Principal's News
Homyak Happenings October 2020 EditionHomyak Happenings
Principal: Julie Garcia
We made it to October, hurry knock on wood! I am so excited and relieved that we have completed 6 weeks of in person learning. The success of the start of the school year has really been a team effort. Parents have done a great job screening their children and keeping little ones home when they aren’t feeling well. Parents have also been cooperative when we’ve asked them to quarantine after out of state travel. I am so grateful for Lonna and Jasmine in the office, it is like a well oiled machine! Elliot and his crew have done an excellent job keeping us clean and sanitized. Of course, the teachers and content tutors are also amazing! They have made masks and social distance feel normal and they use their creativity to make learning fun even with the safeguards. It is all the little things that have added up to a huge success!
As we look forward to October you may be wondering about some of our traditions and what they might look like in the current times. We are still planning on conferences on October 14th and 15th. As you might have guessed, we will be doing conferences remotely. Parents will have the option of an email update, phone call, or a Zoom meeting. Teachers will be sending out sign-up sheets soon.
Like in years past, we will be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair during the week of conferences. The Book Fair will be online, more information can be found below in the Library section.
Unfortunately, we will not be having a school wide Halloween celebration. I gave this a lot of thought, but ultimately I think a Halloween celebration would be at the risk of student safety. As per the CDC website, many of our traditional activities; like Trunk or Treat and Costume Parties, are considered high risk. I am relieved Halloween is on a Saturday and not a school day, families can still have personal celebrations and the kids will not miss out on the fun.
We have good news, the 2019/20 yearbooks are finally here! It is no surprise that LifeTouch had delays due to the COVID closure. Mrs. Sanders will send them home with students who paid for one last year. If you are no longer a student at Homyak, we will contact you regarding delivery options. We do still have some if you would like to purchase one, they are $16. Due to the amount of time it took to get yearbooks as well as the current restrictions, we will not be doing a yearbook for the 2020/21 school year. We will keep our fingers crossed for next year! Speaking of LifeTouch, in the past we have done individual school pictures in the Fall, this year we are planning to do individual and group photos in the Spring.
The state budget cuts due to COVID 19 continue to have a negative impact on school funding which is resulting in Weld Re 8 being forced to make some really tough decisions. Friday was Officer Gregg’s last day as our School Resource Officer. We have appreciated the partnership with the City of Dacono PD and we are extremely sad to have to suspend it for the time being.
While this is a huge loss, I know that we will work together as a community to help fill the void. I am committed to maintaining a positive relationship with our local police department. We will invite Dacono PD to our events, request that they visit the school often and do what we can to maintain a partnership. Safety will remain a top priority, the current mandate of no visitors in the building as well as the state of the art facility with locked doors, a video monitored door entry system, panic button, and cameras throughout the building are still in effect. Ways the community can help with this loss is through voting and community involvement. In addition, please be mindful of the speed limit and school safety zone.
I hope you have a wonderful fall, I am looking forward to cooler weather, changing colors, and pumpkin spice everything!
Grade Level Goods
Pre-K: Ellie Walters and Stacie Austin
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN PRE-K?
Unit Theme: Making Friends
Math: Children are continuing our work with counting and number recognition, as well as identifying shapes and patterns.
Writing: Children are continuing learning and reinforcing best practices in pencil grip, posture, and letter formation. We are
also making great progress with name writing!
Reading: We are reading stories connected to our friends unit and the season of Fall. Children are learning and reinforcing letter
sounds and are understanding concept of word, letter sounds, and rhyme.
Science: Students are learning about predicting, positional words, sorting, and weather
Social Studies: We are continuing to learn about the importance of following rules, being kind, and working together.
Kindergarten: Meaghan Page and Megan Hiatt
Mrs. Page and Ms. Hiatt's Kindergartners have had a blast the first 6 weeks of school! They have been working hard to practice literacy skills such as rhyming, clapping out syllables, isolating beginning sounds, and so much more. Our first two math units introduced concepts like getting to know shapes and counting within 10. Kinder friends loved learning about the seven continents, the four seasons, and are wrapping up our five senses unit by celebrating Johnny Appleseed Day today! Every day is an adventure in Kinder and we are so happy to be at school!
First Grade: Andrea Hart
My 1st Grade friends have been working hard these past six weeks! We have been working on characters and settings, sequencing of events, and comparing, in reading. They enjoyed learning about maps and the 7 continents in Social Studies, and we are now learning about the Earth in Science. This week we focused on volcanoes. In math they have been skip counting, solving number stories and beginning addition. We have fun things to look forward to in the month of October!
Second Grade: Alexis Fehringer and Danielle Kumaus
Second grade is off to a fantastic start to the 2020-2021 school year! We had an excellent time practicing the sequencing skills during SPY SCHOOL! October will bring an equally exciting month of learning as we start reading Charlotte's web and learning about spiders. Keep an eye out for exciting things in second grade!
Third Grade: Samantha Ciolino and Sarah Jacobs
Third grade has been hard at work establishing routines and procedures for the classroom. We had a detective day in which the classes had to solve the great copy machine mystery. The students solved which teacher committed the copy machine crime by using inferences. We have also been hard at work learning about bones and dissecting owl pellets. Next up is the muscular and nervous systems.
Fourth Grade: Shelley Brenner and Teresa Ryley
Our fabulous fourth graders have been exploring the regions and geography of Colorado, as well as learning about the prehistoric and historic Native Americans of Colorado. Students have been examining the different types of reading genre and are finishing up reading Pollyanna as a class. Fourth grade has engaged in various writing exercises to develop consistent written paragraph structures while developing personal narratives, as well as text summaries. Finally, our fabulous fourth graders are rocking concepts in math in factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers, and various geometry concepts!
Fifth Grade: Sheri Lohmann
Fifth Grade has been working on volume and learning some different online programs that can be used to support math learning. Students have learned about some of the important lakes of the world and are now learning about the early civilizations of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca. After finishing this social studies unit, we will start the science unit on Matter. The fifth-graders are anxiously finishing up The Secret Garden, one of our Core Knowledge literature novels, and look forward to comparing and contrasting the book with the 1993 movie. I think that all the 5th graders can agree that it has been an overall great start to a very interesting school year.
MS Team: Sara Jakobsen, Tatum Fjelstad, Jason Pflaum Ben Whetsell
The first six weeks of the 2020 school-year chapter are officially closed and in the books! Our students are adapting so well to all the newness that school-during-a-pandemic brings as well as their new classes and acquaintances. Middle schoolers have been hard at work. Math with Mr. Pflaum is calculating well, students are making history in Mr. Whetsell’s, Mrs. Jakobsen has been experimenting with new ideas in science, and language arts with Ms. Fjelstad has been lit. We look forward to what the rest of this crazy year brings!
Physical Education Happenings: Nicole Stead
Our Huskies have been active in our gym and it has been great seeing the smiles, hearing the laughs and observing all the sportsmanship and teamwork! Even with the current restrictions that are put in place to keep the students safe during PE, it seems like they haven’t missed a step!
Here is a look inside the Gym for October:
K-2 is focusing on all things related to balance, coordination and pathways.
3-5 is focusing on drumfit and soccer related skills and activities.
Middle School is currently in the middle of soccer and will end the month with different games related to kicking.
Learning Center Updates: Candace Uvalle
In the Learning Center, learning is happening full steam ahead! Now that everyone is back in the routine of school, student motivation is high to set new goals for the year and meet them! Students are increasing their reading levels through creative decoding strategies and using their phonics knowledge to increase their reading levels. In mathematics, students are challenging themselves to try new strategies. The children are very excited to be back at school with their friends and teachers! Wishing everyone a happy and productive school year!
Reading Intervention/English Language Development Teacher: Bobbi Baeza
Hello Families! My name is Mrs. Baeza, and this year at Homyak I’m teaching reading intervention and English language development. I’m super excited to be in this new position, and I am thrilled to be working with students from different grade levels and collaborating with different teachers as well.
We’ve had a great start in reading intervention working on sounds and letter recognition in kindergarten and first grade, two- and three-letter blends in second and third grade, and comprehension skills in fifth grade and middle school. Reading at home is also important! So, to practice fluency, listen to your student read. It really helps build their confidence and their stamina.
