3-15-26 PAW'S PRESS

Spring Conferences are by teacher and/or parent request. Notes were send home indicating if your child's teacher was requesting a conference. Feel free to reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions about conferences. See below for important information.

Dear Cherokee Families,

It is hard to believe that we already completed our 2nd trimester on March 13th! We are so proud of all that the children have accomplished so far this school year! Report cards will be available in the Parent Portal on March 18th. See below for details.

The final trimester of the school year is so busy but so much fun too! Thank you for your continued partnership in your child's education!

Important Dates

March 16th - Scholastic Book Fair begins (see below)

March 18th - Report cards will be available in the Parent Portal (log-in directions are below)

March 18th & 19th - Elementary School Parent Teacher Conferences 5:30 pm - 8:00pm (see above)

March 20th - Half Day - Dismissal at 11:44 AM

March 22nd - PTO Mom and Son Day of Fun (see below)

March 23rd - Spring Picture Day (see below)

March 25th - PTO Meeting - Media Center - 6:15 PM

March 27th - Spring Break begins after dismissal - Half Day Dismissal at 11:44 AM

March 30th - April 3rd Spring Break

April 6th - Classes Resume

As in the past, the Paw's Press newsletters will include key information and typically will be sent at the end of each week. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help make the school year a success for you and your child! See you soon!

Sincerely,

Heather Batko

Cherokee Principal

hbatko@cvs.k12.mi.us

Ewallet Directions:

• Click the link below or the Ewallet Picture
• Scroll down to the pink section that says "Book Fair eWallet: The easy way to pay.
• Click the Red "Get Started" button
• Sign in if you have a Scholastic account or click register to create one.
• Click the red "Create an eWallet" button to the right of the section that says "Create and eWallet for:"
• Click the button next to "I'm a parent creating an eWallet for a student"
• Enter your students information (Note: Recipient is your child's name)
• Click "Create eWallet"
• You can either fund your eWallet with a credit card or a Scholastic gift card. This is also where it should give you the option to transfer money left over from previous fairs to this new eWallet. To use any left over funds you must transfer them otherwise they will not show up.

*Please note: If you have money left over from last year you will need to transfer it back to the eWallet which should be an option while you are setting it up. See instructions above*

https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/cherokeeelementaryschool15

Click here for Parent Portal.

• Even though lunch is free for all students, we still need parents to complete the digital online ordering form so that we have an accurate count and enough food for all students.
• Click here to order school lunch for March.
• Click here for a printable version of the March lunch menu.
• Ordering deadlines: Please note that we have received communication from food services that families need to order lunch by 9:30 AM the school day prior. For example, when ordering lunch for pizza on Monday, please order by 9:30 AM on Friday. This helps with the accuracy of our lunch count. We of course always order extra but this helps with accuracy.
  
• There is a charge of $1.50 for ordering doubles.
• Click here for the Food Services website.

Good luck to all of our amazing readers for all of their hard work! Good luck as they compete against schools across the county on March 15th!

Our Cherokee Science Olympiad Team brought home a trophy and lots of medals from the district competition on March 7th! We are so proud of their dedication and enthusiasm! Thank you Mrs. Beliveau for serving as our Head Coach! Thank you to our many parent event coaches who spent countless hours helping the team practice! We had a full cheering section of Cherokee families supporting these amazing kids! Way to go Wildcats! We know you will do great at the Macomb County competition in May too!

Congratulations to the Cherokee LEGO Robotics team! They did a great job at the district competition on March 6th at Chippewa Valley High School. We are so proud of their hard work and excellent sportsmanship! They had lots of fun too! Way to go Wildcats!

We recognized many amazing leaders at our assemblies on March 6th. Way to go kids!

Our 4th grade students did a wonderful job with their concert on March 10th. Our new music teacher, Mr. Gracin, was so excited to lead his first concert at Cherokee during his first year of teaching. Thank you to our amazing families who came out to support! An additional thanks to our 4th grade teachers and specials team.

A key component of our new CKLA reading program is building background knowledge. Our Kindergarten students learned about the history of monarchs. They ended this unit with a Royal Tea Party!

Click here to register.

March is reading Month! Click the picture above or the link below to go to the Reading Month Smore to find out more!

https://app.smore.com/n/1bh2g

Click here to order.

Click here for the Cherokee PTO Newsletter for March 2026.

Each middle school in Chippewa Valley will host a 6th grade parent orientation on Thursday, April 9th. Cherokee students are assigned to Algonquin, Seneca or Wyandot based on their address. Please save the date below.

Dear Incoming Sixth Grade Parents,

We would like to welcome your child to Seneca Middle School. To ensure a comfortable transition from elementary to middle school, we are offering the orientation programs described below.

