October 26, 2018

Homestead Elementary

HOMESTEADER

In this Issue:

1 Message from our Principal

2 Halloween

3 Veterans Day

4-7 Rachel’s Challenge

8 Enchanted Forest Book Fair

9 Clothing for the Clinic

10 Guide Your Child through

Tweens

11 Flyers at the Entrance

Dear Parents,

It’s hard to believe we are already eleven weeks into school! Our

students continue to successfully represent H.A.W.K.S. behavior

and maintain a fantastic learning environment on a daily basis.

With the addition of Rachel’s Challenge and focus around kind-

ness, we are all thriving within a world of kindness! I am so proud

of the work our students and teachers have put forth!

I would like to thank our PBIS committee of teachers and parents;

Jane Lewis, Whitney Vance, and Brett Shrewsberry for their time

and efforts to help make our Rachel’s Challenge kick-off a huge

success. We believe that Rachel’s Challenge will enhance our

H.A.W.K.S. program with a goal and emphasis on KINDNESS.

Our students are recognizing each other’s kindness on a daily ba-

sis and we are very excited to have celebrations of kindness

throughout the school year.

With a heavy heart, I would like to formally announce that David

Howell, after 25 years of service at Homestead, is officially retiring

on October 31. We will be celebrating with David up until he

leaves on October 31, so please feel free to congratulate David on

his retirement and wish him luck on his next phase of life. We

love you David!!!

Sincerely,

Kyle Sorg

Page 2 HOMESTEADER

Dear Parents,

As you may know, Halloween is next Wednesday. The staff at

Homestead has decided to acknowledge the day with a cos-

tume parade. Beginning at 8:20 a.m., students will parade

around the outside of the building to display their creative and

cute costumes. After the parade (approximately 8:50 a.m.),

students and teachers will return to classrooms and resume

classroom activities.

Parents are invited to attend the parade and asked to remain

outside the building to view the entire parade. If we have extreme inclement weather, an alter-

nate parade route inside the building is planned. Parents will be able to watch the procession in

the gym. Remember to bring the camera!!

For students that attend PM kindergarten, there will be a mini parade within the building begin-

ning at 12:00. Students arriving at 11:45 may come in their costumes over regular clothing. Par-

ents are welcome to check in at the front office and then come to the kindergarten area to watch

the mini parade beginning at 12:00. Students will return to class and resume classroom activities

as soon as the parade is finished.

Students are asked to come to school in costume. Please follow the costume guidelines below.

Costumes must be worn over regular clothing to ease the changing process after the

parade. A paper or plastic bag labeled with students’ name is needed to store the cos-

tume for the day.

Face paint or hair coloring is not allowed.

Weapons or any reproduction of weapons are not allowed.

Masks or anything that completely covers the face are not allowed.

Please no violent costumes (no blood and/or gore).

An alternate activity will be made available at school for students who choose not to participate

in the festivities. Students who will participate in the alternate activity can come through the

front doors rather than line up at their grade level doors.

Respectfully,

Homestead Staff

Page 3 HOMESTEADER

Homestead Remembers Veterans Day 2018 To commemorate Veterans Day, 2018, students at Homestead will have the opportuni-

ty to recognize veterans and active military personnel in their family or in their neighbor-

hood. Using the form below, students will be able to share information about the honoree

including his/her relationship to the student and the branch of service she/he represents.

These recognitions will be displayed in our school. Hard copies of the form below should be

completed and returned to your child’s teacher on or before Friday, November 2. Please

complete the form even if your honoree is unable to attend.

On November 8, recognized honorees, who are able to attend, are invited to partici-

pate with Homestead students in an assembly at 8:15a.m. Fifth grade students will be per-

forming during the assembly. The flag will be presented, students will sing our national an-

them, and the honorees will be introduced. After completing the indoor portion of the trib-

ute, honorees, students, and staff will go out to the flagpole to raise the flag, say the Pledge of

Allegiance, and sing a song together. Students who have guests will then go to the cafeteria

to share refreshments, hosted by the Homestead Student Council. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name of Honoree

____________________________________________________________

Branch of service

____________________________________________________________

Location of service

____________________________________________________________

Dates of service

____________________________________________________________

Connection to Homestead student

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

Student’s Name _____________________________ Teacher __________________

Honoree will be able to attend the ceremony _____/no _____/yes

If yes, please provide the following contact information for the honoree: (please print)

Email: ______________________________________________________

or U.S. Mail:___________________________________________________

Page 4 HOMESTEADER

RACHEL’S CHALLENGE

STARTING THE CHAIN REACTION

As you know, Homestead students and parents participated in the Rachel’s

Challenge program on October 23rd. Students attended an assembly in the af-

ternoon and a parent presentation was offered that evening. Both presenta-

tions provided great motivation and challenges for being kind. We will be

providing more information to students and families throughout the year, but

wanted to give a summary of the challenges presented. Those challenges are:

Acceptance - Look for the Best in Others

Goal Setting – Dream Big

Keep a Journal

Choose Positive Influences

Say and Do Kind Things

All Day – Every Day (Kyle’s Challenge!)

We look forward to working on our kindness challenges and sharing more infor-

mation with all!

Page 5 HOMESTEADER

Another piece related to Rachel’s Challenge being implemented at Homestead, is the

“Caught You Being Kind” Links.

Homestead Kindness Campaign:

This year, Homestead has kicked off a new Kindness Campaign!

HAWKS stands for Honest, Achieving, Working Hard, Kind, and Safe. This year we are really focusing on

Kindness!

As you may have heard from your student, to promote Kindness we are using “Caught You Being Kind”

Links. Any time a student sees another student being kind, they get to fill out a paper link and describe the

random act of kindness that they saw. To promote kindness in our Homestead community as well, kind-

ness links are attached to this email. If you see a Homestead student being kind outside of school please

print off a kindness strip, fill it out for the student, and then send it back to Homestead!

Throughout the year, we will be turning these into chains and will hang them around the school. This way

we can see what a kind place our school and community is. At the end of the year, we will take them down

and the entire school will help “wrap the school in kindness” by wrapping the chain of Kindness Links

around the outside of the school. We want to see how many times we can “wrap” Homestead in kindness!

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Page 8 HOMESTEADER

The nurse's clinic is accepting clothing

donations. We are in need of girls and boys underwear and pants of any

size. Thank you for your help!

Page 9 HOMESTEADER

Page 10 HOMESTEADER

7451 S. Homestead Parkway

Centennial, CO 8011

Phone: (720) 554-3700

Fax: (720) 554-3788

Attendance: (720) 554-3795

Homestead H.A.W.K.S.!

H—HONEST

A— ACHIEVING

W— WORKING HARD

K— KIND

S— SAFE

Homestead Elementary

THANK YOU!

New Flyers at the Front for Enrichment Opportunities

Lil’ Bruins Basketball

Safe 2 Tell App

Dance Kaleidoscope

Allegretto Music Lessons

Cub Scouting

KidzArt