Dear Lakeside Elementary Families,

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Scholastic Book Fair last week! There was a tremendous turnout and a buzz throughout the building with a love for reading. Thank you to the PTO and parent volunteers for all of the organization and efforts to make it a huge success. Thank you to Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Lecours, Mr. Mitton, and Miss Mel for joining me at Bedtime Stories last Tuesday for read alouds and reader’s theatre. What a fun week!
 

                  
                        

First Lego League
Congratulations to our FIRST LEGO League Explore and Challenge teams for their hard work and efforts in preparing for last week’s events! Our FLL Explore teams, with students in grades K-2, showcased their efforts last Thursday evening at EGR Middle School. They had a wonderful turnout and did a marvelous job explaining their projects to attendees. On Saturday, our FLL Challenge teams, with students in grades 3-5, competed at the regional level at That One Robo Battle of the Minds. Lakeside Elementary Lego Lions placed first in robot design and fifth overall. Wealthy Elementary Team Power Up placed second in the innovation project category and third overall. They will move on to compete at the State level this Saturday at Mason High School. Congratulations to all our FLL teams!

                                 

        

Harry Potter Yule Ball is Back!
On Saturday, February 25 from 6-9 p.m. East Grand Rapids will be hosting a Yule Ball for all Harry Potter enthusiasts and for anyone who would like to join in on the fun. We are looking for a Lakeside Elementary/parent/guardian who may be interested in being the lead volunteer for our building.  This lead volunteer would be on a committee with the other building's lead volunteers. Please reach out to me at sthelen@egrps.org to learn more. 
 

Holiday Treats for the Teachers
The PTO is hosting a holiday lunch for our wonderful Lakeside teachers and staff on Tuesday December 13. The main food will be catered by the PTO, but we would love to add some homemade touches with sweet holiday treats donated by our families! If your family would like to provide an item, please sign up here. We plan to have enough for the teachers to enjoy a treat at lunch and take some home to enjoy with their families. Thank you and happy holidays!

Winter Showcase
This year Lakeside Elementary will host a Winter Showcase on Friday, December 9 at 9:15 a.m. in the gymnasium. This event is a musical performance for students, teachers, and families, and will include a slideshow of photos demonstrating work in Specials courses (Art, Music, Physical Education, and Spanish) throughout the first semester. To learn more about this event, please click here for a letter from Mrs. Kline and Ms. Pugia. 

Students are encouraged to dress in their “wintry best” for the performance. Guests are invited to attend and will be allowed entry no earlier than 9:00 a.m. All guests must enter through the main office, sign in, and wear a visitor sticker. Seating for guests will be clearly marked and mainly available in the bleachers with some seating on the main floor to the sides of the student and teacher seating area. The performance is anticipated to last approximately 45-60 minutes with each grade level singing one song. We hope to see you on Friday!

Calendar
Please click here for upcoming events at Lakeside Elementary. Please mark your calendars for the following events:

• December 5:  Board of Education Meeting at 6 p.m. at EGR Middle School Learning Commons

• December 9:  Winter Specials Showcase- Please see this letter from Mrs. Kline and Ms. Pugia.

Warm Regards,

Stephanie Thelen
Lakeside Elementary Principal
https://twitter.com/ThelenPrincipal

Santa Claus Girls Flyer
Santa Claus Girls (SCG) is a non-profit organization that provides both toys and clothing items to children ages 12 and under in time for the holidays. Their mission is to ensure that children ages 12 and under do not go without gifts during this time of celebration. Presents are gift-wrapped and delivered to the children’s residence on Saturday, December 10 by volunteer drivers to be received by a parent or caregiver. Online registration is currently available at http://www.santaclausgirls.org  Several languages can be selected on the website for ease of registration. Ongoing updates are posted to the Santa Claus Girls Facebook page. If you have any questions regarding the program or gift distribution, please visit santaclausgirls.org. More details are available on their flyer linked here.        

Thank you
Thank you so much to all of our parent volunteers for your help last week with the Scholastic Book Fair.  We could not have made it happen without you all. And thank you parents and caregivers for supporting our book fair. Biggest thanks goes out to Courtney Schneider for all of her hard work and dedication to putting the book fair together! 

Pioneer Partners
Every Monday and Friday from Nov. 28 through March 10, five high school students will come to Lakeside to play games, read, and interact with our Lakeside students. The event will take place in the Learning Commons at lunch/recess time from 10:50 to 11:55 a.m. (Kids can choose to go to the Learning Commons instead of recess.) To help ensure success, Lakeside would like 2-3 parent volunteers to attend each session to help supervise and help kids navigate from lunch to Learning Commons or vice versa. If you're interested in volunteering, please sign up here. 

Holiday Parties 
Holiday parties are coming up! Look for emails from your room parents regarding Holiday Parties for Friday, December 16th! 

Lakeside will once again be a sponsor with Cannonsburg Ski Resort. Below is the punch card information for the upcoming season with Thursday remaining the weekly date. With this link, you are able to purchase your orders directly from the Cannonsburg Store.  Our Ski Club organizer, Jen Andrzejewski will be traveling to Cannonsburg to pick up passes intended for holiday gifts. Families will be contacted prior to our holiday break to pick up their passes from the Lakeside office.  When placing your order, please add Lakeside as the sponsor and note that Thursdays will be the "Lakeside" day of the week as this ensures us a spot/table in the lodge.

Orders placed going forward will not be delivered to Lakeside. If your order is needed prior to the holiday break, you will need to make arrangements with Cannonsburg to pick them up! Orders may be placed throughout the season.

https://cannonsburg.com/product-category/passes/