I trust everyone enjoyed a well-deserved Labor Day weekend. Indeed, it was rather easy that I chose the theme for our blog this week. Labor. Labor is defined as productive activity or physical/mental work, especially of a hard and difficult kind. There is no denying that educators are involved in physical and mental labor day in and day out. In my opinion, there is no greater calling than to be a teacher. And no greater calling is met such high expectations, so much toil, and so much reward as that of being an professional educator. As I reflect on the first two weeks of school, I remain so thankful for the faculty and staff at PVES who put in the time and effort to make this the best start to a school year I can ever remember. As we labor this week, and for the next 9 months, let us never forget our purpose and our passion. Let us never settle for anything less than excellence. Approach the requirements of the job with a positive attitude and with an emphasis on teamwork. Through hard work, indeed labor, the sky is the limit at our school.
Let's celebrate this past week at PVES...
This picture symbolizes our spirit and culture at PVES. We labor together for a common cause; putting aside differences that would otherwise divide us. We will ask everyone to wear their favorite college team shirts again and take a staff picture. Thanks to Mrs. Garrett for the idea. Hey, the two in-state teams won this weekend!
Thanks to PTSO for the new mulch. They are an important part of team PVES and have put in the work to make this a successful year. I would again remind everyone to please join PTSO, if you have not already. We look forward to new playground equipment arriving soon!
Thanks to everyone for laboring hard to make sure our morning arrival and afternoon dismissal times run smoothly. Thanks for being on time for duty each morning and afternoon and understanding how important your role is within this time frame. I appreciate teachers being willing to read to students each morning. Thanks to Mrs. Fowler for making sure we have great reading material to share with students. What a great way to start the day!
Molly came this week! We will again offer the BARK program as an intervention for certain at-risk students at PVES. Thanks to Ms. Lee for making this happen. Our students love reading with therapy dogs. This is a positive intervention at our school and one that truly makes a difference.
The parent table is now open in the PVES cafeteria! Teachers were emailed about this last week. Please make sure your parents are aware of this outreach. Parents must sign in through the main office before entering the cafeteria for lunch. Students can eat with their parents and one/two friends at the parent table (provided their is space available).
The first team of our PVES Patrols began their work last week. We take 15-20 minutes to train these students and then put them to work. We have 5 times of fifth graders who will work throughout the year. We dismiss them to class in time to arrive by 8:00 A.M. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about the patrols.
Mrs. Martin, Ms. Lee and Mrs. Nix worked hard with our students in Art last week on a wonderful project to inspire students to embrace their individuality and respect differences with other students. Our staff will participate in this project as well very soon.
Who says work is not fun? Students in Mrs. Payne's class enjoyed skip counting with jumping jacks. Mr. White's class enjoyed learning about moon phases with Oreos. Awesome!
Mrs. Tollison took a break from working "lunch duty" to play some games with a classroom. Work sure does seem to be fun around here.
So, what do you do when you retire? You come back to work every Friday and...work? Mrs. Rita loves Ms. Marino's class and volunteers to come back each week and cook with these special students.
PRIDE time is underway. Our intervention block is built into our schedule for the first 30 minutes of each day from 8:10-8:40 A.M. Students are working on building reading stamina. Teachers are leveling students and pulling small groups for focused intervention. Very soon, we will begin to pull students for LLI reading groups and math intervention. Stay tuned for details.
International Literacy Day:
On Friday, September 8th PVES will celebrate International Literacy Day! Did you know that around the word, 750 million adults and 264 million children still lack basic literacy skills? This year's International Literacy theme is literacy in a digital age. Please sign up for Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Tollison, or Mr. Moore to come read to your class on Friday. Mrs. Martin will email a link for sign-ups and we will link it to this blog when available. Additionally, we encourage you to celebrate in your own way with your class. Tweet out pictures and tag @pvespride when doing doing so!
Busy Schedule:
Mrs. Tollison recently sent an email with PD opportunities that will be ongoing this week and next. Please take time read this email carefully so you know which events to attend. Please review the following:
- September 6th: Guided Math PD (AM)/Guided Reading PD (PM) - PD Room
- September 7th: Guided Math PD (PM) - PD Room
- September 11th: 4th Grade PBL Planning (AM) - Media Center
- September 12th: 3rd Grade PBL Planning (AM)/5th Grade PBL Planning (PM) - Media Center
- September 14th: Science Tech Book PD (Full Day) - District Office
- September 15th: Sandra Goff Math PD (AM and PM Sessions) - PD Room
*Please be present on these days as substitutes will not be available.
Live PD:
As we discussed, we will begin our "Live PD" faculty meetings/professional development this week. We will have our kick-off meeting this Wednesday, September 6th after school in the media center at 3:15 P.M. The following week on Wednesday, September 13th, we will discuss PVES test scores. We will send out additional information when available, but please make plans to attend.
Moore's Musings:
As we settle into the school year, let's make each day count. As previously discussed, PRIDE Time intervention block is now a regular part of our school day. Use this time to provide true intervention where needed. Our struggling students need it, but even our higher students can benefit. Additionally, please make sure you are communicating with parents about the following:
- iPad protection plan of $29 paid to PVES before the iPad can be sent home.
- Instructional fee of $12 paid to PVES in cash or check.
- SeeSaw and My Homework sign up. You may have to send more than one communication to get your parents to sign up. A phone call might even be in the works for a few. This is important.
- Parent table in cafeteria. Any cupcakes or other food items must be approved by school nurse prior to our giving them to students.
- Teacher website up to date - send link to parents (this helps so parents are aware of contact information, schedule information like recess, lunch, etc.).
- Parent portal sign-up.
Finally, if you are in the midst of planning field trips, please designate someone to see Mrs. Tollison or Mr. Moore so we can walk you through the requirements (some new and VERY important) for chaperones. Thanks!
Mark Your Calendar (MYC):
Video of the Week:
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