Elementary News and Updates (02/24/23)

Dear STEM Families,

After the winter we have had, I am hoping for an early spring. Especially since spring break is only two WEEKS AWAY! Time flies when you are having fun, and these next two weeks will be just that. Next week is the Love of Reading/Wish Week here at STEM. Every year STEM elementary students celebrate National Read Across America Week through the Love of Reading. It just so happens this year, it coincides with our Wish Week. We have a lot of events and celebrations scheduled. Be sure to check out our social media to see all the fun.

Here are a few important announcements:

Love of Reading/Wish Week Events:

• Spirit Days:
  • Monday: Grade Wars! Wear the color assigned to your grade level! K/1 = Black 2/3=yellow 4/5=red
  • Tuesday: Disney Day!
  • Wednesday: Pajama Day!
  • Thursday: Book Character Day!
  • Friday: Wish Week Shirt Day!
• Coin Wars: We will collect coins for our wish week child, Colton. The class who collects the most coins, both K-2 and 3-5, will win a pizza party. We still are in need of milk jugs to collect our coins. Please drop off clean milk jugs to the front office by Monday, Feb. 27.
• Used Book Exchange: Students will have the opportunity to pick 1 or 2 “new to them” books through our used book exchange. We really are in need of good condition, used books. Please drop them off to the ES front office no later than Tuesday, Feb. 28.
• Guest Readers- We are looking for guest readers to come and read to students. If you are interested, please sign-up.

PTO Skate Night: PTO is hosting a skate night at Skate City on Wednesday, March 1 from 5-7 pm. Hope to see you there!

Parent/Teacher Conferences: Parent/teacher conferences will be held the week of March 6-10th. This is a time to communicate and partner with your student’s teacher to ensure a successful end of the year. Please be on the lookout for communication from your student’s teacher on how to sign-up.

Yearbooks: Families can order the 2022-2023 yearbook by clicking here.

Volunteers: We are always looking for volunteers in the cafeteria, playground or driveline. Please reach out to Mona Loptein (mona.loptein@stemk12.org) or visit our Volunteer section on the Parent Get Involved page of our website for more information.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

In Partnership,

Amie McElroy, Elementary Director

Please take a moment to check the STEM All-Events Calendar on our website.

There are lots of events already scheduled so please take a moment to take a look at the calendar to familiarize yourself with some of the events at the start of school. This calendar will continue to be updated throughout the summer as we get closer to the start of school.

Tuesday, Feb. 28, from 3-5 p.m. – HS Commons

Do you like baking? Do you think you can make the best pie? Do you want to win $25? Bake the best pie (dessert or savory) and compete against your classmates on Tuesday, Feb. 28, from 3-5 p.m. in the High School Commons during the annual Great STEM Bake-off! The esteemed judges, Mr. Moore, Ms. White, and Mr. Kerwin, will judge your pie based on creativity, taste, and presentation! This event is open to all students and families.

Monday, March 6, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. – Mechatronics Lab in P-TECH/KOSON Building

Are you interested in joining the KOSON/STEM Board of Directors? Come join us on Monday, March 6 for a KOSON/STEM BOD Parent Interest Meeting starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Mechatronics Lab of our P-TECH/KOSON Building.

KOSON/STEM Board Elections will take place this spring and this information meeting is a great opportunity to learn what being on the Board encompasses and what you could expect as a member. No sign up is necessary. We hope to see you there! Email communications@stemk12.org with any questions about this event.

Tuesday, March 7, from 5:30-7 p.m – Mechatronics Lab (P-TECH/KOSON Building)

The monthly STEM Board of Directors’ Meeting will be Tuesday, March 7, from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Mechatronics Lab of the P-TECH/KOSON Building. The STEM BOD is comprised of parents and community members who volunteer their time. The Board’s role and purpose is to provide oversight of the Executive Director, who implements the policies set forth by the Board. The Board also provides support and direction of STEM’s long-term vision and mission. Additionally, the Board is active in making sure that STEM remains in compliance with all DCSD, state and federal compliance requirements, as well as STEM’s Charter Contract.

Meetings are open to anyone to attend. Anyone who would like to address the Board Members must sign-up in advance by completing the Public Comment Form no later than 12 p.m. the day of each Board meeting. If written testimony or a handout is submitted, presenters are asked to supply one (1) copy via email to communications@stemk12.org.

Wednesday, March 7, from 6:30-8 p.m. – Zoom

STEM PTO is comprised of parents from the STEM community who work together to help foster a strong sense of community and provide enhancement activities for students, faculty, staff, and families while also helping to increase educational, social and emotional experiences for the members of their families.

STEM PTO is organized to enhance the quality of each student’s education, the school as a whole, and the entire community through the development of resources and the participation of parents, school staff, and the community. Meetings are open for anyone to attend.

Thursday, March 9, from 2-4 p.m. – Secondary Parking Lot

Kick-off Spring Break with a sweet treat from the HipPOPs Ice Cream Truck. The truck will be at STEM on Thursday, March 9, from 2-4 p.m. in the Secondary Parking Lot. Pre-orders are strongly encouraged to reduce wait times and impact to driveline. Click the button below to view the menu and to pre-order. Just put the items in your cart and make sure that you have March 9 as the pick-up date, and any time between 2-4 p.m. as your pick-up time.

Monday, March 21, from 7-8 a.m. – High School Staff Parking Lot

The STEM Administration Team would like to welcome back our community from Spring Break with a morning treat! Tom’s Coffee Truck will be on campus on Monday, March 20 from 7-8 a.m. selling coffee to students, staff and families. See the attachments below for the menu.

The truck will be located in the High School Staff Parking Lot on the West side of the School. Cars may only park in the High School Parking Lot temporarily if they are purchasing from the Coffee Truck. (students may not be dropped off here)

School photos have been uploaded for families to view. Families can access their photos by visiting the link below, selecting the School Portrait Proofs link, and when prompted enter their private password in the following format: studentid#.

FREE lunches are back for students! Starting in August of 2023, students will once again receive free lunches. Students must chose an entree, fruit/vegetable a milk for the free lunch. Snacks are not free.

While lunches will be free, it is important for families who need additional financial support to still complete the Free/Reduces Lunch application. Those who qualify for FRL status will only receive the additional benefits (free/reduced school fees, free/reduced trips, priority for scholarships in non-FRL field trips or Enrichment programs, and/or graduation fee reductions, etc.) of the program if they complete the application.

In order to assure that the District and STEM receive accurate data, DCSD and STEM are requesting that ALL families complete the FRL application that opens on July 15, regardless of financial status. A new application must be completed each school year. Families can also still apply for this school year using the link below.

Below are some Winter Weather Facts and Resources for families.

• CDC Prevent Hypothermia and Frostbite
• Frostbite & Hypothermia Infographic
• CDC Winter Weather
• Child Care Weather Watch

Attention Parents! Please make sure that you have the newest version of the PikMyKid App downloaded to your phone. The current app was released in June of 2021. The old app will be discontinued on April 1. Their usernames and passwords will remain the same, making the transition easy. Emails to families still using the old app will be sent directly to the email address on file in PikMyKid, from PikMyKid Support.

Our high school entrepreneurship class is looking for feedback and advice from adults about their business ideas.

Your support would be online (Google Meets) on the following Fridays, though you are not required to attend all sessions to participate:

• March 3, 2023 (any duration between 11:30 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.) – Introduction/Initial Discussion
• March 31, 2023 (any duration between 11:30 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.) – Continued Feedback
• April 14, 2024 (any duration between 11:30 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.) – Continued Feedback
• May 8, May 12 or May 15 (between 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.) – Final Presentation

You would work with the same 1-2 groups of students throughout the sessions you are available to attend and mentor them through their ideas. You will be provided a mentor guide with ideas for questions and conservation topics.

ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITY

If you are not interested in this mentorship, we are additionally seeking in-person professionals for our Resume-Building Workshop on April 6th from 3-4 p.m.

Calling all creative K-12 students! Doodle for Google is officially open for its 15th year. We are excited to share that this year’s prompt is “I am grateful for…”. Students are encouraged to take a moment to reflect on what’s most important to them.

Students should be prompted to think about:

• What moments, people, places and things are special to them
• What or whom can they not imagine living without
• What are the things that get them through the day

Not sure where to start? Head to doodle4google.com for details on how to enter and to find lesson guides and videos to spark creativity!

Submission deadline is March 7 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Don’t forget!! Order your Elementary Yearbook today using the link below. Soft-cover yearbooks at $21 and hard-cover yearbooks are $31.

Reminder!! If you haven’t yet, please log into your MySchoolBucks account to pay your student’s fees. We currently have approximately $30,000 in outstanding student fees, and we anticipate that is due to the technical issues at the start of the school year with Express Check-In. If you have questions about your student’s fees or want to get on a payment plan, please email ashley.westfall@stemk12.org.

Reminder STEM Families! If you’re coming to pick up your student early, please do so before 1:45 p.m. Please do not come after 1:45 p.m. to pick up your student early. Exceptions will only be made for parents picking up students in the health room or who were called by the front office to pick up their student.

Unscheduled pick-ups after 1:45 p.m. interfere with driveline operations, as well as make it difficult for the front office to assist. Thank you for your understanding in helping to make our operations in the front office run smoothly.

We are happy to share that we will be offering students who are part of the Free and Reduced Lunch program the opportunity to get a Free Chromebook if the following parameters are met:

• Chromebook is signed out by a parent
• The student must remain enrolled at STEM for three years. (if the student leaves STEM during those three years, they will need to return the laptop)

Laptops can be kept over the summer. For more information, please email ashley.westfall@stemk12.org to confirm your Free and Reduced Lunch Program status. Not sure if you qualify for Free or Reduced Lunch? DCSD recommends that you apply regardless so that they can assist you further. Click the button below to access the application.

As the winter season approaches, we want to announce updates to the current Virtual School Day for Inclement Weather policy. Last spring, one of our STEM students presented a proposal and justification regarding changes to our current Virtual School Day policy. As a result, the administration and Board of Directors determined that a change is recommended to the Snow Day Policy. We appreciate the leadership and voice our STEM students display and are happy to announce that STEM will follow the DCSD Snow Day policy with a closure. STEM also reserves the right to modify the calendar, schedule, or this policy, due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather or construction that interrupts the required instructional minutes as set forth by the Colorado Department of Education. The following is a reminder of the current policies.

Late Start Schedule

STEM does not mimic the Late Start Policy and schedule put forth by DCSD. In the event that Douglas County calls for a Delayed Opening, STEM’s Virtual School Day Policy will take effect.

Virtual School Day for Inclement Weather

If DCSD determines that the district should follow the Delayed Opening protocol, STEM School Highlands Ranch will abide by its Virtual School Day Policy. When it snows, our school’s operation and instructional expectations will be determined by one of these three scenarios:

• Updated: Snow Day – Douglas County Schools calls a snow day – STEM is closed (check www.dcsdk12.org)
• Late Start Day – Douglas County Schools calls a Late Start day – STEM is closed and implements a Virtual School Day.
• All Schools Open – Douglas County Schools declare Highlands Ranch area schools open – STEM is open and operating to our regular schedule.

In case you didn’t know, families have specific Class Pages on Facebook where they can connect with other families from their student’s grade. You can find all of the different class pages on our Get Connected page of the Parent section of our website. Click the button below to see them.

Please note that these pages are administered by other parents and not by STEM.