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Principals Message

Principal’s Message March 8, 2024

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy March! It seems to have come in like a cold, wintery lion, so we’ll see if it goes out like a lamb. We have lots of fun activities happening in March, like field trips to see plays or to visit Clayton Middle School to hear the symphony. The Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company is coming to share their talents with us this month. We’ve had and will have more informances with Tanner Dance and BTS Drama classes. Our 3rd Grade is hard at work on their play that we will get to see in April. Break a leg, 3rd Grade! And the PTA has declared the week of March 25-29 to be our Teacher Appreciation Week! Thank you, Uintah PTA, for your support of teachers and students at our building. Look for more info about this week coming from our PTA.

Lastly, I wanted to revisit attendance as we are still struggling. This is some up-to-date information that I shared with our School Community Council this past month. From the graph we can see that January was a tough month for absences. February got better and we’re hoping that March and the rest of the year trends downward.

What this leaves us with is that almost 60% of our students are at risk or worse for their attendance. Yikes! Please do what is needed to keep your child safe and healthy and at home when they are sick and contagious. Also, please do what is needed to have your child/ren at school and on time. We know that attendance matters.

Here is some information from the attendanceworks.org website regarding attendance. If you have any questions or want to know more about their work, feel free to visit their website.  

As always, please stay safe. Let’s have a great March! Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message February 6, 2024

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy February! I hope that this message finds everyone as safe and health as possible as we know that there have been a lot of absences and tardies the past few months, many due to sickness. School attendance has been in the news recently, too, as regular attendance since the pandemic has declined across the U.S. We are definitely seeing that here at Uintah. We know that COVID is not the only germ going around, and that many students have been sick or have even been sent home from here as they have a fever, have thrown up, and/or are just not feeling well. This is part of what makes addressing school attendance such a tricky subject right now. We want students here at school and on time as much as possible as any tardy and/or absence for any reason affects a child’s learning and their relationships with fellow students. But we also don’t want kids here if they are sick and especially not if they are contagious. And, for some of our kids who are anxious or have anxiety, coming late to school or missing school, even when they are sick or for something fun like a vacation, gives them a heightened sense of missing out, which can exacerbate their anxious feelings of returning to school and make it more difficult for them to get up in the morning and want to come back to school. I have experienced this with my own children, too.

So, what can we do about this complex issue? There isn’t an easy answer that will fit every situation, but here are some suggestions that may help. First, communicate and even overcommunicate with the school. Let your child’s teacher and the office staff know regarding attendance issues right away both for tardies and absences. While there is no way for us to excuse tardies, absences can be excused.

Second, please keep in mind that just because an absence is excused, this does not take away the effects that an absence will have on kids who miss out on learning and miss out on time with their peers. Consider, the following:

As of Friday, February 2nd, we had been in school for 100 days. As of that time –

58 students have been tardy 10 or more times with many with well over 10 tardies. That equates to 10% or more of the time students have been in school so far this year. Yikes!

51 students have been absent 10 or more times this year with several well over 10 absences. That equates to 10% or more of the time students have been in school so far this year. We know that many of these are from illnesses, so thank you for keeping your child home when they are ill. We also know that many of these absences are for reasons other than illness. Also, yikes!

Please use your best judgment regarding when to keep a child home, like when they have thrown up and/or have a fever and are likely contagious. Also, may I suggest that we consider taking time away from school on a vacation or trip when it is the least impactful to the child, such as during the scheduled breaks that occur regularly during the school year. Missing school when others are attending can be especially difficult for our students who are anxious or struggle with anxiety. We hope that everyone who is ill is able to recover quickly and that all of us wash our hands more, cough into our sleeves, and do everything else we can to stay healthy for the rest of the school year. Here’s to a great February. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message January 2, 2024

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy New Year! We hope that everyone had a great holiday break, enjoyed time with family and friends, and has renewed energy for the new year. We are jumping right back into the swing of things here at Uintah, and we have several important and fun things happening this month. First, we have our Middle-of-the-Year math and reading testing on Tuesday, January 9th, which allows our students to show what they have learned so far this year. Please help your child get some good rest the night before and have a great breakfast for the day’s tests. We also have our voluntary Science Fair coming up on Friday, January 19th and our awesome and fun Science Fest happening on Friday, January 26th from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. There are quite a few partners coming to the Science Fest with fun activities for the whole family to participate in, so please come with your child/ren and explore some awesome science, technology, math and, of course, science activities. There will be a food truck there as well. Should be a great night. We know that Uintah Elementary thrives because of its strong community. We encourage you to come and be involved in what’s happening here at school. We are incredibly grateful for your continued support and partnership in creating a nurturing environment where children can learn and thrive. Here’s to a great January at Uintah. Go Unicorns!

