Carrie Bollinger Secretaries – Kerry Alonso and Christy Martin-Lone

Principal – Carrie Bollinger
Secretaries – Kerry Alonso and Christy Martin-Lone
Our mission is: To lead all students to reach their individual potential by rigorously pursuing and evaluating
achievement of high academic and ethical standards in a disciplined, nurturing environment.
Si usted necesita una traduccion en Espanol favor de llamar al 254-7552. Estamos para servirles
March 24—April 4
NO SCHOOL
Monday, April 7
Spring Break
Students Return to class
Monday, April 7
9:00 am
5th Grade Tile Project
Wednesday, April 9
3:00 pm
Volunteer Appreciation
Friday, April 11
Class Pictures
Monday, April 21—
Spring Art Week—classes will be walking to
Friday, April 25
The Art Center
Monday, April 21
First day to pick up Teacher Request forms at the office
Monday, April 28
5th Graders to visit East M.S. and West M.S.
Tuesday, April 29
6:00 pm
Wednesday, April 30
Friday, May 2
3rd Grade Music Program
Final day that Teacher Request forms will be accepted
NO SCHOOL
Monday, May 5
Teacher Plan Day
Teacher Appreciation Week!
Tuesday, May 6
5:00 pm
PTA Meeting
Wednesday, May 7
4:00-8:00 pm
Parent Teacher Conferences—Regular Early Release
Thursday, May 8
8:00 am—8:00 pm
Parent Teacher Conferences—NO SCHOOL
Friday, May 9
NO SCHOOL
School Office Closed
Happy spring to everyone! It’s always good to have daylight last longer, to have the birds chirping and seeing the
spring flowers popping up! These all are sure signs of spring. As the temperature warms up, we can enjoy the
many activities that take place inside and outside of school. Please remember that school is a top priority. It is
still important for your child to get a good night’s rest and come to school ready to learn.
Because of the many activities/field trips and events in the next couple of months of school; PLEASE check
your child’s Thursday folder for information. This includes any newsletters, letters home or accessing
information via Tope’s website. Feel free to come out and get involved with us. Learning does not end early; our
teachers are committed to excellence. We will continue to involve your child in deep, rich learning experiences
that will carry them into middle school and beyond. I hope to see you at
some of our activities.
Sincerely,
Carrie Bollinger
We will have a new process
for teacher requests. You
can pick up your application
for teacher requests on
April 21st from the office.
All requests are due by April
30th to the office. We will
not accept any requests
after that date.
Stay Informed!
There are many events that will
be happening between now and the
end of the school year!
Please check the Tope website for
up-to-date information!
http://tope.mesa.k12.co.us/
Scholastic Book Fair! Join us Monday, May 5—Thursday, May 8 for the Book Fair. The fair will be
held in the library during Parent/Teacher Conferences. We are in need of volunteers also to help
with set-up and clean-up. Please sign up at the office if you are available to help!
Spring has sprung and the children are very active this time of year. Sometimes
this makes it harder for them to continue to focus on school which is why our word
for March is “OPTIMISM”. The lessons focus on test taking skills and how to
reduce stress as well as how to stay positive even in a negative situation. We will be
doing activities that will challenge their skills and thinking. Parents here are two
sites that have great information about raising optimistic children.
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=141&id=1550
http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/fear/raising-happychildren/
Spotlight on Staff
Our new feature will spotlight one group of Tope Staff members each month.
This month we will feature our Specialists
Rebecca Bradshaw - I am a native of Colorado, taught for 7 years grades k-8. Moved to the Navajo reservation
for 7 years and taught for two years in second grade, became a school counselor and counseled children for 5 more
years on the reservation. I moved back to Colorado where I have been school counseling for the last five years. I
have a husband who is also a school counselor and two boys ages 13 and 8.
