Panther Parents as Partners
A Panther Valley Elementary School Newsletter - August 2021
Principal's Letter
For our incoming kindergarten families and those new to the district, I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. My name is Robert Palazzo and this will be the start of my 5th school year with the district. Prior to being the principal, I worked as a school psychologist in Palmerton Area School District. I reside in Palmerton with my wife and my daughters. They are five and two years old. My oldest is starting kindergarten this school year. I can empathize with the fear and worry of those parents who have their first child going into kindergarten. Rest assured that this is a wonderful place for your student to go to school. We have a tremendous group of teachers and staff who care and love each child that enters our school. I look forward to watching your children grow throughout the year.
Let's get the train rolling and head into the new school year!
Open House
For those that have students in other buildings, the Panther Valley Intermediate Open House (Grades 4-6) will be from 5:00-7:00 p.m. and the Panther Valley Junior Senior High School (Grades 7-12) will be from 7-12.
Staffing for the 2021-2022 School Year
The best way to contact a staff member is via e-mail. Most email addresses for staff are formatted as last name first initial @ panthervalley.org
There are a few exceptions. You can find a full staff contact list on our school website.
http://pves.sharpschool.net/staff_directory
If you want to reach a teacher by phone, they will need to give you a call back during non-instructional time. Please call the main office and leave a message with Scott or Terese.
The expectation is that everyone at the school respond to your e-mail or phone call within 24 hours. If you do not hear back within 24 hours, please notify Mr. Palazzo and we will ensure your question is answered.
Below is a listing of our staff for the 2021-2022 school year:
Principal
Mr. Palazzo
School Counselor
Mrs. Bales
School Nurse
Mrs. Selinko
Family Development Specialist
Mrs. Pollinger
Secretaries
Mrs. Altemose
Mr. Weiss
Kindergarten
Mrs. Frets
Ms. Gilbert
Ms. Niehoff
Mrs. Palina
Ms. Shober
Ms. Wagner
1st Grade
Mrs. Baddick
Mrs. DeFuso
Mrs. Hoffman
Ms. Krajnak
Ms. McArdle
Ms. Wozniak
2nd Grade
Ms. Andrews
Mrs. Damian
Ms. Drum
Mrs. Miletto
Mrs. Wall
Ms. Yazwinsky
3rd Grade
Mrs. Buchman
Mrs. Koerbler
Ms. Kusko
Mrs. Smith
Ms. Stanek
Related Arts
Art- Mrs. Christopher-Lazar
Phys. Ed/Health - Mr. Herling
Music - Ms. Person
Special Education
Mrs. Alberti (Speech Therapist)
Mrs. Cinelli (Occupational Therapy Assistant)
Mrs. Farrow (IU21 MDS)
Mrs. Hobbs (Grades 2 & 3)
Ms. Martin (Life Skills)
Mrs. McLaughlin (Emotional Support)
Ms. Schlegel (Grades K & 1)
Mrs. Wynings (Grades K-3)
Paraprofessionals
Mrs. Chuma
Mrs. Cullen
Mrs. Nevenglosky
Ms. Sommers
Mrs. Stuckley
Mrs. Wehr
CarbonCorp Mentor
Ms. Obert
Daily School Schedule
The main office is open from 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. each day. Prior to that time or after that time you will need to leave a voicemail. Our phone system is in the process of being upgraded and should be fully functional at the start of the school year.
Below is information as it relates to students arriving late:
Arrival Time
8:31 A.M. – 9:00 A.M: Tardy
9:01 A.M. – 11:45 A.M: 1/2 Day A.M. Absent
11:46 A.M. or later: Full Day Absent
Below is information as it relates to students leaving early:
Students may be permitted to leave school for medical or dental appointments, court appearance or family emergencies. Students who wish to be excused early during the school day must present a note to the teacher in the morning of the early dismissal. The note should indicate: (1) the date and time of dismissal; (2) the reason for dismissal; (3) who is picking up the child; and (4) the parent’s/guardian’s signature. The teacher will turn the note into the office with the morning mail and then the information will be placed on a “Student Leaving” list. If the child comes back to the school within 2 hours, a special code will be used to record that fact, but the time away from school will not count as an absence.
