Updates for Elementary Families

September 6, 2026

Dear WMAES Families,

It was wonderful to see students of all ages learning, exploring, and enjoying our beautiful outdoor spaces last week. Whether they were participating in a lesson, observing the natural world, or simply spending time outside with classmates, these experiences are an important part of what makes learning at WMAES so special.

As a reminder, there is no school tomorrow in observance of Labor Day. We hope the long weekend has provided your family with time to rest, recharge, and enjoy time together.

This is also the final week of our Mum Sale Fundraiser. Paper order forms are due Thursday, and online ordering closes Friday. More information about purchasing is available below.

We will end the week with our first Dollar No Uniform Day of the school year on Friday. Students who choose to participate may bring a $1 donation and wear school-appropriate non-uniform clothing. Participation is completely optional, and students may wear their regular WMAES uniform if they prefer. Funds raised help support student activities, field trips, and additional resources for our students.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support. We look forward to another great week of learning and growing together!

Warmest regards,

Nathan VanDuinen

Elementary Principal

LABOR DAY - NO SCHOOL

WMAES families, please remember that there will be no school on 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!

Dollar No Uniform Day Friday, September 11

Students may bring a $1 donation and wear school-appropriate, non-uniform clothing of their choice. Donations help support student activities, field trips, and many student resources throughout the year.

Participation is entirely optional. Students who do not participate may wear their regular WMAES uniform.

WMAES Mum Fundraiser

Brighten your home for fall while helping our classrooms grow! The WMAES Parent Team is partnering with Rinzema Greenhouse to offer beautiful mums in three sizes: 8”, 12”, and 14”.

Proceeds will help fulfill teacher requests for valuable classroom resources, including microscopes, gloves, recess equipment, math games, and more.

Order Online

Visit: https://wmaes-4463.square.site/parent-team

Select each size and quantity you would like, add them to your cart, and complete your purchase using a credit card. A receipt will be emailed to you after checkout.

Online orders close Friday, September 11.

A digital receipt is required when picking up online orders. If a friend or family member places an order that you will be picking up, please have them forward their receipt to you.

Paper Orders

Paper order forms are available in both school offices. Completed forms must be returned to your student’s teacher or the office by Thursday, September 10, with cash or a check made payable to WMAES.

Pickup

Mum orders will be available for pickup on Tuesday, September 22, during student pickup. A limited number of additional mums will also be available for purchase that day.

Questions may be directed to parentteam@wma-es.com.

Thank you for supporting our students, teachers, and classrooms!

WMAES Parent Team

Fall Assessments: Supporting Student Growth

In the coming weeks, students will complete NWEA MAP Growth and Acadience assessments. These assessments provide teachers with helpful information about what students already know, the skills they are ready to learn next, and where additional support or enrichment may be beneficial.

NWEA MAP Growth is a computer-adaptive assessment in reading and math. Questions adjust based on each student’s responses, allowing students to demonstrate what they know at their individual level.
Acadience Reading consists of brief assessments of important foundational reading skills. Depending on a student’s grade level, these may include phonemic awareness, decoding, reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.

Both assessments are administered in the fall, winter, and spring. This allows us to identify students’ strengths and needs, measure growth over time, and determine whether instruction and additional support are working.

These are not pass-or-fail tests, and MAP Growth results are never used as a grade. Each result is one piece of information considered alongside classroom work, teacher observations, and other assessments. Teachers use this information to:

Plan whole-group and small-group instruction
Set meaningful learning goals with students
Provide targeted support or intervention
Offer appropriate enrichment and challenge
Monitor progress and adjust instruction throughout the year

Families can help by encouraging students to do their best. A good night’s sleep, a healthy breakfast, and reassurance that the assessments help teachers support their learning are the best preparation.

Resources for Families

We look forward to sharing your child’s results and explaining how they will inform our instruction as we work to meet the needs of every student.

Dismissal Procedure Reminder

To ensure every student is safely accounted for, students must remain in line with their class and teacher until they reach their assigned dismissal location and are released by the teacher.

When picking up your child, please wait for the teacher to communicate with you individually before your child leaves the group, even if your child sees you along the way. We greatly appreciate your patience as our teachers carefully release each student. Following this process helps dismissal remain safe and orderly for everyone.

Home Lunch Reminder: Microwaves No Longer Available

Although microwaves were previously available in the cafeteria, they are no longer available for student use. To support student safety and keep lunch periods running smoothly, students will not be able to heat food brought from home. Please pack lunches that are ready to eat without heating. Thank you for your understanding and support!

WMAES Parking Lot Reminders

WMAES strives to provide a parking lot environment that is as safe, courteous, and orderly as possible during student drop-off and pick-up. Your adherence to the following guidelines is greatly appreciated and serves as an important example of cooperation, patience, and respect for our students.

