Links: 24-25 Calendar (Spanish Calendar)

• Dec 16          Student Work Deadline for retakes and late/missing, late work

• Dec 18          Winter Snowball Dance, all grades - 6-8pm

• Dec 20          No School for students - Skinner-only Staff PD Day 

• Dec 23-Jan 6  Winter Break 

Skinner Families, 

Because of your generosity on Colorado Gives Day, you helped us achieve our goal and we raised over $20,000 for our Skinner community. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for all that you did to support our beloved school community. 

Your support for Skinner will truly make an impact and help us support our teachers and students in truly meaningful ways. The money will go to support everything from field trips to Core Plus programming, along with new technology for the Art and Music programs.

If you missed the chance to support us in Colorado Gives Day yesterday on Colorado Gives Day, it's not too late to make your year-end gift today! 

With Gratitude,
Your Skinner PTO and Principal Stevens 

DATE: December 18, 2024  TIME: 6-8 pm.
The buzz is happening around Skinner for SNOWBALL 2024!!! See slides for more info. We are all looking forward to another fun evening of dancing and socializing for the students. We would love and appreciate your help. Please click here to review the available slots to volunteer or donate.

Interested in giving holiday gifts to your kids’ teachers with ZERO hassle? Skinner PTO has you covered! Make a donation and all money will be pooled and evenly distributed so EVERY Skinner teacher and staff member gets a gift card. If you would like to make a donation, please click here. The deadline is Monday, Dec. 16

We are excited to bring back our free holiday store for Skinner students to "shop" in before winter break. Kiddos can come in and pick out new and gently used items to give to their families for the holidays. 

This event will not be successful without volunteers! Please consider signing up: SIGN UP LINK

We are looking for new or gently used items. Donation Drop-Off begins Tuesday 12/10. Please drop off your donations in the main office. 

• Household items

• Ornaments

• Holiday decorations

• Picture frames

• Books

• Unopened toiletries

• Jewelry

• Toys

• Art supplies

• Stationery

• Games

• Puzzles

• Stocking stuffers

• Gift bags, wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, tape and scissors. Gift bags are preferred!

• No clothes or stuffed animals please. 

We are opening up the schedule change request form for 2nd Semester courses from December 2nd - December 9th at 3:30pm. Semester 2 schedules can be found in the Student/Parent Portal. We work hard to honor as many changes as possible, but we do prioritize the ones that meet the requirements listed below. While we try to make as few shifts as possible, a request may require a student to switch teachers or class periods in other courses. Due to the high volume of requests, we are unable to confirm with families before such changes are made, so please only request a change if you are open to that possibility.

Student schedules can be changed for a variety of reasons:

* Duplicate, blank, or missing a core class (Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science)

* same class twice in the day (ex: 2 Art Classes)

* Level change (general or honors) but this must be confirmed by staff/teachers

We are unable to make schedule changes when:

* students/families want a different teacher or class period

* students/families want changes to be with friends

* students/families want changes because they don't want to try a specific Core+ option or they are repeating a Core+ option from a previous year.

Please complete the form: Schedule Change Request Form Semester 2 Email Assistant Principal Ryan_Cronshaw@dpsk12.net if you have any questions. 

Request deadline: Monday December 9th at 3:30pm.

Join us Wednesday, Dec. 18 at noon for an educational workshop presented by experienced Judi’s House grief counselors. This session is intended for parents, guardians and adult community members who want to learn how to best support grieving families. This presentation will increase understanding of what grief is and how it can look in youth. Adults will walk away with ideas for how to support grieving families including what to say and how to best offer support. Spanish interpretation will be available.Register via Zoom.

Tasty Food sites will be open during Winter Break to provide free meals and/or snacks for youth ages 3-18. This critical resource helps families when schools are closed during annual breaks. No registration or ID is required. Find a location near you. *This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Please note: All Tasty Food sites will be closed Dec. 24-25 and Dec. 31-Jan. 1 in observance of the holidays. Regular operations will continue on all other days during Winter Break.

