The Cherry Street Connection

Kalkaska Men's Basketball Team Shop Looking for cool gear to wear in support of the Kalkaska Men's Basketball Team? Look no further. Use this link to view the flyer for the online shop. Orders will go through, provided there are at least 15 orders total. Please support your local team and check out this awesome gear! https://drive.google.com/a/kpschools.com/file/d/0Bw3aCiSuVKWWdnppTXJxSjFMMEJGQWZkc1dsQXZ0bklxakI4/view?usp=sharing

Choir Concert Information  (December 16, 2015) Students who are in the after school choir program: There will be a dress rehearsal tonight at the high school from 3:30-4:00. Students will need to arrive at the high school by 6:15 for the concert.  The concert will start at 6:30.

Free Throw Contest December 12, there will be a free throw contest at the High School. Details are below:

Important Calendar Change! The following is a change to the district calendar. Please note that this change affects: This Friday, December 4th The start of winter break  No school on Dec 21st and 22nd Previously, break started with no school on December 23rd The final days of school Please call the office (258-9146) if you have any questions. Thank you. 

SANTA'S SECRET SHOP: ARRIVING SOON! It is that time of year again, and Santa's Secret Shop will be arriving at Cherry Street after the Thanksgiving Break. Students will have time to cruise the shop and look for small gifts for loved ones. In order to make this work to best of its ability, Cherry Street is asking for volunteers to help run the shop. If you are able to help out, please give Sue a call in the office. You can reach her at: 231-258-9146. Thank you for your help, we greatly appreciate it.

Blazer Apparel! If you are looking for Blazer apparel for the family, look no further! Here is a wide selection of Blazer gear for you to browse through. This would make a great Christmas present for the kids, parents, or grandparents. Join in the fun, and check out this great gear! (Hover your cursor over the document, and click on the "pop-out" icon in the upper right-hand corner of the document. Once it loads, you should see an option to print the order form. If you have any troubles, stop by Cherry Street, and we will have some extra copies in the office.)

Parent/Teacher Conferences Parent/Teacher Conferences are tomorrow! Students have school from 7:50-11:10 at CSI. Conferences will run from 12:00-4 & 5:00-8:00.  If you haven't signed up with your child's teacher, please let the office know. Thank you, and we hope to see you there.

Snowplow Safety Thank you to Mrs. Hilmert and Mr. Larabee for coming to Cherry Street Intermediate to give a presentation on snowplow safety. Through the presentation, the students were taught how be careful when the plows are clearing the roads. A few things that were covered: Wear bright colors when playing outside, so the drivers will see you playing.  Don't play or build forts near areas that will be plowed. Drivers have a hard time seeing you on the side of the road, make sure you are clear of their path and out of the way.  Objects (like chunks of ice) can be thrown by the plow, causing damage. Make sure you are clear of the snow being thrown.  Students were allowed to tour an actual plow truck! They were able to climb up into the cab and blow the horn (sorry neighbors). As you can see in the pictures, the students had a great time. Thanks again, Kalkaska County Road Commission!

The Week Ahead Well, this is shaping up to be a very busy week. The Regional Staff Development Day (RSDD) is Monday, so the students will have the day off. What will the staff be doing without kids? Working hard: We have Ruby Payne coming to speak with the staff (and the staff of the Mancelona schools) on how poverty affects students and families.  There will be a technology break-out session for staff to share with other staff members on how to best incorporate technology into their lessons.  Finally, it will be building-specific professional development.  Tuesday, we have the County Road Commission coming in to do a brief presentation during our Monday Morning Meeting. Following the presentation, the students will have the chance to tour one of the plow trucks.  Thursday and Friday are half days. CSI dismisses at 11:10 on half days.  Thursday will have Parent/Teacher Conferences in the afternoon and through the evening.  If you still need to sign up for a time, p

