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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Do Your Best... Don't Stress

First, I want to acknowledge that teaching is one of the absolute most difficult professions. A teacher pours all his or her time and energy into growing students. Keep these truths in mind as you enter one of the toughest stretches of our academic year...

• What you do matters...
• How you treat your students shows how much you care...
• If your students know you care they will work hard to succeed..

One of the things discussed at my Assistant Principal's meeting this week was that stress does not help brain growth and development. We just need to do our best and prepare our students. Keep this mindset and teach your students to do the same. We will all be fine! 

SC Ready Testing Update

We now have more information about our new test, SC Ready. Right now the plan is to discuss this in great detail at our February 9th faculty meeting. The State Department's website has some resources for you to explore before our faculty meeting. All writing teachers should take a look at the rubric for the Text Dependent Analysis item. A paper copy of this will be placed in your box tomorrow for you to review. We will analyze sample TDA items as well as exemplars.  

This link with take you to an overview of the SC Ready Assessment. Scroll down to see types of test items and very helpful resources for the writing component of SC Ready. More information about administration, test design, and scoring will be provided at our meeting. Come prepared to discuss these items and bring questions you may have.  

AdvancED 

We are working on finalizing our AdvancED Accreditation document for our school. Mr. Moore and I would like to say again how thankful we are for the time and effort you all have devoted to this process. It has not been easy and we understand the demands of such an important process. The final report will be submitted to the District Office on Friday, February 5th. Thank you to folks who are taking additional time to work on the narratives for your committee. 

Happenings of PVES 

Great things are always happening around Powdersville Elementary. We have a lot of wonderful opportunities coming up as well. 

Snow Days

We had many of our PVES teachers and students enjoying the winter weather this weekend. Pictures were posted to our social media so be sure to take a look if you missed it. 

Updates to the Library

New furniture has been delivered and looks fabulous. Recently our Clear Touch Board has been set up and teachers attended training. This is an amazing tool so be sure to stop by to play and explore. 

PBL #weBEElearning

Third graders are hard at work during their PBL unit. Follow their learning using #weBEElearning and see all the wonderful things going on in each classroom. 

Upcoming Happenings: 

PVES Talent Show: The talent show is Thursday (1/28) night from 6:00-8:00 P.M. at Powdersville High School. Thank you to the many of you who are serving or participating that night. I hope to see a huge crowd of PVES teachers and staff at the event! Please email Mrs. Turner if you are available to assist with this event. 

TOY Forum: This Friday we have the privilege of hosting our District Teacher of the Year Forum beginning at 8:30. We will have fifth grade ambassadors who will greet our TOY and lead them to Room 102. Mr. Havird will also be joining these folks. Please stress to your students the importance of being on their best behavior in the hallways and moving quietly from related arts classes. 

Spelling Bee: Our school spelling will be on Friday, January 29th at 8:15 in the Multi-purpose Room. We will have many parents and grandparents in our building for this event. Mrs. Golden will send information about where and when to send your class winner. 

Tollison's Tidings

• Access Testing begins for our ESL students on February 9th in Computer Lab 101. They will also be testing on the 10th and 11th. Please encourage students being tested to be present, on time, and to do their best. Thank you in advance for your flexibility with this testing. Also be sure to escort your classes to related arts and pick them up to ensure that the hallways remain quiet for those testing. 
• Class pictures have been rescheduled for Friday, February 19th in the library. 
• Referrals should be completed using the online form. Save this link to your desktop or add to your home screen on your iPad. 
• Clemson junior students will begin their visits to classrooms next week. They will report to their assigned classes and will observe for the first visit. 
• NO iPads should be used at the tutoring table in the morning. We have a good handful of students who are completing homework and requesting assistance each morning. Please encourage your students to seek out the adult on duty for assistance. This is built-in intervention, but we need your help.

Mark Your Calendar

• January 28th Talent Show @ PVHS 6:00-8:00
• January 29th TOY Breakfast 8:30
• January 29th School Spelling Bee 8:15-10:00
• February 2nd Clemson Juniors Visit 8:30-11:30
• February 2nd Technology PD with Preisig in Room 104
• February 8th Reading PD with Kelle Martin (5th Grade 8:00-11:30; 4th Grade 11:30-2:30)
• February 9th ACCESS Testing (ESL)
• February 9th Reading PD with Kelle Martin (3rd Grade 8:00-11:30)
• February 9th Faculty Meeting

With this busy testing session approaching I hope we all can have the confidence that these kids have! 

