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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!

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!

Our February springlike weather has been replaced with a light snowfall. Though the warmer weather was nice, more moisture is always needed in the drought stricken western United States.

During the three days of school that students have this week we will be focusing on internet and social media safety. On Thursday, the students will participate in an assembly put on by NetSmartz, a statewide organization that teaches students about digital safety. I have attached the first of eight parent newsletters that NetSmartz prepares on digital safety. I have also attached the letter from the PTA I sent out last week that outlines what is happening this week for White Ribbon Week.

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.

Last week, KSL News came to Alpine Elementary to do a feature on Ms. Elder’s third grade class and their focus on the recently concluded Winter Olympics. Here is the link if you didn’t see the broadcast last week. A gold medal effort by Ms. Elder and her students!

The following students were recognized as Students of the Week on Friday, February 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!

Brielle Anson- 1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Cymry Beck- 2nd grade, Ms. Andersen

Rachel Christensen- 1st grade, Mrs. Bailey

Georgiana Cvetko- 4th grade, Ms. Moore

Mabel Greer- 3rd grade, Ms. Elder

Christian Jewkes- 1st grade, Mrs. Bailey

Katielyn Kitchell- 6th grade, Mrs. Reyes

Cora Mason – 1st grade, Ms. Johnson

Joseph Merrell- 5th grade, Mrs. Menssen

Remi Muskat- Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Holland Pace- 5th grade, Mrs. Chang

Bronwyn Peay- 5th grade, Mrs. Chang

Zac Roberts- 6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Jacob Smith- 6th grade, Mrs. Reyes

Finn Thompson- Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

I was at the annual Elementary Principals’ Conference in St. George on February 17 and 18. Southern Utah, and particularly St. George, has lots of visitors over the President’s Day weekend. As we drove back to the Utah Valley on Friday, the southbound traffic on I-15 was at least double to what the northbound lanes had. On Thursday after the Conference sessions, Laura and I drove to Zion’s National Park to do a little hiking. Shuttle buses don’t start running until February 19, so vehicles are allowed on Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. We hiked the trail leading to the Virgin River where The Narrows Hike in the river starts, and there were a few people in the river hiking The Narrows. We asked those coming out of the river if they got cold, and we were told that the Gore-Tex shoes and waders kept them plenty warm. On a pleasant day in February, it was nice to not have to deal with the large crowds of people that are in the park in the summer months. We have hiked The Narrows before, but will return for a February hike in the Virgin River, with far fewer people in the park.

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

A close exciting Super Bowl game that I hope you enjoyed regardless of the team you were rooting for. In our family, there was probably more animated discussion about the halftime show than the actual football game. Our children were reliving their high school days singing along with the performers. Laura and I? We don’t speak hip-hop and could not understand what was being sung and we were trying to understand why our children enjoyed that music. Lesson learned, music is a personal experience depending on the age and background of the listener.

Today is of course Valentine’s Day. Some of our teachers celebrated with students on Friday, but most teachers will be having Valentine’s Day activities today. Teachers make every effort to make all students feel recognized and loved on this special day.

You all should have heard by now that Paul Finlayson will be the new principal at Alpine Elementary, starting the job on July 1, 2022. Mr. Finlayson lives in Alpine and returns to the school where he worked as a fourth and fifth grade teacher for 11 years. He is excited to return home and will be an outstanding school leader! I sent his bio out on Friday and I have attached Mr. Finlayson’s bio in this week’s Eagle News.

We had a lot of fun last week celebrating the Chinese New Year and Year of the Tiger with several activities, including a Chinese Lantern Art Night, student concert and an assembly put on by the Chinese students at Skyridge and Lehi High Schools. We had hundreds of Chinese lanterns that students had made hanging in our hallways, and with the hallway lights turned off and the lanterns illuminated, we had a beautiful display on Monday night at the Chinese Lantern Art Night.

A huge thank you and special recognition to Suzanne Campbell for all she did to organize last week’s Chinese New Year activities. The third annual Chinese Lantern Art Night doesn’t happen without Suzanne’s vision and passion! And thank you to all of the parent volunteers who helped Suzanne hang the lanterns on Monday and take them down on Friday. Suzanne also handled all of the logistics with our Friday Chinese New Year assembly put on by the Chinese students at Skyridge and Lehi High Schools. The Chinese New Year dances the high school students performed were outstanding! In addition to all of her Chinese New Year’s efforts, Suzanne is also our PTA President, and we are grateful for all she does to support our PTA!

Last week, the fish tank in the library sprung a major leak sometime between 4:00 pm on Wednesday and 6:00 am on Thursday. The library was partially flooded and when we discovered the flooded floor on Thursday, most of the water had leaked out of the tank and the fish were barely clinging to life. Thanks to the heroic efforts of our Head Custodian, Mike Carter, all of the fish were retrieved and saved! Sadly, our fish tank is so old that it needs to be retired. The fish and corral are now safely in another location, outside of the school, and we will need to decide if we want to purchase a new fish tank. Stay tuned!

You can turn in your old printer cartridges to a box we have in our Staff Room, and the school receives money for the recycled cartridges. Please place the cartridges in a plastic bag before depositing in the recycle box.

We will be having our White Ribbon/Internet Safety Week February 22-25. Here are some grade level lessons, with accompanying password, that parents can use at home, not just next week, but at any time.

The following students were recognized as Students of the Week on Friday, February 11. 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!

Adrienne Bodily-6th grade, Mrs. Monson

Beckham Burgess-4th grade, Mrs. Keller

Addi Cook- 5th grade, Mrs. Menssen

Ashley Hauck-2nd grade, Mrs. Orgill

Owen Layton-5th grade, Mrs Menssen

Redford Mathis-Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Nina Matthews-Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Kaleb Nay-6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Violet Olson-6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Katie Proctor-6th grade, Ms Kuo

Raquel Roach-4th grade, Mrs. Vipperman

Sam Scoville-Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Ezra Smith-2nd grade, Mrs. Orgill

Liam Smith-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

James Squires-Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Hope you have been able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine that has warmed the Wasatch Front in recent days. Any time that I can get on my bike in February is a good day, and I was able to bike up to Suncrest on Saturday morning. It felt good to be off the Peloton in my basement which is my go-to mode of exercise in the winter months! Love the Peloton, but a stationary bike will never replace the real thing and the joy, sometime pain, and beauty of an outdoor ride.

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

Today is the last day for our Book Fair, 8:30 am – 8:00 pm. The Book Fair will be open tonight in our library during our Chinese Lantern Festival.

As you walk into the Book Fair, you will see the short hallway leading into the library decorated with Chinese Lanterns and with some tigers in the jungle. As we celebrate the Chinese New Year, it is also the Year of the Tiger. We are so grateful to parent volunteer, Chelsea Hertig, for the time and effort she took to decorate for our Book Fair. Chelsea has decorated for previous Book Fairs and we are fortunate to have someone with such incredible talent share her artistic creations with Alpine Elementary!

For 17 years, parent volunteer Cherie’ Kelly has been the driving force in the PTA Hospitality Committee. So for 17 years for Cherie,’ and seven years for Erin Stanley, these ladies have fed our staff a delicious lunch during Parent/Teacher Conferences in October and February and during Teacher Appreciation Week. Both of Cherie’ and Erin’s youngest children are sixth graders, so after their many years of service to Alpine Elementary, they are moving on to the secondary schools with their children. We are so grateful for the countless delicious meals that these ladies have prepared for the faculty at Alpine Elementary!

Cherie’ will continue organizing our annual Coin Drive for the Candlelight School in Nairobi, Kenya!

Thank you for all of the parents who conferenced with teachers last week. Most parents did online conferences, but I did see some parents come to the school. Please communicate with your child’s teacher if you have any questions about academic performance as we enter the month of February.

Chinese Lantern Festival Starts Today – We are so excited to be celebrating the Chinese New Year this week, starting today! Our Chinese Lantern Festival Arts Night is happening TONIGHT from 6 to 8 pm here at the school! We invite you and your families to come enjoy an evening celebrating the Chinese New Year. Come let your kids make fun Chinese arts and crafts, play games, and take a tour of the lanterns throughout the school! Attached is a flyer that includes details about all the fun activities taking place tonight!

Also today at 2:30 pm, the Chinese Immersion students will perform their Chinese New Year concert. We ask that parents watch the concert virtually. Here is the link to the concert, starting at 2:30 pm this afternoon!  https://forms.gle/3cM58G1tKfPALivj6.

PTA Meeting at 7 pm this Thursday – Also this week, please join us for our February PTA meeting this Thursday at 7:00 pm! This month, we’re hosting an evening PTA meeting in hopes that some of you who can’t make it to our meetings during the morning hours can hop on a call in the evening. Simply use this Google Classroom link to join us.   https://meet.google.com/dxw-kjyq-yrg

Are you excited for Sunday’s Super Bowl? Most of you know I bleed BYU Cougar Blue, but I do root for the Utes when they are not playing the Cougs. I was really hoping for an Utah Rose Bowl win, but sadly they fell a little short of victory. I will be rooting for the Rams on Sunday! There are two former Utes who are key players on the Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl team, safety Eric Weddle, and placekicker Matt Gay. Eric Weddle retired two years ago, but was persuaded to return to football action just prior to the playoffs after the Rams had some injuries. From coaching his son’s 12-year-old Pop Warner football team in Southern California to playing in Super Bowl a month later. Quite a story!

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

We are encouraging teachers to schedule online parent/teacher conferences this week. If parents would prefer to meet in-person with their child’s teacher, you can still do so, but an online conference is encouraged during for this week’s conferences. Teachers will be scheduling conferences with parents on Skyward. Contact your student’s teacher if you have any questions.

February 4 will be a Teacher Work Day; consequently, there will be no school for students on Friday.

The Alpine Elementary staff was as surprised as parents at the announcement last week from the Alpine School District Board of Education that we would be making a daily schedule change starting on January 31. That decision was put on pause, so we continue with our current schedule until the Board gathers more input from ASD stakeholders. This is the message all parents received last week from the ASD School Board:

As many of you may have heard, the Board of Education has been studying ways to address teacher fatigue while keeping students in school, face-to-face, every day. Although a decision was made in last night’s board meeting to implement a temporary schedule adjustment, the board has now requested a pause to allow for further study and review of operational challenges, feedback, and logistics.

We apologize for any confusion this has created for you and your student. The board will be considering additional solutions to address teacher fatigue and student absenteeism. We want to make sure that decisions made don’t increase teacher burden or negatively impact student learning. Schools will continue on the normal schedule until further notice.

It’s Book Fair Time! We’re so excited and hope you’ll stop by and pick up some great books to read. (All purchases benefit our school library.)

Book Fair Hours:

Jan. 31st & Feb. 1st

8:30 am – 4:00 pm

Feb. 2nd & 3rd

8:30 am – 7:00 pm

Feb. 4th Closed

No school for students

Feb. 7th Chinese Lantern Festival

8:30 am – 8:00 pm

Be sure to complete the attached Reading Bingo card. Return it to the library on Monday, February 7th to be entered in our prize drawing.

We are in need of a teacher aide to work in a 5^th grade classroom, 9:15 am – 2:15 pm. Please email Mr. Perdue if you are interested in a TA job or if you have any questions. The job pays $11.28 an hour unless applicants have previous experience working in schools.

Spirit Night this Wednesday, Feb. 2nd at the NEW Zupas from 4-9 pm – Come to the brand-new Cafe Zupas in Highland for an easy house-made meal, and Alpine Elementary PTA will earn 25% back! There are 3 ways to order (remember to mention the fundraiser for us to get credit!): 1) Run through their new drive-thru, 2) Drop in, in-person (right after parent-teacher conferences, right?!), or 3) Order online or via their mobile app – mention FUNDRAISER25 in the coupon code (Also, you can choose for a delivery option through the app/online also!).

Dad Help Before School – The Alpine Elementary PTA is helping us round up some dad helpers (or grandfathers, uncles, or other dudes!) to help monitor outside the school while kids are out waiting to be let inside. We are looking for dads/dudes who can help monitor outside the school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:45 to 9:15 am. Please sign up on this Google doc to help or make sure to let those gentlemen know we would love to have them on board!

Chinese Lantern Festival – The PTA is hosting the school’s third annual Chinese Lantern Festival the week of February 7 – 11! There are quite a few things to be aware of for that week:

Daphne Anderson-6th grade, Ms. Kuo

Lexi Cann-5th grade, Mr. Horan

Landon Deveraux-Kindergarten, Mrs. Aitchison

Terry Dilts-3rd grade, Ms. Elder

Rosie Ence-1st grade, Ms. Johnson

Gracie Gillespie-6th grade, Mrs. Hill

Dresden Hansen-1st grade, Mrs. Faux

Max Hertig-Kindergarten, Mrs. Aitchison

Adaline Larkin-Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Kayleigh Nelsen-5th grade, Mrs. Chang

Lewis Olson-Kindergarten, Mrs. Malone

Madi Sardoni-4th grade, Mrs. Keller

William Stewart-1st grade, Mrs. Bailey

Aksel Tedrow-1st grade, Ms. Johnson

Thor Tom-4th grade, Ms. Moore

With my wife, Laura, being in Oregon watching grandchildren for the past 10 days, I have relied on eating establishment gift cards and my own unique cooking skills. Did you know the microwave oven was introduced in 1967, and only became affordable to families in the late 1970’s? I can assure you that microwaves still are common household appliances in the 21^st century and are the go-to cooking method for some people who prefer a quick meal or are too lazy to cook. Frozen chicken pot pies and burritos really make tasty meals!

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