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Eagle News 9/3/2019

By Newsletters
Another year, another loss (9 consecutive) in football to BYU’s arch-rival, the University of Utah. Congratulations to all Ute fans out there and thanks to all those who wore Cougar and Ute attire last Thursday. There was no doubt who the better prepared and superior team was Thursday night. But being the die-hard Cougar fan that I am, I will be traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee this weekend to watch BYU compete against the Tennessee Volunteers. As I took in the majesty and natural beauty of the American Fork and Provo Canyons on bike rides on Saturday and Monday, I was reminded of the fact that there is so much more important in life than the outcome of a football game, and what a special part of the world we live in!
The start of a new school year can be a scary thing for some children (and yes, some adults as well), especially our youngest students. Our grandson, Easton, started kindergarten at Brookhaven Elementary in Eagle Mountain this past week. Check out the attached photos. On his doorstep at home, Easton was excited to start his K – 12 educational journey, even flexing for his mother to indicate he was ready to conquer all that kindergarten had to offer. However, our daughter, Darcee, told us that when the bus pulled up to take Easton to school, he turned and looked at her frightened and hesitant to get on the bus, and with longing eyes seemed to be silently communicating, “I’m scared Mommy.” And then, in a moment of little-boy courage, he grabbed his friend Brody’s hand, and did what for him was a very hard thing, left his mother behind and got on the bus. And he had a great first day of kindergarten! What a powerful metaphor that teaches us that we can all do hard things, and we all have a Brody in our life who is willing to take our hand and help us through the challenging and difficult experiences that we all encounter.
We are excited to welcome New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Nielsen to our Battle of the Books launch assembly on Monday, September, 9th at 10:00 am followed by a book signing held in the library after the assembly. Thanks to the PTA for sponsoring our Battle of the Books program this year!
Kindergarten parents, please remember to not exit your vehicles when picking up your child, unless you are in a designated parking spot. We have some parents who are leaving their vehicles in the roundabout to go get their students, which creates backed-up traffic in the southwest parking lot. If you are going to use the roundabout as a stopping place to pick up your student, please stay in your vehicle. Preschool parents have been asked by Miss Kathy to park in a designated parking spot and to walk their child into the classroom.
One of our Nutrition Services staff members is highly sensitive to Patchouli oil. Please do not put Patchouli oil on your students because it is causing a very adverse reaction for one of our staff members.
I have attached the September PTA newsletter. The PTA still needs volunteers for a few programs, so please sign up on https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F48A4AB2EA6FD0-ptavolunteer
There will be a PTA meeting on Monday, September 9. All parents are welcome to come! Take you family to dinner at Chick-Fil-A on September 9 and a percentage of the sales will go to Alpine Elementary. The PTA fundraiser will be September 23 -27. More details will be coming soon.
Members of the LPHS football team and cheer squad will be here on Thursday during our morning recess time to participate in the third annual P.L.A.Y. Day. The attached flyer gives you more details.
Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!
Dave Perdue, Principal
Alpine Elementary
Alpine School District

Eagle News 8/26/2019

By Newsletters
It was a great first four days of school! I love seeing the excitement of elementary school students when they return for a new school year. I am reminded of why I chose to become an educator 36 years ago. There is a palpable enthusiasm in the air the first week of school. Elementary students are still young enough where they don’t try to hide how excited they are to be back in school. Whereas my 22 years as a high school teacher and administrator gave me a different perspective on the start of a new school year. High school students are for the most part excited to return to school, but at that age they don’t want to show any unbridled enthusiasm, not cool, on the first days of school.
Please don’t forget that students are dismissed from school at 2:30 pm on Monday’s, enabling teachers to have a weekly collaboration time to plan lessons, analyze student assessment data and to discuss how to best meet the educational needs of all students. 
Your students probably came home and told you about their teachers going over a lot of rules, routines and procedures on the first days of school. We believe that in order to create a warm and nurturing learning environment, students need to have clearly defined academic and behavioral expectations; consequently, teachers need to teach and reteach what those expectations are. Everything the students are learning about school expectations falls under the umbrella of the Alpine Big 3 of being Respectful, Responsible and Ready.
Please keep student safety in mind when dropping off and picking up your students. We want parents to be parked along a curb before picking up students and not stopping on 300 North where students need to walk in between parked cars to enter a vehicle that is stopped in middle of the street.
It would be helpful if parents put the names of students on lunch containers, and when the weather gets colder, on jackets and coats. Students frequently leave personal belongings on the playground, and instead of staying in our Lost and Found, and sometimes never being picked up, we can return personal items if there is a name identifying the student.
We are excited to welcome our youngest learners, the preschoolers and kindergartners, on Tuesday. We also start our Science Lab classes this week as Rebecca Bergquist begins her instructional duties.
I was in all of the new teachers’ (minus our new kindergarten teacher) classrooms on Friday, and they are all off to a great start.
Three new members were elected last week to serve on our School Community Council. Chelsea Hertig, Brittany Nelson and Tracy Nuttall will join returning members Brooke Bennett, Vanessa Hogan and Dave Wirthlin on the Alpine Elementary SCC. Congratulations to the newly elected SCC parents!
8:15 pm Thursday night at Lavell Edwards Stadium in Provo, BYU and Utah face off in their first football game of the season. We have both Utah and BYU fans amongst our students, staff and parents. I will tell students and staff (if you have no allegiance to either school, no special attire needed) on Monday morning that they are welcome to wear either Ute or Cougar gear to school on Thursday.  I will be in attendance at LES cheering for the Cougs, but the Holy War hasn’t been much of a rivalry in recent years as Utah has won eight consecutive games, and is favored by experts to win the game on Thursday night. For us Cougar fans, the pain has to end sometime, right?
Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!
Dave Perdue, Principal
Alpine Elementary
Alpine School District