BEAVER CREEK ELEMENTARY
ISSUE
MONTHLY
10
1
NEWSLETTER FOR
BEAVER CREEK
ELEMENTARY
May
2014
BC Jet News!!
A Busy Month of May is HERE!
The busy month of May is here, and the school year is
winding down. There is a flurry of activity to get everything
done before the close of the school year. Our staff and
students are working to complete their grade level curriculum
by Friday, May 23. There are several special events and
field trips this month. Two of our traditional year-end events
will take place this month. Field Day is on Thursday, May 8.
Kindergarten through second grade students will have their
field day in the morning and third through fifth grade students
will have their field day in the afternoon. The Beaver Creek
BBQ is scheduled for Monday, May 19. Families are invited
to attend the BBQ and look for the time schedule in this
month’s JET. The last day of school is Friday, May 23, and
this will be a full day of school.
Important Dates
1 Hour Early Dismissal
Wednesday, May 7
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@2:35 p.m.
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Wednesday, May 14 @2:35 p.m.
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Wednesday, May 21 @2:35 p.m.
Beaver Creek Field Day
Thursday, May 8th
Student Visits to HZ & W
8701 LYNDHURST DRIVE
JOHNSTON, IA 50131
515-278-6228
ERIC TOOT, PRINCIPAL
JOY PALMER, ASST PRINCIPAL
In this issue
A month of
TRANSITION
TLG
Teacher Leadership Grant
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Friday, May 9 @ 9:00 a.m.
This May is bittersweet for us, as we have over 100 students
moving to other elementary schools due to boundary shifts.
Transition activities are taking place this month to help
prepare them for their new schools. We also have 125 fifth
grade students preparing to make the move to Summit
Middle School. These students have already visited Summit
and are getting excited about this next phase of their
schooling.
Centennial Play
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Wednesday, May 7 @ Beaver Creek
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Monday, May 12 @ Beaver Creek
THINK PINK!
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Wednesday, May 14
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5 Grade Celebration
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Thursday, May 15
BC Personnel Changes
All School BBQ
Monday, May 19th
BC3 Assembly
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Wednesday, May 21
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5 Grade Send off Walk
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Friday, May 23 approximately 3:05 p.m.
Last Day of School
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Friday, May 23 @ 3:35 p.m. (regular hours)
BC Phone Numbers
BC Office
278-6228
BC Fax
278-1049
BC KTC
278-6668
BC Nurse
278-6016
Transportation
278-8149
Nutrition
278-0278
There will be several personnel changes at Beaver Creek next
year due to retirements, and four educators retiring after long
and productive careers. Best wishes to Anne Eckermann,
Linda Kohlhaas and Pauline Van Every. Also, best wishes to
Janine Carlson, who has served as a special education
associate for us. Their dedication and efforts have been
appreciated and will be missed. Some other staff members
won’t be back due to other opportunities. Joy Palmer will be
taking a year leave of absence to be with her family as her
husband as will be working overseas. Barb South will be
taking a part time position at Lawson and Sara Meyer is taking
a job in the Cedar Rapids area.
As of now, we are planning on having twenty-four grade level
classrooms, down from thirty-two homerooms we have had
this year. Several teachers are transferring to different
buildings and/or positions due to the shifts in enrollment
caused by boundary changes. Nick Gomez, Kayla Koolbeck
and Bethany Van Sloten will continue to be teachers in
Johnston, but in a different building. Sarah Harmeyer will be
moving from a Kindergarten teaching position to serve as our
Reading Recovery/reading support teacher, replacing Pauline
Van Every. Stacey Barta and Nicole Artist are moving to
second grade classrooms. Sheri Johnson will become a
counselor at Johnston Middle School, and her half time
counseling spot will not be filled due to our building enrollment
decreasing. Jim Quam will become our full time PE teacher,
replacing Anne Eckermann. Mary Strandemo will shift away
from serving as a fifth grade teacher and work to help cover
classrooms for a new role in our district called Lead Teachers.
We wish all of these teachers’ good luck and a sincere thank
you as they transition to fulfill a new role serving the families
and students of JCSD.
As mentioned in the previous article, the Johnston
School District is the recipient of a grant from the State
of Iowa to promote teacher leadership. The grant is
funding Instructional Coaches, Lead Teachers and
Model Teachers in each Johnston school. This
funding can only be used for teacher leadership
positions and is in addition to the financial support
provided by the Iowa Legislature.
Lynn Lawhorn will continue as our Instructional Coach,
and Amy Swaim, Amanda Skeffington and Jenny
Emblen have been selected as Lead Teachers. The
Lead Teachers will teach 75% of the day and will be
released 25% of the day to help plan and lead
professional development and support the
implementation of new strategies to enhance
instruction in the classroom. Mary Strandemo will
cover the release time for each for each of these
teachers, providing math instruction to the students in
Mrs. Swaim, Mrs. Skeffington, and Ms. Emblen’s class.
At the time this was written, the Model Teachers have
not been selected. More information about the
Teacher Leadership Program can be found at this link:
http://www.johnston.k12.ia.us/tlc-grant-recipient/
It’s Not Too Late! Order
your 2014/2015 Supply Kit
by Friday, May 9th
As a service to our families, supply kits which
include all of the items on the teacher supply list,
are available for purchase for $40.00 for all grades
for the 2014/2015 school year. Kits will be
delivered to your child’s classroom in time for
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Meet-the Teacher on August 13 .