Ms. Wendy Kelly is our ESL (English as a Second Language) Teacher. She is a language learner herself and speaks
Spanish. She was a Kindergarten teacher in a private school for three years before teaching ESL in our district
and this is her eighth year. She has taught in eight different schools in our district and currently teaches at
Tope, Thunder Mountain, and New Emerson schools. She has two boys. Kyle is 10 years old and is a fourth grader
at Pomona. Liam is 9 years old and is in third grade at Pomona. Ms. Kelly loves teaching ESL because she meets
people from all over the world. When she isn’t teaching, she loves to read, watch movies, travel, and spend time
with friends and family.
Mrs. Barbara Hollingsworth has been teaching Special Education for the past 8 years, 5 of them here at Tope. She
began her teaching career after 26 years traveling Europe and the United States with her military spouse. She
returned to Grand Junction, where she grew up, to pursue her teaching career. She has two grown children, a
daughter, 24 and a son, 22. She enjoys spending time cooking with her family, playing the piano, and reading.
Mrs. Sandra Patrick or "Miss Sandy"- has been a speech therapist with Mesa County Valley School District for 19
years and a practicing speech therapist for 31 years. She has worked with children in educational and medical
settings. She worked at The Children's Hospital in Denver, Colorado for four years. Mrs. Patrick has been married
for 27 years to her husband Wiley. They have two daughters; one is married and gifted them with two beautiful
grandchildren and the youngest daughter will graduate from Grand Junction High this May. Mrs. Patrick enjoys her
dogs, reading, cooking, building a family cabin, gardening and spending time with her family and friends.
Student of the Month!
You may have heard your student talk about the new Student of the Month assembly, or
you may have even gotten a phone call home because your child was chosen as a student
of the month! This is a fun, exciting thing that we have started at Tope to honor those
students who are practicing the Counselor’s Word of the Month. Please ask your students
what the word of the month is and what it means!
Our next Student of the Month Assemblies are:
April 30th at 10:00 am—Optimism
May 19th at 10:00 am—Patience
HOW PARENTS CAN SUPPORT THE BEHAVIOR SYSTEM
Family involvement in a child's education increases your child's likelihood of success. Your help with our behavior system is
very important. We ask that you support our staff in the following ways:
• Please remind your child of the school's behavior expectations each day before he/she leaves
for school:
BE RESPECTFUL
BE RESPONSIBLE
BE SAFE
• Ask your child to give examples of how he/she demonstrated expectations while at school.
• Reward your child for following expectations while at school.
• If your child has had some difficulty behaving, use the school's behavior matrix (chart) as a tool to review and reinforce
specific expected behaviors. If this is done before each school day,
you will be helping to remind and prevent behavior issues.
• Help your child BE HERE and BE READY, by helping him/her wake up for school and arrive
on time. Help your child start the day off right …be on time.
• The behavior system at your child's school is consistent and fair; so if your child has earned a consequence please support
the decision. Do all you can to have your child accept the consequence. Your child will be told the reason for the
consequence and he/she should be able to tell you exactly what occurred. If you have a question regarding the situation,
please call the classroom teacher. We suggest you have a discussion with your child how to improve his/her behavior in the
future. Be preventative by focusing on the future.
• After school, ask your child if he/she earned an acknowledgement. We use Tope Eagle Tickets as an acknowledgement.
Find out what behaviors were exhibited in order to earn these slips. Please offer your child extra praise and reinforcement
for these behaviors.
• At home you might try to use the same behavior language as the school.
• You might add a column to the behavior matrix (chart) showing expected at-home behaviors.
• Support the concept that the child's “job” is school.
Thank you…..your support sends an important message to your child that we are working together as a team to help him/
her be successful in all parts of his/her life. We appreciate your daily support.
Volunteer Appreciation Week!
We Appreciate our volunteers and all that they do for students and staff
at Tope! To date we have over 70 regular volunteers from several different
programs including 500 Plan, Art Heritage, RSVP Grandparent Volunteers,
Spellbinders, and our very own parent volunteers. Our volunteers have been
in our building over 2500 hours so far this year!
We will be honoring our volunteers on Wednesday, April 9th.
Teacher Appreciation Week!
Don’t forget our amazing staff and teachers! National Teacher Appreciation
week is May 5-9, and we will be honoring our Tope Teachers all week long!

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