Departure Time
10:45 A.M. and earlier - Full Day Absent
10:46 A.M. - 2:00 P. M. - 1/2 Day P.M. Absent
2:01 P.M. or later - Not Absent
Arrival and Dismissal of Students
Arrival and Dismissal for Drop-Off/Walkers
For those students being dropped off in the morning, you may arrive between 8:15-8:30 a.m. Do not arrive before 8:15. We will again use the car drop off line and let students in the gym door. There will be staff there to direct you. It is important your student be prepared to exit the car upon arrival in the drop off line to keep the line moving. There is no parking in the front parking lot. For students that are walkers, dismissal will take place in the front parking lot as well. There is no parking in the front lot after 2:30 p.m. We will dismiss one grade at a time, starting with 3rd grade at around 2:50 p.m. All students will be dismissed by 3:00 p.m.
Arrival and Dismissal for Bus Students
Students that ride the bus should arrive at the bus stop 5-10 minutes before the assigned pick-up time. A parent must remain at the bus stop with the child until the bus leaves. The person picking a child up at the bus stop must arrive 5-10 minutes before the assigned drop-off time. A parent or guardian MUST be present to pick up a kindergarten or 1st grade child. Students are required to wear a face covering on the school bus. Please make sure your child has one daily.
Changes to Dismissal for Students
Due to the complexity of dismissing students, we ask that you refrain from making changes to how your child dismisses unless it is an absolute emergency. NO CHANGES TO DISMISSAL will be permitted after 2:00 p.m. each day. The best way to make a change to dismissal is by sending in a written note in the morning. Please note students MAY NOT ride buses they are not assigned to because of limited seating on the buses.
Picking Up Students Early or Arriving Late
If your child needs to leave school early we ask that you send in a written note that day to let us know. The person who is picking up the child should be listed on the note and that person must bring a photo ID with them. No child will be released without verification from a parent that the child is to be picked up by any other party. Please allow yourself enough time to sign your child out and to get to your appointment. If your child is sent home sick, the person picking the child up should bring a photo ID as well. If a child arrives after 8:30 a.m., the person bringing the child to school must sign the child into school.
District Transportation
If your child rides the bus, you must arrive at the bus stop 5-10 minutes early in both the morning and afternoon. There are a number of variables that impact the daily arrival time of the bus. For K-3 students, parents should be at the bus stop in the AM and PM with students. A parent MUST be at the bus stop with the those students in K&1 in the morning and there in the afternoon when they get off the bus in the afternoon.
If you miss the bus in the afternoon for some reason please remain at the bus stop. The driver will come back around to the stop at the end of the run. You can also call the main office or Kistler transportation at 570-645-3553. If you are not able to pick your child up in a reasonable amount of time they will be brought back to the school or the bus garage (in the parking lot of the High School).
We will be taking student discipline on the bus very seriously. Any students that engage in excessive disruptive behavior that impacts the driver will be suspended and/or expelled from the bus to ensure the safety of other students riding the bus. Please make sure to stress the importance of good conduct on the bus.
Finally a reminder that a face covering must be worn by students on the school bus.
School Calendar for 2021-2022
Health and Safety Plan
We did include a slip in our class placement letter regarding face coverings. If you would like us to remind your child to keep his/her face covering on throughout the school day please complete that slip and have your child turn it in on the first day of class. You could also bring it to open house.
Other mitigation measures that district is taking to avoid the spread of COVID-19 include ensuring that students do not sit facing each other (when feasible). Students will need to sit directly across from each other during lunch. We will also avoid having students congregate in large settings, such as assemblies or on a carpet area in the classroom. Students will be reminded to wash their hands or uses sanitizer before and after eating or when blowing their nose or coughing.
There is still a chance that a classroom or the school could be closed for a period of time due to significant spread of COVID-19. It is important that you have a child care plan in place in the event that this would happen. We will do our best to send computers home with students if this were to be likely to happen. Students would then access their class via Google Classroom and Zoom from home.
Food Services
Each day students are able to receive a free breakfast (with the exception of 2 hour and 3 hour delays due to weather). The breakfast includes a pastry or similar item (e.g. Granola Bar, Donut, etc.), a milk, and a fruit (e.g. juice or applesauce). Students are given 15 minutes to eat their breakfast in their classroom. Students that arrive late will not be provided with a breakfast.
For lunch, students have the choice of five options each day:
- Hot entree
- Weekly alternate hot entree (e.g. hot dog, chicken nuggets)
- Weekly cold sandwich (e.g. turkey, ham, Italian)
- Peanut Butter and Jelly
- Salad
The weekly cold sandwich will be posted to Class Dojo and the Sapphire portal.
Please note that kindergarten will only have the daily hot entree, weekly alternate, and cold sandwich for the first month.
Students must take a milk, entree, vegetable, and fruit to get a school lunch. Students are given 30 minutes to each their lunch.
