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McMeen Elementary
McMeen Elementary Newsletter - April 7, 2023
04/07/23, 4:03 PM
Weekly Happenings
Monday, April 10
Spirit Day-Dress Your Best Day- Kick off for CMAS- ALL grades
Have your student Dress their BEST in support of students taking the CMAS assessment.
6:00 - Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) Meeting via Zoom (see below)
Tuesday, April 11
3rd-5th Grade CMAS Testing
3:30 - Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) for Spanish speaking families
Wednesday, April 12
3rd-5th Grade CMAS Testing
Thursday, April 13
3rd-5th Grade CMAS Testing
Friday, April 14
Upcoming Events
APRIL
April 29 - Día del Niño Event
MAY
May 1 - Collaborative School Committee (CSC) Meeting
May 4 - Multicultural Night
May 4 - Scholastic Book Fair opens
May 5 - Teacher Planning Day (No Students)
May 8 - Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) Meeting
May 8-12 - Scholastic Book Fair
May 10 - Arabic Speaking PAC Meeting
(Week of May 14) - Field Day
May 29 - Memorial Day (No School)
May 31 - 5th Grade Continuation
JUNE
June 1 - Collaborative School Committee (CSC) Meeting
June 2 - Last Day of School (half day)
Ways to Get Involved
Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)
See the info below!
Announcements
School Choice Results
We were notified this week that the School Choice Round 1 results will be delayed until the end of April due to the district closing 3 schools.
Día del Niño
We are planning our 2nd Annual Día del Niño event for Saturday, April 29th. Please plan on joining us!
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Safety Concerns
In light of recent incidents, we are making some adjustments to our own policies to address safety concerns. One of the biggest ones that will impact families is that parents will no longer be allowed to walk their children to class. It breaks our heart that we have to implement this, but ultimately the safety of our students, staff, and community has to be prioritized. Please be sure to say your good-byes at the door. In addition, parents, please do not hold the door open for those behind you when picking up students.
Attendance
McMeen is working with the district to address attendance concerns. When students miss too much school— regardless of the reason – it can cause them to fall behind other students. This can mean just missing two days a month. Our overall goal as a school is to get to a 95% attendance average. Below is a breakdown of this week's attendance by grade-level compared to last week's attendance. As you can see, we have some work to do.
Open Community Plots at Garden
Do you seek a sustainable urban future where people are deeply and directly connected to the earth, each other, and the food they eat? You're invited to join the McMeen Garden. Come grow your own food and grow in community. Applications are open to classrooms, teachers, families and the neighborhood. Email DeziRae at mcmeenschoolcommunitygarden@dug.org for more info.
Three Sisters Family Garden Club
We will meet for activities and planting in April & May. Learning about and recreating indigenous gardening techniques; Designing salsa, salad and soup gardens; Listening to and sharing stories, recipes, art and music. Families are invited to stay for the summer session and continue to care for and harvest all the delicious produce they planted. Email DeziRae at mcmeenschoolcommunitygarden@dug.org for more info.
Spirit Nights at Urban Air
Join McMeen for a fun fundraiser April 20th-23rd at Urban Air (9550 E 40th Ave, Denver, CO 80238). Families will be able to enjoy discounted tickets and 20% off all tickets and food/drink will go back McMeen! To get the discount, you must mention McMeen's Spirit Night at the front desk when you purchase the tickets.
Summer Art Classes
The Children's Art School invites young artists to a summer of creative discoveries in six weeklong classes from June 26 through July 24 with three hour morning and afternoon sessions at 2290 South Clayton Street in the University Park neighborhood. Art Smart classes master skills and challenge creative thinking including: Clay Fantasy Castles, the Sketching Trip and Printing Press Surprises. For more information, visit www.artcreates.org.
REMINDER CMAS Testing
Below is our schedule for CMAS testing for 3rd-5th Grade. Please ensure your child is in attendance each day for testing and let us know if you have any questions.
REMINDER Summer Connections Registration is Open (DPS' Summer School)
Registration is now open for Summer Connections, a fun five weeks where students will be exposed to content from their upcoming grade. All rising first through fifth-grade DPS students are encouraged to apply!
- No cost to families.
- Full-day programming from June 12-July 14. No school on June 19 and July 4.
- Literacy, math, science, and hands-on learning.
- Registration is now open! Visit Parent Portal to sign up.
We encourage families to commit to the full five-week program. If you have any questions, please contact EAL@dpsk12.net.
Student Shout Outs
Mighty Mustangs - Akram (4th Grade) for showing all the MUSTANG traits, Mila D (2nd Grade) for being Mindful, Charlie (4th Grade) for being Mindful, Kehlani (Kinder) for being Nurturing and having a Growth Mindset, Athena G (2nd Grade) for having a Growth Mindset, Abdimalik (3rd Grade) for showing all the MUSTANG traits, Avery (4th Grade) for being an Upstander and showing Agency, Lukas (2nd Grade) for being Self-Aware, Skyler (2nd Grade) for being Tenacious, Alan (1st Grade) for having a Growth Mindset, and Michael (5th Grade) for being Self-Aware.
Mustang Class of the Week - Ms. Toney's Class
ECE, Reynaldo Garcia Lopez - Reynaldo es un niño amable que demuestra iniciativa en ayudar a compañeros a recoger los juguetes. Tambien Reynaldo muestra más motivación por seguir practicando en su casa con el apoyo de su familia lo que en nuestro salón de clase nuestros alumnos estan aprendiendo. Esta semana sacó de su mochila muy contento y orgulloso un papel para mi repasando y escribiendo los números escritos del 1 al 10. ¡Bien hecho Reynaldo! Nosotros tambien nos sentimos orgullosas y contentas por tu iniciativa de ayudar y por tu interés de aprender! ¡Muchas gracias tambien a sus padres por motivarlo a seguir aprendiendo! - Mrs. Rivera
ECE, Benjamin Bui-Ghafur - Benjamin is always excited to learn something new or even practice something that he has learned. He is a great friend and classmate and is always willing to give a helping hand. Great job Benjamin, keep up the great work. - Mr. Hughes
3rd Grade, Mrs. Toney's 3rd grade - Mrs. Toney's 3rd Grade has done amazingly preparing for CMAS. - Ms. Toney
Kindergarten, Lily Cederlof - Lily is such a positive student and she has been working really hard to meet her goals! - Ms. Blair
2nd Grade, Maleeya Olmstead - Maleeya has been working super hard! She has been so focused and ready to learn as much as she can! She is such a joy to have in class with her cute sense of humor, her amazing friendship that she brings to our class, and her spunky personality! We are so lucky to have her in Room 214! - Ms. Homberg
2nd Grade, Athena Gutierrez - She has been such a strong helper in class and is putting in a big effort to work as a team with her peers at her table group! - Ms. Candee
2nd Grade, Hussein M - He tackles all his work with a can do attitude! He challenges himself to work even when things are difficult. He is so tenacious and it’s such a joy teaching him! - Ms. Johns
ECE, Haylee Hugunin - Every day, Haylee tries her best on everything we do. She is so eager to learn and help around the classroom and her classmates. Buen trabajo Haylee! - Ms. Erica
Classroom Updates
2nd Grade Parents WE NEED YOUR HELP! Thursday, April 13, 2023 @1:30 PM we will be hosting our Annual Olympic games! If you would like to volunteer/donate please sign up https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094DACA72CAAFBC61-2ndgrade! If you have additional questions please reach out to Mrs. Homberg at brittany_homberg@dpsk12.net. We hope to see you there.
Resources from DPS
Parent Resource Tool
FACE University has been re-launched as a parent resource tool. There are trainings and workshops across multiple topics, a resource hub, and more to come. You can subscribe for updates on the main page for when new content will be released. All content and videos have closed captioning available in 12 languages. Some of the resources they have are:
- FAMILY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE will feature sessions hosted in-person to dive deeper into advocacy and the school-parent partnership. There is a link to register on this site for sessions beginning summer of 2023.
- CARING FOR STUDENTS IN THE AFTERMATH OF TRAGEDY Access this virtual seminar to learn practical tools to take care of our students (and ourselves!) in positive, effective ways.
News from McMeen Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)
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Next PTO Meeting
Monday, April 10th @ 6pm
* PTO meetings will be held the 2nd Monday of every month via Zoom.
Stay tuned for more details....
Event Committee Volunteers Needed!
- Social Events
- Literacy Events
- Appreciation Events
- Amazon List Manager
Sign-up through the Sign-Up Genius link below.
Don’t have the bandwidth to volunteer but want to help? There are other ways! PTO is always looking for donations to help fund school projects, events, and scholarships. Click on the McMeen Square site to donate. McMeen Square
LINK YOUR CARD!
One of the ways in which we do this is through our King Soopers Community Rewards program. This program makes fundraising easy by donating to local organizations based on the shopping you do every day. Once you link your Card to an organization, all you have to do is shop at King Soopers and swipe your Shopper’s Card.
LINK YOUR ACCOUNT!
Generate Donations
Shop at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate 0.5% of eligible purchases to McMeen Elementary—no fees, no extra cost.
SUPPORT OUR TEACHERS!
Support the teachers with classroom supplies through the Amazon Wishlist. Use the links below to find your child’s classroom teacher, the library book Wishlist and/or the art supplies Wishlist.
McMeen Elementary PTO Sponsorship Program
Businesses can support McMeen through the new sponsorship program that is rolling out this year. 100% of the money raised by the PTO sponsorship program for the 2022-2023 school year will fund technology upgrades for each classroom. This money will be matched 1:1 by a technology grant. Your money will go twice as far for McMeen.
**Business Sponsorship Opportunities Inquiries can be directed to: Andrea Lazar andrea.lavine@gmail.com
Thank you to the Platinum and Gold Member Sponsors! Your generous donations are helping to provide new technology for McMeen Elementary School. We are grateful to have your support!
PTO Expense Reimbursement Form
McMeen Elementary School
1000 S Holly St Denver, CO 80246 720-424-5520` FAX 720-423-5547