 

Principal’s Message December 4, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy December! We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with good food and friendly company. Here are a few highlights of the many fun learning activities and events that have happened at our school in November:

Ms. Webster’s class has been working really hard in November to finish up several units of study such as finishing reading “The Witches,” learning about fossils in science, and working on multiplication and division in math. Way to go!

Ms. Carter’s class has been working hard in science to answer tough questions about water, climate, and weather. They recently discovered that the water we drink and use today is the same water that dinosaurs used. Wow!

The entire First Grade did a great job on their field trip to the zoo. The teachers said that the students were very respectful and enjoyed looking at the animals. All the teachers are very proud of the way the students handled themselves and represented Uintah, and so are we!

During December, we have many more fun learning events happening, so I’ll highlight just a few here:

Several grade levels have field trips coming up to places like the Natural History Museum and the Nutcracker.

Our PTA is also doing our Uintah Goes East donation drive to help stock the pantry at East High School. Look for more info about that coming home soon.  

Our 5th and 6th Grades have their annual music concert coming up on the 12th of the month. Look for more info coming home soon about that event.

The 15th of December, which is the 3rd Friday in December, is National Ugly Sweater Day, so bust out the ugly sweaters and give them a good cleaning so we all can wear them proudly on the 15th. I look forward to seeing them!

We are so grateful for all the parent and community support that goes into making Uintah such a wonderful place for kids to learn, parents to volunteer, and staff to work. We hope that everyone is able to stay warm and dry as the snow moves in and the temperatures drop. Please remember to help your child/ren to come prepared for the changes in weather. We also wish everyone a happy holiday season and a fun end to the calendar year. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message November 6, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Welcome to November and to a time to reflect on all that we are thankful for. I’d like to start by thanking everyone who was able to participate in any way in the Halloween festivities. We appreciate everyone’s support of Uintah’s fun activities such as our Halloween parade and parties.

We have many more fun learning activities planned for this month. One activity of note is this month’s 6th grade service project. On November 9th, the 6th grade students will be raking the leaves around the building to help our grounds look even better. Thank you to Ms. Carter and Ms. Cook for arranging such great service-learning activities and for parents who help to make this activity a reality. We also have several field trips planned for different grade levels. Should be a great month.

A huge thanks goes to the PTA as they have provided funds that allow a presenter from the Mad Science company to come to Uintah many Wednesdays this year to hold an in-class field trip with a hands-on science project in our science lab. Different classes come each week. So far, our kindergarteners have had a blast learning with dry ice. First grade is up next learning about lights and color. Every homeroom class at Uintah will get to do at least one hands-on activity this year with the Mad Science presenters with lower-grade classes enjoying two different science activities. Thank you for your generosity in supporting the PTA who have helped these activities come to Uintah.

We hope everyone takes the opportunity this month to reflect on the amazing blessings and opportunities we have been given and to cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude. We hope that everyone is also able to spend some time relaxing with family and friends and sharing the spirit of gratitude that permeates this month. I am thankful to be working with such amazing students, faculty, staff, and parents here at Uintah. We are blessed to partner with you and our community to help make Uintah a great place to learn and grow. Have a great November. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message October 4, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

WOW and THANK YOU to the entire Uintah Community for the incredible generosity during our Color Run/Fall Fundraiser as the PTA raised over $75,000 for its priorities and programs to support Uintah children and teachers. We are humbled and grateful for this support and pledge to continue working hand-in-hand with the PTA to bring wonderful learning opportunities to the children at Uintah. We look forward to all the different activities happening this month, like SEP conferences, our free, outdoor Movie Night on the 6th – dress warmly and bring a chair and blanket! Fall Break is also coming up and this year includes the Monday afterward. Our monthly Community Council is on the 19th because of Fall Break, too. We also have our free and fun Fall Festival on the evening of the 27th and, of course, the Halloween Parade which will start at 9:00 a.m. on the 31st. Thank you to the PTA for arranging and paying for many of these activities. The Uintah community is awesome!

