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September 25, 2020

Sep 25, 2020Newsletter

                                                    image: Middle School Homeroom Brain Break with Ms. Michelle!

Happy fall, iCademy! We are so thankful when we have the opportunity to meet for conferences with you and your incredibly amazing children! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for an excellent week of meetings. We count it a privilege to celebrate successes and growth alongside one another! Thank you for your partnership and for sharing your precious children with us. We know that some of you have scheduled your conference for next week – if that’s you, we look forward to talking soon! If you have not scheduled a conference with your child’s mentor, please do so as soon as possible. Once again, thank you!

The ‘iCademy Global Blog’ is a weekly communication of important reminders, announcements, and upcoming events that will be posted at the close of each week.

Need-to-Know Information:

  • LUNCH/BREAKFAST PICK UP OPPORTUNITY – PLEASE NOTE CHANGES: If you are in need of breakfast/lunches for your child(ren), you may sign up each week for FREE!

**IMPORTANT NEW UPDATES starting the week of 9/27:

– Going forward you will only need to register your family one time – no more filling out a form for each child.

– Children you register for this service do not need to be students at Inno or iCademy but can be siblings, ages 0-18, who also live at the home.

– We are excited about the large number of families participating! Thank you! Because of the volume of meals to prepare, we do need to change the pick up time so that we can accommodate all of the orders. So sorry! Please note the new pick up time will be 2:15-2:30pm on Monday afternoons.

1. Sign up no later than 1:30pm on SUNDAY each week. Please sign up for MONDAY, SEPT. 28 PICK-UP HERE.

2. Your child’s lunch account will not be charged. IMPORTANT NOTE: Please help us prevent waste by making sure you pick up your order if you sign up for it. If there are two times you do not pick up your order, we will be unable to continue to provide the service for you.

3. Arrive at the iCademy door in the east lot (see map below) between 2:15pm-2:30pm on MONDAY.

4. Stay in your car and your lunches will be delivered to you.

5. Repeat each week you wish.

6. Questions? Please contact Nancy at nmichaels@hollandchristian.org.

  • Feeding America: Mark your calendar and share these dates with friends and neighbors! Feeding America Mobile Food Distribution takes place at Zeeland Public Roosevelt School’s west parking lot (175 W. Roosevelt Ave., Zeeland, MI 49464). This is a drive-thru, no contact distribution. All are welcome. No income guidelines or proof of residency required.  Event runs 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm on October 13, November 17, December 8 and January 12, 2021.

  • NOT LOCAL? LOOKING FOR FREE MEALS FOR YOUR FAMILY?
    • Contact your local ISD: If you are out of range, but would like to take advantage of the week’s worth of free meals for your children, please connect with your local Intermediate School District for information on receiving free meals. As long as your local ISD has a virtual school program, you can qualify for free meals.
    • Meet UP and Eat UP: This is another incredible program (sponsored by the United Way) providing meals for families throughout Michigan. Please view the interactive map HERE for more information on food distribution near you.
  • K-12 Synergy Session on Thursday, October 8 @ Crane’s Apple Orchard in Fennville, MI from 10AM-noon! We had such a large turnout for apple-picking last week that we wanted to offer one more date for gathering together to pick apples with other iCademy families!  We ask that you please SIGN-UP HERE so we know who to plan for. Details for the event are located in the sign-up. Hope to see many of you there!

  • Count Days for 2020-2021: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7th & WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10th. It is very important that your child joins for Live Lessons and makes progress in their school work on those days. Checking in on this day is a state requirement and how we receive the state funding for your child. All students must log into EVERY class on that day for a minimum of 3 minutes each.  (For a little bit of added fun to the day, our elementary, middle school, and high school will have some drawings to win some pretty cool PRIZES!)

Reminders:

  • Outdoor Discovery Center Community Connection Class: This optional class kicked-off last weekTuesday for kindergarten through 5th grade students! We had another great week together and continue to be excited for this opportunity for students to learn at the ODC each Tuesday afternoon this semester!

  • Engagement & Attendance: In a traditional brick and mortar school when students show up for the day or for a class, the teacher takes attendance and that is submitted to the State of Michigan. At a virtual school like iCademy Global, three factors play a role in engagement and attendance.  Two-way communication, participation in Live Lessons/check-in with Mentors and adequate time and progress lets us know that you are engaged in your school work and are counted as being present at iCademy Global.  When a student is not meeting the expectations, they are flagged as being absent.

  • Truancy: In order to meet the state expectation of 1098 hours engaged in coursework each year, it is required that iCademy Global students spend an average of 420 minutes per day doing school work – Monday through Friday. In many cases, absences from school are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. However, chronic absenteeism can have a drastic impact on your child’s education. Children chronically absent in kindergarten and first grade are much less likely to learn to read by the end of third grade. By sixth grade, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign of drop-out. By ninth grade, good attendance can predict graduation even better than eighth grade test scores. 

    When we see that a student is not completing his/her coursework within the coursework and/or participating in required Live Lessons, not attending mentor meetings or lacking in two-way communication, parent/guardian will be contacted via an attendance letter indicating multiple absences and requesting a virtual meeting to create a personalized Learning Plan. Parents are a huge player in the success of the students as well.  Parents will be required to walk along side of the student for accountability purposes to ensure success.  If a student does not adhere to the personalized Learning Plan, the Learning Team will begin the Truancy process which may result as a formal file to Truancy through the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District.
  • Got Questions? We’ve got answers! Whenever you have questions, big or small, we are here to answer them! Your first point of contact for all questions is your child’s MENTOR. Can’t remember who that is? When your child is logged-in to their Student Portal (https://portal.icademyglobal.org) with their Microsoft 365 credentials, their Student Dashboard has their mentor’s contact information. The quickest way to reach your child’s mentor is for the student to connect with them in Zoom. From there, they can direct you to the right place if they personally can’t answer your questions.
  • iCademy Annual Asbestos Notification: Please click this link to view this annual notification.
  • Email List: Do you have another family member you would like added to our email list for school-wide communication? If so, please contact Ms. Leisa Lobbezoo at leisa.lobbezoo@icademyglobal.org to be added.

Upcoming Events:

  • Week of October 5 – K-5 Conference Calls 
  • Thursday, October 8 – K-12 Synergy Session – Crane’s Apple Orchard (# 2!)
  • Thursday, October 15 – K-5 Synergy Session: Outdoor Discovery Center Partnership – Nature Challenges/Play

Important iCademy Resources:

May you have a weekend full of family fun!

– iCademy Global Staff