2-25-24 PAW'S PRESS

Dear Cherokee Families,

We hope everyone had a wonderful break! We are excited to see our students back on Monday, February 26th.

Please note that it is a bit of an unusual schedule this year in that we have NO SCHOOL on Tuesday, February 27th for Teacher Professional Development. Elections are also held in the Cherokee gym on this day.

Other Important Updates:

• February and March lunch ordering links are below.
• Classes resume (February 26th)
  
• Professional Development - NO SCHOOL (February 27th)
• Spring Picture Day (March 1st)
• District Science Olympiad Competition (March 2nd) - See below
  
• CMPL Battle of the Books (March 3rd) - See below
• March Reading Month (March 4th) - Family resources come home
• Leadership Assemblies (March 8th ) - Wear Cherokee team shirts, class shirts or other Cherokee gear
• District LEGO Competition (March 8th) - See below
• Spring Forward - Time Change (March 10th)
• PTO Meeting (March 12th ) - 6:15 PM Media Center
• Report cards available in Parent Portal (March 13th)
• Parent Teacher Conferences (March 13th & 14th) - by invite only - see below
• Half Day (Wednesday, March 13) - Dismissal 11:44 AM
• Half Day (Friday, March 15th) - Dismissal 11:44 AM
• PTO Daddy Daughter Dance (March 15th) - see below - deadline March 1st to register
• Chippewa Valley Schools Literacy Night at Clinton Macomb Public Library (March 18th)
• Half Day (March 28th) - Dismissal at 11:44 AM - Spring Break begins at dismissal

As in the past, the Paw's Press newsletters will include key information and typically will be sent at the end of each week. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help make the school year a success for you and your child!

Sincerely,

Heather Batko

Cherokee Principal

hbatko@cvs.k12.mi.us

We will have our Spring Picture Day on Friday, March 1st. Hard copies of flyers will be sent home this week. You can also click here to order and see image and PDF flyer for details below.

Good luck to the Cherokee Science Olympiad team! They compete in the district Science Olympiad Competition on Saturday, March 2nd. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Roberts for coaching the team! Thank you to all of our parent event coaches for all of their support! Go Wildcats!

Please click the picture or the link below to fill out a volunteer form to volunteer for the book fair. We can't do it without you! Thanks so much!

https://form.jotform.com/222704833770052

Invitations for Spring Conferences will be given "as needed." While we request that all families attend conferences in the Fall, invitations for Spring Conferences are only given on an "as needed" basis. Classroom teachers will notify parents if a Spring Conference is needed or not needed. A SignUp Genius link will be provided for those families who are being invited to schedule a conference.

Spring Conferences have been adjusted to meet the diverse needs of our families in Chippewa Valley Schools. The first night of March conferences will be offered virtually via Microsoft Teams on Wednesday, March 13th from 5:30 PM-8:00 PM. The second night of conferences, Thursday, March 14th from 5:30 PM-8:00 PM will be offered in person. Not all families will need to attend Spring Conferences for their students.

For some parents, a virtual option allows for a conference without having to come to the school in person. Students should bring their laptops home for parents to use if this option is best for parents. If parents have access to their own computers/phones, they will need to download the Teams app in order to utilize this virtual option. Each teacher will have a specific link that parents will need to click at their assigned time to join the conference. Conference times will still be limited, just as they are in-person. This is in order to maximize the number of conferences that our teachers can have with their students. If needed, we can provide a phone conference just as we have done in the past in order to accommodate families.

• Even though lunch is free for all students, we still need parents to complete the digital online ordering form so that we have an accurate count and enough food for all students.

• Ordering deadlines: Please note that we have received communication from food services that families need to order lunch by 9:30 AM the school day prior. For example, when ordering lunch for pizza on Monday, please order by 9:30 AM on Friday. This helps with the accuracy of our lunch count. We of course always order extra but this helps with accuracy.

• There is a charge of $1.50 for ordering doubles.
• Click here to order lunch for February.
• Click here for printable lunch menu.

• Even though lunch is free for all students, we still need parents to complete the digital online ordering form so that we have an accurate count and enough food for all students.

• Ordering deadlines: Please note that we have received communication from food services that families need to order lunch by 9:30 AM the school day prior. For example, when ordering lunch for pizza on Monday, please order by 9:30 AM on Friday. This helps with the accuracy of our lunch count. We of course always order extra but this helps with accuracy.

