March, 2009

GATOR NEWS Yake Elementary School 16400 Carter Road E. Woodhaven, MI 48183 Main # (734)692-2230 Fax # (734)692-2234 Attendance # (734)789-8513 wbsd.co April Calendar: 4.8.13 Classes Resume 4.10.13 Reading Month Parties: Grades 3-5: pancake breakfast, K & 1: ice cream sundaes, 2nd: cookies & milk 4.10.13 Cyber-Safety Community Seminar at 7:00 p.m. in the WHS auditorium 4.11.13 PTO meeting at 6:00 p.m. in our media center 4.12.13 Little Caesar Pizza Kit orders are due 4.15.13 School Board meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the Board Offices *Yake to present Watch D.O.G.S. & “A Year in Pictures” 4.16.13 5th grade scheduling orientation with BMS counselors at Yake 4.18.13 Little Caesar Pizza Kit pick-up 3:00—5:00 in our group room 4.22.13 Earth Day! Grounds clean- up and tree planting day 4.24.13 Market Day pick-up at 3:30 p.m. in the media center 4.25.13 Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day Coffee & Conversation at 9:45 a.m. in the media center 4.26.13 4th & 5th grade field trip to the WHS auditorium to see the play “The Civil War” 4.25.13 Kindergarten Orientation at 6:30 p.m. 4.28.13 Kiwanis Self Esteem building trip to the Howell Nature Center

2013.14 Class Assignments During the month of May, Yake staff members will be working diligently to create balanced class rosters for the 2013/14 school year. When assigning students to classes, our teachers take many factors into consideration to create class assignments that are in the best interest of all kids. The Teacher Request Policy at Yake Elementary School allows par-ents/guardians to make one teacher request during their child’s tenure in the building. Please review our “Yake Teacher Request” procedure and form (the procedure can be found on page 5) for more details.

*The procedure & Recommendation Form can be downloaded from our website or picked up in the main office starting on April 8th.

Coffee & Conversation Join me for conversation and a cup of coffee on Thursday, April 25th at 9:45 a.m. in Yake’s Media Center. Yake family members are invited to share their thoughts, ideas & questions over a cup of coffee.

Safety News! “Safety of the Month” golden badges were awarded to the safeties listed below for doing outstanding jobs at their posts during the month of March. Captain’s Award Rileigh Metzger Safety (Peer) Award Aurora Slocum Staff Award Michael Peeples Principal’s Award Tianna Waddy Mr. G’s Award Hannah Allie Congratulations to our award winners and all of our outstanding safeties! Yake is a safer place for all of our children due to their hard work and dedication.

Follow the Woodhaven-Brownstown School District on Facebook at

http://www.facebook.com/WoodhavenBrownstownSchoolDistrict

As always, feel free to call me (692-2230) or email me at PodlewT@wbsd.co if I can help with anything!

Welcome Classes of 2026 & *2027! I would like to extend a warm Yake welcome to the Kindergartners, *Young 5’s Kindergartners and their families who will be joining us in the fall. I am very excited to meet them when they join us for Kindergarten Orientation at 6:30 p.m. on the evening of Thursday, April 25th. You will learn why Yake is such a wonderful school for our kids.

Pictures from Reading Month Spring Music Concerts

Special “Thank You!” to our fabulous music teacher, Ms. Schell and our 3rd, 4th,

and 5th graders for putting on such wonderful literature-based music concerts.

Join us for our Grow Zone & Earth Day Playground Clean Up In celebration of Earth Day, we are organizing a student and parent playground clean up on Monday, April 22nd. If you are available, please join us from 11:45 to approximately 1:30. Our plan is to pick up trash, rake up the wood chips and equipment areas, and clean out the garden area by both entrances in preparation for new plants. Large trash bags and plastic gloves will be supplied. However, we could use donations of plastic grocery bags. Also, if you have rakes or any gardening tools we could use for the day, please bring them along with your own favorite work gloves. We ask that you please sign in at the main office then join us on the lower elementary playground so we will be prepared to organize students as they come out for recess. If weather is questionable please check your e-mail prior to coming that afternoon. –Thank you!

Golf Anyone?

Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 15th. As a big kick-off to raise funds for the 2013.14 school year, our PTO will be sponsoring their 2nd annual Gator Golf Outing! So, mark your calendars and start putting together foursomes for this great event that will be fun for all participants and helpful towards the efforts of our PTO.

Congratulations!We would like to congratulate 4th grade Gator,

Jordyn CruzFor being the 2013 winner of the

Woodhaven Kiwanis Club’s4th Grade Essay Contest. Through Jordyn’s essay,

The Y.A.R.D. organizationWill receive a $100.00 donation from

The Woodhaven Kiwanis Club

Schools of ChoiceIf you know of any families living outside of our school district who are considering schools for

the 2013.14 school year, encourage them to consider the

Woodhaven-Brownstown School District. Our Schools of Choice window will be open from

April 22nd through May 21st.Any families interested in applying for Schools

of Choice are asked to pick up an application from our Board of Education Offices TODAY.

See Mrs. Conner or Mr. Podlewski if you or prospective families have any questions.

Shorts Our cooling set point is 75°. As a result, our classrooms may get a bit warm as we move towards May & June. As a result, if the weather is appropriate (above 75°), students may wear shorts to school after Spring Break. Please remember that shorts can be no more than 4” above the child’s knee.

Outdoor Lineup With warmer weather around the corner, we will resume having students line-up outside their classroom doors each morning in grades 2-5. Each classroom will have a safety out-side to supervise morning line-up. On rainy mornings and when temperatures are below 40 degrees, kids will line-up inside the building.

WBEF Dinner! The Woodhaven-Brownstown Education Foundation has sched-uled its fundraising Signature Event for Thursday, May 2, 2013 at Arnaldo’s Banquet Center.

The event will be from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m., with dinner, an open bar, and silent auction/raffle.

Tickets for the event are $50 a piece and can be purchased from Yake’s main office. All proceeds from the dinner go to our teachers in the form of mini-grants.

PTO News

2013/14 PTO Board Positions For any parent interested in being on the PTO Board for the 2013/14 school year, please stop by the main office to pick up a PTO Board Open Nomination form. Candidates for Board Positions (Officers) will be nominated during our PTO meeting on Thursday, April 11th. The election of officers for the 2013.14 school year will take place during our May PTO meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 9th. For parents with time and energy, in-volvement with the PTO is a great way to play a significant role in your child’s elementary school experience.

The vision of Yake Elementary School is to provide a rigorous curriculum

that is relevant to our students’

futures in an environment that

promotes positive relationships.

Mark Your Calendars 5.1.13 Fire Prevention presentations w/ Chief Sikes 5.2.13 Woodhaven Education Foundation Dinner 5.9.13 PTO meeting at 6:00 p.m. 5.10.13 5th Grade Orientation at BMS at 9:30 a.m. Family Science Fun Night 6:00—8:00 5.15.13 5th grade Safety trip to a Mud Hens game 5.16.13 Market Day orders are due 5.20.13—5.24.13 5th Grade Camp! 5.22.13 Market Day pick-up at 3:30 p.m. in the media center 5.24.13 Half-Day of school: 12:18 dismissal 5.27.13 No School—Memorial Day!

BINGO for Books

Our gators had a great time playing BINGO and winning books on Friday, March 8th.

Every Gator went home with a free book!Special Thanks! to all of our parent volunteers who

made this event possible.

Scholastic Book FairOur Spring Book Fair brought in

$7,000.00 in sales.

Mrs. Meszaros and our PTO absolutely rocked on an amazing Book Fair!

Yake families continue to show their generosity…This year, our Math-A-Thon fundraiser brought in $868.00for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.This brings donations to a total of $57,768.26 since we started participating in this great cause. Kindergarten & *Young 5’s

Registration Packets are now available in the office! If you have family, friends or neighbors that will be sending their children to Yake for kindergarten or Young 5’s in the fall please have them stop by the main office to pick up a registration packet!