Family

At Powdersville Elementary School we are indeed a family unit. You will see us all working together, loving on, and serving each other every single day. I believe it is one of the things that makes PVES such a special place and why we are willing to go above and beyond for  each other. I hope you will take some time this week before break to reflect on your work family and what each person means to you. We are quite blessed! During this busy holiday season remember the most important thing is family. Mr. Moore and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy time with your families. Be safe if you are traveling and make time for rest and rejuvenation.

We have much to celebrate this week from PVES...

Ms. Lee and several teachers took some of our students to Clemson this past week. Students played games, had snacks, and left with some wish list items. We want to say a huge thank you to Ms. Lee for making this possible for our students. Also, thank you to the teachers who spent the evening with our students. I think the teachers had just as much fun (if not more) than the kids!

Our Literacy Night was a huge success! Thank you so much to every single staff member who played a part! This took our entire family to fill a need and make all the piece come together. Mrs. Nix did an amazing job with decorations and transforming our school with the help of the literacy committee. Thank you to Mrs. Martin for her pursuit of excellence and making literacy a focus for our school. Many parents commented that this was the best one yet! I would say it was definitely next level!

It's been a great week in Computer Lab as we celebrate Computer Science Education Week, learn more about this vast subject area, and participate in the Hour of Code. Your students excel in coding activities. Mrs. Berry shared a folder for teachers to drop in pictures and share on Seesaw. You can access the folders HERE. Thank you Mrs. Berry for always making Computer Lab next level! 

December Events
December is always a busy month in the life of a school. Mr. Moore sent out a "PVES In the Know" Newsletter this past week to all parents. Please be sure that you have shared it on Seesaw and reviewed it for your information as well. You can find the link HERE. Our chorus concert that was scheduled for Monday, December 10th will now take place on Wednesday, December 12th at PVES (not PVHS). Be on the look out for emails for specific details about events pertaining to your grade level and responsibilities. 

Early Leave Week
This week is the scheduled early leave week for teachers. Thank you for your time to meet and conference with parents. I know it was time consuming but worth it for our families. You may leave when you get your kids settled for dismissal. If you have afternoon duty, you may leave immediately following your duty. Please let Mr. Moore or Mrs. Tollison if you have questions. 

PLC Updates and Planning Days
Our third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers spent some time in last week's Live PD session creating values for their PLCs. Thank you teachers for the time and investment you made in developing these family values. Teachers, please continue to review these at the beginning of each of your PLC meetings. 

We have scheduled some ELA planning time for all three grade levels in December. You will find your date and time below. The focus during this time will be to unpack standards in order to determine essential standards for the upcoming reading unit. Mrs. Martin will also provide support and help connect Calkins units for the remainder of the year. Teachers who plan ELA will have the afternoon to create plans, assessments, etc. All teachers participating will need to bring laptops (technology), standards, and Calkins Unit Three materials. 

December 13th- Fifth Grade (all teachers) 8:00-11:30
December 17th- Fourth Grade (all teachers) 8:00-11:30 and (ELA planning only) 11:30-2:30
December 18th- Third Grade (all teachers) 8:00-11:30 and (ELA planning only) 11:30-2:30

PVES Faculty Christmas Party (12/19)

We are excited about our upcoming faculty Christmas party on Wednesday, December 19th. You will be receiving a formal invitation in your teacher box soon. As you know, we will dismiss students at 11:00 A.M. that day. After dismissal, plan to work in your rooms to get ready for the holidays. We will begin our lunch at 12:15 P.M. in the MP Room. After lunch and dessert, we have some fun games to play and some prizes! Please look over the details below:

• We are asking each person bring a heavy appetizer or finger food items to share with the group.
• We will provide all the paper products, silverware, etc.
• We will also provide trays of chicken tenders, drinks, coffee and dessert!
• Also, you are encouraged to bring a new coffee cup to participate in our coffee cup swap. Simply bring a new unwrapped coffee cup (nothing else) and be able to "shop" other cups brought in by your colleagues!

Tollison's Tidings:
We usually send out a digital Christmas card to our district office staff, fellow schools, and our parents. Teachers, if you have time this week please take a picture or quick (less than 10 second) video of your class with Christmas wishes. I am including last year's video as an example HERE. You can email me with this and I will put it all together to send out. Thank you for your help!  

Mark Your Calendar (MYC):

• Tuesday, December 11th- Papa John's Dollar for Dough
• Tuesday, December 11th- PVES Strings Concert (MP Room) 6:30-7:15 pm
• Wednesday, December 12th- Papa John's Dollar for Dough
• Wednesday, December 12th- Rescheduled Chorus Concert (from 12/10) at 6:30 pm at PVES (not PVHS as previously scheduled)
• Thursday, December 13th- Skate Night (Tacky Christmas theme) 6-8 pm
• Friday, December 14th- Fire Drill
• Friday, December 14th- School Improvement Council Meeting 7:20-8:00 am
• Monday, December 17th- Spelling Bee Informational Meeting 2:45 pm in Mrs. Jessica Thomas's Room
• Monday, December 17th- Jill Kallin's shower at 3:15 pm in the Media Center
• Monday, December 17th- Third Grade Performance (100 Hallway) at 6:30 at PVHS
• Tuesday, December 18th- Third Grade Performance (200 Hallway) at 6:30 at PVHS
• Wednesday, December 19th- Half Day with dismissal at 11:00 (Chorus performs at 8:10 in MP Room, Class parties at 9:15) 
• Wednesday, December 19th- Faculty Christmas Party 
• Thursday, January 3rd- Students Return 

