New Items:

Wacky Winterfest is coming! Lincoln PALS (Parents and Lincoln School) is proud to present Wacky Winterfest on Saturday, February 24th from 11 AM to 2 PM. This family friendly event includes carnival games, student performances, lunch and so much more! This is an awesome opportunity to support our school and have fun during the winter months. This letter explains Winterfest! (http://tinyurl.com/23wb86yr) We are looking forward to celebrating all of the tickets sold by our students!

We rely on your help to make this event a success! There are many ways to help! 

 - Would you consider volunteering for this event? (http://tinyurl.com/j98zapus)

 - Would you consider supporting our bake sale? (http://tinyurl.com/3h2eh3mm) 

 - Would you please consider donating to this event? (http://tinyurl.com/3v4j74hx) 

Spring Conferences - We are excited to welcome our families and students for student led conferences on March 5th (4:15-8:15) and 7th (1:00-8:00). We ask our students to attend conferences with our families as we work to involve them in sharing their learning. Please use these directions to sign up beginning February 9th and will close on February 23rd (https://tinyurl.com/ynrbu5b8)! If you need help scheduling, you can also call the school at 319.553.2950. It is our goal to meet with every student and family!

Our PALS meeting notes are here!(http://tinyurl.com/2fbtpac5) 

Planning For The 2024-2025 School Year (http://tinyurl.com/27pv2c7f) - Planning for the needs of our current and future students in Cedar Falls is important to us. We are asking that each preschool and elementary school family assist us by providing the following information. We will send home a hard copy to each family, please complete either the hard copy or this electronic form. Thank you for your help!

A Note from the Health Office for 2nd grade families (http://tinyurl.com/4y58k3v3): The Iowa Department of Public Health requires a vision screening for those entering 3rd grade. If you have a well visit coming up, please ask for a vision check on your student and submit the results to the Health Office. 

Kinder Prep Program Information(http://tinyurl.com/4vf3yk3x)  - Kinder Prep is a program offered by our district to support students who are younger and would benefit from an additional year before beginning kindergarten. Registration information will happen between April 1st-12th. Please refer to the link for additional information. 

Gold Star Teacher Nominations – Since 1989 the R.J. McElroy Trust and KWWL-TV have recognized outstanding teachers in the Cedar Valley with the Gold Star Award for Outstanding Teachers.  Each year several of our teachers at Lincoln are nominated by their students, parents/guardians, community members, and/or their colleagues for this prestigious award.  Nominations (http://tinyurl.com/yz8jh6b6) can be submitted online through February 20.  More information can be found at the linked website (http://tinyurl.com/5n7wmev8).  

Upcoming Grade Level Concerts and Family Socials (http://tinyurl.com/2cjy659d)  - our next grade level concerts will be: 2nd Grade on February 6th at 7:00 PM, 1st grade on February 22nd at 7:00 PM and Kindergarten on February 27th at 6:30 PM. Following each concert, Lincoln PALS (Parents and Lincoln School) hosts a family social in our cafeteria to allow families to connect and enjoy a small treat. Would you consider helping with a donation or time to help with set up or clean up? Please click the link if you are able to help!

Winter Weather Information - Please be sure to keep your contact information current in our office in case of school delay or closure. These are communicated via email, text and using our district social media accounts. In addition, this will support quick pick up in the event of an early dismissal. Also, if we need to start school late, our district will start 90 minutes late. This means our school will open at 10:00 AM and classes will begin at 10:15 AM.

Parent Supports:

CKLA/Amplify Supports -  The resource we are using in our district is called CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts) from grades Kindergarten through 5th and Amplify for 6th grade. We will send home paper copies of the “Caregiver Letter” each time we begin a new unit and want to share these with our families each week. We encourage you to use the conversation starters!

Kindergarten Unit 6 (http://tinyurl.com/3etjc2w2) 

1st Grade Unit 7 (http://tinyurl.com/2a6xz767) 

2nd Grade Unit 7 (http://tinyurl.com/yc69wm6m) 

3rd Grade Unit 6 (http://tinyurl.com/5n7mnn3d) 

4th Grade Unit 6 (http://tinyurl.com/5c7up72a) 

5th Grade Unit 5 (http://tinyurl.com/2p8wvwz7) 

6th Grade Unit 4 (http://tinyurl.com/3c57wwm6)

Illustrative Math - We are excited to continue to deliver Illustrative Math to our students this year! This is a problem-based curriculum where students spend most of their time in class working on problems. Teachers help students understand the problems, ask questions to push their thinking and facilitate discussions to help students. Our goal is to help students build understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures as well as to apply this knowledge to new situations. During Math, students will collaborate with their classmates to talk about math, listen to each other’s ideas, justify their thinking and discuss their thinking. They gain experience communicating their ideas both verbally and in writing. This kind of instruction may look different from what you experienced in your own math education. Current research says that students need to be able to think flexibly in order to use mathematical skills in their lives and also on the types of tests they will encounter. Flexible thinking relies on understanding concepts and making connections between them. We plan to share family support materials for each unit as we appreciate your support at home!

