Posted September 12, 2025
Cory Caregivers,
I hope everyone is well! We want to share some exciting updates about the learning happening in our classrooms. Strategic small groups are taking place that are intentional and thoughtful, designed specifically to meet the diverse needs of our students. Additionally, our Gifted and Talented (GT) teacher has been actively pushing into classrooms to enhance differentiated instruction and help develop students’ ALP goals.
Our Cougars are working hard and demonstrating great agency and ownership in their learning. The Cory staff truly understands how precious each minute is with our students, and we are committed to making every moment count. Thank you for partnering with us to support your child’s growth.
We want to bring to your attention some concerning behaviors we’ve observed in the restrooms. Unfortunately, students have been engaging in unsafe and unsanitary actions such as not properly discarding waste, throwing paper towels, flooding the restroom, and damaging soap dispensers.
To maintain a clean and safe environment for all, we kindly ask for your partnership in reinforcing the importance of respectful and responsible restroom use with your child. Encouraging safe behaviors will help us create a positive space that everyone can use comfortably. Thank you for your support as we work together to foster responsibility and care among our students.
STUDENTS OF THE WEEK for the week of September 8th!
What is TSEAL? Transformative Social Emotional Academic Learning
“Transformative SEAL” is a process whereby young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting, relationships that facilitate co-learning to critically examine root causes of inequity, and to develop collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being.
This form of TSEAL is aimed at redistributing power to promote social justice through increased engagement in school and civic life. It emphasizes the development of identity, agency, belonging, curiosity, and collaborative problem solving
It’s critically important that school wide TSEAL implementation intentionally nurtures an environment in which educators gain social and emotional competence by learning, collaborating, and modeling their social and emotional skills. Along with these social and emotional skills, schools must also fold in conversations about race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, language and ability so that the conversation about TSEAL takes into account the student’s fullest identities. It is recommended that schools do a deep dive into understanding how educators, students, and community can navigate conversations about race, sex, gender, ableism and other social identities in order to establish systems and supports that strengthen both adult and student Social Emotional Academic Learning.
Come along on our Cory TSEAL journey!
Come along on our Cory TSEAL journey!
The BESS Social Emotional FALL 2025 screener is OPEN! Parents and guardians, please complete this for your student, we conduct this screener 3x per school year. NEW! 1st-2nd grader parents are REQUIRED to complete the BESS parent screener for their child.
3rd-5th grade parents are highly encouraged but not required to complete the BESS parent screener. Thank you for your participation in supporting our students’ social and emotional well-being!
Link here: https://review360connect.com/Prod/DenverPublicSchools/Parent/
What are ALP Goals?
ALP goals are personalized learning goals created for students who have been identified as gifted. They help support and challenge students based on their strengths, talents, and interests.
Main ALP Goal Areas:
Why ALP Goals Matter:
They make sure gifted students are supported, challenged, and engaged in school—not just more work, but the right work for their level.
Do Goals Stay the Same Year to Year?
It depends. Students may need more time to work on goals, or may want to continue a goal with to apply their skills with new context and content. However, if a goal no longer applies or aligns with the strengths and interests of the students, we will change these goals. During the first few meetings together, students will share their interests, begin reflecting on their beginning of the year data, identify what students would like to work on for the current year, and begin drafting goals together in conjunction with their classroom teacher.
Will I get input in my students’ goals?
Yes! After your student creates a strength-based academic goal and one affective needs goal, I will send home a family input survey that asks you to look over your students proposed goals and provide feedback at that time.
How Families Can Help Start the Conversations:
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at any time! summer_de-herrera1@dpsk12.net
