Make It Count!

It is official- we have 13 days left until the SCReady testing window begins for our students. This reality was shared yesterday at my Assistant Principal meeting. My initial thought was about how fast that time is approaching. Then, I had another thought, what are we going to do to make sure those 13 days count for our students. How are we going to make sure our students get the most out of us and our time together? What are we going to do to ensure that the last nine weeks we have with them are focused and meaningful? It is very easy this time of year to get caught up in the count down. We count down the days until spring break. We count down the days until state testing. Then, we count down the days until the end of the year. Let's make this year different. Instead of just counting down the days and trying to make it, let's make sure that we make each day count for our students! Our kids deserved it!

 I Heart the Arts Day
We are excited about the opportunity to once again host various artists for our I Heart the Arts day. This day is such unique opportunity for our students and a day they always enjoy. Please make sure you are using the updated schedule that Mrs. Nix printed and placed in your boxes Monday. There were several changes and cancellations, so if you printed one earlier it could be wrong. The schedule in the shared drive folder is updated and accurate. Also make sure you leave lunch/recess instructions for the person who will be covering your class during that time. Remember that supervision is key on days like today. Custodians should have given you a large black trash bag for lunch trash. Remember to pass out the treat bags to students at the end of the day. There are extras in the office if needed. Let us know if you need anything! Hope this will be a fun day for everyone!

March 24th Professional Development Schedule
Friday, March 24th is a Professional Development day for teachers. PVES will be hosting professional development in our building for many of the teachers. Below is a schedule and list of locations for the sessions. Make sure you sign up for sessions in PD Express before March 24th. Water, coffee, and candy will be provided for folks attending sessions at PVES. Remember we asked that as many folks as possible park in the back parking lot. You are free at 11:30 to go out for lunch and work in your classrooms for the remainder of the day. Mr. Moore and I hope this is a very productive afternoon for our teachers.

Foundations in Reading:
3rd Grade Teachers- PVES Cafeteria 8:30-11:30
4th/5th Grade Teachers- PVES Multi-Purpose Room 8:30-11:30

For 3rd-5th Grade teachers: Kelle Martin sent out an email to folks attending Read to Success PD. You will need to bring: 1) Informal running record assignment, 2) Next Steps in Guided Reading book, 3) One guided reading on-grade level text (leveled reader)

Related Arts Professional Development:
Music Teachers- PVES Music Room 8:30-11:30
Art Teachers- PVES Art Room 8:30-11:30
PE Teachers- SPES Gym 8:30-11:30

Great things are happening at PVES...

Our fourth grade students and fifth grade LAUNCH students had the opportunity recently to attend field trips to Charleston. Please take a moment to listen to the comments left on a voicemail for Mr. Moore from one of the Tour Managers assigned to both trips. Well done teachers and students! 

Some of our math teachers had the chance to spend the full day exploring fractions with Ms. Sandra Goff. Teachers participated in a variety of activities, learned new strategies for teaching fractions, and explored the fractions standards in grades three through five. It was wonderful day, and I am thankful for their attentiveness! 

Thank you to Ms. Tammy Lee for working on our Early Act First Knight display in the hallway. She did an excellent job. Thank you to the many folks who stepped in to assist Ms. Lee with this beautiful display. Our students enjoyed stopping by and checking out the pictures. 

Our fourth grade students heard from the PVHS Orchestra Monday afternoon. We always appreciate seeing former students and celebrating our Powdersville community. Mr. Velasco does an excellent job with our strings program that continues to grow each year. We know many students left excited about the opportunity to take part in strings next year. 

Tollison's Tidings

• Student profile cards are to be completed before the end of the day on Friday, March 24th. Remember to complete the shared Google Sheet. 
• Please check the shared calendar for important dates regarding report cards. Report cards will go home with students on Friday, March 31st. 
• Mr. Moore sent out an email on Tuesday about our school report card survey. Please make sure you have completed this and followed up with an email. If you need the email resent just let him know. Thanks for taking care of this! 
• Classroom teachers, make sure you are using MAP data as your students finish up testing. Remember to that the Student Profile in NWEA is a great tool for SC Ready projections and targeting specific areas of focus for improvement. I will email out a video out with instructions this week. 

Mark Your Calendar (MYC)

April is quite the busy month so please be sure to visit the shared school calendar for important dates and upcoming events. 

Video of the Week

I hope this week's video brings a smile to your face as you watch the students react to hearing a teacher tell them how special they are. Who inspires you to come to work everyday? Let's make every day count for every student!

