2300 S. St. Paul St., Denver, CO 80210
720-424-3410
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UPark Reminder: There is no school on Friday, February 16 for a DPS Planning day and no school on Monday, February 19th for the Presidents' Day holiday. | |
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Earlier this month we completed our mid year iReady math and reading diagnostic assessments and our data shows great growth across the board! In math we have 76 more students performing at grade level than we had at the beginning of the school year! For Literacy 247 students or 68 percent of our Owls are scoring in the grade level band. For some context, last year 65 percent of our fifth graders were in the grade level band in January. In April, when our students took CMAS that percentage increased to 67%. This shows a high correlation between where we are with iReady and how our students perform on CMAS.
At UPark our students are always learning and always growing! Please make sure to read through your student's iReady growth reports that were sent out last week to gain a solid understanding of what they are mastering and what they are working on. Please take some time to celebrate successes with your student and thank their teachers for creating the learning environment for each of our Owls to thrive!
Also, as we continue to work to retain and recruit families for next year, note that word of mouth about how we grow all students is a great recruiting tool. On that note, I want to extend a huge shout out to Kate Winn, Maggie Carlson and Jennifer Yara for taking time this past Saturday to welcome prospective families into UPark for our open house. Also, thank you to all of our parents who run our regular parent tours, those of you who are actively recruiting new families and spreading the word about our great neighborhood school!
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Come visit our Living Museum Celebrating Black History
We are proud to announce that we will be hosting our 3rd annual Black History Living Museum on Thursday, February 8th and Friday, February 9th. This is a celebration of Black History and all the accomplishments made by Black Americans. This tradition started as an idea on our Black Excellence Team and has grown into a wonderful celebration and learning experience for our entire community. For the first time, we are excited to invite families and community members in to see the museum! Please feel free to join with your child's class, you can see the schedule here, or at another time that works for you on Thursday or Friday.
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Caring Week 2/12-2/15
From 5th Grade Student Council:
Caring Week and Canned Food Drive 2024: February 12th- February 15th
During Caring Week, students will participate in the following activities
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Monday: Random acts of kindness
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Tuesday: Positive affirmations
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Wednesday: Caring hearts at recess
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Thursday: Decorate Meals on Wheels bags
Student Council will also be hosting a canned food drive that will benefit the Food Bank of the Rockies. Collection boxes will be located near the office. Donated items could include:
- Apple sauce, Canned vegetables, Canned beans, Cooking oils, Canned meat, Crackers, Spices, Dried pasta, Granola bars, Peanut butter, Rice, Soups, Whole grain cereals
Thank you so much for making UPark a caring place!
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UPark Spelling Bee
Congratulations to ALL of our Wise Owls that participated in the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Tuesday, January 30th. The following students are finalists and will be moving on to the final UPark Spelling Bee this Friday, February 2nd at 12:15!
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K/1/2: Habiba Alharer (K) and Jack Gellman (2)
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3rd Grade: Caroline Downes and Cyrus Dooms
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4th Grade: Belle Kanafani and Lillia Momeni
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5th Grade: Stone Laurent and Connor Baak
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Health Office Updates
Hello from the U. Park Health Office!
Tis’ the season for illness in our community. Across Denver, we are seeing flu, covid, strep and RSV. There have been quite a few kids and teachers out sick this week at UPark, so we’d just like to share a few reminders:
- Hand washing prevents the spread of illness
- If your child tests positive for COVID, please let us know. We follow CDPHE guidelines which are a little different from the CDC that you are likely familiar with. Schools use the following guidelines:
- Positive Covid-19 Instructions
- If your child is sick, keep them home according to “How Sick is Too Sick”. We appreciate your efforts to keep the whole community healthy!
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ChildCare_How_Sick_Is_Too_Sick_vs2023 (links to multiple languages in this document)
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions. Thank you!
Katie Hamilton, RN, BSN
UPark School Nurse, Wednesdays and Fridays
Diana Bell
UPark Health Tech, Monday-Friday
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GT Family Newsletter
The Denver Public Schools GT office has created a family newsletter. Please check it out here!
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CMAS Family Information
3rd-5th grade students will begin the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) assessments on April 9, 2024. These assessments focus on the knowledge and skills our kids need for success in our global economy, including skills such as analytical thinking and the ability to solve complex problems. The CMAS assessments focus on three different content areas depending upon the grade your child is in:
- English Language Arts (ELA) and Math - 3rd, 4th, 5th grade
- Science - 5th grade
Please be sure to read the full CMAS Parent Information Letter here. This letter provides the assessment schedule as well as information on attendance, make-ups and additional important information for families.
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Lunchroom Heroes Needed
Do you miss your kids during the day? Do you want a glimpse into the exciting event that is lunch in elementary school? Do you want to help but don't have oodles of time? Well, Green Team has an excellent opportunity for you!! We are in need of some adult presence and help with our waste sorting station in the cafeteria. Our Green Team shared with us upon their return from winter break that grades 3-5 could most benefit from an extra adult or two to help them make sure everyone sorts their waste properly. You can volunteer for more than one grade - lunch periods are a short 20-minutes per grade!
Please sign up here:
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UPark Staff Updates
Teresa Solomon
Teresa, one of our spectacular Special Education Paraprofessionals, will be leaving University Park in mid February for a teaching opportunity outside of the district. We are so thankful for the time she shared here at UPark and wish her all the best in her new role. If you know of someone that may be interested in a Special Education Para role we are hiring!
Ashley Randall
Ashley Randall, our 3rd/4th Grade teacher, has begun her maternity leave. Azita Shakibafar is our long term substitute for the remainder of this school year. Read a little about Azita below. Azita used to be a UPark parent and then became a para and worked with a special need student for a few years and started teaching in DPS in 2013 as a First Grade teacher. We are so excited to have Azita back with us!
Cassie Jones
As many of you know, Cassie Jones, who has been teaching art for the last few months will be having a baby in early February and will go on leave for the remainder of the school year. Maggie Carlson will be taking over the Art position as a long term sub starting at the beginning of February. Maggie is a UPark parent and taught elementary art for 10 years in Cherry Creek Schools and is very excited to get to know all the UPark students better. We are so excited for Cassie's new adventure and look forward to working with Maggie this year!
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SchoolChoice Window is Open
Is your child transitioning to kindergarten, sixth or ninth grade? The SchoolChoice window is open from January 11 - February 12.
If you know of a family that is interested in attending our great neighborhood school let them know that we are accepting new students for next school year starting January 11th! All interested new families are encouraged to join one of our upcoming school tours here to learn more about our great school and community!
For all students that will be new to UPark for the 2024-2025 school year, please complete the online Choice Process. This includes siblings of current UPark students that will be new to the school next year. If your student currently attends UPark you DO NOT need to complete the choice process for next school year.
Visit schoolchoice.dpsk12.org once the Choice window opens to fill out your application.
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Discovery Link Summer Camp Registration Is Open
Discovery Lin Summer Camp Registration Opened January 23rd. The camps will not be located at UPark this summer, but there are multiple other locations available. The UPark staff will be working at the Swigert camp and the closest camp is likely Slavens. See the fliers below for details.
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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
For access to all calendar information on school happenings, including enrichments, field trips, meetings and additional calendar information click here or visit the calendar link on the University Park Website.
*To reduce the need for additional scrolling and to make it easier to access the Quick Links, Thursday Extras and Looking Ahead information at the bottom of this newsletter, we have decided to remove the images of the upcoming week's calendar events that used to appear in this box. Please let us know if you have any questions.
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University Park | 720-424-3410 | 2300 S. St. Paul | Website
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