HES List Server Message
August 16, 2017
Hello Holland Elementary Parents,
It’s been a wonderful summer so far, but at the MacClay household, we’re starting to rollback bedtimes in preparation for the start of the school year. Returning to an early wakeup isn’t easy, but I’ve found that my children are sending subtle hints that they’re looking forward to the start of school. Hopefully your children are eager for school to begin, and I’m sure that their enthusiasm will grow when they find out their teacher next Monday.
Below you'll a great deal of pertinent information regarding the our return to school. Please take a moment to review the items. Thanks.
Kindergarten Orientation and Open House
The Kindergarten Orientation will be on Thursday, August 31st at 12:00 for students in the AM program, and it will be at 1:30 for the children in the PM program. Sorry for any confusion from the prior information that was sent home.
In addition, our Open House will be on Thursday, August 31st from 2:30-3:30. This is a great opportunity for your child to meet his/her teacher and see the new classroom. In prior years, this activity was staggered throughout the day with different grades at different times. To avoid having parents coming to the school multiple times that day, the staff and I felt that it would be easiest to bring everyone together at one time. Parking will be extended to the back lot and recess areas, and a staff member will be outside to direct traffic and assist with parking. Due to the parking in the recess area, children will not be permitted to play in the recess yard during this activity.
Also, the staff and I ask that families visit only with their current teacher. The teachers want to make themselves available as much as possible to speak with new students and parents. I’m sure that the teachers would love to catch up with former students and parents, but this is a time for meeting with current teachers only. Thanks for your help!
Home Access Center (HAC)
Your child’s 2017 - 2018 class assignment will be made available for viewing on Monday, August 21st on the online Home Access Center (HAC). The school district is not mailing letters home with class assignments. Instead, we are using HAC to announce class assignments.
As you may recall from the letter I sent out this past spring, the construction of elementary classes and the assignment of teachers is a lengthy and complex process. The teachers and I spent many hours preparing class lists that are balanced and contain a mixture of abilities and behaviors that are as heterogeneous as possible.
Transportation (Bus) Information will be available for parents on Friday, August 18th. Although busing information will be posted beginning on Friday, August 18th, you are encouraged to double check pick-up and drop-off times the day before school begins, as changes may occur during that window.
You can access HAC through a link on the left side of the school district home page. If you encounter any issues with logging into your account, there are email links for support at the bottom of HAC webpage.
Professional Learning Communities
The HES teachers are learning about Professional Learning Communities (PLC's) and applying it to their professional work. Last year as a staff, we started to discover the importance of Professional Learning Communities. A Professional Learning Community is an ongoing process in which teachers work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students we serve.
We operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous, job-embedded learning. It also allows us to focus in more critically on the four questions of learning:
- What is it that we expect students to learn?
- How will we know when they have learned it?
- How will we respond when they don’t learn?
- How will we respond when they already know it?
During the 2016-2017 school year, we started building our knowledge base and a culture that would facilitate Professional Learning Communities. This year, our fifth grade is piloting our PLC work. Their duties will include weekly meetings to review norms, goals, data related to assessments, and when and how we can use specific interventions to help all students learn better. Yes, this is common practice. However, we have never done it in such a focused and concentrated way that truly supports the advancement of student learning. We will learn from their successes and failures and through their work, prepare the entire staff for full implementation during the 2018-2019 school year.
New PTO Website
2017-18 Attendance Letter - Immunization Requirement Changes
See the LINK for the district’s Attendance Letter. Please note that there are some significant changes to attendance laws.
Be sure to review this LINK to learn about these revised laws. In short, a parent must have all immunizations completed for their child within the first five days of school. The previous eight-month period that parents were given is no longer in effect. Students without all immunizations completed within the first five days of school will not be permitted in school.
Announcements
Supply Lists
The link to supply lists can be found on the school’s home page.
Please click on this LINK to learn more about Pennsylvania’s Free and Reduced Lunch Program. Applications will be distributed in hard copy to students during the first week of school and will be posted to our school website.
Chartwell’s Lunch Prices 2017-18
The lunch prices for the 2017-2018 school year remain the same as last year – elementary lunch is $2.85. Also, milk remains priced at $0.55.
Holland List Server Messages
The Holland Elementary listserver message is comprised of all email addresses entered into the Home Access Center (HAC) by Holland parents and guardians. If you would like information to go to another email account, please be sure to revise the information you have listed in HAC. You may also add additional email accounts by sending an email to hes-join@listserv.crsd.org. After that, you will receive a confirmation email, and you must hit Reply to that email. This confirms that your subscription is successfully in place and that you will receive any emails sent out to the entire list.
If you decide to unsubscribe to our list server group please send an email to
hes-leave@listserv.crsd.org You will receive a confirmation email, and then your email address will be removed from the list.
Reminder! Clearances for Volunteers
Please visit the Volunteer link regarding information on volunteer clearances.
Click on the following LINK to access the 2017-18 calendar.
Chartwells
Click on the following link to access the monthly menu online: http://crsd.nutrislice.com/.
Upcoming Dates
- Friday, August 18th – Busing assignments available on HAC
- Monday, August 21st - HAC opens for classroom assignments
- Friday, August 25th – New Student Ice Cream Social – New Students in Grades First through Sixth – 2:30
- Thursday, August 31st – Kindergarten Orientation – AMK at 12:00 and PMK at 1:30
- Thursday, August 31st – Open House for Students in Grades First through Sixth – 2:30-3:30 Monday, September 4th – Labor Day
- Tuesday, September 5th – First Day of School
- Wednesday, September 6th – Back to School Night – Grades Kindergarten, Fourth through Sixth
- Thursday, September 7th – Back to School Night – Grades First through Third
- Friday, September 8th – PTO Back to School Social
E-Friday Folder
2017 Fire Safety Contest Invite and Rules
Council Rock District Calendar 2017-2018
Attendance Letter to Parents 2017-2018
The Holland staff and I are looking forward to a wonderful school year. The partnership between families and the school is so important in providing fantastic opportunities for the students to learn and grow. We know that there will be individual and group successes each day throughout the year, and we hope that we provide a safe and fun environment for your child to enjoy coming to school each day.
Best wishes for an enjoyable remainder of the summer with your children.
Joe MacClay
Principal
Holland Elementary School
597 Beverly Road
Holland, PA 18966
Email: jmacclay@crsd.org
Website: http://www.crsd.org/Domain/1212
Phone: 215-944-1500
Twitter: @HollandElem