One final word on safety. We want everyone, students and parents, to get to school and depart from school safely. We have noticed an increase in people either sending their children across 1300 south, through traffic, to get to and from the school or taking them with them across this busy street. This is so dangerous even if you are the one shepherding them. Please use the crosswalks nearby or please consider dropping off and picking up along the east side of 1500 East as the gate to the field is open for this very reason. Many people also park on a nearby street and walk over to get their child or have a designated spot on a nearby street to meet. Let’s all do better to be as safe as possible with ourselves and our little ones. We care about everyone in our Uintah community! Let’s have a great month. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message September 5, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

This school year sure is off to a wet start and is shaping up to stay green for a bit longer than usual. I heard there was snow in the mountains recently and that some of the leaves up higher in the mountains are changing, so it does appear that Fall is still approaching. Here at school, most of our leaves are still green, and we are enjoying the milder weather at recesses while we can. We are also working on all the regular start of the year things, like taking our beginning-of-the-year reading and math assessments, getting to know each other better, practicing our procedures and how to follow the rules, and we are diving into science and other curriculum as well.

Coming up on Thursday, September 14th at 4:45 p.m. on Zoom is our 1st School Community Council (SCC) meeting of the year. This is an opportunity for you to learn more about what happens behind the scenes at the school and to help make some of the decisions on how the school spends our Trustlands funds distributed from the state. Please see our Uintah SSC website for information on how to be a voting member of the committee and how to join the Zoom meeting. We look forward to seeing you there!

We are also looking forward to the upcoming PTA Color Run again this year on Friday, September 22nd! Last year we had a blast running around the neighborhood, getting chalk colors all over ourselves and the sidewalk, and we raised around $60,00 for the school on top of that! It was a win all round. We look forward to having more fun this year exercising with lots of colored chalk on us and raising money to help support the fun the PTA has in store for us this year. Thank you to all the adults who help to make this a fun, exciting, and colorful time for students and adults and a great way to support Uintah monetarily.  Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message August 14, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year! This year marks the 30th year of students learning in this new building. If you have a chance, look at the plaque in the front entrance way that includes one of the original Uintah signs from the old building along with some pictures of the original building as well. One of the symbols of a 30-year anniversary is the pearl, which conjured up in my mind the image of the pearly white coat of a unicorn, so let’s have fun this year celebrating 30 great years in our building as Unicorns with many more years to come!

Uintah has also undergone some wonderful construction projects this summer, which have impacted not only the inside of the building, but the grounds as well. The construction is part of the Board of Education’s efforts to minimize the impact our buildings have on the environment and to be carbon neutral. Here is a short list, provided to us in part by Greg Libecci from the district, of things that have been done at Uintah:

First, right before the school year ended, all lights inside the building were replaced with LED bulbs and fixtures. This will reduce cost and allow for more flexibility in the lighting settings of classrooms.

Second, the HVAC system was retrofitted and upgraded to be completely electric. This new system will not emit harmful emissions associated with gas fired boilers such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4). The other major improvement is the elimination of the antiquated pneumatic HVAC controls system with a state-of-the-art electronic controls system, so each classroom has more control over the temperature in the room along with giving more consistent temperatures across the building. Only parts of West High School and Uintah still had a pneumatic system.

There is a very large new piece of equipment located on the east side of the building called an Air Source Heat Pump, which performs the same service as the boiler system used to, providing the hot water required by the HVAC system to heat the school. 50 Variable Air Volume (VAV) boxes, located above the ceiling tiles, have been replaced as part of the overall new system throughout the school.

New electric kitchen equipment has been installed replacing gas fired equipment. This will make for a healthier kitchen environment by eliminating unwanted byproducts from gas combustion.