Great Expectations

Expectation. As educators, we know the word well. Our community has very high expectations for our school. We have even higher expectations for ourselves. And for our students, well, how much they can succeed is often determined by the level of expectation we set in our classrooms. Expectations can be defined as the act or state of looking forward to or anticipating. In other words, there is a futuristic meaning behind the word. Our expectations are for something yet to occur. However, what we do in the present often determines what will truly take place in the future. I like another definition for the word that I came across: the degree of probability that something will occur. To put it in educational terms, the degree to which our students will succeed based on our plan, our influence, and our positive interactions. Do your students know what you expect from them in all areas of the school? The hallways, the cafeteria, and/or the restrooms? If not there, how about in the classrooms? Do they know you expect them to be focused and engaged? Is there any doubt as to whether or not they are going to learn the material or that you are going to let them fail? We must set the bar high for our students and then pave the way for them to reach our very high expectations. This should be done by being specific in what you expect and offering a clear path to reach those goals. No excuses. Our students will rise to the level of expectation set by the teacher. You are the single greatest influence in the classroom.

Mrs. Young Announces Retirement

Mrs. Young has officially announced that she will retire at the end of this school year. She told me not to post her picture, but I had I just had to do so. Sorry, Mrs. Young. Mrs. Young has faithfully served our school as computer lab manager and as our school technologist. I have grown to respect Mrs. Young's "get it done" attitude. Whenever there was a situation with technology that needed to be handled or fixed, she would work diligently to find the answer. Even this year, she has worked incredibly hard to get three computer labs up and running for testing. She has headed up our recycling program for many years and filled in whenever needed in a variety of ways. Mrs. Young, we will miss you but please know we are very happy for you.

Student Profile Cards:
On Monday, student profile cards (yellow cards) will be placed in 3rd and 4th grade teacher boxes. 3rd and 4th grade members of our leadership team (Payne, Woody, Moore, Barnhill) will discuss thoughts and expectations with their grade level teams prior to grade levels beginning the process of completing yellow cards and building classes for next year. This is to ensure consistency throughout the process. Yellow cards and completed class rosters are due by Friday, March 24th at 4:30 P.M. That gives everyone two solid weeks to complete the task; collaborating to build the best classes possible. It also means this is taken care of before testing!

Picture Days:
Spring pictures days are coming up next week. On Tuesday, March 14th 4th and 5th grade students will have pictures made. The following day on Wednesday, March 15th 3rd grade students and Ms. Marino's students will have pictures made. We will call students by home room. Please line them up tallest to shortest and be prompt. We will name a location soon. Thank you for your flexibility on these days!

Faculty Meeting:
Our next faculty meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 14th in the PD Room. Mrs. Martin will lead us in Read 2 Succeed professional development at 2:45 P.M. We will then meet as a faculty at 3:10 P.M. This structure worked well last time so we will stick with it.

Sandra Goff:
We are excited to have Sandra Goff work with our math teachers on Thursday, March 16th. Mrs. Tollison has found subs for all math teachers for the full day. We will focus on fractions from a vertical planning perspective. Teachers, you will need to bring fraction tiles or strips and your SC standards. Let's make the most of this opportunity!

Reading All Stars:
We certainly have a large number of reading all stars in our building. Don't forget to encourage your students to read 5 books and turn in their completed reading log to the library in order to increase our participation in the Greenville Drive Reading All Stars program. We want as many students to participate as possible. DOn't stop now! We will make an official announcement on the ROAR Report on Monday, March 20th as to whether or not we reached our school goal. The program ends on March 17th.

Let's take a look around our school the past week or so...

Mrs. Tollison and I had the opportunity to attend a job fair at North Greenville University and speak to perspective teachers. We were proud to represent ASD1. We want you to know how many candidates speak highly of our district and that is due, in large part, to our wonderful teachers in ASD1 who have created a culture of excellence through high expectations.

Our EAFK ceremonies went very smoothly. Thanks to our teachers for their very sweet remarks about our special students. I am proud of our students for their great behavior during these events. There is no doubt that taking the time to speak to your classes about your expectations for behavior made quite a difference.

Speaking of special students, Codie was not able to receive his recognition due to be absent on Friday. However, Ms. Marino made sure he was not forgotten. Her expectation is that her students will always be included. We had a great time awarding Codie's medal to him in the classroom this week.

We had the largest crowd ever for our PTSO Father-Daughter Dance on Friday night. Over 360 people attended. Mrs. Schumpert and Mrs. Cree work so hard in leading our PTSO. They have high expectations in terms of supporting our school and our teachers. Make sure you thank them!

Thanks to our ELA teachers who worked hard during our second vertical teaming session. We spent time outlining our expectations for writing block. It appears as though all grade levels employ a writing workshop/guided writing approach. It looks like we still have some room to improve, in terms of consistency, in how we approach grammar/spelling.

Thanks for reading the blog. You can wear blue jeans on Friday!

