Monthly Update Letter

October 2007

Dear Families,

October has been an amazing month of learning for Olander students. In addition to launching into phenomenal projects at many grades, students have also been actively engaged in our core curriculum (reading, writing and math), field trips, and a wide variety of after-school activities. Second graders, for example, visited the Butterfly Pavilion as part of their insect project, third graders had a blast with the annual egg drop, and fourth and sixth graders enjoyed hearing our symphony at the Lincoln Center. In service to our community, Olander students brought in over 800 pounds of canned food items as part of Cans Around the Oval and we had our first-ever float in the CSU Homecoming Parade. And Saturday, October 27^th, students from our Kids Care Club and Adaptive Skills Program will help city officials with the long-awaited grand opening of Spring Canyon Park including the all-access Inspiration Park. And to think this only scratches the surface of what goes on day to day at Olander – Whew!

I would like to remind parents of the four district initiatives that are currently in progress: grade configuration, boundary changes, small schools study, and school of choice busing. Check out this newsletter and the PSD web site (www.psdschools.org) for more information and updates on these important initiatives! We will continue to discuss these initiatives and how they impact Olander at our upcoming Parent Advisory Board (PAB) meetings throughout the year. Our next PAB meeting will be on Tuesday, November 6 at 7:45 in the Olander media center. Please join us after the PTO meeting as we discuss these and other issues related to our school!

The next staff collaboration day (no school for students) is Monday, November 26^th. During this collaboration day we will continue our focus on improving student achievement in the area of writing. Staff will examine student writing across grade levels and discuss best practices for teaching writing. In addition, teachers will learn how to use Imagination Suite, an innovative software package, to support exciting project based learning experiences for Olander students.

As always, please feel free to call or stop-in the main office anytime to discuss the individual needs of your child or any issue related to the operation of our school.

Sincerely,

Brian Olver

bolver@psd.k12.co.us
223-5758