Berthoud Eagle

Principal to Parent
September 2010

As parents we all want our students to be successful and fulfill their potential. The following steps
will help you facilitate your child’s success. First, get to know your child’s teacher. We have
amazing and talented staff members, and their primary goal is student success and achievement.
Second, share information that can make it easier for teachers to understand your children and
better meet their needs. Sometimes things happen at home that can affect how children learn: a
new sibling, a new move, divorce, or illness for example. Third, find out what is expected by
reading communications from the classroom and utilizing the agendas. Fourth, join the Parent-
Teacher Association. This week we begin the annual membership drive for PTA. This
organization has a long-standing history of helping parents learn about what is happening in
schools locally and nationally as well as how best to be involved in your child’s education. Last,
but certainly not least, ensure your children’s daily, timely attendance. I cannot emphasize enough
how important it is to attend school every day. Of course students have an occasional day when
they are ill with a fever or virus, and we don’t want to share germs! However, when students
attend school regularly, they feel connected and confident about what is being taught and what
activities are occurring in the classroom.
This year we are teaching our students about Positive Behavior Support (PBS). Students learn
the specific expectations for their behavior in all areas of the school. SOAR (Safe – On Task and
Responsible – Achieve your best – Respect) is our acronym for students to assist them in
remembering to “Soar like an eagle” where ever they go. All staff members have SOAR Slips to
give to students acknowledging those who are modeling the expected behavior. SOAR slips are a
piece of blue paper that will go up around our school to celebrate how well students are doing with
their behavior and learning goals.
Thank you for all you have done to help your child/children and Berthoud Elementary have such a
great beginning to our 2010 – 2011 school year! Students again did a wonderful job with the
assessments our first two days of school, and it is clear that many of them read over the summer.
I am so proud of them!

Thank you for partnering with us to provide our children with a rich school experience!

Mrs. LoJeske

Introductions
We wish to introduce our new staff members: Dr. Shandra Cast; psychologist, Tim Jones; PE,
Eric Santi; counselor, Michael Willy and Megan Henderson; art and Pam Wright; resource aide.
We are thankful that they’ve joined our BES team and look forward to a great year together.

STUDENTS ARE ASKED NOT TO ARRIVE AT SCHOOL BEFORE 8:30 AM. Students should
stay on the North and South sides of the building where adults on duty provide supervision
beginning at 8:30 AM. If your child is eating breakfast from the school menu, they may enter the
lunchroom at 8:15 AM. Otherwise, students should not be on the school campus until 8:30 AM.
Parents will be contacted if students regularly arrive at school before supervision is available.

Early Release Reminder

Thompson School District has early release every Wednesday afternoon. That means our first
through 5th grade students and afternoon kindergarten are released at 2:10. Morning kindergarten
is released at 11:10. Talking each day about what will be occurring after school helps your child
know what to expect; riding the bus, waiting for a family member or whatever is appropriate.
Many Thanks
A big thank you to our lunch hand-sanitizing volunteers for their help with getting student’s hands
cleaned before lunch. Thank you to our PTA and VITAL team for the cookies at the Meet and
Greet and for providing information during student assessments and Parent Information Nights.

My Lunch Money.com
If you are interested in creating an online lunch account for your child, please visit
mylunchmoney.com. You will need your child’s school name, grade, birth date and student ID#
(this can be obtained from the office).

Summer Bridge Books

If your child(ren) completed a Summer Bridge book this summer, please have them return the
completed book to their teacher for a reward/recognition of a job well done! The deadline to
return books is Friday, September 10th.

Parent Portal
The Parent Portal allows parents to access the Infinite Campus student information system.
Parent Portal is offered to parents as an online tool for viewing pertinent information about your
child’s school progress. Please contact the front office if you did not receive Infinite Campus
Parent Portal information containing the Parent/Guardian Activation Key number.

Student Safety
We take the safety of our students very seriously and consider this an area of constant focus.
Please remember to obey all traffic signs and to slow down when driving by our school. The
parking lot can be congested during drop off and pick up times and we ask that you please follow
the ‘one way’ signs and the cones when entering and exiting. We do have a large parking lot and
it is a much safer choice to park there and walk to meet your child than to park across Bunyan
and call your child over through bus lanes and two lanes of traffic. Kindergarten parents please
avoid parking in the bus lanes when picking up your children. Please use the marked crosswalks
when crossing the street and parking lot. Additionally, please walk bikes, skateboards, and
scooters while on the campus. One last request, please avoid bringing dogs on to school grounds.
Thanks for your help in keeping everyone safe!

Absences
If your child will be absent from school for any reason, please call the attendance line directly
any time, day or night and leave a message, 970-613-7590. Please provide the student’s first
and last name, teacher, reason for absence and length of absence. Calling the attendance line
helps us during the busy morning hour. We will call to check on your child if we have not received
a message.

