Thank YOU!
BIG Thank you to Jackie Perez for the donation of Kellogg’s bars and quality control checklists for our measurement practice! So fun!!
Thanks, Ms. Sue from Nystrom, for assembling our sa-weet globe displays! This was the last of our grant funded materials - Globes, maps and charts, oh, my!

HUGE thank you to Ms. Jacquelyn for agreeing to sub for us this year as our art teacher! We are so grateful to her for her willingness to step in - THANK YOU is not enough!
Mark Your Calendars….PLEASE
- Monday, May 20th - Eagle’s Nest Coffee Cafe’ opens at 8am
- Friday, May 24th - Innocademy Spirit Day - Mismatch Day
- Friday, May 24th - Car Wash for Wounded Warrior Project 10:15-12:00pm
- Friday, May 24th - Innocademy Apparel Orders Due
- Friday, May 24th - Payment Due for Lansing/Detroit Trip - $135 per person
- Friday, May 24th - Final Payment Due for Dominican Trip - look for a detailed note from your student on Tuesday (it will include field trip account info)
- Monday, May 27th - Sunday, June 2nd - Innocademy Break Week.
- Monday, June 3rd - School Resumes - NO MORE FRIDAY SCHOOL DAYS
- Sunday, June 2 - Sunday, June 9 - Oldest Friends Capstone Trip to Dominican Republic
- Tuesday, June 4th - Devo’s Night - 7pm
- Tuesday, June 11th - 12pm-1pm - HIV/AIDS curriculum viewing opportunity
- Wednesday, June 12-Thursday, June 13 - Middle Friends Trip to Detroit/Lansing.
- Thursday, June 13th - HIV/AIDS curriculum viewing opportunity
- Thursday, June 20th - Innocademy Spirit Day - All One Color Day
- Thursday, June 20th - Innocademy Night at Dutch Village - details to come!
- Monday, June 24th - Innocademy Showcase - DATE CHANGE FROM 6/19 - at Community Reformed
- Thursday, June 27th - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
Synergy Day on Friday, May 24th
We are so excited for our upcoming Synergy Day that will take place this Friday, May 24! This Synergy Day will have a Memorial Day theme as we head into the Memorial Day weekend. From 9:15-12:00pm, we will be putting on a car wash. Any donations will be given to the Wounded Warrior Project out of Grand Rapids. This project gives us a chance to help thousands of injured warriors coming home and help provide assistance to their families. Please send your child to school on Friday with proper attire for washing cars.
If you know of a Veteran that would be willing to speak to our school on Friday morning please contact Ms. Lindsay, Ms. Monica or Ms. Cyndi. We would love to have a Veteran guest speaker for the kids to hear from!
monica.kraai@innocademy.com lindsay.vanderzwaag@innocademy.com cyndi.nykamp@innocademy.com
Change in Dismissal?
We absolutely understand that changes in dismissal need to happen every now and again. When this is the case for your family, PLEASE make sure that you contact a staff member and know that they have received your message. Many times teachers are unable to check voicemail, email or texts during the day so if you do not hear from someone by 3pm, please contact the main number 748-5637 so that we can ensure your student’s safety and follow your direction for getting them home. Thanks so much for your help!
Need Ground Cover At Your House?
We’ve got it! There is a ton of myrtle in the courtyard that we would like to remove. BYOShovel and dig some out! Currently there is some in buckets that was dug up on Friday. Help yourself!
Eagle’s Nest Coffee Cafe’ Opening on Monday, May 20th!
The Eagle’s Nest Coffee Shop will be opening on Monday, May 20th! There will be many different coffees for sale, including black coffee, lattes, mochas, and teas. We will be open at 8am until 9:15am, 12:30pm-1:00pm, and again at the end of the day from 3:00pm-4:00pm. Prices of coffee will range from $1 to $3. The Eagle’s Nest will be taking online orders as well by simply emailing your name, order, arrival time, and vehicle type and color to eagles.nest@innocademy.com. This service will also include bringing your order to your car! The proceeds of this coffee shop go to students’ field trip accounts and offer the high schoolers a great business learning experience. We really hope to see you all on our opening day! Innocademy students are welcome to accompany their parents to the coffee shop, but all beverages must be enjoyed in the cafe area WITH a parent/guardian. Thank you!
Innocademy School Calendar for 2013-2014
The attached calendar is the same that was emailed home earlier this week, only the days off are a bit darker to help make it easier to distinguish =). Enjoy! innocademy-calendar-13-14
Innocademy Apparel Has Arrived!
Please see the attached form for information and pricing. We will be receiving a website link where you can take a closer look at colors/styles very soon and will pass it along asap! Orders and payment are due Friday, May 24th. innocademy-apparel-order
Showcase Devos Night - Tuesday, June 4th
Please mark your calendars, “Showcase Devo’s Night” will be held on Tuesday, June 4 at 7:00 on the Innocademy stage. We will be singing and showing a little of what we have learned this year. Watch for a note coming home with your younger friends about which letter verse they will be saying that night.
Coco - Innocademy’s Favorite Hedgehog (by Faith and Ben)
Coco is one of Innocademy’s favorite class pets. She belongs to Ms. Lindsay, and is literally “a ball of fun.” Coco is an African Pygmy hedgehog, meaning she origintates from southern Africa. Coco enjoys running around, when she is not sleeping, which is rare. She spends a LOT of he time doing so. Coco may come across as grumpy, or ignorant, but is actually just very shy. Coco feels very spiky when she is tense. When she is relaxed, she looks sharp it, but is not. Coco can grow anywhere from 6-8 inches and could have a litter of 6-8 babies. Thanks Ms. Lindsay for sharing Coco with us!
All About Oreo (by Karinda and Brody)
