Washington Families,

I hope you all have been enjoying the unusually warm climate this fall! It certainly has been beneficial for scheduling school

activities and we always seem to have a fun and busy month of October, mostly due to our annual fundraiser, the Bear Fun

Run! Once again our school community provided a tremendous amount of support for the Bear Fun Run and we were able to

raise nearly $10,000! These funds provide our PTO with the means to support school programs related to instruction, school

culture, wellness, etc. Thank you for your contributions and support!

Our school community may not be directly involved in the instruction of our students during the school day, yet the support

provided does have an impact on our students’ learning and success. Although there are many factors that contribute to a

school’s success, the primary measure the state uses to rate the performance of a school is through the state assessment

program and the School Performance Framework (SPF). Due to a change in the assessment program, the school did not

receive a SPF rating during the 2015-16 school year, so we were anxious to receive our first rating under the new system this

year. The highest rating a school can receive is a “Performance” rating, and we were excited to learn that Washington

Elementary is once again a “Performance” school! This rating doesn’t happen by accident, it is the result of a hard working

staff dedicated to providing quality instruction while cultivating excellence and encouraging determination from our students.

Way to go Washington Bears!

As we continue to work toward realizing our vision for Washington school, your continued support is greatly appreciated. We

look forward to seeing many of our families during upcoming school activities and to the opportunities we have to make a

positive difference in the lives of our Washington families and community!

Brian Zamarripa, Principal

Washington Elementary Bear Fun Run

I want to take a moment to give my sincerest thanks to some amazing community members who

donated to another very successful fundraiser at Washington Elementary. With the great support

of Washington families, employees, and the community, we raised over$ 9,500.00! Without

donations from local merchants for prizes, we could never have such successful fundraisers.

Year after year they give. Please make sure to continue to support these wonderful people and

their businesses. Thank you to:

Pizza Madness, Touch of Love, Dr. Jared Smith, Village Inn, Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, The

Cup and Cone, Dairy Queen, Royal Gorge Zip Line Tours, Sonic, Wendy’s, Raft Masters, Subway,

IHop, Canon City Mugs, Chili’s, Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience, Wal-Mart, Taco Bell, Domino’s,

Skyline Theater, Bolder Bands, Royal Gorge Route Railroad, Dr. Eric Atha and Kona Ice.

Washington PTO appreciates your support!

Kelly Cosper

PTO member and proud Washington parent

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 All City

Choir Tour

8 All City

Choir Concert @Harrison 6:00 PM

9 Delayed

Start-School starts at 10:15

10 Picture

Retakes 4th-5th Grade Concert 2:00 & 6:30

11 Notable

Leader Day

12

13 14 15 16 17 PTO Meeting

18

End of 1st Trimester

19

20 21

No School-district wide

22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 1 2 3

Looking Ahead

Fall Book Fair-November 28th- December 2nd

December 14th- Delayed Start- School begins at 10:15

December 23rd- No school District wide

December 26th-January 9th- Christmas Break-Return to school Tuesday, January 10, 2017

NOVEMBER

Thanksgiving Break

Fall Book Fair

Hydration Stations

Thanks to our Washington

PTO and our Wellness

Team we now have three

hydration stations installed

in our building. The

stations provide filtered

water to our students and

staff. They can be found in

the front of the building

near the office and one at

each end of the building in

the north and south

libraries.

Thank you to everyone

involved in providing this

healthy service for our

school!

As we prepare to face the colder temperatures of late

fall and winter, please make sure to send your

child(ren) to school prepared for the elements. Remember, students will be outside before school

and during recess times as long as the temperature is

above 19° F, so it is important for them to be

ready to beat the cold!

Culture Corner:

“The Speed of Trust”

There are 13 Behaviors of Trust. They are: Talk Straight,

Demonstrate Respect, Create Transparency, Right Wrongs, Show

Loyalty, Deliver Results, Get Better, Confront Reality, Clarify

Expectations, Practice Accountability, Listen First, Keep

Commitments, and Extend Trust.

Let’s talk about “how trust works” (from The Speed of Trust):

Trust is a function of two things: character and competence.

Character includes your integrity, your motive, and your intent

with people. Competence includes your capabilities, your skills,

your results, and your track record. And both are vital. With the

increasing focus on ethics in our society, the character side of

trust is on what most people focus. However, the differentiating

and often ignored side of trust—competence—is equally essential.

You might think a person is sincere, even honest, but you won’t

trust that person fully if he or she doesn’t get results. And the

opposite is true. A person might have great skills and talents and

a good track record, but if he or she is not honest, you’re not

going to trust that person either. For example, I might trust

someone’s character implicitly, even enough to leave him in

charge of my children when I’m out of town. But I might not

trust that same person in a business situation because he doesn't

have the competence to handle it. On the other hand, I might

trust someone in a business deal whom I would never leave with

my children—not necessarily because he wasn’t honest or

capable, but because he wasn’t the kind of caring person I would

want for my children. While it may come more naturally for us

to think of trust in terms of character, it’s equally important

that we also learn to think in terms of competence. Think about

it—people trust people who make things happen. The

competence dimension rounds out and helps give trust its

harder, more pragmatic edge.

Just a Reminder!

November 7th- All City Choir Tour

November 8th- All City Choir Concert

@Harrison 6:00 PM November 9th- Delayed Start

School begins@10:15

November 10th- Picture Retakes

November 10th-4th-5th Grade Concert

2:00 & 6:30

November 11th-Notable Leader Day

November 21st -25th-Thanksgiving Break

November 28th-December 2nd-Fall Book

Fair

Curriculum Compacting Currculum compacting is a technique for differentiating instruction that allows teachers to make adjustments to curriculum for students who have already mastered the material to be learned, replacing sontent students know with new content, enrichment options, or other activities. Researchers recommend that teachers first determine the expected goals of the unit or lesson in terms of the content, skills, or standards students must learn before assessing students to determine which ones have already mastered most or all of the specified learning outcomes. Elementary teachers can eliminate from 24%-70% of high-ability students’ curriculum by compacting without any negative affect on test scores or performance. In fact, curriculum compacting can have a positive effect on students’ performance. Because many talented students receive little differentiation of instruction from their peers, they spend a great deal of time in school doing work that they have already mastered. Curriculum compacting allows these students to avoid having to relearn material they already know, which research has shown can lead to frustration, boredom and ultimately, underachievement.

Our next PTO meeting will be on Thursday, November 17th @ 6:00 in the

Music Room.

The City Market Community Rewards Program was discussed at this month’s

meeting. It was brought to Mr. Zamarripa’s attention that even if you had registered your card in the past for

funds to support our school, you need to do that again. We have received

approximately $1000 in past years just by having you shop! Please take time (about 1 minute) to visit the website

below to register your City Market card and support Washington Elementary.

https://www.citymarket.com/account/create

P.T.O. News

October Leaders The following students were

chosen by their teachers as our

October Leaders of the Month.

These students are chosen for

exhibiting our Leader in Me

culture and setting a good

example for their fellow

students. Congratulations to each

of you!

Damian Conners-Kindergarten

Jackson Hamilton-1st Grade

Valencia Lowry-2nd Grade

Harleigh Henson-3rd Grade

Stewart Williams-4th Grade

Kaden Weimer-5th Grade

Eliana Miller-2nd Grade

Emily Buchanan-5th Grade

Nate Choate-5th Grade