The Eagle's Nest
Eagle Mosaic
  

 

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 26                                                                      
March 2, 2015
Important Dates
March 6|Group Pictures

March 6|End of 3rd Quarter

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

March 10|April Lunch Calendars Due 

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, 11:30

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.


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. 
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 27th 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 

 

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
Teaching Content Is Teaching Reading

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

 
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Benefit From Liberty Students' Display of Citizenship and Generosity
Liberty staff loads all the pennies collected to the bank to be counted.
Congratulations are in order for all Liberty Common Students. 
We raised $4,028.00 through our Student Council sponsored Penny's for Pasta Penny Drive.  This is $790 more than our last years total of $3,238.005th grade came in first place with $93.00, so they will receive a pasta party in their classroom.  Great work to all.  What a great way to demonstrate our Foundation Stones here at Liberty.

   

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.

 

LCS 5th Grader Finalist in Elk's Essay Contest
Sydney Reinke,(5th) was chosen as one of three finalists for the Elk's Essay Contest.  The fifth grade contestants from across Fort Collins wrote an essay on "What The Pledge of Allegiance Means To Me."  She will attend a reception on March 4th at the Elks Lodge where she will learn the placement of the finalists. Sydney, Liberty Common is proud of you!  Good Luck. 

Essential oils growing in popularity


Currently essential oils fall in line with the all other topical medications and cannot be administered at school without a doctors release form and are to be stored in the health office. If you have questions please feel free to contact the health office @ extension 3113.

   

In This Issue
Contact Us
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
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.

Job Openings at LCS

Dear Parents,

 

Liberty will begin hiring for upcoming 2015-2016 positions starting in April.  We could use your help.  Please spread the word to anyone you know that would be a good fit for Liberty.  Here is a link to our website listing all available positions.

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

 

Sincerely,

Liberty Administration


Keep Using King Soopers Gift Cards

Next goal:



Thank you
Liberty Common families,
keep using the cards!
You make a difference.
Questions or Suggestions?
Extra gift cards in the front offices
Liberty T-Shirt Day

 March 27, 2015
Open Wallets.  It's Spring Gala Time.
By:  Bob Schaffer, LCHS Principal

Every Liberty parent, grandparent, alumni, founder, friend, employee, and former Liberty

"Are your parents going to the Spring Gala? I'm pretty sure mine are." Official Spring Gala invitations have arrived, and all students are expecting their parents to attend this year. Students have been reading the invitations and passing them around during lunchtime.  

parent ought to attend this year's Liberty Annual Spring Gala - Friday, April 10th, 2015 from 6:00 to 11:00PM, at The Embassy Suites hotel near I-25 and Crossroads Blvd in Loveland.  

 
Invitations have been mailed. You should have received yours. The RSVP deadline is less than two weeks away - Friday, March 13th. There's a 1920s "flapper-girl" kind of theme this year. Questions: Call (970) 219-4374.

 

Liberty parents posing for the Braces U "Grincam" at last year's Spring Gala. 

This is the big, annual event that brings everyone together for fun, food, socializing, fundraising, and more fun. It's too good to miss, so please don't - and please plan on staying to the end when the best things occur.

 

The fundraising aspect of the Spring Gala is more than important. It's critical. In fact, the school's budget depends on it. Here's why.

 

Charter schools in the Poudre School District (Liberty Common is one of those) receive about 85% of the funding received by regular public schools. At Liberty, we make up the difference first through operational efficiency; secondly through fundraising.

 

Passing the hat among Liberty parents has allowed us to buy and do things we could frankly do without - but shouldn't. Think of our fleet of school buses, sports programs, science equipment, art supplies, freshly painted walls, high-speed Internet, sound equipment, landscaping, fieldtrips, and occasional teacher bonuses.

 

Among this year's Spring Gala goals is to buy a security system for both campuses.
These are the kinds of things we are only able to do because of parent donations. This year, our targeted project is a security-camera system at both campuses.   

 
It's true we've never had a malicious intruder at either school, which is a great thing; but our record of good fortune shouldn't be a function of luck. Prices on equipment are coming down to purchase points that are still expensive for coverage of two school buildings, yet reasonable enough for us to propose pitching in for a good system.

 

Hopefully, the desirability of security cameras and improved building-access control is obvious enough to everyone. What might not be obvious are the reasons the Spring Gala should be on everyone's calendar, and why getting your RSVPs in right away is important.

 

The Gala is win-win for everyone who attends. Parents volunteering on the Spring Gala Committee (mostly moms) have spent the past several months hitting up the Fort Collins community for spectacular event donations.

 

Attendees will go home with vacations, services, spectacular merchandise, and more. As proof, I offer personal examples.

 

Mr. Schaffer can see again (without eyeglasses), thanks to the Liberty Spring Gala. It's like a miracle, but with lasers.
Do you remember I used to wear eyeglasses? I wore them for about 30 years - until I bought a $4,000 Lasik eye-correction procedure at a Spring Gala silent auction for pennies on the dollar.

  

I put in a low bid assuming I would be well outdone by the end of the evening. Apparently, no one else wanted eye surgery that year. Timidly, I wasn't too sure I did either. But I won. I saved a fortune, wrote a nice check to Liberty, and am now ecstatic I haven't worn eyeglasses ever since. What a deal.

 

At the next year's Spring Gala, I bought a Chilean ethnic dinner for ten prepared by LCHS's own Chilean immigrant and Spanish instructor Mrs. Paulina Deitrick and her husband. A few months later, a bunch of friends enjoyed the memorable, fantastic, summertime feast on the Schaffer back porch, along with the pleasant company of the Deitricks.

 

To describe the soir�e as worth every penny would be an understatement. I think  

paid about $600 for that in the live auction. Proceeds went directly to the operation of our school. It was a bargain on my end, a wonderfully happy contribution on Paulina's end, and a huge benefit for Liberty students. Separately, I won a Liberty sweatshirt that year, too.

 

Count on thousands of these kinds of bargains and opportunities - at every conceivable price level - at this year's Spring Gala; plus dinner, plus great margaritas, plus cheerful company, plus Liberty's now-famous "paddle call" which is a free-will offering that makes nearly everyone cry with pride.

 

Here's my final appeal for you to attend the Spring Gala:  Research shows that being a

Research shows that being a tightwad makes you lose sleep, age prematurely and become grumpy. So improve your mental health like these Liberty parents did at last year's Liberty Spring Gala.
tightwad is not good for your sanity. Really. CLICK HERE to read a Kiplinger's article entitled "Tightwads and Spendthrifts."

 

So, loosen up tightwads. Attending this year's Liberty Spring Gala is good for the school, good for our students, and even better for everyone's mental health.

 

 

Board of Directors Update: Academic Support, Strategic Plan and March Board Agenda
By: Paulette Hansen, member of Liberty Common BOD

The Board of Directors received an impressive presentation from the Academic Support Team (AST). In addition to the incredible support they provide to individual students, the High School has a new website page that provides resources for ALL students. The link to the site is https://sites.google.com/a/libertycommon.org/ast-liberty101/home. The site provides strategies for all students in note-taking, planner organization, study skills, technology resources and much more. Please check it out!

 

A modified strategic plan was also discussed which had been revised and condensed to include the components of academics/curriculum, leadership, teaching, financial stability, facilities, and community/student life. It outlines how the Board will operate and our measures of success. The plan sets the strategic priorities for the next 3 - 10 years, with facilities being the longest time horizon Over the next few months, we will update and approve this revised strategic plan.


We invite you to attend our next meeting, March 26th at Liberty Common Elementary School. The 2015-2016 budget, parent survey results, and requiring Latin for all 8thgraders will be discussed. As always, public comment is scheduled for 8pm. I hope you will join us.

Paulette Hansen, Board of Directors

 


Join Us for Liberty's Annual Spring Gala!

 

 

Join us Friday, April 10th from 6-11pm for our night of fun and celebration! This year's event will be held at the Embassy Suites in Loveland.


The Gala is important to Liberty and great fun!  Join the excitement and buy your tickets today!
Purchase your tickets by Friday, March 13th.
 

The Spring Gala is an exciting and important fundraiser for Liberty each year! Charter schools receive only 85% of the funding of traditional public schools, so please show LCS your support by attending the Spring Gala this year.

 

Enjoy time with Liberty friends and staff during the cocktail hour and delicious dinner.  The Gala features a few different types of fun-filled auctions, games and events, including a wonderful Silent Auction, Dessert Auction, Teacher Treasures Auction and fun-filled Live Auction.  

