March 2022

Next week, April 4 – 8, is Spring Break. We hope that the entire Alpine Elementary Community has a Spring Break filled with family time, fun and relaxation, but please be safe in whatever you will be doing!

Once again, our Lost and Found is overflowing, as you can see from the attached photo. We encourage students daily to check the Lost and Found for their personal items. Parents, please come into the school this week and see if your student or students have items in the Lost and Found. Any items not picked up this week will be bagged up during Spring Break and placed in storage until the end of the school year.

Our 6^th grade Battle of the Books team, The Book Busters, which included team members Lexie Orgill, Mollie Otis, Lucy Taylor, Joy Hung and Helen Mains represented Alpine Elementary in the District Battle of the Books Competition on March 26 at AFJHS in an exemplary fashion! Out of the more than 35 teams competing, The Book Busters, finished in the top four teams! We will find out sometime this week whether they finished 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th. The girls were amazing, and in the competitive rounds I watched, there was only one question they didn’t know the answer to. We are so grateful to our Librarian, Paula Ruesch, for all she does to make Battle of the Books a reality at Alpine Elementary! We had over 225 3^rd – 6^th graders participate in Battle of the Books this year!

Our fourth graders did an excellent job in their State of Utah Program on March 24. We are grateful to the fourth-grade teachers and a special shout out to our Music Teacher, Melinda Hunt, for all of the time and effort that went into the program preparation. I had one parent, who recently moved to Utah, come up to me after the parent performance, telling me how much she enjoyed the program, and how some of the songs brought tears to her eyes.

We are grateful to anyone who made contributions to our Diaper Drive for Ukrainian refugees. As you can see from the attached photo, our Alpine Elementary Community was very generous with their donations. We appreciate all that parent volunteer, Chelsea Hertig, did to organize the Diaper Drive.

The following students were recognized as Students of the Week on Friday, March 25. Teachers nominate students who are consistently demonstrating the character traits of the Alpine Big 3: Being Respectful, Responsible and Ready to learn. Congratulations, Students of the Week!

Carter Clark-6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Mia Crump-3rd grade, Mrs. Kaczmarek

Hank Gillespie-3rd grade, Mrs. Kaczmarek

Ellie Greenwood-6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Claire Hamilton-6th grade, Mrs. Monson

Dawson Joseph-Kindergarten, Mrs. Aitchison

Millie Lanham-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Ella Muskat-6th grade, Mrs. Reyes

Isla Rose Parcell-1st grade, Mrs. Bailey

Sam Petty-4th grade, Mrs. Keller

Wyatt Prasad-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Isobel Spencer-2nd grade, Mrs. Orgill

Julian Stanley-6th grade, Ms. Kuo

Elle Weichers-5th grade, Mrs. Chang

Caleb Whetten-1st grade, Mrs. Bailey

Anna Willis-4th grade, Ms. Moore

What a beautiful Spring weekend we just experienced! Because of a recent medical procedure, I couldn’t exercise for a week, so it felt good to be back on my bike Saturday morning before watching our students compete in the District Battle of the Books competition. There were lots of people biking, running or walking on the Murdock Trail. And biking up to the top of Suncrest was the both energizing and beautiful. The panoramic view of the Utah Valley, better seen on the descent, always makes me grateful to live in such a beautiful place in the world.

Have a great week, a wonderful Spring Break, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!

It is Battle of the Books week for our third and fourth and graders. Good luck to all of the B.O.B. participants!

Our fourth graders will be performing their State of Utah program for parents at 9:45 am on Thursday, March 24 in the gymnasium.

Kindergarten registration continues until March 25. Go to the Alpine Elementary website https://alpine.alpineschools.org/ and you can register your next year’s kindergarten student online.  Call the main office if you have any questions.

Parents can help us return items to students that leave personal items on the playground, coats, jackets, gloves, balls from home, lunch boxes, all items that are now piling up in our Lost and Found, especially on warm weather days. Please take the time to write your child’s name on their personal belongings.

The following students were recognized as Students of the Week on Friday, March 18. Teachers nominate students who are consistently demonstrating the character traits of the Alpine Big 3: Being Respectful, Responsible and Ready to learn. Congratulations, Students of the Week!

Emmett Allred-5th grade, Mrs. Menssen

Jordyn Branch-4th grade, Mrs. Vipperman

Krew Clark-5th grade, Mrs. Chang

Gael Gallardo-Figueroa-1st grade, Ms. Johnson

Sophie Goss-6th grade, Ms. Kuo

Ayden Marler-kindergarten, Mrs. Aitchison

Audrey McCann-4th grade, Ms. Moore

Alexa Muskat-3rd grade, Ms. Elder

Anna O’Hare-kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Smith Shepherd-kindergarten, Mrs. Aitchison

Minnie Slemboski-1st grade, Mrs. Bailey

Harvey Sorensen-1st grade, Mrs. Bailey

Sydney Thompson-1st grade, Ms. Johnson

Tyler Williams-3rd grade, Ms. Elder

Elena Wilson-kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

The first day of spring, March 20, was rainy and overcast, but sunshine and warmer weather are in this week’s forecast. I am starting to see green vegetation, not all welcome yard growth, pushing its way through the ground as winter turns to spring. Springtime weather in Utah can be unpredictable, so we have probably not seen our last snowfall.

For those of you who fill out NCAA brackets, I’m sure you all had 15 seed Saint Peter’s advancing to the Sweet 16.

Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!

Fourth grade teacher, Denise Keller, is retiring at the end of the school year after a long and distinguished career. Tammy Orgill, who has taught second grade this year, will be returning to fourth grade next year. I am pleased to announce that our new teacher in a non-Chinese second grade class will be Jaime Clement. Most of you are aware that Mrs. Clement has been our Computer Lab teacher for ten years and has done incredible work with all of our K-6 students; consequently, we will need to find and hire a new Computer Lab teacher. Whoever is hired will hopefully communicate with Mrs. Clement to learn how to successfully teach our Computer classes. At this time, no other teaching positions are open.

We are pleased to announce that we have finally found some crossing guards to replace our wonderful longtime crossing guard, Connie Smith. We are grateful that Jana Armatage will assume crossing guard duties before and after school, and Laura Adam will be the midday kindergarten crossing guard. Connie will continue to sub as needed. Thank you, ladies!

The Diaper Drive for Ukrainian refugees continues through March 17. Diaper boxes can be brought into the school and you will see a growing diaper stack near our main entry.

Kindergarten registration continues until March 25. Go to the Alpine Elementary website https://alpine.alpineschools.org/ and you can register your next year’s kindergarten student online.  Call the main office if you have any questions. If we are only able to offer two kindergarten classes because of enrollment numbers, we will have a morning and afternoon class. Mrs. Aitchison will teach the morning class and Mrs. Malone will teach the afternoon class. We hope to have enough kindergarten students to have two morning classes and one afternoon class. Please encourage anyone you know who will have a student in kindergarten for the 2022 – 2023 school year to enroll online now!

Attached is a flyer for a free online workshop to help parents on behavior basics for children with disabilities.

Parents can help us return items to students who leave personal items on the playground, coats, jackets, gloves, balls from home, lunch boxes, all items that are now piling up in our Lost and Found, especially on warm weather days. Please take the time to write your child’s name on their personal belongings.

My favorite team, BYU, was not selected as one of the 68 teams to participate in March Madness, the NCAA Basketball Tournament, but it is still the time of the year where many people fill out championship brackets, so if you are one of those individuals who fills out a bracket in your family or some other social network, I wish you and the team you are rooting for the best of luck.

Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!

Friday, March 11 will be a Minimal Day with students being dismissed at 12:45 pm. Lunch will be served to students who want a school lunch.

Last week, I was notified by school district administration that our 1^st – 6^th grade staffing for next year will remain the same. Four teachers, two Chinese and two non-Chinese at every grade level, except fifth, where there will only be one non-Chinese class. Fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Keller, is retiring and Mrs. Orgill will be moving back to fourth grade, and Ms. Dale will move from fifth to fourth grade. We will need to hire a second-grade teacher in the position vacated by Mrs. Orgill. All other teachers will remain at their current grade level assignments. Parents will have the opportunity to request a teacher in April.

Kindergarten registration continues until March 25. Go to the Alpine Elementary website https://alpine.alpineschools.org/ and you can register your next year’s kindergarten student online. Click on the Information tab at the top of the home page and you can find the online information.  Call the main office if you have any questions.

Unfortunately, we are only receiving staffing for two sections of kindergarten next year, as we have been staffed based on this year’s kindergarten enrollment. Originally, I thought that Mrs.  Aitchison would need to move to another school as Mrs. Malone taught the two sections of kindergarten, but in an amazing display of selflessness, Mrs. Malone is willing to reduce to a .5 teaching position so that Mrs. Aitchison can stay at Alpine Elementary and they can continue developing the very strong working relationship that they have. Mrs. Aitchison and Mrs. Malone would both like to teach morning kindergarten classes to enable better collaboration and the sharing of students for targeted interventions; however, Mrs. Aitchison will teach in the morning and Mrs. Malone in the afternoon if we have parents who need an afternoon kinder class. Please let us know if you need an afternoon kindergarten class. We are hopeful that we will have an increase in kindergarten enrollment to justify a return to two morning and one afternoon kindergarten class. The sooner we know what our kindergarten enrollment is going to be, the sooner we can determine how many kindergarten classes will be offered.

Parents can help us return items to students that leave personal items on the playground, coats, jackets, gloves, balls from home, lunch boxes, all items that are now piling up in our Lost and Found, especially on warm weather days. Please take the time to write your child’s name on their personal belongings.

The following students were recognized as Students of the Week on Friday, March 4. Teachers nominate students who are consistently demonstrating the character traits of the Alpine Big 3: Being Respectful, Responsible and Ready to learn. Congratulations, Students of the Week!

Jaxon Ainsworth- 1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Charley Balser- 6th grade, Ms. Kuo

Kate Barlow- 4th grade, Mrs. Vipperman

Camila Booth- 6th grade, Mrs. Reyes

Massey Elder- 5th grade, Mrs. Menssen

Tyce Kirkham- 4th grade, Ms. Moore

Kimball Kraupp-1st grade, Ms. Johnson

Zephyr Lye- 2nd grade, Ms. Andersen

Solange Marquez- 4th grade, Mrs. Keller

William Murdoch- Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Crew Nelson- 5th grade, Mr. Horan

Elijah Phillips- 6th grade, Mrs. Reyes

Henry Stewart- 3rd grade, Ms. Elder

Paisley Walker- 6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Witt Willis- Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

On Saturday, I watched our fourth-grade grandson’s Bantam basketball team lose a close game in the semi-finals of a tournament. Our grandson, Paxton, is one of the best players on his team and had spent the week sleeping with his basketball, with motivational sayings he had written himself, taped to his wall. A couple of many self-messages he posted on his wall. “You are a great basketball player.” “Be a leader even when it feels weird.”  After the game, Pax was devasted, sobbing to his mother, “Will I ever be a champion?” His father is his coach and our daughter played Division 1 basketball for two-years at Weber State, so they know what true champions are made of, and that champions are not always those who finish with the first-place trophy. Champions are made through hard work in the practice arena, their demeanor in the field of play, and how an individual deals with the losses in life that will always happen. Tough but valuable life lessons for a 10-year-old!

Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!

We have completed two-thirds of the school year. Today, we start the third and final trimester of the school year.

White Ribbon Week – We hope you and your students enjoyed the materials provided for White Ribbon Week last week, and continue to use them moving forward for further discussions on Internet safety!

Kids & Dads Pizza Night – We are excited to host our Kids & Dads Pizza Night THIS Thursday evening at 6:30 pm in our gym! Come enjoy pizza, prizes, games, and learn about how you Dads can get involved at our school! RSVP here (so we know how much pizza to order!). In addition, we’ll be giving away lots of cool prizes like a $50 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn member of our PTA (if you’re not yet a member join here!), another $50 Amazon gift card to a parent who comes to our Thursday night event, and more!

A flyer from our School Nurse is attached with dates for Immunization Clinic dates in the month of March. Please direct any of your questions to our nurse, Savannah Cottom, savannahcottom@alpinedistrict.org.

Kindergarten Registration is March 1 – 25. Go to the Alpine Elementary website and the entire registration process can be completed online. Call our Main Office if you have any questions.

Though memorial services are never a reason you want to have a family gathering, the opportunity Laura and I had to gather with her family this past weekend in Spokane, WA as we celebrated the life of Laura’s sister’s husband, Richard Collins, was in many ways a joyous family get together. Rich was a man of faith and I observed and felt the family’s faith sustain and give them hope in their time of mourning.

Laura has 10 siblings, all of whom spent their youth in Spokane, so she very much enjoyed the family reunion, while celebrating the life of a great man! It had been many years since we had been in Spokane where Laura was born and raised. It was fun to drive by the homes that Laura’s father built and her high school, Ferris High School, and for her to reminisce about her happy childhood. Laura’s father was the head of the Spokane City Planning Department for many years, and was one of the key visionaries and developers of Riverfront Park, a beautiful park in the heart of the city built adjacent to the Spokane River on land that previously was used for the Spokane Railyards, in preparation for the 1974 World Expo. A wonderful legacy for Laura’s family!

Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!