Community Forums on School Funding

      Spanish Immersion Kindergarten, Fall 2010 at Ada Vista

      Chinese Immersion Kindergarten, Fall 2010 at Meadow Brook

The Spanish Immersion Kindergarten program at Ada Vista Elementary School and the Chinese Immersion Kindergarten at Meadow Brook Elementary School are open to children who will be five years old by December 1, 2010.  Spanish Immersion Kindergarten will be offered on an all-day/alternate day format at Ada Vista.  Chinese Immersion will be offered as an all-day/every day program at Meadow Brook.   For more information about either program please call Jesús Santillán, Principal of Ada Vista (493-8970) or Larry Mathews, Principal of Meadow Brook (493-8740).

 

In keeping with the “sibling preference” of our immersion programs, families of current Spanish Immersion or Chinese Immersion students will receive a letter inviting them to pre-register siblings who will be entering kindergarten. (This pre-registration process derives from the benefits of siblings having the same second language and being able to use it in conversation at home.) Applications will be available at Ada Vista (7192 Bradfield SE, Ada, MI) and Meadow Brook (1450 Forest Hill SE, Grand Rapids, MI) beginning Tuesday, December 1.  The pre-registration materials must be completed and returned to Ada Vista for Spanish Immersion siblings or Meadow Brook for Chinese Immersion siblings, no later than Friday, December 18.  Any siblings who apply after December 18 will be entered in the lottery with other resident students.

 

Applications for Forest Hills resident families who are new to the Immersion programs and have students who will be entering kindergarten next fall will be available at Ada Vista and Meadow Brook beginning Monday, January 4, 2010.  Completed applications must be returned no later than Friday, January 15, 2010. Both schools are open from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  Parents must show proof of residency along with the original birth certificate (from the County Clerk where the child was born), with raised seal, of their incoming kindergarten student when they turn in their completed application.

 

A lottery drawing for the kindergarten spaces available in the Spanish Immersion Program at Ada Vista and/or the Chinese Immersion Program at Meadow Brook will be held by January 25, 2010.  Students not selected will be placed on a waiting list in the order they are drawn from the lottery.   A letter will be sent to families on or about January 27 to inform them if their child's name was drawn for admission, and if not, his/her position on the waiting list.

 

Chinese and Spanish Afer-school Classes for Preschool and K-4

 

Save Your Spot! 

This was the first time Central Woodlands hosted the Kent County Regional Spelling Bee, which included 5th and 6th grade students who were finalists from their schools' spelling bees. Both private and public schools are included. C.J Strawser from Central Woodlands came in first place out of nine schools from Kent County. He now proceeds to the West Michigan Regional Spelling Bee at Gerald R. Ford Museum.

Students from Strasbourg Visiting Forest Hills High Schools  

Families from Forest Hills Central, Eastern and Northern High Schools are hosting 26 students and two teachers from Strasbourg, France who are here on a two-week exchange program with our schools. This is the 12th year of the exchange program started by Lorraine Miles, French teacher at Northern High School. Over spring break, some Forest Hills high school students will visit Strasbourg where these students' families will host them.

 

The visiting students will attend classes with their student hosts and present to French classes in the three high schools. They also will participate in a full schedule of high school activities including basketball and hockey games and school dances, ice skating and tubing, and tour WGVU, the Ford and Public Museums, the Federal Court, and the lakeshore.

Kindergarten Schedule Changes for 2010-2011 School Year

After a review of enrollment trends for kindergarten schedule options, as well as gathering staff input, it has been decided that beginning with the 2010-11 school year, all kindergarten classes will be offered on an all-day, alternate-day (AD/AD) schedule. On this schedule, children attend all day Monday and Wednesday and a half-day on Friday, or all day on Tuesday and Thursday and a half-day on Friday. We are pleased that this change will allow the following benefits for our incoming kindergarteners:

 

•  Two full days and a half-day weekly will provide more uninterrupted instructional time to teach the kindergarten curriculum.

•  Scheduling will allow collaboration among early childhood teachers and may allow for flexible grouping of students.

•  Most Forest Hills students already have attended pre-school for one or two years and have shown a readiness for all-day programming.

•  Teachers will be able to include a rest time for the first few weeks of school for those students who need it. It is our experience that most students no longer require this break once routines are established.

•  Busing is now available to our kindergarten students before and after school. Friday will be the only day parents will need to provide noon transportation.

•  Building safety is improved due to the elimination of noon pick-up, drop-off traffic Monday through Thursday.

•  Class sizes and composition will be more consistent and balanced.

•  Young Fives will continue to be offered on a half day, every day schedule.

•  Fee-based, on-site childcare (which is a self-supporting program) will continue to be available all day, every day for kindergarten students, and when space allows, their four-year-old siblings (if five by December 1, 2010).

•  Kindergarten students may ride the regular bus to and/or home from half-day and all-day child care.

 

As always, it is our intent to improve the quality of programming we offer to our community. Should you have questions or concerns about our kindergarten or Young Fives program options, please call your principal.