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 25

February 23, 2015

Important Dates

Feb.23-Feb. 27|Penny War

Feb. 23-Feb. 27|Last week for Schools on the Move Challenge. Activity Log due March 4th.

Feb. 24|New Kindergarten Parent Orientation,6:30 p.m.

Feb. 24|Character Assembly

Feb. 25|"Teaching Children To Think" lecture by founding parent, Randy Everett, 6:30 p.m., LCHS

Feb. 27|Liberty T-Shirt Day

Feb. 27|Box Tops Spring Submission Deadline

March 6|Group Pictures

March 6|End of 3rd Quarter

March 9|Jr. High Track Mtg.,(Grades 6th-8th) 6:30, LCS

March 9|Jr. High Girls Soccer Practice Begins, 3:30,LCS Everett Field

March 13|6th graders to Liberty Common High School (All Day)6th graders will return to LCS by 2:30

March 16-20|Spring Break, NO SCHOOL

March 23|Jr. High Track Practice Begins

March 25|LCS Grandparents Luncheon at C.B.&Potts

March 26|BOD Mtg., 6:00 p.m.

March 27|Liberty T-Shirt Day

March 27|Liberty's Spring Lecture, Daniel T. Willingham, 6:30-8:00 p.m., Liberty Common School

March 30|Liberty Common Information Night,
6:30 p.m.

Lost and Found Overflowing

Our Lost and Found is overflowing with jacket, coats, hats, shoes, musical instruments, lunch boxes and water bottles. We even have items from our storage shed near the track. Please take a moment and visit the Lost and Found and claim your students' missing items. All items not claimed by Friday, February 27th. will be given to charity.

Teaching Children to Think

Liberty founder Dr. Randy Everett will discuss Liberty's "Thinking Framework" strategy at a special parent lecture on Wednesday, February 25th at 6:30PM. All Liberty parents are urged to attend.

All Liberty parents of students K - 12, are encouraged to attend a special lecture entitled, "Teaching Children to Think" on Wednesday, February 25th at 6:30pm in the LCHS Great Hall. Organized by Liberty's Parent-Education Subcommittee, the featured speaker is Liberty founder Dr. Randy Everett who will help parents better understand the school's "Thinking Framework" strategy.

This method is used in curriculum development, lesson planning and classroom content delivery. This classical framework was articulated by Liberty's founders when the school's predecessor school first opened in 1993. CLICK HERE for more information about Liberty's history. The Thinking Framework has been perfected by Liberty faculty over the years. In an important effort to help parents more fully understand Liberty's philosophy and academic tactics - and to better reinforce teaching strategies at home - Liberty's Board of Directors strongly encourages parents to attend this lecture. Together, we can do a better job teaching our children to think.

Penny War Collection Going to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

LCS Student Council is sponsoring our Annual Penny War, Feb. 23-Feb. 27, with money collected going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

We will NOT accept money after lunch, on 2/27/15.

Rules of the Penny War:

-Pennies add to your class's total. Silver coins subtract from other class's totals.

-The kids are not to go door-to-door collecting pennies.

-The winning class gets a Pasta Party from Olive Garden.

Core Knowledge Advocate, Professor and Author Coming to Liberty Common School. Buy Your Tickets Now.

Liberty Common School is excited to host a talk by

Daniel T. Willingham on March 27^th at 6:30 pm. Daniel T. Willingham, a professor and author from University of Virginia, is an advocate of the Core Knowledge Curriculum and teaching our students content to comprehend the literature they read.

Dr. Willingham has worked closely with ED Hirsch to cognitively explain why and how what we do works. He will be discussing literacy and what we can do as parents and educators to make sure our students are reading. Dr. Willingham does an incredible job of making the cognitive sciences accessible to all participants.

Tickets are on sale now at

http://libertycommon.ticketleap.com/daniel-t-willingham/

We will have Dr. Willingham's new book, Raising Kids Who Read What Parents and Teachers Can Do, for sale and book signing after the presentation. In Raising Kids, Willingham explains this phenomenon and provides practical solutions for engendering a love of reading that lasts into adulthood.

