Asbury Community,

At Asbury, we are constantly looking for ways to refine our practices to ensure every student receives the exact support they need to thrive. As we look ahead to the next school year, we are focusing on a critical "Problem of Practice": How can we maximize the impact of our Instructional Paraprofessionals?

Our Paraprofessionals are much more than "extra help"—they are skilled instructional partners who work alongside our Teachers to bridge learning gaps, lead small groups, and foster student independence.

🌟 The Power of Your Voice

We are currently developing a new vision and master schedule for our school, and we need your insight. As parents and community members, you have a unique perspective on your child’s needs, their confidence levels, and the moments when an extra "set of hands" has made the biggest difference in their education.

Your feedback will directly influence:

Our Impact Statement: Defining exactly what role paras play in our classrooms.

The Master Schedule: Determining which grade levels and subjects receive the most intentional support.

Student Success: Ensuring our resources are aligned with the areas you value most.

📊 Take the Survey

Please take 5 minutes to share your thoughts through our Instructional Support Survey (https://forms.gle/cFUCNht2PiGGLUdz9). Whether your child is in Kindergarten or 5th Grade, your input is vital to creating a balanced and effective plan for our entire school.

Asbury Instructional Support Survey (https://forms.gle/cFUCNht2PiGGLUdz9)  Please complete the survey by March 1, 2026.

🚀 Moving Forward Together

Our goal is to move from a model of "coverage" to a model of "impact." We want to ensure that when an adult is in the room with your child, they are equipped and scheduled to provide the highest level of instructional value possible.

Thank you for being such active partners in our community. We look forward to sharing the results of this work and our vision for the upcoming year with you soon.

In Partnership,

Jeanna Doung

As always, we appreciate all those that have started to put your input into our survey. Please take a few minutes to share your voice via our confidential survey: Asbury Public Input Survey Link: https://forms.gle/B52ks6Lr3bpx8qsM8

Thanks for an amazing Grandfriend's Day!

News Story from 9News

Video of 5th grader Lincoln opening up Grandfriend's Day with a song!

Special Thanks to our Student Spokespeople who talked about what makes Asbury awesome and to Ms. Tillie and Cody Galloway and their committee who helped make the day so special.

Class Group Pictures - March 17

Order Form Flyer #1

Order Form Flyer #2

Order Form Flyer #3 (QR code)

Policy: Outdoor Dining and Recreation Guidelines

At our school, we are very thoughtful about the decision to eat or play outside, and we do not take these transitions lightly. Based on consistent feedback from parents, students, and staff, we have found that students thrive with the freedom of being outdoors. Our cafeteria is a small space that can become crowded and noisy very quickly; being outside allows students the space to talk, be themselves, and get the fresh air necessary to focus on learning in the afternoon.

Because our goal is to maximize these benefits, we utilize the following guidelines when determining whether to move activities indoors.

Decision-Making Factors

Determining whether to eat or play inside is not an exact science. There is no single "cutoff" temperature that dictates a move indoors. Instead, we look at a combination of environmental factors, including:

Freezing Temperatures: Sustained temperatures that impact student comfort.

Wind Chill: High winds can make even moderate temperatures feel significantly colder.

Precipitation: Active rain or heavy, wet snow.

Grade Level: Younger students may be moved inside sooner than older students based on their physical activity levels.

Flexibility and Pivoting

Weather can be unpredictable. Often, conditions change in the middle of a lunch or recess period. Our staff is trained to pivot quickly, moving groups inside if the weather shifts unexpectedly.

We aim to keep students outside as much as possible, even in cooler weather. We have found that over the last few years, even on days in the 30s, students rarely request to come inside. However, we do have a "safety valve" in place:

Student Comfort: In cases where a student feels too cold to remain outside, they are permitted to come into the office to eat.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these guidelines, please reach out to Jeanna.

Read-a-thon is coming! March 2-5!

What is Read-a-thon? 

"RAT" is a week-long event to encourage and foster the love of reading. Students record their reading minutes from home and turn in a "feather" log each day for a chance to win individual and class prizes. Details on prizes and recording will be sent home.

What is the book swap?  (February 23-25) 

Students can bring in books from home that they'd like to trade for new ones! This happens during recess and students go home with new books, ready to read and record.

Read-a-thon Bookmark Contest:

If your child is interested in participating in the contest, have them get a blank bookmark, put their first name, last name and classroom on the back and design the front all about the joy of reading! They will need to be turned into Ms. Baca by Monday February 23, 2026. There will be one winner per grade level.

