Timber Trail Elementary (TTE) 690 W. Castle Pines Parkway Castle Rock, CO 80108 303-387-5700 Grades K-5 Calendar: Track www1.dcsdk12.org/elementary/tte/index.htm

Welcome Back!

School is in full swing at Timber Trail Elementary – a year-round schedule means most students headed back to class in early July. The new school year not only means new teachers and new friends, but this year it means a new principal. Ms. Michelle Radke has assumed the reigns from Mrs. Lisa Phillips.

“As principal, I hope to continue the excellent work that is going on. We have a top-notch staff, our parents are very supportive, and of course our students are the best!” said Radke.

Pencils, Crayons, and . . . Socks?

The Timber Trail Educational Alliance (TTEA) made school-supply kits available for purchase to TTE families.

“School supply kits were a service that Buffalo Ridge offered, so when we split off from them I wanted it to continue,” said supply-kit parent volunteer Allison Whitten. “So I volunteered to head it up and have been doing it ever since for those parents, like me, who know what an inconvenience it is to find school supplies in 20 different stores.”

The project makes a nominal profit, which goes to the TTEA fund. Whitten’s task this year has involved ordering mass quantities of supplies including more than 10,000 pencils and just as many crayons. But Whitten has learned that the words “school supplies” mean more than just the usual writing implements. “By far the most interesting thing we order is a single sock for each fourth grader,” said Whitten. Socks are used to erase white boards.

New TTEA President

The new school year means a new president of the TTEA. Jill Buck is a TTE parent as well as an employee at the school as a kindergarten aid for
D Track. Buck plans to begin the new year with a unique approach to fundraising.

“Our fundraising team has done a phenomenal job over the years. The TTEA funds a science teacher and a reading recovery program and we couldn’t do that without tremendous support,” said Buck. “But our fundraisers have been so time consuming for our volunteers that many of them are just burned out. We’re looking for ways to kept that from happening this year.”

This year, Buck says, each family will be asked for a donation ($50 per student is the suggested amount) to the school’s “Learning Tree.” The tree will be posted at the main entrance to the school. Each family who donates will be given a leaf to place on the tree.

“We are hoping to raise half of our money from the learning tree,” said Buck. “Then we want to focus on fundraisers that are more family-centered and less time consuming than past projects.”

Mark the Calendars

August 7: TTEA Meeeting, 6:30 p.m.

August 23: “Back to School” Pizza and Ice Cream Party

September 4: TTEA Meeting 6:30 p.m.

October 6: Fall Carnival (Rain date: October 20)