BIRCH Friday News!

August 9th

Welcome Back (or welcome to) Birch!

We are thrilled to be kicking off the 2024-25 school year at Birch Elementary School with you!

PLEASE PAY FEES FOR THE YEAR

In lieu of asking students and their families to buy and bring in school supplies, we ask for a $50/student donation. This money goes directly to classroom teachers and the teachers use the funds to buy all students their supplies. Most families find this to be a cost savings compared to buying a long list of supplies on their own. Please pay ASAP!

BIRCH SCHOOL SUPPLIES

YEARBOOK (Optional)

DROP OFF AND PICK LOCATIONS FOR EACH GRADE

The only grade who should be coming through the front door should be 3rd!😊

Recess Updates:

We are thrilled to have sent our awesome recess paras to a Play-works training over the summer, and are excited to roll out some new ideas to help recess be a fun and inclusive space for all students. We also used grant money to purchase a new set of balls and supplies for each grade level. Please help remind your student to keep personal sport equipment and toys at home. Students will learn about updated recess expectations and procedures on the first day of school with their teacher and their recess paraprofessional.

FROM THE HEALTH ROOM

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic summer! I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing everyone in just a week. Here are a few quick reminders:

If your child needs medication at school, it must be kept in the health room, not in their backpack. This includes all types of medication—prescription, over-the-counter, ointments, and drops. Please ensure you fill out the necessary form, which you can find here………..
Allergy and asthma medications also require specific forms from your doctor.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at carol.tekrony@bvsd.org. I can’t wait to see you all soon!

💙 Introducing New Birch Staff

Hi! I’m Genny Brown, you might already know me as a 4th grade teacher here at Birch but I’m delighted to be the math interventionist this year! I am absolutely passionate about math intervention and am thrilled to take on this role.

In preparation for this position, I earned my Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction in Math from CU Boulder. I’ve also completed BVSD’s Mathematical Practice Standards course and Marilyn Zecher’s Multisensory Orton Gillingham Approach to Mathematics. I’m eager to bring all I have learned to support our Bulldog community!

Outside of school, I love exploring the mountains with my family. We enjoy mountain biking, hiking, and skiing together—my husband Tyler, our kids Cora (7) and Danny (4), and our dog Pearl. You should see Pearl on skis, lol.

Hey everybody, it's Dee Lowrance. I'm back for my 13th year at Birch working as the NEW kitchen lead. I'm looking forward to serving all our kiddos and having a great school year!

Hello everyone. I am Kerry Seesdorf. I have been a PreK Para in BVSD for 6 years. I love working with the littles! I am married with 3 kids, Maddie 22, Luke 18 and Ava 17. In my spare time I enjoy reading, walking my 2 dogs, traveling and spending time with my family. I am so happy to be back at Birch!

Hello, I am Terese Burns. I'm a recently retired teacher looking forward to being with first graders at Birch. I have two grown children and a 2 year old grandbaby who I absolutely adore. I live in Arvada with my darling husband and our dog.

Hello! I am Amy Self. I am the new Music Teacher. I am originally from San Antonio, TX, and after college, I came to Colorado for a visit and fell in love with the weather, mountains, and friendly people. I am married and have 1 son, Elias, who is going off to Ft. Lewis College this fall. In my spare time, I enjoy gardening, dancing, hiking, cooking, travelling, playing music, and reading. I can't wait to connect with you!

Hello, my name is Ms Billie and I am the new Preschool Enrichment Supervisor at Birch. I come from the neighboring school, Kohl and have 30 years experience working & having fun with preschoolers and their families. Every year the children amaze me with their creativity, understanding of the world and just the love they give. I am excited to be a part of the Birch community! When I am not in the classroom you can find me traveling, doing cardio kickboxing or hanging out with friends. My 12 year old daughter and I love to pretend we're Lorelai and Rory Gilmore . We have a 6 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that gives us a lot of love. Originally from Maine, we visit once a year and get our lobster fix. I hope to see you around Birch and cheers to a great school year!

Hello, I am Dawn Kollmorgen.

I am entering my 5th year of school nursing this year, and I am very excited to work with and support all of you at Birch Elementary. My background includes working in corporate finance for 7 plus years and then deciding to change paths and get my BSN after I lost my mother to cancer in 2011. My experience includes working in women's health, pediatrics, the NICU, pediatric home health care, and since 2020 school nursing. I am originally from Connecticut, lived in Chicago from 2011-2016 with my husband, and completed my Nursing degree while living in Illinois. My husband and I are very active people, and we kept visiting Colorado to enjoy winter and summer sports, so when we decided to start a family in 2016, Colorado was our obvious choice. We have 2 wonderful boys Leo 7 and Jake 6, and we live in Westminster. Outside of School Nursing, I have been coaching/teaching group fitness for over 18 years, and I currently coach 4 classes a week (before work, after work, and on the weekend). My family and I enjoy long bike rides, hiking, baking from scratch, reading, playing sports in our backyard, and going on adventures. Please feel free to reach out to me with any health concerns or if you simply have questions. I am here for you all!

My name is Cari Albarelli. I am so excited to joing the Birch family as the Teacher Librarian! I worked as a Youth Services Librarian in the public library world prior to having my two daughters. I planned to work in a school library when they were older, so I worked to add a teaching degree and Education Specialist in Librarianship (CMSU) to my Masters in Library and Information Science (MU) while they were young. Between teaching and parenting, I like to run, cross-stitch, and am always on the lookout for the next book I am going to read or recommend. See you in the Library!!

Hello Bulldogs! My name is Misty Fleming and I am a 4th grade teacher here at Birch. This is my fourth year at Birch where I started in Kindergarten, but have been teaching for over 13 years. I have my undergraduate degree in Elementary Education and my Masters degree in English Language Learning. I haven’t always lived in Colorado. I grew up on a dairy farm in Kansas where we stayed out until the porch light came on and ate food right out of the garden, dirt and all. Yes, I woke up each morning to milk cows before I went to school. Being from Kansas I am a Jayhawk, Royals, and Chiefs fan through and through. My love for them is only out-measured by my love of barbeque.

I am married and have a son who is going into 2nd grade here at Birch. When I am not at school you will find me at basketball, lacrosse, football, baseball, jiu jitsu or whatever sports practice/game my son has that day. We also enjoy spending time in the mountains or hanging out with friends. I absolutely love being a part of the Birch community and the feel of home it gives. I know how lucky I am to be entrusted with helping nurture and teach young minds in this community and do not take that for granted. Thank you all for being so wonderful!

Joey Herrera -ICAN Para

Elizabeth Begay-Food Services Assistant

Courtney Perito-Early Childhood Enrichment Program

Birch's School Accountability Committee Missing Your Voice??

Hello parents and caretakers of Birch students! I'm Emily Wengrovius, the parent chair of Birch's School Accountability Committee (the other SAC). I'd like to ask you to consider joining me, other parents, and Ms. Santee as a member of SAC. I think this opportunity to get involved is a way to get to know other parents/caregivers and influence the priorities of how funding is spent not only at Birch, but at the school district level. The best part is it's fairly straightforward in how much time it takes to participate - it's 6 meetings a year. We even have the dates and the time is 5PM-6PM:

September 16
October 21
December 2
January 13, 2025
February 24,
April 28

We are exploring the possibility of a couple of the meetings being in person and the rest virtually. If you are interested in learning more or you're ready to commit, please do not hesitate to connect with me: norwood20845@gmail.com or 202.390.6433 or Ms. Santee at tanya.santee@bvsd.org

BVSD Help Center opens August 8

BVSD is offering a special help center for parents who need assistance with enrollment, open enrollment applications, setting-up their parent portal accounts in Infinite Campus, and filling out free and reduced-price lunch applications.

bvsd.org