Gold

Gold is a valuable and highly sought-after precious metal. I consider our faculty and staff to be like gold; valuable and highly sought after. Perspective teaching candidates flock to our doors when a position is posted. Parents call from miles around wanting to purchase or build in our attendance area. They want to be a part of an award winning school. They want that gold standard.

So, it should come as no surprise that PVES received recognition as being a gold winner for general performance and silver recognition for "closing the achievement gap". This should come as no surprise. We have worked hard to maintain high expectations for excellence at PVES. Our challenge becomes adapting to a changing school population in order to meet new challenges head on. Gold is the standard. Congratulations!





Lily Has Arrived!
Lily Tollison was born at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, February 24th. She weighed 7 pounds and 1 ounce and 19 1/2 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great!

We've enjoyed an incredibly busy week and have lots to share...

World Wide Read Aloud Day was fun! I watched as many of you read aloud to your students. I hope we never forget that this is such a fun and important activity for elementary school students. Make time to read aloud often. Encourage parents to do so. Thanks for being a part of this special day!

Continuing our theme of reading, how about the over 200 titles recently purchased by Mrs. Fowler for our media center. Mrs. Fowler has spent thousands this year in an effort to provide more choice for students. It was awesome to see the students come in the library and be excited to see new books on the shelves. Way to go, Mrs. Fowler!

Literacy Night was a huge success. We had an incredible crowd. Thanks to the many of you who made this event possible. Parents and students enjoyed a pizza supper, a guest reader from the Clemson football team, and learning about strategies to help readers. A special thanks to reading coach Kelle Martin for organizing this event. #PVES loves reading!

Ms. Wilcox's class hosted Ms. Marino's students as they "made" cupcakes. It was incredible to see our sweet third graders show care and concern for those special students from Ms. Marino's class. I won't call any names, but it was so powerful as I stood and watched one of our little ones in third grade, who struggles with his behavior, offer to assist a student who needed extra help and attention. Yes, we have standards to teach and tests for which we need to prepare, but watching these two classes work together is what it is all about.

Clemson junior practicum students visited classrooms. Thank you all for inviting them in and working with them to assist them in accomplishing their tasks. They are future teachers and leaders. You are setting an example for them. We value opportunities to work with these teachers and develop relationships with universities who will supply us with the best and brightest in the profession! They will be visiting with us once again on Monday, February 29th.

We do have student teachers in the building this semester, and I look forward to observing them in the coming weeks. However, I want to focus on those teachers who are working with these student teachers. They have such a meaningful task in front of them in supporting and training these young educators. They also serve in various places throughout our building as needed. I am very appreciative of this! Mrs. Golden found herself in Ms. Marino's class one afternoon. Did I mention she even shelves books in the media center every week?

Boosterthon is Coming:

I placed in your box a pre-program letter for our Boosterthon Fun Run event. As most of you know, this event is our major fundraiser for the year and has brought in an average of $20,000 over the past 4-5 years. This is only made possible due to the enthusiasm and buy-in from our teachers and staff. Thank you in advance for your positive attitude and assistance throughout the entirety of this event. Attached to the letter was a schedule for the daily "team huddles" to be held during related arts in the MP Room. We will discuss again at our faculty kickoff event scheduled for Monday, February 29th at 3:10 P.M. in the PD Room (102). Since our pep rally for students is scheduled for that afternoon at around 1:35-1:40 PM, please plan to wear blue jeans on Monday along with your Boosterthon shirt. 

Technology Tidings:

Please remember that our next instructional iCoach session with Jessica Preisig will be held on Tuesday, March 1st during your planning period in the PD Room (102). Thank you in advance for attending and participating. Speaking of technology, we will have technologists from around the state in our building on Thursday meeting with our ASD1 instructional technology team. These individuals will visit classrooms to see how we are using technology to enhance instruction. It's wonderful to have visitors in our building and show off the awesome things happening at PVES. 

