As the fall colors come and go, Ignacio Elementary continues to rock this year!  Our theme this year is Moving Mountains: Empowering Each Other to Grow! If you walk through the building, you will see several ways we display data using our theme.  For example, the Accelerated Reading Program Point Club has the students climbing a mountain as they earn points for reading books at their reading level.  As the student moves up in elevation on the mountain, they move into different point levels.  If they get to the top of the mountain, they will plant a flag and have a game day to include video games.  Our main goal with the theme is for students to feel empowered and own their learning through taking on challenging learning material and to grow academically, socially, and behaviorally by more than a year’s growth.  So far, it is looking great! 

 

We welcomed some new faces that you will see around campus.   

• Dezaray Schofield has joined our SPED Para staff from the cafeteria staff. She is kind, a community member, and a hard worker.  

• Terri Lynn Scott – Will teach 5th-grade ELA this year. Terri Lynn graduated last May with honors from Fort. Lewis. She advocates for including creative ways to infuse student culture into lessons to engage all learners. She is known for her ability to form relationships with her students and colleagues and for having high expectations for her students. Welcome, Terri Lynn! 

• Daphne Dibble – teaches 4th- 5th-grade and the Life Skills students this year. Daphne has seven years of teaching experience in SPED. She has extensive work with children with Autism. She has hit the ground running and is excited to be here. Welcome Daphne! 

• Paige Gibby is teaching kindergarten this year. Paige graduated from Fort Lewis College last May. She is very energetic and a go-getter! She comes highly recommended and is very excited for her kinder students to start. Welcome Paige! 

• Reagan Butler – is teaching in 4th grade this year. Reagan comes to us with a background of teaching English in Japan for a couple of years. She will be completing her teaching in Colorado program through the Teacher of Record PEBC program this year. She has creative ideas to integrate her life experiences into her classroom (she has lived and visited several countries). Welcome Reagan. 

• Jordan Cuthair will be our new Office Manager/Secretary. Jordan worked at the IELP 2-3-year-old program under SOCOCAA. She has two girls at our school in grades 5 and 2. She is a graduate of Ignacio HS and knows many families in our community. Welcome Jordan. 

 

Each year, the Colorado Department of Education ranks schools based on the CMAS scores (grades 3-5).  Last year’s data placed the elementary school at the Improvement level. While our growth scores were lower than last year, our progress towards students meeting proficiency has increased.  We moved from Does Not Meet Proficiency to Approaching Standards status in both reading and math. Our 5th-grade Science scores are the spotlight in our CMAS data.  All our students and teachers are working hard to improve.  Our S-CAP visit last week showed a strong academic curriculum and steady progress toward ensuring all students are ready for middle school by the time they leave 5th grade.  

Ignacio Community, we need your help in reaching our academic growth goals!  School attendance is one way to help ensure students learn what they need to be successful.  We cannot teach the students if they are not in school.  For the second year in a row, the Ignacio School District had 40% chronic absenteeism.  A student is considered chronically absent after 15 days of excused and/or unexcused absences.  With our four-day week calendar, that means not missing more than two days per month. Every day, every minute counts!! 

I invite anyone to come visit the school to see all the great things happening at the school this year.  It is a great year in Bobcat Country.