February 2019 Newsletter

You will be missed, Bridget Jones.

Rest in Peace.

Our Annual Fundraiser

2019 Golden Gallop Registration is OPEN!

WELCHESTER ELEMENTARY SCIENCE FAIR: Our annual science fair will take place on March 7th. Students will visit during the day to see their classmate's projects and families visit from 6-7pm. PENNIES FOR PATIENTS: Our students raised $751.63 for patients during our Pennies for Patients "war". The classroom that raised the most funds will have a root beer float and Olive Garden pasta party! WE ARE ALL CLOWNS: Circus Arts is still going strong even though there was no performance last month because of weather. Our clowns are practicing hard on their pogo sticks, unicycles, clown bikes, stilts, and of course, with juggling. If you know of a performance opportunity for them please contact Greg Aigner at greg.aigner@jeffco.k12.co.us GREEN TEAM: Starting just last month a new club at Welchester began focusing on food waste during lunch. With the help of 53 students within 5 days, 226lbs of food waste was taken to a local farm by our school to give to their animals. CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS: We want YOU! We need help with multiple volunteer needs and are happy to have community members be a part of our school family. The following are areas of need: *Crosswalk Duty *Golden Back Pack Co-Op *Library Support (Shelving books & labeling books) *Eagle Eye - Watch D.O.G.S *Classroom Help *Friday Folders If you can help please contact Deirdra Ochoa at (303) 982-7277 TALENT SHOW IN MAY. This year's Talent Show is planned for early in May. Never too late to start preparing your act! SHELTON ELEMENTARY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR: Shelton's Science & Engineering Fair was a great success!  With 131 students presenting their investigations and over 150 people attending the evening event, it was a fun day and night of amazing new inventions, experiments and many well deserved awards.

COYOTE CARNIVALE- SILENT AUCTION: Shelton's 3rd annual Silent Auction was held on February 28th, 2019 at Origin Red Rocks hotel and it was a huge success. More than $30,000 (gross) was raised to fund STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) programs at Shelton. Amazing! Thank you to everyone that supported this event. Your generosity is what keeps our students thriving!

GARDEN BRICK SALE IS BACK! The garden brick sale is a fun way to celebrate our students, thank our child's teacher, or share some positive messages by personalizing an engraved brick! All proceeds support our school and community garden. Bricks will be installed in front of our garden prior to the end of the school year to add a personalized touch to our wonderful garden. ELF (Environmental Learning for the Future) IS COMING TO SHELTON! Shelton is really excited to be able to offer ELF for the first time this spring. It has been very successful at Mitchell and Kyffin for over 10 years and our hope is that it becomes a part of the Shelton culture! What is ELF? ELF is an award-winning environmental education program designed as a school-wide theme for kindergarten - 5th grade with activities adapted and taught by parents and other community volunteers. It is designed to give children an understanding of and appreciation for the natural world. It encourages students to interpret what they learn by asking "Why?" and "How?" and to answer questions by making observations in nature. It also is designed to encourage students to care about nature and to be environmentally responsible. Shelton's first program will be "Spiders & Webs" and will be held in each class during the month of March. A big thank you to Amanda Strouth for putting this all together and bringing ELF to Shelton! RALSTON ELEMENTARY JOHN IRWIN AWARD OF EXCELLENCE: The CDE John Irwin Award of Excellence is given to schools that demonstrate exceptional academic achievement over time. Ralston received an Exceeds Expectations rating on the Academic Achievement indicator of the School Performance Framework reflecting exceptional performance in Math, English Language Arts, and Science. This is the 15th consecutive time Ralston has earned this prestigious award. GEOGRAPHY BEE! Ten students participated in the school-level National Geographic GeoBee competition on Wednesday, January 23rd. Maylin Bonzer, a 4th grade student, won 1st place, Kieran Baker, a 5th grade student, won 2nd place and Brylynn Fletcher, another 5th grade student, finished in 3rd place. The school-level competition is the first round in the annual National Geographic GeoBee, a geography competition designed to inspire and reward students' curiosity about the world. Maylin will now move on for a chance to compete in the state-level bee. Good luck, Maylin! SPELLING BEE! 27 students participated in the school-level Scripps Spelling Bee Competitions on Tuesday, January 29th. Mikayla Lee, a 4th grade student, is our school champion. After many additional rounds, Zaineb Qadir, a 5th grade student, became our runner-up. Both Mikayla and Zaineb moved on to the Golden Area Spelling Bee on February 13th. Congratulations, ladies! SCIENCE FAIR!The Ralston Science Fair was held the week of February 4 - 8, with 92 amazing projects on display. After judging and oral presentations, 19 projects in Divisions II and III went on to the Mountain Area Science Fair (MASF) where three students earned 1st place awards, five students earned 2nd place awards, and four students earned 3rd place awards. Six students earned outstanding project awards. Participants and families were treated to a celebration on Friday, Feb. 8th, before the winning projects were rushed off to the MASF. Congratulations to all participants and a big thank you to Karina Keyes and her team of hard-working parents and volunteers from the School of Mines for all their work in organizing and running the Science Fair!