EAFK:

If Tammy Lee has not visited your classroom for the lesson on our third nine week's virtues, please contact ASAP. The virtues for this nine week period, and appropriately so, are perseverance and discipline. Our next EAFK ceremony is scheduled for Friday, March 18th. Please submit student names, one per virtue, to Mrs. Booth no later than Monday, March 7th by noon. Please let us know if you have any questions. 

Moore Musings:

Please keep in mind that Mrs. Tollison is out for the next 8 weeks or so. That leaves one administrator for 605 plus students and 50 plus faculty and staff. I am here to support you, as always, but please consider this before submitting a student referral. I would also ask that you notify me as early as possible if you need to meet with me or need me to attend a parent meeting. Additionally, I ask for grace and patience as I am sure there will be some days where I struggle to accomplish everything in front of me. Thanks for being awesome! And as a "thank you" please wear jeans on Friday! 

Mark Your Calendar (MYC):

• Grade level meetings during planning on Thursday, February 25th. Meet in conference room.
• The Painted Rock House on Thursday, February 25th at 3:30 in the PD Room (102). Thanks, Mrs. Thomas! 
• Jet Toy Car Competition at Spearman on Friday, February 26th. 
• PTSO Father Daughter Dance at PVES on Friday, February 26th from 6:30-8:30 P.M.
• Boosterthon Pep Rally on Monday, February 29th at 1:35 PM in the MP Room.
• Boosterthon teacher meeting on Monday, February 29th at 3:10 P.M. in the PD Room (102).
• Technology meetings with Preisig during planning on Tuesday, March 1st in PD Room (102).
• Third grade Launch to Atlanta on Friday, March 4th. 
• EAFK names due to Booth by noon on Monday, March 7th. 
• Boosterthon Fun Run on Wednesday March 9th (to be held outside, weather permitting):
• 3rd grade at 8:30 A.M.
• 4th grade at 9:35 A.M.
• 5th Grade at 10:40 A.M.
• Marino following 5th. 
• AXA Semi-annual retirements benefit review on Thursday, March 10th from 12:00-3:00 P.M. in the work room. 
• Professional development day on Friday, March 11th (no students). 

Video of the Week: Part of our Gold Faculty Dancing at the Talent Show

PVES Teachers #LoveTeaching

We are switching things up a bit this week. I wanted to start out by bragging on our amazing teachers and take a look at all the wonderful things happening at PVES because you all #LoveTeaching. 

Here are some reasons you #LoveTeaching...

  

Great Things Happenings at PVES: 

What an incredible turn out for our February Digital Playground. This was the best crowd yet and the library was buzzing with wonderful conversations. It was such a proud moment for me as an administrator to see such great participation and collaboration among our teachers at PVES. Thank you to all who took the time to attend and participate in the stations. 

Teachers stayed after to get some extra help.

Fifth grade teachers explore stations. 

Teachers creating work and posting to SeeSaw.

Teachers working to create Comic Strips. This station received excellent feedback. 

Great collaboration and converstation

Teachers hard at work 

Fraction bars and pies

You are doing amazing things with technology and using it to transform learning in the classroom. Take a look at some ways teachers in our building are moving from Substitution to Augmentation and so on in our SAMR Model. 

Third graders in Hannah Lockaby's class participated in Today's Meet during one of their guided reading stations. These students went to the library during one of their rotations and followed directions Miss Lockaby created. It was impressive to watch our students work together and facilitate their own learning. This is what the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate is all about! Way to go Miss Lockaby and students. 

Third graders going over reading assignment and questions before starting.

Students collaborating on Today's Meet and discussing directions 

Miss Lockaby has guided reading groups and uses her iPad to check in on her Today's Meet group at the same time

Need to Know Info

Class Pictures:
We will be taking class pictures this Friday morning in the library. Be sure to bring your money envelope and make a copy of the list of students who have ordered. Students should be lined up tallest to shortest. Classes will be called to the library. Be sure you switch and are photoed with your homeroom. 

Literacy Night:
On Tuesday, February 23rd Powdersville Elementary School will host our 2nd Annual Literacy Night: Read S'More Books! Last year, we had a very good crowd and we expect an even larger crowd this year. Please make sure you are hyping this event up to your parents and students. Use email, text message updates, etc. to get the word out. Mrs. Martin will be sending out a link where each person can sign up to assist us on that evening. We hope to have many of you there as we celebrate literacy and the important role reading plays in framing the success of our students! Please be cognizant of the fact that we do want a big crowd at this event as you plan homework for that time period. If you have not signed up to help please do so here. 

World Wide Read Aloud Day:
World Wide Read Aloud Day is scheduled for Wednesday, February 23rd. We will participate! At 8:05 A.M., Mr. Moore and Mrs. Tollison, if she is still with us, will read a book aloud via our podcaster system. We will share the link at a later date. This will enable you to click on the link and have your students watch and listen to us read aloud on your SmartBoard (similar to the spelling bee viewing). This should take no more than 10 minutes. It may mean you have to switch classes a few minutes late. That is not all! We want YOU to read aloud to your class. Take pictures and post these on social media, websites, and SeeSaw. Get the word out!

Boosterthon Is Coming:
As many of you know, Boosterthon is our "big" fundraiser for the year. We support a variety of initiatives through money raised via this event. The more you, the teacher, take a role in getting your kids excited about raising money and helping our school, the more money we will raise! Our kickoff event is a pep rally scheduled for Monday, February 29th at about 1:40 P.M. in the multi-purpose room. This event is designed to get our students excited about the fundraiser so be prepared for some fun and some loudness. At this event, you will be given information that must go home with your students that afternoon. March 1st-4th, 7th and 8th teachers will escort their classes to the MP Room at the beginning of your planning period for "team huddles" where our Boosterthon guys will speak to the teachers and classes for about 10 minutes to keep everyone fired up about raising money. I realize this is taking a portion of your planning, but I believe the return on investment is greater. Thanks for your support. The Fun Run event is scheduled for Wednesday, March 9th. We will send a schedule for this event later. We encourage parents to attend!

Fun and Fellowship:

Thank you to Jessica Thomas for arranging some fun and fellowship for us all. The Painted Rock House is coming on February 25th at 3:30pm to Room 102 to host a paint party. There will be a SIGN UP sheet in the TEACHER WORKROOM by tomorrow. You MUST sign up-they only bring enough pieces to paint for those who sign up. Your choices for wooden pieces are below; of course, you can paint it with the colors of your choosing. Hope you can make it!

Tollison Testing Tidings:

Thank you to everyone for being so flexible and accommodating with our ESL testing last week. All of our students completed testing, and we only had one make up test that needs to be administer. Please be mindful that Mrs. Leftwich and Mrs. Donnan are administering STAR Testing over the next several weeks. Finally be sure you reviewed the information Tammy Lee sent with updates to SC Ready from our meeting last week. You can also visit the State Department website which includes SC Ready updates almost every other day.  

Mark Your Calendar:

Friday, February 19th- Class pictures in the Library

Monday, February 22nd- Clemson Juniors Visit 8:30-11:30

Tuesday, February 23rd- Literacy Night 5:30-7:15

Wednesday, February 24th- World Read Aloud Day

Thursday, February 25th- Painted Rock House Party

Thursday, February 25th- Technology Visitors

Friday, February 26th- Fifth Grade Jet Toy Car Competition at Spearman

Friday, February 26th- PTSO Father/Daughter Dance

Monday, February 29th- Clemson Junior Visit

Monday, February 29th- Boosterthon Pep Rally 1:40-2:20

Tuesday, March 1st- Technology PD Session with Preisig

What Lies Within Us

I believe the quote above from Ralph Waldo Emerson is pertinent for educators moreso than any other group of professionals. There is much we have accomplished. With each new group of students, the journey begins afresh and new challenges arise. Some of us have endured PACT testing. Even more of us, PASS testing and ACT testing. Those challenges were met head-on and with a purpose. Now, we stare SCREADY in the face. Just as we have done with AdvancED, SLOs, schedule changes, and much more we will accept the challenges before us. Why? Because what lies within us is a love for what we do. We possess a strong desire to help our students succeed. We find a way, we defy the odds. I firmly believe what lies within us will help define the future for ourselves, our students, and our school.