In English language development, we are learning skills that will help develop a well-rounded student by incorporating academic language, nonfiction text features, reading and discussion, and speaking into our classroom and our curriculum.
It has been a fantastic start to the 2020-2021 school year! I’m excited to see what the rest of the school year will bring! Stay safe and healthy!
Music Happenings: Kara Spitler-Job
Kindergarten & First Grade
We are having a great time in music learning songs and putting actions to them. We are also learning how to keep a steady beat using different instruments like drums, rhythm sticks and shakers. During the listening part of our music time students are learning about high & low sounds, fast & slow tempos and soft & loud sounds in music.
Second & Third Grade
We have been learning about American music and composers. We learned about the history of ragtime music and Scott Joplin, Aaron Copeland and John Philp Sousa. We also began learning American Sign Language and applying it to familiar songs. Some of the students’ favorite songs to sign are My Country Tis of Thee and You’re a Grand Old Flag.
Fourth & Fifth Grade
Fourth and fifth graders have been reviewing basic rhythms and melodic patterns using percussion instruments and different barred instruments. We are studying the different materials that instruments are made from and discussing the different sounds they produce. We are also doing many fun creative movement activities.
Middle School
Middle school students are participating in drama class during their specials time. We have learned about the elements of drama and they are having fun applying the elements in basic skits and theater exercises. Eighth graders had a great time performing improv scenes for each other, seventh graders have begun working on an adaptation of the Robin Hood Story and sixth graders are working on scenes from The Wizard of Oz.
Art: Krystina Sanders
Hello Homyak Families,
This year art looks a tad bit different but not by much. As many of you know I love using recycled materials like cereal boxes, old CD's and newspapers in my students' artwork. If you have any of these please send them to school and I would love for our kiddos to transform them into something amazing. I am continuing my Artsonia online portfolios so watch out for my emails to see what your student has created. As always thank you for all the support you give Homyak staff and community.
Mrs.Sanders
Library: Patty Garcia
HOMYAK SCHOOL Book Fair
Oct. 7 - Oct. 20
Our Book Fair is online! Support our school and help your child discover new books, favorite characters, complete series, and more! You'll love the fun new option to shop for Book Fair exclusives directly from the interactive booklist and enjoy free shipping on book-only purchases over $25.00. All orders shipped to your home!
NJHS Historian:
The National Junior Honor Society has finally begun our biweekly meetings this year. We were a little slow to start but we are in full swing now. Officers for this year have been finalized and new members will be invited soon in the coming weeks. I would like to introduce Ava Langston as our President. Sawyer Kidder as the Vice President. Lilly Austin as our Secretary. Benjamin Williams as our Treasurer. Jack Williams as Public Relations and Caeden Kwapinski as Historian. We are looking forward to a great year and we thank everyone for their support. Jason Pflaum and Ben Whetsell (NJHS Advisors)
PTSA:
Hello Homyak Families!
Join the PTSA to keep up with what is happening at the school and guide the future for Homyak Students! If you are interested in membership for the 2020/2021 school year please pay dues ($10 per person) via check to the Homyak office or Venmo to Homyak PTSA.
Homyak PTSA shares No-Cost-To-You ways to financially support our school on our Homyak PTSA Facebook page. Remember all funds raised through PTSA are used to support our school, students and staff. If you do not participate on social media and would like to be informed of meeting dates, please send us an email homyakPTSA@gmail.com asking to be added to our distribution list.
Thank you!
Homyak PTSA Board
Student of the Month
Upcoming Dates
October 14th & 15th: Parent Teacher Conferences - Remote
October 16th: District Closed-No School
October 20th: No School PK Students
Nondiscrimination/Equal Opportunity Statement In compliance with Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, Colorado law and Board of Education Policy AC (Nondiscrimination/Equal Opportunity), Weld Re-8 School District does not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, religion, ancestry, need for special education services, age, marital status, genetic information, or physical characteristics in admissions, access to, treatment, or employment in educational programs or activities which it operates. Complaint procedures have been established for students, parents, employees and members of the public. The following person has been identified as the compliance officer for the district: Superintendent, Weld Re-8 School District: 200 South Fulton, Fort Lupton, CO 80621, 303.857.3200, superintendent@weld8.org