A part of all this construction was the need for a new main power line from the street to the building, which necessitated the power being shut off for almost a whole month and a half. This meant, among many things, that our sprinkling system did not go off automatically at night. To help with this, the custodial staff and I started manually turning on the sprinklers, which resulted in some issues with watering not only our grass, but also our new trees we planted just this last May, so we lost a few of our new trees. I have already talked about this with our District grounds people, and we are doing the best we can to replace those and keep up with the watering now that the power is back on to help the rest of our trees stay healthy. Trees are also great for the environment!

We look forward to seeing everyone at Back-to-School Night this coming Monday, August 21st starting at 4:30 p.m. There will be a short informational meeting for parents given at the following times:

            4:30 p.m.

            5:30 p.m.

            6:30 p.m.

Come on by the auditorium to one of these and learn more about the school and what we are doing this year with the Zones of Regulation and hear from the PTA. The rest of the time during the evening, parents and children can meet with teachers and see where much of the learning this year will take place. It should be a great start to a ‘pearly’ great year. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

 

Principal’s Message June 2, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

June is finally here! It’s been an exciting year with lots of fun events like our Color Run, Fall Carnival, STEM Night, and the just completed Art Night. Thank you to the PTA and all the volunteers for making this year so successful.

We’ve also been on lots and lots of field trips this year, had many dance and drama informances, and had fun enjoying the 3rd grade play. And the fun isn’t quite over yet as we have several more days of school to go until the last day, which this year is June 9th. Our last week of school has our Talent Show on Tuesday, our 6th Grade Promotion on Thursday, many class and grade level field trips throughout the week, and Yearbook Signing and our final Trait-of- the-Month assembly on Friday. On June 9th, our last day of the year, at around 12:35 p.m., we will start to gather out front to lower the flag one more time and to sing the school song one more time before the official end of the year. Please join us there if you can.

Thank you for all you have done to help your child have a safe and successful school year at Uintah. It has been our pleasure to work with you and your child/ren to help them grow physically, academically, and emotionally. Please be safe this summer wherever you may be or travel. If you will have a student here next year, we look forward to another fun, academically challenging, and successful year here at Uintah. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message May 9, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy May! We hope your month is going well. Here at Uintah, we have many, many activities happening this month such as field trips, Art Night, Field Day, and end-of-year testing. We want everyone to be able to participate in all these activities, so please do what you can to help your child/ren get to bed early so they get lots of rest and can get up, get a great breakfast, and come to school ready for whatever opportunities and challenges the day will bring.

This month’s Trait of the Month is effort. We know the students have worked so hard this year to learn their ABCs and 123s along with learning how to be better humans in their interactions with others. We are in the final stretch of the year, and it will take more sustained effort on everyone’s part to finish out the year strong, so students can show us what they have learned this year on their end-of-year testing. Please encourage them to do their best on these assessments as it does make a difference for our school.

With this emphasis on hard work and effort, I believe we need to balance our lives by also encouraging students and adults to play hard and have fun. We can all do this at activities this month such as the PTA Arts Night on the 19th, Field Day which is on the 2nd of June, and on the many field trips that the students, teachers, and chaperones will take as the year winds down. Look to your child’s teacher for more information on the many activities happening in their classroom. Let’s celebrate all the hard work and effort this year and have some fun together with our Uintah community while doing so. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message April 1, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy April! It looks like Mother Nature is playing an April Fool’s joke on all of us with this weather, but we do need the moisture for our plants, trees, animals and us! Speaking of plants, the District Facilities Management crew has arranged for us to work with the non-profit Tree Utah to help plant some much needed trees across our property! This was supposed to take place during the first week of April, weather permitting. We will see what Mother Nature has in store for us, but we should be getting some more trees here soon either way. And the great thing about working with Tree Utah is that a requirement of theirs is that students MUST help plant the trees! It’s a win-win! We look forward to this activity whenever it happens. Thanks to our Facilities Services department and to Tree Utah!

As we move into April, we are fast approaching our testing season, which this year will start the first week of May. Teachers and students are working hard to prepare for these high-stakes assessments. We know that a wholistic education is much more than any one test score on an end-of-year assessment, which is why we strive to give students at Uintah a broad range of learning experiences. However, we do have accountability to parents, District leadership and the state, and many of these groups use End-of-Year test scores as part of that accountability, so please help your child get plenty of rest and eat a good breakfast to be prepared when they do test. We appreciate your support with this.

Lastly, we want to give the Uintah PTA a shout-out for their support of teachers and paraprofessionals this past month. Thank you for supporting the hard-working people at our school. We also know that our annual Arts Night is fast approaching and will be on Friday, May 19th, so please save the date. We look forward to celebrating all the wonderful art that happens at Uintah. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson
Principal

 

Principal’s Message March 8, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

March is upon us, and it’s come with lots of snow! Thank you for your help with the asynchronous day a few weeks ago and for your continued support to help your child get to school safely despite the snow or other inclement weather. We still need your help to decrease tardies and absences as much as we can. We know this can be difficult to do with the various illness floating around in the community, so please keep doing all you can do to help your child stay healthy and be at school and on time. Good attendance really does make a positive difference for children.

We want to give a huge shoutout to the PTA and the whole Uintah community for their generosity to help fund more field trips this year. Here are a few that have just happened or that will be happening soon: Visits to the Hogle Zoo, the Rose Wagner Theatre, the Clayton Play, the Discovery Gateway, the Capitol Theatre by multiple grade levels, the Ogden Nature Center and many more! Field Trips provide our students much needed real-life experiences that can’t always be replicated at school, so thank you, again, for your generosity to make these field trips and many more like them happen this school year.

Also know that our 3rd Grade is busy working on their play, The Aristocats, which will debut later this school year. Keep up the great work, 3rd grade. We look forward to seeing the fruits of your hard work and effort. Thank you to the PTA for supporting the Uintah school play with funds to purchase the rights to the play and support props and other important play needs.

And remember that the last week of the month, March 27-31, is Spring Break. We hope everyone – teachers, students and families – are able to spend some quality time together and enjoy time away from school. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Uintah Principal

 

Principal’s Message February 3, 2023

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy cold February. We’re glad that temperatures are moving upward and that more snow and storms will help move the yucky air out of the valley at least temporarily. Remember, if it is colder than 20 degrees, we have students stay in from recess. If it is a yellow or orange air day, we have those who are sensitive to air quality stay inside. When it’s a red air day, everyone stays inside. Let’s hope for some warmer temperatures and enough changes in the weather to keep the air healthy.

Our February Trait-of-the-Month is Kindness, which goes somewhat along the lines of Valentine’s Day and love. We encourage everyone in our Uintah community to show kindness not just this month but always. One way we can show kindness is in how we drop off and pick up children. Consider the following:

Please remember that how we act toward the homes and families surrounding our building has an impact on them and how they think about and feel about our school. Please avoid parking in their driveways or blocking them with vehicles.

Please use and have your children use the crosswalks instead of running across 1300 South or 1500 East. Besides being illegal, it is so, so dangerous to you and to your children. We want everyone to be safe and stay safe. Remember, we have an open gate on the west side of the field so that students can be dropped off on 1500 East and walk across the field to the school. Many also drop off children on side streets by the crosswalks so they can make it across the road safely. Please remember to show kindness to not just others, but to yourself as well in following these safety rules.

One other area where we can be kinder to ourselves is with our evening and morning routines, so that more of us arrive to school on time. We have over 100 students who have been tardy 5 or more times so far this school year, with too many students having well over 10 tardies. 100 students is around ¼ of our school! Please consider the negative impact that arriving tardy has not only on your child, but on their classmates and teacher. I know getting children to bed early and then up, ready, and out the door in the morning is difficult! Many of my own 9 children still struggle in these areas (Teenagers are an interesting breed, too!). As a result, my wife and I have had to adjust our family’s habits and routines to help our children be more successful in the morning, so they get to school on time. I encourage all of us to take stock of what we can do differently to help our children be able to get up, get ready and to be on time to school, and then make the necessary changes. It really will make a positive difference in their life and at our school.

Thank you for all you do to support our Uintah community. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message January 2, 2023

Unicorns United

Happy New Year and welcome to 2023 Unicorns! We hope everyone had a safe and fun break. We’re back into the swing of things here at Uintah. This month we’ve got some fun activities coming up. We have our Trait-of-the-Month Assembly on Friday the 13th where, because we had so many donations to our Uintah Goes East pantry drive that I will get to have at least one pie in the face! Good thing I like pie! Our Science Fair is on the 18th and our PTA Science Fest Night for the whole family is on Friday the 20th, so please come and join us for this fun activity. The end of the 2nd quarter is also this month on the 27th, which marks our half-way point through the year. It seems to have flown by!

At this beginning time of the year many people look toward setting new goals and making resolutions. Here are a few of suggestions that are school related that you may wish to discuss with your family. Perhaps it would be a great time to recommit to getting to bed early and waking up early so everyone can arrive to school on time. Perhaps we could recommit to eating a great breakfast before school or work or to remember to bring cold-weather clothing to school to have fun at recess. What other school-related goals would make for a great resolution for your family to discuss?

One safety goal that is worth repeating is to please have students use the crosswalks by the school when crossing the street. We’ve seen several students running across 1300 South right in front of the school during traffic, which is super scary and dangerous. We would much rather have a student a few moments tardy than being injured

coming to school, so please, please be safe when coming to and going from school. Let’s have a great month and a great new year here at Uintah! Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message December 1, 2022

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy December! We hope that you and your family are healthy, safe, and warm! There are definitely a lot of illnesses going around that are not COVID, so please do all you can to help your child to stay healthy. We know that it can be difficult to keep a child home when they are sick, but we do ask that you do so to help minimize the spread of all illnesses including COVID as it is still out there. We have plenty of masks for students and adults to wear in the building, too if you desire. Let’s all do our part to keep as many people healthy as possible through these winter months!

Our schoolwide Trait of the Month for December is generosity. Our PTA has a great charity drive that goes along with this trait: Uintah Goes East. This is a charity drive to collect needed items for the East High School Pantry, which supports the students who attend East High. See the SWAY for more information on the specific items that are needed and how to donate.

We hope that everyone has a great December planning for and enjoying the holidays. We also hope that everyone has a fun and relaxing time during the upcoming Winter Break, which starts on the 23rd of the month. School will resume on Monday, January 6, 2023!  Take care. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message November 2, 2022

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy November! We hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween. With Thanksgiving this month, we decided our positive character Trait of the Month here at school should be appreciation, and we have so much to be thankful for and to appreciate. Along those lines, here are some things and people that we can appreciate and be thankful for. First, thanks to a grant that the district recently received, every homeroom classroom in our building received an air purifier! Thanks to Paul Schulte and others at the district office for making this possible. Another appreciation goes out to our custodial staff who have helped to clean and maintain our wonderful building and grounds all through the fun times we had in October and every day. Thank you to Mario, Glen, Max, Oliver and Tim. We appreciate you! Another shout out of appreciation goes out to our office staff who do such an amazing job helping with communication between school and home along with bonked heads, scraped knees and the occasional bout of throw up. Kudos to Annie, Vanessa and Marianne. We appreciate you. Another group of people we appreciate is our hard-working and amazing teachers and paraprofessionals. Their work with children makes a positive difference in the lives of children every day. We appreciate you and are grateful you are here at Uintah. And lastly, a huge appreciation shout-out goes to the PTA and the entire Uintah community for their fundraising efforts this past month. We so appreciate the hard work and generosity of the entire extended Uintah community. What do you appreciate and are thankful for? Let’s share the spirit of gratitude and appreciation as the Uintah community is definitely one that has so much for which to be thankful! Happy November and go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message October 24, 2022

Unicorns United

Dear Uintah Community,

Here are several important items for you to know and consider.

First, a huge shoutout to the Uintah PTA and the entire Uintah community for the Uintah Color Run and the fundraising total of $54,000+! Thank you to everyone who helped in any way. And the Uintah Fall Festival had a huge turnout with lots of fun games, food and other fun! Thanks again to the fabulous PTA and to everyone who helped and who came to support these two wonderful activities. We have such a great and supportive community here at Uintah!

With all of this gathering and mingling, we need to keep in mind that there are lots of unhealthy bugs going around that are not COVID. We've had many people at school, both adults and kids, who have come down with illnesses that are not COVID, but that are still communicable causing many absences among students and adults. Please, if your child is sick, keep them home until they are well enough to come and are no longer contagious. We know this can be difficult with childcare, but it is important that we keep the transmission of illness to a minimum here at school. Wearing a mask can also help minimize the transmission of illness, so consider having your child wear a mask as needed. Thank you for your attention to this. Let's support each other to have as safe and healthy a school year as we can. 

