Wolverine Weekly
April 22 - 26, 2024
Spring Pictures were taken last week. Shortly you will be receiving a proof and and can purchase itilzing the code on your prrof sheet. No retakes are being offered for Spring Pictures.
Teacher Appreciation week is right around the corner! During the week of May 6th - 10th I would like to share positive words with staff coming from you....the parents and guardians! Please send me your positive affirmations and notes of appreciation to my email at kmorford@athertonschools.org or feel free to drop it off in the office. I will make srue to share with the staff! Thank you in advance for sharing the love and appreciation!
Mark your calendar for May 1st for our STEAM night! Check out the flyer below. Be sure to return the flyer to RSVP for your wolverines.
Bowling is BACK!! Check out the info below. Permission slips were sent home.
State testing continues this week with our 5th graders. Please make sure your wolverines are well rested and come to school on time. This will provide them an opportunity for a successful testing experience.
4th grade - week of April 29th
5th grade - week of April 22nd
6th grade - week of April 29th
The Dimes for Diapers Drive is off and running! To help raise money for the little ones in our community, check out the calendar below for the special days in which your child can particpate for $1. All proceeds will go towards Dimes for Diapers. Please note the hat and/or clothing must be appropriate for school.
Currently the results with the classrooms having collected the most money are:
1st: Goff - $138.06
2nd: Gibson - $113.67
3rd: Wolo - $71.55
Mark your calendars for our elementary band concert on May 29th from 6-8:30pm. We hope that you can join us!
Do you have a future Kindergarten wolverine!? See below the flyer for up to date information on Kindergarten enrollment.
HUGE shoutout to all our Spelling Bee Students!
A special congrats goes to all of our students who went to our county spelling bee last week! Thank you for representing Atherton Elementary.
4th grade: Kennedi Obleton and Logan Petties
5th grade: Mya Ramm and Daniel Kaake
6th grade: Harmoney Leach and Donald Sears
Congrats to Daniel Kaake for placing in 3rd place in the county!
Calling all 6th grade parents!
Calling all to the Lost and Found!!
Our Lost and Found is growing! Please be sure to have your wolverine stop by and check to see if something belongs to them. We will be making a donation to a local closet for items that are not claimed.
Bowling is Back from April 18-May 30!
Bowling starts back up and runs on Thursdays from April 18-May 30. If you want your wolverine to participate send the form and money back to the office. The bus will be picking students up who ar esigned up on April 18th.
Access the Special Education SMORE from Miss Miller!
Click here to access the monthly Special Education newsletter.
Friendly reminder about Dress Code now that the weather is getting warmer....
Student dress Code Policy
They say it takes a village....well it does and I need your help! Before your wolverine leaves each day to come to school please be sure that they are dressed ready to learn. I am sharing with you the section regarding dress code from the student handbook. IF you have questions please contact Mrs. Morford or Mr. Wells.
Dress and Grooming
While fashion changes, the reason for being in school does not. Students are in school
to learn. Any fashion (dress, accessory, or hairstyle) that disrupts the educational
process or presents a safety risk will not be permitted. Personal expression is permitted
within these general guidelines.
Students should consider the following questions when dressing for school:
Does my clothing expose too much? (no)
Does my clothing advertise something that is prohibited to minors? (no)
Are there obscene, profane, drug-related, gang-related, or inflammatory
messages on my clothing? (no)
Would I interview for a job in this outfit? (yes)
Am I dressed appropriately for the weather? (yes)
Do I feel comfortable with my appearance? (yes)
If a student has selected a manner of appearance that is beyond mere freedom of
expression and disrupts the educational process or presents risk to themselves or
others, they may be removed from the educational setting.
The following styles or manners of dress are prohibited:
● No visible skin is to be seen between the shoulders and the top of the knee
including holes/rips in pants
● halter tops
● outside wear including hats, gloves, coats/jackets
● No hats, bandannas, or head wraps/head covers unless for recognized religious
reasons and approved by the principal
● Hoods on hoodies must be down
● No sagging pants – pockets of pants must be worn on the buttocks
● No revealing necklines
● No tank tops
● Shoulder Straps must be over 2 inch thick
● No bare shoulders
● No slippers; open-toed sandals
● No clothing with sexual content, inappropriate suggestions, profanity, drugs,
alcohol or tobacco
● No clothing with gang affiliation
● No clothing/garment that can be considered disruptive or unsafe
● Revealing shirts of any kind must have a top underneath that covers the
students completely
● Pants may not have writing on the buttocks
● Heely’s or shoes with wheels
● ALL OTHER ITEMS DEEMED unsafe or disruptive by Dean of Students or
Principal
Students who are representing Atherton Elementary at an official function or public
event may be required to follow specific dress requirements. Usually, this applies to
athletic teams, cheerleaders, bands, and other such groups.