Get discounted offers to local sporting events, theatre plays and more, while supporting DPS schools with Denver Public Schools Foundation!

Upcoming Events & Opportunities:

• Denver Center for the Performing Arts: A Christmas Carol - (Now through December 29th)

• Denver Nuggets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers - Friday, December 27th at 7:00 p.m. @ Ball Arena

• National Western Stock Show: January 11-26, 2025

• Urban Air (Denver East): DPS Spirit Night - Sunday, January 12, 2025

*DPS Foundation also has Special Offers available throughout the year with the Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Mammoth, Colorado Rapids, Colorado Rockies and more!

Click here for offers: https://dpsfoundation.org/get-involved/special-offers/

Skinner's support staff team is in need of your help! Please check our Amazon wishlist and consider making a donation so we are able to provide to our students in need. Thank you for your generosity and commitment to our community's youth. Please click here and order some items today! Thanks in advance for your generosity.

Several teachers have DonorsChoose projects posted hoping to obtain classroom and project supplies for their students. Please click here to see all of the projects and consider a donation to one ore more projects today! Thank you in advance for your generosity.

CSC: Collaborative School Committee - first Wednesday of every month 4:00-5:30 in the Skinner Library. CSC includes parents, admin, staff meeting to discuss issues, impacts, and solutions for the school

PTO: Parent/Teacher Organization - first Wednesday of every month 5:30-6:30, usually in the Skinner Library (Please check the Skinner calendar to confirm date.)

• Fundraising, teacher appreciation, parent volunteers. 

• Check out Skinner Website PTO for more information. 

We are excited to share that Skinner has chosen to participate in the CCS Student Profile Report Project in partnership with DPS’ Career and College Success team to provide a personalized resource to support our students as they explore and navigate their post-secondary career journey.

• What is the profile?

  • CCS profile is a personalized report with details about your student’s career + college success journey including their interests, participation in courses and career experiences, and opportunities for the future.

• How do I see my student’s profile?

  • From parent portal, click More → Academic Pages → Career & College Success Reports

  • From student portal, click My ICAP Plan → Student Profile Report

• What do I do with the profile?

  • Use it to engage in conversation with your child about their career exploration! Potential questions to discuss:

• What stood out to you in the profile?

• What are industries and/or careers of interest and what can you do to prepare for that career now?

• What are specific next steps you might take in the next semester/school year to continue exploring different careers/industries?

The Round 1 SchoolChoice window for the 2025-26 school year opens at 10 a.m. on January 15 and runs through February 18, 2025 at 4 p.m.

The DPS SchoolChoice open enrollment process is for any student who wants or needs to attend a new school for the following school year, typically incoming kinder, sixth- and ninth-grade students. If your student will be a rising 7th or 8th grader and you would like your student to remain at Skinner, you do not need to complete the SchoolChoice process.

To participate in SchoolChoice, families submit one SchoolChoice application per student, on which they rank their top schools in order of preference, up to a limit of 12. DPS then uses a computer algorithm that matches students to schools based on those preferences, as well as school admission priorities and available space. Families need to have an active Parent Portal account to submit a SchoolChoice application.

Hello 8th Grade Families, You have a very important decision, which high school will you choose for your 8th grader? North High is an absolutely outstanding choice and we would like to invite you to learn more about our community of Vikings and why North is the right choice for your family.

North High Prospective Family Information Night:

• Wednesday, January 29, 2025 from 6:30 – 8 pm

Attending a Prospective Family Information Night is a great way to learn all about why North is the right high school choice for your student. Families will have an opportunity to learn more about North High School, meet Principal German Echevarría and other members of our admin team, teachers, and current students and parents. School tours will also be offered. All prospective families are encouraged to attend. No RSVP necessary. We look forward to meeting you!

North High Daytime Tours/Classroom Visit Experiences: North offers daytime school tours including an optional student classroom visit experience for prospective Viking families. Tours are available from October – February most Mondays at 12:30 pm and Tuesdays at 9:40 am. CLICK HERE to sign up for a tour.

Want to see a prior issue of Skinner Family News? Links are posted on the Skinner website, click here to access.