• There is a charge of $1.50 for ordering doubles.
• Click here to order lunch in March.
• Click here for printable March lunch menu.

Click here for Black History Month Resources.

Mr. Walkenhorst, Cherokee PE teacher, will be kicking off the Kids Heart Challenge during PE classes during the week of February 5th.

Click here to register today!

INFORMATION SHARED BY DISTRICT

Dear Students and Parents:

A quick reminder that Chippewa Valley Schools is now offering a Student Life Advisor Program. At Chippewa Valley, we recognize that our students may be struggling with numerous challenges these days, and these challenges can have a negative impact on their day-to-day functioning and ultimately the quality of their lives. We believe that an investment in your student’s well-being is a sound investment. To ensure that the best possible services are available to our students, CVS has partnered with Ulliance, Inc., a nationwide provider of student assistance services with 30 years of experience.

The Ulliance Student Life Advisor Program is designed to help your student cope with personal, home, and school challenges that they may encounter from time to time. For example, your child might need assistance dealing with a bully, avoiding peer pressure, or making new friends in a new school or in the neighborhood. Ulliance provides a variety of services to meet their needs, including short-term counseling, crisis intervention, and identification of community resources.

Other areas of assistance include:

• Relationship and family concerns
• Death of a loved one or a pet
• Stress, anxiety, and depression
• Experimenting with drugs or alcohol
  

The Student Life Advisor Program also includes a robust student/parent portal full of videos, articles, and information to address all areas of well-being. You can visit StudentLifeAdvisor.com to find out more. In addition, the program is confidential and no cost to students K-12. To access services, including 24/7 crisis assistance, simply call 1-800-448-8326.

To learn more, please go to our Student Life Advisor webpage, or watch the videos for parents and students.

Student Life Advisor Video for Students

Student Live Advisor Video for Parents

Decrease Screen Time Video for Students

It is our hope that you or your student will take advantage of the services the Student Life Advisor has to offer.

Sincerely,

Chippewa Valley Schools

• Please be sure to follow allergy guidelines for our upcoming holiday parties. Thank you!
• We have many students at Cherokee with severe peanut/tree nut allergies. Therefore peanuts/tree nuts products and products contaminated in a facility that processes peanuts/tree nuts will not be allowed in many classes, common areas, etc.
  
• Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3/4 Blend, 4th grade and 5th grade classrooms are peanut/tree nut alert zones. Foods/snacks that contain peanut/tree nuts should not be consumed in these classrooms.
  
• Pods for all grade levels are peanut/tree nut alert zones. Foods/snacks that contain peanut/tree nuts should not be consumed in pods.
• Due to the severity of some of our students with allergies it will be asked that some classes avoid bringing peanut/tree nut products for both lunch and snacks consumed in the classroom. The lunch period for 4th grade and the 3/4 blend is a peanut/tree nut alert zone. Peanut/tree nut products may not be consumed during lunch by students in these classes.
• Your child's teacher will review guidelines and answer any specific questions.
• The link for the Snack Safely Guide is below. This guide has many great many recommendations for foods that do not have peanuts, tree nuts and are not processed in facility with these items. This guide updates regularly so it is best to check the link below rather than printing.
• Click here for the Snack Safely Guide.

We are so lucky to have such a supportive PTO and school community at Cherokee!

Check out their Facebook page for regular updates!

Click here for the February PTO newsletter.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CherokeePTO/

See below for information about the PTO Daddy Daughter Dance! This is such a memorable event!

Daddy Daughter Dance Sign Up & Payment Link: https://checkout.square.site/merchant/YDGN4SW2AS3JQ/checkout/SZGLYLLMI34OGDPOIUOAMP6U

Corsage and Boutonniere Sale Sign Up & Payment Link: https://checkout.square.site/merchant/YDGN4SW2AS3JQ/checkout/7ZXKKREGRVKPW7CYKH5MQJU4

At Cherokee we have indoor recess if the temperature or "feels like" temperature is below 20 degrees. Otherwise, we typically take students outside for recess.

See below for appropriate dress for cold weather. If your child is in need of a coat or other items please email our social worker, Mrs. Gilbert, at mgilbert@cvs.k12.mi.us and we will do our best to find your child what they need. The Cherokee PTO and Cherokee staff partnered to organize a Cherokee Community Closet with items for families such as coats, gloves, hats, etc. We have many items in our community closet at this time to support families thanks to many generous donations!

Do you have a child who will be attending Kindergarten in the fall of 2024? Click here to begin the registration process. REGISTRATION OPENS JANUARY 22nd! We are so excited to meet our incoming Kindergarteners!

Congratulations to the Cherokee 2023-2024 LEGO team members! They compete in the district tournament on March 8th. Go Wildcats!

Brayden Lindamood

Savannah Hollis

Laken Kelly

Gabriella Bahri

Donovan Robidou

Aaron Petrovitch

Ben Chambers

Jack Laezza

Hussaine Ahmed

Claire Bakaturski

Lila Bakaturski

Liam Martin

• Last year we created the Paw's Pals Lunch Volunteer Program at Cherokee. The name for the program was inspired by our school mascot, Paws (he is Wildcat).
• This program is very similar to the Watch D.O.G.S program that was in place at Cherokee prior to the pandemic. It is not limited to male volunteers as the Watch D.O.G.S program was.
• The purpose of the program is to help children have a sense of belonging and build positive relationships. Kids love extra attention at lunch! They love to talk about sports, toys and what they like to do for fun! Having extra adults at school shows children that education is important and they are important!
• Please understand that these volunteers are not in place of lunch monitors.
• Our lunch monitors will be responsible for supervising the students, cleaning, etc.
• Paw's Pals volunteers will have time to chat with their own child (children) and other Cherokee students during lunch periods. If recess is outdoors, they are also welcome to go outside and spend recess with students.
• Just like any other school volunteer, our Paw's Pals volunteers will respect the privacy of our students.
  
• In order to participate in the program there are 2 steps to complete.
• Step One: Click here to select a volunteer date. Keep in mind that if your 2023-2024 volunteer background check is not on file, it takes two weeks to process.

• Step Two: Click here to complete the Paw's Pals Application. The volunteer background check is a part of this application.
• Please give our main office a call at least 48 hours prior to your volunteer date if you are not sure if your background check has been approved. If you already know that you have a background check on file for this school year, you may come to the main office on the date you have selected.
• Thank you to Monica Radyko for her help with this program!

• Throughout the school year we are required to complete 5 fire drills, 3 lockdown drills and 2 tornado drills.
• We already completed three fire drills and the students did a great job! We will do two more in the spring.
• All lockdown drills have been completed for the school year. These drills are comprised of age-appropriate lessons as well as practicing other tasks such as relocating to a safe place, utilizing our blue light/lock down alarm, etc.
• We will be doing two tornado drills in March.
• We do not tell families or students the exact dates/times of these drills for safety reasons.
• The book, I'm Not Scared I'm Prepared, that is utilized for the lockdown drills is below in a PDF format in case you would like to review it with your family. This book is used at all elementary schools in the district.
• Our teachers do a great job of reviewing procedures in a way that makes students feel safe.

Bus Riders:

• Busses may run slightly late picking up students the first few days of school as our drivers and students learn their new routes. It is still recommended that students arrive at their bus stop 10 minutes prior to their scheduled time.
  
• More information from the transportation department will be coming soon.

Walkers/Riders:

• Walkers/Riders should line up and be dismissed from their grade level/ classroom entrance doors. Teachers will pick-up their students from their entrance at 8:50 AM when the morning music begins.
  
• An updated map of grade level/classroom entrances is below.
  

Parking Lot:

• Please review the parking lot procedures map below.
• Staff will be present in the parking lot, bus loop and building entrances to help ensure a safe and smooth arrival and dismissal process.
• We ask for your patience and support as our new families learn the process and our returning families get back-in-the-swing-of-things :)

BUS TAG WITH ROUTE NUMBER/SIGNS - Students in grades K-2 will be given a tag with their bus route number/color on it. Please leave this tag on your child's backpack until they are confident about their bus number. If the tag falls off before they are confident about their bus number, please write their number on their backpack or provide another tag. Adults will be guiding students to their busses and adults will be holding a signs to match the bus tag route number. A sample backpack with tag and corresponding bus sign are below.

LABELING ITEMS WITH STUDENT'S NAME - Many students have difficulty repeating their first and last name to unknown adults. It is often a good idea to write your child's name on their backpack so adults can get them to the appropriate class/bus if they can't repeat their first and last name. It is also a good idea to label other items so they don't get lost (jackets, lunchboxes,etc.).

IMPORTANT - FROM TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT:

Families are urged to check bus stop information prior to the start of school

Dear Chippewa Valley Families,

Make sure you check the Info Finder Bus Stop Information page before school starts to verify your child’s bus stop. Several routes have changed because of new student enrollments and driver changes.

https://www.chippewavalleyschools.org/departments/transportation/

Have a great school year! Thank you.

Small revisions have been made due to the recent change in bell times.

Click here for the 2023-2024 Chippewa Valley Schools District Calendar for Parents.

• See below for a summary of some important dates.
• A PDF file is also available below.

Our District Medication Policy requires all prescription medications to have a Request for Administration of a Prescription Medication to student form filled out with a physician’s order with parent’s signature each school year. The medication must be in a new original container and/or prescription bottle with the child’s name on it. Over the counter medication will also need a Request for Administration of Non-Prescription Medication to student form filled out and signed by parent.

All medication administration forms can be found on the chippewavalleyschools.org web page (click here). Forms can also be picked up at the school in the main office.

Please bring in completed forms signed and dated by your health care provider with parent signature along with any required prescription medications.

Parents must hand deliver medications with completed forms to the Health Aide in the main office to be checked for full accuracy. No medications will be administered at school without accurately completed forms. Also please check the expiration date on medications as we cannot accept expired medications.

• If your child is not feeling well, please keep them home and call our attendance line.
• Our attendance line is 586-723-4899.
• Attendance at school is of course very important. However, if a child is not feeling well they should stay home so they are able to rest and recover.
• We a want to prevent the spread of illness as much as possible.
• Students should be fever free for at least 24 hours (without the assistance of fever reducing medication) before returning to school.
• Students should also wait at least 24 hour to return to school after vomiting.
• Students who are having difficulty breathing, severe cough, etc. are also strongly encouraged to stay home.

Please remember, ALL of the policies and procedures put in place at Cherokee are intended to keep our children safe. Many of these policies are district-wide and can either be found in the the CVS Student Code-of-Conduct, or Cherokee's Paws' Policies & Procedures. Links can be found below.

We appreciate your understanding and appreciate those families who continue to model kindess, patience, and respect. You make a difference & we are all doing the best that we can!

Please Remember:

• Adults are to remain outside of the building and must be "buzzed-in" by the front office.
• All adults must show their ID at the entrance if they need to drop something off or pick-up their child early.
• Contact information must be up-to-date in case we need to contact your family.
• We release children to only those people listed on your child's PowerSchool contact list.
• Changes in your child's dismissal process must be called in no later than 3:15 so we can be sure to get the information to our staff.
• Families are asked to preorder lunch using the online ordering system. Links for the menu and online ordering will be in the Paw's Press Newsletter as soon as they are available.
• Refrain from parking on Rivergate near the school including the bus loop.

A NOTE FROM MRS. ASHLEY

For families looking to register for SACC

• SACC registration is first come first served.
• Due to limited staff and capacity limits some registrations may not be approved at this time until more staff are available.
• As staffing levels increase, so will our ability to enroll more students. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
  
• Once your registration application is submitted you must receive a registration approval email before your child can attend.
• Registrations will remain pending in the system and will be approved as openings become available.

For families currently enrolled in SACC

• Adding on additional days other than what was originally scheduled may be limited at this time due to student and staff ratios. You will be notified if your schedule change can be approved (some days may be available where others may not)
• If your child does not need to attend on a scheduled day please remove them from the schedule to open up a spot for someone else.

We appreciate your understanding at this time and anticipate more staff to be available soon. Until then we must adhere to the Licensing Rules for Child Care Centers and stay within the required student to staff ratios. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

NOTE: SACC will continue to remain peanut/tree nut fee.

Ashley Murphy

Cherokee SACC Director

(586) 723-4860

• CLICK HERE to access the CVS SACC informational page.

We choose to Inspire, Believe, Achieve & LEAD!

Website: https://www.chippewavalleyschools.org/schools/elementary-schools/cherokee/
Location: 42900 Rivergate Drive, Clinton Township, MI, USA
Phone: 586-723-4800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CherokeeWildcats

If your child is going to be absent, please call our attendance line at 586-723-4899.

https://www.facebook.com/CherokeeWildcats

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CherokeePTO/