North Godwin News
Week of May 27, 2024
Steve Minard, Principal
Kristi Bast, Secretary
Telephone (616) 252-2010 and Fax (616) 252-2011
This is the LAST WEEK of school for the 2023-2024
Friday, May 31, 2024 is our LAST DAY of SCHOOL for the 2023-2024 school year. There will be a HALF DAY of SCHOOL on this day with dismissal beginning at 11:30 AM! If you pick your child up from school, please arrive promptly at 11:30 AM.
As we approach the end of another beautiful year, we reflect on the incredible journey we have shared together. This year has been filled with growth, learning, and countless unforgettable moments. From the first day of school to the last day of school, we have come together as a community, supporting and inspiring one another every step of the way.
Our North Godwin Elementary students have shown dedication and enthusiasm for learning. Their curiosity and eagerness to explore the world around them has truly been inspiring. They have overcome challenges, discovered new talents, and demonstrated kindness and empathy toward their peers. Their accomplishments, both big and small, have made us immensely proud.
Let us not forget the invaluable support of our parents and guardians. Parent involvement, encouragement, and partnership have played an instrumental role in the success of our students. By placing trust in our school and dedication to your children's education, we have together created a strong foundation for our children’s future.
We would also like to extend our deepest gratitude to our remarkable North Godwin staff members. Their unwavering commitment to providing a nurturing and engaging learning environment is truly commendable. Their passion for education, creativity in the classroom, and tireless efforts have helped shape our students into confident and capable individuals. We thank them for going above and beyond every single day.
We encourage each and every one of you to embrace the upcoming summer break as a time for rest, relaxation and, rejuvenation. Take the opportunity to explore new interests, spend quality time with loved ones, and create beautiful memories that will last a lifetime. May your summer be filled with joy, laughter, and adventure!
The first day of school for the 2024-2025 school year will be Monday, August 19, 2024.
Just Write Celebration & End of Year Picnic on Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Parents and Guardians,
North Godwin Elementary will host our annual Just Write Celebration and End of Year Picnic on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. This is an opportunity for our students to showcase their writing accomplishments for all to see. The Just Write walk will be immediately followed by a picnic lunch to celebrate the end of a wonderful school year! Festivities take place by grade level as follows:
3rd Grade
10:30 AM --Just Write Walk
11:00 AM--Picnic Lunch
4th Grade
11:15 AM -- Just Write Walk
11:45 AM -- Picnic Lunch
5th Grade
11:45 AM -- Just Write Walk
12:15 PM -- Picnic Lunch
NORTH GODWIN END OF YEAR FIELD TRIPS
4th Grade
May 30 -- Hillcroft Park
3rd Grade
May 28 -- Hillcroft Park
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL CAMP for NORTH GODWIN EXITING 5th GRADE GIRLS thru 12th GRADE!
When: June 3rd – June 5th from 4:00pm – 5:30pm
Who: Incoming 6th graders (exiting 5th graders) – 12th grade seniors
Where: Main Gym at the High School
Cost $15 (this includes a camp t-shirt)
Please call Kyle Jelke in Godwin Heights Athletic office at 616-901-3792
Congratulation to the Godwin Heights High School Graduating Class of 2024!
RETURN OF STUDENT MEDICATIONS for the 2023-2024 SCHOOL YEAR
Parents and Guardians,
All asthma inhalers and over-the counter student medications that were signed in for this school year will be sent home with students on the last day of school. If your student has an Epi-pen or prescription Rx, it must be signed out by a parent. Student medications not claimed by June 4, 2024 will be properly discarded.
If your child is participating in a summer program, the medication/s are still required to be sent home or picked up by June 4, 2024. You may choose to re-sign them in with the coordinator for any summer program that your student/s may be attending on the first day of programming.
In the fall of 2024, all medication paperwork must be UPDATED and re-signed in for the next school year.
PLEASE CHECK the LOST & FOUND BINS BEFORE THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR!
Parents and Guardians,
Wednesday, May 29 is our annual year-end picnic and Just Write Celebrations at North Godwin. While in the building, please take a moment to check our Lost & Found bins for items that your student/s may be missing. Items not claimed by the last day of school will be discarded. Thank you!
