Spark Online Academy

Greetings, Spark Online Community,

May is here, and with it are tons of things happening at Spark! Our Art and Music Show on May 4 was a huge success. Please join me in thanking our fabulous Essentials team for all the hard work put into this beautiful event. Ms. Schlarbaum and Ms. Stenholm ensured that art pieces were represented by all students. Ms. Brochey and Mr. Clarke provided live music to the delight of everyone in attendance, and many other staff ensured both virtual and in-person guests had a great time viewing the art of our Spark students. You'll find a link in this newsletter to our "Flip" of student art narrated by each artist.

Here is an overview of upcoming events. Details for each can be found in the newsletter below.

• Teacher Appreciation Week May 8-12
• K-8 Spring Showcase of Learning May 9, 10, 11
• K-8 Field Day - May 12
• High School One Act Plays May 17
• K-5th-grade last day of school - May 23
• K-5th-grade Device and Supply return - May 24
• Kindergarten and 5th-grade Continuation Ceremonies - May 24
• High School Portfolio Defense Presentations - May 23
• 6th - 10th-grade last day of school - May 26
• 6th - 10th-grade Device and Supply Return - May 26
• 8th-grade Continuation Ceremony - May 26
• Summer Bridge - June 5 - 30

Lastly, and certainly not least, Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms and those stepping in as a mom for our children. It is an exhausting and sometimes thankless job, but you truly keep the world going with the patience, wisdom, love, and encouragement you give each day.

As always, we are proud to partner with you in bringing connected and relevant learning to our students.

Empowering learners every day,

Julie Johnson

Principal

719-328-4302 office

719-322-6270 cell

julie.johnson@d11.org

Spark High School is an Innovation School in District 11. Some of the ways we differ from our traditional and alternative high school campuses are our standards/competency grading and reporting and our performance-based portfolio defense learning model. This means our student's learning is evaluated through demonstrations of proficiency on identified academic standards from the Colorado Department of Education and our D11 Graduate Profile skills through curated artifacts, completion of a comprehensive performance task, and a portfolio defense presentation.

This rigorous and authentic way of learning allows our students to not only build a strong academic foundation but also the durable skills colleges and employers are seeking. Our high school students are learning how to manage a project, work productively on a team, communicate effectively, and curate their artifacts of skill mastery on a website they each have built.

Each quarter this year, our high school students have attended their core and Essentials classes and applied their core learning in an overarching performance task they present to a portfolio scoring committee. This quarter, students wrote and are performing a one-act play inspired by the novel, "Noughts and Crosses," a modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet.

We could not be more proud of these students who have really stepped up to this challenge and will have a unique advantage for their post-K-12 college and career plans by developing these skills now under the direction and guidance of our skilled teachers.

Examples and further information can be found in the Spark High School information session recording in this newsletter.

Spark is pleased to celebrate our Kindergarten, 5th, and 8th-grade students successfully completing their key transition into the next school level. We will honor these students with a ceremony and celebration at Spark@Trailblazer, 2015 Wickes Road, Colorado Springs, CO.

• Kindergarten - May 24 - 8:00
• 5th-grade - May 24 - 8:45
• 8th-grade - May 26 - 9:00

Invitations and RSVP coming soon!

Our student device and supply return schedule is as follows:

• Kindergarten - 5th-grade - Wednesday, May 24 - 9:00-3:00
• 6th-grade - 10th-grade - Friday, May 26 - 10:00-2:00

To save time and increase our efficiency in checking everything back in:

• Make sure the device is charged so we can do an operational check
• All supplies, devices, and storage bins are clean and organized as close as possible to how you received them
• Remove all non-Spark items from the supply totes
• Be prepared to pay for any lost or damaged technology or materials that are to be returned.

Here are the supply bin contents lists by grade level that you received at orientation. Items listed in bold print are to be returned. * Make sure you scroll to your child's grade level list for an accurate list of supplies.

LINK TO SUPPLY BIN CONTENT LIST

The Trailblazer food pantry will be open Friday afternoons from 2:45-3:15 PM in the school's front hallway. The parking lot food pantry happens on Saturdays from 1:30-3 PM. These food pantries are free resources to our community, and there will be perishable and non-perishable items as families need. No sign-up is necessary.

Spark Online Academy empowers learners through connected, rigorous, and relevant learning experiences that combine caring, skilled educators with the power of technology to connect with the local and global community.

Website: www.D11.org/SPARK
Location: 2015 Wickes Road, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Phone: 719-328-4300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SparkOnlineAcademy
Twitter: @D11SparkOnline