Welcome to the 2018-19 School Year!

I hope you and your families are enjoying your summer activities and time together. The first day of school is Tuesday, September 4th for grades 1-5. For Kindergarten students, their first day of classes will be Thursday, September 6th. Kindergarten families will begin the year with parent conferences on September 4th and 5th. Scheduling information for conferences will be sent separately. Your child will bring home a packet of information that will provide more information about our school and partners, and the school handbook can be found on our website. Please read through this packet thoroughly as it will help you navigate through the year.

What’s new this year?

• We will be implementing a new reading curriculum and continuing to expand our science program.
• We will have new student and teacher furniture!
• We will be using a new web-based, or mobile App, for all after school plans called School Pass.

We are excited to continue with programs we strengthened last year. We will continue with our morning laps and breakfast at 8:55am when the buses arrive, Spring conferences, our Spanish intern program, Neighborcare and VYFS mental health therapists, Second Step curriculum for positive behavior supports, outdoor science and our wonderful artist in the schools programs.

This year we are welcoming several new staff members to Chautauqua.  Your child’s teachers, our support staff and I are looking forward to a great year of learning at Chautauqua. If you have any questions, concerns or just wish to chat please contact me to set up a visit.

Rebecca Goertzel, Principal
Julie Kangas, Assistant Principal

Important Dates:

• Registration for 2019-20 School Year NOW OPEN for Kindergarten and new 1st-5th grade students!
• Kindergarten Open House - Wednesday, February 27th at 6:00pm - Sign Up Now!

We engage - We learn - We lead

At Chautauqua Elementary we learn together, enjoying the challenge of deepening our learning. We engage with our children, each other, and our parents. Through compassion and care we strive to solve problems with respectful engagement and concern for all. We are committed to each person thriving in our school. We collaborate to lead our own learning and that of our peers. Together we are discovering our ways toward improvement as we develop the whole child within our school community.

We believe in developing children’s strengths and developing skills they have not yet mastered. Also, we guide children to strengthen and develop positive learning behaviors and social skills. Our staff is committed to helping children achieve their full potential at every grade level beginning with our preschool (3 and 4 year olds) through fifth grade. We understand that all children develop at varied paces, and we utilize a variety of strategies to support their different learning styles and interests.

As an elementary school, we recognize children’s natural curiosity and interest in learning about their world. Our focus is on providing engaging instruction that develops their natural ability to ask questions and to probe for deeper answers. While uncovering and celebrating students’ strengths as learners we strive to use those strengths to support the more challenging aspects of each child’s learning.

Children learn to integrate into a larger school community through our focus on community norms. They quickly learn that respect is at the center of our interactions. We teach SOLE (respect for Self, Others, Learning and our Environment) to all children and celebrate their kind and respectful choices. We develop children’s resiliency while building upon their natural empathy for others. It is our mission to create a community of learners who engage, contribute, and thrive at Chautauqua Elementary School and beyond.

CES Office Hours:
8:30am-4:00pm

2018-19 School Day, Grades K-5
Start time: 9:05am
Late bell: 9:15am
Dismissal: 3:35pm
Buses Depart: 3:45pm 

2018-19 School Day, Grades K-5 LATE ARRIVAL SCHEDULE
Start time:  11:30am
Late bell:  11:40am
Dismissal:  3:35pm
Buses Depart: 3:45pm

Students riding the bus come into the building at 8:55am and are directed downstairs for breakfast (if planned) or for supervised activity in the gym.  They are then released to classes at the 9:05am bell. For parents bringing their students to school, please wait outside the building for the 9:05am bell to ring.  If your child needs to receive breakfast, you may escort them down to the cafeteria.

On Late Arrival days, no breakfast is served and students will enter at the 11:30am bell and go straight to class.

They have a schedule that is unique to their classroom and/or grade level where they study academics, develop their learning behaviors, and receive social skills instruction. Children develop empathy and learn self-management skills in the areas of impulsivity and emotional regulation through our Second Step instruction. Most days children go to a specialist class which provides instruction in art, music and physical fitness/health. Identified students receive support in reading, math and other skills.

2018-19 Preschool Programs

ECEAP: Monday-Thursday from 9:05am to 3:35pm (including Late Arrival days)

CES Pre-K:

AM Class, Monday-Wednesday from 9:05am to 11:55am

PM Class, Monday-Thursday from 12:55pm to 3:35pm

Who’s Who in the Office

Ms. Rebecca Goertzel, Principal
Ms. Julie Kangas, Assistant Principal
Ms. Gillian Callison, Office Manager/Registrar
Ms. Kelly Murphy, School Secretary
Ms. Kristina Miller, Counselor

Reading/Writing: Our literacy curriculum incorporates authentic, high quality literature into each lesson, focusing on small group learning, writing for multiple purposes, collaboration, reading at individual levels, independent reading in all grades and phonics instruction in the lower grades.