SCREADY:
Thanks to everyone for your attention and participation in our faculty meeting on Tuesday. Our goal has been to keep you updated on the latest related to testing. A copy of our presentation including link to our testing presentation can be found here. Everyone should have received a copy of the packet used in our meeting. Please review all of the information we have shared with you via Drive and email. Meet as grade level and content areas to discuss how to best prepare your students for testing. We obviously will meet in the future to discuss this as well. If you are not a homeroom teacher, please consider what your role is in preparing students using the information we presented. Don't forget the resources shared by Kelle Martin as well!

Literacy Night:
On Tuesday, February 23rd Powdersville Elementary School will host our 2nd Annual Literacy Night: Read S'More Books! Last year, we had a very good crowd and we expect an even larger crowd this year. Please make sure you are hyping this event up to your parents and students. Use email, text message updates, etc. to get the word out. Mrs. Martin will be sending out a link where each person can sign up to assist us on that evening. We hope to have many of you there as we celebrate literacy and the important role reading plays in framing the success of our students! Please be cognizant of the fact that we do want a big crowd at this event as you plan homework for that time period.

World Wide Read Aloud Day:
World Wide Read Aloud Day is scheduled for Wednesday, February 23rd. We will participate! At 8:05 A.M., Mr. Moore and Mrs. Tollison, if she is still with us, will read a book aloud via our podcaster system. We will share the link at a later date. This will enable you to click on the link and have your students watch and listen to us read aloud on your SmartBoard (similar to the spelling bee viewing). This should take no more than 10 minutes. It may mean you have to switch classes a few minutes late. That is not all! We want YOU to read aloud to your class. Take pictures and post these on social media, websites, and SeeSaw. Get the word out!

Boosterthon Is Coming:
As many of you know, Boosterthon is our "big" fundraiser for the year. We support a variety of initiatives through money raised via this event. The more you, the teacher, take a role in getting your kids excited about raising money and helping our school, the more money we will raise! Our kickoff event is a pep rally scheduled for Monday, February 29th at about 1:40 P.M. in the multi-purpose room. This event is designed to get our students excited about the fundraiser so be prepared for some fun and some loudness. At this event, you will be given information that must go home with your students that afternoon. March 1st-4th, 7th and 8th teachers will escort their classes to the MP Room at the beginning of your planning period for "team huddles" where our Boosterthon guys will speak to the teachers and classes for about 10 minutes to keep everyone fired up about raising money. I realize this is taking a portion of your planning, but I believe the return on investment is greater. Thanks for your support. The Fun Run event is scheduled for Wednesday, March 9th. We will send a schedule for this event later. We encourage parents to attend!


Now, here's what is happening at PVES...

It was fun hosting our faculty meeting in the media center this week. I am proud of Mrs. Fowler for wisely spending the penny sales tax to improve our media center. You are all welcome to play with/use the ClearTouch Board. Ms. Wilkie and Ms. Wilcox have been trained on using the board so they will be attempting to find an opportunity to use the board with their students this year. I also mentioned the audio system that I used briefly in the meeting.  The company that sells these devices is Lightspeed Technologies.

Mrs. Martin's reading sessions this week were very helpful as we continue to address guided reading and using data to drive our instruction. We will meet again with ELA teachers in April or May for a final half day session. In her presentation, Mrs. Martin shared with us some suggestions for improvement provided to us by Jennifer Brown from the state department. I know we are all continuing to better our craft as teachers so I was thankful for the feedback.

Author JE Thompson spoke to all of our students on Wednesday. The students enjoyed hearing him speak and read. Thanks to Mrs. Fowler for arranging the visit. I have personally read his book The Girl from Felony Bay and would highly recommend it to all of you. I was proud of our students for entering the MP Room quietly and being respectful of our guest.

