The Pine Bough
Pine River Elementary School Newsletter, January 2021
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! It is exciting to welcome all of the students back to learning!
As we begin 2021 and near the halfway point of the school year, I thought it might be helpful to share my thoughts on how we can continue to forge a positive relationship, focused on the success of your student. In that spirit, I offer the following statements:
Count on me...
- To exhibit a caring attitude and positive regard for all of our students.
- To visibly demonstrate my belief that every student can learn and grow.
- To maintain high expectations for academics, behavior, and citizenship.
- To listen carefully and investigate any concerns fully.
- To ensure that discipline is a teaching and learning experience.
- To return your phone call or email within 12 hours.
- To be available for any appointment scheduled through Mrs. Rybarczyk.
- To constantly research and develop strategies to improve educational practices and remove barriers to opportunities for our students.
I'll Count on you...
- To realize my focus as the building leader is to make decisions that are in the best interest of all my students.
- To support my daily priority of observing and supporting teaching and learning in classrooms, understanding that means I may not be immediately available in the office when you stop in.
- To be an integral member of our team in supporting our students and collaborating with our staff.
- To understand I will be unable to disclose information about other students to you.
- To contact the adult closest to your concern first--a teacher or bus driver before coming immediately to the administrator.
- To share your time and talents to benefit our students and school community.
In highly effective teams, members have expectations and roles that are clear for them and readily understood. This helps the team function at the highest level. As you and I work as a team to support your student's experience for the rest of this school year, I invite your questions or comments about the above guiding principles.
I look forward to continuing a successful year together!
Your Principal,
Rachel Card
Reset for Renewal in 2021
Most of us will remember 2020 as a year of tragedy, inconveniences, and sometimes pure misery. Despite the many ways the pandemic upended our lives, it offered an opportunity for us to take a break from the intensity of regular life and reevaluate. We focused on the health and safety of our families and pared our lives back to the basics. We realized how rich our lives were prior to the pandemic and that we probably took a lot for granted. We also learned a lot about how things need to change moving forward.
From a school perspective, I am extremely proud of the way our district responded to the challenges of the last year. Although it was not ideal, we transitioned well to crisis learning during the spring quarantine. Our teachers developed balanced lessons, and families picked up materials and supervised learning at home with great diligence. Then, teams of administrators and teachers met through the summer to carefully plan for a safe and substantive return to learning in September. East China families were fortunate to have the option to send students back to buildings or move them to an online learning platform, with both choices facilitated by district teachers. These two formats kept students at the forefront, with a focus on building relationships and generating enthusiasm about learning and life during dark times.
In many ways, 2020 provided a necessary reset to the basics. Remote learning brought home, literally, the importance of collaboration, socialization, belonging, exploration, and play in the education process. It also underscored how the loving support of families and the emotional connections between students and teachers are critical to learning. Pine River has always been a school focused on supporting high academic expectations for students. However, we learned during the past several months that balancing the curriculum with breaks for physical activity, connecting socially, and giving the brain time to process and synthesize information helped students to manage their emotions, maintain inner calm, and simply feel happy. As a result, our teachers were better able to fill skill gaps caused by last year’s abrupt closing of schools and students were actually making substantial academic gains.
Our vision for schooling moving forward needs to be focused on balance and renewal. Classrooms have changed minimally since we adults were students, and some of our outdated practices need to be updated to meet the needs of our current students. It is tempting to dive into curriculum content and return to our cycles of assessment, rigorous instruction, and academic interventions. However, fostering nurturing and safe learning environments, caring relationships, and a sense of community will pay dividends on effective learning, especially during these challenging times for everyone. We look forward to working together to restore some normalcy to our school community while maintaining some of the changes that have improved how we educate our students.
Skyward App
After downloading/installing the free Skyward Mobile Access from the Apple store or Google Play, the next step is to look up East China School District by GPS location, zip code, or district name. Once found, simply click the appropriate district and enter your Skyward login and password information. The connection information is then stored on your mobile device so you are automatically connected and your account is authenticated each time you click on the Skyward Mobile Access icon.
A Skyward Family Access account is first required to access the system, which you may request by contacting Lisa Volkman at the East China Central Office. Once you have your Family Access login and password, you will be able to access your child's records through Skyward Mobile Access.