Tardy Policy
If a student is tardy, a parent/guardian must come in to the front office to sign the student in. If a
student comes in late unaccompanied by an adult then that student will receive an unexcused
tardy on their attendance record. If your child is going to be late due to an appointment, please
notify the office by 9:00 am if they need a hot lunch ordered.

Flip-flops
During warm weather, we see some of our students wearing flip-flops to school. There are times
when we have received visits to the front office and health office because children are
experiencing injuries to their feet or their flip-flops are breaking at school. Please encourage your
child and/or children to wear sturdier shoes to school for their safety. Thank you!!
JOIN BERTHOUD ELEMENTARY PTA
The Parent Teacher Association provides amazing support and resources to Berthoud
Elementary staff and students. Fund raisers have helped build our athletic fields, provided risers
for our student showcases, purchased Promethean/Smart Board technology for several
classrooms, purchased materials, equipment and much, much more! Please join us in this
important and influential partnership. The membership drive for PTA runs from
August 31st – September 11th. We have five meetings per year. You do not have to attend
meetings to join PTA. Information will be sent home for each family. If you have any questions,
please contact one of the following officers:

President – Ann Yuska 970-535-4875 Vice President – Dawn Williams 970-532-3695

Secretary – Melissa Barcewski 970-532-3081 Treasurer – Susan Worrell 970-532-3802.

SAAC
The School Accountability and Advisory Committee will meet in the library from 4:00 – 5:00 on
September 23rd. We will discuss our School Effectiveness Plan, school data and plans for this
year’s meetings. Anyone is welcome to join us for meetings. If you would like to be a contributing
member of this committee we ask for at least a one year commitment to our monthly meetings
which are held on the 4th Thursday of each month.

VITAL
Volunteers In Thompson Accentuating Learning is a wonderful organization that supports those
who volunteer in our schools. Our coordinator this year is Joy Read. Each year Berthoud
Elementary students benefit from thousands of hours donated by our families and our community!
There will be a volunteer training at Berthoud Elementary on September 21st from 9:00am –
10:00am in the cafeteria. If you would like to volunteer and have not filled out the yellow volunteer
form, please pick one up in the VITAL room at the school.

Fall Fundraiser
The fundraising program this year is somewhat different than the last year. This year we are
offering prize incentives to students who participate. Frozen food products will be offered, as well
as, a gift item catalog this year. The frozen food products offer a way to increase the value for the
individual customers by providing a high quality, consumable product. In this tougher economy, a
product, such as a frozen pizza that tastes terrific, may be more practical for a family. Offering
frozen consumable products gives the families of Berthoud Elementary School another alternative
to support the school while still providing value to their own families.

The Fall Fundraiser is very important. - the funding we receive from this process goes directly to
support students and teachers all year long. This is PTA’s primary fundraising event. The Fall
Fundraiser will run from Aug. 27th – Sept. 10th. If you would prefer to make a donation rather
than order from the catalog, 100% of your donation will go directly to our PTA. If you have any
questions, please contact: Susan Pennock 970-532-2348.

Berthoud Tutoring: For Students By Students

Attention parents! The Berthoud Tutoring Program is starting up again for the 2010-2011 school
year. This program is organized by Berthoud High School students to help students of all ages in
any subject area. Sessions are held Wednesday afternoons from 3:30-4:30 and 4:30-5:30 in
Berthoud Public Library's community room. If you are interested in enrolling your student, please
email berthoudtutoring@gmail.com or call (970) 988-6549 with your preferred time slot before
September 15. Spaces are limited and are granted on a first come, first served basis. Walk-ins
are also accepted.
Teacher Visits
If you have questions for your child’s teacher please feel free to leave them a voicemail message.
If you need to meet with them in person, please contact them by phone to prearrange a meeting.
Often, teachers are preparing their lessons for the day or are in meetings, so it is important to set
up a time to meet with them, rather than dropping by before or after school. This will ensure that
you have a sufficient amount of time for discussion.

News from the Kitchen

Welcome back, everyone! We’re seeing a few new changes this year in the lunchroom. We are
recycling our spoons, all of our beef products are 100% natural beef, and we use whole wheat
breads and offer fresh fruit every day.

Our breakfast, menu has also changed and we are now offering more items. Breakfast is served
from 8:15 to 8:38. Come check it out!

Now that we are having recess before lunch, we have noticed that students are coming in to the
lunchroom very thirsty. We have seen an increase in milk and water sales. As a reminder, milk
and water cost 50¢ each. You can go to mylunchmoney.com and review your child’s account
balance or call the kitchen (970-613-7508) if you any questions.

Field Day will be coming up on September 22nd. We will be serving the following menu on that
day. The adult lunch price is $3.10. Students will order lunch in their classrooms.

Hamburger or Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

Sun Chips
Orange
Cookie
Milk

We hope you can join us. Have a great month! Monica Koldewyn, Kitchen Manager

Monthly Glance

September
8/27 – 9/10 Fall Fundraiser
8/30 - 9/10 PTA Membership Drive
6 Labor Day – No school
16 6:30 – 7:30 PM GT Parent Night
17 Constitution Day – Wear Red, White and Blue to celebrate our
Constitution
21 VITAL Volunteer Training
22 Field Day and Family Picnic
22 BES Spirit Night at Chick-fil-a
23 4:00-5:00 PM SAAC meeting
28 Picture Retakes
WHEN TO KEEP YOUR CHILD HOME:
Answer these questions each morning before sending your child to school:

1. Does your child have a fever (100˚F)

2. Does your child have a sore throat, cough, runny nose, body aches, vomiting, or
diarrhea?

If you answered “yes” to both questions above, your child might have the flu. Keep your
child home until symptoms are gone for 24 hours (without the aid of medications like Ibuprofen
or Tylenol or products containing these).

Distribution of non-curricular materials in schools

Beginning in the 2010-11 school year the Thompson School District has changed its
process for distribution of non-academic materials within the schools from not-for-profit agencies
and organizations. Materials regarding events and activities for youth in the Loveland-Berthoud-
Fort Collins area will no longer be distributed by paper through the schools to students’ homes
with some exceptions: Parent Magazine, a monthly publication, which will contain many event
listings; and some recreational and cultural materials from the cities of Loveland and Berthoud.
Notices will now be posted on the district Web site under Friday Folder Extras. There will
also be a link from participating school Web sites to the district site.
All approved materials will be posted on this page by date with a link to more
information. These materials should be limited to events and activities aimed at youth. The
district continues to disallow marketing of materials from for-profit organizations.

All materials posted must be approved and organizations must have a nonprofit status.
Requests must be turned in on the forms located on the district Web site at
www.thompsonschools.org no sooner than two weeks before desired posting time. School or
site postings must still go through the approval process.
The electronic postings will be linked from participating school Web sites to this page.
The request form link also contains other possible options for disseminating information
to families about youth activities and events.
 Berthoud Library’s 2010 Berthoud Elementary Summer Readers!

Kindergarten 2nd Grade 4th Grade

Adam Beard Kendra Brownell Cody Rine Alps
Bobby Holt Justin Carter Autumn Bunch
Anya Knoll Abby Cunningham Joseph DuToit
James Nelson Jonah Doyle Cruz Garcia
Kayla Petrovich Samuel DuToit Landon Greive
Caleb Sherman Chloe Eisenberg Caden Grimditch
Maryn Maggi Sarah Kouns Hudsen Grimditch
Tyler Mathies Sydney Holden
1st Grade Logan Nissen Sara Eisenberg
Maile Brucklacher Lane Pirkey Caleb Kelly
Dan Bruno Mireya Rennaker Madisun Mastriona
Abby Bunch Miles Salazar Daniel Pelphrey
Levi Bunker David Sandstedt Jessa Pirkey
Christine Doman Aidan Stewart Carly Rafferty
Carly Fischer Parker Syp Eriana Rennaker
Tyler Holden Nick Williams Deven Stinn
Trevin Hull Ellie Yuska Cheyenne Tennyson
Martin Juhasz Lauren White
Devin Kaufman 3rd Grade
Ethan Larrew Mary Barcewski 5th Grade
Brendan Barcewski Arika Beard Cally Castles
Ellie Mead Kevin Carter Michael Creager
Terra Nelson Sophia Kathol Emily Cunningham
Matthew Pelphrey Logan Cowley Jacob Doman
Sierra Pirkey Caleb Cunningham Will Fetzer
Katie Rafferty Josie Doman Haley Fischer
Derek Rennaker Olivia Dunn Laurelanne Hardy
Maddisen Sherman Natalie Fischer Jordan Hull
Aspen Stalnacker Bryce Greive Kevin Juhasz
Auldin Tennyson Amber Holt Sophie Kubik
Austin Tennyson Lexi Lee Sam Lee
Jesse White Susan Pennock Tyler Markell
Alicia Prodoccini Lydia Moors
Hannah Roberts Rebecca Pennock
Katrina Smith Jake Rafferty
Anna Starks Gabriella Rennaker
Delaney Stinn Mia Roberts
Olivia Stowe Derek Sandstedt
Calli Taylor Hailey Sherman
Gabriel Smith
Timmy Sontag
Daniel Starks
Ian Trojahn
Tyler Williams
Jake Yuska