Hello Pine View Elementary Families!
We hope you are all doing very well. Here are some updates of exciting events coming up in the next few weeks. Elementary Parent Coffee –Thursday, 11/29/18, from 9:15 – 10:00 in the Multi-Purpose Room. Topics planned for discussion include gathering your thoughts on homework and sharing information about twice exceptional students’ experience at Pine View. (“Twice exceptional students” are those who are gifted and have additional exceptionalities such as ADHD). November Elementary Spirit Day – Friday, 11/30/18 – Students can dress like a twin or a triplet – coordinating outfits with another student or students. Elementary student council organizes these spirit days for fun – there is no fee to participate, and of course it is completely optional. Pine View Python Chorus – Tuesday, 12/4/18 – 6:30 – 7:30 pm. All are welcome to join us for an evening of holiday music performed by our elementary chorus, with leadership by Ms. Shepler. Run with the Principal – Friday, 12/7/18 – 8:15 – 8:45 am. All are welcome to join our FREE before-school Run Club, which meets at the track every day from 8:15 – 8:45. (Runners, joggers, and walkers are all welcome, including parents.) Dr. Covert joins from time to time, and on Friday the 7th I will be out there, running along with the students. It is such a joy to participate because spending time on the track is such a great way to start the day! Research has proven how beneficial exercise is to the brain as well as the body, and our students who attend run club benefit from increased focus, patience, and self-control due to brain chemicals (BDNF) stimulated by exercise. If your child would like to attend, please have him/her pick up paperwork in the main office to get registered. Again, it is FREE! Daddy-Daughter Dance – Friday, 12/7/18 – 6:00 – 8:30 pm. We welcome all elementary daughters and dads (or special friends) to join us for a magical evening. Many students and dads come back year after year for this beautiful event, sponsored by the Class of 2020. Please pick up information at the office if you would like to buy your ticket ahead of time. We promise it will be an unforgettable evening! Homework Committee Coming Soon – We are collecting feedback in order to look at our homework policies. We will send out additional information regarding meeting dates for the new committee after the new year. In the meantime, please feel free to share your feedback via our homework survey, which can be accessed here: Homework Survey (Can also be accessed as a tab on the Resources subpage of this web site!) Elementary Informational Web Site – Please note that these updates will now be available on the new elementary web site. It can be accessed under the Student Life tab on the Pine View web site, or directly via this link: https://pineviewelementary.weebly.com/ We hope you are all doing very well, and we thank you for your ongoing support of our amazing teachers and incredible students. Have a great night! Alison Rini
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Dear Families,
Happy Monday! We hope you are all doing well. I just have a few things to share today: Peramathon – Pine View’s school “jogathon” is this Friday, November 9th. All elementary students participate, so make sure they are all wearing sneakers and sunscreen! If they have ordered shirts (still available in the front office!) the shirts will be delivered to their classrooms on Friday. 2nd and 3rd graders will run in the morning (9:40 – 10:40), and 4th and 5th graders will run in the afternoon (1:20 – 2:20). If you would like to help, please check out the Sign-Up Genius shared by PVA organizers: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F4CA4A622A64-pine Parent Meetings – We wanted to share a reminder that parents need an appointment in order to visit a classroom. We know it can be tempting to “stop by” if you feel you just have one or two things to share, but unfortunately that is not possible. Teachers have numerous responsibilities during the day, and they want to be able to pay attention to you and your concerns rather than being distracted by time-sensitive matters such as attending to their students or preparing for instruction. If you have an urgent or immediate concern, please feel free to call the office and we will get the message to the teacher. Otherwise it is best to set up a mutually convenient time to talk using established methods of communication (which vary from teacher to teacher) including sending an email or writing a message in the student’s agenda book. Parent Book Club – Our first meeting of this year’s parent book club will be this Thursday, November 8th, in the MPR, from 9:15 – 10:00 am. We have chosen the book Mindset by Carol Dweck, which discusses a philosophy of success that has been widely embraced by the educational community of the 21st century. You are invited to join us for a discussion over the next few months – we will share our meeting schedule on the PV website and we will discuss one chapter each meeting. Please feel free to come on Thursday even if you don’t have the book yet, or if you haven’t read chapter 1. All are welcome. (Note – Mrs. Spielman is offering an earlier meeting time on the same book – if you’d prefer to come at 7:30, please join her in the media center, also on November 8th.) Emotional Regulation – At October’s parent coffee, we discussed helping our students develop “emotional intelligence” and I was asked to share the list of strategies that helps students (people!) handle strong emotions. These strategies are from Marc Brackett, who heads the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and they should be interpreted as are more of a starting point than an exhaustive list. What follows are both short-term strategies (which can be used during a challenging situation) and long-term strategies (which can build up resilience that helps us handle challenges with more grace in the future). Some key areas of growth for our students including learning to recognize when they are upset, as well as learning and using strategies (such as those below) to manage and regulate their emotions. Effective short-term strategies for regulating emotions – use in the moment
Effective strategies for regulating emotions – long-term investments
“Short term strategies get you through the moment - Long term strategies get you through life!” – Marc Brackett, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence Finally, we are working on putting together a PV Elementary website where these newsletters will be archived. We will let you know when it goes live! (If you are reading this on the web site, then consider it live!) Have a great afternoon, and thank you again for all you do for our students and our school. Alison Rini Hello Pine View Elementary Families,