Snow Days

On a serious note, there is an increasing confidence that we will see some sort of winter weather between Thursday evening and Saturday morning. I will send out notification to you via text message if and when a decision is reached concerning delays or cancellations. The district also attempts to make contact with all employees when winter weather affects our schedule. Furthermore, you can look for a decision to be posted on our ASD1 website and stay tuned to local news channels for announcements as well. The brief period of snow we witnessed today during dismissal was certainly beautiful and it was fun to see our students so excited. In the south, we get a little carried away at the prospect of snow ...

Penny Sales Tax:
Have you noticed the monitors in the front lobby, cafeteria and media center? The new portable amplification system in the media center? How about our new Clear Touch interactive board? These items were purchased using the first round of penny sales tax money available to our district. This money is specifically earmarked for technology and equipment. Next up will be our Art, Music, and P.E. programs receiving some money to upgrade equipment and make new purchases to enhance our classrooms. We will also receive money to significantly upgrade our presentation system in the multi-purpose room. We will keep you updated on our progress in terms of spending these monies, but it is certainly nice to be able to use the penny sales tax money to better the product we offer to our students!

Talent Show:
Thanks to the many of you who assisted Mrs. Turner in the tryouts that took place for our upcoming Talent Show. We were able to select many talented students to perform. I am also appreciative of the many teachers and staff who will be opening our Talent Show with a little dance number. You will not want to miss that! A reminder that our Talent Show is held on Thursday, January 28th beginning at 6:00 PM at Powdersville High School. Some of you will be dancing that night. Some of you will be serving that night. And some of you will simply be there to support us. Thanks for that!

PRIDE:
We have always prided ourselves in having the best behaved students and have received many compliments about our students from visitors in our building. Some of you have approached me and mentioned that our hallway behavior is not up to standard. I agree. Please help us in dedicating some time and effort into making sure our students understand the pride we take in walking in the "third block" quietly at all times. Feel free to ask your class to practice and hold them accountable for their hallway behavior. It certainly helps when the teacher is present with the class and sets the tone for her students. Thanks for your help with this!

Guidance Corner:
I wanted to mention a few important announcements that impact your classrooms related to Tammy Lee and guidance. First of all, Tammy sent an email out today about our EAFK virtues for the third nine weeks. They are perseverance and discipline. With a crucial stretch of learning now underway, I can think of no better virtues to discuss and highlight with our students. Tammy will visit your classes to spend some time discussing these virtues. She will also need to speak to your class about sexual abuse prevention through Erin's Law. Bless her for taking this on! Finally, we will have our next RTI meeting on Wednesday, January 27th beginning at 2:45 P.M. If you need to be on the agenda, email Tammy as soon as possible.


Now, let's take a look at some coolness happening at PVES...

Early Act First Knight ceremonies were special events and make a huge impression on students and parents alike. I want to compliment all of our teachers for the thoughtful comments you prepared about your students. As I told parents in attendance, we all want our students to do well academically and athletically, but being recognized for showing compassion and tolerance is a big deal. These virtues will serve our students well in life. A special "thank you" to Randy Thompson, Stacey Turner, Lindsay Nix, Michelle Young, Deb Fowler, Kelle Martin, Tammy Lee, Melissa Tollison, Patty Ellison and Lisa Booth for their hard working in preparing for our knighting ceremonies. From setting up the stage to mailing out letters and preparing parent brochures, this group is dedicated to making our EAFK program a special event!

Our 5th graders have been reading... a lot! And last week we celebrated with our second badge ceremony. Over 200 badges were earned by our 5th grade readers. I was proud of our students for showing such an interest in reading and more proud of our teachers for making reading a priority. Students were proudly wearing their badges after the ceremony and that was wonderful to see.

Jessica Preisig led our latest Digital Playground event this past Tuesday and it was all about wonderings. We enjoyed popcorn was we discussed "wonder walls" in classrooms and other wonderings our teachers wanted to share. It was great to see such a large crowd of teachers dedicated to this activity and, more importantly, dedicated to collaborating with their peers. This is when true change and growth occurs. I hope we will have our biggest crowd yet at our next Digital Playground event!

And last, but not least, for this week is our third grade team. If you haven't heard of PBL (Problem-Based Learning) then get used to the term. It's real world learning centered on solving a problem. It can involve many curricular areas and take weeks of planning and instruction to complete. In my humble opinion, it's a direction we need to consider heading if we are serious about preparing our students for college and career. We are excited about our third grade PBL that we "kicked off" in style with a guest speaker who posed the problem to our students: How can we create a healthy honey bee hive? I am trusting third grade with documenting their journey and sharing their successes with us. Be on the lookout for hashtag #webeelearning and stay tuned for more!

