Elementary News and Updates (05/07/21)

Volunteering and giving to STEM are vital to the success of our school.  Our school has a charter that requires a commitment of 30 volunteer hours per family (15 hours per single-parent family).

To make volunteering easy and seamless, please refer to the Volunteering Basics section that will allow you to set up your volunteer account and keep track of your hours.  We are extremely grateful for the time and energy donated by STEM parents each year.

With COVID 19, and visitors or volunteers not being allowed in the building this year, STEM has continued volunteer needs as the year finishes.
Please consider what your family can contribute with time or donations.

The hummingbird represents an ancient symbol of joy and happiness. Its colorful appearance brings good luck and positive energy to our lives.

Thank you for sharing your energy!!

We would like to thank these volunteers, who even though we have not been able to have volunteers in our school, have found a way to fulfill our charter commitment.

Elizabeth Banko
Olena Beck
MacClain Figueroa
Jane Kim
Brett Kingman
Jeong Lee
Jane Parsons
Julie Prince
Amy Winans
Jan Zhu-Gilje

May 11, from 8-11 a.m. in the Elementary School Parking Lot – Dress Rehearsal

May 13, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chatfield State Park

Our fifth-grade students will be taking part in the Revolutionary War Reenactment on May 13 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chatfield State Park.

Thursday, May 13 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at Civic Green Park

Thursday, May 13 from 6-8 p.m. at Civic Green Park

Friday, May 14 from 6-8 p.m. at Civic Green Park

The Spring Musical is ON!!!! Tickets for the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee are on sale now for just $10. Six awkward spelling champions learn that winning (and losing) isn’t everything.

Winner of the Tony and the Drama Desk Awards for Best Book, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has charmed audiences across the country with its effortless wit and humor. Featuring a fast-paced, wildly funny and touching book by Rachel Sheinkin and a truly fresh and vibrant score by William Finn, this bee is one unforgettable experience.

An eclectic group of six mid-pubescents vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing hilarious and touching stories from their home lives, the tweens spell their way through a series of (potentially made-up) words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming “”ding”” of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. Six spellers enter; one speller leaves! At least the losers get a juice box.

Contact Max Schwartz max.schwartz@https://stemk12.org with any questions.

May 17, from 8:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Specials Day is the new version of field day and will be on May 17. It will function a little differently than past field days because we can only do one grade level at a time (to keep with covid policies and cleaning procedures). During specials time for each elementary grade level, that grade will come out to the playfield and rotate between activities designed and run by the specials teachers.

Friday, May 21 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The 2021 Kindie Continuation Webinar will be held on Friday, May 21 starting at 11 am. This year we will compile the Kindies and Graduating Seniors aspirations into a celebration video. This will be aired on a Zoom webinar that families and friends can attend virtually. Click the button below to join.

Please check Infinite Campus to make sure we have your current address. If you have a change of address please email Tiffany Klenke (tiffany.klenke@https://stemk12.org), K-12 Registrar, with a proof of residency. Douglas County School District and STEM School Highlands Ranch only accept the following legal documents as proof of residence:

• warranty deed
• deed of trust
• lease agreement
• tax notice
• county assessor
• notarized letter

STEM is excited to partner with the Colorado League of Charter Schools and their ACT Advocacy Network to bring you a series of family trainings. Alison Rausch will continue with trainings that will build your charter school knowledge and your advocacy skills so we can leverage our collective power as a school and Colorado charter school community to protect what we have and make sure our school and others have what we need and what our students deserve. In this second series of trainings, we will spend one hour learning about How to Be an Effective Charter School Advocate, you will learn who makes decisions about charter schools, how to share your personal charter school story and how to effectively ask decision makers for exactly what you want. Please join us!

Tuesday, May 11

• Morning: 9-10 AM, register
• Lunch: 12-1 PM, register

Wednesday, May 12

• Morning: 9-10 AM, register
• Evening: 6-7 PM, register

Do you know an exceptionally dedicated, knowledgeable and skilled K-12 teacher? Nominate one of your colleagues to apply for the 2022 Colorado Teacher of the Year award. The nomination form is now open. When you nominate someone, they will be notified of their nomination by CDE and encouraged to take the next step to apply.

Each year, the Colorado Teacher of the Year Program honors an exceptionally dedicated, knowledgeable, and skilled K-12 classroom teacher to represent the entire profession in the state. The selected teacher will automatically become Colorado’s nominee for the National Teacher of the Year competition.

This special teacher also gets to attend the following events:

• The National Teacher of the Year Induction, an opportunity for the country’s teachers of the year to come together and understand their individual identities in their new roles.
• Washington Week, an opportunity to go to the nation’s capital for recognition. Teachers will get to visit the White House and meet the president as well as attend the National Teacher of the Year gala.
• NASA Space Camp, where teachers participate in a version of astronaut training designed specifically for educators to take strategies and concepts back to their classrooms.
• College Football Playoff National Championship Game to participate in the College Football Playoff Foundation’s Extra Yard for Teachers event, which elevates the teaching profession by inspiring and empowering quality teachers.

All this can be possible for one exceptional Colorado teacher so tell the one you’re thinking of right now to apply. Nominate them using this form via the button to the right by June 15, 2021.

Students have been completing the iReady Diagnostic assessment within language arts and math classes during this week and through May 14. The information gathered from this assessment will assist staff in identifying gaps in learning and areas of acceleration as we plan for the upcoming school year. If your Virtual Learner is taking the assessment at home, please support your student in completing the assessment on their own to the best of their ability in order to allow for an accurate picture of student needs. Please do not spend an enormous amount of time on this task, an hour is the average. If you would like a copy of your student’s results, please complete the form via the button below and it will be emailed to you.

STEM School Highlands Ranch is moving toward Standards-Based Learning and Reporting to measure and communicate students’ learning and academic growth and achievement with greater accuracy. By switching we are able to provide clearer feedback to students based on specific learning goals.

In a traditional hundred-point grading syhttps://stem, grades are generated from the work assigned to students. These scores often include points for extra credit or deductions for behavior, such as turning work in late, and are an average of all of these things. This syhttps://stem does not take into account the learning process and doesn’t accurately show what a student can do. There are also biases within this syhttps://stem since teachers apply points differently. Students often do not know what a grade means and grade meanings can vary from class to class. Earning points becomes the motivating factor for students, causing them to chase points instead of knowledge.

Standards-Based Learning focuses on the mastery of essential content.

To help expand our ability to communicate with our families, we will be rolling out the use of the Douglas County School District’s School Messenger platform to send notifications to families. The use of School Messenger allows for us to add text messaging and phone calls to the emails we already send through Infinite Campus. We will be implementing School Messenger to assist with communications around COVID-19 quarantine notifications. Currently, members of our admin team make individual calls for each quarantine. Implementing School Messenger will allow the team to notify families more efficiently.

It’s that time of year. If you think your student is missing items, please stop by our Lost & Found to look through what has been left behind. The Lost & Found is located in the Elementary School Lobby. All items not picked up will be donated at the end of the school year.

Do you like to draw? Have you ever dreamed of illustrating a children’s book? Mrs. Ridder is looking for a budding student artist to illustrate an upcoming children’s book. If you are interested, please contact Mrs. Ridder (maura.ridder@https://stemk12.org) for more information.

STEM families, we have partnered with DR Photo to offer our families yard signs and banners to celebrate your student’s graduation (Kindergarten or High School). If you would like to order a sign or banner please click the button to the right.

We also are offering graduation portrait sessions. You can schedule a private session at their Littleton studio by clicking the link to the right.

STEM had picture Day on February 16 & 17 for students needing a current school photo.

Elementary Students:

• There will be a Class Composite created for each class
• Parents will have the opportunity to purchase individual and class composite photos.

If your student was unable to take advantage of the picture days at STEM, please set an appointment to have their picture taken at the photographer’s studio. Check out the buttons to the left to schedule an appointment, or order photos.

We are excited to host a variety of summer camps this upcoming summer.

• Camp Invention (K-6) | June 7-11, 2021
• Cyber-SPY Camp (K-2) | June 14-18, 2021
• Cyber Detectives (3-5) | June 21-25, 2021
• FRC 4418’s Lego Mindstorm Camp (K-5)
• Peter Pan Theater Camp (K-5) | June 21-25, 2021

Please visit our Enrichment page to view current openings and sign up.