Kindergarten Unit 4 (https://tinyurl.com/yc5n34pd) 

1st Grade Unit 5 (http://tinyurl.com/4sz2mmru) 

2nd Grade Unit 6 (http://tinyurl.com/5n6asrmy) 

3rd Grade Unit 4 (http://tinyurl.com/4pnvscja) 

4th Grade Unit 6 (http://tinyurl.com/52k9u92z) 

5th Grade Unit 5 (https://tinyurl.com/4x3wswke)  

6th Grade Unit 6 (http://tinyurl.com/mrxjxzvf)  

Lincoln PALS

Did you know saving Hy Vee Receipts is a simple way to raise funds to support our school? (https://tinyurl.com/3bayjtb9) You may save and send them to the Lincoln Office, Lincoln PALS will count at the beginning of each month and submit periodically to Hy Vee for funds to support our students, staff and school. 

We also collect Box Tops! (https://tinyurl.com/s98ea7w8) Box Tops is a program allowing schools to raise money. This process is now digital through the Box Tops app. Simply purchase Box Tops products, scan your receipt within 14 days and that’s it! If you purchase groceries digitally, receipts can be emailed to receipts@boxtops4education.com from an email address connected to your account. These funds support our students, staff and school.

Repeat News:

Parents, we need your help each morning. We ask that students not arrive before 8:30 unless they are preparing for Safety Patrol. Please do not allow students to wait on the playground as there is no adult supervision. In addition, after school, we ask students to head directly home unless they are under the direct supervision of an adult. Please note that these requests are part of our Elementary Handbook as they support student safety, both are noted on page 12. (https://tinyurl.com/59x5b7sv) 

Arrival And Dismissal - we are working to help our students safely enter and leave the building. In the morning, we will ask students to arrive between 8:30 and 8:45. They will report to their classrooms or to the cafeteria for breakfast if needed. At the end of the day, we will dismiss students beginning with Kindergarten and moving through 6th grade. Our staff will walk students to the door. Our Kindergarten and 1st grade students will dismiss at their outside classroom doors, second grade will dismiss onto the east playground, third grade will also dismiss onto the east playground, fourth grade will dismiss using our main entrance doors on 8th street and 5th and 6th grade will dismiss using our 7th street doors. We appreciate families making and following consistent after school plans. We will not have supervision for students prior to 8:30 AM each morning. Thank you for helping us support safe morning arrivals and afternoon dismissals!

Lincoln Recess Guidelines (https://tinyurl.com/24zaadj6)  - we are beginning to enter a time of the year where weather can be unpredictable and would like to share our recess guidelines. Our goal is to be outside as much as possible! Please carefully watch the forecast and send students to school with clothing that will allow them to enjoy recess. We will also ask students to wear coats until the temperature is above 50 degrees (real feel). If your student needs help with cold weather gear, please contact their teacher and we will do our best to help. If a student is not dressed properly, we will lend them a coat for the recess to allow them to be outside.

Wednesday Early Dismissal - we dismiss every Wednesday at 1:50 PM. Please be sure to set a reminder to pick up students promptly. Our staff use this time to collaborate to support learning for our students.

Snacks and Birthday Treats - We are proud to be a Blue Zones school and encourage healthy choices when students bring food for their daily snack. In addition, to support safety this school year when celebrating birthdays, we will ask for families to bring prepackaged items to minimize handling. Thank you!

Thank you for your support! We are looking forward to seeing you next week!

Respectfully,

Ralph Bryant

Lincoln Elementary Principal

Follow Lincoln On Social Media

Art: https://www.facebook.com/LincolnArtRoom/ 

Music: https://www.facebook.com/LincolnMusicCF/ 

Media Center: https://www.instagram.com/lincolnlibrarycf 

Physical Education: https://www.facebook.com/Lincolnphysicaleducation/ 

Lincoln Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CFLincolnElementary/ 

Lincoln Instagram: cflincoln

Lincoln Twitter: @CF_Lincoln