News from the Nest — March 25, 2022

Posted March 25, 2022

News from the Nest logo

Vol. 6, No. 28

You’re Invited to Our McKinley-Thatcher School Auction!

We Are All Together Now auction logo.

Our PTA cordially invites you to celebrate our incredible McKinley-Thatcher community by joining us for our “We Are All Together Now” school auction and celebration. We have options for both virtual and in-person participation!

  • Virtual Auction: Friday, May 6 to Friday, May 13; hosted digitally on Auctria (link coming soon!). 
    • During our virtual auction, community members may bid on any of our incredibly generous donations, including vacation options, restaurant gift cards, and other fabulous prizes! Our auction proceeds help the McKinley-Thatcher PTA support critical educational initiatives in our school. 
  • “We Are All Together Now” Celebration: Saturday, May 14, 11:00am to 1:00pm; hosted in-person on our school grounds with food, bounce houses, & other fun!

Please RSVP here for our in-person “We Are All Together Now” Celebration! Your RSVP helps us plan more accurately for our event.

For more information or to donate in support of our auction, visit our School Auction Info page here!

Coming to Our School in April: FREE Dental Program for All Students!

Kids In Need of Dentistry’s (KIND) Chopper Topper Dental Sealant Program is visiting our school the week of April 18! This FREE program gives registered children a dental screening and toothbrush, as well as fluoride varnish and sealants as needed, at no cost to your family. To register your child, please return the consent form that went home in today’s March 25 Friday Folders or stop by our office to pick up an extra form. Your child can participate even if you already have a dentist!

Forms are due to our main office by Wednesday, April 13. For additional information, visit the Chopper Topper website to watch an introductory video about this wonderful program. Please contact our school nurse, Ms. Jennifer Iltis (she/her), at Jennifer_Iltis@dpsk12.org with questions.

Special Spotlight:
Destination Imagination Regional Challenge on March 12

Four Destination Imagination (DI) teams from McKinley-Thatcher participated in the DI Regional Challenge on Saturday, March 12! 

Two of our teams were Rising Stars, the non-competitive part of the challenge for students in 2nd grade and under!

  • Our kindergarten team, the Lightning Strikers.
  • Our 2nd grade team, the Space Puppies: Olive C., Elise F., Grace H., Louisa N., TJ R., & Freya S.

Two of our older teams competed, too!

  • Our 5th grade team, the Big Radioactive Amazing Insane Nobodies (BRAIN), won 1st place in the Scientific Challenge at the elementary level and will be competing in the Colorado state tournament on Saturday, April 2! BRAIN’s team members are Athena C., Cristopher F.-G., Sloane M., Miles N., Gus O., Ivy Q., & Otto S.
  • Our 3rd grade team, the Dream Turtles, took 8th place in the Engineering Challenge at the elementary level! The Dream Turtles are Rhoda A.-M., Kellen C., Nola R., & Illario S.

All teams had a great time and developed their teamwork and creativity skills throughout the process! 

Team of students posing with their first place medals.
Team BRAIN with their medals!

In Other News…

  • We have NO SCHOOL next week from Monday, March 28 to Monday, April 4 for our Spring Break! School resumes on Tuesday, April 5.

  • Our Class Picture Day with Bloom School Photography is Friday, April 8! We’ll be taking outdoor pictures (weather permitting) and all picture ordering will take place online through Bloom’s website. For more information, visit bloomschoolpictures.com/mckinley!

  • Save-the-Date: McKinley-Thatcher Day at DU Lacrosse is coming up in April! Join McKinley-Thatcher families for a fun day of lacrosse at DU’s Barton Stadium on Saturday, April 16 at 12:00pm. Tickets are $15 and there are a few free tickets available to families who would benefit from them. Tickets can be purchased by returning this form with cash or check payment to our office (this form will also come home in our April 8 Friday Folders) or by emailing our PTA at mckinleythatcher@gmail.com. Please place ticket orders by Wednesday, April 13.

  • 3rd-5th Grade Families: please mark your calendars now for our upcoming CMAS testing in April 2022. 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will all complete literacy and math testing, and 5th grade will also complete additional science testing. For more information and to see our full testing calendar, visit our CMAS news post here. We will be sharing our CMAS information in Arabic and Spanish as soon as we can!

Upcoming Events

Click here to view the McKinley-Thatcher school calendar.