November 15 - Half Day for Students - Dismissal at 12:10 pm
November 19 - Parent Teacher Conferences 5:00-8:00 pm
November 21 - Parent Teacher Conferences 5:00-8:00 pm
November 27-29 - No School - Thanksgiving Break
December 2 - No School - Teacher PD Day
December 3 - Parent Teacher Conferences 5:00-7:00 pm
Dec. 23-Jan. 3 - No School - Winter Break
January 6 - No School - Teacher PD Day
The Principal's Pen
As we cross into October I wanted to bring your attention to a couple of things.
First, construction at Willow Ridge is slated to begin at the end of this month. The office will be relocating to our workroom and lounge for the duration of the school year. More information and detailed accessibility instructions will be provided in the near future, but wanted to give you a heads up that this will be happening within the next few weeks. The office work that is taking place is to add roughly 1200 square feet of space to create a secured entry. Within this new space, we will add a conference room, reworked reception area, principal's office, new sick area and an additional bathroom, dean's office and a counselor's office.
Secondly, we are adding two additional classrooms to the 3rd and 4th grade pod. Part of that design is to extend a hallway through an existing classroom for access to the new rooms. Due to that, Mr. Terranova's 3rd grade class will be relocating to the library since his classroom is part of the remodel and will have work done in that space. That is happening just before Thanksgiving.
Finally, Halloween is coming up. Classroom parties will be on October 31st and will be determined by your child's specific teacher, so be on the lookout for that information. We will have an all-school parade that same day around 3:00 that afternoon. We are timing the parade so that we will be done with it at the end of the school day. We ask that you do not plan on signing your child out after the parade, but rather take them home at the normal dismissal time.
School Pictures
Picture packets were sent home today in Friday Folders. You must return the picture packet you received today if you want your child's picture retaken. Picture retake day is October 25. Picture packets should be brought to school on retake day. If your child did not have pictures taken in September, please request an order form from the office.
PTA News
We kicked off our Fun Run campaign this week! Thanks to everyone that has registered and donated so far. Our school will be raising money to help our PTA continue to make Willow Ridge the best school we can be. The PTA uses our funds to help support assemblies, classroom supplies, staff appreciation, school t-shirts, fun events, and more. Sign up your student today, share their personalized webpage through Facebook or email. Everyone who registers gets a mini resin animal! Reach $50 get a smencil! Thanks for your support!!
Our goal this year is $20,000! We have already raised $6,015.
The Fun Run event date will be October 18th at Willow Ridge. The times for each grade level will be posted closer to this date. The kids can walk, run, or dance! Parents can join in as well!
Individual Rewards
Register - Mini Resin Animals
$50 raised - Smencils
$150 raised - Silly String Party
School Rewards
$5,000 - Popsicles at the fun run
$10,000 - Bubbles and music at drop off
$15,000 - Hat and Crazy socks
$20,000 - Popcorn and a movie in the gym
$25,000 - Block Party is free this year
Top 5 classes get a pizza party
Top class slimes Mr. Gee!
FUN RUN
Monday we are kicking off our Fun Run campaign! Our school will be raising money to help our PTA continue to make Willow Ridge the best school we can be. The PTA uses our funds to help support assemblies, classroom supplies, staff appreciation, school t-shirts, fun events, and more. Sign up your student today, share their personalized webpage through Facebook or email. You can start registering your child this weekend! Thanks for your support!!
HERO WEAR SALE
Free school T-shirt order forms will be coming home with any student who is NEW to Willow Ridge this year. ALL families are encouraged to participate in the online HERO wear sale. A flyer for the online store will come home in today's Friday folders. You can purchase Willow Ridge items through this sale.
POPCORN FRIDAYS
Popcorn Friday is starting up on October 11th. Popcorn Friday will be the second Friday of every month. If we do not have school the on the second Friday, popcorn day will move to the next Friday. See the list below.
The cost of popcorn this year is $1.00. You can pay $10.00 for the school year. The $10.00 is nonrefundable and is a donation. You may also send in money every month. Please have your child turn in their popcorn money to their teacher.
The money raised from popcorn days will go towards buying new Decodable reading books for classrooms.
Morning Drop Off Line
Counselor's Corner
This week, we continued with fall themes. Kindergarten classes read I Know it’s Autumn. First grade classes learned about nonfiction books when we read Fall from the Abdo Kids Seasons Series. Second graders enjoyed Leaf Man and Third grade classes read Those Darn Squirrels. Fourth graders earned a week of library centers due to super HERO behavior in the library last week. In addition to checking out new books, they enjoyed puzzles like hidden pictures, word search, jigsaw puzzles, and coding cubes as well as drawing and coloring.
Library Reminders: Be on the lookout for library reminder emails! These emails will be sent each week the afternoon or evening before your child’s library day.
Book Fair: The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to Willow Ridge! The Book Fair will be held November 18 through November 21, with family shopping nights on Tuesday and Thursday during conferences. Some volunteer opportunities will be available. Stay tuned for more information!
When does your child’s class visit the library?
Begindergarten and Kindergarten - Monday
First and Second Grade - Tuesday
Third Grade - Wednesday
Fourth Grade - Thursday
~ Mrs. Garnaat
Possession of Cell Phones, Smart Watches, and Other Electronic/Recording Communication Devices
The use of cell phones, smart watches, or any other ECD are prohibited to be used during the school day. It is recognized that some students may need access to these devices for transportation purposes after school and are therefore permitted after dismissal. During school, however, cell phones, smart watches, and other ECDs shall be turned off and stored away out of sight. If you are concerned that an electronic device might be stolen, broken or inappropriately used, please do not allow your student to bring it to school.
