off begins at 8:15 and ends at 11:00. Pre-school B-AM drop off begins at 8:45 and ends at 11:30. Both Preschool A and B-PM will drop off at 12:30 and end at 3:15. We ask that you follow the procedures set forth by your teachers as each classroom will have a separate sign-in sheet and sign-out sheet.  

If parents are utilizing our lobby area to wait for students, we ask that you attend to younger siblings and remember that classes are taking place throughout the building.  It would be appreciated if children do not use this area as a play area.

Afternoon Pre-School parents will be greeted by a staff member for afternoon drop off.

We are looking forward to a great year!!!

Carrie Rotherham
PCE, Principal

Helpful websites:

PCE Main Website - Updated school information/announcements and links to teacher websites.

PCE Parent Info Handbook  - Polices and procedures for PCE

PCE Facebook Page  -Please like us on Facebook to see updates about events at PCE

PCE PCEA (Parent organization) Website - Get information about upcoming meetings, events and volunteering opportunities.

Douglas County District Website  -All things District!

DCSD Nutrition Services  - Make lunch payments, see menus, apply for F&R lunch.

Parent Portal  -Access to your child’s Infinite Campus information, Emergency contact information, fees, etc.

InspirED  - This link will be used to access Elementary Progress Reports (EPRs) in December and May.

End of the Year Information and next year

May 25, 2016

Dear Parents,

As the year comes to a close, I wanted to update you on some dates and decisions that have been made concerning next year.

Lately, our student enrollment has been unstable and very unpredictable for next year.  We have many factors that come into play when we are trying to plan classes and events for next year.  Because of these factors our class/ teacher assignments are unstable, so we have decided to cancel “Meet the Teacher” on June 2^nd.  We will send out class/teacher assignments in mid July.

We have also decided to NOT have “Get to Know You/ Assessment days on August 8^th and 9^th for grades 1^st-6^th.  These grade levels will begin their FIRST DAY of school on MONDAY, AUGUST 8^th.  We will have our traditional flag raising ceremony to begin the school year.

We will all meet on the playground in our classroom lines on Monday morning for the 8:40 ceremony.

Kindergarten parents: Please look for specific information about the first days of kindergarten from your teachers.

On Thursday August 4^th, we will have an opportunity for students to drop off classroom supplies and see their classrooms prior to the first day of school.  Classrooms will be open for students to drop off supplies between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm.  Teachers will be in their classroom setting up so they can help the students organize their supplies.

Wednesday August 24, 2016 PCE will host a Back to School Community night.  Please look for more details as we get closer to August.

I know that this is a lot of information and we will communicate this again as we get closer to the new school year.

Important Dates:

June 2^nd Meet the Teacher has been cancelled.                 

August 4^th – Drop off supplies 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

August 8^th First day of school for Grades 1^st – 6^th

August 8^th Flag Raising Ceremony 8:40

August 8^th and 9^th Assessment Days for Kindergarten (sign up to follow in July)

August 24^th Back to School Community Night.

Sincerely,

Carrie Rotherham