Groveland Elementary School
November 2013 Newsletter
Administrative Team Message
Welcome to the month of November! We hope this newsletter finds all of you well, having survived Halloween - now the question...what do we do with all of those extra sweet treats in our homes? It has been an eventful month here at Groveland with a lot of exciting events happening during October. This newsletter hightlights some of the exciting learning experiences our students have had the opportunity to participate in over the past month, as well as some upcoming events.
Thank you to all the families who came to our Halloween parade this year. The past 3 years, Mother Nature has brought on some challenges for our Groveland parade, but nothing can stop a great Halloween parade! Many parents helped out with our celebrations by donating items for the parties or volunteering to come to help. We thank you for your time and support in helping to make this a fun and enjoyable time for our students.
Fall Conferences
The month of November brings us to the close of the first marking period, which ends on today, November 6th. Report cards will be distributed on Monday, November 18th. Our fall conferences will take place during the last few weeks of November. It is important to remember that conference time is a time to celebrate your child's successes as a student, and to set goals for learning throughout the year. Parent teacher conferences will follow a new schedule this year. Please note the changes to our previous conference schedule/Thanksgiving break. We look forward to seeing you during conference time.
Monday, 11/25 - Full day of school for Students; Evening Conferences
Tuesday, 11/26 - Early Dismissal for Students; Afternoon Conferences
Wednesday-Friday, 11/27-11/29 - Thanksgiving Break-No School for Students
Veterans Day
On November 11, 2013, our country honors the heroes who have served our country in the military. At Groveland, we are honoring Veterans by creating a wall of honor, Our Veterans...Our Heroes. Students have been encouraged to reach out to family members, friends, and/or neighbors and ask how the Grizzly Themes of respect, responsibility, cooperation, and sportsmanship were key values to live by when serving their time in the military. We look forward to seeing the Wall of Honor, honoring all of our country's Veterans.
Jump Rope for Heart
On Monday, November 11th, we will kick off the Jump Rope for Heart event for the American Heart Association. Students will actually participate in this activity during their physical education classes the week of November 18th-22nd. Students can bring their donation envelopes to gym class during that week.
We wish all of our families, a very Happy Thanksgiving! May you find some time to enjoy your family and friends, and of course, some good food!
Mr. Heineman & Mrs. Fantaskey
Scarecrow Family Fun Night
And the winner is . . . . . 2nd grade!!!
On September 27th, many Groveland families came out for a fun night of making scarecrows for the Hellerick’s Family Farm Fall Festival. Students from each grade level worked together with classmates and parents to create a scarecrow. Each grade level was hoping that their scarecrow would win the prize -- a trip to the farm! Once the scarecrows were made, they were delivered to Hellerick’s Farm to be put on display for the Fall Festival. Hellerick’s Farm carefully “judged” each one and decided that “Phillie”, the Phillies themed scarecrow, was the winner. This scarecrow was built by a group of 2nd grade students. Congratulations 2nd graders!!
Each 2nd grader at Groveland received a free pass to Hellerick’s Fall Festival and a coupon for a free baby pumpkin. Hellerick’s congratulated everyone for their participation by giving each student and staff member of Groveland a coupon to go to the Fall Festival for half price. Thanks for a fun night!!
A special Thank You to Hellerick's Farm for donating the free passes for the winning grade level and the half price passes for all of the Groveland students and staff. We appreciate your support! Hopefully many of our families were able to enjoy some fall festival fun at Hellerick's.
News from the Reading Department
Million Minute Reading Challenge by Mrs. Rita Kenefic
Our Million Minute Reading Challenge is well underway and we hope that everyone has become “phanatical” about reading. The research is clear…the best way to get better at reading is to READ! Parents, please encourage your children to read at home on a regular basis. In order for your children to grow into lifelong readers, we need to foster positive reading experiences for our youth. Here are some hints that may help you create a community of readers in your own home.
Read together. Can you carve out a few minutes per week, turn off the TV, sit together quietly and read as a family?
Have a Book Picnic. Spread a blanket on the floor, grab a few snacks and have everyone bring a book they would like to share. This is a simple but fun activity to bring family together and foster literacy.
