HOLIDAY SPIRIT WEEK – DECEMBER 19TH

Looking forward to lots of holiday fun our last week of school before Christmas Break! As a reminder, Christmas Break begins on December 24th and school will resume on Monday, January 9th.

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Please make sure your child is at school, ready to begin by 8:45 a.m. every day.  Should your child be absent, please email attendance@innocademy.com and let your child’s teacher know the reason for their absence so they can share any missing work.  Thank you for your support in ensuring your child learns and grows with us this year.  Every day counts for their academic success!

NEW INFORMATION

ANGEL TREE – ANGELS NEEDED, PLEASE!

We have connected with 12 different families from Innocademy Zeeland, Innocademy Allegan, and iCademy that have expressed a need for help in making the holidays special for their families.

They have shared with us items that their family members not only want for the Holidays, but need as well. If you are interested in helping these families, please take a look AT THIS SIGN UP

• Select items you are willing and able to contribute
• Please make sure all items are new, not previously used
• Bring (or send via Amazon =) UNWRAPPED items to Homestead Campus (8485 Homestead Dr., Zeeland, MI 49464) on or before THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15TH
• Please make sure to include the family number with each item. 

Feel free to reach out to Ms. Rachel at rachel.potter@innocademy.com or Ms. Marisol at marisol.arvizu@innocademy.com with any questions. 

Thank you so much for helping make the holidays brighter for some of our IES families.

CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA INFORMATION FROM MS. HILLARY

Dear Parents and Students, 

It’s Showtime! I am pleased to share with you our plans for the Innocademy Extravaganza. The performance will be held in person on Thursday December 22, at 7 p.m. at Community Reformed Church in Zeeland (10376 Felch St, Zeeland, MI 49464).  As in years past, we will hold our dress rehearsal at the church during the afternoon. All students will be bussed to Community Reformed and should be picked up there promptly at 3:30 p.m.   

New this year: If you are a parent of a middle school student who is NOT involved in the show, please still plan on picking them up at the church at 3:30. They will travel to the church with the other students and then continue their learning in a separate space at the church that afternoon. 

Doors will open for the evening performance at 6:45 p.m. Students should proceed to the gym between 6:45-6:50 to meet their teacher and line up. Family and friends may find seats in the sanctuary to view student artwork that will be digitally set to music. If you are a parent of a youngest friend in Ms. Kerri, Ms. Monica, Ms. Natalia, or Ms. Ashley’s room, please meet your child on stage right AFTER their performance to take them back to sit with you for the remainder of the program.  

This program will feature the musical learning of ALL the Innocademy classic elementary students, Las huellas elementary students, Middle School Choir and the Middle School Drums/Ukes/Bars class. 

Lastly, don’t forget that this is a special occasion so please dress your best and leave tennis shoes and jeans at home! 

We are looking forward to sharing a wonderful evening of music and learning with you! If you have any questions regarding the Innocademy Extravaganza, please feel free to contact Ms. Hillary at hillary.schmidt@innocademy.com or Ms. Kate at kate.webb@innocademy.com. 

Thank you! 

NEW SCREENER TOOL FOR INNOCADEMY STUDENTS – SABERS (SOCIAL, ACADEMIC, AND EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR RISK SCREENER)

The SAEBRS is a brief, norm-referenced tool for screening all students to identify those who are at risk for social-emotional behavior problems.  We will start using this in December to screen all students TK thru 8th grade.  Teachers will complete the screener on each of their students and students in grades 2nd thru 8th will also complete a self-screener.  The data we receive from these assessments will help us identify areas of need to target as a whole school for Social Emotional Learning and also identify any students who may need additional support.  We plan to complete these screeners three times in the year.   We look forward to identifying students who might need that added support.  For more information on the screener itself please go to  https://www.illuminateed.com/products/fastbridge/social-emotional-behavior-assessment/saebrs/ 

DECEMBER FOOD PANTRY SCHEDULE – OTTAWA COUNTY

INNOCADEMY STUDENTS ON THE MOVE

OLD INFORMATION

REMINDER: HOMESTEAD CAMPUS IS NUT FREE

We have students on campus who have severe allergies to nuts of any kind. Please use extra caution when packing snacks, bringing treats to school, and enjoying lunches so that we can keep all of our students safe.

INTRODUCING HEATHER VOLKEMA – PBIS PARENT LIAISON

Hi! I’m Heather Volkema and I am a parent to 3rd grader, Paige, in Las Huellas. I am your parent liaison for PBIS at Innocademy. PBIS stands for Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports, which is an evidence-based curriculum to reward and foster positive, respectful, responsible, resilient, and safe behaviors in our children. As a parent you may be familiar with PBIS in the form of “tickets” or “boleto” that your child receives when they’re “caught” being respectful, responsible, resilient, or safe. This curriculum is used from Young 5’s through 8th grade. These tickets get placed into classroom drawings for a few winners each Friday. The current goal is to reach 2,500 tickets and then they will receive a reward. The students have been working very hard to earn them and deserve lots of recognition for their positive behaviors.

New this year “GOLDEN TICKETS”

A new thing with PBIS this year is the giving out of “Golden Tickets.” There is a spy among the school who will be watching for someone practicing the expectation of the week. Each week the teachers will have a highlighted behavior they are working on with your students. For example, students may be focusing on being respectful in the hallways by being quiet so other classes can continue learning. The golden tickets receive an automatic prize.

We love family involvement and are often asked “How can I help?”:

1) Support PBIS at home by encouraging and recognizing things that your child does that are respectful, responsible, resilient, and safe at home. One area the teachers have been working with students on is healthy habits and goals. Some things to help focus on and teach at home include the importance of bedtime routines and healthy homework habits.

2) By donating prizes for the drawings that occur each week. If you’d like to directly donate to your child’s classroom-you may directly message your child’s teacher for items needed for their classroom or ask your student for age-appropriate ideas for their classrooms. If you’d wish to donate to items to stock the prize boxes of any classroom/areas of need-that would be greatly appreciated-Middle School is currently a higher area of need! Items can be delivered to the classroom or front desk at any time.

Ideas of what to donate: (new items & NO NUTS)

· movie box candy

· school supplies-pencils, pens, erasers, markers, etc.

· puzzles, card games

· water bottle stickers

· books (gently used okay)/activity books

· keychains

· Chapstick, coin purses, fidget spinners

If you have any questions, feel most welcome to reach out at any time. Thank you for all you do! My email is heather.volkema@gmail.com

DECEMBER LUNCH MENU

https://innocademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Inno_Dec_2022_menu_fnl.pdf

LUNCH INFORMATION FROM HOLLAND CHRISTIAN

Food service is in full swing, thanks to YOU for being patient and persistent with our Family Portal.  Please continue to use the family portal to deposit funds into your lunch account.  We are a Pre Pay system, and appreciate families  having funds in your child’s account when they choose to take hot lunch.  Plus NO FEE TO MAKE A DEPOSIT ONLINE.  Familyportal.cloud is where you can deposit funds or apply for lunch benefits.  If you do not know your student account number, reach out to heidi.wolters@innocademy.com 

For those families that are receiving lunch benefits and only want milk, the national school lunch program does not give benefits for milk only.  If you want free or reduced price milk, you may take a fruit, or vegetable, and the milk will be under your benefits. 

BITTERSWEET SKI INFORMATION & PASSES

We are again offering Bittersweet Ski Passes for students (7 + years) and their families (extended families and friends, too! Open to anyone!) through Innocademy and iCademy Global.

Ski passes are a great opportunity for folks to purchase a pass ($29) that acts as a coupon throughout the season, reducing the prices on lift tickets, helmets, and rentals. The pass can be used, repeatedly, at any time throughout the ski season (please read the restrictions on timeframe and days as well as black-out holidays), by the pass holder! ANYONE can be part of the ski club…student, parent, family friend. 
​If you are interested, please… 

1. Read through the attached information
2. Fill out the attached form for student and/or adult
3. Secure in an envelope with payment (checks payable to BITTERSWEET SKI RESORT) 
4. Label envelope: BITTERSWEET SKI PASSES – LEISA LOBBEZOO 
5. Return to campus. If you would like to mail the forms and payment via US mail, that is great, too! Please use the information, below:

Attn: Leisa Lobbezoo – Ski Club, iCademy Global, 8485 Homestead Drive, Zeeland, MI 49464

Once we receive the application and payment, there is usually about a 14 school day turnaround for your information to be processed at Bittersweet and passes to be issued so please plan ahead. =)

https://innocademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/22-23-Bittersweet-Ski-Club-Info-PREFILLED-1.pdf

Just in case you were wondering, “Hmmm…what does Bittersweet usually charge for lift tickets and rentals?”

WITH SKI CLUB PASSES ($29 each pass – every skier must have one to receive the discounts.)

Adult (anyone not still in high school)

• $33 lift ticket
• $33 Rentals
• $15 helmet

Student (7 years old and older)

• $29 lift ticket
• $29 rentals
• $15 helmet rental 
• + 2 FREE Lessons 

WITHOUT SKI CLUB PASSES

IMPORTANT PARKING INFORMATION

If you have someone new to pick up at dismissal time, please always feel free to share THIS VIDEO that includes the map.

STILL TIME TO APPLY! – – HAND 2 HAND – SIGN-UP OPEN FOR THIS YEAR

OK, Hand2Hand is firing up again for the year, and attached is the sign-up form.  A few things to know:

https://innocademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Permission-Slip-Backpack-Inno.pdf

• Hand2Hand is a weekly food bag distribution, provided by Vertical Church (yay to them for this partnership!!). Read the attachment for more info.
  
• There are no qualifications, other than just signing and returning the form.
  
• Bags are distributed on Thursday mornings and we attempt to put in lockers/cubbies during the lunch hour.
  
• In order to receive the first delivery, forms must be returned to the front desk before the Labor Day break. However, families can continue to sign up throughout the year.
  

2022-2023 SCHOOL CALENDAR