Attendance / Absence Policy Update
All absences from school conflict with the continuity of learning and need to be avoided when possible. Regular school attendance is necessary to academic success and continuous and consecutive attendance in school is required by State law; 10-undocumented absences limit per school year. The 10-absence limit per school year includes both Explained Absence (AE) and Unexplained Absence (AU).
In order to help provide supports for students and families, GLPS closely monitors explained and unexplained absences. We also work with families to ensure that as many absences as possible are documented, because undocumented absences can trigger truancy considerations.
Documented Absence (AD) - Absence that includes a note from a professional (ie. doctor, dentist, lawyer, etc.) to explain the absence. Absences are only considered documented for the days identified in the note. For example, if a doctor excuses a student for Monday and Tuesday, but the student is absent on Wednesday and Thursday as well, only Monday and Tuesday’s absences are considered documented. Any absence that does not include a note from a professional is considered undocumented.
Explained Absence (AE) - Undocumented absence in which a parent/guardian calls the office or sends a note to alert the school their child will not be in attendance, but does not include a note from a professional (ie. doctor, dentist, lawyer, etc.). This is important because explained absences are necessary for schools to meet pupil accounting requirements.
Unexplained Absence (AU) - Undocumented absence in which a parent/guardian does not call the office to alert the school their child will not be in attendance.
Attendance Policy - Undocumented Absences
A student's school will send a letter after 6 undocumented absences and after 10 undocumented absences in a school year, providing you with notice of the absences and outlining steps to help your child attend school regularly.
A student's school will communicate with families if the student has undocumented absences on more than 10% of the first 30 days.
Ten (10) or more days of undocumented absences in a school year can be sent to court. However, GLPS will make every effort to work with you and your student before it gets to that point.
Please note that school related absences, such as field trips or athletic events, are not factored into any truancy related processes.
Extra Clothes
PLEASE send your child to school with an extra set of clothes to keep in their locker for emergencies. This could mean they wet their pants, fell in the mud, spilled their lunch, etc. If they use those clothes, please send in another set to keep in their locker.
BREAKFAST IS ONLY SERVED UNTIL 8:55
If you arrive after 8:55, you will not be able to get breakfast
Background Checks
If you are interested in working with students during the school day or chaperoning field trips, you need to complete the volunteer application here. This process will run a thorough criminal background check. Once approved, you will need to check in at the office using our new Raptor system that will run your state issued ID and print you out a badge to wear. You will need to check in at the office and run your ID each time you volunteer.
Birthday Treats
Our classes do not have students bring in birthday treats. We have a number of food related allergies across the building so that is a practice we have not done for quite a number of years now. If your child wants to bring something for the class, it can be non-edible items like bookmarks, pencils, etc.
Absent Students
The office needs to be notified if your child will be absent or tardy. You can leave a voice message on the attendance line at 517-925-5812. In that message, please leave the following information:
* Student Name
* Teacher
* Reason for Absence (out of town, funeral, car trouble, sick, etc. If your child is sick, please leave
the nature of the illness – fever, vomiting, pink eye, cough, respiratory trouble, head lice, etc.
PLEASE NOTE: Teachers can only mark students unexcused. The office has to change those to excused absences after you call in or bring your child to school. This can take some time to get all the absences updated. If your child is still marked unexcused after 11:00, please feel free to contact the office.
Illness Reminders
We ask that your child be 24 hours free of fever, vomiting or diarrhea before you send them back to school after they have been out sick. We appreciate your cooperation with this!
Oct. is National Bullying Prevention Month
Oct. is Learning Disabilities Awareness Month
Oct. is National Principals Month
Oct. is Down Syndrome Awareness Month
Oct. is National ADHD Awareness Month
Oct. is Crime Prevention Month
Oct. is Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Oct. 2-4 » Rosh Hashanah
Oct. 2 » Nat'l Custodial Workers Recognition Day
Oct. 3-12 » Navaratri
Oct. 7 » Child Health Day
Oct. 11-12 » Yom Kippur
Oct. 11 » International Day of the Girl
Oct. 6-12 » Fire Prevention Week
Oct. 6-12 » National Metric Week
Oct. 14-18 » National School Lunch Week
Oct. 14 » Indigenous People's Day
Oct. 14 » Columbus Day
Oct. 16 » Boss’s Day
Oct. 16 » World Food Day
Oct. 19 » Sweetest Day
Oct. 20-26 » America’s Safe Schools Week
Oct. 21-25 » National School Bus Safety Week
Oct. 23-25 » Shemini Atzeret / Simchat Torah
Oct. 23-31 » Red Ribbon Week
Oct. 26 » Make a Difference Day
Oct. 27 » World Occupational Therapy Day
Oct. 31 » Halloween
Nov. 1 » All Saints’ Day
Is something missing? Please share with John Ellsworth, GLPS Director of Communications, any additional Recognitions & Acknowledgments you think we should include on this list or upcoming lists – email him at EllsworthJ@GLcomets.net.
NEW Community Giving Program Coordinated by Grand Ledge Chamber
Seven Grand Ledge charities, programs, and nonprofits have come together to form a "one stop shop" resource for neighbors to use. Once a form for the program is filled out, all nonprofits receive the information and provide the help they can. Watch the FOX47NEWS story about the new Community Giving Program.
