Alpine Elementary News and Announcement Archive

Join us Saturday, March 2nd at Kent ISD, for the LEAP conference: Lead/Empower/Assist Parents

Kent ISD, Early On, Grand Valley State University and Kent County Health Dept.-Children’s Special Health Care Services are partnering to bring a day long workshop designed with parents and providers in mind!

Chris Klein, a West Michigan resident and adult user of Augmentative Communication will provide a morning keynote – not to be missed! Exhibitors from local community agencies will be available all day. And, you will have access to 24 breakout sessions on a wide range of topics including:

-Family Friendly Assistive Technology to Enhance Daily Communication
-Reading & Writing Strategies for the Struggling Student
-Positive Discipline for Children with Special Needs

The Kent Intermediate School District has provided some information that might be helpful for those some families in need of food assistance. The attached pdf documents include information on how to apply for food assistance, food assistance resources and a list of food pantries in Kent County. English and Spanish versions are available. If you are unable to print this document, please contact the office at Alpine and we would be happy to assist you.

The annual Alpine Elementary School Carnival was held on Friday, January 25th. It was a very fun night for families! A huge thank you goes out to all of our volunteers who set up, worked in the kitchen, sold tickets, ran games, and cleaned up. The Carnival would not be possible without the help of many hands. Thank you also to all of the families who braved the weather to come out and enjoy a night of fun with the Alpine community.

Who? Alpine families and their friends
What? Fundraiser Night for Alpine Elementary
When? Thursday, January 31st 3-9 P.M.
Where? Chuck E. Cheese on Alpine Ave.
Why? To raise funds for the many programs and events supported by the Alpine PTO
How? Make sure to tell the cashier that you are from Alpine so that they will credit us with 15% of your bill. Stickers will be passed out to students at school that day for 10 free tokens. In addition, your child can bring their most recent report card. Chuck E. Cheese gives students up to 15 free tokens for good scores on report cards!

Please see the attached document for more information from the Superintendent regarding school safety.

Santa's Secret Shop will be held on Tuesday, December 11th during the school day. Students are able to bring money to shop for Christmas gifts for their loved ones. Envelopes will be coming home in backpacks in early December. Items range from $.50 to $12.00. Because we use Fun Services for this event, we are able to obtain Mackinac Island Ferry coupons for Star Line Ferry. For more information on this, go to www.funservicesgr.com

Please Mark Your Calendars!

WHEN: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4

WHERE: KENOWA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (PAC)
BASIC INFORMATION: THERE WILL BE 2 CONCERTS THE EVENINGS OF THE 4TH FOR ALPINE ELEMENTARY.

*CONCERT #1 WILL BE FROM 6:00-7:00 PM FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES KINDERGARTEN -2ND. STUDENTS SHOULD MEET THEIR TEACHER AT 5:40 IN THE HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA.

*CONCERT #2 WILL BE AT 7:15, FOR GRADES 3RD-5TH. STUDENTS SHOULD MEET THEIR TEACHER AT 6:55 IN THE HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA.

*THERE WILL BE A SHORT BREAK BETWEEN THE TWO CONCERTS TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO COME AND GO.

BLACK FRIDAY KNIGHT
Kenowa Basketball program is having a "Knight" of Basketball and fun for boys grade K-8th. Friday, November 16th 5:30-8:30pm at KH High School Gym. The cost is $15.00 and includes pizza and a drink. The boys will be playing games, doing drills and skills, and having a lot of fun. The program is being run by our High School Basketball Coaches and Players. Please email angiegloeyahoo.com with your sons name and grade. GO KNIGHTS!!!!

Kenowa Hills Youth Boys Basketball Program:

November 17th Registrations and Workouts/Evaluations:

1st grade: 9:30-11:00 at Central Elementary. Cost is $45 ($10 late fee after 11/17). Program will run December 1,2 and 15. January 12, 19, and 26. February 2nd.

Dear Alpine Elementary Parents/Guardians,

As a school we are focused on continuous improvement and it is important to our staff that we gather feedback from parents on the educational experience students are receiving. In order to provide parents with an opportunity to provide valuable feedback for us to utilize in our school improvement planning, we are asking parents to complete the survey below. Please take a moment to complete this survey by typing this link into your web browser:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J7XQWTK

We will be gathering input throughout November and December. In order for your input to be analyzed, please complete by December 15. Thank you in advance for your participation.

