Posted January 9, 2024
Dear Parents and Families!
Welcome to 2024! We hope you had a fantastic break and enjoyed the time with your kids. We both spent much of our time enjoying our own children and relaxing. It was great to come back on Tuesday and see our staff, our students and all of you.
We also want to express our gratitude for the holiday love you gave our staff in the form of kind words and gifts as we left for break. We feel so supported by you!
As we welcome a new year, we have been reflecting on our first half of this school year, and some ways we’ve adapted to meet the needs of our students. We implemented the ECE outdoor program in the fall to allow for more collaborative time for classroom teaching teams and added a 3rd special, Loose Parts, to the kindergarten rotation to make it possible for them to have daily planning time as a team. Both of these shifts, from our informal and formal data collection, suggests that it has been a supportive and helpful system shift. This week we have adjusted the timing of kindergarten and four of the ECE
classroom (Duvall, Schmidt, K.Gurule, Kuskulis) specials times to support our teachers and students better. If your kids mention that their days feel different, know that is why.
Our next unit in ECE is Clothing and it begins on Monday, January 8th and culminates on February 2nd with a fashion show. Watch for a forthcoming invitation from your child’s teacher for your specific time and details but save the 2nd. It is a 10-15 second strut across the stage in clothing that your child enjoys. Not a big deal and you certainly shouldn’t buy anything but it will definitely be a highlight of your week! We also would like to put pictures of students in clothing that they wear for special occasions, and representing all of our cultures, in our hallway display case. If you are willing to share a picture with
us, please hand it to one of us in the morning or send it to us in an email (aimee_justice-lundt@dpsk12.net and shelley_boberschmidt@dpsk12.net). If you have access to some full sized mannequins we can borrow for a month, please let us know! To launch our clothing unit, next week is Spirit Week! Here is the flyer for the different outfits for each day of the week. We hope getting dressed next week is fun.
Kindergarten will be exploring farms during January and are adventuring to the stock show on Friday, January 19th. Teachers sent home invitations requesting volunteers so if you haven’t signed up yet to accompany your kindergarten kid, please do. To show our love for kindergarten and to send them on their way, Friday, January 19th will be ‘Dress Western’
day. Yeehaw!
Please remember that our parking lot is tiny for the size of our school. In order for it to be remotely efficient we all have to follow some common, friendly parking lot expectations.
● Only turn RIGHT out of our parking lot even if you really, really want to go left. Don’t do it! Go right always. Turning left holds up all the traffic in the lot and people will rightfully honk at you.
● Please do not park in the fire lane or the crosswalks. It is unsafe and blocks traffic.
● In the kindergarten kiss and go lane, STAY in YOUR CAR and pull as far forward as you can.
As always, we wholeheartedly appreciate your support and the trust you place in each of us every time you bring your children to school. It is an honor to be here and we are grateful.
In partnership,
Shelley and Aimee
DPS Choice!
School Choice opens Thursday, January 11th! Please remember that each student in ECE 3 needs to apply for both DPS School Choice and UPK. There is more information about the process on our website linked here. If your child is in ECE 4 and entering kindergarten in the fall, you also need to apply for School Choice. We have 14 ECE classrooms and only 3 kindergarten classrooms. Our kindergarten is actually part of Cory Elementary school and the primary way to attend kindergarten here is to live in the Cory boundary area. In an effort to support all families entering kinder next year, we are hosting a Kindergarten Fair in the gym on Wednesday, January 10th from 2:45-4. We will have representatives from 10 of
our neighboring schools to support you with your choice.
January Dine Out – Tuesday, 1/16
January’s dine out will be on Tuesday, January 16th at Campus Lounge from 4-10pm. Grab a bite to eat and support the SKCEE PTA – 20% of sales goes back to the PTA. No code necessary.
Upswell Gives – Friday 1/26
Upswell Studio is hosting a Power and Burn class for SKCEE parents on Friday, January 26th at 9am. All proceeds will go back to the PTA. Sign up here! 1842 S. Broadway, Denver 80210
PTA Meeting – Thursday 1/11
The next PTA meeting will be on Thursday, January 11th at 5:00 pm in room 101. We hope to provide childcare, but it is TBD.
Stock the Lounge – Wednesday, 1/17
January’s stock the lounge will be on Wednesday, January 17th for Group 2: Hart, K. Gurule, Duvall, and Cochran. Please bring in non-perishable snacks and drinks for the teachers and other staff to enjoy. There will be PTA volunteers and donation boxes outside of the front office, at the kinder kiss-n-go line, and at the Cory bus stop.
Book Fair Volunteers
If you are interested in volunteering for the SKCEE Book Fair, scheduled for this spring, please reach out to Melissa Viola – melissaquinlan@gmail.com.
Kindergarten Family Fair:
Guardians of ECE 4 year old students, please come to our Kindergarten Fair to visit with leaders and families from neighboring schools. It is on Wednesday, January 10th, from 2:45-4:00 in the gym. Read more about it here.
January 8-12: Spirit Week!
January 10: ECE 4 year old Kindergarten Family Fair
January 11: DPS School Choice opens
January 11: CSC meeting at 3:45, PTA meeting at 5:00
January 15: MLK Day, no school
January 17: Stock the Lounge
January 19: Kindergarten to the stock show/Dress Western Day
February 2: Fashion Show (details coming soon)