AVA Newsletter - February 29th 2024

February 29th, 2024

Admin Address

At Aspen View Academy we strive to have well rounded students. We want students to be challenged academically, but we want them to be able to grow as individuals and learn to respect others. We have used the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. acronym to teach character traits to our students what it takes to grow daily. It gives them a path to own mistakes when they are made, and to be rewarded when they are displaying the desired traits. For the month of March, the focus is going to be on the “C” which represents compassion.

Compassion is not just the ability to understand how someone feels, but the ability to engage and help that person in their time of need. At Aspen View we teach our students to be compassionate to others inside the building as well as outside of it. Staff demonstrate this by being an active listener when students need help solving a problem. They spend the necessary time working through the process of how to solve a problem and then help them with putting the plan into action.

It is not only the staff that shows compassion, but our students do as well. Students have helped our substitute teachers find important materials so that they could do their job. They help their classmates clean up a mess because there was an accident. Students have held open doors for staff and visitors that would struggle without it. They check in on their friends to make sure that they are ok. They respond when someone is in a time of need.

The R.E.S.P.E.C.T. model has been a part of the Aspen View culture since its inception. Each character trait is part of the bigger picture of nurturing our students to be the best that they can be as a person. With the help of the PTO, we are looking for students that are displaying these character traits throughout the building every day. Staff members are going to be on the lookout for acts of compassion throughout the month of March so that they can hand out coins to the students. The students will use these coins to get a free book from the book vending machine. We want to catch as many students as possible showing compassion. If your student comes home with a brand-new book, take the time to ask them how they got it because there should be a good story about kindness behind it.

Dave Bodiker

Dean of Students

Middle School Only News

MS Girls Soccer

Teams will be announced on on 2/29

Practice sessions are from 3:45-5:15pm Monday-Thursday starting March 4th

Parent meeting on March 5th after the Practice. Coaches are Gopal Arabally and Jason Marzo

Middle School Winter Sports

Check out the Athletic calendar on our website and come cheer on our AVA Wolves!

General Announcements

Pay for Dress of Choice on Wednesday, March 6th

All Funds raised will benefit the 5th Grade Civil War Reenactment.

The SAC Committee (School Accountability Committee) invites you to complete the

AVA Parent Satisfaction Survey (on per family) expressing your thoughts and opinions regarding the current AVA academic year. Your feedback is important to us! The survey should take less than 15 minutes to complete.

As a token of our appreciation, survey participants:

Can claim 1 volunteer hour for completing the survey
Will be entered into a drawing for one of 4 gift cards
And if we get 50% or better family participation, students will receive a free dress of choice day!

Please know that your responses are confidential. The SAC Committee will only use the family number to conduct the drawings for the gift cards. The results of the survey will be shared with the Board and Administration to determine whether AVA meets or exceeds annual goals set for the school.

The survey is open March 1 - March 15th.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher conferences are scheduled for:

Tuesday March 12th from 4:15 - 8:00 pm and

Thursday March 14th from 4:15 - 8:00 pm

Look for an email next Wednesday for the sign ups. Please note students will attend school as a regular school day on these two conference days.

Wolf Shack New Hours

Due to changes in shopping habits shifting to be more online, the Wolf Shack will be changing their in-person shopping hours to the first Wednesday of every school month from 3:00-4:00pm, effective March 6th. Online orders will continue as usual; any orders placed by Tuesday, end of school day, will be delivered to your child's classroom on Wednesdays. If any returns or exchanges need to be made, please email

wolfshack@aspenviewacademy.org for arrangements. Our online store can be found here.

Thank you for supporting your AVA Wolf Shack!

Landsharks Running Club

Spring Track Series at

Aspen View Academy

Please click on the photo for more information and to sign up.

Staff Spotlight

These ladies run our BASE (Before and After School Education) Program at Aspen View. These ladies help to make the lives of parents easier by taking care of children's needs when their work hours make it difficult to manage school hours. They work together to make sure kids have a good morning before their school day starts, or a great afternoon after a long day of learning.

Kynslee Orness (BASE) loves working with kids because they are so fun and brighten her days. Miss Orness is sweet, patient and easygoing. When she isn't in school or working at our school, she loves to play volleyball.

Lucia Grisez (BASE/Recess Para) is compassionate, creative and mom to all. Mrs. Grisez loves being a part of this important phase of the students lives when they are learning, discovering and developing their talents and values. She enjoys hiking, writing and traveling with her family.

Madison Lund (BASE Senior Program Lead/Elementary Art Teacher) enjoys watching the way the kids look out for each other and watching them grow. Miss Lund is hard-working, silly and a fan favorite. In her free time she enjoys hanging out with her friends and family, being outside, building Legos and crafting.

Tina Lund (BASE Director) is generous, caring and accommodating. Outside of her work in BASE, she enjoys playing with her grandbabies, riding her bike, camping and any sort of travel. Mrs. Lund loves watching the kids grow into themselves and listening to their stories.

Megan Petersen (BASE Assistant Director/School Behavior Interventionist) loves seeing their excitement when creating and showing it off, how kind they can be when they think no one is watching, and how supportive they are of each other. Mrs. Petersen is creative, fun and kind. During her free time, she loves to go to parks and events with her family, crafting and reading when there's time.

Hayli Bauman (BASE/Paraprofessional) is kind and fun-loving, which makes her great at relating to her students. When Miss Bauman isn't at school, she loves to create art.