The Eagle's Nest

Liberty

Common

Elementary

School

Common Knowledge, Common Virtues, Common Sense
A National Charter School of the Year, A Nationally Recognized Blue Ribbon School,
A Certified Official Core Knowledge Site School, A John Irwin School of Excellence ,
A Gilder Lehrman Affliate School

Volume 18 Issue 13

November 17, 2014

What's Happening at LCS

Nov. 20    |BOD Mtg., 6:00 p.m.
Nov. 21 |Liberty T-Shirt Day
Nov. 24    |Grandparents Day for M/W Kindergarteners'
   Grandparents-8-10 a.m. Event begins in           foyer, inside Liberty's Front Entrance
Nov. 25    |Grandparents Day
                 8:30-11 a.m., at LCS for grades K-6
   12:30-3:30 p.m., at LCHS for grades 7-12

Nov. 26-28|Thanksgiving Break, No School
Dec. 2      |Kindergarten Concert, 6:30 p.m.
Dec. 12    |Free Dress Day
Dec. 15    |5th and 6th Gr. Band Concert, 6:30 p.m.

Job Opening:Liberty Common School

Family and Friends,

Liberty Common School is currently hiring for a AST(Academic Support Team) Paraprofessional. If you or anyone you know of is interested in this position, please send them the link below.

http://www.libertycommon.org/k-6-school/staff/job-openings/

Results of LCS 2014 Can Food Drive

Liberty Common students went above and beyond demonstrating amazing citizenship during the Annual LCS Food Drive. Meeting their goal by collecting 3214 non perishable items, students earned a Free Dress Day.

Food collected was given to Foster and Adoptive Parent Association of Larimer County and the Larimer County Food Bank. Thank you to all who participated.

Attention Parents of Incoming Kindergarteners

If your child is a sibling of a student currently enrolled in Liberty, and will be attending kindergarten in the 2015-2016 school year, please make sure that they are on the sibling waiting list. We will begin running the lottery for the general public on January 26, 2015.
Please contact Julie Russell, LCS Registrar at 482-9800, ext. 3114, to get on the list.

LCS Running Club Participates in Veterans 5k Held at CSU

Liberty Road Runners started on September 15th and went until November 8th. They ran twice a week for 8 weeks, and ended with the CSU Veteran's 5k on November 8th.

Training on the Environmental Learning Center trails

Conclusion of the 2014 Liberty Road Runners Season at CSU Veteran's 5K . Elissa Hersh (4th grade teacher) and Bri Schupp (5th grade teacher) coordinate the running club.

Spring Gala 2015-Save the Date!

We want you to attend this year's Liberty Annual Spring Gala! Please mark your calendars so you don't miss this spectacular event!

The Spring Gala will be held on Friday, April 10^th, 2015 at the Embassy Suites in Loveland and we hope to see you there!

Check out all the fun photo booth photos from Gala 2014 by Clicking Here!

Gala 2015 Committee

Ready for Volunteers and Book Donations

The Gala 2015 committee needs your gently used Reading List books to help raise funds for the school. To donate your books, leave them in the drop boxes located near the front office and back doors to the school.

Pink Bags are back! Gala planning and preparations are underway, and we've filled pink bags with projects that are simple to complete. Most of the projects can be done at home. All the supplies and instructions are included in each bag. Many hands make light work! Visit the front office to check out your Pink Bag Project today!

Sign-up to be a WATCH D.O.G

WatchD.O.G. dad, John Carter, participates in Christopher Columbus Day activities in Mrs. Trout's M/W class.

WATCH D.O.G.S. is an innovative father involvement, educational initiative of the National Center for Fathering . It began in 1998 in Springdale, AR and has since grown into a nationally recognized program that has brought hundreds of thousands of fathers and father figures into our nation's classrooms and hallways.

The WATCH D.O.G.S. program provides many benefits for our children and our school:

Students win because the father and father-figures give their time and energy as a positive role model.

Fathers, father-figures and grandfathers get a glimpse of their student's everyday school life.
Liberty gains another set of eyes and helping hands for the day.
Fathers, father-figures and grandfathers gain an awareness of the positive impact they can have in their student's lives.

