Families and Community,

As I reflect on this week, I feel so incredibly grateful to live and work in this supportive community! Our Dia de los Muertos celebration in Green Mountain Falls was an incredible success on Sunday! We saw so many creative costumes, listened to an amazing performance from both Nube Nueve (Mr. Ferguson's Latin band) and our UPES Honor Choir, created masterpieces at the craft table with Mr. Batson, enjoyed some salsa dance lessons, and tried out tasty treats at the Trunk or Treat tables! Thank you for taking the time to attend this community event. It was great to see so many of you, and also great to see so many people I didn't know!

We also had a wonderful Costume Parade on Monday! Pre-K led the way and we stretched all the way back to 6th grade as students were able to parade around the playground and enjoy the gorgeous weather we had! If you missed that video, it's up on our Facebook page.

The weather sure took us for a ride this week from Monday's sunshine to Friday's opportunity to test out our ice skating skills! Please continue to encourage your children to bring jackets, hats, and gloves to school. We go outside as much as possible- even when it's chilly! If the windchill falls below 15 degrees, a red flag day will be called, and students will be inside for recess until it warms up.

Next week, we are getting ready to start an exciting new initiative called WIN Mountain Math. Longitudinally, District and UPES math data has been lower than state expectations. This was only exacerbated with COVID when many students experienced a learning loss to no fault of their own. Especially with math, when students miss parts of skills, they have difficulty meeting grade level expectations which build upon previous knowledge. To address this, we have carved out a 20-minute intervention/extension block for the entire school! From 12:30-12:50 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, students will attend WIN (What I Need) Mountain Math groups. These will be multi-age groups that focus on a wide range of foundational math skills. Skill groups are identified by mountain ranges rather than grades- so students might be in Mt. Harvard one rotation and Mt. Everest the next. Every 6 weeks, we will re-assess and determine movement to next skills. We are incredibly excited for the opportunities this will provide to fill skill deficits and extend higher learners into some project based learning. This is truly an all-hands on deck initiative to meet our students where they are and to help them GROW even more! If you'd like to volunteer during this time, please contact me at jpowell@mssd14.org and we can get you all set up!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend doing whatever it is that fuels your soul!

#watchusGROW

Your partner in education,

Jackie Powell, Ute Pass Principal

Our morning announcements are such a wonderful way to start the day! We have student-led announcements and singers every single day!

We want to share some of this Pony Pride from our "home" to yours! If you'd like to watch morning announcements, we are live-streaming them each day! Simply subscribe to the Ute Pass YouTube channel at this link- UPES YouTube

A healthy breakfast and lunch is a key factor in growing a healthy mind and body! Ute Pass Elementary will offer breakfast to students for $1.45 and lunch for $2.95. See below for information on accessing menus.

You can find the new free and reduced application on the district website- https://www.mssd14.org/departments/food_service.

If you don’t qualify for free and reduced price meals, please make sure that there is money in your student’s account. You can add money online at this link- https://mssd14.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=57448&pageId=13267314

Any questions or concerns, please call Paula Faucette, Director of Nutrition Services, at 719-685-2005 or email pfaucette@mssd14.org.