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Message from Our Principal, Paige Gordon
Dear Families:
It’s time to start thinking about enrollment for next year in preschool. 2024-2025 Fall Preschool Pre-Registration begins December 1, 2023. All families in preschool who are already enrolled for ’23-’24 need to enroll again for the ’24 – ’25 school year, and all new families will need to follow this same process. To better serve families and to support a more timely student preschool placement, St. Vrain’s Department of Early Childhood Education is offering families the opportunity to complete the district’s online pre-registration process prior to the state’s Universal Preschool (UPK) application. Families that pre-register in December will receive a notification of their placement from St. Vrain Valley Schools by the end of January, 2024. Pre-registered families will receive ongoing support and communication from St. Vrain Valley Schools if they choose to navigate the UPK process. All families hoping to enroll through UPK will need to complete this process as well, and we believe it will start near the end of January 2024. Below is a link with information on enrollment/registration. The district will continue to update the website as needed or when new information becomes available. READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE! Please call our registrar, Amy Yanez, at 720-652-7906, with any questions you may have.
KINDERGARTEN for ’24-’25: For families with children moving on to kindergarten, registration for kindergarten starts on Dec. 1 as well. A new and distinct enrollment will need to be completed as children are changing schools when entering kindergarten. Children who are 5 by October 1, 2024 should transition to kindergarten. Please enroll children starting Dec 1 here. More info about how kindergarten registration works is here.
With respect – Paige Gordon, Principal – Spark! Discovery Preschool, [email protected]
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Senior Citizen Volunteering Program
The SVVSD School Board has approved a program that allows senior citizens or individuals with a disability certified by their doctor to offset a portion of their property taxes by volunteering in the District. We offer this program to qualifying seniors/individuals with a disability who meet the following criteria:
• Applicants must be 60 years of age or older or have a disability.
• Applicants who are a person with a disability must submit a signed and dated letter from a Colorado licensed health care professional verifying the taxpayer is a person with a disability.
• Applicants must own AND live in the home for which they are applying (must be residential non-income producing).
• Applicants must reside in the St. Vrain Valley School District boundary area.
• Applicants cannot be a current St. Vrain Valley School District Employee.
• Only one person per household may apply. Participants will be selected on a first-come, first-serve basis. Payment is made directly to the participating senior.
• At Spark! Discovery Preschool, any volunteers through this program would need to go through a 90 minute training with our principal.
Qualified individuals interested in participating should contact Kristie Jonason at 303-682-7205 starting November 6th, 2023 through December 15th, 2023 to obtain an application. Participants will be paid for up to 40 hours worked January 8th through April 30th, 2024 at $14.42 per hour for a maximum total of $576.80.
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VOLUNTEER TRAINING:
We are excited to once again host Volunteer Training at various points through the year in our cafeteria at Spark! Volunteer training is required by the Department of Human Services, as we are a licensed preschool, in order to volunteer in the preschool classroom at our school. A sign up form was emailed to families in a separate communication– please check emails for the link. Because of some sensitive topics, this training is best attended by adults (babies are okay to attend). Childcare is not provided during training. If translation is needed, please indicate this on the form. The dates for volunteer training for the next three months are:
No training will be offered in December
Thursday, January 25, from 4:15 -5:45 pm in the cafeteria.
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The Magic of Books and Pajamas at Spark!
Our Book and Pajama Drive offers children in need a set of new pajamas and a book during this season. After all, good nights are good days! Donate a pair of new pajamas (sizes 4T – 8T) and a new book (or one or the other) to be given to students in our school. Donations are now being accepted and can be dropped off at the Spark! Discovery Preschool at front office or your child’s classroom. The deadline to drop off donations is Friday, December 15th. We will wrap books and PJ sets and get them distributed before the Winter break. Thank you in advance for supporting our students with the magic of a book and cozy pajamas.
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LUNCH / SNACK Menus:
Families can now find the monthly Lunch Menu at LINQCONNECT. This online system allows families to filter for allergens and see the Breakfast Menu. Please change between Breakfast and Lunch in the upper left hand corner. Change the month to reflect December’s menus.
