Valley News
March 2024
A Note From Mrs. Chivington:
Dear Valley Families,
Believe it or not, we are approaching the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the final quarter of the 2023-24 school year! There are still many things to learn and experience, but the spring months typically fly by!
I'd like to take this opportunity to share a little bit with you about our process for supporting students' academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs when there is one or more areas of concern. The State of Ohio Department of Education requires us to use MTSS which stands for multi-tiered system of support. As the name implies, this framework has a tiered infrastructure that uses data to help match academic and social-emotional behavior assessments and instructional resources to meet each student's needs.
The MTSS Framework includes three tiers of support:
Tier 1: Core/Universal Instruction - The classroom teacher provides high quality, differentiated core instruction to ALL students based on the Ohio Learning Standards and BCS curriculum.
Tier 2: Targeted Intervention - In addition to responsive instruction in the classroom (Tier 1), some students may need learning opportunities through targeted intervention, which often takes place in a small group in and/or out of the classroom.
Tier 3: Intensive Intervention - In addition to responsive instruction in the classroom (Tier 1), a few students may need intensive intervention, which takes place in and/or out of the classroom.
MTSS in education allows teachers to focus on supporting all of their students using a systematic approach. This enables teams to:
- Improve the outcomes for all students in terms of academics and behavior.
- Address the unmet needs of students individually or in groups.
- Integrate data and make systems and processes more effective and connected.
- Take a whole-child approach to supporting students.
- Help students grow no matter where they start.
MTSS isn't reinventing the wheel - it's simply bringing cohesion to student-centered practices while incorporating data-driven decisions that already happen on many levels. When implemented effectively, MTSS not only helps us to increase the effectiveness of our existing efforts, but also uncovers areas in which we may need to adjust or increase our efforts.
We truly appreciate your partnership in helping each student make progress and reach his or her potential!
Sincerely,
Sarah Chivington
Principal
Read-a-thon Kick off Assembly
Mrs. Chivington rode a horse into an outdoor assembly and then gave the horse a kiss! This school-wide event was a reward that students had earned by meeting their Boosterthon goal in the fall. It also coincided with kicking off the Read-a-thon fundraiser. Students had the special opportunity to pet one of three horses that were brought to Valley from King and Country Farm.
More Valley Fun!
Our Students SHINE!
We are very excited to announce that 2nd grader Nathan Deike is Valley’s February recipient of the SHINE award for the 2023-2024 school year. Our Character Education program is a key component to helping our students understand what it means to lead and to be good citizens. Every month, we honor one student who consistently demonstrates two or more pillars of character which are: Citizenship, Caring, Trustworthiness, Fairness, Respect, and Responsibility. To recognize these students for their efforts, Beavercreek City Schools has created the “SHINE Award – Highlighting Outstanding Students of Character.”
This is how Nathan’s teacher, Mrs. Tomkowiak, describes him:
“Nathan is a kind friend and conscientious student in the classroom. He makes others feel comfortable, included, and like they belong in activities and/or games. Nathan is a fun, but gentle friend and students know that they can be themselves with him. Nathan is a hard-working student. He focuses and engages in content while also being diligent in his own work. I am proud to have Nathan receive the Shine Award for Second Grade!”
We are so proud of you, Nathan! Congratulations!
Dragons Night for Valley Elementary
Spring Picture Orders
Spring Picture Day at Valley is scheduled for Friday, March 22nd!
Students will be photographed with their classes, and individual photos will taken if purchased.
The link to pre-order individual spring photos is here. Online orders must be received no later than March 20th.
Paper order forms can be filled out and sent with the appropriate monetary amount in to school with your child on picture day (March 22nd).
Yearbook Orders
Now is your chance to order a Valley Elementary 2023-2024 yearbook! Orders must be submitted by March 10th.
Valley Elementary Read-a-thon
Students have done a great job logging minutes and donations during the first week of our Read-a-thon! Students who log their minutes have the opportunity to earn rewards just for reading! They can receive a pajama day (100 minutes), an extra recess (250 minutes), and can even slime a staff member (500 minutes)! For raising funds, students receive 10% of their earnings to spend in the Read-a-thon online store. Students who raise $100 or more will also receive a Kona Ice on March 22nd!
