Posted November 11, 2025
| Dear SKCEE Families and Friends, In this month of gratitude, I want to express my deepest, heartfelt gratitude for each and every one of you and your children. The generosity of this community moves me, and I’m eternally grateful to be a part of Stephen Knight. Thank you so much for a record setting Scamper year. The event itself was a blast, and the auction and sponsorships raised more than ever! Special thanks to Lauren Busch, our PTA Vice President, who made it all possible with her selfless gift of her time, talent, and treasures. She is a true rockstar, and our biggest cheerleader and source of support. Thank you Lauren! And to the entire team who helped, from Room Parents who organized the class baskets to the volunteers on the day of the event with set up and tear down, your contributions made it a great day. Thanks to Marissa Girard, our Social Media superstar, and special thanks to Alex Ho, Sara Semmens, Carly Keating, Connie Wang and the entire PTA board for your support. We are truly grateful. We are excited to collaborate with PTA to use some of the funds raised to bring special experiences to the students at SKCEE. Stay tuned for more, and be sure to click the link below for the PTA newsletter to read about our amazing sponsors and the first event in December, made possible due to your generosity. Speaking of generosity, our SNAP Food Drive has been extremely successful, with many of you bringing non-perishables and donating grocery gift cards to the community. Please know this is for ALL of the community, and we invite you to take any of the items for your own use, or to support a family member or neighbor in need. It is located on some shelving in the auditorium. If you are in need of one of the donated grocery cards, please email me directly and privately, and we will take care of you. My email is shelley_boberschmidt@dpsk12.net . We will continue to provide this service to families throughout the government shut down and pause on SNAP benefits. And, it is definitely getting chilly! Remember, our students go outside every day, rain or shine, snow or sun…so please layer them up and send hats, boots, and gloves or mittens. If they have outgrown their gear, check out our boots and coats exchange in the lobby! Feel free to add your own items, and take the next size up! We will be donating all leftover coats, boots, and food to a local community organization before leaving for Thanksgiving Break. We are excited to announce that we were asked to add one room of half-day multi-age ECE programming here at SKCEE. We hope to launch the classroom in the beginning of December. The program is an inclusive model one room, welcoming six students in collaboration with Child Find, and enrolling ten students from the SKCEE community. We moved from the half day model to full day inclusion in our classrooms last year, but we are excited to respond to the needs and demands in the community to add back this additional program. The hours will be 8:15-11:15 and 12:15-3:15. Please reach out to me if you are interested in joining this room, and meet the wonderful new teacher, Katie, in her bio below. We are also excited to welcome Fernanda Cabrera, who will be a 7 hour bilingual Spanish para. She hopes to join us before fall break. She will be an integral support for our emerging bilingual students and multilingual families. Have a wonderful weekend. In partnership, Principal Shelley Boberschmidt |
ECE Update:
We are wrapping up our Trees unit. Ask your child what they learned about trees, such as what the parts of the tree do, what animals live in trees, and more! We are going to be exploring holidays and celebrations around the world, clothing and light as we move into the fall and winter season.
Kindergarten Update:
In kindergarten we are learning about plants, focusing on the parts of plants, the plant life cycle, and pollination. We are even planting some things of our own! We’ve wrapped up another math unit (more and less) and are beginning to explore and learn about shapes.
Physical Education Update:
Last month, we played some tree-themed games to support ECE’s Trees unit. We focused on understanding and showing “good sportsmanship” with kind words, high fives, and helping hands while we played Team Lumberjacks and Planters and Tree Tag. We are currently wrapping up our unit on Health Foods. We played several games to identify healthy “all the time” foods such as fruits and vegetables, an “sometimes” treats like cookies and candy. During choice time, students drove scooters around the gym and got their heart rates up with some ribbon dancing.
Art Update:
Hello wonderful families! It is a delight to come teach your children. I hope they come home talking about what they do in class. The art studio is a choice-based classroom, meaning that there are many options for how to create. Children are learning to be artists in their own studio.
Preschoolers have been working on following our routine, using materials safely, and taking care of our space. Our language focus has been naming lines and shapes and using these in our work.
Kindergarteners learned about Rafael Lopez, a San Diego muralist. Check out their murals in the kindergarten hall the next time you’re in the building. Students decided on a required element to draw, and each student worked hard to complete their section of the mural. You can connect their learning to real life when you are out on the road. Talk about the murals you see in our beautiful city. Students have learned to make a plan for their time in class and to talk about their work with friends when done.
I would like to invite you to volunteer in your child’s class. Sometimes grandparents love to get involved! If you are interested, email me so we can figure out what kind of timing works for you. cookie_caskie@dpsk12.net
Have a joyous fall! Enjoy the leaves before they’re gone! Warmly, Cookie
Gifted & Talented (GT):
GT Department Family Series Invitation: Nov. 11
Note our Gifted/Talented Department event on November 11 about GT Brain-Based Practices and Supports with details here. You’ll learn more about how your student’s GT brain thinks and learns best.
Time: Nov. 11, 5-6:15 pm
Where: on Zoom.
Where to Register: In the link above.
The Event: Neuroscience-based strategies to support and enrich gifted student learning.
Missed our last GT Family Series session on GT identification? See our One Pager Spotlight — A Recap here, a Video recording here, and the Presentation Slides here.
Gifted in the News
The Anxiety of Raising Gifted Children: Why Optimizing Their Full Potential Can Break Them (and Us)
“What if the purpose of giftedness weren’t to achieve more, but to feel more deeply, think more creatively, and connect more authentically?” Read on for this love letter to parents about navigating their gifted child’s potential and strategies for making shifts to support them without raising anxiety levels.
The Case for Gifted Education
Gifted education isn’t a luxury but a necessity for students who learn differently, asserting that equity demands expanding access — not eliminating these programs. Without the right challenges and support, gifted students risk disengagement and underachievement. Learn more from this article in Psychology Today.
Questions? Connect with our GT Itinerant, Chelsea Chappell-Cox at chelsea_chappell-cox@dpsk12.net.
New to SKCEE Staff:
Meet Katie: our new model one teacher!
Katie graduated with her Masters in Early Childhood Special Education in 2021 and has been teaching special education preschool-5th grade ever since! Katie was an inclusive preschool teacher for the first two years after graduating and she is excited to be back since preschool is her favorite. Katie is also working on a Masters in School Counseling right now and will be graduating in a couple years! Katie believes that strong relationships, play-based learning, collaboration with families, and most importantly, inclusivity are the fundamentals that make her classroom run the best. Outside of work she enjoys exploring beautiful Colorado and going to concerts at Red Rocks. She is thrilled to be part of the Stephen Knight team and is looking forward to meeting all of you and for a year of learning and connection.
And meet Fernanda!
Hi! iHola! My name’s Fernanda Cabrera and I’m going to be an ELA paraprofessional at Stephen Knight. I recently graduated from CU Denver with a BA in Spanish and English. I love my family (especially my dog Beast, or Bestia), and education! I’m really happy to start working with the kids here at Stephen Knight!
SKCEE Scamper 2025 was a huge success! We raised over $54,000 and we couldn’t have done it without our amazing community and generous sponsors. Check out what’s happening this month in the newsletter, linked here and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @skceefamilies to stay in the loop with the latest updates and events!
November 12: Gratitude (thanksgiving) lunch
November 20: Teacher Treasures 3:30-5:00
November 22-30: Fall Break
December 1: SKCEE specific professional learning day: No students!