Moore's Musings:

• Our faculty picture will be taken on Monday, January 25th at 3:15 at the lion mural. Please wear your blue school shirt (and blue jeans) on this day. 
• Mr. Havird and our district teachers of the year will be in our building on Friday morning. We are proud to host them in room 102.

Mark Your Calendar:

• January 21st: Talent Show Rehearsal #1 in the MP Room from 2:35-5:00 P.M. (meet in music room first)
• January 22nd: Class Pictures in the morning. We will start with grade 5. Thanks in advance for being flexible. 
• January 25th: Staff picture at 3:15 P.M.
• January 26th: AdvancED Committee 5 Meeting from 8:00-11:30 A.M. in PD Room.
• January 26th: Talent Show Final Rehearsal at PVHS from 2:35-5:00 P.M.
• January 28th: PVES Talent Show at PVHS from 6:00-8:00 P.M.
• January 29th: PVES Spelling Bee held in MP Room from 8:15-10:00 A.M. 

Video of the Week: My Favorite Talent Show Skit

Back At It

As quickly as Christmas Break arrived it had ended and here we are back at it once again. I don't have to tell you that we now enter a crucial stretch in the school year where we need our students to be focused and make tremendous gains. I was very impressed this week as I walked the hallways to see our students engaged and learning. We didn't waste any time! I want to challenge everyone to remember the word you chose as "your word" at the beginning of the school year. I challenged our office staff to do the same in preparation for the second half of the year.

 I want to take a moment to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers over the last two weeks. Rainbow and I received many texts, phone calls, emails, etc. after Grayson was born and it simply meant the world to us. Grayson gave us a scare, but he is a healthy and happy little boy.

We will have a somewhat abbreviated blog this week. I would refer you to our last blog from before the break for pertinent information. Additionally, we will be "flipping" our next faculty meeting meaning we will provide a video recording with important information that will be emailed to you early next week. Let's run through some important information and reminders:

SLO Mid-Conference Meetings:

Earlier this week, I emailed everyone a link to a sign-up genius so all certified staff could sign up for a time to meet with Mrs. Tollison and me regarding SLOs. You can also access the online sign-up here. 

As it pertains to the SLO mid-conference, please do not panic. This is simply a meeting to check on student progress. In very few cases, will we actually alter a student's goal. To do so, there must be a preponderance of evidence. The purpose of the meeting is to:

1. Review student progress

2. Additional support- discuss what is needed for students not making progress and for teachers 

3. Adjust SLO- only based on significant information 

While we all want each and every student to meet growth targets, we also know this is very often not the case. In order for you to receive a rating of PROFICIENT, 70-89% of your class needs to meet their growth targets. Also, don't forget that we will take an "average" of MAP and F&P for reading and an "average" of MAP and benchmark for math. This will also help. 

Our Next EAFK Ceremony:

Our next EAFK ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, January 14th. We will recognize students who embody the virtues of honesty and compassion. You should have already submitted to Mrs. Booth the names of your students who will be recognized. We will follow the schedule below:

3rd grade:  12:05-12:45

4th grade:  12:50-1:30

5th grade:  1:35-2:20

*Please email or call parents to confirm they received the letter sent by the front office. These letters were sent via mail today (Wednesday). 

Testing Update:

We will obviously meet several times to provide the latest testing information to you. As you already know, 4th and 5th grade students will take SCPASS for Social Studies and Science. All students grades 3, 4, and 5 will take SCREADY ELA-Writing, ELA-Reading, Mathematics. 5th grade will be tested online for SCREADY but will paper and pencil test for SCPASS. We also now have a testing calendar. (5th grade teachers, we will meet with you as a group to propose an online testing calendar)

SCREADY:

ELA Writing (Paper-Based) - April 26th

ELA Reading (Paper-Based) - April 27th

Mathematics (Paper-Based) - April 28th 

*Online testing window for all is April 19th-May 6th. 

