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Peak to Peak's Weekly Newsletter Digest
Week of: 9/19/22-9/23/22
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| Calendar | Elementary | Secondary | Middle | High | Athletics | Friends | Volunteer |
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All School News |
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NEW! Full Standards Based Grading As families settle into the routine of the school year, we know this includes checking in regularly with your student(s) to monitor progress. At the secondary level (6th-12th grade), this includes checking the gradebook in Infinite Campus. We’d like to call your attention to this week’s message to families from secondary principals, which includes information about grading practices at Peak to Peak. (See the Secondary School News section.) We operate in a world that is constantly changing, from the technology we use to the values we prioritize. As educators, we are challenged to remain relevant and informed in service to our students and families. We are grateful that, as a charter school, we can be nimble and responsive to these changes. As such, our teachers have identified a need to focus on grading strategies in order to advance student learning. We want to emphasize the message in the letter from our principals that we have not dramatically changed grading practices or changed systems this year. The strategies teachers are implementing will help bring students more authentically into the conversations about their own mastery of skills and content by making their learning trajectory visible. We know from research that when students actively engage in learning through reflection, goal setting and frequent opportunities to practice and demonstrate mastery, they are better prepared for success beyond graduation. We also know that students and families are noticing differences in the gradebook, and that these differences can be disconcerting. Our leadership team is monitoring questions that students, families, and staff members are bringing forward. Teachers are the best resource for answering specific questions about the gradebooks and we encourage you to reach out to your students’ teachers when questions arise. School leaders are committed to keeping our community informed and will plan to share more generalized information in an ongoing way as we implement these strategies. To that end, we are looking forward to the Community Virtual Q & A session planned for November 2nd. These sessions are an opportunity for school leaders to dialogue and interact with our families in an open setting around themed topics such as this one around grading practices. We will soon provide an opportunity for you to submit questions and topics for our November session, so please watch for more information in the coming weeks. We look forward to your continued partnership in helping our students focus on their learning and growth. |
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Transportation Interest Form
As we continue to outline our plan for morning pick up services, we need to get a sense of our community's interest in morning transportation. This information will help us to finalize our pick up system. If your family is interested in utilizing our Peak to Peak bus service, please fill out the below form. Please note that this is an interest form. If we have more interest than capacity, we will engage in a lottery process to determine which families will be accommodated. More information about morning service will be coming soon. |
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Equity Committee: Call for Committee Member Applications (deadline extended to September 23rd)
Dear Peak to Peak community members,
We are seeking equity committee members who are representative of the Peak to Peak population and include people from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences. The creation of this committee is an extension of the focused work that Peak to Peak organized during the 2018-19 school year as an ongoing effort to see, respond to, and redress inequities in our systems so that all students feel a clear sense of belonging at Peak to Peak. The Peak to Peak board of directors approved the creation of the Equity Committee during the 2021-22 school year as a strategy to further integrate the ideals. Membership on the Equity Committee is voluntary. If you are interested in learning more, the Equity Committee process document can be accessed here. Each committee member will serve for a three-year term. If you are interested in applying to serve on this committee, please complete the application by September 23rd at noon (new extended deadline). Due to the fact that this committee is new for Peak to Peak, applications will be considered by the Executive Director of Education and the Board of Directors. The composition of the initial committee will be approved by the Board of Directors. Upon the occurrence of any vacancy on the committee, the current members of the committee will review applications and the committee chair will present to the Board the names of any applicants for such an open position as well as the committee’s recommendation for the individual to fill such a vacant position. It is anticipated that the committee will meet at least once a month, with the opportunity for sub-groups to form and meet with greater frequency. The default structure is working meetings with published notes and the potential for community-wide meetings to address specific topics of interest. Our members should bring:
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Picture Retake Day on September 23rd Our K-12 Picture Retake Day will be on Friday, September 23rd during school hours. Elementary students will come down to the south lobby with their homerooms and secondary students will go to the auditeria during a study hall or lunch. Families can order their photos on mylifetouch.com. Please see this flyer for details: Lifetouch Late Ordering Form |
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Community Bulletin Board
From the Parents/Guardians page of the Peak to Peak website, you can access the Community Bulletin Board. Here you will find announcements about events and opportunities shared by our community partners in the surrounding area. These events are not school-sponsored. When we receive requests from outside entities who would like to share information with our community, we post those announcements in this location.
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Communication Pathways
At Peak to Peak, we strive for positive, open, and inclusive, two-way communication with our families. To facilitate this goal and to ensure we can address your needs as quickly and efficiently as possible, we use The Communication Pathways as a problem-solving strategy and the Principles for Effective Dialogue to guide a positive experience. The Communication Pathways create an effective and respectful process to resolve and address issues that arise. We have found our dialogue to be particularly productive and mutually beneficial when all parties adhere to the recommended Principles for Productive Dialogue. Please know that when you are seeking information or answers to questions, we always welcome conversations with any member of our community.
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NEW! Additional Staff Introductions
Recently we introduced you to our elementary teaching staff. Beyond teachers, many other staff members work with our elementary students each day, including our Teaching Assistants and Paraprofessionals. Your students might be coming home talking about these other adults who help in LA, Math, and other areas. These amazing staff members support students in many ways, both inside the classroom and out at recess or lunch. They work so hard, often with very little recognition or acknowledgement. We truly couldn’t make it any day without their care and concern for our students. Please click here to meet our elementary teaching assistants & paraprofessionals and learn about some of the ‘other people’ at our school!
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NEW! Spirit Week Next Week
Next week is our High School's Homecoming Week so our Elementary students are invited to participate in Spirit Week! Here are the dress-up days for next week:
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NEW! Elementary Coffee Chat
The elementary administration would like to invite you to come have coffee and conversation about the year together. We want to meet with you and hear from you, as well as answer questions and share highlights of all that is going on. We look forward to discussing a variety of topics with you. (If you can’t attend but have something to share, we always welcome your feedback at any other time through email, phone calls, or in-person conversations.)
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NEW! K-5 Early Release After School "Fall Fun" Event on October 7th 12:50-3:00 PM
Now that we are past most COVID restrictions, we are excited to announce that we will be bringing back our elementary early release after school events! These events allow our elementary students to stay for a full day on certain early release days. Parents/guardians do not have to pick up the students who attend until 3:00 PM and all proceeds go to support our K-12 student clubs!
All K-5 students are invited to attend our first early release after school event on Friday, October 7th from 12:50-3:00 PM in our south gym. The theme will be "Fall Fun"! The cost is $10 per student. Some of the fun activities will include: mask decorating, a falling leaf art project, and musical pumpkins (like musical chairs).
In order to attend, the students must be pre-registered by end of day on Thursday, October 6th by completing the following form: https://peaktopeakcharter.
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NEW! Elementary Battle of the Books
Grades 3, 4, and 5. BoB is a competition with the purpose of fostering a love of reading! The goal of Battle of the Books is to teach students how to work together in a group for a common goal, expose them to award-winning pieces of literature, and encourage a high volume of reading inside and outside of the classroom. Sign up here. DEADLINE is Sept. 30, 2022.
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Elementary Yearbooks on Sale
Elementary School yearbooks for the 2022-23 school year are now on sale! Order your yearbook in August or September and receive 10% off your order. Order now at TreeRing.com. School code is 1015361813341879. |
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NEW! High School and Middle School Grading Conversations
Dear high school and middle school families, This time of year it is common for discussions about grading and re-assessment to be taking place in classrooms and at home. To help support these conversations we wanted to provide some reminders of our policies and help answer some of the questions that might be coming up. We have asked teachers to review these points with your teens as well, including the use of rubrics, grade book calculations, and re-assessment procedures. Just to be clear, we have not dramatically changed grading practices or changed systems this year. Let us help clear up some of the confusion that may be coming your way at home. All of our grading practices fall under...please click Secondary School Grading Conversations to read the entire article. |
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Weekly Secondary Student Announcements Please click Secondary Student Announcements 2022-2023 to view the daily student announcements for the week. |
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NEW! Battle of the Books
Middle School Battle of the Books! BoB is a competition with the purpose of fostering a love of reading! The goal of Battle of the Books is to teach students how to work together in a group for a common goal, expose them to award-winning pieces of literature, and encourage a high volume of reading inside and outside of the classroom. Sign up here. DEADLINE is Sept. 30, 2022. |
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8th Grade Yearbook Baby Ads
Attention 8th Grade Families! It's time to celebrate another milestone with your 8th grader in this year's middle school yearbook by surprising them with a Yearbook Recognition Ad (aka "Baby Ad"). A hard copy flier for this opportunity went home via students last week. If you did not receive a flyer or would like access to a soft copy of the advertisement, you may access it here: 8th Grade Yearbook Recognition Ads. If you have further questions or concerns, please contact Krista Fernandez, Middle School Yearbook Sponsor, at krista.fernandez@bvsd.org.
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NEW! Peak Week Update
Thank you for the time you took to go through course selections with your student and help guide their 8 preferences for when they took the survey on September 9th! Students and parent(s)/guardian(s) will find out student placement via an email by their course leader(s) on Monday, September 19th at 3:10pm. We ask that you avoid requesting changes to placements, and respect the integrity of our courses and leaders, as well as our placement process that resulted in 96% of students being placed in one of their top 4 preferences, and 100% of students getting placed in their top 6. Course placements are final. Lastly, know that we will reach out to you via the course leaders with a survey at the end of Peak Week to get your feedback on this new initiative and graduation requirement. Thank you again, and we’re looking forward to seeing your students in our courses!
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NEW! Peak to Peak High School Homecoming Events The High School Student Council is excited to announce our High School homecoming events. Please see communications from our different levels for information on the many wonderful events happening across our K-12. All week is a spirit week at school where students are encouraged to dress up to participate in spirited, school-appropriate theme days. Spirit Days:
Don’t forget our after school events, supporting our amazing athletes, and culminating in our High School homecoming dance on Saturday night from 8:00-10:00 PM. Parents and guardians, please help us reinforce Peak to Peak’s commitment to creating an environment at our dances that is safe and substance free. High School Homecoming Games and Events:
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Weekly Counseling Digest Please click HERE to read the weekly Counseling Digest. |
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9/19
Middle School Soccer v Stargate 4:00 and 5:00 PM
High School Tennis v Dawson 4:00 PM
9/20
High School Softball v Faith Christian Academy 4:00 PM
High School Tennis v Prospect Ridge Academy 4:00 PM
High School Volleyball v Kent Denver 4:00/5:00/6:00 PM
9/21
Puma Bowl on the turf field 6:00-8:00 PM
High School Softball v Strive Prep 4:00 PM
9/22
High School Volleyball v Eagle Ridge Academy 4:00/5:00/6:00 PM
High School Soccer v Prospect Ridge Academy 6:00 PM
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Elementary School Baseball Camp
Coach Castilleja will teach hitting, throwing, fielding, and baserunning fundamentals. The camp will be held on the south field right after school. This is a great opportunity to meet Coach Castilleja and ask him questions regarding the baseball program. Players need to bring helmets, bats, cleats, and water.