Read aloud. Whether you cuddle up with a little one to share a favorite tale or read aloud a news article and discuss it with an older student, there is nothing quite like reading aloud and sharing reactions. Be creative and figure out ways to sneak read-alouds into your family routines.
Browse for books. Take your child to the library, book store, or flea market to browse for books and whet their appetite for good literature.
Remember to check out the thermometer in the vestibule to track the minutes our students read each month. Reading is its own reward, but if we are “phanatical” enough, we might also be rewarded with a visit from the Phillie Phanatic later in the year. Thanks to everyone for their support of this endeavor!
Student Recognition
Eric Mass Wins September Boomerang Award for Central Bucks Elementary Schools
Eric Mass, Fourth Grade student here at Grovelenad Elementary has demonstrated positive family communication with his grandfather. In recent weeks, his terminally-ill grandfather moved into his home to receive hospice care. During this time, Eric has gained valuable wisdom from daily, quality time and conversation with him. Eric, with his siblings, even interviewed his grandfather 2 times and recorded each interview to have for a lifetime. The interviews asked about his grandfather’s life and stories about his uncles and mother. Although this is a difficult time for Eric, he is using communication with his grandfather to get through it and to have his legacy live on.
Congratulations to Eric! We are very proud of you and your family for demonstrating positive family communication.
Boomerang Nominations for November
November Asset of the Month
#33 Interpersonal Competence
Young person has empathy, sensitivity, and friendship skills. Young person cares about and is aware of other people’s feelings.
To nominate one of our students, please click the link below. Remember to include examples of how the student best demonstrates the asset. All nominations are due to Mrs. Albanese (aka Ms. Kolpack) by Tuesday, November 19th.
Please send nominations in by Tuesday, November 19th. Include specific examples of how the student best demonstrates the asset.
Gift Giving Project 2013
Our annual Holiday Giving Project hsa been planned. Please click HERE for the information flyer detailing the due dates for each part of this event. Thank you in advance for all of your support, as we work together to collect donations of food and gifts for some of our Groveland families.
Classroom Updates
Red Ribbon Week 2013
Students at Groveland participated in Red Ribbon Week activities during the week of October 21st-25th. Pictured here is pledge that students and staff signed - We're Too Bright for Drugs!
1st Grade Learns Fire Safety
Members from the Plumsteadville Fire Department visited Groveland on Friday, October 11th to teach First Grade about Fire Safety. We learned many important things about staying safe.
Kid Writing in Mrs. Frantz's Class
By: Mrs. Jennifer Frantz
Mrs. Frantz’s class created spooky Halloween stories during Kid Writing! First, we drew a detailed picture. Then, we wrote our spooky stories! We are working on writing at least three sentences, spelling our word wall words correctly, adding a period at the end of a sentence, capitalizing the first word in a sentence, and making sure there are spaces between our words. Once our stories were complete, we stapled them inside our ghost crafts. We had a lot of fun with this activity! Thank you to all of the parents who came in to help us assemble our ghosts! Stop by outside of Room 102 to take a peek at our craft and our writing!
1st Grade Pumpkin Heads
By: Mrs. Amy Bannon
We read the books, Pumpkin Heads written by Wendell Minor and The Pumpkin Circle written by George Levenson and discussed how wonderful “Pumpkin Heads", also known as jack-o-lanterns can be.
We used math skills and creativity to design our own “PUMPKIN HEADS!”
Hearts to Ecuador
On October 21st, the entire second grade made blankets for sick, disadvantaged children in Ecuador. The students, with the help of many parent volunteers, made 65 blankets. The blankets have been distributed by the Pediatric Intensive Care nurses of Hershey Medical Center while they are in Ecuador caring for children in need of heart surgery. The students did a wonderful job making the blankets. They had a great time while helping others. We were very proud of their hard work and dedication.
2nd Graders - Super Spellers
Students in Mrs. Strychowski's class worked cooperatively in small groups to extend their understanding of this week's spelling pattern. During this application activity students used the phonic/spelling pattern to discover other words that they could spell independently.
Berenstain Bear Day
On October 11, 2013, Groveland participated in Berenstain Bear Day. Students met with their buddy classes to share some of their favorite Berenstain Bear books. The pictures below show some of our students sharing a good book - Mrs. Fillette's AM Kindergarten and Mrs. Moran's 4th Graders.
