Vowles Newsletter

Nov. 17th~ Report Cards go home with students; Coins for Cause Fundraiser Ends

Nov. 22nd-26th~ No School- Thanksgiving Break

Nov. 30th~ Family Science Night at the Discovery Museum 6:00-7:30 pm.(open to Preschool families)

Dec. 20th~ Last Day of School before break

Dec. 21st-Jan. 2nd- No School~ Holiday Break

Jan. 3rd~ Back to School
Mt. Pleasant Public Schools Calendar 2023-2024

We appreciate all the staff shout outs coming in. Let's keep this momentum going!!!
Let us know how our staff is doing and help us to recognize them by completing our Staff Shout Out. You can recognize an amazing teacher by filling out a few questions in the link below. We will present them with a Shout Out Certificate that tells what they were recognized for and by who.

Staff Shout Out

We would like our families to remember the following about Arrival and Dismissal as we know that parents have other school drop offs or places to be in the morning and we are encouraging safe procedures for students as well:

• Please use the circle drive only if your child is ready to go. Children should be able to get out on their own. It is meant to be a quick drop and release.
• Parents should stay in their vehicle if the circle drive is utilized.
• If kids still have things to gather, a parking spot should be utilized.
• For their safety, students should exit their vehicle on the south side (closest to the sidewalk and fence)
• If you are walking students up to the school or picking them up from the teacher at dismissal, for everyone's safety, please use the Crosswalk and do not cross in-between traffic.

Thank you for your support in making Arrival and Dismissal a smoother transition.

Vikings~

We want to hear about your experiences with your child’s education that includes the areas of learning, school safety, interpersonal relationships, as well as your attitudes about the school environment and your personal involvement in school. All your responses are completely anonymous. We have no way to connect you to your answers, and results will only be reported as group responses. As you respond to each item, think about your own personal experiences as a parent or caregiver at your child’s school. This survey is specific to Vowles only and should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

This is our 2nd round of trying to get responses. If you could, please respond by Nov. 21st. Thank you for your time and participation!

https://forms.gle/B8QY1iD9FF67sNj39

November is Homeless Awareness Month and we’re excited to be partnering with United Way of Gratiot & Isabella Counties to raise money for Gratiot County Hope House through a coin war challenge called “Coins for a Cause”! Start saving and collecting your coins to send with your student! The classroom that raises the most amount of money will win a PIZZA PARTY! 🍕 Fundraiser Ends Nov. 17th.

This week, we were excited to welcome to Vowles our guest, Mr. Joe Pellerito from Capturing Kids Hearts. He had a chance to visit a number of classrooms and see Capturing Kids Hearts strategies in use. He view our Social Contracts or Class Promises, students leading and sharing "Good Things", and our work on empowering student leaders. Parents, you can get involved in CKHs by doing the following: Ask your child to share a "Good Thing" about the day. Then, follow up with an additional question about that "Good Thing".

We were finally able to award our students for their hard work this summer completing their Think Stretch or GRASP workbooks. We are very proud that nearly 50 students kept up on their workbooks and stretching their brains this summer. Thank you to parents and students for being patient with us while we waited for the medals to be shipped.

Vowles PTO is looking for members. Please use the link below for sharing your interest.
Vowles PTO Interest Link- 2023

Hello Viking Families!

We can't say THANK YOU enough for how efficient you have continued to help make our arrival and dismissal time at Vowles. Just as reminders, here are the things you need to know:

Students can be dropped off beginning at 8:20 every morning. Students will not be allowed at school any earlier than that as the playground is not supervised. Please use the parent drop off/Circle Drive located off Watson St. We ask that parents stay in the car and let your children out the "passenger" side of the vehicle onto the sidewalk. Staff and Student Leaders will be there to greet students and direct them where to go.

If your child rides a bus, they will be dropped off at 8:20 am and be escorted into the building by staff.

If you are a neighborhood walker, we ask that you let your child go on their own once they get to our main gates. If you pick up your child at the end of the day by walking to get them, we ask that you wait near our Marqui sign or awning and we can bring your child to you.

Dismissal: This will work similar to morning drop off. Please use our Circle Drive off Watson St. Stay in your car. Staff will bring students to your car. Please plan for your child to enter the "passenger" side of the car.

End of Day Changes- If you are planning to change your child's End of Day plans, we ask that you contact us by 3:00 PM with those End of Day Changes.

Thank you!

Mrs. Bishop

Mt. Pleasant Public Schools is excited to announce that we are adding onto our Preschool programs in our district. Vowles and Rosebush are currently accepting applications for students that are 4 or turning 4 between Sept. 1st-Dec. 1st to enroll in our preschool programs. See the information to the right to sign your child up or share with another family. GSRP can be a free preschool or tuition-based if families qualify for sliding scale with other factors.

During the course of the school year, our buildings are obligated to practice at least 5 Fire Drills, 2 Tornado Drills and 3 Lockdown drills. At times, we do have our YSU Liason or other officers from the Police Department assist in our drills. We cover with our students the locations of where to go for each drill, what to do during specific drills, and how to properly evacuate when it is needed. You can also find this information in your child's Handbook at the front of the student agenda.

During the first weeks of school, classes read the story, I'm Not Scared, I'm Prepared book in their class with their teachers. This book focused on the main components of the safety protocols that we work on with children.

I also encourage you to check out our district website where we have information that pertains to our district school safety. Click here to get to the website.

Vowles Elementary PTO will continue to keep our online donation platform open throughuot the year. Feel free to share our QR code or this link anytime to make a donation to Vowles PTO.
https://buy.stripe.com/4gw4hy2YYcVA33a001

We appreciate your support!

Extreme Challenge Update~ Your support helped us to raise nearly $5800.

Student Attendance is important to us. If your child is sick, please call the school Office at 775-2280 before 10:00 each morning to let us know.

For safety reasons, families will soon begin receiving a phone call by 10:20 am for any student that is marked as Absent each morning in Power School. You can deter getting that call from our system by calling us in the morning to let us know of your child's absence and their reason for the absence.

Our codes we use for absences are:

UA-Unexcused Absence

Any absence that has not been reported by a parent or guardian and/or any absence that is not listed as an Excused Absence in Board Policy.

AV-Verified Absence

An absence that the parent verifies or explains. Example: (1) The student doesn’t feel well, and is staying home, but is not visiting the doctor. (2) The family is taking an extra long weekend, vacation, etc.

EA-Excused Absence

Absences that meet the definition of an Excused Absence based on MPPS Board Policy.

*Illness or professional appointments with a doctors note *Death of a relative

*Observance of Religious Holidays

Below are images to our attendance policy but it can also be found in the front of your child's Agenda....

Please remember to hand in your child's Back to School Paperwork ASAP. The documents would include:

• All Final Forms~ Please do not start an acct if you have already been in Final Forms!
• Educational Benefits Form (if you did not complete online with Final Forms)
• Medication Dispensing form (if you need us to dispense medication to your child at school)
• Agenda/Student Handbook Acknowledgement page
  
  

*This is really important as completing your final forms updates Emergency contacts, demographic and medical information, as well as your housing situation.

All our JK-2nd grade classrooms will be using the Remind App for their classroom communications. This is a great way for them to communicate reminders, easy building or district information, and pictures of learning. Please view your teacher's classroom code in their most recent newsletter, welcome letter, or flyer that may have been sent home.

Each Friday we will sell Popcorn for $.50/bag. Students can bring their coins or dollar bills in sandwich baggies or put in the back of their agenda in the clear pocket or a safe zipper. Teachers will collect popcorn in the morning and place the order.