May is a difficult month in the life of a school. It is a busy time as we begin to wrap up the school year. It is the time of year when grit is most needed in order to push through to the end. You may find yourself asking the question, "is it worth it?" This is my sixteenth year in education. It has been incredible to reflect on my journey so far. I have watched former students graduate, get married, start families, and begin careers. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of having a conversation with a former student who is now a nurse at the same hospital as my husband. Was it worth it? Absolutely! There is a saying that the days are long but the years are short. All of us have had some long and difficult days this school year. Now we are quickly coming to a close with this school year with less than 15 days out from wrapping up. I want to encourage you that you are in a profession that makes a difference, an eternal difference in the lives of others. Thank you for your investment. You've got this! One day that student sitting in your classroom is going to see you and tell you thank you. And it will be so worth it!
A few great things happening at PVES...
Our fifth-grade chorus had its spring performance this past week. What an amazing group of students. They did a fantastic job led by Mrs. Cailtin Fitch.
Our PTSO made sure that our teachers felt the love from our school community with the 80s-themed teacher appreciation week. We hope you all enjoyed and had fun as we celebrated you!
We are testing next week and Ms. Lee has been hard at work preparing materials for our testing season. A huge thank you to Ms. Lee and so many of our staff members who have stepped up to help in this busy May season.
Fifth-grade LAUNCH students had the challenge of building roller coasters. They had to budget and purchase materials, follow specific guidelines, and build a roller coaster that a marble could successfully navigate. We had some guest judges (Mr. Kevin Williams, Mr. Brad Moore, and Ms. Rebecca Adams) who scored each roller coaster. We look forward to announcing the winners on announcements this week. Thank you to Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Godfrey for their innovation and grit during this process!
Fifth-grade teachers found a way to make a math review fun by transforming the hallway and classrooms into Mario World! The engagement was through the roof during this time and our fifth graders had a blast! Thank you to all who helped make this a success. It was so worth it to see our students' faces as they walked down the hallway and into the classrooms.
SCReady Information: It is testing week at PVES. We will have a final testing meeting for our teachers who will be administering tests this week. Non-homeroom teachers are asked to attend from 8:15-8:30 a.m. We can meet in the PD Room. Homeroom teachers will meet from 3:15-3:30 p.m. A location will be determined and communicated in afternoon announcements. We have some final reminders that we want to review and will be very mindful of the time. Thomas McAuliff has made a "one-stop-shop" testing document that you can use to access anything you need to know about testing. Please read over this carefully so that your class is set up to successfully take SCReady on Tuesday. Finally, be sure that you follow these steps each morning of testing to have iPads ready for testing.
Contracts: Certified teachers are reminded that their contracts are due on Tuesday, May 10th. Classified staff contracts are due on May 18th. Please let Mrs. Tollison know if you have any questions or concerns.
iPads and Library Books: All library books are due back on Friday, May 13th. We will be working with Mr. McAuliff, Ms. Durham, and Mrs. Black to have iPad collection schedules created and sent out. We will check back in 3rd and 5th-grade iPads on Monday, May 16th. We will check in 4th-grade iPads on Wednesday, May 18th. Any students needing to finish make-up testing will check theirs in once they have made up all test sessions. At this point, all iPads and chargers should remain at school.
Awards Day: See the awards day information below. Feel free to share this on Seesaw with your parents. All ceremonies will be held in the classrooms. Parents can sign students out for early dismissals from the classrooms. Teachers will have certificates in their boxes. We will send out the awards day agenda and description in next week's blog.
Grades: Grades will be due Wednesday, May 18th at 4:00 p.m. Grade verification will be ready on Thursday, May 19th. Please carefully check over these. Grades will be stored on Friday, May 20th. This will be in preparation for our awards days the following week. Teachers are reminded to include comments on behavior for all students. Awards will be given for honor roll and highest averages in reading and math.
May 20th: We will have a different schedule on May 20th with several exciting events. We will be having our Writer's Wall of Fame breakfast before school at 7:20 for the fourth nine weeks. Parents are invited to attend this breakfast with their child(ren). Writers will be sent to their classes by the 8:00 bell. We will then welcome our guest for Real Men Read. We will have books in the library for them to choose from as well as some breakfast items. Mrs. McGaha will do a quick introduction and explain the purpose of the day. Readers will then report to your classroom. The seniors will be doing their signing day this morning as well. We will not be participating in the signing ceremony but we are excited to host them for a senior parade. This year all of the seniors will walk through the elementary school in a parade-style with our students waiting to celebrate them. Feel free to make congratulations signs for them. The parade will begin at the high school at 11:05. They will walk the breezeway with the 7th and 8th graders greeting them. They will then visit the elementary school. Mrs. Cole said the seniors are very excited to see the elementary school, their former teachers, and the students. We will make an announcement when it is time to line the hallways.
Lunch, Related Arts, and Visitors THIS WEEK: Due to testing, we will not have lunch visitors. Keep in mind that our schedule for lunches may be different depending on the status of each class's testing progress. Thank you for your patience and understanding. We will also have an adjusted related arts schedule on our three testing dates with no morning related arts.
Tuesday- 3rd Grade Related Arts
(1:00-1:40- Childress, Ezell, Henderson, Strickland, Williams)
(1:45-2:25- Arnold, Barnett, Simons, Skelton, Thompson)
Wednesday- 4th Grade Related Arts
(1:00-1:40- Moore, Clark, Coates, Newcomer, Odom)
(1:45-2:25- Cowen, Ellison, Heath, Hollis, Huff)
Thursday- 5th Grade Related Arts
(1:00-1:40- Heitz, Hill, Holcombe, Richard, Thomas)
(1:45-2:25- Cothran, Gibson, Grier, Renjilian, Schumpert)
Important Dates for PVES:
- Monday, May 9th- Induction Teacher Celebration 4-5 p.m.
- Tuesday, May 10th- SC Ready ELA Day 1
- Tuesday, May 10th- Tropical Smoothie Cafe Night
- Tuesday, May 10th- Contracts due (Certified Staff)
- Wednesday, May 11th- SC Ready ELA Day 2
- Thursday, May 12th- SC Ready Math (No Thriving Thursday Classes)
- Friday, May 13th- All library books are due
- Friday, May 13th- 3rd Grade LAUNCH field trip
- Monday, May 16th- 4th Nine Weeks Pride Practice Certificates Due (Excellence)
- Monday, May 16th- 3rd and 5th Grades iPad collection
- Tuesday, May 17th- PASS Science Test (4th Grade only)
- Wednesday, May 18th- 4th Grade iPad collection
- Wednesday, May 18th- Certified Contracts Due
- Thursday, May 19th- Final Thriving Thursday Class
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