It is important that you take time to have your child practice opening milk cartons, wrappers, plastic bags (e.g. small bags of carrots) and various other items they may encounter during lunch or breakfast. For our kindergarten families, it is also helpful to practice giving students a designated 30 minutes lunch time over the next week so they can become used to eating within a set time frame.
The district participates in a fruit and vegetable grant as well. Three times a week your child will be able to try a new fruit or vegetable as a snack in the classroom.
Each grade level will inform you of whether or not they will have students bring in a snack from home to eat during the day. That information will be shared at open house.
Students are encouraged to bring water to school. Please note that the water fountains continue to be closed. So it is best to give them a large reusable water bottle so they have enough for the day.
Please label your child's lunch bag, water bottle, or other items with his or her name.
August/September Lunch Menu
SUMMER MEAL DISTRIBUTION
Dress Code
Panther Valley Book Buggy
Panther Valley Bennett Automotive Group Book Buggy Coming to Your Town!
We are accepting like new donations of books for the book buggy. Right now we are in need of books that have an interest level of grades 4-12. We have quite a bit of books for students at the K-3 level.
PRE-K Counts Update
Social Emotional Supports in the School
In addition to resources offered in school, we are able to make referrals to providers outside of the school. The district is in the early stages of having the St. Luke's Your Emotional Strength Supported (YESS) program assist students in this district. This would provide students with weekly counseling services during the school day and allow for referral other providers as needed.
School Counselor - Mrs. Bales
Family Development Specialist - Mrs. Pollinger
CarbonCorp Mentor - Ms. Obert
Title I Corner
Mrs. Szczecina and Mrs. McFadden are our Title One Reading Teachers at PVES. Part of their job is to help classroom teachers assess the students to check their Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Skills. They are also available to work with any students who demonstrate a need for extra small group skill practice.
As exciting as this time may be for some, many students struggle initially with the long days, challenging curriculum and time spent away from loved ones. Routines help children learn, make them feel safe and in control of their world, and foster their self-confidence and sense of belonging. As we get ready to begin a new school year please begin to encourage routines such as bedtime and reading time. This will make the transition back to school much easier for both the parent and the child.
In future newsletters Mrs. Szczecina and Mrs. McFadden will share valuable tips on how to practice some phonemic awareness and phonics skills at home.
ACADEMIC RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES
Phonics Tune Up
At the end of the tune up program, a local assessment called DIBELS will be administered. The results of this assessment will be sent home with students for parents to review. Using this data (and other available date) teachers will begin to see groups of students in small groups to target specific skill deficits. Some students will also begin to see our Title I reading teachers for additional supports.
Focus on Phonemic Awareness
Children in the early stages of language development sometimes have difficulty sequencing sounds. It is essential for the progression of reading that children are able to hear sounds and patterns used to make up words. It requires children to notice how letters represent sounds. Children who lack phonemic awareness skills do not understand what letters represent. If they were asked to name the first letter in the word “duck,” they would likely say “quack quack.” Sounds are abstract in nature, which makes this a hard concept for children to grasp.
Children need to know letter sounds, but it is crucial to successful reading and spelling that they know how to apply these skills and recognize the necessary print-sound relationship. For example, children must be able to identify the letter d in the words duck, dish, and bad and separate the phoneme from others before they can understand what the letter d represents in those words. Studies show that a lack of phonemic awareness is characteristic of students who are failing to read or at risk for reading difficulty compared to their peers.
(https://www.pediaspeech.com/reading-101-the-importance-of-phonemic-awareness/)
All students in K-3 will be participating in some level of phonemic awareness activities. The biggest emphasis is placed on kindergarten and 1st grade.
The video below introduce phonemic awareness and the purpose of providing explicit instruction in phonemic awareness.
Much of this can be practiced at home as well! Below is a video that goes over a variety of different ways you can work on these skills with your child at home.
Ready Classroom Math
This curriculum is going to beneficial for our students, teachers, and families. One of the key components with this program is communication with families. You will be given information about the skills students are learning each week within the program. Students will take diagnostic assessments to identify their strengths and needs across the skills in the program. In grades 2-5 students will also be given a personalized learning path that they can work on during small group instruction.
Below are some videos that will let you learn more about Ready Classroom Math!
Beginning of the Year Read Aloud Videos
Panther Valley Elementary School
Email: palazzor@panthervalley.org
Website: www.panthervalley.org
Location: 1 North Mermon Avenue, Nesquehoning, PA, USA
Phone: 570-669-9411
Facebook: facebook.com/pvescoolcats