Welcome Back Apple Grove Families!

Greetings Apple Grove Families,

Welcome to a new school year! I extend a warm welcome to our new and returning families. I am honored to serve as your proud principal for the third year!

Last year we centered our work around Taking Flight into Excellence! And oh boy did we soar to greatness. A few of our highlights include:

• Creating and Implementing a new vision statement "Greatness at the Grove: Rooted in Community, Diversity and Academic Excellence
• Reducing our rate of out of school suspension
• improving Benchmark Scores in several of our primary grades
• providing additional enrichment programs to add to the list of work we began in 21-22(Robotics Club, Science Bowl, MCAP Tutoring)
• Mobilizing Community Resources (Monthly Community Food Bank Distributions, Comfort Closet, Providing Warm Coats to over 100 students)
• Developing partnerships with organizations to support our vision

As we matriculate into the 2023-2024 School Year our work is not done, we will design a "Game Plan" that leads us towards continued Greatness at the Grove!

Our 2023-2024 School Theme to help guide us with this work is: The Game is On: The Marathon Continues!

Our priorities for the 2023-24 school year are as follows:

• School Culture
• Providing additional support to our Multi-language Learners and Special Education Students
• Implementing small group instruction in all content areas

With your continued support we are confident we will have major wins this school year!

In the coming weeks we will have several opportunities for students and families to transition back into the year by meeting their teachers, gaining resources and so much more!

Please save the date for Friday, August 25, 2023. On this day we will have several events for families to attend:

The morning of August 25th (8:00 AM) we will celebrate Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students with the Tears or Cheers Breakfast followed by orientation. Pre-K and Kindergarten will bring their school supply on this day please click to RSVP below. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyFR5PgEjL2lJOVsuGSN17MW0ZSGBBtyeGoVJefc gKVt4qZA/viewform?usp=sf_link

In the afternoon on Friday, August 25th grades 1-5 will have a Sneak and Peek of their classroom. During your brief visit you will get to drop off your school supplies and meet your teachers. Please note the first day parents will not be permitted to enter the classrooms. We are providing this opportunity prior to the start of school. Our first day is Monday, August 28, 2023. Students are expected to arrive at 8:30a.m.

We will conclude our day with the Back to School Bash on Friday, August 25, 2023 from

1:30-3:00PM! There will be vendors, information on our enrichment programs for after school, food and games for students to participate in. We will also have a barber available for free haircuts.If you are interested in getting a haircut please click the link to sign-up https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAhuI15u9GzIuaYYf21cys31BMnazYHWajAkreAF0G RU45RQ/viewform?usp=sf_link.

Lastly, do not forget we have a new uniform this school year. You can find the specifics of our new uniforms on our website and Class Dojo.

Sending lots of hugs to you all! I cannot wait to see you.

Love,

Dr. Shaneena McDonnaugh Holland
Principal