For more information see Board Policy 5511 - Dress and Grooming
Did you know that April is Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month??
Check out some learning activities from our Math Coach, Mrs. Vachon
It’s never too early to start involving your kids in math-y conversations! By talking to your child(ren) about how much math affects them directly you make math and statistics more relatable, which in turn helps your child(ren) learn to love and appreciate these topics! While math appears in basically all aspects of your life, a great way to get started with these conversations is to invite math-y conversations into your kitchen, and on car rides with your family.
Math in the Kitchen
Math in the kitchen can be measuring the dry ingredients in a recipe. Measurements are a perfect gateway into harder math topics like fractions and percentages, and they’re easily introduced to children of any age (often with tasty results).
Some Ideas for Math in the Kitchen:
● Bake some cookies!
Math topics:
⭐ Fractions (Using measuring cups)
⭐ Size/Shape (Making cookies that are more or less the same size and shape)
⭐ Symmetry (Depending on what shape you make your cookies)
⭐ Time (How many minutes do these go in for? How many seconds?)
● Make a pizza!
Math topics:
⭐ Fractions/Percents (What percent of the pizza has cheese? What percent has
Peppers? What percent are you going to eat?)
⭐ Counting (How many pieces of pepperoni are on the whole pizza?)
⭐ Shapes/Symmetry (What shape is the pizza? How do we cut it so we get
equal sized slices? What if I made the pizza this other shape instead?)
⭐ Fractions (Cutting the Pizza)
Math on the Road
Have you ever thought about how much time you and your kids spend in the car? Going to school, the grocery store, after school activities, visiting family, going on vacation.... It adds up. Rather than letting that time become lost to hours of handheld video games or movies, use it to talk
about math!
Some Ideas for Math on the Road:
● The License Plate Game
There are endless variations to this game. One way to play is to use the letters from a
license plate and try to come up with silly things they might be an acronym for, but you
can use the numbers too! For example, your car-riders may enjoy seeking out the
numbers from 0-9 in order, seeing who can find them all the fastest. Another option is to
look for the license plate with the largest sum when you add the numbers together.
Better yet, have your kids invent their own game!
Math topics:
⭐ Counting
⭐ Basic Math Operations (adding, subtracting, multiplying, etc.)
⭐ This is really open to whatever you want. Pick a topic and figure out how to make a
game out of it!
● Data Collection
People are constantly processing data, even if they aren’t consciously thinking about it.
Your kids are no different, so encourage them to be cognizant of the data around them!
Keep a notebook in the car for data collection and spend the car ride keeping track of
things like how many cars are a certain color, which color cars tend to have dogs
hanging out of the window, etc. You can even start the drive by asking everyone in the
car to form a hypothesis for what they think the data will say, and then check to see how
those hypotheses held up at the end!
Math topics
⭐ Counting
⭐ Types of Data (Quantitative vs. Qualitative)
⭐ Statistics (Is it more or less likely for this type of car to show up?)
⭐ Percentages (What percent of cars were a dark color?)
DIMES for DIAPERS is BACK!!
Dear families,
It’s that time of year again! The Dimes for Diapers fundraiser will take place April 1st - April 30th. Students may bring in money as soon as April 1st with all donations benefiting the Flint Diaper Bank!
Along with donations, we will also have special dress days for $1 each day. These include hat day, pj day, Atherton day and more! The dollar that your child pays for these special dress days will be included in their class total, the top class will earn a pizza party! Please see the attached calendar for dates and themes.
This year we will also have a school goal of $3,000. If this goal is achieved, students will get a surprise treat from Mrs. Morford!
I look forward to a successful fundraiser to help Genesee County families! Every little bit helps! Donating as little as 10 cents can help a local family have diapers for their child.
If you have any questions, please let me know at msawade@athertonschools.org
Thank you for your support!
Marie Sawade
K-6 STEM Teacher
The Genesee County Helath Dept will be here for Hearing and Vision Screening
The Health Dept. will be at our building on May 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th.
1st, 3rd, & 5th will have vision screening
K, 2nd, & 4th are having hearing screening
Student of the Month for April
We would like to congratulate the following students who were recognized for the month of April for modeling our theme of Courage.
