PCK Weekly News
October 28, 2021
Friday Looks Boo-tiful
The weather forecast looks great for tomorrow's Halloween celebration, complete with Trunk-Or-Treat for students in kindergarten through 6th grade. Students are welcome to wear their Halloween costumes to school. Please remember that costume masks, face paint, weapons (even fake/toy ones), and scary, gory, or skimpy/revealing costumes are not allowed. We will have a regular school day until the festivities start, so make sure your child can sit comfortably in the costume without it disrupting other students. Please make sure your child brings a bag to collect candy at Trunk-Or-Treat. We are looking forward to a fun-filled afternoon!
Get Your Butter Braids In Time For Thanksgiving
Back by popular demand, our Butter Braid sale starts today! All sales are online, so click here to register or scan the QR code to the right. Once your account is set up, you can order using the QR code on this flier, then select your name from the list you will see after registering. All orders must be placed by November 11, and will be delivered to the school for your pick-up on November 18. Please note, all orders must be picked up on the 18th as PCK does not have freezer space to store unclaimed orders. Since the Braids come frozen, it is easy to stock up so you have plenty on hand throughout the holidays!
The Foundation Needs Your Help
If you have experience writing grants, we need your help. The Foundation at PCK is looking for parent volunteers to help submit a number of grant applications over the next few months in order to raise money for our new playground. If you have experience writing grants, please contact Trustin Thompson or Amy DeNicolo. Helping us with grant writing is a great way to complete your volunteer hours. Let’s get our kids their new playground!
Meet Us At Mici
Join us next Tuesday, November 2, for a Spirit Night at Mici Handcrafted Italian. Twenty percent of any order placed between 11:00am - 8:30pm will go to PCK as long as you mention the school when you order. For online or phone orders, please use the coupon code "PCK." Click here for details. We hope to see you there!
Smile For Class Pictures and Retakes
If your student missed school picture day, or if you are unhappy with your student's photo, you have another chance when Van Gogh Photography comes back next Tuesday, November 2. Get the details here.
Class photos for grades K - 6 will be taken on Tuesday as well. Watch for the order form in your Thursday Folder. Each student wanting a class photo must submit their own order form - please do not combine orders for multiple grade levels within your family on one form. Class photos are $12.00.
Dress Down For Homes For Our Troops
Next Wednesday, November 3, students may dress down in red, white, and blue for a donation of $1 or more. All donations will go to Homes For Our Troops as part of our Veterans Day observation. This will be the twelfth year PCK has supported Homes For Our Troops, an organization that builds specially adapted homes for service members injured in the line of duty. Donations will be collected at each entrance during morning carpool.
Who Is Your Hero?
Tomorrow is the last day for students to share information about a special veteran or service member with a "My Hero Is" poster. These will be posted on a bulletin board in honor of Veterans Day, so they need to be returned to the front desk or to Mrs. Daniels by Friday, October 29. If you need an additional sheet, you can get one here (note: it prints on legal size paper, so feel free to attach a separate sheet to the bottom if you don't have legal size paper at home).
We still need volunteers to help with our Veterans Day breakfast. Click here to see how you can help!
All veterans and active duty service members, along with their families, are invited to join us on Thursday, November 11, in the Events Gym. We will have a reception with a light breakfast from 8:00 - 8:30am, followed by an assembly at 8:30. Please RSVP here if you are able to attend.
Service members who would like to visit a kindergarten - 6th grade classroom after the assembly to talk about their time of service are invited to sign up here to share.
Please note, all guests will need to sign in through our Raptor system, so please bring your driver's license or other government-issued ID. Make sure your veteran family members/friends know to bring an ID.
Reminders From The Lunch Room
We are so excited to have parents join us in the lunch room again this year! Please remember that we have a special table designated for parents and their students to sit at during lunch. Parents may only sit with their own children in the lunch room, and may not invite other students to sit at the table.
Also, please remember to pack any utensils your child might need for lunch. Utensils are only provided for those ordering hot lunch. Thanks for your help with this!
Saying Goodbye and Welcome Aboard
We are sorry to say goodbye to 4th grade teacher Kari Strobel, who will be leaving PCK on November 5. Our students and staff will miss her greatly, and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors. Alexandria Griggs will transition from our TTI team to 4th grade. Ms. Griggs is a familiar face to many of our students, and we know she will make an excellent addition to the 4th grade staff. Her role on the TTI team will be filled by Jennifer White, our current librarian. As with Ms. Griggs, our students know and love Mrs. White so we expect this to be a smooth transition. Welcome to your new teams, Ms. Griggs and Mrs. White!
We are now looking for a new librarian, so please see the Careers page on our website for more information. You can apply right on our website if you are interested. Additionally, we are hiring an administrative assistant for our preschool. Information on this job is also posted on our Careers page.
PCK Rocks The Lock Down Drill
Today we had our annual district-supervised lock down drill. As part of this this yearly evaluation of all DCSD schools, members of the district's Security Team visited each classroom to ensure our lock down procedures were accurate and efficient. As always, the team was very impressed with our students and our level of preparation should we ever face a real emergency. They said we were one of the best schools they've seen this year!
COVID Exposure Notices
PCK will only send notices of COVID-19 exposures if there is an outbreak in a class. Under the current public health order, we are no longer required to send notices of individual exposures. Because we have over 800 people in our school community, please assume your child has been exposed daily and watch for symptoms. It is essential that students displaying any symptoms of COVID-19, even mild ones, stay home for monitoring. If the symptoms don’t resolve within 48 hours, your child must be tested before returning to school. Thanks for your help in keeping our community healthy.
Get Warmed Up For Basketball Tryouts
Girls varsity and JV basketball tryouts are next Tuesday, November 2 and Thursday, November 4, from 3:05 - 5:00pm in the Sports Gym. Any girl in grades 6 - 8 can try out. There are a limited number of positions, so some students may not make a team. We look forward to seeing all interested players at tryouts!
Also, The PCK Athletic Department is selling short and long sleeve basketball shirts. All basketball items will be sent for screen printing on Friday, November 12th, and we will not receive the order for approximately 2-3 weeks, depending on the apparel shortage. Please be patient on these orders. Go Cougs!
Short sleeve: https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/prdembd?ref=ZZHVZS5TX305OUU_ZZ5SH4SKV5WWLCF
Long sleeve: https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/prdembd?ref=ZZHVZS5TX305OUU_ZZ5SH4U0U0XWKIL
Parenting In Challenging Times
On Tuesday, November 2nd, Dr. Scott Poland is hosting a free virtual event, Parenting In Challenging Times. This flyer gives details and the registration link. Dr. Poland will empower parents by directly addressing the fear and anxiety that many have experienced due to the pandemic, and will outline the importance of self-care for adults and how to model coping for their children. This event is sponsored by the Douglas/Arapahoe Suicide Prevention Alliance.
A Letter From Our Music Department
Dear Parents,
The PCK Music program has always prided itself on excellence in all areas of Music Performance. However, in the last few months, the impact that COVID has had on our program has become clear, particularly in our elementary grades. Developmentally, our students are not ready to perform at the excellent standard we have set for ourselves and our students; we need to catch up.
Mrs. Myers and Mrs. Waltz need more time to teach, practice, and develop the skills lost during the time when we were not able to sing last year. Therefore, we have made the hard decision to cancel holiday performances in grades K-4 this year. While we recognize that this is disappointing for many, we aim to rebuild our program without the added pressure of performing on both our students and teachers.
This year our children are enjoying and practicing their voices, and we hope to be able to share them with you, in a melodious tune, in the near future.
Stay In Touch With Our New Directory
The new school directory is here! You should have received an email from DirectorySpot with the directions to set your password. Please carefully review the information on file for your family. If you need anything added or changed, or should you wish to opt-out, please email bhaines@ckcs.net.
Connecting With Character
Use the Home Links or questions below to learn what your students are discussing in Character Coaching, then continue the conversation at home. Thanks for choosing to partner with us in developing kids of character!
Kindergarten - Being assertive
First grade - Ask your student why people can have different feelings about the same situation.
Second grade - Mrs. Church's class: ask your student about qualities of a good leader.
Third grade - Introducing Emotion Management
Fourth grade - Showing Compassion
Stand Up For Safety
Thank you to Kamal Malik, Tony Le, Ed Styles, and Richard Downing for being our Safety Dads this week. Our students love having dads here making sure our perimeter is secure, helping with lunch and recess, and assisting with other activities as needed. Dads can stay until 1:00 or for the whole day. Click here to learn more about being a Safety Dad or to sign up.
Thank You
Thank you to the Pettinato family for welcoming our staff back after fall break with delicious donuts! They were a great way to kick off the next quarter of the school year, and we thank you for thinking of us.
