Field Day: This Thursday, June 1st, our TK-2nd grade kids will have Field Day from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm on the baseball field behind DES. Please make sure your child has sunscreen on before school, brings a hat, wears tennis shoes, and has a water bottle with him or her on Thursday.

Looking for Gently Used Games and Kids’ Puzzles: As you do spring cleaning, please consider donating your gently used games and puzzles for our indoor recess and game day events.  We are looking for games and puzzles that are clean and complete.  If you have any children’s puzzles, or any of the following games, please drop them off at the DES office before the last day of school.  As always, thank you for supporting us!

• Games We’d Love to Have…  Guess Who, Spot It, Memory, Go Fish, Hi Ho! Cherry-O, Zingo, The Ladybug Game, decks of cards, Pick-up Sticks, Apples to Apples, Connect Four, Mancala, Sloth in a Hurry, Suspend, Rivers, Roads, and Rails, How Tall Am I?, Sorry, Proof, Battleship, Chess, Checkers, Uno, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Rubiks Race, Blokus, Legos, Boggle, Bananagrams, Mathological Liar, Race to the Treasure, Outfoxed, Slapzi

2023 DES Spring Communication Survey Link

Thank you to those who responded to our spring survey. If you have not had a chance to respond, please take a moment to answer two questions. The survey is anonymous, and the goal is to improve how we communicate to our families.

Thank you. Your feedback is important to us!!

Last fall we sent out a survey asking parents for their thoughts on how we’re doing with communication at DES. We would like to know if we have improved, or if we have more to work on for next year. Please take a few moments to fill out a VERY short, two question, survey on communication at DES. Thank you!

Spring DES Communication Survey

A note from our music teacher, Ms. Smoltz…

The TK-2nd grade music concert starts at 6 p.m. at Saugatuck High School. We hope to see your child at 5:30 p.m. in the “gym-a-torium” (highlighted in orange below). Please do not arrive early, as there will be no adult on duty to take responsibility for your child.

Tonight, instead of a paper program, please feel free to flip through this digital program similarly to how you would an e-book. If you have previously used paper programs for a memento, feel free to print this pdf.

I am so proud of our students and I can’t wait for you to see all of their hard work!

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First graders are heading to John Ball Zoo tomorrow from 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Here are a few things to note…

• If your child did not pre-order a lunch from the school cafeteria, please remember to send him or her with a sack lunch.
• The weather forecast predicts a sunny, 75º day tomorrow. Dress for the weather, and please put sunscreen on your child before school, if you think it is necessary. We will not be applying sunscreen at school.
• Students may wear a baseball cap or other non-distractive hat if they choose.
• Make sure your child wears comfortable walking shoes tomorrow.
• Please discuss behavior expectations with your child for on the bus, at the zoo, and with their chaperone.

** If you are a chaperone, please arrive at DES @ 8:45 a.m.

Zoo Field Trip: First graders are traveling to John Ball Zoo in G.R. this Wednesday, May 10th. Please remember to send a fully disposable sack lunch with your child (no lunch boxes), marked with his or her name and “Hale”, if he or she did not pre-order from the school cafeteria.

DES Art Show: The Visiting Artist spring art show will take place this Thursday, May 11th, from 5 – 6:30 p.m. Come stroll the halls of DES and check out all of the beautiful art that our talented students created.

Spring Music Concert: Our TK – 2nd Graders will be performing, It’s a Bug’s Life, at Saugatuck High School on Tuesday, May 16th, at 6 pm. Please see the following links for more detailed information… Map

Field Days at DES: Lower El. – June 1 @ 12:30 p.m., Upper El. – June 2 @ 12:30 p.m.

Spring Testing: Please be reminded that May is a very busy month for assessments at school. It is important that your child be in attendance all day and well-rested during this time.

Have a good night!

Screen Free Week: Flyers were sent home today with information about screen free week. In case a flyer did not make it into your child’s backpack, I have attached a copy here…

Here is the link to the Sign Up Genius for next week’s color run.

Have a good weekend!

• We have scheduled a learning field trip to John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 10th. Please see the attached note containing information on chaperoning the trip. If you are interested in chaperoning, please send an email to ahale@saugatuckps.com by May 1st. We are allowed to take four chaperones on this trip.
• We will be eating lunch at the zoo. Students may bring a fully disposable sack lunch on the day of the trip or pre-order a lunch from the school cafeteria. Please make sure your student knows whether they will need to order a lunch by May 1st, so I can place the order with our cafeteria.
• Field Trip/Chaperone Note Link

Have a good evening!

April Safety Lessons: This month our safety lessons are focused on rules for walking on the road, crossing the street, and riding a bike. Here are some of the things that we learned:

• Always wear a helmet when riding a bike. Make sure the helmet is properly sized.
• Walk against traffic, so you can see the oncoming cars and move out of the way quickly, if necessary.
• Ride bikes with traffic, following traffic rules and using hand signals to let drivers know where you intend to go. Ask your student to show you the signals for turning left, turning right, and for stopping.
• Cross roads at designated crosswalks. Stop, look, and listen. Look left, look right, and then look left again.

Calendar Updates:

• There is no school tomorrow, April 19th, due to a scheduled staff in-service.
• Kids’ Big Ideas are due Friday, April 21
• 04/27 – Class Game Day – We still need three volunteers. Sign Up Link
• DES Spring Music Concert – May 16 @ 6 pm (kids arrive at 5:30 pm), Saugatuck High School

Have a good night!!

Market Day – Thursday:  Mrs. Atkin’s 5th grade class will be sponsoring a market day this Thursday, March 23rd. It will be our last 5th grade market day for the school year. Items are priced from $ .25 to $2.00. If you send money with your child, please put it in a baggie marked with his or her name. I recommended that the children ask at home to see if they can earn money by doing extra chores. Buying things with your own hard-earned money feels good and teaches valuable life lessons.

Snacks: Please remind your student to pack a small, healthy snack each day (no candy). We take a few minutes for snack after our morning recess to help us make it until lunchtime.

End of Day Pick Up: In order to keep traffic flowing smoothly, we have a staggered pick up at the end of the school day. First graders are excused in the first group, which is brought out front at 2:50 p.m. Please make sure you are in line by 2:50 p.m. to pick up your first grader. If first graders have older siblings, the older siblings are sent out with their younger siblings. There should not be excess waiting if the system is working as it is designed.

Happy Spring: Today marks the first day of Spring. With Spring’s arrival comes additional extra-curricular and after-school events. Please make sure your children know where they are going at the end of each school day.

In addition, we recommend keeping kids on a disciplined schedule that allows them to get the appropriate amount of sleep each night. Sleepy first graders struggle to make it through the school day and are found to have more behavioral difficulties (AAP Publications, Volume 132, Issue 5). The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children ages 7 and 8 get 10 to 11 hours of sleep per night. Here is a helpful link for parents from Bright Futures: Bright Futures 7/8 – AAP

Have a great evening!