M.M.M. Monday Morning Meetings. These meetings are used to help pull the students together, so we can have a common understanding of what needs to be accomplished to be successful. Every meeting begins with the pledge: The rest of the time is used for announcements, praise, and addressing concerns. Today was special, as we had the student council present to the students. What was covered?  Students were reminded to dress warmer for outdoor recess, as cooler weather is on the way. Students were commended for their behavior at the Harlem Ambassadors assembly. They received praise from multiple sources, commending their behavior! Excellent job, kids! We announced the upcoming bake sale The Pink Out is scheduled for this Wednesday -- Wear pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

Spirit Week is Here! It is that time of the year that we celebrate our school spirit. Join in the fun by dressing up for spirit week. Here is a list of the theme for each day next week. Enjoy!                                                                                                                                                             Spirit Week 9/21-9/25 Monday: Superhero/Book Character Day Dress like your favorite superhero or book character. Tuesday: Patriotic Day Observing the good old, Red, White and Blue Wednesday: Class Color Day ( Students may dress up for pictures, then put their color shirts on if needed.) Homant: White Raymond: Neon/bright McCarty: Blue Jessica Day: Pink Krause: Green Bowerman: Red Schumann:Yellow Crambell: Brown Liverance: Gray/Black Thursday: College/Professional Sports Day (detroit tiger, CMU, MSU, U of M, etc…) Friday: Blue and White

Welcome to a New School Year! The first week of school has been completed, and the year is off and running! We are very excited to work with this year's group of students. To help with the flow of the day, we wanted to share some information with the parents and community. Important Times:  First bell rings at 7:45 a.m.  The final (tardy) bell rings at 7:50 a.m. -- students need to be in their class at this time.   The dismissal bell rings at 2:50 p.m. (11:10 on half-days). A.M. Drop Off: If you are dropping your child off in the morning, please drop him/her off at the front of the building (on Cherry St.). Students who are dropped off and would like breakfast can enter the cafeteria via the playground. If students need to cross the road, please use the crosswalk/crossing guard. Parents, please do not drop students off on the backside of the school (at Central Office) as this is where the buses will unload in the morning. P.M. Pick Up : If you are picking up you

Will the Cows Perform This Year? Drop on by and find out! Fun for the whole family. A great time to visit with friends and watch cows...in a field...doing their business. 

2015 Blazer Bash Thursday, September 3 4:00-7:00 pm Location: Kalkaska Middle School Come on out to the annual Blazer Bash on September 3rd, and enjoy the following: Food  Games Face Painting Prizes Drive a Ford and earn money for your school! Open houses for the following buildings will be at the times listed below: High School Freshman BBQ: 11:00-1:00 Middle School: 1:00-4:00 Rapid City Elementary: 4:30-5:30 Birch Street Elementary: 5:00-5:45 Cherry Street Intermediate: 5:45-6:15

Summer Camp Information Summer is almost here. Included below are several different camps that are available to KPS students. If you want to print any of these documents, click on the Pop-Out icon in the upper right hand corner of the document window. (It is the square with the arrow.) After that, you should be able to print the documents.  Basketball and Golf Camps: You may have to scroll down to view all three camps.  Soccer Camp:

Just for information: Due to an accident south of town, CSI does not have power. Everyone is fine, teachers are continuing to teach -- just like the old days when there was not electricity. 😉 Due to our phones being down as well, please leave any messages with Birch Street and they can relay the message to us. We will let you know when power is restored. School will get out at the normal time: 2:50. Thank you. 

5th Grade Grand Rapids Trip 5th grade students going on the Grand Rapids trip:  Please be at the school around 7:15 a.m. The bus is planning on leaving around 7:45 . If you ride a bus into school, this will give you enough time to get to school and board the bus for the trip.  Follow the trip on Twitter: This seemed to work well with the 4th grade on their trip, so we are going to try it with the 5th grade. If you want to follow the trip on Twitter , use the hashtag: #grplanet .  If you are new to Twitter, a hashtag , such as #grplanet , is a way to catalog tweets (posts) about a similar topic. #grplanet is going to be used for the staff to post pictures from the trip to The Grand Rapids Museum and Planetarium. This will allow you to follow the trip from home.  In order to do this, from your Twitter account, search #grplanet. This will take you to all of the posts that have been linked to this hashtag.  When will they return: Unfortunately, all good things m

