I hope you enjoyed the extended holiday vacation and were able to spend lots of time with family and friends. We are excited to have the kids back and jump right back in to our learning.

We will not be rescheduling our "Make & Take" or holiday parties. Don't worry! You still have lots of opportunities to come to school. We look forward to seeing families for our Valentines Day parties in February and our Booknic in March. Additionally, plan on being a part of Field Day on June 2nd. We love having you be a part of these special days.

We want to welcome Emma Stempky! Emma will be joining the “specials team” when we return next week! She will be replacing our Spanish teacher, Mrs. Shah. Emma is coming to us after completing her student teaching experience at Shepherd Elementary in 3rd grade. Additionally, she spent four weeks at the middle school teaching 6th grade math. Emma is excited to be a part of Shepherd Public Schools.

Emma's class will be focused on STEM using the “Generation Genius” program along with other STEM activities. Generation Genius is a K-8 teaching resource that brings school science standards to life through fun and educational videos paired with lesson plans, activities, quizzes, reading material and more.

We also want to welcome two student teachers, Grace Morin who will be in Mrs. Horanoff's classroom and Ellery Templeton who will be in Mrs. Walters and Mr. Pudell's classrooms. Both of these student teachers come from Central Michigan University. We are excited to have them join our staff for this semester.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions/comments/concerns. I am here to serve you! I look foward to seeing you all soon.

Take care,

Laurie Richards

This year, the whole district received training in "Capturing Kids Hearts." As part of the program, we are required to survey our staff, students, and families about how we are doing. The survey is short (14 questions) but it will really help us! Can you take 5 minutes and complete this for us? Click the BEAR above to complete the survey. Thank you soooo much!

• Here's a post from National Geographic that explains what a season is, and describes seasons in different parts of the world.
• Here's a really cool list of science experiments for winter. No cold and snow where you are? No worries. A freezer will suffice :)

• 1/6 School Resumes
• 1/8 WPC Meeting 5:30 (child care provided)
• 1/21 Board of Education Meeting - Media Center SHS
• 2/5 WPC Meeting 5:30 (child care provided)
• 2/6 No School for Students
• 2/6 Parent Teacher Conferences (by request of teacher and/or family)

Thank you for sharing your child with our family here at Winn. Our motto at Winn is "Everything a Kid Needs." We focus on both academic excellence and creating good humans! I am here to serve you. If you have questions/concerns or need help in any way, please feel free to reach out to me.

Email: lrichards@shepherdschools.net
Location: 380 West Blanchard Road, Shepherd, MI, USA
Phone: (989) 866-2250
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/winnelementary