*Make-up testing through May 6th 

SCPASS:

Science - May 11th

Social Studies - May 12th 

*Make-up testing through May 19th

*3rd grade does not test SCPASS

AESOP:

• All faculty and staff members are expected to enter in absences through the AESOP system starting today, January 4th. 
• It is imperative that you enter these absences in accurately since this will be used to track days, pay, and substitutes. 
• Remember that you must use Annual Days first (option A). 
• Select the appropriate type of day (half day of full day).
• The system defaults to needing a sub. If you do not need a sub or do not typically get a sub, please change this to "No" substitute required. 
• Patty will continue to place the absence forms in your box for the remainder of this school year. 
• All employee login information is attached. This document is also in our PVES 2015-2016 Teacher folder. 

 Aesop Login Information.pdf  

End of 2nd Nine Week Period:

• All grades are due by 8:00 AM on Tuesday, January 19th.
• Grade Verifications will be printed first thing in the morning on Tuesday, January 19th. Please carefully review these verifications and make necessary changes before grades are stored. It is a difficult process to make changes to grades once they have been stored. 
• Grades will be stored in the morning on Wednesday, January 20th. 
• Report Cards will be printed and placed in your box on Wednesday, January 20th. 
• Send report cards home with students on Thursday, January 21st.  

Friday, January 15th:

This day is marked as a staff development day. As I mentioned in an email sent to faculty and staff, we will send out a more detailed schedule of events after my principal's meeting this week. It is our intent to provide ample time to work in your classrooms and with one another. As you know, the following Monday, January 18th is MLK Day and we are out of school that day!

iCoach January Session with Preisig:

Thank you for your participation during our January iCoach session with Mrs. Preisig. Please be reminded that you need to complete the activity by the end of this week to be registered for the drawing. You need to complete the activity by the end of the month to receive credit. Don't hesitate to email Mrs. Preisig with any instructional technology questions or concerns!

In summary, please make sure you are constantly checking your calendar so you are aware of the MANY events taking place in our school. Thank you to everyone for striving to be the best. As Jane Harrison likes to put it, we strive for perfection but settle for excellence. This excellence is achieved because of your dedication and hard work. It does not go unnoticed. Whether you are celebrating a Clemson birth in the national championship game or simply making it to the end of the week, Friday is certainly a blue jean day! 

Video of the Week:

What Makes a Great Teacher?

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It is also one of the busiest times of the year for us all. Let us not forget to keep calm and do what we do best in the next few days as we approach a much needed two week break. This week's blog has a lot of information. Please keep reading so you can be informed because there are so many things happening this week! 

Important Info to Know:

Fundraiser Pick-up: Orders will be at the school on Wednesday, December 16th in our school's media center for pick up between the hours of 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm. We have communicated this information via paper and email. On Tuesday, December 15th a reminder call will go out to parents via Edulink. It would be helpful for you to communicate this to your class parents as well as some items need refrigeration. 

Fundraiser Incentives: Individual prizes that students earned will be included in with the orders picked up on Wednesday.  The top nine sellers will have the opportunity to slime Mr. Moore on Friday, December 18th. Friday will also be the day for the "Game Day" students earned. See below for the schedule. We have 110 students participating! (We will get a list of students participating to you as soon as possible.) Thanks for your support and assistance to make this winter fundraiser a huge success. 

Third Grade and Barnhill, Thompson, Moore, and Fulbright @ 9:30-10:30 
Fifth Grade and Hughes, Wilkie, Jordan, and Tate @ 10:30-11:30
Each group will be divided into three groups, and will rotate through each station for 20 minutes (game truck, laser tag, hamster ball). Students will finish with Kona Ice before they go back to class.

Class Party: Class parties will be held on Friday, December 18th beginning at 1:40. No one will be allowed to classrooms until 1:40. Parents can sign in through our main lobby area. They will have the option to sign their child out in the classroom at the end of the day. We look forward to a festive time with our students and parents on Friday afternoon! Please let the front office know if you need anything that day or afternoon. Feel free to leave after car riders have been dismissed. 

Chorus and Strings Concerts: Our Chorus concert will be held on Tuesday, December 15th in our school's multi-purpose room at 6:30. Doors will open at 6:00 at which time members of our Chorus are to report to the music room. The Strings concert will be held on Thursday, December 17th also in our multi-purpose room at 6:30. Again, doors open at 6:00. We have very talented students at PVES and hope you can make it to support our students as they perform!

Live streaming and recording: In a previous e-newsletter, we were excited to announce to parents that we would be able to live steam and record events this Christmas season. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are simply not able to do so. We are confident that we can use the system in the Spring and in the future to live stream and record events. We attempted to use the system to record the third grade performance, but our attempt was unsuccessful. Please make sure any parents who ask know that currently this is not an option. 

