GVES Weekly Update
April 5, 2019
Upcoming Events
4/10: School Store
4/11: 4th Grade Funtime
4/12: GVES Spirit Day
4/12: Lunch Buddies
SUMMER CAMPS
Order your GV Spiritwear!
PSSA Testing Dates - Attendance is Important
- ELA - Grades 3, 4, 5 - April 24, 25, & 26
- Math - Grades, 3, 4, 5 - April 29 & 30
- Science - Grade 4 only - May 1 & 2
Take Your Child to Work Day
April 25th is "Take Your Child to Work Day." Children who take the day to be with parents at work will be marked absent, but the absence will be excused. Absences should be reported using the Safe Arrival app as is the usual procedure. While we see the value in this learning and family bonding experience, we find ourselves with a scheduling conflict for our students in grades 3, 4, and 5. April 25th is a PSSA testing day. The state assessment calendar is dictated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. It is important that students be present for the testing. The test make-up window is limited and providing make-up testing for large numbers of students would be very difficult. If your child is in grade 3, 4, or 5, please have him/her attend school on April 25th and consider another date if you choose to have your child visit your place of work if this is possible. Thank you.
Raptor Reminder
Beginning April 23, all visitors will need an ID to go into the school. Please bring your ID if you will be visiting the school. Details are below.
Garnet Valley School District is pleased to announce that we will begin using the Raptor Visitor Management System in all of our schools to strengthen our program of campus safety for students and faculty. Although Raptor is already used at the secondary level, all elementary schools will begin implementation after spring break. Part of keeping students and faculty safe is knowing who is in our buildings at all times, and the Raptor system will allow us to do that. The Raptor system will better allow us to screen visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our schools and provide us with a safer environment for our students and staff.
Upon entering a district building, visitors will be asked to present an ID such as a Driver’s License, which can either be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a parent or guardian for any reason does not have a US government-issued ID, the school staff member can use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our school campuses without our knowledge. The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded and the information is not shared with any outside agency. Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit. A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork.
The safety of our students is our highest priority and the Raptor visitor management system allows us to quickly identify those that may present a danger to our students. Thank you in advance for your understanding and your support in enhancing the school safety protocols in our district.
5TH TO 6TH GRADE PARENT MEETING
Please join us on Wednesday, April 10th in the Garnet Valley Middle School Auditorium. During our presentation, we will share exciting information in regards to the new implementation of the middle school schedule that will start in September 2019. This means not only will we begin our typical transition communication, but we will also unveil our new course selection process for student choice within our elective programming.
Parent Night Schedule:
For Incoming 6th Grade Parents
·Schedule Overview: 6:00 – 7:00 PM in the Auditorium
*Time built in for transition between presentations for arrival and departure purposes.
For Incoming 7th & 8th Grade Parents
·Schedule Overview: 7:30 – 8:30 PM in the Auditorium
All incoming 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade students will participate in a course selection student assembly on Thursday, April 11th. Students will come home with a paper copy of the course selection form to share and discuss with you. After the parent presentation night, the GVMS Course Selection Guide will be available electronically for you to reference as you have your family discussion. Please review the course selection form with your child and send the form back with selections and signatures on Tuesday, April 23rd.
All information from the parent night and the student assembly information will be posted on the GVMS Scheduling website on April 12th. The link is below.
https://sites.google.com/garnetvalley.org/gvmsupdate/home
Thank you,
Lisa, Dawn, and Gerry
School News
Thanks for taking some time to watch some or all of our episode.
Fun Time Flyer - 4th Grade
Final School Store
Philadelphia Boys and Girls Choir
Hello all Parents, I am delighted to let you know that Mr. Jeffery Smith, director of the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Girls Choir will once again be visiting our school on Thursday, April 11, to audition boys who are interested in joining the Philadelphia Boys Choir.
If your son is interested in auditioning, please fill out this online Audition Form. (You do not need to print the form from Mr. Smith) Please respond by Wednesday, April 10th.
Details about this organization can be found on the attached letter as well as on the following websites: Philadelphia Boys Choir. Philadelphia Girls Choir,
Your child may be pulled from class or from recess for this 5 minute audition.
Students will need to sing a song they have learned in their music class as well as a few pitch matching exercises with Mr. Smith. Please know that this is a no obligation audition as mentioned in Mr. Smith's letter.
(Girls who are interested in auditioning for the girls choir may contact Mr. Smith directly at
We currently have 10 GVSD students involved with this world class organization.
Important: All students who ultimately become a member of the Philadelphia Boys Choir or Girls Choir must also be a member of their grade level chorus at GVES.
Mr. Smith and I correspond regularly regarding rehearsal attendance.
Please contact Mr. Lenderman directly at 610-579-4212 or lend@garnetvalley.org for any questions regarding the audition process.
GV Mini Thon is Coming!
GVE HSA Weekly Announcements – 3/29/19
School Store – Wednesday, April 10th
Our next school store is Wednesday, April 10th! Students can shop at recess for items ranging from 50 cents to $3.00. Special coupons available above for this month’s school store!
4th Grade Fun Night - Thursday, April 11th
We are excited to announce our 4th Grade Fun Night event to be held April 11th, from 6-8pm at Maple Zone Sports Complex. There will be lots of fun activities for the students to participate in, and pizza, drinks and snacks will be served.
Please use this link to register: http://bit.ly/4thGradeFuntime2019. The cost will be $13 per student. Payment will be accepted via MySchoolBucks.com or cash/check sent to school with your student. This is a drop-off event and limited to 4th grade students only. No siblings.
We are also looking for parent volunteers for the night of the event, so if you are interested please indicate that on your registration form or contact Kathy Vaughn (kap4kids@yahoo.com).
Student Placement Process
As we wrap up spring conferences, we naturally start to think about next school year. We have an extensive placement process that uses student assessment and observation data to help us place each student into next year’s classes. Our teachers collect this information, and it goes to our placement team. The team creates mixed-ability homerooms that are well-balanced by student gender, background, personality, and development. As part of this process, we do not accept requests for specific teachers. Such requests are not sent to the team that makes the classes.
On some occasions, there may be information specific to your child beyond what will be shared at spring conferences. If you believe there are circumstances that may not be addressed within the comprehensive placement process, please complete this form by May 1, 2019 for students who will be attending GVES in the fall. Teacher requests should not be included in these letters. The information you provide will go directly to the GVES principals in lieu of letters or emails regarding student placement.
Thank you for your understanding and confidence in our process to place all of our students.
Jaguar Jog Time Again
Get ready, Get Set, REGISTER!
Registration for the 5th Annual Jaguar Jog is now open.The afternoon of Family Fun will be held on April 28, 2019 from 1-4 pm. We will have the 5K and 1 mile races, along with entertainment by Charismatic Entertainment, field day games, Kona Ice and new this year - John Williams of RE/MAX Excellence will be raffling off a laptop computer! All who register and are in attendance are eligible to WIN the laptop! Other prizes include: a chance to win an iFLY gift card for all GVES students who run the 5K and water ice parties for the classes with the most participation!
Go to the website for more information and to register.
To volunteer please use this link https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805044aacaf28a20-fifth
If you are interested in sponsoring the event, please contact Jennifer Connolly. We are thrilled to have John Williams as our presenting sponsor and Charismatic Entertainment as our entertainment for the day! But we have plenty of room for more businesses to get involved.
Garnet Valley CTC Quick Tip #32 Essential Spring Cleaning
The results are back from the 2017 Pennsylvania Youth Survey for Garnet Valley’s 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. We also have results from 2013 and 2015.
The results of this anonymous survey are self-reported and represent 83.9% of our students.
Did you know? The most important Spring Cleaning you can do is in your family’s medicine cabinet. In our district, students who abused medications most often took medications from a family member living in their home. The percentage doubled in 2017 to 48.8 % from 21.7% in 2015. This is a concerning trend. All other forms of access declined ( PAYS 2015, 2017).
“The teen years are an extremely vulnerable period when an individual starts using and experimenting with drugs. Drugs can hijack the brain and overpower the brain biochemically and make it very difficult for a person to resist impulses and to stop that habit.” Ken C. Winters, PhD Senior Scientist Oregon Research Institute and Adjunct Faculty Department of Psychology University of Minnesota
Call to action…
· Take expired and unneeded medications to Bethel Police Station for disposal.
· Monitor and secure the medications your family needs including grandparents.
· Keep track of amounts and keep track of refills.
Why does this matter?
· “Nearly 80 percent of people who inject heroin start by abusing Rx drugs.” (NIDA 2017)
Learn more by clicking below.
http://drugfree.org/medicine-abuse-project/
https://drugfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Heroin-Fentanyl-Other-Opioids-eBook-Partnership-for-Drug-Free-Kids.pdf?utm_source=email&utm_medium=parent&utm_campaign=opioid-ebook-releaseCOTA--Celebration of the Arts
The Celebration of the Arts is just around the corner. In fact, it's next month. The students of Garnet Valley have been diligently working in the Visual Arts, Technology, and Family and Consumer Science Departments. The Celebration of the Arts is our opportunity to demonstrate our creativity, talents, and dedication. So please mark your calendars and plan to attend. The opening exhibition is Tuesday, May 7 from 6:00 - 8:30 pm in the HS new gym.
Additional viewing times are:
Tuesday, May 7, daytime from 8am - 6pm
Wednesday, May 8 daytime from 8am - 3pm
Wednesday, May 8 evening from 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Thursday, May 9 daytime from 8am - 3pm
It’s FREE to the public! We are looking forward to seeing you there!
UPCOMING PARENT WORKSHOPS & COMMUNITY EVENTS
Jaguarmax Radio Podcast
Want a chance to be on the podcast? Students can submit a book review here and you might get to read it and be on iTunes!
Jaguarmax Radio Podcast on iTunes
Important Links
After School Activity Dismissal Procedures - Dismissal Locations
VEFLS - Foreign Language Contact Person, kgardler@yahoo.com or 610-717-2755
Cafeteria Information - Menus and Payments
GVES Yearly Calendar - Important Dates
Safe Arrival - Attendance Reporting App
GVSD App - Download app here
MySchoolBucks - Online Payments
District Text Messaging Opt-In - Registration Info
Parent Right to Know Information
Connect with GVES! Now Podcasting!
Garnet Valley Elementary School
"A Caring Community of Learners"
Est. 1997
The mission of our learning community is to maximize the potential of all students by empowering them to do their personal best.
Website: gves.garnetvalleyschools.com
Location: 599 Smithbridge Rd
Phone: (610) 579-4150
Facebook: facebook.com/GarnetValleyES
Twitter: @GarnetValleyES