Little Turtle Elementary School

Kindergarten Round Up Information | Children five-years-old by August 1, 2025, are invited to attend Whitley County Consolidated Schools’ Kindergarten Round Up on March 27, 2025. After completing online enrollment, call your local elementary to schedule your Round Up time. This is an opportunity for families to tour the school, meet the principal, teachers and staff, receive important information, test kindergarten readiness and more! Remember, complete enrollment first. wccsonline.com/o/wccs/page/enrollment-new-student

Today is National Maintenance Worker Appreciation Day! We're celebrating Chet Burch and Chad Ralston! They are the district maintenance technicians and help keep our buildings running day-to-day! “Chad and Chet are worth their weight in gold. They are given multiple projects, working together to create a beautiful space. One of the projects they have finished is the eSports room at ISMS. They both have their own sets of skills, and they learn from each other. These fellows have put their heart and soul into their work, which shows. As a corporation, we are very blessed to have these two guys on our team,” said Vicky Borders, WCCS Corporation Custodial Trainer. Read more about Chet and Chad and their work here: https://www.wccsonline.com/article/2069985 #EverydayEagles #WCCSRelationshipBuilders #WCCSExperience

Notice: Radio Road, between SR9 and SR205, is closed March 3-7 for NIPSCO to complete some work. Please make sure you plan alternative routes and give yourself extra time to safely get to and from school.

Notice: Radio Road will close March 3-7 for NIPSCO to complete some work. Please make sure you plan alternative routes and give yourself extra time to safely get to and from school.

Mark your calendars! WCCS is hosting a Robotics Tournament on Saturday, March 8! Cheer on our Coesse, Little Turtle and Northern Heights teams! Concessions are available and the first match begins at 9:45 a.m. with the National Anthem and welcome at 9:10 a.m. Hope to see you there!

As a reminder, there is no school on Friday, February 14 and on Monday, February 17. These are included as snow make-up days in our calendar. View our school calendar at wccsonline.com. There is a quick link at the top of the page. Enjoy your long weekend, eagles!

Happy National School Counseling Week! Our buildings have been celebrating this week to bring attention to the unique contribution of school counselors. Presented by the American School Counselor Association, National School Counseling Week is celebrated the first full week in February. WCCS extends appreciation to our school counselors and student support staff who help our students thrive in a variety of different ways. Consider how you can show appreciation for your school counselor this week. Maybe it's a quick note or a simple high-five, anything to let them know they're valued. #WCCSExperience #WCCSRelationshipBuilders #SchoolCounselingWeek

Remember, there is no school on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. Feb. 4 is a Professional Development Day for our staff. View our school year calendar at wccsonline.com/documents/school-year-calendars/332185

Last Friday, Whitley County Consolidated Schools' entire third-grade class experienced the excitement and wonder of the Shrine Circus in Fort Wayne—a cherished community tradition that has delighted local students for more than half a century. Thanks to the generous Shriners and Whitley County Shrine Club, every third-grade student received a free tickets to the spectacular event. This long-standing tradition allows children to enjoy a memorable day of entertainment at no cost to their families. "The Shriners are all about kids. We have hospitals for children but we care about all kids. We're grateful to be able to do it,” said Joe Simon, the Shrine Circus coordinator for Whitley County. Third-grade students are even escorted by police to the Fort Wayne Coliseum for the event. “This is so fun for our students. They love when the Shriners ride our bus over and spend the day with us. It’s great to get our students into the community too. Often students want their parents to go to another performance. It’s a trip they talk about for years; we still hear from former students about how fun the circus is,” said Jacqueline Snoddy, Coesse Third Grade Teacher. The circus outing provides more than just entertainment. It offers students a unique educational experience outside the classroom, exposing them to performances and exciting acts that spark imagination and create lasting memories. This incredible gesture by the local Shrine Club demonstrates their commitment to the community and children's experiences. For 72 years, they have been bringing joy to students throughout the region with circus tickets, embodying the organization's mission of supporting youth. The smiles, laughter, and wide-eyed wonder of our third graders serve as a testament to the Shriners' ongoing dedication to making childhood special. #ExperienceWCCS #ShrineCircus Thank you, WCCS Transportation for the photos!

WCCS Families, With winter break here, I want to remind you that the safety and well-being of our school community continue to be a top priority. The holidays are a time when some students may need additional support. During the break, the reporting feature for STOPit, our anonymous reporting system will be shut off. Students will continue to have access to the app for local resources and the Crisis Text Line services during the break. The reporting feature will come back into service on January 5. -Lyle Kuhmichel Director of District Safety and Student Services

The Tech-Know Turtles represented Little Turtle well at the competition in Plymouth on last Saturday! There were 48 teams at this competition. The team of Jackson Cordes, Carter Ehresman, Lainey Geiger, and Alex Harris tied for 3rd in the Teamwork Competition! The other teams also represented Little Turtle well! The team of Hudson Daily, Max Hart, Kambry Myers, and Layla Strass finished 10th in skills out of 48 teams. The team of Brooklyn Cooper, Oliver Daily, Madelyn Anderson, and Kaci Nicodemus placed 19th in skills! Great job to all teams

Columbia City High School students from Eagle Tech Academy invite all WCCS elementary families to join them for a FREE Book Fair with Princess Belle and Santa! Hosted on Dec. 12 from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Peabody Public Library elementary students and their families are invited to meet Belle, take photos with Santa, and refresh their home libraries with community -donated books. *Flyer created by students* #ExperienceWCCS

Welcome back, Eagles! As a reminder, there are no students tomorrow, December 3. This is a scheduled professional development day for all of our staff.

This morning, we hosted our inaugural Veterans Day Parade! All of our students and staff celebrated our community veterans with signs, songs and cheering of thanks! Thank you, Veterans! Happy Veterans Day!

Little Turtle Elementary will have our first annual Veterans Day Car Parade to honor Veterans and all of our Armed Forces. This Parade is to honor Veterans and all members of our Armed Forces. It will be a backward parade of sorts, all Veterans and any service men and women will drive their cars around our marked "parade route" No Veterans are getting out of their cars, just driving though, as we cheer you on and celebrate you! The parade is on Monday, November 11 at 9:00-10:00 am. We want students to try to invite someone in the military. That’s where we need your help! We need to know who those special people are. If you know or can invite someone in the United States Armed Forces, past or present, please ask them to come! We want to honor as many as we can. Please contact Brandi Duncan at Little Turtle Elementary with any questions. Brandi Duncan Music Teacher

All WCCS Skyward SMS 2.0 systems will be down beginning Friday, October 11th at 6:00 p.m. and continuing until 7:00 p.m. Saturday, October 12th, while our host is installing the latest updates. Please refrain from making eFunds payments during this time, as well, because they may not be properly recorded.

Columbia City High School Fine Arts presents Beauty and the Beast! Tickets are on sale now. Friday, November 8, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 9 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Purchase Tickets here: https://cur8.com/18800/project/125271?fbclid=IwY2xjawFfj71leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHRA8Vp6eWFon14dczXek4GJvNMEVxA-ScR4D_vAheyFuisQtZdTOPbx35Q_aem_1gLvr9Yb0eFEqAaL2tMnZw Tickets are $10 each and a show you won't want to miss. Bring your princess and beasts to a Tea Party with Mrs. Potts following the 2 p.m. show on Saturday! #ExperienceWCCS #BeautyandtheBeast

Friday, Sept. 13 | The Columbia City Police have identified the source of the initial post. There is no threat to student safety. There will be increased police presence today, however, we know the threat was not credible. Thank you CC Police Department for your investigation and support of our student and staff safety.

Following yesterday's threat, Whitley County Consolidated Schools wants to thank our Whitley County Sheriff Department and Columbia City Police Department, along with the Indiana State Police, for their organized response and communication with our WCCS administration in resolving this incident. Our relationship with the police department stood up to the test of a threat, thank you. Secondly, we know communication to our families can seem vague. Student and staff safety is our highest priority. We want to assure you we take all threats about our school and students very seriously and we act on them quickly. We share the details as soon as we can. Due to the nature of the threat, confidentiality has been upheld. WCCS is taking necessary disciplinary action for the student(s) involved. Parents, please speak with your child(ren) about their role in school safety. It is crucial that if a student sees something, or hears something, they need to say something. From the police, the investigation would have gone smoother if the initial social media post hadn’t been shared and re-routed so many times. When students know something, they should report the incident to either a staff member, police, or other authoritative figure, instead of sharing the post with their peers. This way authorities can begin the investigation and determine the severity and legitimacy of the threat. Students can also use the anonymous tip line of STOPit via wccsonline.com/page/stopit or the mobile app. STOPit allows students and family members the power to help end harmful and inappropriate behavior they see online through social media, hear of incidents, and other means. STOPit can be used to report bullying, cyberbullying, discrimination, harassment, violence, threats, weapons, alcohol or drug-related issues, mental health struggles like suicidal ideations, or any other concerns. This is a community that cares deeply for our students and their safety. We want you to know that while this incident did cause fear and concern, our systems worked the way they were supposed to and we saw clear evidence of our ongoing training and preparedness for crisis response. As a reminder, official communication comes through the WCCS app (Whitley County Consolidated Schools in Google Play or App Store), Whitley County Consolidated Schools Facebook, WCCSonline.com, and email notifications, or as a phone call. Parents should verify their Skyward accounts are accurate. We know communication is a personal preference and continue to work to build transparent systems that work for all. Please know that we will continue to build on what we learned yesterday and today, what went well and what can be improved.

Remember, all WCCS students get FREE breakfast this year! As part of a pilot program for the 2024/25 school year, each morning, WCCS students can join us for a nutritious breakfast free of charge. Breakfast is available after the morning bus drop-off.