September 2017

This week, film crews were at Cherry Creek to shoot scenes for a new TV series, Yellowstone. The series is written and executive produced by Oscar-nominated Taylor Sheridan, and will star Kevin Costner. Costner wasn't involved in the scenes being filmed at our school, but it was exciting to see the North gym and one of our empty classrooms get set up as a film set. The show follows the experiences of John Dutton (Costner) who owns the largest ranch in the United States, and the legal, political, and cultural struggles that come along with living on America's frontier.

Last year, Noah Jones came to school with some marbles. I proceeded to tell him all of my memories of playing marbles as a kid. His grandpa had given him some cool marbles, so I told him I'd bring some marbles and play him a game or two. It all snowballed from there. More kids brought marbles to play with. Now there are quite a few of my students who play marbles every day at recess. I love playing marbles with my students. It gets them excited about having fun and playing with students they might not normally play with. It's a timeless game spanning the ages.

Fifth graders have been learning about Native Americans in class and got to enjoy a special presentation from Mrs. Beyal last week. We learned that there is a lot of Native American influence in Utah and our American History. A lot of our food, vocabulary, herbs, and games have Native American roots. The students also learned about diversity and race, and how one color of skin is no better than another.

Can you guess which of the following things were influenced by Native Americans?

A. The Constitution of the United States

B. Lacrosse and Hockey

The first graders kicked off the first week of school by earning "Magic Beads" for making good choices, following rules, being kind, etc. Each bead they earned was threaded onto a pipe cleaner that was taped to their desk. On Friday we turned those pipe cleaners with beads into bracelets and talked about what it was that we thought made them so magical! Some of their ideas were: they glow in the dark, they change color with hot/cold water, and they can do things you tell them to do! We tried all of their suggestions, but nothing worked....until we walked outside!

Congratulations to Mrs. Finch, who received the district's PEAK award last night at the school board meeting! This award is given to those who have made a significant difference in their school by showing kindness and a positive attitude. She was nominated by Mrs. Sumsion and Mrs. Peck. Here's what they had to say about Mrs. Finch:

Cherry Creek PTA is so excited to announce our School Carnival and Fundraiser! This is our biggest carnival yet and believe me you do not want to miss it!!!

 Friday, September 22nd from 5:00-8:00 PM

 Please come, have dinner, treats and enjoy a fun evening out with your family.  

Guided math is in full swing in Mrs. Braithwaite's first grade!  They have been working on this goal since day one and they finally reached their goal of doing all 4 rotations.  These first graders in her class are pros at subitizing, tally marks, math apps on the ipads, and recognizing numbers and counting to 20.  First grade rocks and so do these smart firsties!

Ms. David's third grade students have been learning about addition and regrouping this week. They learned a song and came up with their own hand gestures to help them remember the steps of completing a regrouping problem. Later, they will learn other parts of the song to help with other regrouping problems. Check out the video of the song on our facebook page Cherry Creek Elementary. Way to make learning fun, Ms. David!

Yesterday's WIG assembly featured several teachers strutting down the red carpet wearing hilarious wigs. But this assembly was really about introducing this year's wildly important goals for the whole school. The first WIG is for the entire school to collectively move up 1,800 reading levels. The second WIG is for all students to be in their classroom by 9:00 90% of the time. This will take extra help from parents to make sure that kids get out the door on time. The rewards for reaching the reading WIG is that the kids will have a water party at the end of the year.