May 2019
Dear Green Mountain Elementary families,
As summer break nears, I would like to express how grateful I am to be leading such an amazing community of students, families and staff. It has been an amazing year! I am so proud of all of the achievements and accomplishments of our students here at Green Mountain Elementary. These would not be possible without your support and dedication.
Reflecting on the past school year, we have had so many great memories and exciting events to look back on. We continued many successful traditions such as our family events, field day, Falcon Fun Run, SOAR assemblies, after school clubs, fieldtrips, science fair, and student interest camps. We also added many new experiences such as enrichment time in the Maker Space, researching and learning about Rocky (our bearded dragon school pet), implementation of a grant funded mental health pilot adding additional individual and play therapy for students, and Hoop Hop Showdown house games. Our students really enjoyed all of these activities.
Our year ended with wonderful ceremonies and revelries filled with pride and celebration of student accomplishments. We are very proud of all of our students and their successes.
Looking ahead, we have many exciting new adjustments that are coming to Green Mountain Elementary for the upcoming year. We are so thankful to our voters for the passing of 5A and 5B. Most immediate, our school will see increased funding for mental health support for a Social Emotional Learning specialist, in addition to new carpet and flooring throughout the building. We will await additional notification of future improvements from 5A and 5B. As we all know, Amendment 73 did not pass in the last election and therefore schools across Colorado did not receive additional funding for schools’ general budgets. Working within our budget and input from our Partners in Education (family committee) as well as input from staff, like others across Jeffco, our school will also restructure our grade levels to best meet the needs of students within a looping model with multi-grades featuring small classes in every classroom. Learning will be structured into Kindergarten/1st, 2nd/3rd, and 4th/5th multigrade classrooms. This is a partial change for our school. Intentional learning and instruction will continue in this more defined structure. We are always focused on the improvement of our school in all aspects. We not only focus on the child’s academic level, but we also focus on the whole child. Our classroom teachers, social emotional learning specialist, social worker, enrichment teacher, digital teacher librarian, art/music/p.e. teachers, special education staff, and para professionals/para educators remain committed to student learning and growth. Our new classroom structure provides a more innovative and accommodative approach to student learning aligned to Jeffco Generations and our district’s strategic plan within the means of our current balanced school budget. While change comes with many questions and uncertainty for some, we remain committed to our school mission: The GMES community ensures a safe, caring, and collaborative culture where every child develops the skills to achieve success. Your continued trust and partnership will again carry our success into and throughout the next school year.
A special thanks to you, the families who have contributed in ways small, large and unimaginable! Thank you for the partnership between home and school, which is so important. We appreciate all that you do each and every day for our school and our children!
Together, we’ve learned much and shared experiences that will remain in our hearts for years to come. The passion and strength within our community makes our school truly a special place for our students and a place that I am extremely proud to lead.
Have a safe and fun filled summer! See you in August!
With deepest gratitude and love,
Thomas Gardner, Principal
Important Dates to keep in mind:
(Please also see our school website for additional school information.)
*Registration: Aug 1, 2019 7:30am-11:00am and 3:00pm-6:00pm (main office lobby), for new families, and for current families to review class lists, SAE registration, school partnership sign up, modified contact assessment day sign up, please be sure contact information in Jeffco Connect is current and you have enrolled using Enroll Jeffco. (Don’t forget to apply for free&reduced lunch via SchoolCafe (after July 31, 2019) via the online application on the Jeffco family portal website.)
*Back to School Open House: Aug 12, 2019, 4:30pm-6:00pm, meet the teacher, see the classroom
*First day of school for students: Aug 14, 2019 8:25am (Back to School kick off on playground blacktop)
Aug 14, 2019 8:25am-3:00pm (1st – 5th grade students)
Aug 14 and 15, 2019 8:25am-11:10am (Kindergarten)
Aug 16, 2019 8:25am-3:00pm (first full day for Kindergarten)