#WeBeeLearning, the PBL unit currently ongoing in third grade is a big hit. Teachers are doing an excellent job of keeping us updated on Twitter. What an incredible journey. Ms. Wilcox spoke with maintenance workers on Wednesday in preparation for our bee hive to be installed in the library in late February. The bees themselves will arrive in April. I cannot wait to see and hear more about this from our very own 3rd grade students. This is real world and authentic learning. I am hopeful PBL expands to other classrooms. Don't be afraid to give it a try!

Cheers to our 4th grade teachers and students for using TouchCast to produce "news reports" based on historical figures and events. TouchCast is easy to use and the students absolutely love it! What a great use of technology to make learning fun and real. Below is a TouchCast I created as a video newsletter for our parents: 

Moore's Musings:

I'd like to offer a quick word about supervision and high expectations for behavior. As mentioned above, our students were very well behaved for our author on Wednesday. In my opinion, this was only made possible because our teachers did an excellent job of hammering home our expectations for behavior. Please make sure you continue to relay those expectations; especially for the cafeteria, in line in the hallway, for restroom use, etc. Connected to this idea is supervision. Please walk with your students in the hallway, monitor students in the cafeteria, playground and restroom, and have a clear set of rules and procedures for these areas. Our work in this area is never done. Thank you!

Mark Your Calendar:

Instead of posting dates here, I'd like for you to check out our shared Google Calendar. Make note of important dates coming up. Please view the calendar for this Friday. 

Video of the Week: BE THE CHANGE

Busy... Busy... Busy

We are all so busy during this time of year but we must not lose sight of why we are in the profession of teaching. One person who does this so well in our school is our Guidance Counselor, Ms. Tammy Lee. Many of you have found she is always willing take a moment to listen to you or your students and make you feel important. She cares for you and each child in our building. All these conversations and tasks make her a busy person, but she keeps her focus and time on our kids and we are thankful for her! Happy National School Counselor Week, Ms. Lee! We are thankful to have you as part of our PVES Family. 

Guidance Lesson

AdvancED Update

All AdvancED work is due by Friday, February 5th. Thank you again to Committee Chairs who have worked diligently to complete the narratives for your committee. The district will be reviewing our submissions. In March the AdvancED Committee will visit the district and certain schools. More information will come about this at a later date. Jessica Preisig spoke about some of this during her technology session this week. 

February 9th Faculty Meeting

Our upcoming faculty meeting is a very important one with several updates regarding testing and other important information. Please plan to bring your iPads to complete a survey at the beginning of the meeting. The meeting is on the calendar for 3:10-4:10 so please make plans accordingly. We will be meeting in the library for this meeting. 

Literacy Corner

We have some great things happening this month with literacy. Reading Coach, Kelle Martin sent out her PVES Reader to share specifics of upcoming information. If you did not receive an email of the newsletter or get a chance to read please click on the link to get another copy. Below are some highlights:

• Reading PD with Kelle Martin will be in our PD Room. 

Date: February 8 (5th Grade Teachers) Start Time: 8:00 a.m. End Time: 11:00 a.m.
Date: February 8 (4th Grade Teachers) Start Time: 11:30 a.m. End Time: 2:30 p.m.
Date: February 9 (3rd Grade Teachers) Start Time: 8:00 a.m. End Time: 11:00 a.m

Lunch will be provided. Be sure to bring the following items: 

1. Data from a student that is not progressing (running records, reading log, anecdotal notes, SEI, interest inventory, etc.)
2. Recent guided reading levels to update the data wall
3. The Next Step in Guided Reading book
4. Grade level copy of The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo

• Literacy Night: Our school wide Literacy Night is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23rd. Dinner will be available for families to purchase from 5:30-6:00 in the cafeteria. The sessions will begin at 6:00 and run until 7:15. We need YOUR help to make this night a success. Make plans to participate in some capacity for this evening and look for a Sign-up Genius soon to find a way you can assist. Homeroom teachers, please share this information in your newsletters and classroom communication. 
• World Read Aloud Day: February 24th we will be celebrating as a school. More information is to come! 