Watch Daniel Willingham's short video, (click on below) describing why content knowledge is essential to reading with comprehension and why teaching reading strategies alone is not sufficient.

Teaching Content Is Teaching Reading

We hope you can all make it to this educational evening.

Box Tops Deadline-Feb. 27th

$2083.90. That was the total for the Box Tops fall check! Way to go liberty families! Thank you so much for all your clipping, bagging, shopping, and bundling. Every little bit sure ads up to a lot!

Did you know Box Tops sends two checks a year? One in the fall and one in the spring. The deadline for the spring check is fast approaching. For your Box Tops to be counted we will need them by the 27^th of February. All Box Tops submitted after the 27^thwill be on next year's fall check. Please check your drawers, cabinets, and pantry's. Oh, and if you have a few minutes, the expiration dates. It sure speeds up the counting and sorting process. Every little bit helps!

Your Box Top Parent Volunteers,

Becca Miller, and Jeanne-Marie Siegfried

In This Issue

Important Dates

Please Check Lost and Found

Teaching Children to Think

Penny War

Lecture Coming to Liberty

King Soopers Gift Cards

Volunteer Webpage

Important CMAS Testing Schedules

Liberty's Spring Gala

Donating to Liberty

News from the Athletic Director, Dan Knab

Summer Enrichment Camps

Grandparents Luncheon

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.

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

March 26, 2015
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.

Liberty Continues to Shine

LCS and LCHS won the national "School Choice Leadership Award 2015" for its advocacy of choice in education. Showing off the certificate are Liberty 6th graders Sunny Taylor (left) and Elizabeth Skalicky (right). Why do these 6th graders get to appear holding the high-school award? 1) They're excited to attend LCHS next year as 7th graders. 2) They love school choice. 3) They happened to be at LCHS last week waiting in the cold for their carpool when the certificate arrived. 4) Come on! Who wouldn't want to have their smiling faces published in today's LCS and LCHS Monday Notes newsletters?

Keep Using King Soopers Gift Cards

Next goal:

Thank you

Liberty Common families,

keep using the cards!

You make a difference.

Questions or Suggestions?

LCSGiftCards@gmail.com

Extra gift cards in the front offices

Volunteer Webpage

Check out Liberty's new and improved volunteer webpage. This is your all access page to the many ways you can get involved and volunteer at Liberty. The page will be kept up to date with immediate needs in the school as well as links to information about ways to get involved in...

- The Classroom

- At School

- Specials Help

- Fundraising and Special Events

- Extra Curricular Activities

CLICK HERE to access this great new addition to our website.

Very Important Information: 2015 Liberty Common CMAS Testing Schedules

Liberty's participation in the State of Colorado's standardized testing begins soon.

Only 3rd-6th graders will be taking the tests. Attending school during these days is of utmost importance and we greatly appreciate your support. Please do not plan any vacations or medical/dental appointments on testing days. CLICK HERE to view the schedules. Be sure to scroll thru the entire document to know when your student will be testing. Thank you.

Join Us for Liberty's Annual Spring Gala!

Mark your calendars for this year's premier fund-raising event. Liberty's Annual Spring Gala is Friday, April 10th at 6pm at the Embassy Suites, Loveland. Join us for an exciting evening filled with laughter, camaraderie and Eagles' Pride!

The Gala will feature a wonderful Silent Auction, Dessert Auction, Teacher Treasures Auction and fun-filled Live Auction. We will have many fabulous items on which you can bid:

A Year of Premier Reserved Parking Spots at LCS and LCHS
Precious handmade art pieces created by Liberty's kids
Time-saving Class Baskets

Spring Gala Invitations are in the mail. Register prior to Wednesday, March 13th to take advantage of lower-priced tickets and ensure your reservation. Let's make this year's event our biggest yet.

Spring Gala Auction Donations Needed

Do you own or work for a business that could donate items or services that could be auctioned? Perhaps you have sporting event tickets or a vacation rental you can donate? Maybe some artwork or new digital gadgets? Perhaps a gift card to a local business? All donations are appreciated.

