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Happenings at East Grand schools

Frank Reeves

Here are the current results of our survey: The question is…how should East Grand spend an additional $2,000,000 per year if Amendment 73 passes? Parents and Community make up 162 of the voters, teachers and staff make up 48 of the voters and 8 students have also taken the survey. Overwhelmingly the number 1 priority is in the area of Retaining and recruitment of quality teachers/staff. From highest priority to lowest priority the votes go as follows: 108, 36, 22, 5, 7. The next highest priority is Enhanced Student Learning Opportunities. The voting for it is currently 69, 60, 28, 15, and 6. Following that area in priority is Safety and security receiving 51 highest priority votes then 40, 29 34, and 24 lowest priority. Upgrades to technology are the 4th priority with 20 votes, then 43, 61, 40 and 14. Our 5th priority is Building, Grounds and Maintenance, which has 13 highest priority votes, then in order of priority 29, 40, 35 and 61. The survey will remain active until the election. Go to any school or district website and you will find the link. If Amendment 73 passes we will break down these topics into more specific budget details and continue to survey our community. Thanks to all who have participated so far.

East Grand Middle School has been approved as an official CrossFit affiliate called Middle Park CrossFit. We are waiting to hear on a grant for equipment.

Ms. Walkinshaw is starting a Healthy Cub Club at the middle school where students will not only workout each week, but research the brain and exercise to see how it helps. We will also be creating “Brain Boosts” so they can teach willing teachers to use in their classrooms. Ferguson (plumbing place) has graciously donated PVC pipe for us to use for our CrossFit training. PVC takes the place of a barbell so students can learn movements correctly.



Last week, the individual and combined choirs of East Grand Middle School and Middle Park High School performed their fall concert, Americana, for a large and enthusiastic audience of family, friends and community members in the auditorium of the high school. Each choir worked hard to prepare music spanning the historical and musical genres of our great nation, including patriotic tunes, spirituals, folk songs and the blues. Mark your calendars now for the evening of Thursday, December 6, for our Holiday program featuring favorites old and new.

EGSD is participating in the Colorado Empowered Learning program. This program is designed to support the planning and implementation of Blended Learning to support our staff and students. Blended learning is an educational model that combines digital media within a traditional classroom setting. iLearn Collaborative, a statewide non-profit, will provide the support and resources for this program. The initial step in this process is a consulting engagement that will provide us with a range of baseline data that will identify our current status and a plan for best implementation/expansion of blended learning. One step in this process is collecting data from a wide range of people in our district and community. I am asking you to participate in this process. This is an anonymous survey, with no direct collection of personal data. Please take five minutes to complete the Parent/Guardian survey: https://goo.gl/forms/8an72KFGceLpskK33 OR the Community survey: https://goo.gl/forms/NHO01JepzSuMAEEG2 .



Podcast club at EGMS will be starting up again next week. Mr. Fenimore and Mr. Hicks will be hosting students once a week during lunch creating audio content, telling stories and conducting interviews.

Friday school will be starting up again next week. Parents of students in 4th – 8th grade should have received a letter explaining the program this year. We are excited that our first meeting will be a field trip to RAFT where our students will be introduced to a World of creativity and possibilities. If you have not received any notification and want your child to participate please contact our new director Ms. Sordyl at Vicki.sordyl@egsd.org

The 5th graders at FVE are reading spooky poems by Edgar Allan Poe. They are analyzing “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee”, identifying figurative language, illustrating stanzas, and writing an essay comparing and contrasting the setting, mood, characters, and tone.

The 5th graders at FVE are preparing for their debate that focuses on the following question: “Should everyone be included?” This opportunity is inspired by our Word Generation lesson. Each student chooses a side to represent, they identify their claim, they support their claim with evidence for their warrant by citing from various texts that we’ve read, and they share the impact of their claim by stating why it is important in the local or global community. As they debate, they are asked to use our focus words: controversy, dependent, requires, isolated, and integrate.

In 8th grade social studies students viewed a scanned copy of a Colorado ballot, and went through the Colorado Blue Book. Students learned that Grand County voters use paper ballots that can be mailed or dropped off by Election Day on Tuesday, November 6th. Students learned that the Blue Book analyzes and explains ballot issues, and gives equal space to arguments for, and arguments against each issue

3rd, 4th and 5th graders at GES were invited to a Family Nature Night on Wednesday night. This event was sponsored by a grant for 4th grade through Schools and Outdoor Learning Environments (SOLE). Pizza, prizes and learning were part of this fun event encouraging families to get outdoors! 4th graders were also able to dissect owl pellets during the day with the SOLE personnel.

FVE students celebrate pumpkin season by having a Pumpkin Contest. Students were invited to participate by decorating a pumpkin as their favorite book character. Our school’s entrance is filled with over 100 creative, artistic, and amazing pumpkins! Great job FVE eagles! Here are the results: K-2: Funniest was Ever Purdy with “Scary Squirrel,” Cutest was Brooke Kussow with “Marley and the Runaway Pumpkin,” Most Creative and Favorite was Rylee Stuerman with “Clifford’s ABC’s,” and the Best Look Alike Pumpkin in K-2 is Sofia Gurrola with “Please Mr. Panda.” In 3rd – 5th grade the Funniest Pumpkin is Denny Turk with “Calvin and Hobbes and The Complete Sunday,” Cutest Pumpkin is Hayden Keilley with “The Puppy Place: Love Book,” Most Creative is Wiley Gironda with “Harry Potter,” and Best Look a Like Pumpkin goes to Maize Giberson for “Alice in Wonderland.” Congrats to all who decorated pumpkins, there were over 100 entries.

Frank Reeves is the superintendent of East Grand School District.


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