The ribbon cutting ceremony for the new learning landscape at Crofton Elementary School, 2409 Arapahoe St., is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 20 during the school’s Student Showcase, which begins at 5 p.m.

Students were involved in the redesign of the playground, working with a student architect from the University of Colorado at Denver. The playground was transformed to a nurturing learning landscape for children. The new design is predicated on the night sky - as Polaris is the center of the night sky, so it becomes the center of this playground. The surrounding arcs - reflecting the stars’ change in position as the Earth orbits the sun - organize the playground elements. Traditional play equipment and blacktop intermingle with gardens, plaza, quiet gathering spaces, boulders and shady groves. Sculpture, tile and murals intersperse with the monumental shade structure and gateway to anchor Crofton Elementary as a new landmark serving both the students and the larger community.

From 5-8:30 p.m., Crofton Elementary will proudly showcase student projects – such as baking, art, yoga, Shakespeare, poetry, music and film – from the Friday electives program. Launched with enormous success during the 2002-03 school year, the electives program is designed to stimulate, encourage and support children's curiosity in a wide variety of artistic and academic themes.

Each Friday afternoon, students explore topics such as dissection, botany, fine art, large-scale art and sculpture, ceramics, robotic engineering, karate, yoga, dance, origami, printmaking, Spanish, French, book-making, chess, acting, newspaper publishing, zoology, student council, claymation, digital photography, film making, promotional and marketing video construction, textile arts, baking, poetry writing and performance, Shakespeare, garage band and honor choir. (In addition to its performance at the May 20 showcase, the Crofton Honor Choir will be performing the National Anthem at Coors Field Tuesday, May 27.)

The Polaris Program at Crofton Elementary opened September 2000 as the first DPS school solely dedicated to meeting the academic needs of identified highly gifted and high achieving students. Crofton is the assigned northeast Denver site for highly gifted students and has 185 students in grades 1-5. It has been a John Irwin School of Excellence on the basis of CSAP scores and a Colorado School of Excellence in the Arts for two years.

An enriched and extended DPS curriculum forms the foundation for study at Crofton Elementary, with a richly integrated academic/arts focus. Every effort is made to involve the students in community-based, real-life projects such as the playground redesign.

For information, contact the school at 303-292-4629.