4th GRADE PBL SHOWCASE & MUSICAL & ARTWORK! February 20th was an exciting day for Ralston 4th graders. They performed an upbeat and energetic musical centered on Colorado history which included song, dance and original poetry at 2:15 p.m. for all Ralston students and again at 5:30 p.m. for families and guests. The evening performance was preceded by a showcase of their PBL experience titled "Beyond Surviving, Thriving" in which student groups researched a Colorado problem of their choice and developed and designed an original solution to the problem.  Solutions included a mock-up of the product as well as a website. Finally, several pieces of Colorado themed artwork created by each 4th grader were on display in the lobby. Great job 4th grade students, Mrs. Crocombe, Mrs. Greve, Mrs. Huyler, and Mrs. Knight! JEFFCO ELEMENTARY ART SHOW.The Jeffco Elementary Art Show is being held at Red Rocks Community College from February 20th - March 14th. Ralston is honored to have the artwork of 13 students featured.  An opening reception was held on February 22nd from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to honor and welcome students whose artwork is on display and their families. Please be sure to stop by and see the amazing artwork of Jeffco students. MITCHELL ELEMENTARY GLOBAL SCHOOL DAY OF PLAY A SUCCESS! All Mitchell students dedicated an hour to playing together through unstructured, supervised time on Friday, February 8th to participate in Mitchell's 3rd annual Global School Day of Play. Students made decisions on what to play and worked together to enjoy creativity, social skills and innovation through play. We were excited to have joined other schools and students around the world in this learning opportunity! AMAZE-ING NIGHT OPEN HOUSE MARCH 14th. The Diversity & Equity Committee with be hosting an Open House on Thursday, March 14th, 6:00-7:30PM in the Library. This is an opportunity to become familiar with AMAZE - a set of children's books and discussion guides that builds on the Second Step program Mitchell has been using for many years. AMAZE supports healthy identities, connected learning communities, and respect across differences by working at the intersections of anti-bias education theory, diversity and inclusion, best practices and social-emotional learning. There will be a brief overview of AMAZE at 6:00PM-and repeated at 6:45PM-to allow families to come and go at times that work for them. The rest of the time will be unstructured for individual review of books and materials. While the Open House is intended for adults, kids are welcome to come and read quietly if childcare presents a barrier. Please email samantha.pelican.monson@gmail.com with questions and see the Equity & Diversity page on the Mitchell website for more information. https://mitchell.jeffcopublicschools.org/family_resources/curriculum_resources/diversity___equity 2nd ANNUAL WESTERN ON WASHINGTON SALOON STROLL: Save the Date! Come support the kids we all love through this PTA sponsored event on Friday, April 12th!Tickets on sale this spring. Currently, we are seeking event sponsors. Please email westernonwashington@gmail.com if you or someone you know would like more information about this great philanthropic and business opportunity! KYFFIN ELEMENTARY POSITIVE FEEDBACK! Kyffin recently received the results from the Family School Partnership Survey and it showed improvement in positive responses in every single category!  Results from this survey and other perception surveys tie directly into the school Unified Improvement Plan goal which will be discussed in more detail at our next PTA (March 5th) and SAC (March 11th) meetings. EXPLORATION HOUR. On Kyffin's last Early Release Day, all students had the opportunity to work on a specific area of interest. Some of the topics included coding, Zen tangles, drama, photography, stop motion animation, dance, paper circuitry, finger knitting, and more. All students and teachers were engaged and this provided an excellent opportunity to build Kyffin's school-wide community as students and teachers were interacting across grade levels. Kyffin will continue to work on providing innovative learning opportunities for its students with the goal of maximizing student growth and individual success. Through the Brain Wise curriculum students learned about their "Red Flag Warnings" which are signals that our body sends to warn us of a problem and ways to listen and react to these warning signs appropriately by using their "Wizard Brain." SPELLING BEE! Congratulations to Sophie Hacke in 5th grade and Emi Mukai in 4th grade, who were the top two spellers at the Kyffin spelling bee, and represented Kyffin at the Golden area spelling bee.  Emi finished 4th at the Golden bee which included 4-8th graders competing. Sophie finished 2nd and will represent Golden at the state spelling bee. Good luck to Sophie and great job Emi! ORAL INTERPRETATION & HEART CHALLENGE: Congratulations to all who participated in Kyffin's Oral Interpretation program.  It was a fun evening of entertainment and a great way to celebrate our students with their own interpretations of written prose. In February Kyffin students also competed in the Kids Hart Challenge to raise money and awareness for the American Heart Association.  At the end of the Kids Heart Challenge principal Mr. Havens and P.E. teacher Mr. Kinner competed in their own challenge - the Egg Roulette Challenge - in celebration of Kyffin meeting its fundraising goal.  In March students are looking forward to I Love to Read Day, the beginning of after school Art Club with art teacher Ms. Ahlers, and starting to put projects together for Kyffin's Science and Engineering Fair.

HOT NIGHTS IN HAVANA. Saturday ,March 2 is Kyffin's big spring fundraiser!  Please consider joining the Kyffin community for a Hot Nights in Havana Gala and Silent Auction from 6-10pm at Jeffco Fairgrounds. BELL MIDDLE SCHOOL CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BELL MATH TEAM! The team took 1st place in a Denver area math competition! HUGE congratulations to Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Buruse and the ten girls and boys from Bell!!! Other schools who competed included Colorado Academy (2nd place), Bear Creek K-8 (3rd place), Manning School of Arts & Academics, Golden View Classical, Evergreen Middle School, Shrine of St Anne's, and others. SPELLING BEE: A Bell 8th grade girl also earned the grand championship title for the Golden area in the area spelling bee. She will be representing Golden at the state spelling bee soon! A Bell 6th grader also competed very well. Bell is incredibly proud of these accomplishments of their students!!! PTA GRANTS:This month Bell finalized most of the PTA grants from the important magazine fundraiser.  This fundraiser is providing Bell with much needed materials for Spanish classes, a poster maker to help all clubs and organizations at Bell, an impressive mural by the main staircase to enhance school spirit and unity, supplies for Bell's family and consumer studies class, 10 Outdoor Lab scholarships, and $100 ($200 for brand new teachers) checks to every Bell teacher to purchase much needed classroom supplies. Thank you to the Bell community who participated in this impactful fundraiser! SCREENAGERS IS BACK! Back by popular demand, Bell PTA is hosting "Screenagers" again this spring on March 18th at 6pm (free to students and $5 for adults).Bell is committed to educating the community about important decisions students and parents face in this highly digital age. NEW PATHWAY: Bell now has a new pathway for the 2019-2020 school year.  To learn more about the two distinct pathways, click here: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y_EJs99Pyp9e1FKDhvTAru_p3hyVDDUZHjGSqoLIa7Q/edit> . GOLDEN HIGH SCHOOL CHILI COOK-OFF UPDATE! The GHS PTA 7th annual Chili Cook Off and Silent Auction FUNdraiser held on February 21st was a huge success! The biggest and best yet! With the help of so many student, parent & staff volunteers, student musicians and chili cooks, funds were raised  to support grants to staff & students and to award senior scholarships. The support from our local community and families for the auction was amazing! The winners of the Chili Cook Off are: Community Category - Ken Bremer, USMC Staff Category - Mrs. Ramirez Student Group Category - A Tie between Daddy's Chili (Hank Ohlen, Miles Forsyth-Simon, Adam Feasel and Tyler Howe) and Girls Lacrosse Individual Student Category - and winner of the reserved, close-in parking spot - Maia Songer!

SPECIAL RECOGNITION GOES TO...Great job to the Demons Climbing Team, we have 13 climbers who qualified to compete at State: Girls Varsity - Brooklee Baybeck, Anissa Shull, Ellie Prehn, Alexa VanSchaardenburg, Catherine Sheridan Boys Varsity - James Hickenbottom, Graham Sudweeks, Sam Newell, Hamilton Johns, Brandon Poulette, Seth Gerow, Toby Hassett and Boys JV - Harrison Vickers. Way to go Demons! GHS SENIOR ZACHARY CHORNEY IS ONE OF EIGHT JEFFCO 2019 PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARS CANDIDATES: The candidates were selected from nearly 3.6 million students expected to graduate from U.S. high schools in 2019. Inclusion in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, now in its 54th year, is one of the highest honors bestowed upon graduating high school seniors. Scholars are selected on the basis of superior academic and artistic achievements, leadership qualities, strong character and involvement in community and school activities. Congrats, Zach! ART EXHIBIT: Big shout out to some of our art students whose artwork has been selected into the Colorado Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition. This Exhibit will be on display at the History Colorado Center from February 15-March 29th. Scholastic Art Awards recipients: Emily Becker - Silver Key in Ceramics Cory Leidich - Silver Key in Photography Anna Leonhardt - Gold Key in Ceramics Alyssa Mulligan - Gold Key in Ceramics and Gold Key in Sculpture Mackenna Overholt - Gold Key in Painting and Gold Key in Mixed Media Porter Windell - Silver Key in Photography GIRLS SWIMMING FINALS:They did well at State Prelims and they are heading to Finals! Lauren White is seeded 4th in the 100 free and 7th in the 50 free, Lexie Deitemeyer is 10th in the 100 fly, Anna Vermeulen is 7th in backstroke and 12th in the 200 free. The 400 free relay is ranked 7th with Alice Lin, Lauren White, Lexie Deitemeyer and Anna Vermeulen. Way to go girls! Get the Golden Scoop. Get the latest weekly announcements at GHS Demon News.