 

Look at some of the exciting items on which you can bid

A Mountain Bike Ride with Mr. Siener!

A Chef's Dinner for 8, including Wine and Sake Pairings at Suehiro!

Three Month Family Membership to Fort Collins Club!

Reserved VIP Parking at LCS and LCHS Just for YOU!

A Fire Truck Ride with the Kindergarten Teachers!

 

What are Teacher Treasures?

Liberty teachers and staff donate truly priceless experiences with them. Treasures vary from mountain bike rides to movie nights to go-karts and laser tag at Fort Fun! Guests purchase drawing tickets for an opportunity to win one particular Treasure and then the auctioneer announces the winners of these priceless experiences at the conclusion of the Gala.

 

What is a Class Basket?

Class Baskets include everything your student will need to breeze through all the special events and extras for a particular school year. Have a child in third grade? Grab the fourth grade survival kit which includes a Medieval Day costume, reading list books and fun ways to practice math facts. Two are available for each grade, one for a boy and one for a girl. The fortunate winners of the class baskets this year will effortlessly have all their "ducks in a row" for next year. Details of each grade's basket can be found here:  

    

 
RSVP before Friday, March 13th to take advantage of lower ticket prices!


Invitations were mailed to all Liberty families OR access the RSVP form online here 

 

Spring Gala questions?  Please contact Qeryldine Hofinger: [email protected] 

      
 

 To Volunteer for the Gala Click HERE!  

 

 

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

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:

Lindsey Phillips, Christy & Joseph Smith, Sheryl & Rayburn Steele, Carole, Tom Dougherty, Lori & Al Sedlak, Barbara Urynowicz, Nancy & Norman Korb, Edmund Waszkiewicz, Thomas Sawyer, Linda & Jerry Kallhoff, Linda Kreibich, Teresa Kolkind, Virginia Taylor. Jane & David Hoerner, Jean & Herb Ward, Linda & Daniel McGlynn, Nancy & George Allen, Darlene Strachan. Susan & George Gentry, Lauretta & James Sinley, Dorothy & Walter Weibler.

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.
6th Graders Forensics Team Members Shine  
Congratulations LCHS Forensics Team.  The LCHS Forensics Team wrapped up a fun and successful season. Since September, the team attended five high-school tournaments and two junior-high tournaments, competing in Public-Forum Debate, Impromptu Speaking, Dramatic Interpretation, Humor Interpretation, Poetry Recitation, Creative Storytelling, Extemporaneous Speaking, Duo Interpretation, and Original Oratory. Most importantly, they had fun, built friendships, and increased confidence in public speaking.  Several team members have received special recognition from the National Forensics League.
Congratulations to the following students: Junior High Member Degree:
Anne Bader, Jamie Graham
Junior High Participation Degree:
Katie Knab(6th grader),Sunny Taylor(6th grader),Alyssa Mayer(6th grader)
High School Merit Degree:
Caylie Cox, Chloe Wilson, Caitlyn Jones, Ben Seiple, Gabi Stokely
High School Honor Degree:
Nate Bridgmon-Fuller
News from the Athletic Director, Dan Knab
This Week in Jr.-High Girls Basketball:
 
TODAY: RESURRECTION VS. LIBERTY-4:30 p.m., Spirit game
Come out and support Liberty Lady Eagles!




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.
  
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.

 

Attend 2015 Stars of Tomorrow and Support Our Liberty Talent: March 7th, 5 p.m., at The CSU University Center for the Arts

Mark your calendars to support Liberty Common School talent by attending the 2015 Stars of Tomorrow competition on March 7th at 5p.m.  

 

Click Here to learn more about the competition.

 

Liberty students participating in this year's show include Leo VonBargen, (7th),  Alyssa Ho (8th) and Andrea Schuetter (8th).  

 

Also performing is the band, Exit 262.  All of members of the band except one, are attending Liberty or are former Liberty students.   Milla Allen(9th) Evan Diehl(9th) and Alex Diehl(6th), Durga Saseendran(9th), Chelsea Wang(formerly at Liberty, now at Fossil) and Richard Thompson(Fossil).

Band Exit 262
 
Come and cheer on our Liberty stars.  The performers will love your support.