A Few Things to be Excited About: Ms. Krause Receives a Grant! Congrats to Ms. Krause, who wrote and received a grant for $2,500 for her classroom. The grant, from Farmers Insurance, was awarded to Ms. Krause based on her application which described her desire to utilize Chromebooks in her classroom. Eight Chromebooks were purchases as a part of the grant. Way to go! 4th Grade Trip to Greenfield Village & The Henry Ford Museum The 4th grade class is heading to Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Museum on Wednesday, May 20. It is an early departure, so set your alarms. Students are asked to be at the school at 5:45, so the bus may leave at 6:00. We talked briefly about the qualities that we expected to see from our students today while they are on this trip. Qualities like being: Inquirers Communicators Principled Open-minded Caring We also wanted them to: Be Appreciative Be Tolerant Have Integrity Have Respect These are all terms ( at

Our Heroes In case you missed it, our 4th graders had a stirring little number that gave tribute to the military personnel that serve our country. In case you missed it, here is a recording of the song with the slideshow that showcased our local family members who have served in the military. We thank you for your service!

5th Graders: This Announcement is for You!!! Don't forget that the Middle School orientation for 5th graders is Thursday, 5/14/15. The orientation will begin at 4:30 with pizza and beverages. At 5:00, the orientation will begin. Parents, please bring your 5th grader with you to this event. All of the mysteries of the middle school will be revealed. :-)

The Penny War is About to Begin! All students should be bringing home a pink slip explaining how the Penny War will operate. The money is for one of our students who is suffering from excessive medical bills. The rules are as follows: Penny War begins Monday, May 11 and ends Friday, May 15 Two bins will be used -- one for each grade. Pennies in your grade's bin are a positive All silver coins and dollar bills count as a negative If a 5th grader puts a dollar in the 4th grade's bin it counts as negative 100 cents for the 4th grade.  Which ever grade has the highest amount at the May 15 deadline wins! Let the fun begin!

A Fun Time Was Had By All! CSI Family Night  was a huge success! We would like to thank all who were able to attend. The staff had a great time interacting with students and parents. It is encouraging to see all of the positive energy at an event like this. A huge, "Thank you," goes out to Ms. Bridson for being the driving force behind the organization of this event. When everything comes together like this, and the community is having a great time, it really leaves you with a good feeling in your heart. Here are some pics from the night's activities:

CSI Family Night is Tonight! CSI family night is tonight. If you don't know what to expect, you can check out this video:

In Appreciation of the Teachers: This week is teacher appreciation week. The Student Council had an assembly to show the school's appreciation for the teaching staff. 

Monday is May 4. To have a little fun at CSI, we would like to have a "Star Wars Day. you know..."May the 4th be with you!" We are asking kids to wear Star Wars shirts, hats, clothing, etc...if you have it. If not, then be creative.  To keep things civilized, please do not bring blasters or lightsabers (we don't want anyone to lose a limb). 😉 see you Monday!

Attention 5th Grade Parents! If you are interested in chaperoning our field trip to the Grand Rapids Public Museum and Planetarium, please let your student's classroom teacher now ASAP!  We must have written interest by Friday, May 8th.   We will be randomly selecting parents from each classroom to attend this field trip with free admission.   Date of Field Trip: Thursday, May 28th. 

Basketball Camp for Girl Grades 4-12 May 9 and 10, there will be a basketball camp for girls in grades 4-12. If you are interested, please see the form below: Schuba Camp (You can download and print the form by clicking the download button.)

CSI Family Night is May 7! Please join us at Cherry Street Intermediate on May 7 for our Family Night. There will be games and fun for the whole family. Please see the poster for more details. We hope to see you there!

4th Grade Begins MSTEP This Week! This week, the 4th grade have begun taking the MSTEP. So far, things seem to be going well. As a reminder, if your child has his/her own headphones that they would like to use, they may use them for the testing. Please have the child talk to the teacher about storage options if you are nervous about leaving them in their bags.  Spring Concert is Near! The spring concert is getting closer and closer. The concert dates will be May 11 and 12.  May 11 is for grades K-2 May 12 is for grades 3-5 Shown below is a screenshot of the schedule for those dates:

5th Graders Going to the Middle School... There will be an orientation for all 5th graders going to the Kalkaska Middle School on May 14th. This is a great way for the students, and parents, to get to know the Middle School staff and programs that will be offered. Please see the flyer below. (Copies of this flyer and an informational note will be sent home today.)