One of our main focuses for this fundraiser is to revamp our Viking Vik incentive program by providing new rewards and experiences. Our Read-a-thon ends on March 11th. We truly appreciate your support!
Pizza with a Teachaaa!!!
Valley Elementary is working toward raising funds to support the Gang of Seamstresses, a
wonderful organization based in Beavercreek who make specially designed shirts for cancer
patients. The shirts have a zipper that allows easy access to a chemo port.
For this fundraiser, students will purchase tickets for 50 cents each from their classroom
teacher. They will write their name and their homeroom teacher’s name on each ticket.
Students will place their ticket(s) in the container of the staff member that they would like to
eat lunch with. Containers will be placed in the lobby throughout the week of the fundraiser.
Students may purchase tickets from their classroom teacher between Monday, March 11th
and Friday, March 15th. One lucky winner will be drawn from each container and announced
to students on Monday, March 18th. The pizza lunch will take place on Thursday, March
21st.
Money collected will be donated to the Gang of Seamstresses to help with costs of materials
to make their shirts and also to help with the cost of shipping their finished products to their
recipients.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact Julie Smigel, School Counselor, at
julie.smigel@beavercreek.k12.oh.us
Thank you in advance for your child’s participation!
Kindergarten Registration
Kindergarten registration will be held by appointment March 5-7. Registration will take place at the Beavercreek Board of Ed offices, 3040 Kemp Rd. To begin the process, please visit https://www.gocreek.org/page/kginfo.
March 5th – 7:30 am – 4:30 pm
March 6th – 7:30 am – 4:30 pm
March 7th – 7:30 am – 4:30 pm
If a calamity day occurs on one of these days, the make-up day will be held on March 13th. Those originally scheduled on the calamity day will shift over to this day.
Attendance Information
Attendance at school is an important part of your child's education. Ohio House Bill 410 has strict attendance guidelines, and you can read more about those requirements here. Our Building Office Assistant, Shannon Wyatt, has created a helpful list of do's and don'ts to help your family avoid a truancy or chronic absenteeism letter. Please call her at (937) 429-7597 with any questions!
Attendance Do's and Don'ts
- DON'T forget to report an absence to the office! Call 937-429-7597, option 1 OR email valleyattendance@gocreek.org. If the absence is not reported by 10:00am, our automated calling system will call home for any absent student who we have not heard from.
- DO keep your student home until they are 24 hours symptom free, without medication.
- DON'T forget to get a doctor's note and turn it into the Valley office when your student visits the doctor during school hours. Each student has 10 absences per school year that a parent can excuse, however, if you get a doctor's note, the absence does not count against the 10 you are allotted. Doctor's notes should be turned in within 5 days of the absence.
- DO let us know in advance of any absences due to a vacation. The district is no longer using vacation request forms, therefore, an email to valleyattendance@gocreek.org is the best way to let us know about an upcoming vacation. The district excuses 5 vacation/out of town days per school year.
Thank you for making your child's attendance in school a priority!
Greene County Educational Service Center's March Sessions
February Family Wellness Challenge
Summer School Registration
Community Chats with Mr. Otten
March Events
1 - PowerUp Girls @ 7:45 (IMC)
6 - Character Ed Day - Orange for “Fairness”
7 - Math Club
7 - Last day of 3rd Quarter
8 - Teacher Work Day-No school for students
11 - Start of 4th Quarter
11-15 - Pizza with a Teachaaa ticket sales in homerooms
12 - PTO Meeting @ 6:30
14 & 15 - PTO Pastries with Parents
15 - PowerUp Girls @ 7:45 (IMC)
18 - Pajama Day (Read-a-thon reward for reading 100 minutes)
18 - Pizzaaa with a Teachaaa winners announced via email
19 - Writing Club @ 8:00 (Room 53)
21 - Math Club
21 - Pizza with a Teachaaa lunch
22 - Spring Pictures and Classroom Group Pictures
22 - Kona Ice (Read-a-thon reward for raising $100 or more)
25-29 - SPRING BREAK