Apollo Elementary School

Dear Apollo families, 

“This is the final e-news of the year!” I say this at the end of each calendar year and each time I still can’t wrap my head around how fast time flies by!

We started the school day today with an all school holiday sing-a-long that included songs from around the world and were representative of multiple cultures. It was so wonderful to see the students singing all of the songs they have practiced in Music class over the past few weeks as well as to hear the Apollo choir masterfully share their songs with the school too!

We have accomplished and grown a lot in the past few months and looking back on the accomplishments of 2018, Apollo is plentiful!

• The Apollo First Lego League Teams, in their second year, successfully participated in local competition this month, with other regional elementary schools, and continued to bring recognition to Apollo. I’d like to thank Drew Hammond and Christi Schumann for advising our robotics teams this year, as well as thank all the students and parent volunteers who were up early each Wednesday morning since September working very hard to learn and execute difficult robotic design and tasks!
• For Apollo’s annual Toy Drive, students grades K-5 donated over 400 gifts for others in need! Thank you students and families for your generous spirit! Thank you to the ISD communications dept. for providing the Apollo community with a terrific video of the students gathering gifts for the Pickering Barn donation! If you have not had a chance to watch the video it is on the Apollo website.
• Apollo students are well on their way to meeting their goal of earning 15,000 Rocket Slip since the start of school. The students are continuing their practices of being Respectful, Responsible, and Safe, and it shows each and every day!
• Apollo’s Green Team was again recognized in 2018 as helping to educate students on ways to reduce waste, recycle, and conserve energy, Apollo is a King Co. Green School! Thank Mrs. Wolfe for advising this group!
• This year’s Apollo Choir currently has more than 100 students participating in the club and they sang beautifully at the Issaquah Highlands Tree Lighting last month! This group of students practices each Friday morning and they sound wonderful! Thank you to Ms. Brinkerhoff and Mrs. Christenson for advising this talented group of Apollo students!
• Apollo’s PTA, with community and family contributions, completed a very successful fall fundraiser and book fair! Thank you to all who continue to support Apollo!
• Issaquah Schools Foundation grants have begun to be approved and our very own Mrs. Karen Bankson received funding for 1^st grade Blue Bots just a few days ago!
• A dedicated group of Apollo 4^th& 5^th grade students is taking on the Rocket Reading Challenge by reading at least eight of the 2019 Sasquatch Nominee books. To date, Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan’s Save Me a Seat is the novel most read. After students complete a nominated book, they must write a review and turn in to the librarian. The contest ends in April 2019. Good Luck Critics! 
• Forty -six Apollo students were finalists or honorable mentions in the PTA Reflections Contest for their artwork interpretations of “Hero’s”! Good luck to our Apollo finalists! The Reflections Art Program is a nationwide cultural arts competition.
• This school year we have had quite a few new staff members join Apollo and we are so lucky to have these wonderful teachers join this terrific group of educators!

Last year I shared that I would be working with our teachers specialists to strategize how to better provide parents with information that clearly defines what and how we are practicing in our academic learning as well as what we are assessing and how parents can practice and/or check for learning as we build our systematic learning partnerships. As I mentioned to the teachers, “Not all of our parents were educated in the US system and there are times when they are not aware of the expectations of the assignments given or how an assignment was graded and our goal should be to provide more explanation.” I’m proud of the teachers and specialists for filling their websites with more information about how parents can help their students become better readers, writers, and thinkers. The Apollo staff is very dedicated to building a deeper partnership between home and school and glad to share we are moving in a great direction!

As we close out 2018, I want to thank each person associated with Apollo for your continued support and contribution to our students’ experiences! I’m not alone when I say I happen to think Apollo is a great school going great places as we Prepare Our Students to Launch each and every day!

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season with safe travels and warm homecomings, and I look very forward to sharing 2019 with our Apollo students and families!

Happy Holidays!

Jane