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All orders must be received by Friday, May 9 .
Please contact Joan Sparland in the BC office if
you need an order form set home with your
student.
Johnston CSD
Beaver Creek
BC Jet News!!
Coaldrake-Foundation
Artists in the Schools
Program
Teacher Assignment Letters
Looking Toward
August
New Family Orientation
Classroom assignment letters will be mailed to families in
early August. All Johnston elementary schools will be using
the same date to notify families. We wait until later in the
summer so we can have an accurate enrollment count
before releasing the class lists. Due to the late release
date, changes will not be made to class assignments after
they are mailed.
Wed, August 13th 2:00—2:30 p.m.
Meet the Teacher
Wed, August 13th 2:30—3:30 p.m.
Also included in your back-to-school mailing will be
information about the all school t-shirt, snack and birthday
treat policy and grade level specific information where
applicable.
First Day of School!
Thurs, August 14th 8:40—3:35 p.m.
Parent Night for KDG-2nd-4th
Tues, August 26th 6-6:30-7 p.m.
Parent Night for 1st-3rd-5th
Thurs, August 28th 6-6:30-7 p.m.
Our LAST day is a
FULL day
The last day of school is Friday,
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May 23 . Different than in years
past, it is scheduled as a full day
of school with no early dismissal.
The school day will run regular
hours, 8:40 a.m. – 3:35 p.m. on
that day.
Wellness Week at Beaver Creek
May 5-9
Healthy students are ready to learn.
Help show your commitment to good health by participating
in wellness activities this week at school.
Monday: Wear Green and recycle.
Tuesday: Show your support for your favorite sports team.
GO DRAGONS! GO CYCLONES!
Wednesday: Wear a hat and bring a water bottle.
Remember to wear sunscreen.
Thursday: Wear fitness clothes and tennis shoes. Be sure
and eat a good breakfast.
Friday: Bring a healthy snack from home.
Did you know??
This has been an amazing year
at Beaver Creek with our new
Positive Behavior Intervention
and Support (PBIS) initiative. We
have spent the year teaching,
modeling and reinforcing the BC3
with the students and staff. BC3
stands for Respect,
Responsibility and Safety
throughout the learning
environment. Research shows
that acknowledging positive
behaviors through common
expectations enhances the
learning environment socially,
emotionally and academically.
We are so proud of the students
at Beaver Creek for modeling the
BC3 daily! This year we have had
a total of
614 students and
31 classes that have been
acknowledged for demonstrating
the BC3 in their learning and
behavior. We thank the families
of Beaver Creek for your constant
encouragement and support with
your student(s) to create this
positive learning experience.
Johnston CSD
Beaver Creek
This spring, fine arts and education come together
in honor of a lifelong Johnston schools supporter.
The family of Karen Coaldrake, a perennial
supporter of arts education and former Johnston
Board of Education member, is making sure her
legacy lives on through the Artists in the Schools
program. The Artists in the Schools program is a
partnership between the Johnston Community
School Foundation and the Johnston Community
School District. It was officially formed in the
summer of 2013. The program will be administered
by the district and the Foundation.
Artists Dave Losure and Mary Schaeffer-Losure will
visit each of the Johnston elementary schools with
the program “American Roots Music and Dance.”
Second through fifth graders will learn to play
different types of instruments alongside the artists’
string band. Students also learn dances, like
clogging and traditional American dancing, and the
origin of these dances. Students learn about sound
with different instruments, and will use their body
and everyday objects to create music. “We are
excited to bring the talents of the Losures to the
elementary students,” said Johnston Schools
Superintendent Clay Guthmiller. “The ‘American
Roots’ program is a great way to kick off the Artists
in the Schools series. Karen would have enjoyed
seeing the students’ interaction with the musicians.”
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The musical duo will be at Beaver Creek on May 6
Each grade level will have their own hour with the
Losures for learning and performing.
The Artists in the Schools program is devised to
utilize the arts to reinforce and expand basic
curriculum through exposure to performances,
hands-on workshops, and residencies with
professional artists. The program places
professional touring companies, actors, musicians,
visual artists, dancers, poets, and story tellers in the
schools.
Iowa Assessments Results 2014
Below you will find a brief summary of our building Iowa Assessment results, which were taken in February.
Individual student results were sent home with families in April. This is a test given to second through fifth grade
students every year, and the results of our third, fourth and fifth graders are reported to the Iowa Department of
Education. This was the third year of the current format of the Iowa Assessments, so we are able to do some
comparisons to the previous year’s results. Below you will find a chart of the percent of student proficient on the
Iowa assessments during the 2011-12 school year compared to the 2012-13 school year and the resulting
increase. Proficient performance is considered working at grade level or above. Our staff members are pleased to
see the increase in proficiency rates for students taking the test. Your child’s teacher or the Beaver Creek office
can answer more specific questions about our building performance and/or your child’s performance.
Content Area
Reading grades 3-5
Math grades 3-5
Science grades 3-5
2011-12 % proficient
90.6%
91.9%
92.6%
2012-13 % proficient
91.6%
94.9%
93.6%
2013-14 % proficient
91.8%
92.6%
95.9%