Donor Drop Box

As a tuition-free, public-charter school, Liberty receives less funding from the Poudre School District than do regular public schools. To help Liberty remain the best school around, we rely upon free-will contributions from parents, grandparents, and alumni; and upon the generosity of community members who support Liberty's innovative brand of high-quality classical education.

This week, the Liberty Board of Directors, the school administration, faculty, and staff extend sincere thanks and humble gratitude for the following recent contributors:

Gayle & Burt Rhea, Ann Niemann, Clark Diedrich, Valerie & Mike Jacomet, Leanne Ommen, Joan Molenaar, Corrine & Richard Lagowski, Vinnie & Robert Birdwell, Diane & Scott Jones, Scarlett & Wayne Reimer, Margie & Don Gettman, Gwen Pedersen, Shirley & John Grimm, Marian Goodrich, Linda & Fred Schissler, Kathleen & Tom Allen, Vicki & Keith Stroud, Kathy & Keith Churchill, Mrs. B. Puerckhauer, Janice & Jerry Bellows, Jo Ann & Walter Gollwitzer, Arla & Dale Kopren, Carole & Bill Nickell, Darlene Koehn, Leo Oberto, and

Pete Oberto.

Your generosity and thoughtful support of Liberty Common School give to our students academic advantages they would not otherwise enjoy. Thank you for your leadership in public-education reform, and specifically toward achieving Liberty Common School's ongoing mission of academic excellence and fairness.

All donations to Liberty Common School are tax deductible (Federal non-profit ID # 84-1404585). To volunteer on the Liberty Fundraising Committee CLICK HERE. To volunteer on the Liberty Grants Committee CLICK HERE. To volunteer for the annual Liberty Spring Gala fundraiser event (Friday, April 10th, 2015 at the Embassy Suites in Loveland) CLICK HERE. To make an online donation CLICK HERE. For more information about contributing to Liberty Common School, please CLICK HERE to visit the "Support Liberty" options at the school's website.

News from the Athletic Director, Dan Knab

This Week in Jr.-High Girls Basketball:
2/23 4pm Home vs. Ridgeview
2/26 4pm Home vs. Knowledge Quest (1st Round Playoffs)

Jr.-High Girls Soccer

The team's first practice is on March 9th at 3:30pm on the soccer field at the elementary school. Stay tuned for information on the parent meeting.

Jr.-High Track

The team's first practice is on March 23rd at 3:30pm starting in the gym and then moving on to the track. Parent meeting will be on March 9th at 6:30pm in the elementary gym. (Athletic Packet due date is March 13th)

CLICK HERE to download the Athletic Packet. Fill out and turn in with a copy of a Physical and a check for $80.00 The Athletic Packet and Physical needs to be turned in only once per year. After the Athletic Packet is turned in to Mrs. Ronen, in the Front Office, a Blue Card will be issued. The student will give the Blue Card to the respective coach on the first day of practice.

Summer Math and Reading Camps and Individualized Tutoring Coming to Liberty. Plan and Register Now

Research at Liberty Common School has shown that a whole summer without regular math and reading practice can cause a HUGE drop in reading levels and fluency and a drop in math testing and grades.

To combat this trend, Liberty Common School is offering summer Reading and Math Camps and individual tutoring of students entering grades 1st-6th. Space is limited, so register now!

Click Here for Reading Camp Information and Registration Form.
Click Here for Math Camp Information and Registration Form.
Click Here for Individualized Tutoring Information and Registration Form.

Grandparents Luncheon March 25th

Liberty Common grandparents are invited to our spring luncheon on Wednesday, March 25th, at 11:30 a.m. at C.B. & Potts on Horsetooth Rd. Our special guests are students currently in the sixth and twelfth grades. We will get to hear about their experiences as Liberty Common students and their aspirations for the future. It is inspiring, heartwarming and fun to visit with and hear from students and their principals. Clear your calendar, and watch for information about reservations - coming soon.