Salk Seahawk Scoop

To celebrate our positive behavior this month, Salk students were treated to an exciting PBIS building-wide reward—a dance party with the one and only DJ Zak Atak! Each grade level made their way down to the gym to enjoy high-energy tunes and show off their best dance moves.

Students had an absolute blast and filled the gym with smiles, laughter, and lots of school spirit. DJ Zak is always a hit at Salk, and students were thrilled to hear that he’ll be back for our end-of-year Ice Cream Social, hosted by the PTO.

We’re so proud of our students for showing respectful, responsible, and safe behavior—and we can’t wait to keep the celebrations going!

March is designated as “Reading Month” in schools all around Michigan. Our goal is to promote a love of reading and to help our students learn that one way to build knowledge is through reading. We want to encourage our students to make good habits by reading every day! Our theme for this year is “Under the Sea” Here are some fun things we have planned for the month:

Logs: Starting Saturday March 1st, students will need to start keeping track of how many minutes they read on their logs. Students need to turn in their logs with a parent/guardian signature every Friday (the 7th, 14th, 21st, Monday the 31st). Logs that are due on March 28th will be accepted on the 31st. The school is divided into 3 teams: Starfish, Jellyfish, and Squid. All classrooms on the team with the most reading minutes will earn a prize! One Y5-2 and one 3-6 classroom with the most minutes will get to schedule a time before the end of the school year for a movie and popcorn party in the Media Center or their classroom. Also, students who read at least 300 minutes during our Reading Month will be receiving a free ticket to a USPBL baseball game at Jimmy John’s Field in Utica!

Teams:

Starfish: Makowski, Kowalkowski, Sally, Boskovich, Lasater, Armstrong, Smith

Jellyfish: Amigliore, Dixon, Browe, Gutow, Monette, Edmunds, Jenks, Mackezyk

Squid: Sarah, Gallagher, Hawkins, Filie, Herrera, Budnick, Gutc

Spirit days: We have a whole month of fun spirit days to get students excited about reading! Please encourage your students to participate!

Each spring, the State of Michigan and the US Department of Education (USDE) require us to assess students in certain subject areas through the M-STEP, PSAT and SAT. The assessments provide the district with a snapshot of student achievement at the state, district, and building levels. Individual student results will also be shared with parents.

The tentative assessment dates for M-Step are as follows:

3rd Grade

Wednesday, April 30 - ELA Day 1

Thursday, May 1 - ELA Day 2

Tuesday, May 6 - Math

4th Grade

Tuesday, April 22 - ELA Day 1

Wednesday, April 23 - ELA Day 2

Tuesday, April 29 - Math

5th Grade

Wednesday, April 16 - ELA Day 1

Thursday, April 17 - ELA Day 2

Monday, April 21 - Math

Thursday, April 24 - Science

Monday, April 28 - Social Studies

6th Grade

Tuesday, April 8 - ELA Day 1

Wednesday, April 9 - ELA Day 2

Monday, April 14 - Math

Please ensure that your child is well rested on their testing day. They should come to school with a fully charged iPad .

Please note- We have makeup days built into our testing schedule, so if your child is exhibiting any symptoms of illness on their testing day- be sure to keep them home.

Also, due to recent updates in State testing procedures, cell phones, smart watches, and any bluetooth device (including headphones) MUST be secured during testing. We encourage students to leave these devices home on testing days when possible.When not possible, devices will be powered down and secured during testing

This month’s Principal Experience was a blast! As part of our PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) system, students can choose to enter their “Hawk Cash” into a monthly drawing for a special experience with our principal, or they can use it for classroom rewards. In March, the lucky winners got to enjoy a hands-on science session with Mr. Birkmeier!

During the experience, students rolled up their sleeves and dove into some seriously fun science by making slime and bouncy balls. With gooey textures and colorful creations, it was a messy, magical time full of laughter and learning.

To top it all off, the PTO made the day even sweeter by providing cookies for each of our young scientists. Thank you, PTO, for the delicious treat!

From start to finish, it was an exciting and memorable day. We can’t wait to see what next month’s Principal Experience will bring!

This past week, the PTO hosted a fantastic Bingo Night for our school families—and it was a full house in more ways than one! With a great turnout and a room full of excitement, both kids and adults enjoyed an evening of friendly competition and community fun.

Winners from all age groups walked away with prizes and big smiles, but the real win was the laughter and memories shared by all.

A huge thank you to our amazing PTO for organizing such a successful event. We’re already looking forward to the next one!

As a special thank you for your participation in Kids Heart Challenge, the American Heart Association is inviting Salk Elementary School families to celebrate with Detroit Pistons on Friday, April 11th at 7PM as they take on the Milwaukee Bucks!

• All students will receive a complimentary ticket with the purchase of an adult ticket.
• All students will have the opportunity to take a free throw shot on-court post-game.
• 15 students will be chosen at random to participate as Anthem Buddies on court!

Tickets can be purchased at www.pistons.com/aha.

Dear 6th-Grade Family,

Over the next several weeks, your child will be discussing bullying as part of Second Step® Middle School. Bullying is at its peak in middle school, and research indicates that taking proactive steps to address bullying will help reduce occurrences of it in school.

Second Step Middle School is designed to support your child in developing the knowledge and

skills to help stop bullying. Students will learn how to recognize bullying in various contexts, how to use strategies to stand up safely to bullying, and how to seek help if they or someone they know is being bullied.

Here are some key definitions your child will be learning:

• Bullying: intentional physical, verbal, or social aggression. It’s often repeated over time and occurs when there’s a real or perceived power imbalance.
• Bystander: anyone who’s aware that bullying is happening
  
• Online bullying: the use of technology to harass, threaten, or intimidate another person
  
• Physical bullying: hurting someone’s body or possessions
• Relational bullying: hurting someone’s reputation or relationships, such as by excluding them
• Upstander: someone who stands up for a person being bullied
  
• Verbal bullying: saying or writing mean things about someone

We encourage students to report any instances of bullying they witness or experience to you and to trusted adults at our school. Please contact the main office or your child's classroom teacher if you need support in reporting or dealing with bullying.

Additionally, if you have any questions about Second Step Middle School, please don’t hesitate

to contact me for more information. Thank you for your support as we work together to build a

bullying-free community.

Sincerely,

Mr. Birkmeier

As a parent of a Salk Elementary student, you are a valued member of the Salk PTO. Our official Facebook group is here: Salk PTO. Please help us build the group by sharing with other Salk families and adding them to the group.

The next PTO meeting is April 9, 2025 at 6PM in the Salk Media Center.

If you cannot make it in-person, you can join online this year:

Salk PTO Online Meeting Link

Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

https://meet.goto.com/940797093

This meeting is locked with a password : SALKPTO24-25

You can also dial in using your phone.

United States: +1 (224) 501-3412

Access Code: 940-797-093

Join from a video-conferencing room or system.

Dial in or type: 67.217.95.2 or inroomlink.goto.com

Meeting ID: 940 797 093

Or dial directly: 940797093@67.217.95.2 or 67.217.95.2##940797093

Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts:

https://meet.goto.com/install

The 2024-25 Executive PTO Board:

Jackie Lempinen - President

Amy Wiederhold- Vice President

Nicole Demura and Sara Sabon- Secretary

Christina Burrows- Executive Assistant

Christine Ireland - Treasurer

To contact the PTO - ptosalk@gmail.com

The March 24th Great Skate Night has been cancelled.

A FEW REMINDERS:

* Please remember that the drop-off lane is not for parked cars.

* The bus loop is for buses only!

* If you want to walk your child to their door, please park in a parking spot and walk up together.

* The church graciously allows us to use their parking lot. Please do not park in reserved spaces.

Thank you for helping to create a safe parking lot for all our students!

All Fraser classroom teachers provide instruction, resources, activities, and assessments to students utilizing the Canvas LMS. As a result, students have continuous access to the course materials and information regarding their achievement.

Parents/Guardians can also have continuous access to their student’s course materials and grades in Canvas by creating a parent/observer account. In addition, parents of multiple students can easily switch between their students to view grades and assignments within the same parent account.

All sign up information and resources are provided on the Fraser website.

Important reminders when using Canvas:

• Canvas works best in Chrome
• Please do not install the Canvas app (for parents or students). We are not supporting it as our staff and students are utilizing the web-based version of Canvas and it looks and works differently.
• If you signed up and paired with your students last year, you still have access to those students and their new courses this year.
• If you need to add more students to your account this year, please follow the directions provided below.
• If you have forgotten your password, you can use the Forgot Password? link on the parent sign in page. Then, enter the email address you used to set up the account to receive a password reset email.
• If you have forgotten the email you used, please reach out to Kim Keith, Kimberly.keith@fraserk12.org, for additional assistance.

Downloadable directions are linked below. In addition, helpful videos and walk-throughs may be found linked HERE.

Charlie has made visits to Salk the last couple of years with great success. Students are happy to see him and he really brightens the mood. Charlie will make his next visit soon.

Charlie's purpose is to ease student's anxieties and increase positive emotions. We do not want his presence to cause fear or anxiety. As a reminder, parents have the ability to opt out of having their student interact with Charlie. If you DO NOT want your student to be around Charlie, then please fill out the opt out form linked here.

For the safety of students with allergies and Charlie, he will not be in the lunch room. Charlie will also remain out of classrooms in which parents have a student who opt out. Charlie will be under my supervision and kept on a leash at all times.

Rules for Interacting with Charlie:

Use calm bodies and inside voices when around Charlie.

Always ask before petting Charlie.

Don't take food around Charlie/feed Charlie

As you may have heard, all students in Fraser Public Schools are eligible to receive free meals this school year. Every student enrolled in our district can receive a healthy breakfast and lunch at NO CHARGE to your household each day

Although not required, we do ask that families complete the Education Benefit Form located HERE. By doing so you help ensure the school receives additional funding.

Breakfast & Lunch menus may be found HERE.

Don't Forget to Order This Year's School Pictures

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Don’t forget to order your FREE Digital SmileSafe card!

More about the Smilesafe program here.

• 3/31 - School Resumes

• 4/2 - PTO Restaurant Night (Panera Bread)

• 4/11 - AHA Pistons Game

• 4/12 - PTO Gym Jam (Cutting Edge)

• 4/15 - Early Release Day (1:30 Dismissal)

• 4/17 - Dentist R Us Visit

• 4/18 - No School

• 4/30 - Restorative Practices for Parents & Safety Town @ RMS

• 5/1 - Band Concert @ FHS

Access the full District Calendar HERE at any time!

Important Contact Information:

Main Office: (586) 439-6800

Absentee Phone Line: (586) 439-6890

• 24 hour recorded line, please leave your child's reason for absence and length of time out. Absences reported to this line ensure most timely and accurate record.

Principal: Mr. Anthony Birkmeier, anthony.birkmeier@fraserk12.org

School Administrative Assistant: Mrs. Marcy Krebs, Marcy.Krebs@Fraserk12.org

Building Hours - 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

School Hours: 8:35 am – 3:30 pm

First Bell: 8:30 am

Instructional Bell: 8:35 am

Students must be in class by 8:35 am or they are marked tardy