Lastly, Halloween is coming up next Monday, October 31st! Our annual Halloween parade will also be that day. See your child's teacher for more specific details on what we have planned. We are also planning on having a Zoom feed for the parade so the classes can see each other and so that others who can't make it to the parade can join in the fun. Look for more info with a map and a Zoom link coming later this week.

Thank you to everyone for making Uintah a great place to learn and grow. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message May 9, 2022

Unicorns United - Embrace the Power of Yet.

Dear Uintah Community,

May is now in full swing and along with it comes our End-of-Year testing. We appreciate all the hard work and effort students, teachers, and parents have put into student-learning this year. We want all the students to feel comfortable and confident when they go to test, so please help them get to bed early, arrive on time, and get a great start to the day with a yummy breakfast. We’ll take it from there!

This month’s Positive Character Trait of the Month is patience. We have defined patience to include having self-control, showing tolerance for other people and situations, and being calm when things don’t go your way or things take longer than you think they should. With all the stressful things going on in the world, in our lives, and even here at school, we hope that by focusing on patience and calming strategies and techniques, students and staff will be able to feel less stressed and more ready to face the activities of the day.

Finally, we have quite a few retirements this year at Uintah. As you may recall, our beloved custodian, Ms. Lorna, retired in March. At the end of this year Ms. Ann Busico – PE, Ms. Melissa Mendez – 5th grade, Ms. Marianne Plumridge – Secretary, and Ms. Carol Theurer – 3rd Grade will also be retiring. We have also learned that Ms. Hilary, our amazing art teacher, will not be back next year as well. We will definitely miss all these wonderful people and wish them all the best in their future endeavors. Please take a moment to wish them well when you get the chance.

Go Unicorns!

Bruce P. Simpson

 

Principal’s Message April 11, 2022

Unicorns United - Embrace the Power of Yet.

Dear Uintah Community,

We hope everyone had a great time during Spring Break recharging and taking a break from the normal school day-to-day activities. We’re had a great Uintah Unicorns United Spirit Week last week and are gearing up for our upcoming testing cycle, which will take place for most grade levels starting sometime at the beginning of May.

This month’s positive character trait goes right along with where we are at in the school year as well. April’s trait is perseverance, and we define that with the students by saying: Perseverance means you keep going even when things are hard and you feel like giving up. Sometimes these last few months can be difficult in multiple areas, such as attitude and behavior. Another area that can be difficult is attendance. We understand that we are still under the effects of a global pandemic, so when your child/ren are healthy, please do all you can to get your them here on time and ready to learn. There are so many wonderful learning experiences that a child misses when not present in class, and we want everyone to have those learning opportunities. And please continue to do all you can to help your child get lots of rest and eat a good breakfast, so they are ready for learning every day and testing when it does begin. Look for more info on when your child will be testing coming home from their teacher.

Besides testing, we have some fun activities planned for the end of the year as well. The 3rd grade play is happening this week, so good luck 3rd graders! The annual Maturation presentation for 5th and 6th graders will be in-person on Friday, April 15th at 9:00 a.m. at the school, and we invite all parents of 5th and 6th graders who can to join their child for that presentation. Tuesday, April 19th is the final Asynchronous day for the year, so look for info coming home from your child’s teacher about work to do that day. And Friday, April 29th is a non-student day with no work being sent home. As a result, Thursday April 28th is a short day.

We also have the annual PTA Arts Night coming up on the 13th of May, and it will be in-person this year! Yeah! We are also planning on Field Day this year, and look forward to having some fun together outside that day, which has yet to be scheduled, but will take place sometime at the end of May. There are lots of other fun activities happening, so look for more info coming home from your child’s teacher. Here is to a great remainder of the year at Uintah. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

 

Principal’s Message March 7, 2022

Unicorns United - Embrace the Power of Yet.