Terri Shaw
Grayson Mitchell
Jamari Glover
Zakiyah Pettigrew
Brody Schaaf
Zakai Petite
Jayce Brown
Daniel Kaake
Kilynne Vermillion
Monthly School Theme & Focus: COURAGE
Our focus this month is on COURAGE.
Courage matters! Everyday, children need courage, to grapple with the challenges of life, in themselves, in the home, at school, in life. There are many ways to define courage. Through books and reading children learn about the many different struggles and things that characters do to show courage and make it through. Whether a child is learning a new difficult skill or reimagining her ability to tackle a challenge, risk taking and courage play important roles. Risk taking begins with a deicsion to act, and courage provided the inspiration to act. Courage is critical for change and growth to occur.
What might be some things that you can model for your child(ren) pertaining to courage? Maybe it might be having a tough conversation that you are scared to have. Maybe it is standing up for something that you strongly believe in. Maybe it is stretching out the word that you are trying to write. Maybe it is riding a bike without training wheels or driving a car for the first time.
Popcorn Friday!
Parent Group is selling popcorn for $1 a bag with a limit of 4 bags per student. The following days will be popcorn days:
April 26
End of Day Dismissal Procedure
Parking Lot Safety Procedures
Parents, when dropping off and picking up your children “Safety Comes First.” It is very important that you follow all of our parking lot expectations to help us make sure no children, staff or families are put in harm’s way. We understand that you as parents and guardians have jobs and other important responsibilities that you have to attend to for your family and yourself. To help keep everyone safe please manage and plan accordingly to arrive at the school for drop off and pick up 10 to 15 minutes ahead of time. Understand that you will not be quickly in and out of the parking lot. Please be patient and we will work hard to make sure the system runs efficiently so you are able to make it to work or your next destination of importance.
Below are the parking lot expectations for student drop off and pick up. We are respectfully requesting all of you to follow to help keep your child and other Atherton students safe.
Every vehicle must pull curbside: When dropping off and picking up all cars must pull along the curbside.
Every vehicle must follow the flow of traffic: When following the flow of traffic you must remain behind the car in front of you and not cut the line.
Every vehicle must be in line: Parents may not park or bring your child across the parking lot for drop off nor request your child to walk across the parking lot to enter/exit a vehicle at pick up.
All students must be dropped off on the curb side: Parents please make sure you let your child or children out on the curb side (passenger side) and not on the parking lot side (driver side). This will keep them safe. You may have to move car seats to allow enter/exit to vehicles on the curbside of the car. This is a must. No Exceptions!
Drop off time for students: Doors open at 8:05am for students to enter. Staff will be in the drive-up along the curb at this time to welcome students. There will be no supervision before 8:05am so do not drop your child off.
Pick up time for students: Dismissal for students is 3:28pm. Students will be leaving classrooms to prepare for parent pick-up at 3:22pm. At this time we will begin loading cars. Do not expect to drive in quickly to get your child at this time. You must join the queue.
Students arriving after 8:25am: Students arriving after 8:25am are considered tardy. Parents must park and walk your child up to the door and sign them in at the office. Note that for every (3) tardies that will become an absence.
Students being picked up after 3:28pm: Parents, if you consistently pick your child up late we will make contact with you to schedule a meeting and determine appropriate next steps in how we can work together. If it continues to be an issue after speaking with you, we may need to involve the authorities.
Clarity of understanding for certain drop off and pick up students: In the past years we have had some families not following our parking lot expectations because they have stated “Other cars are parking and walking their child up.” Parents, please understand that our district has some children that have certain circumstances that we allow their parents to park and be escorted across the parking lot and given to one of our staff members.
Thank you for your continued work to ensure our students and staff are safe. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. Morford.
Calling all volunteers....
Important Dates
April 24 - Early Release; Dismissal at 1:58PM
April 29 - April SOM lunch with Morford and Wells
May 1 - STEAM night 5:30-7pm
May 8 - ELGA Deposit Day
May 8 - Early Release; Dismissal at 1:58PM
May 22 - Early Release; Dismissal at 1:58PM
May 27 - No School; Memorial Day
May 28 - Elementary band concert from 6-8:30am
May 29 - 5th and 6th BAND concert from 6-8:30pm
May 31 - Field Day
June 3 - May SOM lunch with Morford and Wells
June 7 - Last Day of School; Half Day with Dismissal at 12:05PM