Hi Reptile Families,

We want to thank you for your involvement and support to start this school year! We have had a great start to the year, and are excited to see so much family involvement.

We had a great turnout for conference night. As we near the end of Quarter 1, please make sure you have scheduled a conference with your child's teacher. This is the time to see how your child is doing and what support they need to be successful. Our teachers and our school want to see your child succeed, and we believe that school and family collaboration can make that happen!

Another exciting highlight is that out of the entire school district, New River is in fourth place in the Race to Read challenge! We know that the more minutes our students read, the more academic success they have. Keep up the great reading, and log those reading minutes in the Beanstack app!

If you ever have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us. Thank you for your continued support!

Colleen Wilkinson, Principal

Katie Ketterer, Assistant Principal

Deanna Wakely, Admin Intern

We would love to pack our bus loop with volunteer families that can decorate their car and pass out candy for our Trunk or Treat. If you are able to volunteer, please click the following link:
https://nres.pasco.k12.fl.us/mform/view.php?id=68986

Flyers will be sent home on Wednesday, October 4th in your student's communication binder.

See the following link for some car decorating ideas. There are tons of ideas out there
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/.../trunk-or-treat-ideas/

Our next Early Release Day of the school year will be Wednesday, October 4th. School will release at 2:20 p.m.

The following days will also be Early Release Days.

November 1, 2023

December 6, 2023

January 10, 2024

February 14, 2024

March 13, 2024

April 10, 2024

Hello New River Families,

I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Godshall and I am your new school counselor. I have been a counselor for 15 years, but am new to Pasco County Schools. I have already met so many of your wonderful children and look forward to working with you this year as well. I am passionate about advocating for students' mental health and delivering individual, small group, or whole class lessons with students. I am here for you & your child. It's going to be a great year!

Thank you,

Mr. G.

tgodshal@pasco.k12.fl.us

Dear Families and Friends,

The Great American Teach-In (GATI) is upon us, and we are so excited! GATI is a day in which members of the community are offered the opportunity to come visit our school and share all about their careers with the students. This is such a special day that students are always so excited about! We are looking for volunteers to come into the classrooms to talk about your work or share a hobby. You can volunteer for 30 minutes, or you can stay for the entire day, doing multiple presentations. The amount of time you volunteer is completely based on your schedule.

GATI will take place on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, from 10:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out the registration form on the back of this letter and return it to your child’s teacher as soon as possible. All forms must be returned prior to Friday, November 3rd. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher or Tim Godshall (tgodshal@pasco.k12.fl.us). We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Tim Godshall, M.A. (School Counselor)

Hello, parents!

We are excited to announce that we will be continuing our All Pro Dad Chapter here at New River Elementary School! All Pro Dad is a monthly gathering where dads get to intentionally engage with their kids! This of course is not just limited to dads, but all children must be accompanied by an adult. There will be fun activities and a character-based curriculum that helps dads start meaningful conversations with their kids. Our first gathering is scheduled for 11/29/23 at 8:50AM and we would love to see you there. If you would like to come, please RSVP by scanning the QR code below! For more information or questions, contact our team captain, Tim Godshall, at this email: tgodshal@pasco.k12.fl.us.

Make sure your child is reading 30 minutes a night - and that they are logging their minutes on the Beanstack app! New River is currently in 4th place in the entire district in the Race to Read Challenge. Keep up the amazing reading Reptiles!

Snag your spot for our trunk or treat vehicle decorating contest! First 20 families who sign up will be automatically eligible for the drawing.

It's your time to shine, show us your creativity and our kids will be the judge! Added bonus-pass out candy/treats to all the kids in attendance.

Voting will be made to our secret ballot box at the PTO table!

It is very important that you have access to your child's Parent Portal. This is where you will be able to view your child's Progress Reports and Report Cards, test results, and bus passes.

Please also make sure that you have completed your child's Parent Bill of Rights, which can be accessed through the Parent Portal. It is important that parents acknowledge and declare in writing whether they want their student to participate in various educational opportunities and related activities, and whether their students may be provided healthcare and other services available to them.

You can find more information about the Parent Bill of Rights and the Parent Portal at the following website: https://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/oll_documents/parent-bill-of-rights.If you need help creating or logging in to your account, please call our front office at 813-346-0500.

All student fees will be paid via the RYCOR system. You will also use RYCOR to purchase school T-shirts and the Birthday Marquee.

The link is https://www.studentquickpay.com/pasco

Attendance is very important to student's progress! Our school will be monitoring student attendance and will be reaching out to families if students have more than 5 unexcused absences a quarter. Tardies or early check out also count towards absences. 2 tardies/early check outs count towards 1 absence.

Please view this video from Superintendent Browning about the importance of attendance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xTXmx_J78c

If your child will have an extended absence, please communicate directly with his or her teacher. Please also fill out the attendance link on New River Elementary's website any time your child will be absent. This is also how you can upload doctor's notes for excused absences.

Report an Absence: https://nres.pasco.k12.fl.us/mform/view.php?id=24671

Submit a Dr Note: https://nres.pasco.k12.fl.us/mform/view.php?id=25498

This year, Pasco County Schools is participating in the Community Eligibility Provision, which means that during the 2023-2024 school year all students can receive free breakfast and lunch. You can view breakfast and lunch menus on our website at https://schools.mealviewer.com/school/NewRiverElementarySchool.

If you would like your child to buy ala carte snacks, you can still add money on their MySchoolBucks account.

Presidential Fitness pretesting has concluded. Our 3-5 grade students will be working on improving muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, flexibility, speed, and agility this year. They have set goals to improve the number of sit ups and pushups they can do. Also, they will be working on their mile time and flexibility! Any encouragement you can give at home is greatly appreciated!

NRES Fun Run Club for 2-5 grade students begins this month. We have over 100 members so far! Look for a "Welcome to Running Club" notice in your child's Wednesday Folder on October 11. Running begins October 23rdat 9:30 AM. Please make sure you have access to your child’s PBIS account because we will communicate any announcements or changes to the regularly scheduled running dates (weather etc.). Students may not have more than 3 unexcused absences to stay in the Fun Run Club. Absences from school and appointments are excused, just message us to let us know.

My name is Ms. Brown, and I am so excited to have all the students this year in our new to New River Computer Science class. I teach every class for 45 minutes a week, and am really enjoying this new course!

In 2nd, 3rd ,4th, and 5th grades, we have been working really hard in the code.org course to learn the basics of coding. We have also been learning to color code using the Ozobot robots. We will be continuing to work on robots this next month. If you get a few moments some students could use some work on learning their username and password. It will be a good thing for them to know and will stay with them as long as they are in a Pasco County public school.

In Kindergarten and first grade we have done a lot of work in the computer science standards with Strawbees. We have also worked with some basic robots. We will be starting with computer basics in K and be logging on to code.org course also in both grade levels using a QR code.

I have really enjoyed getting to know ALL of the wonderful reptiles.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

NOTIFICATION OF INSPECTION FOR ASBESTOS CONTAINING

MATERIALS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final rule, 40 CFR Part 763 Subpart E, Asbestos Containing Material in Schools. This rule requires all Local Education Agencies to identify asbestos containing materials in their school buildings and to take appropriate actions to control the release of asbestos fibers.

An Asbestos Management Plan for New River Elementary School has been completed and describes the results of the inspection, if applicable, and the action plan to control any asbestos found during the inspection. A copy of this plan is located in the administrative office of this school and at the Pasco County Schools Maintenance & Facility Services Department and is available for review upon request.

October 4th - Early Release Day - school dismisses at 2:20 p.m.

October 4th- Bubba's 33 Family Night Fundraiser

October 5th- Student Flu Clinic

October 12th- Health Clinic for grades K-3, Odyssey of the Mind Interest Meeting 5:30

October 13th- End of Quarter 1, Fine Arts Academies

October 16th - No School for Students (Teacher Planning Day)

October 17th- SAC Meeting, PTO Board Meeting

October 17th - 31st- Book a Thon Fundraiser and Theme Days

October 18th - Picture Day

October 24th - Report Card grades released on Parent Portal

October 27th- Trunk or Treat - 6-8 pm

October 31st- Book Character Parade

November 1st - Early Release Day - school dismisses at 2:20 p.m.

Fortify Florida is a suspicious activity reporting tool that allows you to instantly relay information to the appropriate law enforcement agencies and school officials.

https://www.getfortifyfl.com/