Tuesday, February 4th, 2025

Dear American Academy Parents,

What’s Happening Around Campus:
As the school year continues, students are developing their routines and study habits. The staff of American Academy Lincoln Meadows continues to encourage students to put their best foot forward and enjoy the educational journey they are embarking on.

During the month of February our character focus will be Humility.

• Humility
  • Recognizing the people and factors that have shaped one’s life.
  • To master this trait one must start with the little things:
    • Be thankful
    • Be happy for other’s accomplishments
    • Be able to forgive
    • Be willing to learn
    •  

Trimester 2 Hero Celebration 3rd-5th Grade
It is incredibly hard to believe that we are already at the end of our second trimester of the school year. For our trimester hero party, I'm excited to announce that we are doing something a bit different. 3rd-5th grade will each have a silent disco party in the gym during their special’s class time! We are not asking for a lot of donations, HOWEVER, we would love to get glow sticks and beverages for the kids while they enjoy the full experience of a silent disco dance party with our very own DJ.

Please sign up for donations and send in your items with a note: “Attn: Mallory Buresh- Hero Party” by Thursday, February 13th.

Click to donate items!

Trimester 2 Hero Celebration for Middle School
To reward our middle school students of their hard earned hero points, we would like to treat them to a special celebration as well. But we need your help! Please consider signing up to donate items so that we can make this celebration for our students happen. Please label your donations with “Attn. Ms. Buresh-Middle School”.

The middle school hero celebration will be on Friday, February 21st from 2:40-3:30pm. Please drop donations off no later than Wednesday, February 19th.

Thank you for your continued support of our Hero Program.

Click here to donate items!

MS Gum Issues in School
Parents, we need your support regarding the issue of gum in school. While we understand some students enjoy chewing gum, it has unfortunately become a significant distraction in the classroom. We've seen an increase in gum stuck to desks, floors, chairs, disruptions during lessons, and concerns about sharing gum. These issues create an unclean environment and interrupt the learning process for all students. We kindly request your support in reinforcing this with your children. Explaining the reasons behind the “why” can be very helpful. Thank you for your cooperation.

Spirit Themed Days
While our school spirit days are a fun way for students to show their school pride, especially during a fun- filled week like Wish Week, we want to encourage all students to participate by dressing according to the theme. To ensure a positive and inclusive environment, we want to remind everyone that if a student doesn't have clothing that fits the spirit day theme, they should wear their regular, approved school attire. If a student’s choice of clothing is not within the theme, we will have the student call parents to bring a school approved top for the remainder of the day. This helps avoid any issues of distracting clothing choices. Thank you for your support in making our spirit days enjoyable for all!

Wish Week Recap
WOW! AALM rocked it this week by raising funds towards Make A Wish Foundation. Thank you so much for your incredible support of our recent Make-A-Wish Foundation fundraiser! Your generosity and enthusiasm were truly inspiring, and we are so grateful for your contributions. Because of your efforts, we were able to raise $5,602.20. Your kindness will make a real difference in the life of a child.

As for our homeroom classes that won our change wars challenge, congratulations to Ms. Crain’s first grade homeroom class, Ms. Blocker’s fifth grade homeroom class, and middle school Ms. Wilkesheski’s homeroom class. They all enjoyed an extra sweet treat during their lunch on Monday, February 3rd!

With all three campuses combined, American Academy raised over $15,000! Enjoy some sweet pictures of Audrey and her send off from the Castle Pines campus! What a fun week celebrating such an incredible cause.

What’s Happening Outside of Campus:
As technology continues to advance, so do the outside pressures that our students face. From YouTube Challenges to marketing of hazardous items to today’s youth the only way to stay abreast of all of it is through daily research. My hope is that the information provided in this section can give parents a starting ground of what is going on and open communication lines in regard to social media, hazardous items, and how to lead by example versus following the “cool” new trend. By no means am I able to list everything that is going on through social media, but hopefully this acts as a starting point.

Internet and Social Media Awareness
Currently, the internet has many different challenges that are tempting kids to make very unsafe decisions. Active conversations with your children regarding social media and internet awareness are a great starting point to protecting their personal information and the content they are exposed to.

Here are a couple of videos that do an incredible job explaining the impacts that cellular devices are having on our children. I strongly encourage you to take some time to watch these powerful videos!

Johann Hari, Author, Stolen Focus

Jonathan Haidt: Smartphones vs. Smart Kids

Thank you for partnering with me!

Mallory Buresh
Dean of Students, Lincoln Meadows