Godwin Heights Summer Meals Program
Dear Parent/Guardian,
School may be out, but school meals are still in! We will be serving BREAKFAST & LUNCH to anyone 18 years or younger in the community.
We want to make sure that everyone knows that Godwin Heights Public Schools’s summer meal program does not require registration or identification – all students need to do is come by to receive a happy and healthy meal.
Monday through Thursday June 10th - July 26th, no meals the week of July 4th, Godwin Heights students and families can visit the following sites to enjoy meals:
● Godwin Middle School 7:30 am-8:00 am for Breakfast & 10:30 am-11:00 am for Lunch
● North Godwin Elementary 8:30 am-9:00 am for Breakfast & 11:15 am-11:45 am for Lunch
● West Godwin Elementary 8:45 am-9:55 am for Breakfast & 11:15 am-11:45 am for Lunch
If you aren’t already using Nutrislice, I encourage you to download the app or visit Godwin Heights Public Schools’s Nutrislice site. Through Nutrislice, you can view what’s on our summer menus, including nutrition information, allergens, and photos. The app is free and available from the App store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) and you can search for your menus or find them on the web at https://godwinschools.nutrislice.com.
We’re committed to making sure that meals aren’t something that any child or family should be concerned about this summer and can’t wait to feed the kids in the Godwin community! Please feel free to pass the information on to others. This summer we’re able to serve anyone 18 years old and younger throughout Wyoming and not just those who attend Godwin Heights Public Schools.
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Thank you,
Jamie Schumaker
North Godwin Elementary TEAM 21 Summer School 2024
Parents and Guardians,
North Godwin, in partnership with the TEAM 21 program, will once again operate summer school 2024 for our students. Space is limited. Preference will be given to students who are most in need of academic support and growth.
The morning segment of the program focuses on academics and the afternoon segment of the program focuses on arts, activities, physical education, teamwork and group play.
Summer School Dates and Information
Mondays through Thursdays ONLY
Start date: Monday, June 10, 2024
End date: Thursday, July 25, 2024
No programming during the week of July 1 -- July 5, 2024 in observance of Independence Day
8:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Applications are available in the main lobby. Digital copies of the application are linked below:
English
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Ij1I6fiuxk2sQyaTbtDkiEya7Xrpb0zAha4DYTL2wZ0/edit
Spanish
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1SDH3ybGwGAhCzyIEIE5C0uXjDiviPMBGq2HeUt4vM4U/edit
🏀GODWIN HEIGHTS GIRLS BASKETBALL CAMP 2024 REGISTRATION!
Thank You to Cabela's Outdoor Fund!
Our Principal, Mr. Minard, proudly accepted a grant check in the amount of $450.00 last week to assist in funding our 5th grade field trips to Camp Tuhsmeheta. Camp Tuhsmeheta (Camp T) is dedicated to providing a fun, active, and safe learning environment for school-age children in Michigan. Camp T is located on Flannigan Lake at the western edge of the Morgan Mills chain of lakes. It boasts 301 pristine acres of pine and oak forests. This is an amazing experience for our students and we are incredibly grateful to Cabela's and several other donors who helped to make this trip possible.
FEEDING AMERICA MOBILE FOOD PANTRIES
One in every 9 people. At least 261,000 people in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula are food insecure—meaning they don't have consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food insecurity exists for a variety of reasons, and anyone can experience a bout of it. Feeding America West Michigan, believes hunger is unacceptable and that their community has the power to change lives—one meal at a time. That’s why they've assembled a network of partners that they work alongside on their mission to relieve hunger and increase food security in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.
Our Godwin Heights Feeding America truck distributions will now be every month on TUESDAYS! Same time, same place, 4:00 pm in front of the high school, just one day later each month. Here is the schedule for the rest of the year:
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
If you have your own bags, please bring them!
Godwin Heights 2023-2024 School Year Calendar
May 27 ~ No School -- MEMORIAL DAY
May 31 ~ 1/2 DAY OF SCHOOL -- DISMISSAL AT 11:45 AM -- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
A Parent's Guide to Keeping Kids Home From School
Parents and Guardians,
When your child is sick, it’s important to know when they should stay home from school. If they have a contagious virus or disease, keep them home. This will help them get better faster and keep their teachers and classmates from getting sick.