Incoming students will be visiting Seneca on Tuesday, April 7 or Wednesday, April 8. During the orientation, students will attend a short presentation where they will meet some of our staff and have the opportunity to ask questions. They will also be given a tour by some of our sixth grade students and view a performance by the Seneca band and choir.

An orientation for parents only will be on Thursday, April 9, at 6:30 p.m. in the Seneca cafeteria. We will be discussing important information to help your child be successful in middle school. Parents will also be able to meet some staff and tour the building. We encourage all parents of incoming 6th graders to attend this evening. Please park in our North Lot, off Cougar Drive, and enter through Door 6 or 7 (our Athletic Entrance). (Flyer attached to this email.)

We look forward to welcoming our new 6th grade class for the 2026-2027 school year and to meeting you on April 9th. School will begin on Tuesday, September 8, 2026. If you have any questions, please call Ms. Lublin, next year’s 6th Grade Counselor, at 586-723-3940 or email at jlublin@cvs.k12.mi.us.

Looking forward to beginning this new chapter together!

Jodi Pirog

Principal

Seneca Middle School

(586) 723-3900

jpirog@cvs.k12.mi.us

Registration for students who will be entering Kindergarten in the fall of 2026 began on Monday, January 26th. Registration is done through central office.

NOTE: This is NOT for students who are currently enrolled in Kindergarten at Cherokee this school year. This is for the 2026-2027 school year.

Start here by entering your preliminary information: https://ps.cvs.misd.net/public/formbuilder/form.html?formid=5737884

We are already planning for NEXT school year. If you have a Kindergarten student for the 2026-2027 school year, save the date for our Kindergarten Kick-Off on May 12th.

This is NOT for current Kindergarten students.

Click here to apply.

• Throughout the school year we are required to complete 5 fire drills, 3 lockdown drills and 2 tornado drills.
• We completed 3 fire drills in September. The other two will be in the spring.
• Both tornado drills have been completed.
• All lockdown drills have been completed.

• We have many students at Cherokee with severe peanut/tree nut allergies. Therefore peanut/tree nut products and products contaminated in a facility that processes peanuts/tree nuts may not be consumed in classrooms.
• A designated area/table in the cafeteria will be available for students with peanut/tree nut allergies. Peanut/tree nut products may not be consumed in this designated area/table. The area/table will be labeled as a peanut/tree nut alert zone.
• Your child's teacher will review guidelines and answer any specific questions.
• Click here for the Snack Safely Guide. This guide has recommendations for foods that do not have peanuts, tree nuts and are not processed in facility with these items. This guide updates regularly so it is best to check the link below rather than printing.

Click here for the district calendar.

• Several years ago we created the Paw's Pals Lunch Volunteer Program at Cherokee. The name for the program was inspired by our school mascot, Paws the Wildcat.
• This program is very similar to the Watch D.O.G.S program that was in place at Cherokee prior to the pandemic. It is not limited to male volunteers as the Watch D.O.G.S program was.
• The purpose of the program is to help children have a sense of belonging and build positive relationships. Kids love extra attention at lunch! They love to talk about sports, toys and what they like to do for fun! Having extra adults at school shows children that education is important and they are important!
• Please understand that these volunteers are not in place of lunch monitors.
• Our lunch monitors will be responsible for supervising the students, cleaning, etc.
• Paw's Pals volunteers will have time to chat with their own child (children) and other Cherokee students during lunch periods.
• Just like any other school volunteer, our Paw's Pals volunteers will respect the privacy of our students. Volunteers are asked to stay in the designated area (cafeteria) and not visit other areas of the building during this time.
  
• In order to participate in the program there are 3 steps to complete.
• Step One: Volunteers need to have a background check on file for the 2025-2026 school year. If you have not completed the background check for the 2025-2026 school year, please email Mrs. Krellwitz at ykrellwitz@cvs.k12.mi.us If you are not sure if you have a background check on file, please email Mrs. Krellwitz. Background checks take at least three weeks to process.

• Step Two: Click here to complete the Paw's Pal's Application.
• Step Three: Click here to sign up for a date in March. Even if you can't stay the whole time, we would love to have you!

We choose to Inspire, Believe, Achieve & LEAD!

Website: https://www.chippewavalleyschools.org/schools/elementary-schools/cherokee/
Location: 42900 Rivergate Drive, Clinton Township, MI, USA
Phone: 586-723-4800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CherokeeWildcats

If your child is going to be absent, please call our attendance line at 586-723-4899.

https://www.facebook.com/CherokeeWildcats

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CherokeePTO/