The Box Factory Website

National Teacher Appreciation Week is May 5-9, 2025. The Michigan Department of Education’s (MDE) Office of Educator Excellence wishes to celebrate teachers across Michigan for the entire month of May.

MDE invites parents to submit 15-30 second videos of their students recognizing and thanking a specific teacher for their impact. Cell phones easily capture the videos. Please follow the directions on the flyer. Videos and parental consent must be submitted via the Teacher Appreciation Video Project Google Form. Videos are currently being accepted until Friday, April 16, 2025.

Submitted videos may be posted on the Teacher Appreciation Month webpage and MDE’s YouTube channel. The Office of Educator Excellence’s Facebook (@MIeducator) and X (formerly Twitter) social media pages will be promoting the videos throughout the month of May. 

If your child has great things to say about a teacher, use the instructions found on MDE’s website to submit a video today! 

If you submit a video to MDE, please share it with Amber Todd, our Communications Director, at atodd@dowagiacschools.org. This will enable her to feature these videos on our website and Facebook pages.

From the Desk of the Principal

March is READING Month!! Last Friday, we sent home week #1 reading log. Please make sure to help your students keep track of their reading minutes for the rest of the month. We will have a drawing every Friday for a winner of a free book, and at the end of the month we have a drawing for a new bike! We will be doing dress up days at the end of each week during Reading Month. They are:

Friday, March 7 - Dress in your favorite team colors

Friday, March 14 - Wear your favorite team jersey

Friday, March 21 - Favorite team hat day

Thursday, March 27 - Chieftain Day - wear orange and black

Penny War: Our Student Council will be doing their annual Penny War starting Wednesday, March 5th. We will soon be wrapping up the penny war and encourage you to send your pennies in with your students. The Student Council has selected 2 local organizations to split the proceeds. Last year our students raised $1,000.00 to donate to a local animal rescue shelter.

END OF DAY CALLS and PICK UPS: You must call the office by 3:00 p.m. to make arrangements for your student to go home a different way. This is a policy that we have had in place and unfortunately have to enforce. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

Bus Rider Families: Please ensure you arrive at the bus stop for pickup and are prepared to board the bus 5 to 10 minutes early each day. This will help the drivers maintain their schedule and adhere to the designated routes. Thank you!

Outside Lunches: The district does not allow outside lunches to be delivered or brought into school for the students.

Schedule of Events

March 28 - No School

March 31-April 4 - Spring Break

April 7 - School Resumes

April 18 - 1/2 Day K-12 Good Friday

April 21 - Regular Board Mtg.

April 25 - Math-A-Rama

Building Highlights

The Pat Ham PTO made arrangements for an all school assembly on Monday, March 10th. The Magic Of Science was presented by The Mobile Ed Productions Company. All of our students had an opportunity learn about things like chemical reactions, optical illusions, tricks to solving math problems and chemistry experiments students that they can recreate at home. Some of our students even got to help with experiments! We are lucky to have such a great event brought to our school and look forward to seeing what other things the PTO has for us.

Last fall, we lost our beloved art teacher, Ms. White. The PTO created an art competition for our students with the winning design being made into a shirt. The shirt was then sold to the public and the proceeds were used to buy an art installation that would be on display at Pat Ham. Lillian Zuhl, a 3rd grader, created the winning design.

Pictured L-R are: PTO President Sara Lawrence, Board Member Randi Taggart, Principal Nicole Conlin, Lillian Zuhl, PTO Treasurer Tiffany Rohdy and PTO member Stephanie Sparks. The art piece is a great memorial to Ms. White and we appreciate all those who contributed.

Spring Music Program

The students delivered wonderful performances. Thank you Mrs. Barraclough for organizing this exceptional evening and to the staff members who helped make this event possible. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to parents, guardians, and community members for your unwavering support of our students.