Spirit Day - Favorite Jersey Day
Students and staff enjoyed a fun spirit day, while sporting our favorite jerseys!
5th Grade Visiting Author
By: Mr. Jesse Shaw
Soon to be published author (and former Great Grizzly) Mr. Rick Ziegler, visited 5th Grade on October 8th. He’s working with us in the domain of Style by teaching us some tips to improve Sentence Fluency, Word Choice, and Voice.
5th Grade Visits Peace Valley
The fifth grade field trip to Peace Valley Park was a success. The students had a wonderful time at Peace Valley learning about the different aspects of wetland environments and playing cooperative games to show their knowledge. They also had a chance to experiment with chemicals in water!
Music News from Mr. Reilley
Celebration of the Arts Dates Are Set
Please mark your calendars. The following dates are set for the 2014 Celebration of the Arts at Groveland.
Thursday, January 23rd: Grade 3 - 6:30 PM & Grade 6 - 7:45 PM
Thursday, February 20th: Grade 2 - 6:30 PM & Grade 4 - 7:45 PM
Thursday, March 13th: Grade 1 - 6:30 PM & Grade 5 - 7:45 PM
Art News from Mrs. Houser
Square 1 Art
Please click HERE for information from Mrs. Houser regarding Square 1 Art.
Home and School Updates
Don't Forget to Order SCRIP!!
With the holidays right around the corner, don't forget to order your SCRIP for holiday shopping or gift giving! Please follow the link below or visit the GHSA website to learn more about enrolling in our online Scrip program in order to raise funds for our school.
In addition, below is a link to all participating vendors in the Scrip program.
http://www.grovelandhsa.com/documents/ScripList_000.pdf
Groveland Grounds Committee
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU
To Brian Dupree and his crew for all the hard work over the summer to keep the outside of Groveland looking so beautiful!! If you are interested in helping with the upkeep of the grounds outside Groveland, please visit the volunteer/committee page of the GHSA website at www.grovelandhsa.com to contact Brian Dupree and volunteer for the Grounds Committee.
Great Grizzly 5k Committee Members Wanted
GREAT GRIZZLY 5K COMMITTEE MEMBERS WANTED!
By Chrissy Grube
In the past seven years many of you have been involved in the Great Grizzly 5k Run. Whether as a spectator, community member, participant, volunteer or committee member you have witnessed the continued growth of a running event that is now a tradition in the community of Plumsteadville each spring. It has become a running event where our elementary school, community, area businesses, local leaders and athletes come together to celebrate the fun in fitness.
This upcoming spring it is with great excitement that the Great Grizzly 5k Run will become a part of the Bucks 5k Series and will be the first race in the Bucks 5k Series for 2014! For those who are unfamiliar with the Bucks 5k Series, the Series hosts seven spring 5k race events throughout our area (sometimes you will hear people refer to them as the "7 Series"). Their slogan is "7 Great Races for Runners, Racers and Rookies." Participants of all ages and levels are invited to come and participate in one or all of the seven races. Most of the events have fun runs and other family entertainment as well. All of the races are timed by chip timing and your results/times for your 5k run are tracked for each event that you participate in. If you participate in four or more 5k events, you qualify for the possibility of obtaining Series points depending on how you finish. At the end of the 7th race, awards are given to the first, second and third place winners in each age group to those in the Series. In addition, awards are given in each age group (and overall) at every 5k event. For more details, check out their website at www.bucks5kseries.com.
Even more exciting, is the fact that the Bucks 5k Series has grown tremendously throughout the years and brings with it many opportunities for the Plumsteadville area and for our Great Grizzly run event. It is expected that our number of runners, spectators, etc. will increase. Our timing for the 5k run will be chipped timed and more accurate. Our course will be USTAF (United States Track & Field) Certified. This is an opportunity to spotlight the idyllic community of Plumsteadville and show the residents from Bucks County and surrounding communities and beyond just what makes our area so desirable. We have a beautiful course to run on, great businesses to utilize, a Home and School Association that is working with Groveland teachers and staff to make the elementary education experience and exceptional one and the finest volunteer fire personnel in the area.
A portion of the proceeds will go towards the Plumsteadville Volunteer Fire Company as they have in the past seven years.