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Reading Club: A partnership between Spark! Discovery Preschool and the Carbon Valley Library — Starts 12/7/23
We are excited to announce an opportunity to get involved in early literacy as a family! Amanda Pittman, Librarian from Carbon Valley Regional Library and Mary Stivison, Teacher at Spark! are partnering together to bring Saturday story time to Spark! during the week! Come engage in literacy activities with us! Families are welcome. We have room for 30 students each session, and families can attend more than one session. Students can choose a book to read and take home. Register here! Questions? Email Ms. Mary at [email protected].
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SVVSD Equity and Community Engagement:
Our school district’s Native American Family Night in partnership with SVVSD Priority Programs was a huge success. Please join us next time! Location: Innovation Center Time: 5pm-7pm. Dates: Feb 27th 2024, and April 30th 2024
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Important Dates–Dec 4-8, 2023
- All week: Mathematical focus on Number Operations for December (see printed handout in Thurs folder from 11/30)
- All week: STEM PROFILE OF THE MONTH: EMPATEHETIC (see printed handout in Thurs folder 11/30)
- All week: Fundations letter and letter sound learning: Yy, Zz
- Dec 4-7 Mini unit (not STEM-based): Student interest / Teacher choice
- Mon, Dec 4- Dec 15 – PJ and Book Drive to benefit children at Spark!
- Wed, Dec 6 – PTO sponsored PJ Day, $1.00 suggested donation to support PTO
- Wed, Dec 6 – Late Start for K-12 (not applicable for PK), determined by SVVSD
- PBIS: 11-16 to 12-20, with reward on 12-21 (Board Game party in the classroom)
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Important Dates— Dec 11 – Dec 15, 2023
- All week: Mathematical focus on Number Operations for December
- All week: STEM PROFILE OF THE MONTH: EMPATHETIC
- All week: Fundations letter and letter sound learning: t
- Stem Unit 3: Dec 11- Jan 26
- Transportation – Ms. Mary Stivison, Ms Marie Bloch, and Ms. Kelli Wentworth
- Moving & Grooving: Dance and Fitness – Ms. Julia Lewis and Ms. Moira
- Ooh-Aah Science – Full Day – Ms. Noreen Reeder and Ms. Kaylee Fulk
- Drama and Theater – Ms. Kiersten Pierpoint and Ms. Tori Menard
- Life Cycles of Animals – Ms. Blair Hunter, Ms. Miranda Brant, and Ms. Amy Newsom
- Mon, Dec 11 – Fri, Dec 15 – PJ and Book Drive to benefit children at Spark!
- Wed, Dec 13 – Farm to Table experience with 7 preschool classes
- PBIS: 11-16 to 12-20, with reward on 12-21 (Board Game party in the classroom)
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A message from the Spark! Campus Supervisor, Alicia Hall ([email protected]).
At Spark! Discovery Preschool we take safety and security seriously and want to ensure that every student can learn and grow in a nurturing and safe place.Fire lanes are reserved for emergency personnel. Please park in a dedicated spot and walk your child into the school. Drop off and pick up times have a significant amount of traffic. Please consider working and talking with your student about parking lot safety. Walking hand and hand with an adult and looking both ways are great starter conversations. Students at this age get very excited and may run without warning at times. Be sure to check our updates throughout the school year. We will share relevant information throughout the year. If you as a parent see a safety concern please reach out to our Campus Supervisor, Alicia Hall.
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A message from the Spark! Health Clerk, Amanda Rivera ([email protected])
Letters that have been passed out regarding expired or missing General Health Appraisals recently. The General Health Appraisal form is entered based on the date of the last physical appointment, and instead of the date that the form was turned in. If you receive a letter of missing or expired General Health Appraisal, please contact your provider to schedule an appointment to avoid disruption in attendance. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
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A message from the Spark! Attendance/Registrar, Amy Yanez [email protected]
Winter break is from December 22, 2023- January 8, 2024. As winter break is quickly approaching, please let me know if your student will be absent any time there is an absence, so that they can be properly entered in your child’s Infinite Campus attendance portal. Here is some information about the importance of attendance in school.
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We invite our families to join us on our social media outlets:
Facebook: Spark-Discovery-Preschool-of-St-Vrain
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sparkdiscoverypreschool/
Twitter: @SparkDPS
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