News from Sheridan
School District No. 2
Contact: Mark Stevens
[email protected]
303-495-8699 (mobile) • 720-328-5488 (office)
News Release
April 10, 2019
Early Childhood
Center Highlights Students and Staff; Renewed Focus on Developing “Independent
Learners”
Early Childhood Center (ECC) director Aimee Chapman and
educational coordinator Jennifer
Horn lauded the care and compassion of three staff members
during the Sheridan Board of
Education meeting this week (Tuesday, April 9).
Chapman and Horn also reviewed the ECC’s effort to develop
their three- and four-year-old
students as independent learners.
Teachers Kayla Price and Michala Saenz were praised for
being risk-takers and for their
excitement about watching children grow, said Chapman. Price
was a teaching assistant for two
years before interviewing for a teacher position. Saenz is
in her first year of teaching. She also
started as a teaching assistant and did her student teaching
at ECC.
“They embed themselves in the classroom and both have strong
family involvement,” said
Chapman, “and you can’t get that without a welcoming
environment.”
Speech-language pathologist Lyndsie Lee Null was praised for
providing useful strategies for
teachers and for helping around the school whenever needed.
“She finds learning opportunities
in every moment of the day,” said Horn. “There is no wasted
time when Miss Lyndsie is
around.”
Chapman and Horn reviewed the current “project approach” to
classroom learning. Culturally
relevant projects, she said, develop a positive outlook
about learning, build mind and brain
capacity, require students to take initiative, and teach
students how to persist and ask
questions. Recently, she said, one class project explored
what happens to fish when their water
becomes filled with trash.
“We are really putting our focus back into that
child-initiated time,” said Chapman.
Chapman and Horn also reviewed the data regarding progress
in language, social-emotional
skills, cognition, physical skills, identifying letters,
noticing and discriminating rhyme, and lettersound knowledge. They also
reviewed the Self-Assessment Action Plan for the Head Start
program, which is a component of the entire ECC.
Superintendent Pat Sandos said he appreciates the
“compassion and caring” at the ECC. “You
are unbelievable,” he said. “You can’t run twenty feet in
your school without running into
another adult who is smiling. You know every student in the
school by name and you have
created a trusting and caring atmosphere. I am so
appreciative.”
Unified Improvement
Plan
Maegan Daigler, Director of Assessment, Testing and Homeless
Education, reviewed the Unified
Improvement Plan and the ongoing districtwide
strategies—implementing a guaranteed and
viable curriculum; providing district-wide, ongoing
professional development on planning,
instruction, and formative assessment; increasing cultural
competency for students and staff;
and increased post-secondary opportunities.
Testing and Graduation
Dates
Superintendent Sandos noted that schools are currently
administering achievement tests. He
also provided the board with a list of key spring events
including graduation dates for Sheridan
High School (Friday, May 17 at 4 p.m., West Bowles Community
Church) and for SOAR Academy
(Wednesday, May 22 at 11 a.m., West Bowles Community
Church).
Consent Agenda
All consent agenda items were approved.
About Sheridan School
District 2
Located southwest of Denver, Sheridan School District 2
seeks high-level post-secondary
options for all students through continuous improvement of
quality instruction. More:
www.ssd2.org