Alpine Elementary News and Announcement Archive

Mark your calendars for the 5th Alpine Elementary Walk-a-thon on Friday, May 18th from 2:15 - 3:15 P.M. (rain date - May 25 from 2:15 - 3:15). Pledge forms were sent home and extras are available in the office and are also attached below. Students are collecting pledges for the walk-a-thon and pledge forms are due back by Wednesday, May 16. Students collecting pledges of $25 or more will be entered in a prize drawing and students collecting pledges of $50 or more will be entered into the grand prize drawing. Proceeds of the walk-a-thon go to the PTO to support next year's educational programs, study trips, and family events. We welcome parents and family members to come and support the students as they walk that day.

DISTRICT-WIDE KINDERGARTEN PARENT INFORMATION MEETING
There will be a parent information meeting on May 15 and 17, 2012, at 6:30PM at the Kenowa Hills High School Performing Arts Center. Registration information, details about the building-level kindergarten orientation and general information about the kindergarten experience will be discussed. Superintendent Hopkins, Mike Burde, Director of Curriculum & Instruction, and elementary principals will be available to share information and answer questions. Please mark your calendar to attend one of these informational sessions.

On Thursday, March 8th a group of four students from Mrs. Bush's class joined her at the MACUL conference that was held in Grand Rapids. MACUL stands for Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning. The students were part of a student showcase featuring students using
technology in the classroom. They showed off their student websites that they have been using this year as an e-portfolio. They were able to talk to over 60 different educators from all over Michigan (including the president of MACUL). They received very positive feedback from everyone they spoke with. The students involved were Fatima Reyes, Erica Green, Isaac Steers and Mitchell Punches. While only four attended the conference, all the students in Mrs. Bush's class created e-portfolios this year.

Students celebrated Jump Rope for Heart on the morning of March 2. Students gathered by grade level in our gymnasium for half an hour each to showcase their jump roping talents. Student fundraising efforts were recognized and all students were able to enjoy a “heart healthy” snack provided to our school by our PTO.

As a school we raised over $800.00 for the American Heart Association. The top six students who raised the most amount of money in their grade were: Michael Cortez, Alycia Castro, Gabe Hickey, Mallory Huhn, Kennedy Ansmits and Lydia Meyer. Depending on the amount they raised, students earned various prizes: water bottles, jump ropes, soccer balls, t-shirts, rocket launchers, etc.

Over the past month our school participated in a food drive for Kid’s Food Basket. Students donated non-perishable items from a specified list to Kid’s Food Basket and raised money to purchase additional items for our collection. Lauria Majchrzak (Alpine's music teacher) is to be recognized for promoting and organizing the food drive.

The total numbers for those groups that participated in the food drive were:
Zinser Elementary- 709 pounds
Alpine Elementary- 546 pounds
Ambucs- 138 pounds

That is a total of 1,393 pounds! This was the single biggest donation when added together with the matched pound for dollar!

The Book Fair is coming to Alpine once again on March 22. An added feature this year is an online shop where families can preview and purchase books!

The link the website is:
http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/alpineelemsch

If you have any questions, please contact Julie Beebe at: jbeebehellolife.net

We are currently in the process of looking for available Watch DOGS for the months of March and April. Please contact the office at 616-784-0884 if you are interested in being a Watch DOG for the day. This has been a wonderful program this year for our school community and most importantly, our students. I have attached a copy of the calendar that shows that days available below.

The annual Alpine Elementary School Carnival will be held on Friday, January 25th from 6:00-9:00 P.M. It will be a fun night for families! There will be many fun games and activities including favorites from the past and a couple of brand new ones. Little Caesar's pizza and breadsticks, popcorn, and drinks will be for sale in the gym. This event is not be possible without the help of many dedicated teachers, parents, friends, and Kenowa Hills students. We need volunteers to set up, run games, work in the kitchen, sell tickets, and clean up. Please email us at khpsalpineptogmail.com if you are interested in volunteering. Also, we are looking for donations of cans of pop for the pop toss, candy bars for the candy toss, and cakes for the cake walk!

Our first PTO meeting of the year is scheduled for Tuesday, September 11th. It will be held at 6:30 P.M. in the teacher's lounge. We will be discussing upcoming events and new ideas for the school year. Everyone is welcome. Please join us!

The Kenowa Hills Dance Team is hosting the annual Junior Dancers Clinic for girls 1st-8th grade on January 7, 2012! Learn a dance routine, have your picture taken with the Kenowa Hills Dance Team members, learn/practice dance skills, play games and win contests, receive a Dance T-Shirt, and perform at a High School Basketball Game on FRIDAY, JANUARY 13! Fill out a registration form and return to your schools office by December 16 to register. The registration form is attached below. See you in January!

The Alpine PTO along with staff and students teamed up with our learning partners at Crowe Horwath to bring our Alpine families a little help for the Thanksgiving holiday. On Tuesday, November 22 the Mobile Food Truck from Feeding America West Michigan came to our parking lot at Alpine Elementary. Over 60 families from our community came to receive free food to help fill their table for the holiday. This is almost four times the amount of families we were able to help than in past years with our food baskets!

A special thanks goes to all those parent volunteers that came to help set-up and distribute food. We look forward to doing this again next year.

Dear Alpine Families,

Every year as part of our service learning efforts at Alpine Elementary, we have collected non-perishable food items from families to create Thanksgiving baskets. Although this has been a great experience for our students, we going to try something a little different this year in hopes to meet more needs in our community. This year, Alpine Elementary is sponsoring the non-profit group, Feeding America, to come to our school to hand out food to needy families in our community. This is a great opportunity for our students to work together towards the common good to provide a need in our community.

Their website tells us:

The members of our staff at Alpine Elementary are committed to ongoing improvement and ensuring that we have a learning environment that is welcoming to our community and focused on student learning. Please take a moment to complete the survey below. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

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

*In order to access the survey, simply type this link into your web address window and answer the questions. The survey is short and takes approximately five minutes. Thank you for your support!

We have had a great beginning for our Watch D.O.G.S. program here at Alpine Elementary. We have had over forty fathers/father figures sign up to be at Alpine for a whole day and we have had a few volunteers in already this year. The response has been incredible from the staff and the students. We have shirts in for those of you that have ordered them, and Marc Huhn will be getting in touch with those who ordered one to coordinate payment and a place to pick them up.

We will be having our first ever curriculum night at Alpine Elementary on October 4, 2011 from 6:30 to 7:30. The purpose of this meeting is to inform parents about grade level curriculum, expectations, procedures and upcoming events specific to their son’s or daughter’s classroom. Teachers will be meeting as a grade level team with parents to review this information and to answer any questions. This will be a wonderful opportunity for parents to learn more about what their child will experience throughout the year.

Earlier this year, Mrs. Bush was awarded some grant funds from the Kenowa Hills Education Foundation (KHEF) to begin a Journalism Club at Alpine Elementary.

Fifth grade students have learned how to use technology to create an online newsletter. Students are responsible for managing the website and creating the content included. Students are very excited about being part of this club and gathering the information. This is a wonderful experience for our students and something our students hope to build on!

This newsletter is called, The Alpine Advance. The Alpine Advance has all you need to know about Alpine Elementary, the community and the world. Here is the website so you can check it out:

www.alpineadvance.weebly.com