Apollo Early Childhood Center
October, 2021 Updates
Principal's Corner
Dear Apollo Families,
On behalf of our entire Early Childhood family, I would like to thank you for an incredible start to our 2021-2022 school year.
As in past years, we have so much to be proud of here! This year, we offer the following programs for our children and for their families: Early Intervention, Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE), Head Start, the Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP), SXI, and infant, toddler, and preschool tuition program options. We are also thrilled to partner with our District's Special Education Department to offer speech and language, social work, and occupational and physical therapy opportunities to our eligible youngsters. We have so many wonderful resources underneath our Apollo umbrella!
This month, I want to thank everyone for their flexibility and patience as we continue to settle into our safety processes and protocols. While we continue to adjust and work out kinks, as always, we are appreciative of your continued support.
Finally, I want to remind everyone that our Virtual Book Fair is currently underway. It will run from October 18th - October 31st. You’ll get to enjoy the magic of a Book Fair from the comfort of your home with our Virtual Fair experience. Kids can shop thousands of books online to discover new favorites and stock their shelves with this season’s most popular reads! Plus, check out these special virtual shopping perks:
- Access to over 5,000 products
- Direct shipping to your home and FREE shipping on book-only orders over $25
- E-Wallet digital payment system that friends and family can contribute to
- 25% in rewards earned for our school with all purchases!
- Visit our Book Fair homepage to learn more and get started with virtual shopping: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/apollocenterchildcare
Thank you for helping us build lifelong readers in our school community!
Until next month...
Warm Regards,
Jen Kidd
Some of this month's Apollo Friday Forum highlights...
2019 Bond & Construction Updates
This spring, Apollo will begin to undergo its renovations. An overview of Apollo's scope of work includes:
- Our main office and entryway will be completely remodeled to be more aesthetically pleasing, safer and more secure. We will also be adding a significant amount of square footage to this area.
- To help us with our need for more toileting and changing spaces, we will be adding 7 new bathroom areas (for students and adults) throughout the building.
- The entire building will have new ceilings and lighting installed, will be freshly painted, and will receive new carpeting and tile.
- The media center will receive new flooring, paint and additional flexible seating furniture.
- Our gym and cafeteria will be transformed into a new gross motor space with unique flexibility options that allow the space to be multi-functional and versatile.
- Renovations to classrooms include new flooring, ceilings, lighting, furniture, and technology upgrades.
- Outside, the path at the back of the building going up the hill, as well as the old elementary aged play structure will be removed to allow for additional green space.
- Renovations to our Early Childhood playgrounds will occur in the cycle after our building renovations are complete.
It is going to get very busy around here this spring; we're so excited! As we finalize plans and timelines, we will be sure to share all information with our Apollo community. For more information about our District's bond projects, visit https://www.hvs.org/district/2019-bondbssf/.
Fall picture days are right around the corner...
October is Fire Safety month!
Did you know that October isn't the only month that we talk about safety? As a building, we also complete fire, lockdown and tornado drills so that we are prepared in case a true emergency were to arise. To date this school year, we have already completed our first fire and tornado drills.
Professional Learning Community (PLC)
We are proud to share that our Early Childhood staff have weekly opportunities to engage and collaborate in Professional Learning Communities together.
What is PLC?
A professional learning community is a group of educators that meets regularly, shares expertise, and works collaboratively to improve teaching skills and student performance.
PLCs are opportunities for staff to focus collaboratively on day-to-day challenges in their practice aligned with the 4 questions centered around student learning: What do we want students to learn? How will we know when each student has learned it? How will we respond when a student has difficulty learning? How will we respond when a student already knows it?
PLC teams typically consist of 2-6 members. In EC, these groups are inclusive of teachers, para educators, ancillary staff, associate teachers and administrators who all come together to collaboratively hone in on teaching and learning within our building.
Join our Early Childhood team!
About Us
Email: jennifer.kidd@hvs.org
Website: https://www.hvs.org/schools/earlychildhood/apollo-center/
Location: 2029 N Milford Rd, Highland, MI, USA
Phone: 248-684-8040