Talk to your child’s doctor or health care provider if you are unsure if they should stay home from school. As a general rule, your child should not go to school if they have:
- A fever over 100.4° Fahrenheit (F) or 38° Celsius (C) – Your child can return to school after they’ve been fever-free for 24 hours without antipyretics. Antipyretics are medicines that treat or prevent fever.
- Signs they are weak and tired. This is common with the flu.
- Diarrhea – Having loose poop (stool) more often that isn’t caused by a change in diet.
- Throwing up (vomiting) – More than 2 times in a 24-hour period.
- Coughing that disrupts normal activity.
- Wheezing or get short of breath.
- Pain from earache, headache, sore throat, or recent injury.
- Yellow or green drainage from the eye(s).
- A new rash – Not all rashes mean your child must stay home from school. Check with their doctor or health care provider.
If your child has a fever, they must stay home from school until they have been FEVER-FREE for 24 hours WITHOUT medication! Thank you!
Click below!
STRIVE FOR LESS THAN 5 DAYS ABSENT!
The data for students who are chronically absent is clear: Students who miss more than 10 percent of school time, just two days a month, are far less likely to be proficient than their peers who regularly attend school.
Across Kent ISD, approximately 13 percent of students are chronically absent. Like the national studies, the prevalence of chronic absenteeism varies widely from school building to building and district to district but, in virtually every instance, it is greater in buildings and communities serving the economically disadvantaged.
The effects of chronic absenteeism are profound. Kent ISD researcher Sunil Joy found these students are much less likely to become proficient in math or reading. Just one in four are likely to be proficient in math at eighth grade. Worse, low-income students who are chronically absent have just a 10 percent chance of being proficient. Even more startling is the effect on African-American students, with just 3 percent likely to be proficient if they are chronically absent.
While truancy is well known and understood, chronic absenteeism is less familiar, as most absences are excused by parents and, until recently, were rarely challenged by educators. That began to change approximately a decade ago through the work of education researcher Hedy Chang, who is now the executive director of Attendance Works, a national nonprofit seeking to help schools and communities combat chronic absenteeism.
Chang’s research led to the publication in 2008 of “Present, Engaged and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades.” This report revealed that one in 10 kindergarten and first-grade students nationwide miss nearly a month of school each year. In some cities, the rate is as high as one in four elementary students. Research across Kent ISD reveals just 40 percent of chronically absent children in kindergarten through second-grade are proficient on third-grade reading tests.
Our district is working hard to get at this problem. The value of the Strive for Less Than 5 campaign is its uniform message to all children, families and community partners. Attendance is important, and parents and their children should strive for fewer than five absences a year.
Attendance Policy
The normal attendance expectations for any given child in the Kent County Intermediate School District are as follows:
> that a child miss not more than 10 days of Excused Absences for the entire school year,
> that a child have no Unexcused Absences for the entire school year
> that a child have not more than 5 Tardies combined with Leave Early check-outs per semester.
> that a child have no Suspensions for the entire school year.
Godwin Heights Public Schools are held by law to report tardies and absences in excess of the guidelines listed above to the Kent Intermediate School District Office of Truancy and School Attendance-State Law Enforcement Division.
The primary rationale for positive attendance is the strong relationship between student attendance and student achievement. Chronic student absences reduces even the best teacher's ability to provide learning opportunities. Students who attend school regularly have been shown to achieve at higher levels than students who do not have regular attendance. This relationship between attendance and achievement may appear early in a child's school career. A recent study looking at young children found that absenteeism in kindergarten was associated with negative first grade outcomes such as greater absenteeism in subsequent years and lower achievement in reading, math, and general knowledge.
Poor attendance has serious implications for later outcomes. High school dropouts have been found to exhibit a history of negative behaviors, including high levels of absenteeism throughout their childhood, at higher rates than high school graduates. These differences in absentee rates were observed as early as kindergarten, and students who eventually dropped out of high school missed significantly more days of school in elementary school than their peers who graduated from high school.
North Godwin Elementary
Email: bast@godwinschools.org
Website: www.godwinschools.org
Location: 161 34th Street Southwest, Wyoming, MI, USA
Phone: 616-252-2010
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthGodwin/