NEW GRONINGEN NEWS
May 10, 2024
New Groningen Sponsors!
A HUGE shout out to the businesses that have supported New Groningen this year in BIG ways! This year, we were able to use our sponsorships toward FIELD DAY! We appreciate our community in so many ways!
Thank you, Countryside Greenhouse!
Happy Friday, NG!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
2023/2024 Important Dates At-a-Glance
3rd Grade Trip to Camp Geneva: May 16
1st Grade Walking Trip, Downtown Zeeland: May 17
5th Grade Wax Museum: May 17
5th Grade Camp Pine Trails: May 21-24
Final Popcorn Friday: May 24
Memorial Day, No School (parade information below): May 27
Kindergarten Field Trip to Boulder Ridge: May 28
Chocolate Sales Winners Limo Ride (Tentative): May 29
Chocolate Bar Top Sales LIMO Ride, 1:45pm: May 30
1st Grade Trip to Meijer Gardens: May 31
2nd Grade Trip to Dutch Village: June 3
NG Field Day (@ football stadium): June 4
Early Release: June 5-7
Last Day of School: June 7
Field Day Message from Mrs. Geertsma!
Field Day is Tuesday, June 4th at Zeeland Stadium. Here is the sign up genius link for our volunteers! In this sign up, you will see 12 station assignments for Y5's-2nd Grade and 12 station assignments for 3rd-5th grade. We will need 2 volunteers per station. We couldn't make this day possible without wonderful volunteers to help run our stations. Please let me know if you have any questions or have trouble accessing the link.
*NEW: We will have additional sign ups this year for lunch break volunteers. Our station volunteers will also be asked to monitor our lunch break if able. This is only a 30 minute time slot, which will allow teachers the option to have a 30 minute duty free lunch during our field day.
Memorial Day Parade with ZPS!
On May 27 at 8:30 AM, Zeeland Festivals will host the Memorial Day Parade in downtown Zeeland. This wonderful opportunity to come together and remember the brave individuals who have served our country is always a memorable experience for students and families!
The parade kicks off at 9 am and winds through the streets of downtown Zeeland. This is not a drop-off event: all children must be accompanied by an adult chaperone if they would like to participate in the parade. Please plan to meet at the corner of Centennial and Main St, as this is where ZPS will be staged for the start of the parade (see map). Please join us as we pay tribute to our heroes and our country.
Note: 1st and 2nd grade students will walk only, while 3rd-5th grade students have the option to rollerblade or scooter.
Join us as we throw on some patriotic gear and support our community! We hope to see you there.
Information on Summer EXCEL Sign Up (Girls and Boys entering 6th grade)!
Excel 2024
As the summer approaches, we are excited to again offer the Excel training program for our Zeeland West and Creekside athletes in grades 6th-12th. The Excel program, in its 18th year, is a 6-week long training program. The goal of Excel is to offer an affordable but highly specialized training program with a focus on speed and quickness, agility, plyometrics, and strength training; while giving student-athletes the opportunity to work and improve alongside their teammates.
Dates: June 10th to July 26th with the exception of the dead week July 1-5.
Days: Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Cost: $120
HS boys (9th-12th): 7:30-9:00 am
HS/MS girls(6th-12th):8:45-10:15 am
MS Boys (6th-8th): 10:00-11:30 am
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To sign your son or daughter up, please complete the following form: https://forms.gle/uexS59QGHxnzJZHq6. Please fill out a different form for each child you are signing up for the program, using their grade they will be in next fall. We want the Excel program to be an affordable option for all of Zeeland West athletes and their families. If you or your family are interested in participating in the program, but are struggling financially, please send Mr. Vande Guchte an email at nvandegu@zps.org to discuss what options are available.
Please have your son or daughter bring their payment of $120 to Mrs. Brookhouse in the West Athletic Office, to the Creekside Main Office or to Mr. Vande Guchte in D130 prior to the program start date. Checks should be made out to Zeeland West Excel. Cash is also accepted.
Program History
This summer will be the eighteenth of our Excel program here at Zeeland West. Prior to teaching and coaching at Zeeland West, Coach Vande Guchte was the Director of Sports Training at Excel-R-ation Physical Therapy and Sports Training for many years. While there, he was responsible for a staff of 3-5 trainers who trained middle school athletes all the way up through professional athletes. In addition to training in their facility, he led the ground based training program here at Zeeland West, as well as Saugatuck High School, Holland Christian High School, Griff's Ice Arena, the Hope College Tennis Academy, and several other high school teams and small groups of athletes throughout the area.
When the program started at West, it was one trainer and approximately 15-20 athletes. Over the last seventeen years, the program has developed and grown into 8-12 coaches helping each summer, and now training between 140-160 athletes from a variety of sports and age groups.
We look forward to a summer of getting better, together!
Go Dux!
Thank you,
Kevin Towne
Creekside Middle School Athletics Administration
Whitecaps Zeeland Family Night / Fundraiser
We are trying something new this year and joining Quincy Elementary for a Whitecaps Zeeland Family Night if you and your family would like to join in the fun. For every ticket sold NG will earn $2 for every ticket sold. You need to make sure you purchase tickets using the link here for us to get credit. Feel free to share with family and friends and make sure they select “New Groningen Elementary” at check out. https://fevo-enterprise.com/event/Zeelandfamily2
Anchored in Excellence STARS
Each week our learners are earning tickets for showing excellent understanding of our expectations at New Groningen. They show us by following expectation in the hallway, bathrooms, classrooms, specials classes, on the playground, etc.. They earn individual tickets from ANY adult in the building, place them in a "ticket" tub in their classroom and each week those tickets are turned into the office. We draw a ticket from each class to come down to pick out a prize and have their picture taken! Students can be drawn multiple times in a year, we had three students this week who have been AiE STARS in past weeks! The more tickets you earn, weekly (students are not to keep them week to week), the better chances of having your name drawn!