As the first quarter closes and the second quarter of the school year begins, we have already seen so much growth and learning from your children. The faculty and staff at Pine View are very happy to be learning alongside our students, and we appreciate your role in keeping everything on track so all students can do their best each day. I will send out periodic elementary updates in order to help everyone stay aligned – please read on for an overview of some upcoming events. Civility Squad – The “Civility Squad” is a county-wide initiative to help our community focus on positive ways to relate to each other. Your children may be coming home with buttons, stickers, or other evidence of this campaign. We are in our first year of this program, and each month we are promoting different character traits. October is dedicated to “Speak Kindly” – we are trying to use words that help rather than words that hurt. Some of PV’s high school students are working on creating a video about the campaign in their TV production class – we are excited to share our students’ positivity and we will let you know when the video is completed. If you’d like additional information about the program, please see the Gulf Coast Community Foundation: https://www.gulfcoastcf.org/civic-and-economic-development/because-it-matters Giving Challenge – October 22-November 16 – Pine View is so lucky to have such a generous community. For our school’s 50th anniversary, we wanted to help students and teachers think outside the box to learn different ways to help out and spread joy. PVA is spear-heading a #GivingTuesday initiative which invites elementary students to find different ways to help others. Please see attached flyer for weekly themes, including assisting the elderly (this week), helping kids in need, and taking pride in our community. Students can log hours to join the movement, parents can volunteer to assist planned activities, and we can all work together to make an impact. If you have any questions or want to get involved, please contact Stephanie Hofmann, [email protected] Elementary Parent Coffee – October 25 – Please feel free to join us in the student union this Thursday, from 9:20 – 10:00 for an opportunity to meet other elementary parents and to discuss current issues. I received a request to share agenda items for the coffee in advance, and so I wanted to share that the topics we will focus on this week will be A) managing frustration and focus, and B) the power of parent-teacher relationships. You are more than welcome to join us if you would like. Spirit Day – October 26 – This month’s theme is Beach Day! Students can dress according to the theme, but please remember to keep shoes school- (and PE-) appropriate, and to keep clothes within the PV dress code (shirts need sleeves, shorts need to cover appropriate areas, etc.). Spirit Day is not a fund-raiser – it is just an optional opportunity to have fun and show school spirit by dressing in the theme. Classes with the most participation will receive recognition and bragging rights. 😊 Fall Parade – October 31 – Our second and third graders are going to parade around campus right after drop-off. The costume themes are: 2nd grade – book characters, 3rd grade – compound words, homophones, or homographs. Please contact your child’s teacher with any questions. The parade typically lasts about 15 minutes, but it is well worth the time to come revel in our students’ creativity! Elementary Club List – Many people have requested a list of elementary clubs, and I am pleased to let you know that the list of Pine View’s clubs is now located on our website. Please go to the “Student Life” dropdown menu, and choose “Pine View Clubs and Organizations 18-19”. If you have any questions about a club or its meeting times, please contact the sponsor. Disabilities Awareness Month – Pine View is a school where we honor our students’ many exceptionalities, and we want to learn as a community about the many ways our unique students experience their time at school. We are inviting staff, students, parents and the entire PV community to enter a giveaway contest in honor of Disabilities Awareness Month. We have 25 prizes to give away, all geared towards increasing awareness and acceptance of people with disabilities and differing abilities. The prizes range from informative books and fictional stories including main characters with a disability, to adaptive equipment such as planners, slant boards for writing and a ball chair. To enter the contest you can use the following link and fill out the Microsoft Form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=E9pxtx3TRUedpjocyHRS0V7mFUkebAxBonXynwTFAjBUNUpMM1c5OFNRV0JXOFNWQVg4N1g1MFFXMy4u Peramathon – November 9th – Peramathon is one of PVA’s biggest fundraisers, and an awesome celebration of physical activity and our students’ multifaceted abilities. You should be receiving order forms for shirts (special price available until this Friday) and envelopes to collect pledges. Parent volunteers are a huge part of making this day so special, and we appreciate all of your help in preparing and running the activities. Reach out to PVA if you’d like to get involved ([email protected] ), or come join your child on the track! Math Night – We had a great turn-out for our first Elementary Math Night. While it is not possible to recap the evening for those who didn’t make it, I did want to share a guide to online resources (attached) that was shared in case it is helpful to family members as you assist your children with homework. Thank you to Mrs. Rosander and Mrs. White for preparing this helpful document! Finally, I hope that these email updates are useful. I know there have been cases where a parent has not received these emails, and I know that can be confusing. If you know an elementary parent who is not receiving these emails, they should go into their Parent Portal account and make sure they have the correct email address in the system. They can also call the school and ask for Mrs. Sue Manders, our registrar, who will be able to look at their system preferences and may be able to advise about any difficulties. Our goal is to have open communication, so we can all work together to give our students the best possible experience. Thank you for the role you play at our school and for the privilege of educating your children. Best wishes for a great week, Alison Rini and the Elementary Faculty |
Alison RiniAssistant Principal Archives
April 2019
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