Mr. Elkins' Weekly Wrap: March 31

Hey Panda Family,

Another Boosterthon Fun Run is in the books! This is the most money we have ever raised - $35,494! This money will go a long ways to make some needed school improvements throughout the building over the next year. We will be working with SIT to prioritize these improvements and to continue to make Piney Grove the best elementary school in Kernersville. Thank you for all your hard work the past week to promote, encourage, and motivate your students to help us raise these funds! Y'all are the best! Have a wonderful weekend!

Here are the Weekly Wrap updates for this week:

New Updates

Congratulations: Congratulations to Robin Wise and Elaine Laws! Both of these ladies have enjoyed amazing teaching careers and both have decided to retire at the end of the school year. Please join me in celebrating their amazing careers and everything they have done for our pandas! We will greatly miss each of you, but we are so happy for you and this next chapter in your life.

iReady Reading Diagnostic: All K-5 classes will complete the iReady Reading Diagnostic next week. Please make sure you motivate your students with our school incentive chart.

Hiding iReady Diagnostic: There are some new steps to hide the iReady diagnostic assessments until you are ready for your students to access them. Thank you to Ms. Gant for making these new directions for how to hide the iReady diagnostic - Hiding iReady Diagnostic

Ann Marie Sneed: One of our sweet Panda students, Ann Marie, is finishing up her last chemo treatment on Monday, April 7th. Join in the celebration by wearing Ann Marie's favorite color PURPLE on Monday! I will also be letting our families know.

Spring Pictures: Spring Individual Pictures will be in the Media Center next Tuesday, April 8. Here is the schedule - Spring Picture Schedule

NC Check-In (from Ms. Lloyd): Next Wednesday April 9^th is our last Math Check In before our EOGs!

Here is the schedule: 4/9/25 - MATH Check In C

Please review to make sure that the accommodations are correct and what you are scheduled to do.

Things to Note:

Administrators are: Barnes, Bowman, Gardner, Guffey, Landis, Lawson, Pereda, Seely, Russell, Vermilyea
Testing Central is in the Media Center
4th grade will start after specials
3,4,5 TEACHERS - We are allowed to do a "Brain Dump" for the EOGs (where students can write down strategies (charts, etc) on a paper and keep it the whole test time. This test is a great time to practice that. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Cafeteria Money (from Cafeteria Manager): I wanted to ask if we can start making sure the students are bringing their money to add to their accounts in the teacher envelopes each morning like we were doing. We are feeding about 30 more students each day now and when the students bring their money for their account thru the line it is slowing down the line. Cashiers are supposed to write down the students name, amount, cash or check, check number and account number when money is deposited each time, when they bring it in the morning in teacher envelopes the cashier has time to do all these tasks but not when the student comes thru the line and its crowded.

PBIS Events for the Remainder of the Year: The chances for the students to spend their Paw bucks are winding down. Below is a list of the ways students can spend their money in the last 34 days of school.

Panda Personalization - Google Form
Book Machine (1 book per student; $100 Paw bucks)
Paw Store - see schedule here

Continue to be positive, monitor the students, and hand out bucks when the students earn them.

Shout-out 🎉: From Mrs. Sherrill - Shoutout to Ms. Guffey for coming to help mark laps for my class today during Boosterthon! She is an amazing team player!

Updates from Last Week

Student Work: Please make sure to continue to post student work outside your classroom. I love seeing the beautiful work our students have completed!

Incident Reports: One of the problem areas from the Sedge Garden investigation deals with incident reports and lack of reporting. This is just a friendly reminder that when a student gets hurt here at school please make sure to apply care, contact the parents, and complete the yellow incident report form (these are located in the office). If you have any questions regarding incident reports please reach out to Mr. Elkins.

Infinite Campus Courses: If you have completed your registration for Infinite Campus you should have begun receiving some emails about webinars and trainings. I have checked with the IT department and you do need to start completing these. You can complete these lessons at your own pace.

April Drills: Fire drill. It will be unannounced.

Terms of Employment for 2025-2026 (from the district): The purpose of this communication is to provide you with the attached Terms of Employment and Staff Calendars for the 2025-2026 school year. Additionally, we are listing a few important updates and reminders below.

Pre-Service Days: All pre-service days (RS, PD, RT) are required for all employee staff who are under terms of employment. Annual Leave (AL) will not be approved on these days, as attendance is required to ensure we are prepared to welcome students on the first day of school.
RT Days after the first student day: On the other five RT days, employees may take AL days if the RT days are within their terms of employment. 10-month employees who positions permit remote work may telework on the RT days on December 22, 2025, and January 2, 2026
RS/PD Days on August 5 and 6: The professional development (PD) days on August 5 and 6 will be designated separately for elementary and secondary staff, with one day allocated for each group. The remaining day will serve as an RS (Reserved) day for schools.
RS Days after the first student day: Employees may be approved for Annual Leave on RS days with supervisor approval and if their job group does not have professional development.
Specific employee groups (such as Teacher Assistants and certain support staff) have designated mandatory R days, as detailed in the Terms of Employment document.
Inclement weather makeup days are noted by a snowflake symbol on April 6, and May 26-29. In the event of an inclement weather day, the day becomes an RT day for 215-day employees unless otherwise stated. The district is developing a clearer specific code structure for inclement weather days for next year which will be shared in August.
May 29 indicates the last paid employment date for the 215-day school year. Please note that this date may be adjusted due to inclement weather, which could result in changes to the calendar.

Please ensure you review the Terms of Employment and the attached 2025-2026 Staff Calendar to understand the expectations for your role. If you have any questions regarding your specific schedule, please reach out to your supervisor or the Human Resources department.

Thank you for your commitment to ensuring a successful start to the 2025-2026 school year. We appreciate your dedication and look forward to another great year ahead.

2025-26 Terms of Service Document
2025-26 Staff Calendar

PTA Reimbursements: All PTA reimbursements are due by April 30. Please make sure you keep your receipt. Here is the link to complete your reimbursement request - PTA Reimbursement Link

Updated Piney Grove Calendar: Please take time to review the PGE Event Calendar 2024-2025. We have added EOG Dates, adjusted Awards Day celebrations, and set a date for 5th grade graduation. Please review and mark your calendar accordingly. Here is a link to the calendar: PGE Event Calendar 2024-2025
Awards Celebrations
Kindergarten - May 16 @ 10:00
1st Grade - May 14 @ 12:00
2nd Grade - May 16 @ 12:00
3rd Grade - May 20 @ 10:00
4th Grade - May 20 @ 12:00
5th Grade - May 21 @ 10:00
EOG Dates
Reading EOG - May 13
Math EOG - May 15
Science EOG - May 19
Read to Achieve - May 19