Positivity Project Resources for Families
The mission of The Positivity Project is to empower students to build positive relationships with others and be their best selves as individuals. Each week at Pine River, we focus on one of the 24 character strengths that everyone possesses. Through lessons presented daily by their teachers, our students learn to be more self aware and self confident in the content of their own character. In addition, they learn to understand and appreciate these character traits in others. Together, we are building meaningful relationships and connections with one another that are essential for learning and growing.
Below are some resources to help our families support The Positivity Project at home. The password is P2.
Positivity Project Calendar ~ 2020-2021
Virtual Students Returning for Second Semester
Arrival and Dismissal Procedures
Students arriving on busses will remain on busses until the bell rings at 8:40 a.m. and then they will be dismissed to go to their outside classroom doors for entry to classrooms.
Students who are dropped off will walk clockwise around the building and line up outside classroom doors. Please do not drop students off before 8:35 a.m.
Dismissal
Bus riders will be dismissed from outside classroom doors with masks on 10 minutes before the dismissal bell. Students will walk directly to their busses and busses will leave.
When the dismissal bell rings at 3:00 p.m., the remaining students will be dismissed from outside classroom doors with masks on. Parents may wait outside classroom doors if necessary while observing social distancing and mask requirements.
Car riders in grades K-2 will be dismissed from their classroom doors. Car riders in grades 3 and 4 will walk counterclockwise around the building to meet adults driving them home.
Drop-off and Pick-up Traffic Routes
Classroom Door Numbers
December Pioneers of the Month
All of our students strive to be motivated learners, as well as model citizens. Each month we will honor students from each class who exemplify the following qualities:
Academic
- Student prepares for classroom activities.
- Student approaches learning with enthusiasm.
- Student has made steady progress in the classroom.
- Student has been working to his/her potential.
- Student completes all assignments and homework.
- Student has a good work ethic and is diligent.
Leadership/ Citizenship/ Character
- Student demonstrates respect of self and others.
- Student assists others in need.
- Student shows acts of kindness.
- Student demonstrates a positive attitude.
- Student displays good conduct.
- Student is a positive role model by example.
- Student participates and puts forth full effort in all areas.
- Student follows school rules.
Young Fives/Kindergarten
Mrs. Guzowski's Class: Dugan Jablonski and Margaret Fraley
Mrs. Malburg's Class: Emma Smith and Connor Kelly
Mrs. Schneider's Class: Adalynn Shaughnessy and Brayden Archibald
Mrs. Hagen's/Ms. Smith's Classes: Frank Romeo
First Grade
Mrs. Bean's Class: Graham Fryer and Ashlee Worthen
Ms. Brosky's Class: Raegan Goodrich and Jaxson Kurylo
Mrs. Jensen's Class: Brynn Schweihofer and Avyrie Allen
Mrs. Trudeau's Class: Felix Oleaga
Second Grade
Mrs. Kenyon's Class: Isabell Koehn and William Wolven
Mrs. McNeill's Class: Emma Shaughnessy and Claire Middel
Mrs. Williams' Class: Zoey Young and Rhiannon Salisbury
Ms. Fox's Class: Gracin Genaw
Third Grade
Mrs. Dodge's Class: Keeley Allen and Aidan Phelps
Mrs. Koprivica's Class: Ashlynn Bowen and Alden Volz
Ms. Peterson's Class: Bryson Megie and Zach Struhar
Mrs. Davis's/Ms. Dewey's Classes: Connor Riley
Fourth Grade
Mrs. Huston's Class: Lainy Ball and Isabella Parrotta
Mr. Scillian's Class: Rylee McClure and Eddie Shaw
Mrs. Ursitti's Class: Karleigh Maertens and Jack Murdock
Mrs. Weber's Class: Grace Lang
C.I. Class
Mrs. LaParl's Class: Aidan Brennan
Pioneer Code of Conduct
Kind,
Courteous,
Respectful,
Responsible,
and always Safe!
Mission: The mission of the Pine River school community is to work collaboratively, providing an enriched curriculum that allows for intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and creative growth in a positive and safe environment, empowering all children to become productive lifelong learners.
Pine River Elementary is dedicated to the belief that all students can learn and achieve through the combined efforts of the staff, parents, students, and community.