Principal's News: April (Updated 5/30/13)

Dear Alpine Families,

I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating Memorial Day and is ready for the end of another wonderful school year at Alpine Elementary. It does not seem that long ago when we were welcoming students to the 2012-2013 school year and I cannot believe that preparations are underway for the 2013-2014 school year. Since my last news update, much has occurred that is worth sharing with our community. Here are a few highlights:

Our final round of MAP testing has concluded and the results have been analyzed by teachers. Teachers have analyzed the amount of growth individual students have made and areas of strength and weakness to focus on for next year. During testing, students were provided with goal cards that showed them the target score they were to beat to show adequate growth for the 2012-2013 school year. Students who met or exceeded their target score will receive a chance to dunk the principal (or classroom teacher should they choose to participate) on field day. Students were very excited to share that they beat their score with me!

As a school improvement team, we have completed our school improvement plan. Discussions around student data and what each individual teacher is doing to make an impact on this data are essential to our school improvement efforts. For the 2013-2014 school year, Alpine Elementary’s goals and objectives are focused on increasing student achievement data in obtainable increments to meet state requirements over time. The two common strategies across all content areas used to impact student learning are: ensuring we have a guaranteed and viable curriculum and a multi-tiered system of support. Numerous activities will be occurring regularly that connect to these strategies. Here is a list of these activities:
-Flexible grouping
-Direct vocab. instruction
-Guided reading
-S.I.O.P. (instructional best practices to meet the diverse needs of our building)
-Utilizing common rubrics and graphic organizers.
-Integrating writing across the curriculum.
-Basic fact practice
-Hands-on math activities
-Math inquires
-Focus on non-fiction text
-Utilizing the resource: Discovery Education

Girls on the run continues to be a success at Alpine Elementary. This year Alpine had 11 girls participating and completed a 5K race on May 18. Bob Elvey and Julie Beebe volunteered to be our coaches this year. The girls got active and learned many life lessons. Throughout the season the girls had discussion topics related to self, team and community improvement.

Throughout the year, our school recognizes students for their accomplishments. We have had a record number of students reach over 100 Accelerated Reader (AR) points. Whenever a student reaches 100 AR points, they get to be the “Principal for the Day” and are treated to lunch. In addition to recognizing students for reading, we have had another group of students nominated as Noble Knights (students who were noticed using a specific lifeskill by an adult). At the end of the month we will be recognizing our Alpine Achievers (students who met specific grade level academic expectations).

On April 29. a Kindergarten welcome was held to provide parents with general information about our district and Kindergarten and on May 20 Kindergarten orientation was held. We are very excited to start the school year with our new friends and see them grow behaviorally, socially and academically.

Our Walk-A-Thon was held on May 18. Students collected pledges to raise money for our school to use in a variety of ways. Students walked around our walking track for approximately an hour and won prizes for making various contributions. We had numerous volunteers and a special appearance from the 61Syx dance group. As a school we raised over $2,700.00 for our school. Mrs. Huhn and Mrs. Haines did an excellent job organizing for the event and communicating with the community.

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL EVENTS:
-Field day and our annual school picnic is scheduled for June 4. Activities will begin at 9:15 and conclude at 12:45. Students will be rotating through stations where they will play various games or complete various challenges. This year we will be holding grade level competitions in the afternoon. These competitions include tug-of-war and the shuttle run. Students will also be tie-dying T-shirts to wear and be coloring lunch bags for Kids Food Basket. A hot dog lunch will be provided to all those who attend. We are currently in the process of getting volunteers to help run stations.
-On June 5, our fifth grade will be going to the 3 mile project along with fifth graders from across the district. This will be our third year doing so and it has proven to be a great event for all students.
-We will be having our award assemblies on June 6 and our traditional flag lowering ceremony on June 7.

As stated above, it has been a wonderful year at Alpine. I am very lucky to be your principal and have enjoyed getting to know our students and their families. Throughout the year, friends have come and went. I am amazed by how our community welcomes new friends and encouraged by how our community remains here for each other. I am proud of all our students at Alpine for all the hard work they have done this year and all that they have learned. Also, I am thankful for all the skilled and caring teachers and support staff. Without them our school would not be special place that it is. Please remember that I always have an open door for parents if any concerns or issues arise that parents would like to discuss. I can be reached via phone, email or simply by stopping in. Also, do not forget that we have many opportunities to become involved at school or in your child's classroom. I look forward to seeing everyone at our fall open house on Tuesday, August 27 from 5:30-7:00PM.

Your partner in education,

Jason Snyder

NOTE REGARDING CLASS LISTS/CLASSROOM PLACEMENT FOR THE 2013-2014 SCHOOL YEAR:
Per the procedure established last year, students will be receiving a letter in the mail in August from the classroom teacher they will have for the 2013-2014 school year to notify them which classroom they will be in for the 2013-2014 school year. If you do not receive notification, please contact the office.