Posted February 11, 2025
Dear SKCEE Families,
In this month of the year when we get to celebrate love and friendship, I want to take this opportunity to share my appreciation for each and every one of you, your children and family members. We know the trust you place in us daily to provide safe and joyful learning spaces and experiences for our young learners, and we are grateful for your partnership.
We are honored to celebrate Black Excellence and Black History Month in February, and every day! We invite families to add their own photos and inspiration to our lobby display this month. Black History is US History.
On Thursday, February 13th, we will have an all day Friendship Festival during student specials. This is a great opportunity to celebrate the amazing community relationships we have at SKCEE by volunteering to help with the festivities. Sign up here, and thank you to our PTA for the creativity, commitment, and support! If you do want to have your child bring Valentine cards for classmates, please feel free to send them, but remember, we are a 100% nut free school if you are adding a treat.
I also wanted to share the family resource tool kit created by DPS to support our immigrant community. It contains information and resources about your rights, current DPS policies, training, mental health support, and a list of community resources. Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns.
Thursday we had our annual state licensing renewal visit. We are proud of the work we’ve done to meet the requirements of running an Early Education center in Colorado. We will keep you updated on feedback from the visit.
Please remember to complete the DPS School Choice process before 2/18! Let us know if we can assist you with anything.
Enjoy the long weekend, 2/14-2/17. Your SKCEE staff will be here on 2/14 planning and learning to continue to grow in service to our community.
Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. Thank you to our PTA for the surprise flowers, song, cake, and thoughtful gifts and IG post! (Follow SKCEE on Instagram @skceefamilies) I apologize for this delayed newsletter, but I took my birthday off to go to Vegas with my husband, where we saw some concerts, ate delicious food, and shopped!
As always, thank you for your partnership and support.
With Love,
Principal Shelley Boberschmidt
ECE Update!
Our ECE students learned all about physics during Simple Machines, and now in the month of February we are learning about Roads, Signs, Buildings and Communities. Thanks for sending boxes for our construction of a SKCEE city!
Kindergarten Update!
We are proud of our kindergarteners and all the growth they’ve shown since the beginning of the year as evidenced by their mid year DIBELS assessment. We look forward to sharing progress reports with you soon. We started digraphs in our skills unit (ch, th, wh, sh). We also started the Kings and Queens unit and will be reading multiple Cinderella stories from different cultures. In math we are working on 2D shapes.
Specials Updates!
In PE, we recently wrapped up our January bowling unit. We were busy focusing on our bowling form while taking turns and encouraging our partners with kind words and helpful bowling tips. In February, we will be learning about cardiovascular health: exercise, healthy foods, getting enough rest, and more. Please take a moment to add something about how you keep your hearts healthy to the bulletin board outside the gym!
Art class news! ECE spent January celebrating winter by creating winter-themed art. Students made snowy day pictures and used winter colors in paintings, drawings, and collages. We learned about the Lunar (Chinese) New Year, one of the most widely celebrated holidays. Ask your child about our dragon dance, the lanterns, the chinese restaurant, and the great wall of China. In China, each year is assigned an animal, who is honored for its gifts. 2025 is the year of the snake. Our 3’s were born during the year of the ox, 4’s during the year of the rat, and 5’s during the year of the pig. How wonderful that our young learners are discovering the world through play.
Kindergarten has just completed a sculpture study. Students chose one of three mediums, paper, wood (junk), or clay. The sculptures are all on display in the hall near the gym and the art room. Please extend your child’s understanding by talking about sculptures in your home, garden, and out in the world. You will notice they are everywhere! You are welcome to grab your child’s creation if you are in the building. In February, we will work on storytelling through art. All students will make a batik (traditionally made with melted wax) using glue and fabric paint. Each week offers children a chance to make art following their own passions and interests as well as our focus topic.
Art tip of the month: Shoeboxes made great art boxes! You can stock a box with supplies for a mobile art center. When my kids were little, we saved their art in large boot boxes. I still have many of their favorite projects. Never throw away a shoe box; give it a new purpose!
Come by and visit room 111 if you want to connect or ask questions. Warmly, Cookie
Arrival and Dismissal Parking Lot Expectations:
A reminder that we serve 300 students, 225 of whom must have their adults park and walk in with their children to sign them in. At dismissal, they must do the same to sign them out and accompany them to parked cars. We have been struggling lately with poor etiquette in the parking lot and surrounding streets. Please remember, we serve the youngest DPS learners, and safety is our first priority. We have a window for arrival and dismissal to allow for our ECE families to park in approved spots and bring children in, and our Kindergarten kiss and go supports our families with traffic flow and staying in the car to drop off and pick up SKCEE Butterflies.
Retention:
Generally speaking, retention is not a common practice in Denver Public Schools, or at SKCEE. In certain instances it can be approved through a process with the family, teachers, and myself (Principal). Here is a link to an article from NAEYC regarding school readiness for the young child. After reviewing these resources, if you have questions, please see Shelley.
Key Considerations for Retention for ECE:
Kindergarten Retention determination:
District staff shall consider and document each of the following factors:
After considering and documenting the above factors, the principal shall make a recommendation whether to retain the student. However, a student shall not be retained unless the principal has made such a recommendation and the student’s parents/guardians agree with the recommendation.
Raising Highly Capable Kids:
We are excited to see so many responses expressing interest in the parenting courses Mr. Derek and I will be facilitating this spring. Find more information, and share your interest using this form before February 24th. Dates and times TBD.
February PTA Newsletter Linked Here!
February 13: Friendship Festival (during specials)
February 14: No School – PD Day for Staff
February 17: No School – Presidents Day
February 18: School Choice Window Closes (4:00)
February 18: Stock the Lounge!
February 20: CSC at 3:45, PTA at 5:00 Childcare provided!
February 26: Dine Out at Smashburger