I am reaching out to you because I would like to put together a Race Committee that is made up of individuals that come from both the community and the school. I am looking for those who have a passion for this event and want to see that the Great Grizzly Run continues to thrive, grow and succeed in a manner that benefits our participants and our community for many, many years to come. If you would like to be a part of this team, please email Chrissy Grube at christinagrube@comcast.net. If there is a specific task that you would like to take on, let me know that too.
In addition, please forward this message to anyone in the community or school that you would feel might be a good member of our Great Grizzly 5k team. I am sure I am missing many valuable possibilities. There is no limit on the number of members and I welcome all input!
Explorers Club -
Wanted: Parent Volunteers to Teach Classes
We are preparing for our Explorer’s Club program, and we invite and encourage all parents to participate.
Box Tops
By: Billi Kunz
Don’t forget to clip those box tops and send them to school with your child! If you can pack them in bags of 50 that would be awesome! If not, send them anyway! Each box top is worth 10 cents and it adds up quickly with all of the great items that bear the box top logo! It is instant cash for your school!
We will be counting the box tops each month and the winning class will get their picture in the paw print!
Thanks for your support, contact me with any questions or to volunteer at boxtops@ghsa.org.
Sepember Box Top Winner
CONGRATULATIONS TO MRS. RODGERS’ PM KINDERGARTEN CLASS!!
They are the winning class for SEPTEMBER, collecting 472 box tops!
Groveland Great Grizzly Running Club
Join The Groveland Great Grizzly Running Club!
Deadline for sign-up: Friday. Dec. 13th (NO EXCEPTIONS)
iRun4Life.com is a non-profit organization started by local parents who have established after-school running clubs in their elementary schools. Its purpose is to encourage childhood fitness and health through non-competitive running clubs and area running events. The 3 pillars of iRun4Life are running, healthy nutrition and good deeds. Once a week the Groveland Great Grizzly iRun4Life Running Club will meet after school to run together on the school’s running path (the path is a marked loop that is approximately ¼ mile long). All running levels (beginner to speed racer) are encouraged to come and participate!! This is a great opportunity to run outdoors and get ready for the many spring sports and running events (including the Great Grizzly Run and the iRun4Life “Kids Only” 3k). Every Wednesday, we will work towards strengthening our legs, mind and body in preparation for a fun running season ahead. Our class will consist of warm-ups, drill and relay runs, and longer runs on the running path!
Who Can Run?: EVERYONE! Kindergarten (with a parent present) and Grades 1 through 6th grade. All running levels are encouraged to come and join in!
When/Dates: Running club will be held every Wednesday starting Wednesday, January 8th from dismissal to 5 PM sharp. This class will run until Wednesday, February 26th, 2014.
Parents Volunteers Needed: Parents, you are welcomed to come and join and run/walk with our running club! Younger/older siblings are invited to join as well so long as an adult is present to supervise. I need parents to help supervise the running sessions. Please let me know if you can lend a hand. Middle/high school youth volunteers who can attend each week are also invited to come and earn service hours.
Cost: please pay $10 per runner and include your payment with the attached sign-up form. Payment will go towards the payment incentives, running t-shirt, snacks, etc.
Additional Information, the sign up form and waiver can be found on the GHSA website.
Library Book Dedications
Click HERE to see recent books thave have been added to our library through book dedications.
Reminders
Dates to Remember
Please click HERE for the November Dates to Remember.
2014 PSSA Dates for Groveland
Please mark your calendars, as the following dates have been established for our PSSA assessment dates at Groveland. It is imperative to have students in school during the assessment times.
Grades 3-6 Math & Reading PSSA - March 17th through March 24th
Grade 5 Writing PSSA - March 31st through April 4th
Grade 4 Science PSSA - April 28th through April 29th
Make up dates will be scheduled as needed following the school window dates for each assessment.
Parking Lot Reminder
We wanted to remind parents and guardians to be mindful when driving through the parking lot. Please remember that respectful and careful driving is necessary to ensure the safety of all of our students.
Groveland Elementary School
Email: dheinema@cbsd.org
Website: http://www.cbsd.org/Domain/15
Location: 1100 N Easton Rd, Doylestown, PA
Phone: 268-893-4600