Parking Lot Guidelines

Enter only through the east drive.
Exit only through the west drive.
When exiting campus, vehicles must turn left or right onto Leonard Street. Do not proceed straight across Leonard Street or use Leonard Gardens as a turnaround. Walker Police Department monitors this area and will enforce traffic regulations.
Drive slowly and stay alert. Watch carefully for children who may emerge between parked vehicles.
If you plan to leave your vehicle for any reason, please park in a designated parking space.
During morning drop-off, the inside lane closest to the school is for vehicles actively dropping off students.
Drivers using the drop-off lane must remain in their vehicles and merge carefully into the outside lane after students have exited.
Students should exit the vehicle on the passenger/school side and as close to the sidewalk as possible.
The outside lane is for continuous traffic flow. Please do not stop or leave your vehicle in this lane.
Pets must remain inside vehicles at all times. Pets are not permitted on campus.
Carpool whenever possible to help reduce traffic volume.
Please be patient. Our parking lot serves a large number of families in a short period of time, and traffic may move slowly at times. Patience, attentiveness, and cooperation from everyone help keep arrival and dismissal safe and efficient.

Thank you for helping us provide a safe and positive arrival and dismissal experience for all WMAES students and families!

Important Dismissal Traffic Reminder

Thank you for your continued cooperation as we work to keep dismissal safe and efficient each day. We need your support in one specific area to ensure traffic continues moving smoothly and does not negatively impact our surrounding community.

When exiting campus during dismissal, all drivers must turn either left or right onto Leonard Street. Please do not continue straight across Leonard Street or use a neighboring driveway to turn around.

For families turning right, please continue west on Leonard Street to 8th Avenue. This route provides easy access to major thoroughfares: drivers may travel north toward I-96 or south toward Lake Michigan Drive/M-45. These convenient connections make it easy to continue toward destinations throughout the area without turning around along Leonard Street.

Following these expectations helps prevent traffic backups, protects our neighbors’ property, and creates a safer and more predictable traffic flow for everyone. Walker Police will be monitoring the area and will issue citations for inappropriate or unsafe turnarounds.

We greatly appreciate your cooperation and your help in keeping dismissal safe and running smoothly for all.

Gently Used Uniform Top Donations Appreciated

We are currently accepting donations of gently used WMAES uniform tops to help support students and families in our school community.

Items we are seeking include: Kids’ uniform shirts, hoodies, or fleece jackets.

If you have gently used uniform tops your child has outgrown and would be willing to donate, they may be dropped off in the Elementary Office.

These donations make a meaningful difference for our families. Thank you for supporting WMAES!

Free Breakfast & Lunch Continue at WMAES!

As we get ready for another great school year, we’re glad to remind families that breakfast and lunch will continue to be provided FREE to all WMAES students during the 2026–2027 school year!

Through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and Michigan School Meals, every student can enjoy nutritious school meals each day at no cost to families.

📋 Coming soon—we’ll need your help!

Even though meals are free for everyone, families will soon be asked to complete the Education Benefits Form. Completing this form is extremely important for WMAES. The information collected helps determine funding available to our school for programs and resources that directly support students, including:

• Instructional programs and additional student support
• Teachers and support staff
• Classroom materials and technology
• Academic and behavioral services
• Other important student programs and resources

🔒 Your information is protected and kept confidential.

When the Education Benefits Form is made available to you, we ask every WMAES family to take a few minutes to complete it. Your participation helps us continue bringing valuable resources and opportunities directly to our students.

Thank you for your partnership and for helping us make the 2026–2027 school year a great one!

August_Sept Breakfast Menu.pdf

August-Sept 2026 Lunch Menu.pdf

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!

Uniform Apparel Online Store and Uniform Policy

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!

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!

UNDERSTANDING STANDARD RESPONSE PROTOCOL

At WMAES, safety is strengthened through preparation, clear communication, and a shared understanding of what to do in different situations. We want students, staff, and families to be familiar with the common language used in our Standard Response Protocol, or SRP.

The five SRP actions are:

HOLD — Remain in your classroom or area while hallways are kept clear.

SECURE — Bring everyone inside and lock exterior doors. Activities may continue inside the building.

LOCKDOWN — Locks, lights, out of sight. Students and staff remain quiet and follow established safety procedures.

EVACUATE — Move safely to a designated location and follow instructions.

SHELTER — Follow the announced safety strategy for a specific hazard, such as severe weather or a hazardous-materials concern.

Beginning with the 2026–27 school year, Michigan law requires schools to adopt and use standardized response terminology. WMAES has the benefit of having trained our staff in these protocols for years. We will continue reviewing and practicing them with students in calm, age-appropriate ways so the actions become familiar and can be followed confidently when needed.

We are sharing the attached PDF poster so families can also become familiar with this common safety language. We encourage you to review the terms with your child and discuss what each action means. Each term communicates a specific response and does not necessarily represent the same type or level of concern.

Having a shared understanding helps students, staff, and families communicate clearly and respond calmly and confidently when a safety protocol is used. This familiarity is an important part of our continued focus on safety, preparedness, and practice at WMAES.

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.

Assistance Program INFORMATION

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.

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