September 2022
Gateway Elementary
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
We come alongside students and families with relentless love in action to maximize each student’s potential to become.
~Gateway Mission Statement
Dear Gateway and ECC Families,
September is here, and we are off and running! We have had a wonderful, happy, and spirited start to our 2022-2023 school year! We are going to be focusing strongly this year on developing our 7 Habits:
Be Proactive
Begin with the End in Mind
Put First Things First
Think Win-Win
Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Synergize
Sharpen the Saw
As we focus on growing these habits, students are going to have more and more opportunities to be leaders in our school and to showcase their genius. At times, we may reach out to you to help with these leadership and genius activities. We hope that you will be excited to join us in growing the leadership potential we all have!
Our start to the school year has been busy as we learn new routines and assess students to determine beginning of the year benchmarks. Our focus this year, as it was last year, is going to be on maximizing each student’s “potential to become.” We worked last year to raise our scores and you will soon see how successful we were! Our plan is to continue this upward trend this year. Please remember that you are a critical component to maximizing your student’s success here at school. Simple things like reading to or with your child each night or playing a math game will help reinforce the skills we are teaching here at school. To help us partner more strongly together, we are hosting our first ever Parent Academy on September 8, 2022, from 5:00pm-6:30pm. This event will be for families only; however, there will be limited childcare provided on a sign up basis. Our evening will start with pizza and a Gateway Parent Group meeting to help us get to know one another as parents and grow our Parent Group. After the dinner and parent group meeting, families will rotate through several sessions designed to provide you with critical information about learning and opportunities at Gateway. Some of these sessions will be a data presentation to share Gateway’s academic progress last year, a Leader in Me workshop to give you ideas for implementing at home, a data dig session to help you navigate your own child’s test scores, a volunteer training session, and much more. We hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to learn how to best support your student and your school.
Many GREAT things happen at our school through family and community collaboration. If you would like to be involved at Gateway, please consider volunteering or attending one or more of our parent group meetings: Parent Group (1X month), School Accountability Committee and/or District Accountability Committee (1X quarter), and/or Principal Parent grade level “coffees” (2X month). Dates and times will be listed each month in our newsletter and on our website. Many individuals also volunteer to help in the classroom and in other ways here at school. I encourage you to fill out a volunteer packet during the year. These are available in our front office. Speaking of volunteering, our annual Fun’d Run is coming up on Sept. 23th and this is a fabulous opportunity for families to volunteer!
On behalf of our entire staff, I thank you for the privilege of working with your children. As always, if you ever have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Principal Ashley Lawson
GATEWAY STUDENT COUNCIL
Who: Exemplary third, fourth and fifth graders who are interested in helping Gateway Elementary School become better!
For more information, contact: Mrs. Wisniewski
TITLE/INTERVENTION SERVICES
COUNSELOR'S CORNER - A Little Bit About the Mental Health Team
We have a new member of our team!
Hi! My name is Catelin Persall. I am thrilled to join Gateway Elementary this year as one of your school counselors.
I grew up loving the sun in Houston, Texas. I have a master’s degree in Counseling and Student Development from Kansas State University.
My fiancé is an electrician in Denver. Our family consists of a son, a daughter, one dog, and one cat. We love taking walks, hiking, and enjoying all of the sights Colorado has to offer.
Our second counselor at Gateway:
Hello, my name is Debbie Bartley and this is my second year at Gateway Elementary. I am so happy to be back this year and am excited about all the possibilities that await us.
I grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, and was an elementary school teacher for 24 years. But there are two things I always dreamed of…being a counselor and living in Colorado. Dreams really can come true!
My 23 year old daughter Cassie, just moved to Colorado last month and is working as an Occupational Therapist. I have a 27 year old son, Spencer, who got married last year and lives in Texas.
I am so excited to get to know each of the students as I teach them our new Career curriculum, meet with students one on one, in small groups or during lunch bunch. I am here to support your student and your whole family if you have needs, concerns, or need referrals to meet your family's needs. We are better together, and I am here to support families and students any way I can.
I can be reached by email at dbartley@wpsd.org or by phone (719) 686-2194
The 3rd member of our team is Gateway"s Social Worker:
Hello families! My name is Tory Hartsock, and I am the social worker here at Gateway. This year will be my 3rd year here, and I have loved every minute. I graduated with a bachelors and masters of social work from The University of Oklahoma. Here at Gateway I heavily work with special education teaching social skills, coping strategies, and problem solving. I also run small groups and work one on one with students. This year I will also be offering lunch bunches at the kids request to help them develop deeper friendships. Please reach out to me if you have any concerns or questions. I am always happy to help where I can.
You can reach me by email at thartsock@wpsdk12.org or by phone at (719)686-2170.
The 4th member of our team is our Student Support paraeducator.
Hi, my name is Caylan Lawson and I am a Gateway Alumni. My family moved to Colorado right before I turned 3 and I attended Gateway, WPMS and graduated from WPHS. And yes, I am the 2nd Lawson at Gateway! I am working towards a degree in Counseling and Applied Psychological Sciences. I support students in the Focus Room by providing sensory or movement breaks, a quiet focused atmosphere for study or test-taking, and a place for them to come and process their emotions. I love my German Shepherd Teigan and enjoy all Colorado has to offer. I also work at Starbucks so say "Hi" when you drive through! If you feel that your student will benefit from some brain breaks, just send me an email and I'll get him/her on my schedule. You can reach me at clawson@wpsdk12.org.
MUSIC NEWS
K-2nd graders will be tracking the progress of five songs as they connect with the CO music standards: expression, creation, theory and aesthetics music.
3-5th graders will begin the writing process as they begin writing verse one and a chorus to an original song.
5th graders will be performing "America the Beautiful" for Citizenship Day Thursday September 15 starting at 8:45. The high school Madrigals will be joining us as well singing our country's national anthem.
AFTER SCHOOL TETHERBALL
FUN'D RUN - SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
If you are willing to volunteer for our annual Fun'd Run, please contact Brent Cottrell
"Running" Schedule for Fun'd Run:
PK, K, 1st, EC Place - 9:10-10:10 am
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, Place - 10:25-11:15
EMPTY BOWLS NIGHT
What is Empty Bowls Night?
Students create beautiful bowls then the community gathers for a simple meal of soup and bread. Participants will choose a bowl from among hundreds of beautiful handmade bowls, make a donation, and keep your bowl to remember those who suffer with hunger and poverty. Local restaurants donate the delicious soup. All proceeds will go to Community Cupboard.
Date: Thursday, November 17, 2022 from 5:00-8:00 pm
Location: Ute Pass Cultural Center (Hwy 24 and Fairview in Woodland Park)
$10 donation is requested for a handmade bowl and soup
$3 for soup and bread only
VIRTUAL BACKPACK
The Virtual Backpack is a paperless means of distributing flyers, newsletters and other notices that traditionally have come home in your child's backpack. Rather than local organizations making copies of their approved flyers, and District personnel coordinating their distribution to the schools, the flyers will instead be posted to this designated place on our website.
Please go to Virtual Backpack link for more information.
Important Dates
Sept 5 - Labor Day - No School
Sept 8 - Parent Academy 5:00-6:30 pm
Sept 20 - Individual Pictures
Sept 21 - Homecoming Parade
Sept 23- Fun'd Run
Lunch Menu
Gateway Facebook Page
WPSD - GATEWAY ELEMENTARY
https://www.facebook.com/WPSD-Gateway-Elementary-School-103778115379133