Excellence

It's well-documented now. Powdersville Elementary School  earned an "excellent" rating on the newest school report card and an overall rating of 81. There are a variety of factors involved in the rating: test scores, student improvement, ESOL, etc. This excellent rating is to be celebrated as it is the culmination of a great deal of hard work and effort by all that make up our school community. And while we certainly want to recognize this accomplishment and celebrate, I would challenge us to approach it with a different mindset. Excellence is defined as the fact or state of excelling. In other words, it's not a singular event. We didn't just show up and become excellent. Excellence is a state of mind; an ongoing commitment to never accepting the status quo. I can promise you there is a target on our collective backs. Other schools see our success and want to replicate what we do. I hear about it and feel it in meetings at the district office or at professional development within the district. And this brings me to my final point. Let's not get caught up in the score or the report card rating itself. Let's be excellent in what we do day in and day out. Let's be excellent in our approach - true PLCs centered on the four questions, added rigor to our instruction, and improved assessment. As one football coach put it; do the common things in an uncommon way. Do not settle for "same old" and the aforementioned status quo. Excellence is indeed a mindset and we must carry this mindset with us each day as we strive for that next level.

We had enjoyed an excellent week at PVES...

As I mentioned during our Live PD session, I had the opportunity to visit Concrete and observe reading instruction in first and second grade classrooms. It was an awesome experience for me. I was highly impressed with the LC mini-lessons I observed and witnessed excellent reading instruction taking place. In many ways, I observed a schedule and practices that mirror what we expect at PVES. Coming up in July - an opportunity for third and second grade teachers to engage in peer observations and collaborate? Stay tuned. 

OLWEUS class meetings were excellent this week. Some students committed to lifting others up while other participated in some role play situations. OLWEUS is only as excellent as we set it up to be. Thanks for taking this time seriously each Monday morning and impacting, in a positive way, our culture at PVES. 

 

3rd grade students became surgeons; operating on division problems and non-fiction passages. I am convinced that our excellence is due, in part, to the way we make learning a fun experience. We challenge the norm and shift the paradigm to find new and exciting ways to engage our students. 

I put this picture in the blog to illustrate a simple, yet profound point. It doesn't matter our title or our situation. At PVES, we don't operate in a world of "your kids vs. my kids" or "that's not my job". Our excellent is obtained when we embrace all students as our own and live out #pvespride in all that we do! 

OLWEUS:

We will continue with OLWEUS class meetings on Monday, December 3rd during PRIDE Time. Please refer to our OLWEUS Lessons Folder for ideas and helpful information. As we highlighted above, it is important to truly engage students in activities, role playing, and dialogue focused on our school rules against bullying. Mrs. Tollison and I have been so impressed as we have observed in many rooms during this time. Keep up the excellent work!

Tomorrow for Olweus, the literacy committee would like for you to do something with the students that relates to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. You can teach any lesson on being kind to others and making everyone feel a part of the class. 

 "In How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the Grinch discovers the true meaning of Christmas. He does a good deed by returning all of the gifts to the Whos in Who-ville—which makes his heart grow 3 sizes! "
Then there are heart cut outs in your box, one for each student. Please have each student to fill out an act of kindness that they are going to do or have done here at our school. Then before Thursday please have your students tape their hearts up on your grade level Grinch in the cafeteria. We are going to use this for decorations for Literacy Night.

Live PD: 

Our final Live PD event before the break is scheduled for Wednesday, December 5th, 2018. Please refer to our Live PD agenda for more information. This session is crucial to the success of our PLCs moving forward. Please be prepared to stay focused and engage your team during this time.

Literacy Night:

We are thrilled about our upcoming Literacy Night this Thursday, December 6th from 6:00-7:15. I would ask that everyone try to park in the bus circle lot and enter through the back doors there at the bus circle. This is a wonderful opportunity to engage our community and we expect a huge crowd. If you have not already, please sign up to assist us. We will also need assistance each afternoon this week to get final touches completed in preparation for this event. This will take a total team effort!


Spirit Day This Friday:
This Friday, December 7th is PVES Spirit Day. Students are encouraged to wear their House shirts and/or colors. Staff can wear blue jeans provided they wear their House shirts. As you are making plans for this week, set aside some time on Friday afternoon for our next House meetings. I think this would be a great way to end the week! Don't forget we will be selling Chic-Fil-A biscuits in the morning car line on Friday and two lucky students who wear their House shirts will be chosen to win a prize.


Moore's Musings:
These next 13 days are sure to be wild and hectic. We have events after school in the form of Literacy Night, Chorus, 3rd grade performances, and Strings. However, let's approach these days with the goal of getting every bit of teaching and learning in that we possibly can. Do not let your guard down. Ensure student safety by being at duty on time, supervise students closely at all times, and help us keep our collective focus on getting better. Excellence happens this way.


Mark Your Calendar (MYC):

• You can expect our November fire drill to take place this week. We made every attempt last week, but things were crazy in the office. Thanks for your patience.
• Chorus rehearsal after school at PVHS - Tuesday, December 4th 
• Progress Report Folders Sent Home - Wednesday, December 5th 
• Live PD - Wednesday, December 5th at 3:15 PM
• PVES Literacy Night - Thursday, December 6th from 6-7:15 P.M. 
• PVES Spirit Day - Friday, December 7th

Video of the Week: Excellence