2300 S. St. Paul St., Denver, CO 80210
720-424-3410
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UPark Reminder: There is no school tomorrow, September 30th for a DPS Planning day. We look forward to seeing you all back on Monday! |
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Assistant Principal Update |
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Happy Fall, UPark Community,
I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself if I have not yet met you already. My name is Natalie Jacobsen and I am the Assistant Principal here at UPark. My number one job as an AP is to ensure that all of our staff and students are safe and happy while at school. Part of this role is to ensure that we have structures in place to keep all of our Owls safe before and after school. I want to take this opportunity to remind our community about the safety procedures that we have in place to keep our students and the entire community safe.
Here are a couple important safety reminders:
- The Kiss and Go lane is open and available every day from 8:00-8:20 for all of our students and is a great option for dropping your child off at school. The Kiss and Go lane runs North on St. Paul street. There is absolutely NO parking on this side of the street in the morning to allow for Kiss and Go to keep moving. School staff will always make sure that your child makes it into the building from Kiss and Go.
- If you are using Kiss and Go, you MUST STAY IN THE LANE even if your child hops out early. If you leave the kiss and go lane, you are putting yourself and other cars coming the opposite direction in danger.
- Do not let your child out in the middle of the street; either use the Kiss and Go lane, or park your car and walk your child in using the crosswalk.
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All students and adults should use the crosswalk at all times; this is for the safety of everyone. We want to model healthy habits for our students!
- Please do not utilize the staff parking lot to drop-off or pick-up students; we regularly run out of spaces for our staff and we want to make sure they have a place to park while they are at work. This is also a high traffic area for students walking before and after school.
- Drive slowly! We would much rather your child be a couple minutes late to class than have people speeding down St. Paul street.
Most importantly, please be patient and kind with other UPark community members during pick-up and drop-off; we are all in this together! If there is anything we can do to support you or your family during drop-off or pick-up, please reach out to me directly. We are here to help!
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Natalie Jacobsen
UPark Assistant Principal, Team UPark
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Apple Campaign matching opportunity - make your dollars stretch further! |
We’re in the final stretch for the Apple Campaign, and still have a way to go. To date, we’ve raised $37,755 out of our $75,000 goal. To help us get closer to our goal, three generous families have stepped forward to offer a matching fund.
Here’s how it will work: If the UPARK community as a whole will donate $15,000 by October 13th, the Stallworthy, Trujillo, and Winn families will match those funds up to $15,000 to help get us closer to our goal!
These funds are vital to each and every student at UPARK and we hope all families will consider donating in any amount possible so that we don’t miss out on this amazing matching offer!
Donations can be made at http://bit.ly/apple-upark or mail/drop off a check made out to UPark PTA at the main office. Email uparkpta@gmail.com with questions or to inquire about stock transfers or corporate matching.
Lastly, a very special congratulations to our kindergartners who had the most donations during our Apple All Stars Grade Level Challenge. They will be celebrating with a popsicle party soon! Nice work our little owls!
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Field Day and Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month Celebration Happening Now! |
Join us for Hispanic and Latino Heritage Parade and Field Day today, September 29th. We started with an opening ceremony at 8:35 including a parade of Latin American countries around our track to help celebrate Hispanic Heritage month.
Parents are welcome to watch their child participate in field day.
- Session One for 3-5th graders will be 9:00-11:00
- Session Two for Kinder -2nd grade will be 1:00-3:00
We are asking that parents please stay outside and not join students in the building at this time. Please read this parent letter for full details on the days events.
Share your fun photos from today with us on Instagram @uparkowls and #uparkowls
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BESS Social Emotional Screener for all UPark Owls |
The BESS screener is a universal social and emotional screening for students. This screener will be completed 3 times throughout the school year, with our first screening occurring between Monday, September 26th and Friday, October 7th. Universal social and emotional screenings can provide a fair and impartial way of looking at how students are progressing in their social and emotional development. Screenings can also help identify areas where school personnel can improve or adjust our supports. Please understand that screening is NOT an assessment or an evaluation.
For students in grades K-2, we will utilize a parent form. The parent form will be accessible from now through October 7th. Please click here to access the online form.
The survey is 29 questions and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. You will need your child’s six-digit student ID and birth date to log in. Only one survey can be completed for each student. If you have multiple children in grades Kindergarten through 2nd grade, please complete one survey for each child. Information from this survey will be used to help our staff identify the supports our students need during this time.
For students in grades 3-5, we will utilize a self form. Students will be administered the self-form in their classrooms. Some sample questions include: "My school feels good to me", "I feel safe at school", and "I am good at making decisions." Teachers will select a day to administer the screener between 9/26 and 10/7. Teachers will be sending home an opt out form with your child for your review. You can also access it here. If you would like to opt out your child, please return the completed form to your child's teacher or Alicia Vega no later than Friday, September 23rd at 3:30pm.
