August 26-Monday-NWEA Testing Window Opens

August 29-Thursday-Community Tailgate-5-7 pm and Opening of New Turf Field and Home Football Game

August 30 -Friday-No School

September 2-Monday-No School

September 5-Thursday-Picture Day

September 11-Wednesday-Late Start-PD at 8-11 am, School begins at 11:38 am

September 12-Thursday-NWEA Testing Window Closes

What a GREAT week of learning at Camp Hillcrest! We had so much fun learning procedures and getting to know our classmates! We are going to have quite an ADVENTURE this year!

We are so lucky to have great partnerships with Alma Public Library and Alma College. Today, a couple of our 3rd grade classes were able to go to Alma Public Library to hear a story, work on a craft, and interactive with Alma College freshmen who are learning about the Alma community!

Come check out our new turf field and enjoy a family event before the first home football game of the year!

Now that we have a week of school under our belt, we will begin our NWEA and beginning of the year testing next week.

Each student will take the math and reading NWEA tests and they also take them in the winter and spring to chart their progress.

Students will also be doing reading and math fluency tests to help us see where are students are so we can use the data to guide our instruction moving forward.

Classroom teachers will send out more information, but it is important that the students are well rested when they come to school on testing days so they can give their best effort!

Parents, it is essential to keep your information up to date in PowerSchool. This ensures you receive critical communications and notifications concerning your child and district events. Below are the steps you need to follow to update your contact information:

You can also add and edit emergency contacts.

-

-

We have a tradition at Hillcrest of wearing our theme shirts on Tuesdays! It can be any form of camping shirt, such as camo colors, fishing, from a State Park, or whatever camping is to you!

On Fridays in Alma, we wear orange and black, or anything PANTHERS to show off our school spirit!

Drop Off begins at 7:35 am. Please make sure students are ready to exit the vehicle. Please wait patiently in line and pull up when cares move ahead. We will have many smiling faces opening doors for the students. We prefer all parents stay in their vehicle, but if you would like to walk your student to the playground, please use the crosswalk only. No parents are allowed on the playground in the morning.

To continue the momentum of success today, APS wanted to outline the end-of-day pick-up expectations to expedite the experience. We all recognize that hundreds of students K-5 are picked up at the end of each school day. Please be prepared to exercise patience as we safely release K-5 students to the adults appropriately listed within PowerSchool.

1. When arriving at pick up, a staff member will ask for your name and your child’s name.

2. We will confirm that you are an approved adult and will assist in loading your child for efficient flow.

   1. If the person picking up is NOT listed as a parent or emergency contact, please expect to park for parent contact and confirmation.

   2. Pick-up changes should be communicated to the classroom teacher or building office before 2:00 to prevent delays.

Please keep in mind that this protocol may take time but ensures the safe release of all K-5 students. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

APS will once again have Late Start and Early Release Days about once a month. For both days, the time to remember for Hillcrest is 11:38 am. Our Late Start days are on Wednesdays and our Early Release days will be on Fridays this year.

September 11-Wednesday-Late Start-Begin at 11:38 am

October 11-Friday-Early Release-End at 11:38 am

November 8-Friday-Early Release-End at 11:38 am

November 13-Wednesday-Late Start-Begin at 11:38 am

December 11-Wednesday-Late Start-Begin at 11:38 am

January 10-Friday-Early Release-End at 11:38 am

February 28-Friday-Early Release-End at 11:38 am

March 12-Wednesday-Late Start-Begin at 11:38 am

April11-Friday-Early Release-End at 11:38 am

May 14-Wednesday-Late Start-Begin at 11:38 am

Thanks in advance for planning transportation for your students on these day!

At Alma Public Schools, we teach students to follow their ROARS. We focus on a positive approach and help them to understand the expectations and what following their ROARS looks like, sounds like, and feels like in all areas of the building.

As a way to promote positive behavior and as an incentive to follow their ROARS, students can earn Panther Paws.

Please make every effort to have your child at school every day! We want to see them and their classmates miss them when they are not here! It is so critical to their education process that they in school!

In all of our classrooms, we teach positive expectations for behavior so students know what to expect. We use the acronym MAC (Movement, Activity, Conversation) to help student understand those expectations. The M stands for movement so students know what the expectations are for moving. The A lets the students know the activity they will be coming and the C is the conversation so the students know what volume level they can be at.

Over the last few years, APS has worked very hard at developing and implementing systems to help all students be successful. This flyer helps to give more details regarding our progress.

Make sure to download the APS App on your phone. This year we will be using this app for all parent communication from teachers and coaches. At Open House, you will receive more information on how to connect the app to your student's classroom.

We greatly appreciate and welcome volunteers and chaperones in our classrooms and events. Your involvement in our students' activities and classrooms offers a valuable opportunity for teachers and students, enhancing the safety and enrichment of the learning experience. If you’re interested in volunteering this year, please review our volunteer and chaperone guidelines on our district website under “Parents and Community” and complete the volunteer form. This form will remain on file for one school year.

Click on the link to open the form.

Families are such an important part of their child's education and we want to make sure families are connected to APS! Please seek ways you can be a part of our schools!

Don't hesitate to reach out to the office or to your child's teacher to see what we can do to make this a great experience for your students!

If you need to make a transportation change for your student, it must be communicated to the office before 2 p.m. The end of the day is very hectic at an elementary school and messages are not always able to get to teachers after 2 pm.

Thank you for being so understanding in this situation!

Our buiding uses Second Step to help support our students and their Social-Emotional Learning. Each class does weekly lessons to teach a variety of different skills and techniques.

We have officially begun our ELA program called Bookworms! Our classes have done a great job and we are excited to see their progress throughout the year! Each student will receive three different blocks of reading and writing instruction a day.

One of the Bookworms blocks is called DI. Every student is placed in a group based on their skill and needs. They work on lessons geared toward progress in their reading skills and move up the staircase as they gain the necessary skills.

For all of our K-5 classes, we are using a six-day rotation for our specials, which we call A-F day. All of the students in grades 2-5 have STEAM, Art, Music, Social-Emotional Learning, and two days of PE. Students in first grade will not have music this year, but will have two days of Art class instead.

We are very fortunate to have so many offerings for all of our students that are taught by certified teachers!

Here is a link to all the Camp Hillcrest Happenings for the 2024-25 School Year.

Camp Hillcrest Happenings for 2024-25

Email: jhelinski@almaschools.net
Website: www.almaschools.net
Location: 515 East Elizabeth Street, Alma, MI, USA
Phone: 989-463-3113
Facebook: facebook.com/almahillcrest
Twitter: @almahillcrest