Pleasant Lake Pleasantries
Week of March 26, 2018
Together We Learn, Together We Lead!
Dear PLE Parents,
This time of year we need to begin to give thought to the 2018-19 School Year. Our 5th graders have been meeting with Walnut Creek Middle School Staff and we recently had our Incoming Kindergarten Orientation and have several additional events and meetings planned for our incoming children and families. We have also started discussing the budget both at the district level and at the building level. We are blessed in Walled Lake Schools to have an amazing Board of Education that works tirelessly to focus our energy and funds to students, staff and each individual classroom. The Foundation for Excellence also supports our schools and our families. Our fantastic PTA supports Pleasant Lake in many, many ways!
As we look to plan a budget and to enact that budget in the future, each year it seems that we are discussing deficits with respect to state funding and increased supports from the Foundation for Excellence and PTA to supplement some of the wonderful opportunities we want to offer such as Math Pentathlon, Girls on the Run, Field Trips, evening family events, books for our children, and assemblies/author visits. We often receive questions from parents about funding and even being in the education world, I can say that it is very complex!
Recently there was a study completed and shared by the School Finance Research Collaborative that talks about the actual cost of educating a student in Michigan, given our current educational standards. If you have wondered about the costs associated with educating a child and why we regularly hear about deficits in educational funding, I would encourage you to read the report. Though it is quite lengthy, it provides details of the base costs of educating a child in our schools and the additional costs associated with differences in district and students characteristics. For an quick read, you could skip to Chapter 9, which provides the results and recommendations of the study. Currently, we receive about $8,400 per student in comparison to the $9,500-$10,100 per student base cost (not including additional costs) recommendation from the study (not including the cost of transportation or food services).
This study is so important as we continue to see cuts being made to education and districts having to make some very tough decisions about programming and services. We hope to see an increase in our funding from the state this year, but it will certainly not make up the difference between our current state and the findings of this report. It is important that we as a community make ourselves aware and consider the implications that these findings have on our children.
5th Grader Anthony Bakkal Spoke with the Walled Lake Schools Leadership Team!
5th Grader Tarrell Wilson kicked off the Leader in Me State Conference
5th Grader Ava Manson was on the Student Panel at the Leader in Me State Conference
PLE Bus Changes Begin on Monday!
Last week you recieved an email and postcard from the Walled Lake Schools Transportation Department regarding changes that will take effect on Monday, March 26th. Please be PROACTIVE by reviewing the information with your child prior to Monday. We are asking for your help in ensuring your child and you know what changes have taken place.
Please contact the Walled Lake Transportation Department if you have any questions. You can also reach them by calling 248.956.3090. Thank you for your support!
PLE Scholastic Book Fair!
The Scholastic Book Fair is back at PLE the week of March 26-29, including the evening of March 28th! We need your help to make this wonderful opportunity a success for our children. We need volunteers! Please click on the link below if you can dedicate an hour or so of your time. The first 15 volunteers that sign up will earn a free book for their child's classroom!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4fa5aa2da1fe3-20181
Shopping Hours: March 26th – 29th 8:45 am – 3:45 pm
March 28th 6:00-8:00 p.m. during the evening Meet an Author Event
Please click on the links below for more information.
If you are unable to attend the Fair in person or want to see a larger selection of books, we invite you to visit our online Book Fair at http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/findafair. Our online fair is available from March 14th – April 3rd.
PLE Playground Paraprofessional Job Opening
We have a wonderful job opportunity at Pleasant Lake Elementary! Please click on the link below for more information and consider applying for the position or sharing it with someone that may be interested.
PTA March Newsletter
Please click HERE for our latest PTA Newsletter. It contains important information regarding some upcoming events.
School Calendar of Events
Math Pentathlon Practice every Tuesday morning, Girl Scouts Meeting every Tuesday evening and Girls on the Run each Monday and Wednesday
Walled Lake Schools Updated 2017-18 School Calendar
- March 26-29 Scholastic Spring Book Fair
- March 26-PTSA Reflections at Walnut Creek Middle School 6:30 p.m.
- March 27-5th Grade TEAM
- March 27-Middle School Orientation 6:30 p.m.
- March 28-Report Cards are posted through Skyward Family Access after 4:00 p.m.
- March 28-Author Visit, Spring Book Fair and Crafts 6:00-7:30 p.m.
- March 29-Math Grade Skipping Registration Deadline
- March 29-Leader in Me CREW Assembly
- March 30-April 8 NO SCHOOL
- April 9-SCHOOL RESUMES
- April 10-5th Grade Graduation and Celebration Planning Meeting 7:00 p.m.
- April 13-Star Students
- April 16-Walled Lake High Schools Early Release 1:09 p.m.
- April 17-Spring Picture Day
- April 20-4th Grader visit to WLC High School to watch the Secret Garden
- April 20-Star Students
5th Grade Graduation and Celebration
Our PTA 5th Grade Graduation and Celebration Planning Meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 10th at 7:00 p.m. We need your support to make this a memorable and fun day for our graduating 5th graders!
Math Course Skipping Information
In planning for the 2018-2019 school year, our Walled Lake Math Department is planning ahead for those students and their families that may be interested in skipping a course/grade level in the math sequence.
In order to skip a course in the math sequence, students must demonstrate proficiency in the content and skills of the course they would be skipping. Please complete this form to make arrangements to have your student take an examination to determine if they are prepared to skip the next math course in their sequence.
The course-skipping test is open to current 2nd-7th grade students only. Please click on the Course Skipping Information Letter for more details.
In order to prepare materials to accommodate your student, this form must be completed by Thursday, March 29th. Students that sign up from Pleasant Lake will be tested on Tuesday, April 10th from 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. in the Pleasant Lake Elementary Computer Lab.
If you have questions about this process, please contact Mr. John Gregg at johngregg@wlcsd.org
Walled Lake PTSA Reflections Celebration
Hello Parents,
To continue our outstanding tradition of Math Pentathlon at PLE next year, we will need coaches for all 3 divisions.
Division I - 1st graders
Division II - 2nd and 3rd graders
Division III - 4th and 5th graders
Please contact Zoey Robinson zoeyartist@hotmail.com if you are interested in coaching next school year. Thank you for supporting our children!
TUITION EXPEDITION RAFFLE AND DRAWING
13th Annual 50/50 Scholarship Raffle
Odds are great! Investment and opportunity long lasting!
- Chance to win BIG!
- $50 per ticket or 3 for $100
- 1,000 tickets available
- Raffle benefits Walled Lake Consolidated School District
- Grand Prize Winner may elect scholarship funds for postsecondary education or 40% lump sum payment option
- Check, cash and credit card accepted by Foundation for Excellence: 850 Ladd Rd., Bldg. D, Walled Lake, Michigan | 248.956.2116
GRAND PRIZE DRAWING: March 26, 2018 @ Walnut Creek Middle School; WL District Reflections Celebration. Need not be present to win.
Secondary prize: Amazon Echo - smart speaker capable of voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and providing weather, traffic and other real-time information.
Additional opportunity to win!
Tuition Expedition ticket purchaser may win:
- *FREE raffle ticket per monthly drawings sponsored by Walled Lake School Emp. Federal Credit Union
*NOTE: Tuition Expedition tickets purchased by March 16, 2018 will be entered into drawing.
Rules and Regulations:
- Raffle open to residents within and outside the Walled Lake School District
- Winner has up to 20 years to assign funds & may be split among (4) students
- Purchaser must be at least 18 years of age or older
- Funds raised by raffle will be channeled into the WL School District and its classrooms to support: programs, activities, and procurement of innovative, educational tools.
2018 Official Rules and Details
2018 Tuition Expedition 50/50 Scholarship Raffle - Poster
MI Raffle License # R444434
5th Grade Camp
Winnie the Pooh Musical
Community Guest Reader Day
PLE MSTEP Information
Third, Fourth and Fifth grade students will be taking the State of Michigan's M-STEP test beginning in April. Below are the testing windows and some helpful information you can access from home.
Fifth Grade Testing Window
April 9th-May 4th
Third and Fourth Grade Testing Window
April 30th - May 25th
More Information:
How families can help prepare their children for testing
MSTEP Online Tools Training (Chrome Browser)
Directions to access the sample items:
a) M-STEP is on the left side;
b) Select "Online Tools Training"
c) Select "Sample Item Sets"
d) Select the grade
e) Select the content area
f) Login with the Username and Password provided on the login screen
Please note that your child’s specific testing dates will be provided to you prior to the start of testing. Make sure to take the time to explain to your child the importance of trying their best when taking the M-STEP.
Elementary School Homework Probably Isn’t Good for Kids by Patrick A. Coleman
A powerful combination of superstition and questionable research ensures young kids hit the books instead of just, you know, reading them.
Many parents are surprised to see a flood of projects and homework sent home with their kids starting as early as Kindergarten. And a nasty surprise it is. Combine a snack-hungry 5-year-old with a math worksheet and you’ve got a parental nightmare. Still, that angst would — one could at least argue — be worthwhile if it meant greater scholastic achievement. The problem? There is very little evidence to suggest that homework is anything more than a hassle when it’s assigned to young children.
Dr. Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and author of Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs has spent much of her career researching the research about homework. The findings, she told Fatherly, are unambiguous. “They really can’t prove any benefit in elementary school,” she says.
What is, however, a bit harder to understand is the nature of the “they.” Who wants to give young children homework and why? The answer has a lot to do with ideas about education that don’t make any sense if recontextualized within the body of research on developmental psychology.
“Teachers and possibly schools confuse homework with rigor,” Vatterott says. She notes this is particularly true in private schools and high-income school districts that pride themselves on awards and college placement. These institutions lean into homework, conflating student achievement with evidence of homework efficacy. In reality, the teachers (and by extension their students) are victims of educational superstition.
“There are teachers out there who see things are going really well,” Vatterott says. “And they think, ‘We better keep doing what we’re doing.’” In truth, data indicates that homework for the youngest students in the elementary grades has, at best, has no bearing on achievement. And the studies that do suggest homework has positive effects can only prove correlation, not causation. That’s because it’s incredibly difficult to control for all of the other variables that can lead to better academic outcomes, including factors like teacher quality, parental involvement, amount of sleep a child receives, proper nutrition, and — here comes the big one — socio-economic status. And, yes, there is research that suggests homework can have negative effects.
“There’s a lot of evidence that it’s putting too much stress on families,” Vatterott explains. “And that it’s contributing to whether kids like school or not. We certainly don’t want kids to hate school.”
Temple University professor, early learning researcher, and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Dr. Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek places an even finer point on the damage homework can do. “All this homework is also changing the dynamic of parent-child relationships,” she tells Fatherly. “It certainly isn’t making learning fun, and learning doesn’t just happen at school.”
Hirsh-Pasek acknowledges that practice is necessary for learning, but she rejects the idea that said practice must be completed through worksheets and homework packets. The play that kids naturally engage in, she points out, helps them practice the skills they develop in the classroom.
“Believe it or not, you learn about math when you’re playing different board games,” Hirsh-Pasek explains. “And you learn about space when you put together train tracks and play with Legos. You learn important skills, like how to get along with other people when you play with other people. They’re learning way more important skills when they’re not doing their homework.”
That said, there is one activity that researchers feel that parents and children should be doing at home: reading.
“There is practically nothing that will be more important than reading time,” Hirsh-Pasek says. “It’s a time when kids learn integrated narrative. It’s a time when they learn about relationships and hear vocabulary that they don’t hear anywhere else.”
Vatterott explains that a similar sentiment about reading seems to be gaining ground nationally. “Trend-wise, what’s happening across the country, is that we’ve started to see an increase in elementary schools eliminating homework, or saying that homework is just to read or be read to,” she says, though she notes that achievement-obsessed schools are obstinate holdouts. And it could be that some parents are holdouts too. After all, doesn’t homework teach grit and responsibility to kids that desperately need it? Shouldn’t they stop whining and knuckle down?
Yes and no. There is virtue to struggle and to responsibility, but homework is really more of an obligation than anything.
“A struggle is good when there is a success at the end of the struggle,” suggests Vatterott. “But it’s a very simplistic view to suggest that homework teaches them responsibility and to delay gratification. It’s a really weak argument.”
Hirsh-Pasek agrees. “The truth is that everything has to be put in balance,” she says. “If you want your child to learn perseverance give them some chores at home. The worst thing that you can do today is to have people sit when they should be standing and stand when they should be moving.”
School Community Business Partners
Our PTA is looking to partner up with you and your business. During one of our events PTA board members were made aware that a parent from our school community had a business that could’ve provided a service. We don’t want to miss out on partnering with any parents and their businesses.
If you are interested in providing a service for future events please list your business name, service you provide, owner name and contact info. Also if you are interested in being a sponsor for an event indicate that as well.
You can email the before mentioned information to kgasevski@hotmail.com or enter the information HERE.
We appreciate working with our school community and provide the best we can for our students and school.
Thank you,
PLE PTA Board
JOIN THE PLE PTA
Please click HERE to read our PTA Welcome Letter and complete your PTA Membership Form!
Please click HERE to sign up for volunteer opportunities. Help others and have an opportunity to spend time with your child at fun PTA Events, it's a Win Win!
PTA 2018-19 Officers Needed
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Membership
- PTSA Legislative Representative
Please contact Lisa Fenberg fenyos@yahoo.com if you are willing to become to volunteer!
The PLE School Community Synergized to set a new Jump Rope for Heart Fundraising Record!
Store Reward Programs
Kroger https://www.kroger.com/account/enrollCommunityRewardsNow
If you shop at Kroger this is an effortless way to contribute to the PTA. All you have to do is link your Kroger card to PLE PTA. Also, encourage others (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) to link their cards to our school as well. All the money contributed to the PTA goes right back to the school, kids events and activities.
Busch's https://www.buschs.com/account/login
Once logged in to your My Way account from the 'Account" drop down menu select Cash for Education. Please add Pleasant Lake for all quarters.
Amazon
Shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/38-2947913 and Amazon donates to Pleasant Lake Elementary PTA.
Toyology
When you shop at Toyology and mention our name (Pleasant Lake Elementary) at checkout 10% of your purchase goes right back to our school.
Our parent volunteer in charge is Katarina Gasevski kgasevski@hotmail.com. Thank you again for supporting our children, families and staff!
School Bell Schedule
Drop Off: 8:45 AM
School Begins: 8:55 AM (Tardy Bell)
Dismissal: 3:58 PM
Departure: 4:05 PM
Half-Day Dismissal: 12:00-12:09 PM
Pleasant Lake Elementary
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday
8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Prime Time Care Hours
Monday - Friday
6:30 AM-6:00 PM
Main Office:
248-956-2800
Fax Number:
248-956-2805
Attendance Hotline:
248-956-2890
School Times:
Drop off: 8:50 AM
Late Bell: 8:55 AM
Dismissal: 3:58 PM
Departure: 4:05 PM
Email: NayalMaktari@wlcsd.org
Website: www.wlcsd.org/pleasantlake
Location: 4900 Halsted Road, West Bloomfield Township, MI, United States
Phone: (248) 956-2800
Twitter: @PleasantLakeEl
March Lunch Menu
Visit the Walled Lake's Food Service Website for information by clicking HERE.
Teach The Leader in Me Habits At Home!
Enjoy!
Michigan eLibrary-Back to School Resources
Invisible Dad Lunch Program
Hunger has many faces. In the United States, 2 out of 10 children suffer from a form of hunger that is not readily portrayed in the media but it is also a kind of hunger that we can put an end to right here in our own communities. This kind of hunger is called Food Insecurity and it takes the form of children being forced to skip meals, eating cheap unhealthy snacks to fill their stomachs between “meals”.
In Walled Lake Schools, all 12 elementary schools have adopted the Invisible Dad program which entitles all children to a school lunch, even if a student’s lunch account does not have money in it. Invisible Dad accounts have been set up at our schools to cover lunch for children whose parents have forgotten, are unable, or for whatever reason have not kept their account up-to-date. Parents receive a confidential notification that their child has accessed the Invisible Dad account and they are given an opportunity to update the account, complete a Free and Reduced Lunch form or talk to a school administrator.
These funds are not something you or your child have to ask for or apply to receive. These funds are available without question or judgment as children go through the line at lunch. Parents will be notified privately and confidentially if their child’s lunch is paid for by the Invisible Dad. Sometimes the situation is simple and the lunch account just needs to be refilled. We ask that you refill your account and perhaps consider donating back to the program. Sometimes the situation is more complex, the money just isn’t there and won’t be there for some time. In those cases, you and your child will not have to worry again about lunch. The Invisible Dad program will step in and make sure lunch is provided.
Donations can be made by sending cash or a check to school made out to “Walled Lake Food Services” with “Invisible Dad - PLE” in the memo. This is not a tax-deductible donation, this is just money from you to a child in need.
Walled Lake Schools offers free and reduced-cost lunches; the Invisible Dad program aims to solve for the short-term situation. If you would like to apply for free or reduced-cost lunch, please contact our main office at 248.956.2800.
For more information about this program, visit www.invisibledad.org. Please contact Nayal Maktari, or Julie Rader-Food Services Coordinator (julierader@wlcsd.org) with questions.
CLICK HERE to view a recent segment about Invisible Dad by Channel 7!
Know What's Going On At Pleasant Lake Elementary!
SKYWARD FAMILY ACCESS
It is critical that parents keep an updated email address and let us know if it changes as soon as possible. Parents may update this information for us on Skyward Family Access. All teachers at Pleasant Lake utilize Skyward Family Access to communicate with parents. Report cards, lunch account information, progress reports, attendance and other important information will always be posted on Skyward Family Access. If you are a new family to Walled Lake Schools or have misplaced or lost your Family Access ID and password, please click HERE to get connected.
PLEASANT LAKE PLEASANTRIES AND SCHOOL WEBSITE
Our school newsletter will be sent electronically to parents every two weeks. An archive of newsletters is also posted to our school website under the For Parents tab. Our school website can be found HERE. Please visit this page often for information about our school. You will find links to important documents, websites from your child's classroom, PTA forms and information, and important updates and forms that you will need to access.
Please follow us on Twitter @PleasantLakeEl to be updated regularly on important events at our school and fun pictures of student events and learning!
REMIND 101
We also offer Remind 101 to all PLE parents. How does it work? If you would like to receive a quick text message on your cell phone or device, just sign up with us and you receive a quick text to remind you of important school events, deadlines, time frames, etc. at PLE. You can unsubscribe at any time.
To join, send a text to (586) 649-3482 and enter the message @mrmakt
You can opt-out of messages at anytime by replying, 'unsubscribe @mrmakt'.