If you have any questions regarding the social/emotional screener, please reach out to Alicia Vega (alicia_vega@dpsk12.org or 720-424-3458). We appreciate your assistance as we work together to educate and support your student(s)!
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2022-23 UPark Student & Family Directory |
Directory Opt Out:
The UPARK Student and Family Directory is a valuable parent resource printed by the PTA in an effort to help connect families in our community. Unless you choose to OPT OUT all student/parent information will be listed in the school directory including:
- Student first and last names
- Parent first and last names
- Parent phone numbers and emails
- Home mailing address
If you wish to OPT OUT of the UPark Student and Family Directory please fill out this form by Friday, September 30 - OPT OUT FORM
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Discovery Link Camp September 30th |
UPark's Discovery Link will be joining an all day camp (7am - 5:30pm) on September 30th at Slavens Elementary. To sign up for School Break Camp Days, please log into your account and select the registration tab. Next, click to view offerings under 2022-2023 Break Camps. From here, you may choose any date at any location. Please click here for directions on how to sign up for School Break Camp Days.
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DPS Count Day Monday, October 3rd - Attendance Important! |
The Colorado Department of Education completes an official student count day for all Colorado school districts. This day determines the amount of funding each district receives from the state and is scheduled for Monday, October 3rd this year. Please do your best to have students at school on Monday as this is the easiest way to get an accurate count of the students attending Denver Public Schools. If you have any questions, please contact the main office at 720-424-3410. |
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UPark Family-Teacher Conferences |
Save the date for family-teacher conferences on October 11th and 13th from 4:00-8:00pm. Be on the lookout in the upcoming weeks for an email or sign up directly from your classroom teachers. |
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UPark Community Garden Days! |
Hello UPark Community! The UPark Garden has more produce growing. We will host two Community Garden Days on Wednesday 10/5 (3:30pm to 6pm) and Saturday 10/8 (10am to noon). Please visit the garden with your children and pick your own produce. There will be a fresh crop of snap peas, swiss chard, kale, squash, beans, pepper(s), tomatoes, and lots of herbs.We will have small reusable baggies and tools on site.
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Cassie Jones is up and running as our new Office Support! If you are reporting student absences by email be sure to include Cassie at cassandra_jones@dpsk12.org and Alexis at alexis_matter@dpsk12.org to ensure that the attendance gets recorded correctly. Please let us know if you have any other questions!
Sydney Olson has started at UPark as our school nurse. Please reach out to her at sydney_olson@dpsk12.org with any health related questions.
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Gifted and Talented Testing |
GT testing is coming up for all Kindergarten and Second grade students. The test is the NNAT3 and in the next few weeks letters will be sent home with students that will inform parents of this assessment. Ms. Turrettini will be administering it in October for Second grade and early November for Kindergarten.
Cognitive testing for grades 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th, the CogAT, that parents can sign their child up for is also available. This application is due by Oct 14th and will be administered in November. Here’s the link to the application: https://studentequity.dpsk12.org/gifted-talented/. Once you are on the site, click the red testing application link.
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Be Sure to Complete The Meal Application By October 3rd! |
ALL families should to fill out an application to either qualify for or opt-out of free or reduced cost meals. Complete the application here! Please note, that you must complete an application for each student you have enrolled at University Park.
If you do not qualify for free or reduced cost meals, lunch money can be added to student accounts to pay for lunch using MySchoolBucks. Visit payonline.dpsk12.org/ for details.
What will meal prices be in the 2022-2023 school year?
- Universal breakfast = FREE breakfast for all, regardless of eligibility status
- Elementary Lunch $2.60
- Milk Only $0.75
*Please note – DPS is required to keep track of all meals (breakfast and lunch) served using student ID numbers. Please help your child memorize their student ID if they do not already know it. This number can be found in Parent Portal.
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UPark Owl Ticket Students |
Congratulations to this week's Owl Ticket students! They were recognized by their teachers for above and beyond positive behavior. |
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Owl Tickets are given to students for going above and beyond in one of our five core values: caring, cooperation, responsibility, respect and joy. Owl Tickets focus on the school's trait of the month, give students a chance to participate in the weekly "Owl Tickets" photo and will be posted on the "UPARK" letters in our main hallway. |
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University Park Elementary Calendar
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Thursday Extras
This is where you will find a list of flyers that DPS or approved organizations have asked we pass out to our community. Simply click on the flyer name to view in its entirety. Please ask our office staff if you need a paper copy.
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Looking Ahead
September 29: Field Day and Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration
September 30: NO SCHOOL-DPS Planning
October 6: Picture Retake Day
October 11: CSC Meeting
October 11: PTA Meeting
October 11 & 13: Conferences
October 14: NO SCHOOL
October 17: NO SCHOOL-DPS Planning
October 28: Fall Festival Costume Parade
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University Park | 720-424-3410 | 2300 S. St. Paul | Website
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