West PreK-5th Grade Elementary

Mission Statement: West is committed to providing an education of excellence that meets each student’s interests, abilities, and needs within a common curricular framework. We believe all students can learn to communicate effectively, to think critically and creatively, and to solve problems cooperatively. Students will apply academic and social skills to become responsible lifelong learners and to appreciate uniqueness in self and others.

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West Office Hours

The West office is open from 8:10am-4:15pm, Monday-Friday, during the school calendar year. Anything outside of those hours are by appointment only.

Drop Off/Pick-up Locations

Please consider and be courteous of these very important safety reminders and general school reminders:

Do not park along the yellow curb during morning or afternoon drop off (approx. 8:10am-8:45am and 3:15pm-4:00 pm). This is a safety hazard for our students!
No one can enter the playground until school is dismissed. This includes the bus area and both playgrounds. Again, this is a district policy and a safety issue
Pick up/Drop off locations are:

1) The front of the school building
2) The West entrance, which is along the church parking lot

Please do not pick-up/drop off in the bus drive. It is very dangerous for students and bus drivers! Thank you for helping us keep all of our students safe.

The word Power in a firecracker star

Pride, Own your actions, Wise choices, Engaged, Respect

December 13 Newsletter

Holiday Spirit Week Dress up Days

December 17th-21st

Monday – Comfy Cozy Day; Wear comfortable clothes, fuzzy socks, etc.
Tuesday – Holiday Accessory Day; Think ornament earrings, Santa hat, Christmas scarf, reindeer headband, fun socks, etc. Be creative!
Wednesday – Character Day; Dress up like a snowman, angel, elf, etc
Thursday - Tacky Holiday Sweater Day; what’s in your drawer or closet? You can always make an ugly sweater/shirt/sweatshirt also!
Friday - Red and Green Day; Get into the Christmas Spirit! Wear the most red and green you can find.

Holiday Craft

Holiday Craft is back, and the PTO needs your help to pull this off!! The craft days will be on Wednesday, December 12 and Thursday, December 13. Students in Preschool -5th grade will make a craft as a gift to give, a card, and have a cookie. All volunteers need to have a volunteer form turned into the office and cleared before the event date. We need volunteers the day of, cookie bakers to bring in cookies, AND a $2 donation to help offset the cost of the materials. Here is the link to sign up. Any family members that are cleared can also help. Please send in the money donation with your student by Monday, December 10. If you are able to send in an extra $2 donation to help those students that may not be able to pay we would appreciate it. Thanks for your support!!!

Bittersweet Ski Passes

Mr. Elenbaas will once again offer ski and snowboard cards for those families and friends who are interested in skiing or snowboarding at Bittersweet Ski Area. The cards will enable you to purchase lift tickets and rental equipment at discounted rates and get two free lessons with a certified instructor. Some restrictions do apply. See Mr. Elenbaas for all the details.

What’s Happening at West

December's character trait is KINDNESS. We are teaching students how to be kind and how to show kindness to others. One way is the canned food drive! We are bringing in cans to supply our West food pantry & support Community Action House. We hope you'll help us by talking with your children about what kindness means to them and giving them ideas & ways to be kind to others.

Fun trip for the 2nd graders

Our second grade field trip was to DeGraaf Nature Center. Students learned about how pioneers lived long ago when they came to Holland. We made our own candles by dipping them in wax, we made sachets with tree bark scented like a fir tree, listened to stories in the log cabin about what pioneers received for Christmas, and learned about the different kinds of coniferous trees as we walked through the trails.

December 6 Newsletter

PTO News

The PTO is doing a food drive. Students are collecting nonperishable items for Community Action House and West’s new food pantry. Donations that stay at West will go to help some of our own families. Please help and give what you can. We appreciate all the donations.

Holiday Craft

Holiday Craft is back, and the PTO needs your help to pull this off!! The craft days will be on Wednesday, December 12 and Thursday, December 13. Students in Preschool-5th grade will make a craft as a gift to give, a card, and have a cookie. All volunteers need to have a volunteer form turned into the office and cleared before the event date. We need volunteers the day of, cookie bakers to bring in cookies, AND a $2 donation to help offset the cost of the materials. Here is the link to sign up. Any family members that are cleared can also help. Please send in the money donation with your student by Monday, December 10. If you are able to send in an extra $2 donation to help those students that may not be able to pay we would appreciate it. Thanks for your support!!!

Bittersweet Ski Passes

Geographic Bee is coming to West

Holland West will be hosting its annual National Geographic Bee. This is for students in fourth and fifth grades. The competition will begin in classrooms first. This will take place by December 21st. The winner of each classroom bee will advance to the next level- the school round. This competition will take place on Wednesday, January 16th at 1:30 in the Gym. The winner of the school takes a test to qualify for the state level competition. The state competition is held on March 29, 2019. Some useful sites to brush up on your geography skills are the following: National Geographic website and another national Geographic page.

What’s Happening at West

November's character trait is: RESPECT. How can our students show respect at school, on the playground, at home, and in the community? Please ask your students to share how they are showing RESPECT everywhere they go!

Exciting Stuff

The second grades had a Reward Celebration this week at Christ Memorial on Tuesday, December 4th. Students that showed all the POWER characteristics were able to attend and watch a movie.

Mrs. Smith's second graders are going to the DeGraaf Nature Center on Thursday, December 6th @ 1:30.

November 29 Newsletter

After School Supervision

Playgrounds are not supervised after school. If the person picking up a student is running late, the student needs to wait by the front doors of the school where there is supervision. Thank you for your co-operation!

Be Nice Order

The order for the "be nice" shirts West placed, with the Be Nice Mental Health Foundation, was placed last Wednesday. However, the BNMHF didn't have many of the items, we ordered, in their stock so they needed to place an order. We are hoping our order will be in by Christmas break, but it was quite a big order, and at this point it is in the hands of the BNMHF. We are asking for patience, but please know as soon as it is in you will be getting your items. Thank You!!

Clothes and Winter Gear

Nurse Jen is asking that ALL students keep an extra set of clothing in their backpacks. Many students are having accidents during the day and there is not enough clothing in the office for each student that needs to change. This is also important because with the winter weather here there is a LOT of wet clothing!

If your student needs clothing, a hat, mittens, snow pants, a coat, etc. please let his/her teacher or the front office know. You can also email Susie Payne.

What's Happening at West

News from the West PTO

The PTO is doing a food drive. Students are collecting nonperishable items for Community Action House and West’s new food pantry! Donations that stay at West will go to help some of our own families. Please help and give what you can! We appreciate it!

shopping cart with food

November 19 Newsletter

Happy Thanksgiving!
We hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving Holiday! See you all back on Monday, November 26.

From the Desk of Dr. Ramirez-
When I went home last night and looked at all the pictures and reflected on our (VIP) day, I was overcome with JOY. We had 184 VIPs which included: a Pastor from a local church, Moms, Dads, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Foster Parents, Kid's Hope Mentors, a Godmother, a Great Grandfather, and Siblings. The smiles on our student’s faces when their VIP walked in the room was precious, and I am sure they will always remember when that special person took time out of their day to be come to West and be ‘Their VIP’. I was able to visit every classroom and there was so much JOY in every room. I saw: an electricity experiment with batteries, problem solving about the environment and plastic bottles, poetry, many Read Alouds, Thanksgiving projects, writing, students reading about their VIP and lots of laughter. I received so many positive comments from our guests and they were SO thankful to be invited into our school and your classroom.

On behalf of the West PBIS team, we want to share encouraging news! We are thankful that our number of discipline referrals from the months of September-October has gone down over 30%! That is great improvement. Please continue talking at home about being POWER students & how to show POWER behavior! Go West! Pride, Own your actions, Wise choices, Engaged, Respect.

Thank you Kelly Hulst and Erin Trantham, our 2 PTO moms, who organized the day and provided coffee and cookies for our guests! Thank you to our teachers for taking the time to make our VIPs feel welcome. Thank you Mrs. Tatlock and Mrs. French for making name tags and taking care of ALL of the paperwork it takes to make VIP day possible. Thank you to our VIPs for coming to make our students’ day special!

5th grade is Thankful for our partnership with Christ Memorial Church! They have hosted our Fall Festival, Honor Roll Celebration, and Penny War Reward. We are so blessed!

5th Grade Fall Festival at Christ Memorial Church

November 15 Newsletter

Back Lot Pick-Up

If you are picking up your student from the playground on the West side of the school please use the parking lot located between the West building and Christ Memorial Church. Please do not pick up your student in the back driveway, by the soccer field where the busses pick up students. We want to keep all of our West students safe! Thank you for your cooperation.

Volunteer Forms

A HPS volunteer/background check form must be cleared through Holland Public Schools administration office before any adult is able to volunteer in any HPS building. As the Holiday season is approaching we want to send a reminder to please give 3 weeks to have a volunteer form cleared before the volunteer date. This also includes off site field trips. Thank you!

No School!

There will be no school starting Wednesday, November 21 until Sunday, November 25 due to Thanksgiving break. School will resume Monday, November 26.

Be Nice T-Shirts for Sale

Students are going to be able to order "be nice" t-shirts. Order forms will be coming home this week with your students. T-shirt color choices are either black or pink and there are short or long sleeve options for both colors. The short-sleeve options are $10 and the long-sleeve options are $15. Cash is the only form of payment that can be accepted, and order forms and money are due on Monday, November 19.

Bittersweet Ski Passes

What’s Happening at West

hands holding up the letters for the word Respect

Kindergarten and Hope College students working together in STEM class

Athletics Info for 5th Grade Parents and Guardians

Dear Parent/Guardian of 5^th Grade Student:

Believe it or not, your child’s 6^th grade school year is just around the corner and with that comes the opportunity to participate on a number of school-sponsored athletic teams. The purpose of this letter is to provide you with information regarding those opportunities and also provide some details related to the athletic physical that is required of all participants.

The first requirement for participation in school-sponsored athletics is that each child must have a completed physical on file in the athletic office prior to the first day of practice or tryouts. We know that many insurance companies will only cover one physical per calendar year, so please keep in mind that in order to be valid for school-sponsored athletics for the 2019-20 school year, the physical must have occurred on or after April 15, 2019. We often hear from parents who are not aware of this cutoff date, so please plan accordingly.

In order to assist with the athletic physical requirement, we will offer an Athletic Physical Night for HPS students at South Washington Family Medicine on Wednesday, April 24^th. The cost for the physical is $15.00. More information will be distributed as we get closer to the date.

Below is a list of sports offered to 6th-grade students and the seasons in which they are held. Please note that we do offer a number of additional sports for 7th and 8th-grade students, but due to conference guidelines are only able to offer the sports listed below to our 6th-grade students. Sign-up information for each sport will be distributed to students and parent/guardians as we approach each season.

Fall Season (Late Aug-Mid Oct)	Early Winter Season (Mid Oct-Mid Dec)	Late Winter Season (Mid Jan-Mid March)	Spring Season (Mid March-Mid May)
Boys/Girls Cross Country	Girls Swimming & Diving	Boys Swimming & Diving	Boys/Girls Track & Field
Girls Tennis		Wrestling	Boys Tennis

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at bfarkas@hollandpublicschools.org or 616-494-2251. I look forward to working with you and your child during their careers as Dutch student athletes!