ARPS Parent Newsletter (9.16.2020)

UPCOMING EVENTS

9/16: *Board Meeting, 4:30pm

9/22: First Day of Autumn

10/1: Count Day at Aspen Ridge

10/2: 100 Mile Registration Due (see below)

10/7: Early Release, 12:15pm

10/8: Papa John's Restaurant Night

10/15: *Virtual Parent Conferences (No School for Students)

10/16-10/19: Fall Break, No School

10/21: Board Meeting, 4:30pm

10/23: End of the first Quarter

10/31: Halloween (Information about Fall Celebrations will be sent out directly from your child's classroom teacher.)

More dates and *virtual links can be found by going to our school calendar. Subscribe there to make sure you don't lose track of what is happening at Aspen Ridge.

One School,

One Book

This year, Aspen Ridge teachers, staff and students are reading Save Me a Seat, by Gita Varadarajan

This book offers a great perspective on diversity, bullying and the challenges associated with growing up.

We have extra copies in the school library if you'd like to check out a copy to read at home. Join us as we learn together as one school with one book. Email Mrs. Balke if you are interested in checking out a copy (cbalke@arprep.org).

Meet Our Counselor

Mrs. Rebecca Mayo-Cody

Click HERE to see how she can support you and your Owl(s) both in person and virtually.

Looking for little ways to help Aspen Ridge? Click on the links below to learn more.

BoxTops for Education

Scan your receipts and earn money towards our school!

Milkcaps for Moola

Turn in your Longmont Dairy milk caps and ARPS receive money back for every cap.

(Interested in helping out with Milkcap organization and sorting, please email ccantwell@arprep.org)

King Soopers

An easy way to earn money for Aspen Ridge while shopping for groceries.

Feeding Reading

Earn up to 10 free books for your Owl with the purchase of Kellog's products.

Amazon Smile

Sign up to make Aspen Ridge your non-profit donation place when you order from Amazon. It's no cost to you and our school receives great benefits.

(I just received an email from one parent that showed her quarterly donation to ARPS was almost $180--just because she shops on Amazon. Wow!)

(One of our most popular fundraisers) DRESS DOWN PASSES!

For $20, your Owl gets to choose various days throughout the year to wear their clothes of choice (in lieu of their uniform). If you are interested in purchasing, click HERE to pay online (make sure and add your student's name and teacher when purchasing) and we'll send your pass home with your Owl to use at your discretion.

At Aspen Ridge, we are committed to creating safe environments for our Owls to learn and grow.

Whether on-premise or virtually, it's the little things that make such a huge impact for our school--a place built BY the community to build UP the community.

You will notice that we are constantly evaluating our processes to grow and make our school better. Planning, monitoring, reviewing, improving--it's all a part of the process of excellence and growth. Thank you for being gracious as we have started this year with so many unknowns. We've taken huge leaps as a school community to offer both on-premise learning and VIP learning, which takes a lot of trust and bravery. There is no place I'd rather be doing this work!

A couple of shout outs for our group...

Our VIP teachers are doing an amazing job navigating their role and helping to keep our virtual families on track for learning. Thank you Ms. Weingardt, Ms. Thornton, Mrs. Hollis and Mrs. Reseigh. These ladies have had many hurdles to overcome and are doing so with grace.

Ms. Shelly and Ms. Heather (both new to the lunch monitor positions) have been amazing additions this year! They are calm, hard-working, friendly faces that have a vested interest in our Owls.

Mr. Cortes has jumped right into the Covid Response Coordinator position like he's been a part of the team for ages. He is not only friendly and knowledgeable, but he is also a great collaborator and communicator, working with every staff member, family and student like they are his own.

The Dowling, Dieterich, Todd, Johnson, Kirk and Gehrel Families--for purchasing and painting picnic tables for our students and staff.

Kudos to our Owls of the Month, as recognized by our Board of Directors--Courtney Minter, Ryan Crystal and Larry Ulmer. Our custodial staff has gone above and beyond to ensure our facilities were ready for students and staff to return, and they are doing a phenomenal job at keeping each classroom extra sanitized and safe for all. They. Are. Amazing!!

Bring on the snow, throw in an extra 50 cars for Driveline, put every grade level on a wait list, enroll a quarter of our students online, open up on-premise, face-to-face learning (5-days a week) during a pandemic, implement a new science curriculum and new school-wide assessments, throw in a couple of surprise breakfast tacos (thank you Wozny's) and we'll call our beginning of the year a success. It's a great day to be an Owl!

#ourschool

#ourcommunity

#ourlegacy

Charla Salmeron, Principal

FEATURED UPDATES

You "Count" At Aspen Ridge!

The Colorado Department of Education has identified Thursday, October 1st as the official statewide October Count day for the 2020-2021 school year. Your assistance with this important state requirement is greatly appreciated as funding for Aspen Ridge and the important resources for our students are directly impacted by the October 1st attendance numbers. Our school’s budget is directly affected by how many students are present and participating (through VIP) on that day.

We are ready to order our annual school tees, but we need your beginning of the year paperwork in order to place our order.

Please take a look in your inbox (an email from the beginning of the year) or in your child's yellow folder to get all of your beginning of the year forms (including t-shirt size) filled out and returned today.

These forms are crucial for updated health information, emergency contacts, waivers and understanding Aspen Ridge policies and procedures.

If you have lost your forms, please reach out to your child's teacher directly for another copy.

Your help in getting these turned in helps us to ensure we order the correct sized t-shirts for our students.

Also be on the lookout for a link to our school spirit "store" coming soon, where you will be able to purchase Aspen Ridge sweatshirts, tees and masks that keep our school spirit alive and well.

Our Covid Response Team and Covid Response Coordinator continue to meet each week to discuss and determine policy and procedure updates, as we monitor our school community and county for the health and safety of all.

Each year normally brings 'bugs' and small viruses that come with reuniting with friends (old and new) and acclimating ourselves back to school. This year is no different.

We are so appreciative of the extra care in monitoring that each family is demonstrating. While we know attendance is a key to student success, we also know that during a pandemic, our normal expectations and high standards for attendance do not outweigh the safety of our students and staff. Thank you so much for your committed diligence in keeping your children home if they are not feeling well or showing symptoms of being sick. Your extra attention is not going unnoticed.

As we continue on our path and begin entering "normal" cold and flu season, we'll ask that your diligence in monitoring continue on this trajectory.

As an additional thought, as we maneuver both student and staff care, the need for substitute teachers at Aspen Ridge has never been higher. Our current policy for staff matches that of students; if multiple minor symptoms or one major symptom are present, we are asking staff to go home. However, as in years past, we are not able to combine classrooms as a mitigation strategy if we become short on subs, which has already surfaced as a potential issue.

If you are interested in subbing at Aspen Ridge, please reach out to Mrs. Salmeron (csalmeron@arprep.org). We require all of our subs to be licensed through the Colorado Department of Education and to have a background check in place. You can learn more about what requirements are needed to be eligible to sub by clicking here. The potential to close school and move to an online platform for all is a real potential should we not have the staff to cover our students due to staff being out. Don't delay....get your sub license today :)

Click on the READ MORE button below to stay up-to-date on the Aspen Ridge COVID 19 policies and procedures, or reach out to Sean Cortes at healthyowls@arprep.org if you have questions.

Are you looking for an easy way to ensure your Owl is safe after school, until you get home from work? Check out the ARPS Owl's Nest.

Owl's Nest After Care

Afternoons

3:15 pm to 6:00 pm

$15 per day

Includes snack!

All students must sign-up in advance for after care for the 2020-2021 school year.

To sign up your student(s), please follow this link: The Owl's Nest Official Signup.

Gifted and Talented Referrals

Each year schools in St. Vrain Valley School District complete a process to identify students in grades K-12 who demonstrate exceptional ability or performance in one or more academic areas and may therefore qualify for Gifted/Talented educational services. These students perform at least two years above grade level in their strength area(s) and require additional academic challenges in order to support their continued educational growth and progress. In addition, they usually demonstrate characteristics of unique creativity and high motivation in their strength areas.

The search for gifted/talented students begins with an opportunity for parents and/or teachers to refer students for review. Once referrals are received, a team of educators review student state testing data, standardized test scores, rating scales and other school data to determine student eligibility.

If you believe that your child qualifies and would benefit from district Gifted/Talented services, please pick up a nomination form from your school office, or contact your school’s Gifted/Talented resource teacher or liaison, Carrie White at cwhite@aspenridgeprepschool.org All nominations must be received by Friday, October 9th.

Each year, Aspen Ridge has a robust group of student runners that keep track of their miles, aiming for 100 miles (or more). This year will be no different as we start off virtually. Just walking/running one mile a day will get each and every Owl to 100 miles by the time school ends in May.

Additionally, we are going to team with the Erie Community Center and track our miles with the Wisdom Walkers, a group of dedicated walkers, geared toward healthy minds, bodies and relationships. Are you interested in your Owl participating in this partnership? What a fun way for our Owls to be a part of the Erie community, building one another UP for the good of all!

You will be receiving a hard copy of the sign-up form this Friday and we are encouraging payment through RevTrak (check or cash is also acceptable with your registration form upon return), which is all due by Friday, October 2.

We are excited to see how our Owls hold up to the Wisdom Walkers of Erie. The $20 registration fee helps to cover the cost of prizes, a 100-mile club t-shirt awarded at the 25 mile marker and extra duties and time incurred by our club facilitator, Mr. Zuppas.

Walk, Run, Sleep, Repeat!