Excel Academy Eagle Update
May 17, 2024
UPDATES FROM THE EXCEL BOARD OF DIRECTORS
UPDATES FROM THE SCHOOL
Last Week of School Events!
- Kindergarten - 5th Grade Student-Led Conferences/Celebrations of Learning - as scheduled 5/20 - 5/23
- Field Day - 5/22
- Kdg - 2nd Grade 8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
- 6th Grade 10:40 - 11:30 a.m.
- 7th & 8th Grade 11:15 a.m. - 12:10 p.m.
- 3rd - 5th Grade 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
- 8th Grade Picnic - 5/23 during scheduled lunch time
- 8th Grade Continuation - 5/23, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. (NOTE: This is also the last day of school for 8th graders)
- Kindergarten Promotion - 5/24, 8:45 - 9:30 a.m.
- 6th & 7th Grade Awards - 5/24, 9:45 - 10:15 a.m.
- 5th Grade Awards - 5/24, 10:45 - 11: 15 a.m.
- 1st - 4th Grade Awards - distributed during classroom culmination activities on5/24 (students only)
- 11:30 A.M. EARLY DISMISSAL ON THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, FRIDAY, MAY 24TH
4th & 5th Grade: R.O.C.K. the Middle School
Students had an amazing experience with an introduction to middle school on Monday morning.
Our fourth and fifth graders are curious about middle school. To help our students R.O.C.K. the Middle School (Ready, Optimistic, Connected, and Knowledgeable), we wanted to give them a glimpse of what's to come. Students spent the morning learning about and experiencing electives such as Robotics, Yoga, Life Skills, Astronomy, Painting, Concert Band, Net/Leisure Games, and Journalism.
Our 7th grade members of National Junior Honor Society demonstrated how lockers work, what to keep in them and answered questions about them. Students also witnessed a middle school passing period and transitioned between rooms.
We then gathered everyone together in the gym so that our middle school students (and a couple of teachers) could discuss a "Day in a Life" and share information about middle school events, sports, and more! Students were able to ask questions and connect with our middle school students. Excel is excited to offer this opportunity to help students make the middle school transition feeling prepared, confident, and ready to R.O.C.K. their middle school experience!
Excel Summer Playdates
Join us at Michael Northey Park next to the school to meet up with your schoolmates and have some summer fun! June 13th , 4-6 PM and July 27th, 10-12 PM
Destination Imagination (DI)
Destination Imagination (DI) 2024-2025 Season
We are hoping to bring Destination Imagination back to Excel for all grades. This would be a parent run after school club. You would have Mrs. Haberman as support.
Excel Academy Team Managers Needed To express interest, email: heather.haberman@jeffco.k12.co.us
Click on the QR code or visit dicolorado.com to learn more about Destination Imagination.
Order: EduKit School Supply Kits
Excel Academy is partnering with EduKit to offer an optional, yet convenient, way for our families to order school supplies for next school year. EduKits are custom made for our school and contain only teacher-requested, school-approved items! Go to www.edukitinc.com by June 17, 2024 to order.
Your order will be delivered to your home before school begins.
OR
Click HERE for the 24-25 school supply lists and shop the BARGAINS!
Field Day Schedule
Join Us for Field Day
Wednesday, May 22nd
Kinder, 1st, & 2nd: 8:30-10:00
6th Grade: 10:40-11:30
7th & 8th Grade: 11:15-12:10
3rd, 4th, & 5th Grade: 1:30-3:00
All visitors will need to sign in with the front office and get a badge. Be sure to bring your drivers license.
Pre-Badge Sign In for Field Day
If you are coming to Field Day on May 22nd, please fill out this FORM to have a security badge ready for you at the door. ALL volunteers and spectators MUST have a current badge to participate. We will also be making Badges at the door, be sure to bring your Drivers License to sign-in.
Looking for Volunteers!
Help us CELEBRATE our 8th Graders and Kindergartners! Join the Continuation decorating team! We need a few helpers to assist with the decorations set up in the gym and cafeteria at 2:30pm on Thursday 05/23 for about 1.5 hours. Let's show these families some Excel Community Love! All community members are welcome including all K/8 families. Please sign up on Track it Forward! https://www.trackitforward.com/site/822652/event/936054
YMCA Before & After School Care: 24-25 School Year
YMCA welcomes kids ages 5–12 at Excel Academy. Services includes before- and after-school care throughout the school year, as well as full day out care on school holidays and teacher-in-service days.
Registration for the 2024 - 2025 school year is Open Now! Click HERE to register.
Family Fundraiser at McDonalds
"Please join us on Wednesday, May 22nd from 4 - 6 pm at the McDonald's at 80th and Wadsworth for McTeacher's Night. When families place their orders online through the app, the school will receive 20% of the sales. Colorado Rockies mascot, Dinger, will be there to meet the kids. Make plans to join us and order dinner for the family that night.
How it works, scan the QR code in the FLYER and order through the app, you can pick the food up and eat in the restaurant."
SOAR Winners
Congratulations to this week's SOAR drawing winners!
Self-Discipline
Outstanding Effort
Acceptance of Others
Resilience
K-J.Gillan, 1st-I.Barry, 2nd-MC Maye-Dunn, 3rd-L.Rowe, 4th-E.Kublitskiy, 5th-A.Cheong, 6th-S.Fitzgerald, 7th-S.Meick, 8th-E.Malone
Class: Mrs. Zerr's Kindergarten Class for Outstanding Effort
UPDATES FROM THE CLINIC
Top Five Summer Safety Risks
Ah, summer. It’s a time of outdoor fun. It’s also is a time of vastly increased emergency department visits. Around our emergency department, we call summer “trauma season.” Outdoor fun comes with risks.
Knowing the risks is the key to prevention. Here are the top five major trouble spots for traumatic injuries and how to steer clear of them. Click here for more information about how to reduce risk of these risks as recommended by The Children's Hospital of Colorado.
1. DROWNING
A visit to the pool or the lake is one of the best things about summer. But open water is also dangerous in a potentially deadly way people tend to underestimate, and during the summer, the incidence of children drowning goes up dramatically. When it happens, it’s not like in the movies. There’s no shouting or splashing or struggle. Because the victim is under water and can’t breathe, there’s almost never any sound at all. It’s a silent killer, and it happens in a matter of seconds.
Prevention: Nearly nine out of 10 drowning incidents occur during a brief lapse in supervision. “A designated adult should be watching kids in the water at all times. Avoid reading, texting or resting while you're on watch,” says Britney Lombard, Injury Prevention Manager at The Children's Hospital Colorado, who suggests assigning one adult to be a “water watcher” in 15-minute shifts. Making the shifts short avoids distraction and fatigue.
It’s also a great idea to get kids in swim lessons. Most kids will need several cycles of lessons before they become proficient swimmers, however. And if a child goes missing anywhere near a pool, immediately check the deep end first.
What you should know about "dry drowning"
Drowning is a process of breathing impairment that occurs after being submerged in water. Drowning deaths result from decreased oxygen to the brain, which leads to the heart stopping (regardless of whether there is water in the lungs). The term "dry drowning" highlights the fact that, very rarely, children may develop drowning symptoms shortly after a drowning episode in which they are under water for a prolonged time or get a significant amount of water in their lungs by breathing it in.
Most delayed drowning symptoms are obvious within a few hours of the suspected drowning event and will be present within the first 24 to 48 hours. These symptoms may include: a persistent cough (not just one or two times), breathing faster or working hard to breathe, extreme fatigue or persistent vomiting. Don't forget, however, that most kids will be a little tired after swimming and it's often common to throw up one or two times from swallowing water. Seek medical care if your child is having any of these symptoms.
2. BIKE AND WHEELED SPORT INJURIES
“We love seeing kids enjoying the outdoors on their bikes,” says Lombard. “It's important to make sure they are riding responsibly.” But we’re not born knowing how to ride a bike any more than we’re born knowing how to walk. And just as it takes babies a while to get their walk down, it takes kids a while for kids to develop the coordination and balance skills necessary to ride a bike competently. In fact, bikes are associated with more childhood injuries than any other consumer product except cars.
Prevention: The most important thing by far is a properly fitted helmet to protect your child against a head injury. “Make sure kids have a helmet that fits their current head size,” says Lombard, “not one he or she will grow into.” Also, teach your kids the rules of the road — walk on the left, ride on the right — and how to anticipate where traffic might come from.
3. FALLS
“During the school year, kids have 15 minutes of supervised, structured time on a playground,” says Lombard. “During the summer, kids are spending more time outdoors and on playground equipment.” Just the increased time is bound to lead to increased injuries. At the same time, windows are open to the breeze and people are spending more time on decks and balconies — all things toddlers tend to fall from.
Prevention: As any parent knows, if there’s equipment to be used, kids will figure out a way to misuse it. Kids use the monkey bars like a ladder and walk across the top, climb equipment not intended for climbing. “Make sure your children are using the playground equipment as intended,” says Lombard. Take kids to playgrounds with cushioned surfacing like pea gravel or rubber mats (Colorado regulations require safe surfacing at public playgrounds) and keep an eye on them to make sure they’re using the equipment right. Inside, install gating on open windows a toddler could access, and keep doors shut and locked to balconies and decks.
4. MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES
“Many are surprised to learn that a school bus is one of the safest vehicles to travel in,” says Lombard. “It’s a large, heavy and brightly colored vehicle that utilizes compartmentalization to keep kids safe. Children traveling in passenger vehicles need better restraint systems.”
Especially on vacation, people tend to let their guard down and be more lax about safety. It’s a hassle to lug a car seat through an airport, so it’s common in rental cars for kids not to have the appropriate restraint. In the meantime, tired, distracted parents are driving an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar place.
Prevention: The biggest thing is to stay vigilant and buckle up. Make sure kids are properly restrained. “Passenger safety is important on every ride,” says Lombard. “If you're traveling, you need to know and follow the laws of the state you are in, but best practice is to go above and beyond the requirements of the law. A certified Child Passenger Safety Technician can help you determine the best way to restrain your children.”
5. PEDESTRIAN INJURIES
Developmentally, kids under about age 10 can’t accurately assess speed and distance. So while they may see the car coming down the street, they are cognitively unable to judge how quickly it will reach them and how long it will take to cross the street. “Children should have adult guidance when crossing the street,” says Lombard. “They likely haven't learned the rules of the road and may not be able to process a safe decision quickly.”
Prevention: Drivers typically aren’t looking for pedestrians — they’re looking for other cars — and kids are smaller than adults. Teach kids to make themselves visible to drivers: raise and wave their hand, stand on the curb and make eye contact with the driver of a vehicle to make sure they see you. Kids should cross the street only at designated crosswalks, and, because of their cognitive limitations, “We don’t recommend kids under age 10 cross the street alone,” says Lombard.
UPDATES FROM THE PTO
PTO Upcoming Events and Information
Join Us for Summer Hangouts!
Join Us for our BooHoo event!
Click HERE for PTO information.
Excel PTO Dates for the 24/25 School Year.
PTO Links
Track it Forward Volunteer Opportunities & Hours Tracking Site
RaiseRight online gift card fundraising site
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Fun Summer Reading Opportunities
Jeffco Public Library and Westminster Library both have amazing opportunities to read over the summer and to earn some free stuff. Check out the attached flyers below and visit their websites for more information.
Summer Camps & Programs for Children
Sensory and Disability Friendly Summer Activities
Arvada West Summer Track Programs for Ages 5-16
Arvada West Summer Wrestling Programs for Ages 4-14
Colorado Academy Summer Camps & Programs
Keystone Science School Summer Adventure Camps
Stanford Mentors Summer Scholars Program for Grades 6-12
The Arvada Center for Arts & Humanities Summer Camps & Programs
Helpful Links & Resources
Order Breakfast or Lunch: (due a week before the week of meals)
Excel Academy Standards-Based Grading Scale
Infinite Campus Parent Portal (Check grades, missing assignments, attendance, pay fees)Infinite Campus Parent Directions
Log Volunteer Hours and sign-up for volunteer opportunities
2023-24 Excel Academy School Year Calendar
2024-25 Excel Academy School Year Calendar
Ideas for thanking a staff member: Treats and Deets
Excel Academy K-8 Charter School
Email: Julie.Smith@jeffco.k12.co.us
Website: https://excel-academy.jeffcopublicschools.org/
Location: 11500 West 84th Avenue, Arvada, CO, USA
Phone: 303-467-2295
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExcelAcademyK8