Updates for Elementary Families

Important Reminders for the First Day on Aug 24

• Students may arrive beginning at 7:45 AM and enter through the elementary main entrance. Students will go directly to their classrooms upon entering. All students should be in their classrooms by 8:00 AM.

• Parents may not enter the building with students at drop-off but may accompany them on the sidewalk as they wait to enter.

• If you are accompanying your student on the sidewalk at arrival, you must park your vehicle in a parking space.

• As the school year begins, many staff members will be available to walk students to their classrooms as needed.

• All elementary classes will be dismissed at 2:45 PM. At dismissal, they will be standing with their teacher on the designated area of the sidewalk for their class.

• At dismissal, you must park and walk to your child's teacher to pick up your student. Please be prepared to identify yourself to your child's teacher as necessary.

Sync the WMAES Calendar with your Phone or Device

Important dates for the coming school year have been added to our school calendar on AddEvent—including breaks, early release days, family events, and more! We encourage all families to follow the calendar to stay informed and organized throughout the year.

You can follow the calendar by clicking “Follow Calendar” above this post or by visiting:
https://www.addevent.com/calendar/MF615307

Our calendar is hosted through AddEvent and is fully compatible with:

• Apple Calendar (iPhone, iPad, Mac)

• Google Calendar (Android devices and Gmail accounts)

• Outlook

• Office 365

• Yahoo Calendar

• Any calendar app that supports iCal or .ics feeds

Once added, all events will sync directly to your personal calendar—and any updates we make will automatically be reflected on your end. It’s a simple, reliable way to stay connected and never miss an important date! 

LABOR DAY WEEKEND — NO SCHOOL

WMAES families, please remember that there will be no school on Friday, September 4, or Monday, September 7, in observance of Labor Day weekend.

Classes will resume on Tuesday, September 8. We hope our students, staff, and families enjoy a safe and restful long weekend!

PBIS AT WMAES

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or PBIS, is our schoolwide approach to creating a safe, positive, and successful learning environment. Just as we teach academic skills, we intentionally teach, model, practice, and reinforce the behaviors students need to succeed in classrooms and throughout our school.

At WMAES, our shared expectations are represented by SOAR:

S — Be Safe
O — Own Your Behavior
A — Act Responsibly
R — Be Respectful

When staff members see students demonstrating SOAR, they provide positive recognition and award digital Eagle Bucks through PBIS Rewards. Students can use their Eagle Bucks during school store opportunities, while additional classroom and schoolwide recognitions help us celebrate their positive choices and growth.

PBIS is more than a reward system. It gives students clear expectations, provides adults with consistent language, strengthens relationships, and ensures that students know their positive choices are noticed. Together, we help every WMAES Eagle learn to SOAR!

CONNECTING WITH THE PBIS REWARDS FAMILY APP 

Information for connecting to the PBIS Rewards Family App will be sent home by your child’s teacher. This information will include the unique QR code or link needed to connect securely to your child’s account.

For families, the app provides a window into the positive choices your child is making at school. When a staff member recognizes your child for demonstrating SOAR—being safe, owning their behavior, acting responsibly, or being respectful—the recognition and Eagle Bucks can be recorded in PBIS Rewards.

Once connected, families can view their child’s Eagle Bucks balance, see details about positive recognitions, and follow how Eagle Bucks are used through our school store. This creates opportunities to celebrate successes and continue positive conversations about SOAR at home.

At WMAES, PBIS Rewards is primarily a tool for recognizing, reinforcing, and celebrating the behaviors we want to see more often. We hope the Family App helps you stay connected to the many great things your child is doing each day!

We’re pleased to share that our uniform provider has all WMAES uniform apparel available for online ordering—with free shipping to your home!

Just click the link below and click “Shop Now”—then navigate to the Uniform category to explore all that’s available. We’re especially excited to let you know that several new, lower-cost uniform t-shirt options have been added for your convenience.

Shop Now: https://wmaesapparel.secure-decoration.com/

As a reminder, here are our uniform policy guidelines:

Uniform requirements include:

• A WMAES uniform top

• Solid color pants or shorts, or solid jeans or jean shorts

• Closed-toe shoes

Please note:

• The WMAES top must be the outermost layer

• All clothing must be free of writing, adornments, and rips/tears/holes

• Uniforms with the old logo will be fully grandfathered in. Students may continue wearing their previous uniform items. 

Thank you for partnering with us and for your continued support of our uniform policy!

To help families with back-to-school planning, our staff has put together updated recommended supply lists for each elementary grade. The lists can be found at the link below. 

https://wma-es.com/supply-lists/ 

These lists were thoughtfully created by our teachers to include items that may support your child’s learning and organization throughout the school year. Please know that these are recommendations only and are not intended to create a burden for families. We understand that back-to-school shopping can feel overwhelming, and families should always feel free to do what works best for their situation.

Our hope is that these lists provide a helpful starting point and make the process a little smoother as we prepare for a great school year together!

Stay Connected with WMAES!

Please take a moment to add our school’s phone number to your contact list: 616-791-7454. This helps ensure that you recognize calls coming from West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science.

We also kindly ask that you make sure your phone is set to allow calls from the school. It’s important that we’re able to reach an adult family member during the school day if needed.

We are pleased to continue our efforts in supporting our students through our assistance programs. Our resources have expanded this school year, and we want to ensure you are aware of the benefits available to our entire community.

Our new counseling service, the School Assistance Program (SAP), is offered through Pine Rest, a professional mental health service. This program provides five free, confidential counseling sessions per episode of care and is available 24/7 to anyone in the student’s household.

To access this service, simply call 800.442.0809, press 1, and follow the prompts. Be sure to mention, “I have an SAP with West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science.”

To learn more about all the benefits provided by this program, please watch the introduction video. Click the link below or paste the URL into any browser:

SAP Video – Password: SAPOrientation
URL: https://vimeo.com/video/956870695?share=copy

Please note that all services provided through the SAP are 100% confidential. We hope this resource can support you and your family whenever needed.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.