Date: September 19-23 Times: 3:30-5:00 PM Where: South field Cost: $75 per player |
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Middle School Baseball Camp Coach Castilleja will teach hitting, throwing, fielding, and baserunning fundamentals. The camp will be held on the south field right after school. This is a great opportunity to meet Coach Castilleja and ask him questions regarding the baseball program. Players need to bring helmets, bats, cleats, and water. Date: September 26-30 |
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Middle School Boys Basketball Open Gym We will be hosting open gyms for all middle school boys interested in playing this year. They will run every Saturday starting Sept 17th from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM, until tryouts which are TBD (usually Mid –Oct). We encourage everybody that is interested in trying out for boys middle school basketball to attend. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to Chris Ford (chris.ford@bvsd.org). |
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NEW! Tailgate Homecoming Party - Thursday, September 22nd All are invited to our annual Tailgate Homecoming Party which will be held at P2P on Thursday, September 22nd starting at 4:30 PM in the main quad. Join us for food trucks (Ruby Ru’s, Snowy Churro, Los Lagos Taqueria, Kona Ice and “Puma Dogs”), inflatable obstacle course, Peak Learning Garden farmers market, live music & more as we celebrate Pete the Puma’s birthday celebration (5:00 PM) and our Homecoming Week. Guests are welcome to bring chairs, blankets and own food. Plan to stay and watch our boys soccer game against Prospect Ridge (JV 4:00 PM/Varsity 6:00 PM) and girls volleyball game against Eagle Ridge (4:00 PM/5:00 PM/Varsity 6:00 PM). We hope you will join us for this fun free community event! |
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NEW! Pickleball to Support P2P Tennis Teams Interested in participating in a P2P pickleball tournament? Please fill out this simple form so our tennis teams can determine interest in putting this event together. |
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Peak Gala Volunteer Committee Meeting and Interest Form Our Peak Gala committee invites you to join us for our first meeting of the year. Our annual gala is scheduled for Friday, March 10th 2023 at the Omni Hotel in Broomfield. There are many ways to volunteer with this event including assisting with decor, auction items, ticket sales, sponsorships and more! This is a fun way to meet other P2P community members while helping us coordinate our largest community event of the year. If you are interested in helping with this year’s event please fill out this form. |
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Puma Bowl Concession Stand Fundraiser for After Prom This spring we plan to host our annual fun and safe after-prom event. After Prom is a parent-led event each year that provides our juniors and seniors a safe and fun place to go after the Peak to Peak Prom dance in April. Our first fundraiser to support this event will be selling concessions at the Peak Bowl on September 21st. Please consider donating items for us to sell during the game. Enclosed is a spreadsheet of items requested. In lieu of buying items and delivering them to P2P we would also appreciate donations made here (please put After Prom in comments section) and the committee will pick up items. Thanks for your support. If you are interested in helping with this year’s After Prom event please contact P2P parent volunteer Colleen Wilcox at colleen.wilcox@gmail.com. Volunteers help secure a venue, brainstorm activities, organize food and assist with any necessary fundraising to help the event take place each year. The first meeting will be 7pm on Tuesday 9/27. Please contact Colleen if you plan to attend. This meeting will be both in person and via zoom. Thank you in advance for your support! |
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Volunteer Needs
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Volunteer Information Thank you for considering to volunteer at Peak to Peak! We will continue to request fingerprints from anyone who intends to volunteer more than once during the school year. If you had your fingerprints done previously and completed our volunteer waiver and release form then you do not need to complete any volunteer paperwork this year! Please make sure you have a photo volunteer ID card with a barcode on the back. Please contact Traci Schoeneweis or 303-453-4682 to verify your volunteer status if you are unsure. If you only intend to volunteer once then you will be required to do the background check (not fingerprints) and the volunteer waiver and release form each year. You will be given a one-time volunteer ticket to turn in when you volunteer the one time. Please follow this link to print them or pick them up at registration: Volunteer Information Volunteer training is online. Anyone that is new to the school needs to view this before volunteering. If you have previously attended or taken the volunteer training you do not need to do it again. It’s a good idea for returning volunteers to view this as well for a refresher on protocols. Follow this link Volunteer Training to view the information. It can also be found on the volunteer page of the school website. Your Volunteer Team would love to hear from you. If you have any interest in volunteering for anything at all but do not know where to start please email either Allie Cross or Rachel Hirt, Volunteer Coordinators. They would love to meet you! |
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