Dear Mr. MacDonald’s 1st Grade class:
[snip]
.
As per our email, we met with Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Kittleson to find out how all of us, as parents,
can help them. Our goal is to be the liaison between parents and Mr. MacDonald and coordinate
activities behind the scenes so that Mr. MacDonald can work his magic teaching our fantastic kids!
We would like to thank you in advance for all that you do.
Please note that much of this information has already been relayed in other formats, but we wanted you
to have a concise summary for future reference.
Correspondence: The majority of communication about the classroom will be done by email. Please
take a minute to read the e-mails so that you don’t miss some important news.
Lunch: (11:20-12:05) Students eat first and then go out to play on the playground. Parents are more
than welcome to eat lunch with their child—you may bring a lunch or buy hot lunch for $2.50. If your
child eats hot lunch, you can pay through mylunchmoney.com. Student lunches are $1.40. Note: you
need to know your child’s student ID # to add money to their account online. If you don’t know your
child’s ID #, you can get this information from one of the secretaries in the main office.
Specials: (2:00-2:45) except when noted
Monday – Art ( Danny Mey)
Tuesday – Gym (Hunter Brown) **Please make sure your child wears appropriate shoes for Gym**
Wednesday – Music (Corrilee Kilmeyer)
Thursday – Library (Gail Axt)
Friday – Art Studio (Danny Mey) at 10:30 – 11:15 and Electives 1:05 – 3:10
Adult Social/Potluck: Kevin and Ann Reidy (Diana’s parents) have graciously offered to host a 1st
grade social/potluck. This will be an adult only evening in late September or early October. More
information is forthcoming.
Classroom Volunteers: Parents will have the opportunity to sign up for a specific time/day slot at
Back to School Night. Additionally, please remember that if your schedule doesn’t allow you to sign
up for a regular helping time, Mr. MacDonald more than welcomes sporadic help as well!
Non-Classroom Volunteers: Many of you would rather not help in the classroom, work full time, or
have younger siblings that prohibit you from coming in to help in the classroom. The list below of
non-classroom volunteer positions allows you to help out at home or at school without being in the
classroom.

Thursday Folder Stuffer – parent comes in around the end of the school day on Thursdays
and stuffs Thursday Folders – SHAE PATNOE

Class Web Parent – parent will be in charge of constructing and updating the class’s web
page – DOUG PFLUGH

1st Grade Field Trip Coordinator – one parent to coordinate field trips for the 1st grade. The
person will need to make phone calls during the day to schedule trips, collect money for
excursions and find information for field trips. – LISA RUSCIOLELLI

1st Grade Special Snack Coordinator – this person will work with both teachers as well as
both snack parents for the week to coordinate a special snack for Thursday afternoons from
2:45 -3:30. During this “fresh eats for 1st grade” students will either make their own snack, try
new items, encourage healthy eating, etc. Note: this person will need to be available to help
in the classrooms on Thursday afternoons from 2:30-3:30. – HOPE

Scholastic Book Order Coordinator- one parent will oversee a monthly book order –
JESSICA ROGERS

Class Captain (formerly known as the SOS Asker) - one parent is responsible for working
with the Polaris Annual Fund to help solicit donations from class families – STILL NEEDED

Home Projects – parents are needed to do various blank books made for our writers, books
mended, cutting, labeling, sorting math homework pages, etc. – JULIE BERK, KIRSTEN
ALIX, HEIKE WINDOFF

Library Helpers – need 2-4 parents to help Ms. Axt in the library on Thursdays from 2:002:45. – STEPHANIE NUSSBAUMER, MARY SEAWELL, MARISSA HUDSON-ARNEY,
KATIE WEBER
Snack: You should have received an email from us with a link to sign up for at least one week of
snacks. We will publish the snack calendar on our class website. Please bring snacks for 4 out of your
5 days. Friday snacks will be the leftovers from the week. Items that need to be refrigerated can be
placed in the Library refrigerator (please label them “Mr. MacDonald’s.”) Please make sure your
snacks are nut free as we have several students in the 1st grade with nut allergies. If your son/daughter
has any additional allergies we would ask that you provide a separate snack stockpile to Mr.
MacDonald for your child. If items are not individually packaged, please make sure you that you
provide small cups so that snacks can be divided up easily. It is helpful for items to be ready to eat, no
preparation necessary (i.e. cutting, heating, etc.) Some suggestions:

cheese sticks, yogurt, apples, grapes, bananas, oranges, dried fruit, carrots, snap peas, graham crackers,
pretzels, etc.
Staff Appreciation Lunch: Each grade level will host one Staff Appreciation Lunch throughout the
year. This lunch is a great way for each grade level to personally thank our wonderful staff and show
them how much we adore them. The 1st Grade Staff Appreciation Lunch is Wednesday, April 18th.
1st Grade Sponsored Community Event: In order to continue to build our community through
school functions and boost volunteerism, the PTO has asked each grade level to help host one
community event for Polaris. While the entire community will be able to help with any event they
would like, the majority of the staffing for the event will fall to the grade level that it is assigned to.
The goal of this system is two fold, one to build our community by parents of children who are in
classes together working side by side to host a specific event and second to boost overall volunteerism
by asking each grade level to take responsibility for staffing one event. The 1st grade sponsored
community event will be the Grandparents’ Open House on Friday, November 18th. Please note that
we are NOT responsible for coordinating the event, just staffing.
.
Holidays/Field Trips: More information regarding each holiday activity and field trip will be
forthcoming as each event approaches. Parental help with activities and/or help with special
snacks/food will be needed. Below is a tentative list of holiday celebrations and field trips. Please
note that additionally celebrations (such as poetry readings) will be added and all dates are tentative.
Additionally, around the holidays, you are more than welcome to come in and share a tradition with the
class.
Tentative Dates for Holiday Celebrations:
 Halloween – Thursday, Oct. 27th
 Winter Solstice Celebration – Friday, Dec. 16th
 Valentine’s Day – Tuesday, Feb. 14th
 Australian Bar-B-Que – Friday, March 23rd
 End of the Year Luau – Friday, May 25th
Tentative 1st Grade Field Trips:
 SPREE – Tuesday, Sept. 6th
 Dinosaur Ridge and Morrison Natural History Museum – Date TBD
 Museum of Nature and Science (Dinosaur Exhibit) – Date TBD
 Zoo (Amazing Australia Class) – Date TBD
 Arvada Center (How I Became a Pirate) – Wednesday, Feb. 22nd
Birthday celebrations: You are welcome to come in and celebrate your child’s birthday. Mr.
MacDonald likes to celebrate birthdays at the end of the day around 2:45-3:00. If you would like to
bring in special treats to share, please either drop off the special treat in the morning or plan to bring it
in around 2:45. Please note that on elective Fridays this can be challenging, so please talk with Mr.
MacDonald about arranging a time. If you did not sign up for snack on your child’s birthday week,
please contact the person who signed up for that week so not to duplicate snack that day.
Parent/Teacher Conferences: Conferences will be held the week of October 24th. On-line sign-up is
forthcoming.
Class gifts: We will be happy to organize holiday and end of the year gifts for Mr. MacDonald and
Ms. Darrah if you are interested in donating for the purchase of the gifts.
The best way to communicate with Mr. MacDonald is email. His address is
Patrick_MacDonald@dpsk12.org. In the event of an emergency or urgent message, please call the
office and ask that they deliver the message to Mr. MacDonald. The school number is 720-424-7860.
We look forward to a fantastic year together! Please don’t hesitate to email or call us.
Sherry Beardshear
sherrybeardshear@hotmail.com
H: 303-293-2780
C: 720-273-2345
Hope
H: 303-321-8118
C: 303-638-2718