Congratulations to the following AiE STARS!
Young 5's - 2nd Grade STARS
Young 5's and Kindergarten
Christian
Mikayla
Highly
John
1st Grade
Haylee
2nd Grade
Reyn
Trevor
Owen
Haven
3rd - 5th Grade STARS
3rd Grade
Hannah K
4th Grade
Lelyn
MIkaylah
Max
5th Grade
Hailey
Henry
Brynn
April Golden Anchor Award Winners!
Congratulations to Mrs. Droppers' 4th graders and Mrs. Garza's 1st graders for working together as a class and earning the top number of Golden Anchors during the month of April!
April PE Golden Sneaker Award
Congratulations to our Golden Sneaker Award Winners for April in PE!
Here is how your class can earn 2 stars every class period:
1) S.H.I.N.E.S during class time:
S- Show respect.
H- Have self control.
I- I'm trustworthy.
N- Never give up.
E- Engaged in learning
S- Stayed safe
2) All students wear good "PE" shoes
Good luck to all classes for the month of May! Thank you for being so supportive and encouraging of this award. Your students work so hard and it is so fun to watch the excitement of the award winners. Have a great rest of your week!
Y5's-2nd Grade: Lauritzen (2nd) *repeat winner from March!*
3rd-5th Grade: Highley (5th) *repeat winner from March!*
New Groningen Highlight
Congratulations to Owen, who won an art contest through West Michigan Lakeshore Realtors, That’s Who We R to donate $250 to New Groningen's Unified Program! Huntington National Bank stopped by to help the students celebrate with ice cream. A special thanks to realtor Joannie Bouman, who encouraged students to participate! #ProudtoBePartoftheZ
Zeeland Public Schools Happenings!
Elementary Specials
Please see the attached information regarding a change in elementary specials.
2024/2025 Notable Calendar Dates
August 30-September 2: Labor Day
November 27-28: Thanksgiving Break
December 23-January 3: Holiday Break
February 10-11: Winter Break
April 4-April 11: Spring Break
May 26: Memorial Day
New Groningen Family Association
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 many 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.
If you have questions throughout the year you can contact us at ngfainfo@gmail.com.
Martha Menerick, President
Nicole Orazem, VP
Amy Nash, Treasurer
Kristin Hunderman, Secretary
Leslie Rindfliesch, NG Principal
All the Little Things our NG Staff Loves!
Ever wondering how to treat your child's teacher for going above & beyond, for being awesome, for working hard or just because? No worries! Please check out our All the Little Things I LOVE document! (while we all love a little surprise, treats and gifts are not mandatory)
MISCELLANEOUS
Don't Miss Out on the Zeeland Recreation Offerings!
Zeeland Rec has a handful of upcoming programs that you don't want to miss! Below are some highlights. Visit THEIR WEBSITE to view more details and to register!
FOOD SERVICE Information
COMMUNICATION
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, 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:
- 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.
SAFETY/SECURITY/VOLUNTEERING
Safety: The safety of all of the kids is our number one priority. If you need to come for any reason, you MUST at all times have a sticker from the volunteer computer that permits you into the building. You may NOT just come in (this includes just dropping your child off to their classroom). We really enjoy our parents being so involved and want to schedule those needs, but we also have to follow the safety procedures that are put in place district wide. All volunteer opportunities will be set up with the classroom teacher or NG staff. If you are hoping to observe your student or be with them at any point of their day, teachers need 24 hours notice. PLEASE be sure to enter the office, sign in using the volunteer computer system, put your name identification on your shirt (clearly visible) and then you can head down to fulfill your volunteer duties. If you do not have your identification clearly visible you will be stopped and asked to return to the office. Remember, this is not to make it hard for you, as the parent, to help in the classroom or visit/drop your child off, but to keep all of the kids in the building safe!
Volunteering: Be prepared to re-submit or submit your information for a background check in August by going to the following website: https://v2ms.zps.org/Login.aspx or stopping in the office and resubmitting your fingerprints and information through our volunteer computer in the main office.
At any time in the building, you do not have a visible green name tag on your clothes, you will be stopped and asked to return to the office. If your name tag is yellow, it indicates that your background check has not been fulfilled yet and you will be asked to return to the office. If your name tag is red, you are NOT permitted into the building past the main office (but please know that if you receive a letter in the mail from our Volunteer and Background Coordinator, you may appeal your denial through a letter format, and that is good for the remainder of your children’s schooling in Zeeland). This is for the safety of all of our kids. We are not trying to make entrance difficult, however it is our number one priority to make sure that all of our students are safe from the time they enter our building until they leave our building. We do everything in our power to make sure their education is the best!
Personal Technology Devices
Personal Devices: Many kids, especially our upper elementary students are carrying cell phones and we can appreciate the convenience of having a phone. While in school, all phones are kept turned off and in backpacks during the school day. Our classrooms and main office have a phone that can be used for students in case of an emergency or illness. It becomes extremely hard to keep track of kids’ needs when they are making calls at their lockers or in the bathroom when they don't feel well. Teachers often don’t know that a student may have called not feeling well and our secretaries aren’t sure when parents call back wondering why their child called them; leaving our staff in situations that are tricky to figure out. If students are using their personal device during school, it will be taken and parents can pick them up in the main office at their convenience. There may be instances that a teacher allows students to use their own device, however this is very rare.
FORMS & LINKS
Media Center & Classroom Library
In ZPS, we believe that reading is foundational to the success of our students. Throughout each week, students are 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.
Medical Forms
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 contact Mrs. Boeve (lboeve@zps.org) or Mrs. Keeler(ckeeler@zps.org) in the main office a week or so prior to the start of school for the forms.