Wilmot Weekly

September 17th, 2023

NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Mrs. Fritz's message

Dear Wonderful Wilmot Parents,

I hope you all enjoyed Bandana Day as much as I did! The hybrid indoor-outdoor model for activities was great and allowed everyone to have fun in spite of the wet start to the day. Thank you to PTA and to all of the volunteers who made this great community event possible! As usual we had a great turn out of Wilmot alum both to volunteer and to just enjoy the fun. I also want to say a big thank you for your support of the book fair - both as volunteers and for your purchase of books! We raised quite a bit of money that will go directly towards new library books and classroom materials.

Unfortunately, the rain interfered with our Wilmot Warblers being able to sing the national anthem at the Rockies game on Thursday evening. I’m sorry that some families were already down the hill by the time they received the message. We communicated as soon as we received word from the Rockies’ organization. We were able to pull together a last minute performance during Bandana Day and we are looking for more opportunities for our Warblers to perform for the whole school in the near future.

Believe it or not, this upcoming week is a little calmer than any we’ve had thus far! On Thursday, we have a lockdown drill with support from Jeffco’s Department of Safety and Security. Teachers will show the lockdown video at some point during the day prior to 12:30. This video features police officers and kids explaining, “A lockdown is when there is a stranger danger inside your school” and what kids can do to stay safe. The goal is to provide information in an age appropriate, non-scary manner. At about 12:30, an announcement will be made over the speakers that it is time to practice a lockdown - locks, lights, out of sight. This wording is part of the Standard Response Protocol that Jeffco and many other organizations use to respond to emergency situations. If your child experiences anxiety or you think they may feel worried about this drill, they can always talk with their classroom teacher, me, or another trusted adult at school and ask questions. If you want to view the video ahead of time, you are welcome to come into the building to see it. The Department of Safety and Security has asked us to refrain from sharing a link.

On Friday, September 22nd there is no school for students so teachers across the district can engage in professional learning. Some of this learning will involve use of online learning platforms that students can access at school and/or at home to enhance and extend their learning. We’ll share more information about these resources in the coming weeks.

I’m looking forward to seeing you at school!

Stephany Fritz

(she, her)

Principal, Wilmot Elementary

CATS

The Wilmot Community Action Team, known as the CATs, kicked off its third year with 29 members!

Over the month of September, the Wilmot Community Action Team is having a shoe drive for Soles4Souls! This amazing organization changes lives in our country and around the world by providing new and used shoes to people in need. Please donate shoes of any kind by placing them in the bins in the front hall by September 29. If you could tie the laces together or put a rubber band around them, it would be very helpful.

Thank you again for your generosity and support!

Health & safety day

The Evergreen Fire and Rescue 2023 Health & Safety Day is less than one month away! This fun, educational event is October 7, 2023, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at our Bergen Park campus (1802 Bergen Parkway).

Here's a rough schedule of events:

8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Pancake Breakfast inside Apparatus Bays

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Educational Booths Open

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Emergency Vehicle Showcase Open

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Child Car Seat Safety Inspections

9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bicycle Skills Rodeo east of Admin Bldg

We'll also have firefighter skill demonstrations, chainsaw safety tips, hands-only CPR, a kids firefighter challenge, and Slife's Devil Dogs food truck. Families who participate in and complete the Safety Passport Challenge will be eligible for a drawing for prizes from Eudaimonia, Echo Mountain, EPRD, Mighty Argo, and EFR.

Jeffco DISTRICT NEWS

Attendance Awareness month

September is Attendance Awareness Month. This year, Jeffco is dedicated to providing extraordinary student experiences by making student attendance a priority. Across Colorado and the country, student chronic absenteeism is on the rise.

Chronic absence is defined as missing 10 percent or greater of the total number of days enrolled during the school year for any reason. This means a student missing about 18 days during a school year. It includes both excused, unexcused, out-of-school suspensions, and in-school suspensions that last more than one-half of the school day.

In the 2020-21 school year, at least 10.1 million students nationwide were chronically absent. We estimate chronic absence has more than doubled from the more than 8 million students, pre-Covid-19, who were missing so many days of school that they were academically at risk.
Chronic absence — missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason—excused, unexcused absences and suspensions—can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third-grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school. Read this research summary for more details.
Colorado has the sixth highest absenteeism rate, tied with Nevada at 36%, up from 23% pre-pandemic.
Jeffco’s 2022-23 chronic absenteeism rate was 26%.

save the date!

SSIS

The Wilmot community works together to ensure high levels of learning for all. This includes not only being attentive to academic growth, but also recognizing that the social and emotional growth of students is critically important. We now have the opportunity to systematically screen the social and emotional skills of all our students. We will be using the Social Skills Improvement System™ Social-Emotional Learning Edition Screening/Progress Monitoring Scales (SSIS SEL) to screen students' social-emotional competencies. This will occur 3 times throughout the school year. Teachers will be asked to score each student in their class in six areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision making and motivation to learn. If you have any questions please contact Liz Wehr at elizabeth.wehr@jeffco.k12.co.us or call 303-982-5370

PTA information

craft fair

PTA is excited for their annual Craft Market and they are looking for vendors. Please see the attached flyer for more details and to secure a spot!

PTA is doing a Rapids fundraiser for their game on Saturday October 21st at 7 pm against Real Salt Lake. Tickets can be bought HERE!

After School Care

Wilmot is going to partner with two organizations to provide care and activity based enrichment for our preschool through 5th grade students this school year. Rocky Mountain Kids and EPRD have flyers linked below with details to review.
Rocky Mountain Kids is going to provide aftercare for our preschool through 5th grade students at Wilmot each day and during school breaks. Please see the linked flyers below with details and pricing.

School Age Flyer

Preschool/Kinder Flyer

Parent Care Survey

EPRD is looking forward to our continued partnership with them this Fall. Please see the attached flyer with all of the enrichments they will be offering to our community.

EPRD Flyer