This sounds awesome, how can I help?!

Sign up here to donate either your time – like volunteering at next week’s Book Swap on the blacktop – or prizes:  Read-a-thon Sign Up Genius Link

Exciting News: Ms. Arza is Expecting!

We have some wonderful news to share with our Asbury community! Ms. Arza has shared that she is expecting a new addition to her family this summer. She is due in August and will be taking a maternity leave for the first part of the 2026-2027 school year.

Please join us in sending her a huge congratulations as she prepares for this exciting new chapter!

Because of her upcoming leave, we will be posting for a Long-Term Substitute position shortly. If you know an amazing educator who would be a great fit for our school community during the first semester, please encourage them to reach out to me directly or keep an eye on our district job board.

Reminder: Maintaining a Clean and Safe Campus (Dog Policy)

As we enjoy the warmer afternoons and weekend activities on our campus, we want to share a friendly but important reminder that dogs are not allowed on school property at any time, including weekends and after-school hours.

We have recently seen a significant increase in incidents involving dog feces on our play areas and fields. This has become a serious health and safety issue, as our students frequently encounter these messes while playing during recess and PE.

We take great pride in our school grounds, and we need your help to keep them "kid-ready." If you are walking near the perimeter of the school and see someone with a dog, please help us spread the word about our policy. Most importantly, if a pet is on the property, it is vital that the owner cleans up after them.

Thank you for doing your part to keep Asbury a safe, fun, and clean place for all our students to learn and play!

Bond dollars input

We’ve done a lot of work over the last few years to make Asbury the best—we’ve added shade structures, banners, outdoor seating, and updated our lunch room. Now, we have an opportunity to do it again! We are up for an estimated $300,000 in bond dollars to go beyond the basics and look at revitalization of our space. We need your input on what and how we should leverage these funds to support the revitalization of Asbury. Link: https://forms.gle/mtWgFsPtYutpPzrj6

Newsletter from the Art Room - Mrs. Werner

Asbury Talent Show 2026

Students in second through fifth grade are buzzing with excitement because it is Talent Show audition season!

Talent Show auditions will be held after school on March 2nd (second and third grade auditionees only) and March 3rd (fourth and fifth grade auditionees only) after school in the music room. The final show will be held on Thursday March 26th, with two after-school dress rehearsals on March 24th and 25th.

All interested parties in applicable grades AND their grown ups will need to fill out and return a permission slip by March 2nd. The slip can be returned as a hard copy that will come home with your student, OR electronically here, not both.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Ms Tillie at tillifinney_smith@dpsk12.net. 

Parent/Guardian Technology Night with Brian Dino, DPS Ed Tech Coach 

NEW:  Thursday, 3/19 (6:00-7:00pm) SAVE THE DATE!

We have scheduled a night to hear more about topics around technology. We are hoping that it will be really helpful.  

In the meantime, we’d love to collect some of your questions, comments, concerns or wondering ahead of the presentation so he can tailor his talk to our Asbury Community needs.  Please take a moment to fill out this SURVEY or just email your thoughts to Mrs. Ravel

Thanks!

Amy_Ravel@dpsk12.net

P.S. We are also having an assembly for our 3-5th grade students on Friday, 3/6 in the afternoon with the guest speaker.  He’s also a magician so the kids are going to learn a lot and be fully entertained!

GIRLS ON THE RUN COACHES NEEDED! 

Girls on the Run is coming to our school in the spring! We need volunteers to coach (no running experience required!). The Girls on the Run program empowers girls to be happy, healthy, and confident while training for a 5K. Teams consist of 2-3 coaches and 16 girls. Coaches will be trained and receive the appropriate curriculum. Please email Katy at katy.deditz@girlsontherunrockies.org or visit www.girlsontherunrockies.org/coach for more information.

Families of Multilingual Learners - You are Invited to MLE DAC Meeting on Feb 18. 

Families of Multilingual Students- you are invited to the Multilingual Language Education (MLE) District Advisory Committee (DAC) on Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 9-11 a.m., at Rude Recreation Center. We will explore how restorative practices create a connected school community. Learn how to build stronger bonds with your student and resolve conflicts through communication that focuses on healing and growth. These are practical tools you can use at home today and advocate for at school tomorrow. Breakfast, childcare and interpretation will be available. View the flyers in the eight most common DPS languages. Attendees are encouraged to pre-register for the meeting. Staff are also highly encouraged to attend. For more information, visit the MLE website or contact Sary Portillo at 720-423-2661.