CLICK HERE to learn more and become a part of the Liberty WATCH D.O.G.S. program.

In This Issue

What's Happening at LCS

Job Opening

Results of Can Food Drive

Incoming Kindergarteners

LCS Running Club

Save the Date for Spring Gala

Forensics Team Update

Principal Writing by Casey Churchill

Pick-up and Parking Requests

Contact Us

Liberty Common School

1725 Sharp Point Drive

Fort Collins, CO 80525

Phone: 970-482-9800

Fax: 970-482-8007

Office Hours: 7:50-4:00 p.m.

In an effort to keep students safe during drop-off and pick-up times, please refrain from using cell phones. The front, middle and back drop-off and pick-up areas are designated NO CELL PHONE AREAS.

Please call our attendance line by 8:30 a.m. if your child will not be attending school due to illness, appointment or is out of town. 482-9800, option 2, please call by 8:30 a.m.

If you need to take your child to an appointment during school hours, please come to the Front Office, sign them out and we will call them out of class.

All students who arrive after 8:00 a.m. must be signed in at the Front Office. It is important that a reason be included on the sign-in sheet.

If your student is ill and you want any/all homework, please contact the teacher by email as early as possible and homework will be available after 3:00 p.m. in the office.

If you have any questions about these policies please contact Mrs. Ronen at jronen@libertycommon.org

Healthcare Reminder

If your student is sick with a fever of 100 degrees or higher or is throwing up or has diarrhea, he or she is NOT ALLOWED to attend school. Your child may return to school if they are not throwing up or fever-free(WITHOUT FEVER REDUCING MEDICINE) for 24 hours.

Board of Directors

Sarvjit Gill 227-4202

Joel Goeltl 593-8556
Paulette Hansen 282-8455

Jeff Webb 545-9636

Bill Werst 631-8379

Denise Benz 420-4184

John Rohrbaugh 225-2259
You may contact all members of our Board of Directors at

BOD@libertycommon.org

Board of Directors Meeting

Nov. 20, 2014
6:00 p.m.

Teacher's Lounge
Liberty Common School
1725 Sharp Point Dr.

Quiet Zone

Please remember that the front office is an office of business and the use of cell phones is prohibited. We also ask that conversations be kept to a minimum so that front office staff can provide quality customer service to students, staff members and other parents. Thank you.

Big Thank You to Odyssey of the Mind Volunteer Coaches

Liberty Common Parents,

Jenny McElwain and

Jason Novak have volunteered to coach this year's two Odyssey of the Mind teams. Without these parent volunteers, Liberty students would not be able to participate in Odyssey of the Mind. Thank you Jenny and Jason and good luck!

Forensics Team Update

On Friday, November 7th, several junior high team members competed in the Puma Pride Invitational at Preston Middle School.

Alyssa Mayer and Anne Bader were the first students in Liberty Common history to represent the school in a Public Forum Debate competition! Liberty also had an impressive showing in the competitive Duo Interpretation event, with Katie Knab(6th-Canfield) and Sunny Taylor (6th-Canfield) earning 5th place ribbons! Great job team!

Learning from the Masters

by: Casey Churchill, LCS Principal

It is interesting how many of us look to our parents as heroes. Growing up I looked to my mother and father as indestructible super heroes able to solve any problem. And they kind of did. It is human nature to look to the eldest since they are the wisest through their extensive experience, perseverance, and knowledge.

This year is our 4th annual Grandparents Day. We all look forward to this time of year when Liberty invites all Grandparents to our school so they can pull up a chair and learn all the great things we are doing here at this amazing school. There is no better way to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday than to spend time with our Grandparents.

One of the things I do each year when addressing our grandparents, is thank them for instilling the importance of an incredible education when raising their children (you). Here at Liberty, we operate under the principle that it is the parent's right and responsibility to direct the education and upbringing of their children. Every time Mr. Schaffer and I host a public information night, we congratulate perspective parents for learning about an education that meets the needs of their child. For many of you, this all started with your parents, the masters.

