Schedules & Getting Involved

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View Principal Atkins’ message from 8/11 here or below!

Dear Families,

SCHEDULES
We recognize that remote learning was a heavy lift for all of you in the spring. This year, we had more time to thoughtfully plan and create a kindergarten through fifth grade schedule that minimizes the burden on families and maximizes student learning. We listened to your feedback from the spring and have worked to create a schedule keeping the following priorities in mind:
  • Consistency – There is a school-wide schedule that provides consistency across classrooms for families with multiple children. Each student will receive a schedule the week of August 17th that will remain the same throughout the first quarter.
  • Minimize the burden on families – We have built in significant time for live instruction both in whole group and small groups. Students will complete their assignments while they are with their teacher. Therefore, families will not need to sit with their children to help them complete assignments. The work that children do on their own will be done through computer programs that provide immediate feedback and adjust to students’ needs.
  • Maximize planning time for teachers – Classroom teachers will have the entire day on Fridays to plan. This will allow them to provide the highest quality instruction Monday-Thursday. On Fridays, students will engage in specials classes and independent computer practice.
Teachers will connect with each student and family the week of August 17th. During this meeting they will provide you with a personalized schedule for your child. This will include their small group times as well as special education/intervention groups, English language development, etc. Below is the general school-wide schedule.

K-5 Monday through Thursday:
WHOLE GROUP INSTRUCTION
All students will sign on for live instruction from 8:45-10:30
  • 8:45-9:15 – PATHS Lesson whole class (live) synchronous
  • 9:15-9:45 – Literacy
  • 9:45-10:00 – Brain Break
  • 10:00 – 10:30 – Math
SMALL GROUP LITERACY INSTRUCTION
Each student will attend a literacy small group in the morning. When they are not engaged in small group learning, they will work on computer programs that provide immediate feedback and/or hands-on projects.
LUNCH/FREE TIME
  • 1:00-2:15 – English Language Development block for students learning English as an additional language
SMALL GROUP MATH INSTRUCTION
Each student will attend a math small group in the afternoon. When they are not engaged in small group learning, they will work on computer programs that provide immediate feedback and/or hands-on projects.

K-5 Friday
Each class will engage in a 45 minute live (synchronous) science lesson each Friday. In addition, they will participate in two enrichment classes which will rotate between PE, Music and Social Emotional Learning. When they are not engaged in synchronous learning, they will work on computer programs that provide immediate feedback and require little or no parent intervention.

LIVE CHAT – AUG 18
We know we have been sharing a lot of information and suspect that many of you still have lingering questions. I hope you will join me on Tuesday, August 18th at 10am for a Live Chat. We will send a link for the live chat on Monday so you can join us.

ANNUAL FAMILY UPDATE
We still need some of our families to complete the Annual Family Update so we can finalize our plans for the school year. Please be sure to fill one out for each child in DPS as soon as you are able- http://schoolchoice.dpsk12.org/enrollment-registration/annual-family-update/

JOB POSTING
Stedman is hiring a part-time program coordinator for the Healthy Food for Denver’s Kids grant that we recently received from the City of Denver to provide daily healthy snacks to every student during in-person learning. This person will receive a stipend to assist with coordination of snacks, addressing food insecurity during remote learning, overseeing the school garden, and evaluating program success. If you are interested in this opportunity or if you have additional questions, please contact kobler.erin@gmail.com no later than Friday, August 14th. See the full position description here.

FACEBOOK GROUPS
If you are interested in connecting with other families, we have created new grade-level Facebook Groups, please feel free to join:

VALUES TO ACTION COMMITTEE
The Values to Action Committee (VAC – formerly CSC) brings together parents, staff, and community members to ensure that important decisions about Stedman are made with our community’s values in mind. We need a diverse and representative group of parents to advise school leadership on issues such as budget, enrollment priorities, attendance, school improvement, and parent engagement. We are actively seeking additional members, particularly parents from the English program.  More information will follow, but feel free to contact andrew@lefkowits.com for more information. VAC Meetings are held once a month.

PTA
Please click HERE to add your email to the PTA email list. This does not commit you to anything, but will allow you to receive PTA emails when they are sent. Our PTA (Parent-Teacher-Association) is a wonderful place to both build community and support our students. They are committed to operating with our values in mind. Their first virtual meeting will be taking place on Wednesday, August 19th at 6pm.

FOOD SUPPORT
Meal distribution continues to be ongoing through both DPS and some local Rec Centers. Please visit this page to learn more about locations and times for breakfast/lunch/dinner meal pickups.

If you are interested in receiving a “blue bag” for your family each Friday (we hope to deliver during remote learning), please click HERE to let us know how many you will need. This is confidential of course. These bags will be similar to previous years and provide some food items for weekend consumption.

If your child was part of the Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL) program in the Spring, you are eligible for Pandemic-EBT benefits. These benefits do not replace grab-and-go meal sites and immigration status is not considered in your eligibility for P-EBT. Each eligible child would receive $5.70 per day (max $279 per child). All SNAP recipients should automatically receive the money on their SNAP EBT card.   APPLY HERE if you do not receive SNAP benefits: https://coloradopeak.secure.force.com/PEBT

Frequently Asked Questions about this program: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdhs/p-ebt

We are excited to begin this school year with you. Our team is hard at work planning and preparing to help your child grow even in what may be the most unique year any of us has experienced. I continue to be grateful for our community.

Sincerely,

Michael Atkins
Principal