Our 1st– 3rd grade teachers work with our reading support staff to provide a Walk-to-Read model where readers are learning skills with children who need to learn the same skills. The children are regularly progress monitored to determine their fit for the group they are assigned. Staff members make responsive changes based on students’ challenges and growth. When academic gains or needs are determined, children move to other groups where their current skills are being taught. Walk-to-Read specifically helps to instill a love of reading. This instructional support extends into all forms of communication and comprehension including speaking and writing clearly. Also, a solid home support that dovetails with our reading curriculum and interventions is offered for struggling readers.

We use Collaborative Literacy K-5 as our core curriculum, including vocabulary instruction, skills, comprehension and writing. This resource provides a progression of skills through the grades beginning in kindergarten, while incorporating collaborative practices and team building. Our reading and writing resources are augmented with a variety of choice literature to provide the instruction that is needed for each type of learner.

Math: We use Bridges math curriculum, guiding students to gain a strong understanding of number relationships and patterns prior to learning standard algorithms. A major component of our math instruction includes student discourse where evidence for problem solving is shared and discussed. Students learn content within a module and unit framework during their main lesson. They review previous concepts regularly during a short calendar embedded lesson called Number Corner and number talks, where students share their problem solving strategies.

Science: We created a K-5 science curriculum to compliment our thematic units. Children learn through hands-on investigations and exploring scientific phenomena, including incorporating our surrounding forest, nearby pond, and the school garden. Our science aligns with the innovative Next Generation Science and guides students to deepen their understanding of the natural world. We have a part time environmental science coordinator, bringing students into our forest and garden and supporting our science units. Our kindergarten students have an extended time in our forest once a week, with the support of our parents and volunteers.


Social Studies: Each instructional level team has developed thematic, project-based learning opportunities for cultural studies. Teachers utilize these studies to further develop students’ comprehension skills and writing. Multiage classes align closely with the project studies in first, second and third grades. Some of the units include: First grade China and Intertidal zones; Second grade Native Americans and owls; Third grade Action Network and our forest; Fourth grade Washington State and Birding; Fifth grade Early United States.

Technology: Classrooms use Chromebook sets to teach keyboarding skills beginning in third grade and dive deeply into writing and research skills. Some math extension, writing and support activities are also available through our technology devices.

Art: Students attend art class weekly. They learn about the elements of art, genres, and study particular artists’ styles. Our art teacher uses a variety of techniques to teach drawing, painting, sculpting and paper art. Thanks to the Artists in Schools grant opportunity some grade levels work with island artists to learn skills through well-developed projects taught by the guest artist and supported by our art teacher.

Music: Students attend music class weekly. Teaching methods include visual, kinesthetic and aural modalities. Children learn to recognize and use a variety of musical elements such as rhythm, melody, harmony, form and timbre. They play instruments (drums, rhythm, barred instruments, keyboard), dance and sing as they explore a range of musical genre.

Physical Education & Health: The focus of these classes is to help our students develop skills and interests in healthy activity and to understand how their body works in order to take care of it. They learn a variety of games and stay health and active, exercising both in our gym and outside.

Library: Our students visit the library weekly, learning research skills and participating in culturally diverse author studies.

Spanish: We have Spanish classes with a specialist teacher and through our Spanish Intern program. Students are exposed to learning another language develop their understanding our our greater world. Our interns from Spain and Latin America live with local families. They support our native Spanish speaking students with primary language support, teach Spanish and provide math and reading support to increase our understanding of our greater world.

Fourth and Fifth Grade Clubs: On Thursday mornings when we don’t have a late start our fourth and fifth graders have an hour of clubs. Our specialist teachers lead a variety of clubs that change throughout the year and our students can choose a club that interests them. Some examples are choir, garden, building, tinkering, fitness, running club, knitting, games, family history, foreign language, theater, and coding. It gives students the chance to explore a new interest and mix with students from different classes. Clubs occur during the school day.

Fifth Grade Experiences: Our fifth graders engage in a robotics unit annually. They also attend an environmental camp in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains every year. At Waskowitz Outdoor School they learn about the environmental connections between plants, animals, soil, and water, with a field study session at a nearby watershed. Habitats and ecosystems are an integral part of this experience, along with making choices that preserve and protect the environment. A social benefit of meeting new friends from other NW Washington schools and nurturing independence and self-reliance are a bonus in rounding out this environmental experience.