Let's Talk Testing

An email went out last week about testing information and updates. Included in this email was a presentation with information the District Office Administration felt our teachers need to know. Mr. Havird has strongly encouraged teachers to view this presentation. Here are some of the highlights:

SC Ready (Grades 3-8) 

• Tentative Test Window: April 27 - May 6
• Writing, Reading, English, Mathematics
• Open ended, traditional multiple choice, selected response items
• Timing (to be determined by the SCDE)
• Grades 5 and 8 will test online
• 100% aligned to 2015 SC College and Career Readiness Standards

SC PASS (Grades 4-8)

• Science, Social Studies
• Optional online
• Untimed
• Science includes field test items for the 2014 SC Science Standards

Please also keep in mind that Tammy Lee will begin working with resource, ESL, and regular education teachers to review testing accommodations to prepare for ordering testing materials, creating small groups, etc. Thank you for working with her and assisting her as needed in this process.

Great Things Are Always Happening at PVES:

Teachers and students have been working hard to Tech the Halls of PVES. Enjoy this quick Animoto video of some of the displays around our school. 

Great job to both our teachers and students for stepping up to donate canned goods. We had 793 items donated last week. Thank you for your generosity. 

Last week Mr. Moore took some third grade teachers to visit Forest Lake Elementary School in Richland 2. This school is doing some great things with PBL and NASA. Teachers came back with some wonderful ideas. 

Third grade students performed their Christmas program and had an excellent turn out by friends and family. Mrs. Turner made sure students were prepared and the musical was a hit. Thank you to third grade teachers for supporting their students and being flexible with some last minute changes in logistics. 

The Christmas Luncheon sponsored by PTSO was a special treat. Please make sure to express thanks for all they do for us at PVES!

Our hospitality committee put together another wonderful Christmas Dinner for staff members and spouses. The evening included dinner, desserts, games, door prizes, and a hay ride to see Christmas lights. A great time was had by all who attended! Check out some pictures from the snowman competition.  

            


On Monday third grade teachers had an opportunity to use half of the day to plan their upcoming PBL unit on bees. It was incredible to hear such rich discussion taking place between teachers, our science lab teacher, media specialist, and school technologist. They were able to tie in all content areas and related arts during the planning process. Third graders will begin their PBL unit on January 19th with a special guest to share their driving question for the unit. Look for updates on this amazing and innovative time for PVES! 

Mark Your Calendar:

• Tuesday, December 15th- Digital Playground @ 3:15
• Tuesday, December 15th- 4th and 5th Grade Chorus Concert @ 6:30 (MP Room)
• Wednesday, December 16th- Fundraiser Order Pick up 1:30-5:30 (Media Center)
• Wednesday, December 16th- Fire Drill (Time will not be announced) 
• Thursday, December 17th- Strings Concert @ 6:30 (MP Room) 
• Friday, December 18th- Jean Day for Teachers and Everyone's Tacky Sweater Day for Relay for Life ($1 for Sweaters)
• Friday, December 18th- Fundraiser Game Day (see above for details and times)
• Friday, December 18th- Slime Mr. Moore
• Friday, December 18th- Class Parties @ 1:40 

Tollison's Tidings:

• This month's Digital Playground will be the best one yet! Join us in the Media Center turned Coffee Shop at 3:15 for some hot chocolate, coffee, and sweat treats. Use this time to treat yourself, learn about Today's Meet and enjoy great conversations with colleagues. Jessica Preisig also has some exciting giveaways. You will not want to miss! (Be sure to sign into PD Express for credit.) 

• This week's video includes our school Christmas card. We shared this card with our District Office staff and administration as well as other school's administration teams in our district. Thank you for sending in photos and videos. Please share with your parents and students. We will plan to share via social media soon! 

'Tis the Season

And just like that, we're off and running toward Christmas Break. We are less than three weeks away from a well-deserved time away from school. December is crazy busy for educators (emphasis on CRAZY). Still, let's take a moment to reflect on our higher calling and purpose. We can use these last few weeks to make a difference. It's important that our students know that these days leading up to break do indeed count. In the chaos that ensues throughout the next twelve days, let us remain patient and kind and truly focused on our jobs. 'Tis the season, as they say, so let us keep doing our very best so we can say we did everything in our power to make a difference.

And We Have A Test:

*Please do not share this information with parents or students just yet*

From the creators of PACT and PASS comes SC READY! Yes, your new state test for accountability has been voted on and approved. While there is still much we DON'T know about the test, we do not that it will be 100% aligned to the new SC College and Career Ready standards. That's right - teach the standards and we will be fine. We do not expect the test to be timed. We do expect a variety of question types (multiple choice, constructed response, etc.). A test blue print and practice test will eventually be provided. The contract for this test is signed through 2020 so there will certainly be some consistency. One grade level (not grade 3) will be tested online this year with all grade levels being tested via computer beginning next school year. If you are doing some preliminary research, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan have tests that will be similar in make and procedure. If you are like me, you have a million questions. Please know we will release information as soon as it comes available. However, as far as high stakes testing goes, this is great news! 

PASS for Science and Social Studies will still be administered, but to whom is still up in the air. More than likely, our third grade friends will be spared from both but 4th and/or 5th grade students are fair game. We hope to know soon! 

Christmas Fun for YOU:
Our faculty Christmas luncheon will be held on Tuesday, December 8th in the PD Room (102). Parent volunteers will cover your classrooms beginning as soon as they check in at 11:00 A.M. until about 1:00 P.M. Obviously, you will want to leave instructions for your parent that they can easily follow. This is always an enjoyable time for our teachers and staff! Be sure to thank our PTSO board for their hard work in planning the event as well as serving during the event.

Our faculty Christmas party is scheduled for Friday, December 11th at the River Reserve Clubhouse. Information was placed in your teacher box about the event including menu and payment options. As was the case last year, we will have some fun activities and games in store for the party that you will not want to miss. Get your money to Patty as soon as possible. We had our largest crowd ever last year and we would love to top that number this year. Look forward to seeing you all there!

Christmas Calendar:
Please familiarize yourself with the many events taking place at PVES this December. 3rd graders are performing this week. Our 4th/5th Chorus and Strings students have performances soon. Our canned food drive is ongoing as well! It's a busy time of year, but I hope you will consider attending and participating in these events. Check out the smore I created and shared with parents for December!

Relay Fridays:
It's that time again....RELAY Fridays!

This coming Friday, December 4th will be extra recess day.  Every $1.00 your class raises will give them an extra minute of recess!  Plan to spread the minutes out over the next two weeks before Christmas break (if that's feasible).  

Friday, December 11th will be Pajama Day!  Any student who brings a $1.00 donation for Relay for Life can wear pajamas on that day.

The final Friday, December 18th will be Crazy Christmas Day!  Students who bring a $1.00 donation for Relay for Life can dress tacky, crazy, Christmasy..etc.!  The more red and green, the better!

Please get the word out about these Friday events via newsletters, email blasts, etc. Thanks!

If you follow our twitter feed, you know there are so many awesome things taking place in our classrooms. Our teachers are so talented! Here are some cool things we captured on camera.

PVES Art Show:
Mrs. Nix's hard work paid off in a tremendous way with her best art show to date! Thanks to those of you who made it a point to stop by and support your students and Mrs. Nix. A special "thank you" to those of you who volunteered during the event. We have some very talented students!

Cleaning Out:
As I walked down the hallway one day, I spotted Mrs. Clary and Mrs. Garrett at the end of the hallway cleaning out a closet. No one asked them to do this. They took it upon themselves to get the job done. They have made a great deal of progress in the closet at the end of the hallway (making their way through black widow spiders and unknown objects) and it will soon be a well-organized space that houses a variety of science equipment and materials. Thanks again, ladies!

Field Trip:
Ms. Marino's class visited the Upstate Children's Museum on Wednesday and had a blast. I was lucky enough to attend and enjoyed bring with that special group of students. The museum was very accommodating and Ms. Marino did a great job of planning the day for her students. It takes quite a bit of work to load up that group of students and hit the road, but we made it safe and sound. Thanks for the invite!

Moore's Musings:

• With so much happening these next few weeks, please make every effort to be at school. It is more difficult to find subs on Mondays and Fridays especially and even moreso as we near the break. 
• Thanks for making sure you are at school by 7:50 A.M. and in your room. Duty seems to be going very well in both the morning and afternoon so thank you all for that! 

Mark Your Calendar:

• December 3rd - 4th (morning)/5th (afternoon) Grade Reading Teachers PD in Room 102 (Lunch Provided). 
• December 4th - 3rd Grade Reading Teacher PD in Room 102. 
• December 4th - Relay Friday - Extra Recess Day
• December 8th - PTSO Faculty Luncheon in PD Room from 11:00 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.
• December 11th - Faculty Christmas Party at 6:30 P.M.

*Please review all upcoming events on our shared calendar. 

Video of the Week