Oreo is the class pet for the Older Friends. Oreo is a feeder rat, but we “rescued” her! Oreo is full grown, and her life span is only 1-2 years, right now Oreo is 9 months old. The food she eats is regular rat food, but she still enjoys her treats like apples and graham crackers. Oreo’s habitat here at Innocademy is pine shavings in a small cage in the Orange room. If she lived in the wild she would probably live in the fields, or possibly the woods.
Ms. Monica’s Youngest Friends Blog
If you have a student in Ms. Monica’s group, please see the link to herblog.http://msmonicasfriends.blogspot.com/
Ms. Heather’s Youngest Friends Blog
If you have a student in Ms. Heather’s group, please see the link to her blog.http://youngestfriends.blogspot.com
Green Room Blog
http://growingingreen.blogspot.com/
Learning Corner
Over the next few weeks we would like to use this area to detail information from the iCademy Team as they get set to launch a new school at the Homestead Campus next fall!
In an effort to keep our Innocademy parents informed, the team at iCademy would like to send you periodic updates to help better articulate the vision of iCademy. The first blog is from Tim Elmore, founder of Growing Leaders and Author of Generation iY (www.growingleaders.com) and the future trend in education.
Five Reasons Why Online Learning is the Future of Education
May 7, 2013 —
Did you hear? News just broke that our U.S. Education Department gave it’s blessing to online programs that award college credit—based not on how much time a student spends in a classroom but by how much they know and can do. It’s a new day.
State higher education officers, across the nation, are following suit, developing agreements that will cut the “red tape” that discourages colleges from offering online courses across state lines. Other states are now allowing students to get college credit for online courses when the class is full, even if the course is from a private vendor. Wow. It really is a new day. Time to return home and turn that laptop on. Now you get college credit for what you learn there.
You probably know adults have debated whether online courses are actually good for our kids. Concerns center around the questions:
- Do the students really learn as much from a screen as a live teacher?
- Is it just easier to inflate grades and not ensure learning is taking place?
- Will this form of education lower their soft skills and communication skills?
The fact is—we will need to answer these questions, because ready or not, the screen is quickly overcoming the “live” classroom as the preferred model. My son, Jonathan, agrees. He’s enrolled in both classroom and online courses at a local community college. He is chipping away at his general education before entering a liberal arts university. When I asked him to evaluate both venues he didn’t hesitate. He much prefers the online courses. In fact, he said, “My classroom teacher is actually more boring than the static computer screen. And, I can work on my own.”
Five Reasons Students Prefer Online Courses
Let me prompt some thought and discussion on why online learning is not going away, and how we must adapt to this form of education as time marches on.
1. It revolves around a screen. Students love screens.
When I interview students taking online courses, they remind me that a screen is their natural habitat. They are digital natives. Screenagers. Interfacing with a screen is often more normal than interacting with someone face-to-face.
2. It enables students to work at their own pace.
According to one survey, the primary reason students prefer online learning is that it enables them to go slow or fast, based on whether they “get” the information. This is how they approach video games, Facebook, and other social media outlets.
3. It empowers interaction, even for the shy students.
Several faculty members who proctor and facilitate online courses agreed recently that shy or introverted students are more apt to weigh in on a discussion when it’s a digital dialogue as opposed to a face-to-face one, where they get intimidated.
4. It allows a virtually unlimited amount of students to enroll.
One big challenge colleges face is helping students finish their degree. “We just can’t achieve that with our current model,” says Rachel Fishman, a Washington think tank leader. “We need flexible pathways where working people can find time to finish.”
5. It’s less expensive than classroom space.
College For America is a pace-setter, based at Southern New Hampshire University. Loads of students (all ages) are mastering 120 competencies and advance based on assessments not grades. Why? Tuition is $2,500. How? No brick and mortar.
Does this online stuff lower academic rigor? Time will tell, but this technology is not going away.
iCademy and Social Media
As you know, a dedicated team of educators just launched an on-line school (see press click here).
They have set-up a facebook page (facebook.com/icademyglobal) and twitter @icademyglobal as well as the other social media sites (google +, linkedin, pinterest, vimeo, etc.) If you have a facebook or twitter account, can you go to those sites and like them on facebook and follow them on twitter? Better yet, if you know others that have facebook or twitter can you forward them this email as well?
They would like about 100-200 followers on each (facebook and twitter) to add credibility to their mission.
The school has a splashpage website at icademyglobal.org until the team gets the full site up and running…
Thank you for your consideration. Feel free to forward this info to friends. A lot of families (especially home school families) are looking for options.
Thanks, Mr. Houtman, for helping our first time flyers feel more comfortable about their upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic

Innocademy Girls on The Run Team! Way to go! Thanks, Coaches!!

Innocademy Golf Club!

Mr. Mike and Mr. Alex from Velo City Cyles share with us about bike and bike safety.

Elliot and Olivia enjoy green commute day - Ben, too!

Mr. Safety….I mean Mr. Matt, is ready to roll!

































































