New Groningen News

Picture Day: Thursday, September 19

Special Olympics Kickoff Opening (Unified Football): Thursday, September 19 @ 11:30am

Early Release/Staff PD: Friday, September 20

3rd Grade Star of Saugatuck/Mt. Baldy Trip: September 25 & September 26 (classes split)

5th Grade Pine Trails Camp Visit: Friday, September 27

4th Grade Ford Museum: Friday, September 27

Early Release/Staff PD: Friday, October 4

Early Release/Staff PD: Thursday, October 31

NO SCHOOL/Staff PD: Friday, November 1

CONGRATULATIONS!

Seraphina

Cooper

Conrad

Ashley

Claire

Riley

Selene

Mason

Harrison

Kylie

CONGRATULATIONS!

Matt

Emmi

Audrey

Sawyer

Sierra

Jaelena

Oaklie

Lilyana

Bayleigh

James

Max

We are so excited to be officially bringing zLinks to New Groningen! ZLinks is an opportunity for 3rd-5th general education students to work alongside students with cognitive impairments. This could be through Unified soccer (starting this fall), Unified basketball (winter), recess or lunch buddies, or in adapted specials. Applications can be filled out through the attached PDF, filling out the google form, or paper copies of the application can be picked up outside Mrs. Feenstra's classroom (room 121). The deadline for turning in applications will be Thursday, September 12, with decisions being made that Friday. Applications will open up again in December for new and returning students to participate in different aspects of the program. Please reach out to Mrs. Feenstra (wfeenstr@zps.org) or Mrs. Smith (asmith1@zps.org) with any questions!

Start to plan out your picture day outfit and smile! We will have Geskus in our building on Thursday, September 19 to capture those cute faces and smiles!

ZPS is committed to providing a safe environment for our children to learn. This year, we are also introducing a new visitor/volunteer sign-in program called Raptor. This new system will help us accurately and efficiently screen all visitors and volunteers in our schools, providing us with a safer environment for our students and staff.

Below is the information regarding our new security system, including what is needed from you to complete a background check and what to look forward to when coming to volunteer in a classroom or chaperone a field trip! We are excited about the new system and the updated level of security. Please note that if you do not complete the background check form (linked below) at least 3 days before an event at New Groningen, you will be turned away. In addition, if you do not have your state issued ID upon arrival for the event, you will be turned away. We do not have the capacity to run emergency background checks like we did in the past and the only way to sign into the system is with your state issued ID. We do not want any sad kids because mom, dad, grandma, uncle, etc. could not attend the event they were hoping to, so PLEASE fill the form out IMMEDIATELY, do not wait! Please read ALL of the information below before clicking on the background check link!

Complete the form from the link below (this will be a ONE TIME A YEAR form to fill out; no username and no password needed!). The information you enter on the application must match your government-issued identification card including your full legal name.

https://docs.google.com/forms/ d/1pA5N5xzvUL7QweO1C_ kceWP2kCrsEZaC4-jrW_PWE3s/ edit?ts=66c75165

On the day of your volunteer opportunity, you will need to bring a government-issued ID and scan it into the Raptor Visitor system prior to entry (this is EVERY TIME YOU come to volunteer).

If you'd like more information or have any questions, please check out the FAQ document:

Here is a link to our visitor/volunteer policy and a FAQ document

Thank you for your willingness to support the students in our schools and help maintain a safe learning environment.

The state approved their budget and that also included free breakfast and lunch to all students regarding their families' economic status again for the 24/25 year! Beginning July 1, 2024, it will be important that ALL families apply for free breakfast and lunch, regardless of your household economic status and regardless of the state approval already. The information that is gained from this application is crucial in the many grants that directly help ZPS outside of the food service area.

To fill out the food service application (please fill this out regardless of economic status and/or the new budget approval):

SCAN the QR code in the image to the right, OR

Click on the FOOD SERVICE link HERE!

CLICK REGISTER to go to the food portal (if you did not register for the 23/24 year) OR sign in!

Once you are registered in the new system, you can click on the BENEFITS button and will be walked through what to do to determine if you qualify for free or reduced meals!

Please feel free to email Food Service with any questions you might have; they are more than happy to help!

A special thank you to Countryside Greenhouse and Distinctive Group Inc. for generously supporting New Groningen students for the 2024/2025 school year!

If you know a business owner or are a business owner and would like to support our school this year, please see the flyer below on how you can do that!

The NGFA is excited for another school year. Here's a little about the NGFA and the amazing things they help put together in order to support NG!

The NGFA is proud to help support our school, many fun activities, field trips and events for New Groningen Elementary free of charge for our families. We hold meetings throughout the year that will be announced in the upcoming weeks, have many fun events and activities planned, fundraisers and there will be many volunteer opportunities as well.

You can join our Facebook group “New Groningen Family Association - NGFA” to stay up to date with NG happenings.

We hope you all had a fun, safe long weekend and look forward to working with you all this year! If you have questions throughout the year you can contact us at ngfainfo@gmail.com.

Kristin Hunderman, President

Nicole Orazem, VP

Meghan Trowbridge, Treasurer

OPEN, Secretary

School-wide: Mrs. Rindfliesch will send New Groningen News to all families via email on Fridays (sometimes earlier depending on holiday breaks)!

Classroom: Each classroom has their own classroom communication site or newsletter and that will be communicated to each family by your child's teacher!

District-wide: ZPS sends emails in the form of Z For Me (click HERE to sign up to receive these emails), uses Facebook (ZPS: Learning for Life), Instagram and Twitter. In addition, you can opt into our district-wide School Messenger, which delivers a text message to your phone to notify you of school closings, safety alerts and more! All you need to do is TEXT "Y" to 67587 to opt in (see flyer below for more information).

Other NG Resources:

• NG Page on ZPS Website

• Facebook: You can also find information from the NG Family Association on our NGFA Facebook page located at New Groningen Family Association - NFGA if you search for us on Facebook. This is ONLY a place parent engagement and sharing. This is NOT where we store information or publish information that must get to parents.

In ZPS, we believe that reading is foundational to the success of our students. Throughout each week, students are regularly provided with opportunities to read independently. Classroom teachers and library staff work hard to provide high-quality, engaging, and relevant texts for students. We respect each parent’s right to provide input on what books would be appropriate for their own child. For more information on this topic, please read this letter to the community.

Please use this PDF in order to get instructions and a code to set up your Parent Portal (access to grades, bussing information, etc.)! Parent Portal, while not used to it's fullest for elementary students, it will become a regular resource to you as your learner moves into middle and high school. As for elementary students, Parent Portal is a great resource to look up bus information and track attendance, too.

If you do not have portal set up, please feel free to set one up!

If your child will need ANY medications given to them during the school year, the correct MEDICAL FORM must be FILLED OUT AND SIGNED by your child's doctor BEFORE we can begin to give meds. Please see Mrs. Boeve or Mrs. Keeler in the main office prior to school starting in order to have medication ready for August. 28!