IN THIS WEEK'S NEWSLETTER:
- PSP NEWS
- BE EPICER
- WHAT'S HAPPENING IN WELLNESS
- COUNSELOR'S CORNER
- CALENDAR
- FROM THE PRINCIPAL
- NEW FLYERS
PSP NEWS
28APR - All School Dance @ 5:30-7:30pm
MAY - School Supply Kit Orders due
1-5MAY - Teacher Appreciation Week
PSP Meetings @ 5:30pm
April 25th
BE EPICER @ CTE
At Cherokee Trail we focus on six traits, teaching and fostering them in our classrooms and school-wide in order to create learners who are strong academically and socially. They are:
ENTHUSIASM * PERSEVERANCE * INTEGRITY * COURAGE * EMPATHY * RESPECT
Read more on the EPICER page!
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN WELLNESS - NOELLE DUNKER
Grades K/1/2:
Grades 3/4/5/6:
Needed for Wellness:
We are in need of tissues. Please feel free to send a box in with your child. I am grateful for your support.
Please click on the links attached for information on Mindful Mornings with Mrs. Dunker. We still have a few spots left. Thank you.
Grades K-2
Grades 3-6
APRIL COUNSELOR'S CORNER - JANE STEINER
Healthy Activities Night! Sierra Middle School is hosting a healthy activities night for the entire community! There are a lot of activities planned for ALL ages, bring the whole family! (flyer)
CLASSROOM LESSONS
In fourth grade, we completed our bully prevention unit from Second Step. The students took a pre and post survey to assess specific attitudes, knowledge, and skills taught during the unit.
Pre-survey grade 4 average 78%
Post-survey grade 4 average 96%
Wow! That is an increase of 18 percentage points!
In fifth grade, we started our bully prevention unit from Second Step. This unit has a total of 4 lessons that will cover 1- recognize, report, and refuse bullying 2- bystander power 3- bystander responsibility 4- cyberbullying. The students have been very engaged in situational discussions and sharing experiences.
If you are interested in reading more about bullying or how to help your child, take a look at this website. Bullying can also be reported to Safe 2 Tell Colorado.
Stay tuned- in second and third grade, I am planning a 2 lesson series to teach students about the brain and regulating emotions.
PARENT INFORMATION
Which Parenting Style Works Best?
What Is Digital Self-Harm?
Mental Health Resources:
* Do you know someone who is dealing with a serious mental health crisis? Are you concerned about their immediate safety and well-being? Colorado Crisis Service is a free service that offers immediate assistance in 3 formats. You can call for expert help 24/7, visit one of the various walk-in locations, or chat with them online.
* Denver Behavior Consultants – Social Skills groups now forming in Parker
* Is your child or someone you know struggling with anxiety? The district has partnered with Dr. Scott Cypers to release a series of videos for parents with a ton of information and how to help someone. All the videos can be found here.
* I Matter – Parents and youth (ages 12 and older) can take a brief mental health screening and schedule 3 free counseling appointments.
* STEM Center for Strength – mental health and well-being resources
FAMILY RESOURCES
DCSD Virtual Calming Corner
Life can be challenging at times! The great news is you have the power to overcome these challenges by integrating purposeful pauses throughout the day to calm both your brain and body. Maybe you need a quick nature fix, a guided relaxation practice or some quiet music in the background. Enjoy it all and explore! Be careful, some of these links can be rather mesmerizing -- you may want to use a timer ;-).
SAFE 2 TELL COLORADO
Do you know how to report a concern that threatens you, your friends, your family or your community? Safe 2 Tell Colorado is an anonymous reporting tool for parents and students. There are 3 ways to make an anonymous report – via website, app, or phone call.
Weekly snack/food bags provided by Parker Task Force – If your family is interested in having a bag of snacks/food sent home in their student’s backpack weekly, please fill out this brief form.
Families with housing instability
Free/Reduced Meal Benefits
UPCOMING CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS
FROM THE PRINCIPAL - JOSH MILLER
The Principal Chronicles continue ...
This week we jumped into our state-mandated testing called CMAS. During this time our entire building pretty much shuts down because we need our entire staff to help administer tests. So far everything has gone pretty smoothly with no issues. I am always amazed at the amount of compliance and hoops we need to jump through in order to get this test administered. In the end, I am truly hopeful our scores will reflect all of the hard work we have put in this year.
On the home front, this week I was asked by our District to attend a teacher fair in Oregon to try and recruit teachers to come to Colorado to work in DCSD. As many of you know, there is a massive teacher shortage coupled with the low pay our district has for teachers makes it extremely difficult to find people who are willing to work in DCSD.
I left late Monday for Oregon and for the first time in my life, someone was thrown off of a plane I was sitting on. There was a gentleman on my flight that I think had a little too much of whatever party he attended. He wasn't aggressive or physical with anyone but caused enough of a ruckus to have the sky marshall come and escort him off of the plane. It was fairly anti-climatic but did cause my plane to be over an hour late into Portland. When I finally arrived I was greeted by typical Oregon weather. Rain, wind, cold, and overall miserableness.
The teacher fair went all right, we talked to quite a few people and hopefully convinced some to Colorado. Luckily, we don't need any classroom teachers so I wasn't looking for us. I also thought it was really interesting to see some other school districts from around the United States. My favorite was talking to the Bering Strait school district in Alaska. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to recruit teachers to come and teach in the Arctic Circle. Funnier still, located directly next to the Bering Strait booth was the Hawaiian school district. Talk about two opposite ends of the spectrum. Clearly, the Hawaiian school district did not have too many difficulties recruiting. Shoot, I thought about throwing my name into the ring as well.
That is it for this week's edition. Stay tuned for next week when the Principal Chronicles continue ...
NEW FLYERS
ARCHIVED FLYERS (ALL)
* Co-Ed Summer Volleyball Camps (flyer)
* Douglas County Cotillion 2023 (flyer1 | flyer2)
* DCSD Community Events (flyer)
* Lego Masterbuilders club (flyer) *corrected dates*
* Robotics & Coding club (flyer)
* Chap Youth Wrestling Club (flyer)
* LEGO Storytelling: Marvel vs. DC (flyer)
* Science Matters - before/after school STEM Clubs (flyer)
* Chap Dance Team - The Mini-Wolverines (flyer)
* Robotics & Coding Club (flyer)
* CTE STEM CLUBS from Science Matters (link)
* Cub Scout Pack (flyer)
NONDISCRIMINATION NOTICE: The Douglas County School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, age, marital status, genetic information, or physical characteristics, disability or need for special education services in admissions, access to, treatment of, or employment in educational programs or activities. The School District’s Compliance Officer is Ted Knight, Assistant Superintendent, 620 Wilcox Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, [email protected], 303-387-0067. Complaint procedures have been established for students, parents, employees, and members of the public.