-Alpine Elementary Staff

Alpine Third Graders began their exploration of Michigan geography by recently visiting the sand dunes at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park and nearby Lake Michigan. Students learned how the glaciers that moved over Michigan during the Ice Age formed our great lakes and sand dunes. Alpine third graders enjoyed exploring a dune model and displays of mammals, reptiles, birds, and amphibians that make their home in the dune habitat. In addition, students were able to perform an experiment with magnets to discover magnetite in our sand. The favorite part of their trip, however, was climbing the sand dunes and running back down into the strong winds blowing off Lake Michigan!

Technology is playing of a major role at Alpine Elementary. Using technology just for the sake of saying you use technology is not going to work. We, at Alpine, believe that technology must be used to enhance what the students are learning in class.

One way in which we will be utilizing technology this year is through something called “QR Coding”. Each class will have the opportunity to participate in the QR Code our Library Challenge. Mrs. Bush wrote and received a grant from MACUL to purchase 6 i-pod touches for the building to use to help them accomplish this challenge. The i-pod touches will be used to make and view the student videos.

Help the environment and your school by turning paper into cash for your school! Drop any of the paper items listed below into the PaperGator bin located near the rear entrance at any time this year and Alpine Elementary will receive funds to help cover the cost of field trips, assemblies, and other special events. The paper is shredded and processed into hydro seeding mulch, lawn repair products, cat and dog litter, animal bedding, or recycled into insulation.

What can go in the bin? Newsprint, catalogs/magazines, junk mail, phone books, office/school paper, hard and soft cover books

What can't go in the bins? Plastic, metal, trash, glass, cardboard, or paperboard (grocery item boxes)

Come join the Alpine Elementary School Community as we hold the first Pastries with Parents event of the year. You will be treated to donuts from Dunneback and Girls Farm, juice from Old Orchard, and coffee from Starbucks. Meet other parents and Alpine students. The event is totally free and all are welcome. It will be a great way to start the day!

Date: Thursday, October 25th
Time: 8:00 - 8:30 A.M.
Location: Alpine Elementary Gym

Date: Wednesday, October 17th
Time: All Day and Evening
Place: Buffalo Wild Wings on Alpine Ave.
Proceeds: 20% of all sales of food and drinks will be donated to the Alpine Elementary PTO to support programs for our children.

All sales count including take-out.
Wednesday nights are kids' nights. Kids' meals are $1.99 and entertainment is provided.

***You must bring the coupon that will be sent home in backpacks before the event. The coupon is also attached below for you to print.

The next time your child says he or she can’t find an interesting book, use the websites below to help find the newest, coolest books and keep them reading. You will also find a handout you may print attached.

What are other kids reading?
http://www.reading.org/Resources/Booklists/ChildrensChoices.aspx
•These are choices made by other kids and organized by different age groups.

What’s next in the series?
http://ww2.kdl.org/libcat/whatsnext.asp
•Starting a new series and wondering what book is next? This page from KDL will help you find out.

What books are popular?
http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/overview.html
•Scroll down the New York Times Bestseller list to the children’s categories to see what the most sold books
are each week.

Thank you to everyone who supported this very successful fundraiser. Pick-up will be held on Monday, October 1st from 6:00-7:30 P.M. in the Alpine Gymnasium. Please make arrangements to pick up your order that night as we will have no refrigeration options available. Thank you!

Mrs. Bush is planning to continue with her flipped classroom in math with our fifth grade students. She has put forth time over the summer into further developing this model and improving on past practices. At the beginning of August, she had over 21,500 hits from all over the world (including places from as far away as Australia, Singapore and Russia) on her professional blog. Her blog was also voted into the “Top 25 Teacher-Mom Blogs”. Furthermore, she has been asked to share her story and experience in a soon to be written and published book by the originator of the flipped classroom.

Soon, black-and-gold Kenowa Pride! signs will be popping up in area yards. The Kenowa Hills Education Foundation is selling the signs for just $10 each. All proceeds will go directly to the Foundation to enhance the educational opportunities of our students. Signs are being sold at each school office and will be sold at upcoming Knights football games. A special thanks to the KHEF for sponsoring this fundraiser and to Icon Sign for donating the signs. Let’s cover the area with Kenowa Pride! Go Knights!

We have many fun, family-friendly events planned for the school year as well as several fundraisers for the PTO. See the attached calendar for more information.