3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Families - CMAS Testing - Save the Dates

Looking for a way to help during CMAS?

We need many volunteers to help with recess and lunch duty for all of the grade level slots during testing to support while support staff and teachers are testing which often overlaps into their recess and lunch duty time slots.

Here is a Sign Up Genius if you would like to sign up to volunteer.  It is a lot of fun.  There are some informational videos on the sign up genius information when you click the link if you’d like to understand more of what we will ask you to do if you sign up!  It’s really a lot of fun.  We promise! 

Please plan accordingly for trips and appointments so students can be here for CMAS testing during these dates:  April 6-27. 

If your student will not be here, please let their teachers know as soon as possible so we can plan accordingly.  If you have any questions, please reach out to Amy_Ravel@dpsk12.net.

Parent Information Letter (including testing schedule calendar)

Save the Date - Thursday, March 12 (6-7pm) - Parent Online Information Session

Please, please, please have your student at school each of these testing dates on time and there all day!  Also, since the state shortened the window to 3 weeks, vs the normal 4, we will start that Tuesday after Spring Break. Normally, we start the week after spring break in previous years.

If you know that your student will be absent anytime during the window, please reach out to Amy_Ravel@dpsk12.net as soon as possible for planning purposes!

We will have a flipped specials schedule during the testing window (4/7-4/17) so primary grades will have specials in the morning and intermediate grades will have specials in the afternoon those days.

Save the Dates: 

3/2-3/6- Read-A-Thon

3/13- Spelling Bee

3/16-3/20 - March-Mathness

NEW:  3/17 - Class Group Picture Day

3/26- Talent Show

4/29- WOW Art Show/Dish a Story

5/7- Student Led Conferences (3:00-5:00)

Grandfriends Day is Tomorrow!  Friday, 2/13

Grandfriends Day - What to Expect? Document

💙  We have just a little over one more week to reach our DIRECT GIVE fundraising campaign goal!

Progress update (as of Thursday morning): We have raised $81,120 toward our $135,000 goal! AMAZING!

Our brand-new, limited edition hat store is still open! Donate today and get a one-of-a-kind Asbury hat as a thank you gift!

Remember: All donations are 100% tax deductible! And 100% of all donations go DIRECTLY to our school to support staff salaries, fund full-time Specials, bolster the Asbury Backpack Program, purchase classroom and office supplies, and SO MUCH MORE! And this year we are raising money to support TWO ADDITIONAL PARAS IN THE BUILDING! (We’ve heard your pleas for more paras loud and clear! Let’s do it!)

This is our biggest fundraiser of the year. Can you help us raise $135,000 for our school by February 28? Click here to donate or click the image below!

🍝 Are you ready-spaghetti for TODAY? Colore Italian Restaurant on Broadway and Yale is hosting a dine-out fundraiser for Asbury ALL DAY TODAY! 

10% of ALL SALES, ALL  DAY will be donated back to Asbury, no code needed! 

Grab your friends, tell your neighbors, let’s get a crowd!

📚 Help make our annual Read-A-Thon a big success again! 

Can you help monitor the Book Swap on the blacktop next week, or help count reading minutes? Sign up here!

Can you help donate prizes? Sign up here!

🗓 Did you know you can subscribe to the Asbury events calendar at asburyelementary.website@gmail.com? Follow the steps below to have the school events calendar sync to your Google Calendar and never miss a moment of fun!

From a desktop/laptop (not mobile phone): go to your calendar, click the + icon next to "Other calendars" on the left

Select "Subscribe to calendar," and enter asburyelementary.website@gmail.com

Never miss another dine out, PBL showcase, or coffee with the principal again!

🏆 Our friends at DU have more amazing Community Ticketing Events for us! All ticket sales support Asbury! Fun guaranteed! Buy all your tickets here. 

⛹️‍♀️ DU Women’s Basketball vs. South Dakota State – THIS SATURDAY, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. 

🥍 DU Women’s Lacrosse vs. Colorado – Wednesday, April 15 at 6 p.m.

🥍 DU Men’s Lacrosse vs. Marquette – Friday, April 24 at 6 p.m.

Please visit the Asbury Website for more information and details about enrichments offered during this session: Asbury Enrichments Schedule

I’m Ms. Tanner, MLE teacher and math coach at Asbury!  I also own Keep on Truckin Hat Co., a fun, pop-up hat company, where you can design your own hats.  You may have seen some around school this last year!  Hope to see you March 14 on S Pearl Street!