Moore's Musings:

MAP testing is now underway. Please make sure you have signed your class up for several sessions to ensure that testing is completed prior to Spring Break. Additionally, all labs should have openings if you want to get your students in there to get them used to the SC-READY tools and allow them to "practice" so they are used to the labs they will be testing in. Remember, our focus should be high expectations for our students in terms of doing our very best to prepare for testing. 

Mark Your Calendar:

Please refer to our shared calendar to stay up-to-date. We have a busy calendar the next few months. 

Video of the Week:

Trust The Process

The world of education is overwhelmed with jargon such as "vision" and "mission". Indeed, it is important to embrace our vision for the future and live our mission daily, but those words can become less impactful if we fail to embrace the moment and trust the process. Two years ago, I challenged our faculty and staff with a comment made by someone at our district office. The comment implied that while we were a great school, we were "just 50th" in the state. Our goal is to improve on that ranking and be the best we can be. In order to make this happen, we have to be willing to adapt. We have to push ourselves to do "one more thing" when we are already burdened by workload. Our students deserve it. We deserve it. How do we get there? Trust the process. According to dictionary.com, a process is described as a continuous action, operation, or series of changes taking place in a definite manner. There is no doubt that we are headed in a positive direction. Our focus on continuous improvement and the many changes taking place naturally push us onward. My challenge today for you all is simple, take it day-by-day. Pour your heart and soul into your students daily. Trust the process. 

Vertical Team Meeting on Thursday:

ELA Teachers are reminded of our vertical team meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 2nd at 3:10 P.M. in the PD Room. We plan to tackle TDA again, but also discuss some expectations school-wide for writing. Please plan to attend and also share. These opportunities are made much more productive when our teachers share their expertise and collaborate. 

Early Act First Knight (EAFK) Ceremonies:

EAFK Ceremonies will be held on Friday, March 3rd in the afternoon. 3rd grade - 12:05, 4th grade - 12:55, 5th grade 1:45. We will call each grade level to the MP Room when we are ready. Please keep your paragraphs for each child (that you will read aloud) to a reasonable length. Additionally, please discuss with your class the importance of entering and leaving the MP Room quietly as well as showing respect during the ceremony. 

MAP Testing:

The MAP testing window officially opened on Wednesday this week. Please make sure you have signed your class up for sessions via the hardcopy calendars located outside each lab. Testing needs to be completed before Spring Break. As we discussed in our last meeting, please make sure you have engaged your class in goal setting, using the form created by Mrs. Preisig, before your class MAP tests. 

Tornado Drill:

We will participate in the state-wide tornado drill on the 8th at 9:00 A.M. We will make an announcement at that time to prepare everyone for the drill. We will ring the bell to signal the beginning of our drill. You will head to a protected hallway at that time. We will then ring another bell to signal the end of the drill. Please refer to the link below to assist you in preparing your class for the drill.

http://www.weather.gov/media/dtx/prepare/School_Tor_Brochure.pdf

Running Club:

Running club starts back on Thursday, March 9th. We are asking that ALL Running Club participants report to the multi-purpose room with car riders until teachers come to get them at 2:45 P.M. Please make note of this change in procedure. A calendar for running club was shared with everyone as well. 

Literacy Night was a huge success. We had over 260 people attend. Thanks to Mrs. Martin for her leadership and making this event run smoothly. Thanks to all of our faculty and staff who attended and served in a variety of ways. This Tiger was very appreciative our our Gamecock friends who did a wonderful job engaging our students. What a fun night! 

The Greenville Drive Reading All Stars Program ends on March 17th. We are inching closer to our goal of 300 students. Thanks to our teachers who have embraced this challenge and encouraged their students to read and participate. 

Speaking of literacy, thanks to Mrs. Martin for reading aloud to MANY of our classes during World Wide Read Aloud Day. By the way, I am always impressed when I walk by rooms and hear our teachers reading aloud to students. 

Some members of our leadership team visited Monarch Elementary School in Greenville County to learn about their implementation of PBL. It was great to get outside the walls of our building and connect with other educators. I am hopeful we can soon share what we observed. No matter what we observed, each time I leave our building, I am always reminded of how blessed we are to work at PVES. 

I would like to officially welcome Mrs. Ashley Williams to our 4th grade team for the 17-18 school year. Mrs. Williams will be transferring to us from Palmetto Middle School. She has taught 6th grade math there for 13 years but is excited about come to PVES and a new challenge! She has elementary certification and looks forward to meeting her new teammates soon. 

Moore's Musings:

As we discussed in our last faculty meeting, we are in the "prime time" in terms of preparing our students for testing. Make every minute count. However, promote a positive and encouraging message to our students. If you don't stress, they won't stress. We are in this together and we will succeed. Keep trusting the process. 

Mark Your Calendar (MYC):

As always, please constantly refer to our shared calendar. This is your responsibility. Let us know if we need to add any dates. 

Video of the Week: