Panther Pages, October 18, 2024

Happy Friday PHE Families

Thanks to our families and staff who participated in conferences over the past two weeks. We know families have a lot of commitments, but these check-ins help our teams to build a solid education plan for your students as our year progresses. Please continue to reach out to teachers (and me) as needed.

As you may have noted, the Coffee with the Principal was moved to Friday, October 25. We will be discussing the new Dibels Assessment which is a measure used in all of our grade levels for assessing a student’s acquisition of literacy skills.

Finally, I loved seeing our community out in full support of the Bike/Roll to School event last week. We had a massive turnout and the streets were noticeably quieter with car traffic. The bike buses will be continuing on Wednesday mornings. We have been working hard to make the zones around the school safer to accommodate all of our students. As always, please be mindful of students on the roads and crosswalks, and obey all traffic rules around the school (stop signs, speed limits, parking, avoiding u-turns). If you are driving, please leave a few minutes in your schedule to find a safe parking spot if not using the Kiss and Drop zone.

Have a great weekend.

Ken Burdette, Principal

Halloween Parade information

Date: Thursday 10/31

* Parade will start through the Basketball court, head South towards 17th, and proceed around the perimeter of the school in a clockwise motion.

* Students may come to school in their "base" costumes. Any accessories (make-up, cape, inflatable) may be put on 15 minutes prior to the parade.

* Costumes - No weapons, no gore. Only wear masks when outside for the Parade - not to be worn inside.

* Parents should not come into the room prior to the Parade unless specifically invited by the teacher. Parents may come after the Parade for class parties

* Food for parties should be pre-packaged with ingredients on the label.

Reminder: Individual Photo Retake Day

Lifetouch will return to do any retakes for students on the morning of October 22. If you were not satisfied with the original photos for your student or you missed the original picture day, your student can get their photo updated on that morning. Please bring in your old pictures if you would like them replaced. There is no fee for the retakes.

Lost and Found

Our Lost and Found is nearly full. We will be emptying items out on Friday, November 1. Please feel free to stop by the school during office hours to look for any lost items or remind your student to do the same!

Anti-Idling reminder

One of the most relevant environmental issues in the Front Range is air pollution. The Front Range has suffered from severe ground-level ozone pollution for decades, which can aggravate respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, including asthma. Much of the region’s ozone pollution comes from transportation, namely, driving cars! It just so happens that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change also stem from transportation. So, as we teach our students about the planet and ways to protect it, consider showing your kids how easy it can be to walk, bike or take public transit to get around. It’s also very easy to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by turning your engines off instead of idling your vehicle.

As part of our Engines Off anti-idling campaign, we’re asking that all persons operating vehicles at or near the school turn off their engine when parked for more than 10 seconds.

For saving fuel and reducing emissions, eliminating the unnecessary idling of personal vehicles would be the same as taking 5 million vehicles off the roads! That’s because every gallon of gas burned while idling your vehicle produces more than 20 pounds of greenhouse gasses, and every minute that a car idles, more than 150 balloons full of exhaust emissions are released. So please, consider turning your engines off.

Bicycles for Children First Annual Tour de' Frights Costume Parade and Art Party at Cheesman Park Sunday, October 27th

This is a free event sponsored by Bicycles for Children. It will be packed with fun for all ages and will feature live music, pizza, and art projects for the kids. Start time is 12:00 p.m. near the playground at Cheesman Park. They will have pizza at 4:00 p.m. and a costume parade at 5:15 p.m.. Come dressed for trick-or-treating and don't forget your helmet! If you would like to volunteer, please call Robert at 720-212-4232. See poster below for more information.

School Hours

School Hours: 8:10 am-3:10 pm

Lunch Menu

schoolcafe.com/DPS

Upcoming Dates

Oct 22 - Photo Retake Day

Oct 31 - Halloween Parade

Nov 4 - No YMCA

Nov 25-29 - Thanksgiving Break (No school)

Dec 23-Jan 6 - Winter Break (No school)

2024/25 DPS Calendar

PHE School Calendar

Connect with the PTSA:

Middle School Tours

Bill Roberts K-8 school

Denver Green School

Denver School of the Arts

DSST: Montview Middle School

DSST: Conservatory Green

Hill Campus of Arts and Science

McAuliffe Middle School

Morey Middle School

Girls Athletic Leadership Schools of Denver

Park Hill Bike Bus - every Wednesday

What is a Bike Bus? A simple routine; creating a safe and fun way for kids to get to school by bike and to help make the morning commute easy, reliable, and safe.

Where: The Bike Bus will run along 19th Ave. Bikes will enter the school at Fairfax St. where most bike racks are.

Starting meet-up spots:

19th & Niagara (led by Liz Brodahl)
22nd & Dexter parking lot (led by Bret Taber)
22nd & Kearney at Cake Crumbs (led by Lisa Brownlee + Kera Murphy)
25th & Holly (led by Shannon Spezialy)

When: Every Wednesday. Meet at 7:40 am, roll out by 7:50 am, and arrive at the school at 8 am at the latest to avoid the heavy car traffic.

Visit the PHE Bike Bus Website for all the details!

Questions / Interested in volunteering? Email Liz Brodahl at liz.brodahl@gmail.com

Restaurant Night Out - Oct 20

Sunday, October 20th is Restaurant Night Out (RNO) with Scoops Ice Cream (2247 Kearney St). Scoops is donating 20% on all daily sales.

Restaurant Night Out - Oct 24

Thursday, October 24th is Restaurant Night Out (RNO) with Noodles and Company (7401 E 29th Ave). Noodles and Company is donating 25% of in store (must mention PHE) or online orders. Enter “GIVING25” in the coupon code line for all online orders.

We are excited to invite you to a Parent Night with Screen Sanity on Thursday, October 24th!

This a highly acclaimed national workshop is designed to help parents unpack today’s leading screentime topics. Featuring expert-led videos, discussion questions, and take-home tips, this interactive session helps parents consider the role technology plays in their lives as well as how to connect with their kids in meaningful ways. See more here.

Joining us for the evening, to answer questions and provide additional context, will be our psych team (Ms. Emily & Ms. Cat) and a local child psychiatry expert.

Childcare will be available – and we will be partnering with Noodles & Co for a Restaurant Night Out, so you can order dinner to eat at the event. We will be placing a group order to be delivered to the school so please check your email for instructions.

RSVP here. We hope you can join us!

PHE is keeping plastic film out of landfills with Ridwell this fall! To participate in this limited-time recycling drive, bring plastic film (ziptop bags, grocery bags, bubble wrap, and lots more) to the main office from now until November 7th and Ridwell will make sure it stays out of landfills. It’ll be turned into new decking materials instead! Start collecting plastic film at home now so you have a bunch for the drive.

Curious about at-home recycling pickup from Ridwell? They collect hundreds of common household items you can’t recycle curbside, like plastic food packaging, lightbulbs, clothes, Styrofoam, and more. If you sign up for a household membership by December 15, you’ll also help earn pickup of the school’s plastic film all spring (when 10 new members sign up).

Visit https://get.ridwell.com/phe for more information and to sign up for your membership.

Things to Remember

Join or renew your PTSA Membership
Milk Caps for Moola - recycle your Longmont Dairy caps across from the front office
Set-up Cashback programs: King Soopers and Give Backs

2024 - 2025 PTSA Calendar

There will not be a PTSA Meeting in October, but we will be contacting those who expressed interest in volunteering for a committee