"No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind

Friday, December 19th
Issue: 1
In This Issue
Character and Leadership
Community Strength and
Service
Important Dates
and Deadlines
Winter Break
Dec. 22nd-Jan. 2nd
No School! Normal hours will
resume on Monday, January 5th.
Monday Morning Coffee
Connection
Monday, January 5th
8:30-9:30 am
in the Bear's Cafe
"No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action
leads to another. Good example is followed. A single
act of kindness throws out roots in all directions and
the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest
work that kindness does to others is it makes them
kind themselves."
- Amelia Earhart
Please join your Aspen
community on the first Monday of
each month from8:30-9:30 in the
Bears Cafe for some coffee and
connection. Our 8th grade
students, with PCO mentor
support, will provide the caffeine
kick and some small bites to get
our week started on the right
track. Enjoy engaging with new
and established families,
administrators, and teachers as
we celebrate the community we
created!
Character & Leadership
AMP'd
Friday, January 9th
8:30-9:00 am
Leadership Class/Concept
Skills
Worth and Potential
Student Spotlight!
Act #1/Act #2
JK/4th
Aspen students Maggie
and Kate P. were
featured on Reading
Partners' website earlier
this month! The article,
called "The Next
Generation of
Philanthropists" shares
their story of celebrating
their birthdays by giving
back instead of asking
for gifts. This year these
two were able to raise
$685 in gift cards from
Barnes and Noble and
$120 for Reading Partners' reading program!Click here to read their
incredible story.
Gavaliers
K/5th/1st/6th
Dress Down Dollar Day
Friday, January 16th
Students donate a dollar to an
organization of our Student Civic
Organization's choosing to dress
down (no uniforms) during the
school day!
End of First Semester
Friday, January 16th
PUMP'd: Family Health and
Wellness
Alumni Parent, Mark Hull's New
Book!
Aspen Alum, Ben Hull,
graduated from Aspen
Academy in 2009. He's
father, Mark Hull, has
come out with a new book,
called "Gathering
Raindrops." In this book, a
Grandmother's love letters
are discovered and lead
others down new paths of
love and life. Click here to
check it out!
Community Strength & Service
Spirit of Service Week
Friday, January 16th
8:30-9:30 am
Fe Fit is a health and fitness
company that is partnering with
Aspen Academy in 2015 to help
improve the health and fitness
culture of the school, staff, and
kids. The idea is simple, we can't
expect our kids to make health
and fitness a priority if it's not a
priority to us.
For this week's PUMP'd (Parent
University Morning Program), we
will be learning about healthy
family options, nutrition, activities
and fun to start the year off right!
Monday, January 19th
Martin Luther King Jr. Marade
8:45-2:00 pm
Participants will march together
with the greater Denver
community to support MLK's
belief that we all have the
opportunity and responsibility to
serve each other.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Annual Spirit of Service Week!
Here's a recap of all that we did!
Girls Basketball Home
Game
Thursday, January 22nd
4:00-6:00 pm
On Pajama Day, we were able to donate over 170 pajama sets to Families First.
Families First provides a place to live for children who do not have a safe home
environment.
On Sports Day, we donated over 400 new and used sports items for the Boys
and Girls Club of Denver, an organization that provides children with food and a
safe place for after school activities.
On Wacky Wednesday, we donated 544 pairs of new socks to the Sock It To 'Em
Campaign, which works to provide the homeless with warm socks for the Winter.
On Super Hero Thursday, numerous costumes were donated to the Champa
House, which provides a safe place for single moms and their children to live.
Kindergarten Carols!
Last but least, for our final day of Spirit of Service Week, Aspen families donated
money to the organization Defending the Blue Line. Defending the Blue Line
helps children of military families afford the hockey equipment they need in order
to play hockey.
Our total donations for this week were 1,501! Thank you all for a wonderful
week of spirit and service!
America's Fittest Staff Challenge
America's Fittest Staff Challenge 2015, Aspen Academy
Aspen Academy's teachers and staff have accepted the challenge to become
America's Fittest Staff and they need your help! The competition
begins January 6th. Parents are invited to participate as well! Click here for
more information and contact Aspen Parent, Melonie DeRose
at melonie@fefit.com if you'd like to participate!
Cheer on our Girls Basketball
Team as they play against North
Star Academy!
Portfolio Expo
Friday, January 23rd
9:30-11:00 am
Mandatory Parent Attendance.
Parents are invited to go to their
child's classroom and view their
portfolios and work samples from
first semester.
Report Cards Distributed
Friday, January 23rd
Semester report cards will be
emailed to families on
designated days by the lower
and upper school directors.
State of School Address
Friday, January 23rd
8:30-9:30 am
in the Auditorium
The State of the School will be
presented by Head of School
Kristina Scala, who will reflect on
our accomplishments this year,
what is coming up next, as well
as the most recent survey
results. This must-attend event
also serves as the kickoff for reenrollment for the 2014-2015
school year. Re-enrollment
runs fromJanuary 23-February
2nd. Parents, please attend.
Meet in the auditorium!
Priority Re-Enrollment &
Sibling Re-Enrollment
Jan. 23-Feb. 2nd
Health & Safety
Parent Teacher
Conferences
Wednesday, January 28th
No School
Please remember, your child cannot return to
school until they have been fever free without
medicine for 24 hours. It is very important you
follow this rule to ensure we minimize the
spread of illness in the building.
Check Out Our Latest Blog Post!
With flu season in full swing, Aspen parent, Dr. Mark R. Carney,
has written a blog post for our blog called 4 Simple Tricks to Flu
Prevention. Click here to read all about it!
Semester conferences are held
for parents and students in
grades 4th-8th to attend and
discuss progress made in the
first semester and areas to focus
on for the coming semester. A
link to schedule a conference
time will be sent to families two
weeks prior to the conference
date.
Girls Basketball Away
Game
Thursday, January 29th
4:00-6:00 pm
Cheer on our Girl's Basketball
Team at Platte River Academy!
Go Bears!
Mentor Mentee Movie Night
Geography Bee
(Grades 5-8)
Tuesday, January 30th
12:00-1:00 pm
Dear Aspen Academy Community,
We wanted to take a few minutes to congratulate our Student Civic Organization
(SCO) students, and their fearless leader Carly Partridge, on Mentor Mentee
Movie Night.
We felt privileged to witness these young leaders brainstorm, plan, problem solve
and execute a fun night for
120 plus Aspen students and adults. Their efforts in shredding carrots for "Olaf
Noses" during their recess, calling their local pizza stores for the best deal,
decorating and un-decorating their school, preparing and serving hot cocoa and
pizza, greeting and leading volunteer parents and students, and cleaning up their
school until it was perfect are to be commended.
This event would be challenging for all of us adults to complete and you did it
with teamwork, grit and a smile. As Parent Civic Organization (PCO) adults,
serving as mentors, please know that a lot was learned as we observed your
efforts. Aspen Academy truly is creating great leaders-we are proud to share
Final Rounds of the Geography
Bee are hosted during the Study
Hall/Recess Period in the
cafeteria. The competition will
include the top four students
from each grade level
competition in grades 5-8. Study
questions can be found
at: www.nationalgeographic.com
/geobee
community with you.
Kindly~
Your PCO Mentees
A Love Note From Shawna Riggio
"'Dancers in 'Leader of the Pack' and 'Land of 1000 Dances' performed brilliantly
yesterday at the winter showcase! I was SO proud of their performances and my
heart beamed with joy watching them werk!! I love each and every dancer so
much! Thank you for making my job the best in the world!"
A Special Spanish Club Breakfast
Our Spanish Club had a very
special breakfast for their last
meeting of the semester! All of
the students along with their
instructors ate at the Pancake
House to celebrate all that they
learned in Spanish Club!
Aspen Students Share Gratitude!
Thank You from the Jackson Family!
Thank you all so much for your contributions toward Alex (AJ) and
Alessa Jackson's cousin, Nathan Panzer, treatment and fundraiser.
Thanks to you and other generous people who have donated we
have reached our goal of $25,000!!! If you wish to contribute even
more or stay updated on Nathan's status please go to this site:
http://www.donationto.com/Help-Nathan-Fight-HeartCancer. Thanks again for all your help!
Aspen Academy
5859 S. University Blvd.
Greenwood Village, CO 80121
www.aspenacademy.org
blog.aspenacademy.org
303-346-3500