Dear Families,

It used to be said, “that the best teachers are lifelong learners themselves.” As the landscape of education is undergoing such rapid change, this has now become essential. ECDS is fortunate to have a faculty that, no matter their level of experience, is committed to their own continued growth. Several times a year, as we did this Wednesday, we gather together for professional development. On Wednesday, the entire faculty was fortunate enough to have a presentation from Dr. George Betts, Director of the Gifted and Talented Program at University of Northern Colorado’s Department of Education. He is a great speaker, and his talk entitled Curriculum Differentiation for 21^st Century Autonomous Learners generated some great discussion and ideas for the entire faculty.  Dr. Betts is also involved with UNC’s Summer Enrichment Program for which our students are eligible. There is information at the front desk.

The Colorado Council International Reading Association is hosting its 2012 Conference on Literacy this week. This conference attracts world renowned authors and educators each year and several faculty members will be attending the conference on Friday and Saturday. We are proud that ECDS’s own Ms. Hiner and Mrs. Randa will be presenting a workshop entitled Join the Journey: 21^st Century Skills and Global Education. Along with teachers from two other schools, they will share strategies on how to connect students to classrooms and teachers around the world.

Pre-K kicked off a wild Town Meeting on Wednesday with an outstanding musical performance. Among other things we also had a demonstration from the middle school fencing students-part of the middle school elective program. The ECDS Middle Schoolers are taught by Wojtek Radz, founder of Hussar Fencing Club. While the elective class is open only to middle school students, Wojtek teaches students as young as 7 years old at his club, which holds classes at ECDS. For more information, you may go to his website www.hussarfc.com.

Middle School Science Fair awards were also presented at Town Meeting. Congratulations to our first prize winners, Sixth graders Lydia Osberg and Nigel Jessiman, and eighth grader Isaac Arnold. A special congratulations to middle school grand prize winner Danyelle Fritsche for her project entitled Brighter than the Sun.

Please join us Thursday, February 9 to view the Elementary Science Fair projects that are on display upstairs.  We ask that you please come between 5-6pm, and not before, during or after school.  Awards will be presented at 6pm and should last about 20 minutes.  Kindergarten – 5^th worked very hard this year, so please come and show your support. 

Due to the Mountain Area Science Fair being held at ECDS, Parents Night Out for February 10^th has been cancelled.

Save the Date:  Be sure to save the date for Wish Upon a Star on Friday, March 9^th. PTO, led by Colleen Woodall, has been doing an exceptional job preparing for this important and fun event for ECDS. More information will follow in the coming weeks. I hope to see you all there.

From Summer Camp Director, Din Golden-Planning for summer camp is already well under way. We are happy to announce some exciting new programs for our summer camp this year.  We will be introducing some of these teachers and their programs during our future town meetings on Wednesday mornings.  Our first presentation will be on March 7th.  Challenger Sports, a British Soccer organization will be doing 2 weeks of camp this summer, June 25th and August 6th.  Grant Hall will be at our town meeting on March 7th to show the students some of the skills they will learn at soccer camp.  Watch for future camp presentations this spring.  We are offering Theatre, Rock and Roll, Rocketry/Robotics, Rock Climbing, Swimming, Sports and Fencing, Photography and several other camps this summer. A complete brochure will be available in advance of Spring Break.
 

I am sure that many of the students were thrilled with the first snow day of the year. As a reminder, we announce snow days both on the websites and on-air for Channel’s 9, 7, and 4. We also post on the school’s website under the School News tab. The school’s phone message is also changed to indicate the closure. The power outage temporarily disabled the phone answering system this morning and that notification tool was not available. We will look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,  

Ben Jackson
Head of School