Pleasant Hill Weekly Update
May 14, 2021
Message from Mrs. Steele
Dear Pleasant Hill Families,
Our end of year countdown is on! We are really enjoying the spring weather and so many opportunities to be outdoors. Our new picnic tables are getting used every day for class activities and for lunch and snack. Thank you again to our parent/staff playground committee and Primary PTA for helping make our wish come true!
This past Tuesday we had our second meeting of our Fall Reopening Committee where we identified our top four priorities to keep in mind as we make recommendations for Pleasant Hill. The team agreed that safety, social & emotional learning needs, communication at all levels, and a consistent schedule are our main priorities as students transition back to full-time in-person learning at Pleasant Hill.
Our primary conversation this week was identifying where the space challenges are in our building as we add a 13th homeroom to accommodate physical distancing guidelines. For example, if the art and music room will be converted to an additional homeroom class, where would the art/music teacher have a desk or other personal space for their belongings, teacher materials, etc. Where will the art/music materials currently in that space be housed so that they can still be easily accessed? What would be the impact on students if we did not have a designated room for art/music next year? How do we feel about that? What are some possible ideas to solve this particular challenge?
The team identified a number of surface-level challenges regarding the physical space and we will continue to work on this topic at our next meeting on Tuesday, May 18th. With the announcements yesterday from CDC, we are unsure if these requirements will still be in place for fall but it is important that we plan for them just in case. As the committee works through these items of concerns and identifies possible solutions, we will share these recommendations with Pleasant Hill staff for feedback and final decision-making.
As we emphasized last week, please reach out to any of our parent members or to any member of the team with questions you may have! Our agenda and summary of meetings will be posted on our district website soon. There will be a page for all building-based teams to link our agendas for the community to see. The PH parent representatives are:
Winnie Lee- wlslb@hotmail.com
Rob Heise- rob.heise@gmail.com
Liz Avantaggio- lizglen22@aol.com
I hope you enjoy the wonderfully warm weekend!
Best,
Jesseca Steele
PH Principal
Celebration of Magnificent Homespun Brown Author Event
"Your choice of words is really good. What is your suggestion on using the big words? (We had to use a dictionary in our classroom to find the meaning of many words from your book)." -Mrs. Ousback's 2nd grade class
"Why does the book keep talking about different kinds of brown? / How did you come up with all the different kinds of brown?"- students from Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Oliver, Ms. Hughes and Mrs. Smith's class
"What do you mean the laugh is brown?" and "Why are the characters fishing when it’s raining/lightning?"- students in Ms. Haley's class
"Have you published other books? Any in other languages? Do you get any ideas from songs?" and "Do you have metaphors and similes in your new book?"- students in Ms. Oja's class
Once again- thank you to the SHS Civil Rights Club and the Scarborough Education Foundation for this wonderful and unique experience that helped us bring additional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion conversations into our K-2 classrooms.
THANK YOU PRIMARY PTA!
From Nurse Dorice
May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month in Maine!
This year's theme is “Stop. Check. Prevent.”
This reminds us to stop and practice tick prevention measures frequently. The easiest way to avoid tickborne diseases is preventing tick bites. Please remember to:
1. Use caution in areas where ticks may be found.
2. Wear light-colored clothing that covers arms and legs.
3. Use an EPA approved repellent such as: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus.
4. Perform tick checks on yourself, family members, and pets daily and after any outdoor activity. Place clothing in the dryer and take a shower after exposure to a tick habitat to wash off any crawling ticks.
Two more dates! Kindergarten Registration 2021-2022
Here is the Kindergarten 2021-2022 Registration Packet: Print the registration packet before dropping it off at Pleasant Hill; unfortunately we do not have online registration at this time. If you need a registration packet mailed to you, please contact Lolore@scarboroughschools.org
Families will be able to drop off completed paperwork to PH on the following dates and we will have signs directing you to our gym:
Wednesday, May 19th 1:30-3:30
Wednesday, May 26th 1:30-3:30
Please join us on Monday, May 24th from 5PM-6PM for a Kindergarten Information Night Live Q&A event with some of our K-2 staff. A Zoom invitation will be sent to you prior to the event.
End of Year Spirit Days
June 7, 8, 9 (A days)
Day 1: Crazy Hat and Socks Day
Day 2: Scarborough Storm Day (Wear Red/White/Black)
Day 3: Ready for the Beach Day
Reminder- Remote Check-In Adjustments
10:00-10:20- Remote Check-In- Code: PHCHECKIN
11:20-11:40- Library- Code: PHLIBRARY
2:00-2:20- Art -Code: PHART
2:20-2:40- PE- Code: PHPE
Primary PTA Message
Restaurant Night:
Please join us at Romeos Pizza for our last restaurant fundraising night.
Monday, May 17th from 4-9PM
15% of dine in, take out and delivery will be donated to Primary PTA
Class of 2031-2033 T-shirts:
Final chance to order t-shirts for this school year. We will take orders now through Wednesday, May 19th. Then we will process and deliver them to school by the end of May.
PH: https://forms.gle/kURw6xNMb9eGGUwp7
Teacher Appreciation Week:
THANK YOU parents for your contributions and donations! We enjoyed spoiling the teachers this week!!
PTA Meeting:
Final PTA meeting of the 2020-2021 school year
June 14, 2021 at 7PM (virtual)
Officer elections and voting/approving the budget
Upcoming Dates
May 18th, 25th- Fall Reopening committee meetings 4PM-5:15PM (Zoom)
May 24th- Kindergarten Information Night via Zoom 5:00PM
May 27th- 3rd Grade Information Night via Zoom 6:30PM
June 8th- 2nd Grade Cohort A visits Wentworth
June 9th- 2nd Grade Cohort C visits Wentworth
June 11th- 2nd Grade Cohort B visits Wentworth
June 15th- Last in-person day for Cohort A
June 18th- Last in-person day for Cohort B (1/2 day) and Chromebooks collection for all students
School Nutrition
**Please note that lunch order cut-off is now 8:30 am. Breakfast must be ordered by 7:00 am.
**Here is the link to menus: http://www.scarboroughschools.org/central-office/nutrition-program/menus