Grandparents have so much to offer. They epitomize family. So many of us travel far to reunite with relatives during the holidays. The simple function of being with family to catch up on recent happenings is important to the development of our children. These gatherings provide a time for our kids to share all the incredible things they are learning in the Core Knowledge Curriculum. Students can practice the vocabulary words and show all that they know to these masters of education.

We are fortunate to have a day like Grandparent's Day. The teachers and students in every classroom have prepared some sort of activity to engage our students not only on an academic level but also on a family level. Liberty values our families and all that they represent. November 25th is a great day for our kids to learn from the masters themselves.

Here is the schedule for the day...

Elementary School Parking Map: Click here

Elementary Agenda:

8:30am - Breakfast buffet and seating

8:50am - Presentation begins:

Student Council

Kindergarten Performance

Cub Scouts lead Flag Ceremony and National Anthem

Choir and Band Performances

Speaker: Mr. Churchill - Liberty Common Principal

9:50-11:00 Dismissals to Grandchildrens' classrooms

High School Agenda:

12:30-1:30 Presentation and snacks in the Great Hall

1:30-3:15 Join Grandchildren in classes

Pick Up and Parking Requests

Please help us improve the efficiency for the end of the day pick up by making sure your children know where to meet you. The front office has recently seen a big increase in having to make announcements to match up kids with carpools. We would appreciate your support in discussing in detail when and where to meet at the end of the day so that all students can get to their cars in a safe and timely manner. Please make sure to discuss this with all children in carpools so they know where to meet at the end of the day.

In addition, due to high traffic volume during morning and afternoon drop off and pick up, please follow the below parking procedures. Help Liberty be good neighbors and keep our students safe by following these parking rules.

Sign Up Genius for Grandparents Day 2014

Liberty Common families and grandparents who have attended previous

Grandparents Day events and filled-out informational table cards at those

events should have received their invitations for Grandparents Day 2014.

This portion of the newsletter is also a reminder and 'save the date' notice for those families who may have family coming from out of town and would like them to attend!

If you do not receive an invitation, please visit our Grandparents Day Webpage as an open invitation to all grandparents of Liberty Common students.

Please read the content of the page for lots of information about the day and check the FAQ section to see if your questions can be answered there.

Parental families of Liberty Common students who receive an invitation should

share the invitation with their childrens' grandparents if they have not been able

to add their addresses to our Grandparents Day mailing list.

We ask that if grandparents cannot attend, parents do not come in their place.

We do not have the capacity to host every parent plus grandparents. Please

allow this to be a special day for grandparents and grandchildren.

Grandparents Day 2014 promises to be the best event yet! At the elementary

school, grandparents will be treated to a fantastic, home made breakfast that

is a recipe of a fellow Liberty Common grandparent, as well as performances

by students, and a chance to visit their grandchildren's classrooms, meet the

wonderful Liberty Common teachers, and get a grand tour of the fantastic

school given with pride by their own grandchildren.

At the secondary school, grandparents will be treated to some afternoon

snacks and performances by the amazingly talented students as well as get

to tour of the newly expanded, beautiful building and classrooms as well as

experience some interaction with the amazing teachers at this exceptional

educational institution.

Grandparents who are able to attend should not miss this wonderful experience

to spend a wonderful morning and/or afternoon with their bright, excited, and

proud grandchildren. Liberty Common staff, teachers, administration, the

Grandparents Day Planning Committee and all of the students look forward to

hosting people who are so special to the lives of the Liberty kids!

This event cannot exist without the support of parent volunteers. The Grandparents Day Planning Committee is still seeking volunteers to help the evening before the event beginning at 5pm in the elementary gym to set up seating, tables, and decor. Also needed are volunteers to help the day of the event anywhere from 7am am to 11:00am. The high school is seeking volunteers to help from noon until 3:30pm.

If you would be interested in helping make this wonderful, unique event a smooth

success, please use this SignUp Genius page to secure your spot!

CLICK HERE to volunteer, CLICK HERE to donate.

If you have any questions about volunteering for the event, contact Erin Mihulka

via email at coolfam@q.com