Happenings at PVES: 

Jet Toys Competitions: Fifth graders are wrapping up their class competitions with Jet Toy Cars. Classroom winners will head to Spearman Elementary on Friday, February 26th for a district competition. Our fifth grade teachers, students, and Mrs. Clary have worked very hard over the past several weeks preparing. We are wishing our students all the best! A special thank you to Mrs. Clary for assisting with set up at Spearman on the Thursday afternoon before the event.  

Mrs Wayne has students in Mrs. Golden's Class test their cars. 

Mrs. Golden's homeroom students waiting their turn and cheering on a classmate in the School Spelling Bee. 

Spelling Bee: Thank you to Mrs. Golden for heading up our School Spelling Bee last Friday. Mrs. Thomas helped with judging and ringing the dreaded "that is incorrect" bell. Our students performed very well. Fifth grader Niko Rossi came out on top as the school winner. Harrison Jefferies was the school runner up. Following the event the parents were able to join their children for refreshments in the cafeteria. It was exciting to see so many of our students tuning in to the live stream footage of the Spelling Bee. Many of you tweeted out to share. Thanks! We used our new Padcaster and Discover Video to make this happen. We realized there were some issues and we are working on those. It is exciting to know we will soon be able to share these events with our school community. 

Harrison Jefferies (runner up), Mr. Moore, and Niko Rossi (school winner)

Time of Transformation: In case you have not noticed our library is changing. Below are some of the pictures taken by Mrs. Booth of students enjoying some time in the library before school. 

Students are also becoming more independent and really are enjoying this year's flex library schedule. Thank you to Ms. Fowler and teachers for making this such a great success! 

Powdersville's Got Talent: We had a wonderful turn out for our school's talent show last Thursday. Thank you to Stacey Turner and all her many helpers for making this event happen. See below for some pictures of our talented students and TEACHERS! A huge thank you to McKenzie Marino and all the many teachers who invested so much time into this year's dance. It was a hit! (Maybe we can find a video to share in our next blog post.)

 

Talented Teachers of PVES

Gabe Patterson plays the guitar and sings

Students dance to Fight Song

Great crowd to support our students 

Synchronized Swimming Routine

Teacher's Got Talent

Technology Transformation: This week featured another great session with Jessica Preisig. This session provided teachers an opportunity to learn and share with others across the district. Thank you for coming ready to learn and participate. Teahcers engaged in excellent discussion about moving through the SAMR model. Mr. Moore and I are so proud of our special teachers at PVES!  

Fourth grade math and science teachers find ways to capture their next STEM unit.

 Tollison Tidings:

• Thank you for helping with hallway behavior last Friday. Students were very quiet when transitioning in the halls while we had visitors. Please plan to do the same with ACCESS testing coming up. 
• ACCESS Testing begins next week. Melissa Thomas has contacted you with a very specific schedule if you have a student being tested. Testing will take place over four days (February 9th, 11th, 12th, and 16th). All testing will be in Computer Lab 101 except Friday, February 12th which will be in Mrs. Leftwich's classroom. 
• Monday, February 15th is a Comp Day for those who attended the second day of summer professional development last June.
• February is quite a busy month. Please be sure to refer to the shared calendar for upcoming events. 

Mark Your Calendar:

• Monday, February 8th- Reading PD
• Tuesday, February 9th- Faculty Meeting @ 3:10 in the library (bring iPads) 
• Tuesday, February 9th- ACCESS Testing (Computer Lab 101)
• Wednesday, February 10th- Lee and Tollison to District Office for Testing Meeting
• Wednesday, February 10th- Furman Consortium 
• Thursday, February 11th- Mr. Moore Administrator's meeting 
• Thursday, February 11th- ACCESS Testing (Computer Lab 101)
• Friday, February 12th- ACCESS Testing (LAUNCH Room)
• Monday, February 15th- Comp Day
• Monday, February 15th- Reading All Stars Begins
• Tuesday, February 16th- ACCESS Testing (Computer Lab 101) 
• Tuesday, February 16th- Digital Playground with iTeachers and Preisig
• Friday, February 19th- Class pictures 

Why we teach.... This is a quick but great reminder! Enjoy and thank you for what you do each day. 

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