Check Those Backpacks! Greetings Parents, It has been a very busy week. We appreciate all of the flexibility that the students have shown throughout this week's MSTEP testing. Next week, the 5th grade will be completing the Mathematics portion of the MSTEP.  Today we sent home a lot of information. In your child's backpack, you should have, but are not limited to, the following informational fliers: Read Box - Information on our new book lending program. 5th Grade Field Trip Information Information on the Spring Music Concert Information on the upcoming Technology Bond. If by some chance, you child has mysteriously misplaced any of these flyers, please let the office know and we will provide another copy. It is really nice outside, and I hope everyone can enjoy the weekend. Thank you for a great week! -Ryan Moore

Here are a couple of pictures from tonight's Lego Robotics session: Looks like Mr. Schumann may be stumped. 4th and 5th grade robots get ready to battle. Friendly Competition

Thoughts to Ponder The first day of MSTEP testing is completed, and we have learned a few things. Last week, 5th grade teachers sent home schedules of when teachers will be giving the MSTEP to their students. In order to meet the deadlines put forth by the State, we are going to adjust when the test is given (to 5th grade students) so students will have enough time to complete the assessment.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, both Mrs. Krause's and Mr. Schumann's classes will begin the morning with the MSTEP (using both computer labs at once). Also,  Mrs. Liverance will begin her classroom's Performance Task in the afternoon.  If you are wondering about what the MSTEP entails, this article:  http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/2015/04/11/mstep-common-core-testing-standards/25644955/ may help. 

This was a very busy week. We are preparing for the MSTEP testing by creating a second lab in the Art room with computers from around the building. A big thank you goes out to our I.T. Staff, the teachers for "lending" their student computers, and to Mr. Morley for "donating" his Art room to house the lab. When 5th grade arrives Monday, they will begin the MSTEP testing. If students would like to bring their own headphones to use for the testing, we welcome them to do so. We have plenty to cover everyone, but using your own may be more comfortable. Students may leave the headphones with the teachers when they are not testing if they do not want to leave them in their bags or lockers. Friday, our students were treated to our Thailand exchange student's presented about her homeland. This is an ongoing experience for the students to learn about the world through the eyes of our exchange students. The exchange students use slideshows to introduce the students to

Headphones, If You Have Them... MSTEP (the MEAP replacement) is completed through online testing. Along with this, a lot of the testing has an audio piece to it. Cherry Street has headphones for this, but if you would like your child to bring their own headphones...they may be a little more comfortable than ours. If you have any questions feel free to contact the office. 

MSTEP Starts Next Week! Next week, the MSTEP (the successor to the MEAP) will begin testing the 5th grade students. This is the first time that an online test has been used for a statewide assessment of this type. We are working hard to make this as seamless a transition as possible for the students. If you would like to see a preview of what the students will be working on, you can go to this link: https://wbte.drcedirect.com/MI/portals/mi/ott1 If you click on the Spring 2015 Preview , and follow the prompts, you can enter the preview test. The login information is provided for you on the login screen.  Once in, you will be given a practice test for the subject that you choose. Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you. Sincerely, Ryan Moore

(Rugg Pond)                                           Welcome to the Cherry Street Blog! Greetings Parents, Students, and Staff, We are going to try something new at Cherry Street Intermediate. Newsletters serve as a means to inform the community of the happenings of our school. Eventually, to save paper, we began to transition the use of paper newsletters to digital PDFs, while still printing a few of these newsletters for easy access in the office. This served us well for a short while. The digital documents would be posted on our district site for stakeholders to view. However, while doing this we have discovered a few things: Creating a building newsletter has become increasingly difficult to do during the day. (Not to mention that the program we are using is kind of a pain.) We begin to work on the newsletter, school life would inevitably interrupt our progress.  We are doing our community a disservice by not keeping them informed.  So, we are going