Dear Uintah Community,

I hope your March is going well. We are two-thirds of the way over with the year with the end of the trimester having just taken place, so we are heading into the home stretch! As you know, there have been several changes with health guidelines recently from the CDC, our County Health Department, and the Mayor of Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City School District quietly updated their guidelines last Friday as well. Click here for the updated guidelines. I encourage you to read over them as they will undoubtedly change things for us moving forward. One of the ways that this will change things for many families is that more and more students and adults will be removing their masks while at school. This is in line with the updated guidelines, so we plan on it happening more and more as we hopefully move toward the end of the pandemic. We also know that the pandemic is not yet over and that there are many, many reasons for people to keep masks on. We respect everyone’s decisions on these matters and will work to help the children understand that this is a family and personal choice, and that we can and will still be able to work and play together safely as we move forward the rest of this year. We will continue to be vigilant about current COVID situations and will follow District and local, state, and national guidelines in these matters in case things change. I would also like our school community to know that 80% of the students in the school have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with the vast majority of those students having received 2 doses and some even a booster.

We are also working on next year’s School Community Council Trustlands Plan, so please join us for details and the discussion about that at our next Community Council Meeting on Thursday, March 10th at 4:45 p.m. on Zoom. Details and how to log into the meeting are on our website at https://uintah.slcschools.org/community/school-community-council-scc. We’d love to see you there!

Thank you to the PTA and to our Librarian, Ms. Edgley, for helping with the Story Cupboard Book Fair this past week. Our teachers would also like to thank everyone who donated books to their classroom libraries. It was nice to have more people back into the building and to have more of a normal Book Fair experience.

One very important announcement we have is that after serving the students of the Salt Lake City School District for 43 years, with 25 of those being here at Uintah, our beloved Custodian, Lorna Woodson, will be retiring at the end of this month. Please make sure to thank her for all her hard work over these many years and wish her all the best on a well-deserved retirement. We are sad to see her go, but are excited for her and wish her well on this next journey in life. Thank you, Ms. Lorna!

I’m also sure everyone is also looking forward to Spring Break, which is coming up at the end of this month from March 28th through and including April 1st. We hope everyone has a safe and fun March and a fun time during the break, too! Take care. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

Principal’s Message February 8, 2022

Unicorns United - Embrace the Power of Yet.

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy February! This month, besides celebrating Valentine’s Day and all of the fun we’ll have there, we are also focusing on the positive character trait of honesty. The definition of honesty we use is being truthful in what we do and say. Being honest can be difficult for any of us to do, but more especially it can be difficult when we make mistakes or do or say something we know we shouldn’t have done. Often, when I meet with a student who has made a poor choice, the discussion turns toward honesty, specifically being honest with ourselves about the choices we have made and the thinking that led us to those choices. When we are honest with ourself, it is easier to be honest with others, which leads to making the right choice especially when that may seem difficult. Another trait that helps with being honest is knowing that when we do make mistakes, we will still be loved, valued and accepted for who we are, and that we will be supported to learn from our mistakes. Kids are learning and make mistakes every day; it’s part of the learning process and necessary to growing and having and keeping a growth mindset, which is why keeping January’s trait of acceptance in mind will help us cultivate an environment of support that helps us and others when learning from the mistakes we make. I hope that we can continue to show love, acceptance, and honesty in our Uintah community this month and always. Go Unicorns!

Bruce Simpson

Principal

Principal’s Message January 6, 2022

Unicorns United - Embrace the Power of Yet.

Dear Uintah Community,

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a restful and safe holiday break. We are glad to be back with students and are moving forward into this new year. With COVID cases on the rise, we are grateful for the City Council and Mayor Mendenhall for extending the mask mandate. We will continue to wear masks when at school and follow all the other COVID guidelines including increased hand washing and social distancing as much as possible. We know that lines are long to get a COVID test and are grateful for the time and effort that it takes to get one when you or any of your children have any signs of COVID. We want to help everyone stay as safe as possible, so please continue to communicate with our office staff and your child’s teacher regarding any health issues that need discussion.

We are focusing on acceptance this month as our Positive Character Trait of the Month and discussing it with the students and adults in the building. One of the definitions we are using for acceptance is that it means understanding and celebrating the ways that each person is different and unique, and that we show acceptance when we make others feel valuable and loved regardless of our differences. We hope that this positive message spreads throughout our school and into our homes and the community. Have a great January! Take care.

Bruce Simpson

Principal

Bruce Simpson

Bruce Simpson

Principal - Elementary