Week of 1/6 - 1/10

Hey Panda Family,

Week 18 is done. Check! ✔ 

February 6 PD Update: February 6 after-school we will have a training for our 3rd-5th teachers on I-Ready @ 3:30 in the media center (please make sure your MOY diagnostic is completed by then). We will also have a training for our 1st & 2nd grade teachers on Heggerty. Shannon Thompson will conduct this training and it will also start @ 3:30. Location for the Heggerty training is TBD. 

Change in Specials Schedule (1/14 & 1/15): Due to testing please follow these changes for Specials on January 14 & 15. 

K- 8:30        5^th- 11:15

1^st grade- 10:10       4^th- 12:10

Discretionary Funds: Don't forget about your discretionary funds for instructional materials that was allotted at the beginning of the year. Your discretionary funds need to be spent by the end of February. Send items to me, or Ms. Gardner, for approval and then complete a prior purchase approval form for Pam (yellow sheet). If you need to know how much is left in your grade level/individual account, please email Pam. 

Mobile HR: Human Resources will have a representative onsite at Piney Grove on January 22 from 12:45 - 3:45 to answer any HR related questions (pay, benefits, retirement, etc.). They will be located in room 126 for anyone that would like to speak with them. 

Visit from Cash Elementary: The PBIS team from Cash will be visiting PGE on Wednesday, January 22nd to see how we use music in the cafeteria during lunch.  Make sure you review cafeteria expectations before January 22nd.  

Fire Marshall: Ms. Gardner been working with individuals to correct things reported from the Fire Marshal.  If you are using a power strip that is not labeled WS/FCS, please let her know by Wednesday, January 15 so she can request maintenance to come out and install them. 

Math Night: We are working to schedule a Math Night at the local Food Lion. This will be a hands-on event for our families to attend. More information to come! 

PBIS Event on 1/22: Please submit the names of your students participating in board breaking by Tuesday, 1/15 to your grade level PBIS team member.  

United Way: Our final total for United Way was $1584! We had 70% staff participation. This is an awesome percentage, but we didn't quite meet our goal. We will still have our January staff meeting on 1/21, but we will work to keep it as brief as we can due to the high participation number :) 

Conferences: As discussed at our last staff meeting, please begin scheduling mid-year parent conferences for each of your students. These conferences should be a mid-year check-in to discuss each student's progress (academic, behavior, etc.). I encourage you to schedule them in 15-20 minute increments, unless you feel you need more time with the parents. If a parent can not come in for the conference please attempt to schedule a phone conference with them. Once you have your schedule set please share with Ms. Landreth so she can expect the parent visitors. We will be following up with everyone on how the conferences are going in PLTs. Feel free to use all or some of the teacher workday on January 24 for your conferences. The deadline for K-2 conferences is Friday, January 31. The deadline for 3-5 conferences is Friday, February 14 (we should have all 2nd quarter testing results in at this point for 3-5 to be able to share with parents).   

Staff Spotlight: Thank you so much to Ms. Adams for organizing a successful Science Fair that resulted in PGE having the 2nd place winner in the K-2 division for the district, Larkin Mack! 

Also, thank you to Ms. Sweeney for organizing and hosting another successful Spelling Bee. Good luck to our champion, Madison Russell, as she moves on to the district competition. 

Teacher Tuesday Spotlight: Our school Facebook page is highlighting a teacher each week! Our spotlight this past week was Ms. Tall, our Teacher of the Year. Check it out! 

Lesson Plans: Friendly reminder that Lesson Plans should be posted to the PowerSchool Wiki the first day of each week by 8:00am.

IF Updates

EOQ Testing: EOQ testing will be this week - 1/14 (ELA) & 1/15 (Math). Please help us create an ideal testing environment for all our students by reminding them to be on a voice volume zero in all areas of the building during the testing times. Good luck to all our students testing. 

i-Ready: The Mid-Year is set to begin on January 20th and runs through February 14^th. However, we have scheduled our next training for 2/6/2020, which means that we need to have all assessments completed by 2/5/2020.  We will discuss more details about the assessments in PLT. Also, we will start an incentive program that will track hitting usage goals AND to highlight overall percentages of passing scores for each class.  The bulletin board for this program will revealed very soon!

Upcoming Dates:

January 13 - PTA Meeting @ 6:30
January 14 - ELA Check-In & EOQ Test (3rd - 5th grades)
January 14 - SIT @ 3:30
January 15 - Math Check-In & EOQ Test (3rd - 5th grades)
January 20 - MLK day (no school)

January 21 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30
January 22 - Kindergarten Letterland Parade @ 9:00
January 22 - Master Posey PBIS event (during Specials)
January 22 - Mobile HR @ PGE from 12:45 - 3:45

January 22 - End of 2nd Quarter

January 23 - Workday (reserved for central office)

January 24 - Workday (conference day - reserved for schools)

January 27 - Jerry Yale @ PGE

January 28 - Elkins @ Principal's Meeting 8:00 - 3:00

January 28 - SCC & Media Committees @ 3:30
January 29 - Class Pictures
January 30 - Gardner @ AP Meeting 8:00 - 11:00, Elkins @ Principal's Meeting 12:00 - 3:00

January 31 - Reports cards due to Ms. True

January 31 - K-2 Parent Conferences completed by this date
February 3 - Midyear PDPs due
February 4 - Science EOQ Check-In

February 4 - Jerry Yale @ PGE

February 4 - PBIS & Wellness @ 3:30

February 6 - Iready Training @ 3:30 (3-5 grades only), Heggerty Training @ 3:30 (1st & 2nd only)
February 7 - Testing Team meeting @ 7:30

February 7 - Report cards go home

February 10 - PTA Meeting @ 6:30

February 11 - Boosterthon Assemblies (3-5 @ 1:30, K-2 @ 2:10)

February 11 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30

February 12 - 19 - Boosterthon Pep Rallies during Specials

February 12 - Jerry Yale @ PGE

February 13 - Mary Starling @ 10:00 (5th grade only)

February 13 - FCAE Meeting @ 3:30

February 14 - 3-5 Parent Conferences completed by this date

February 18 - Elkins @ Principal's Meeting 8:00 - 3:00
February 18 - SIT @ 3:30

February 19 - Early Release Day

February 20 - Boosterthon Fun Run (times TBD)
February 20 - Kindergarten Registration Day from 10:00 - 6:30

I need some more good read aloud picture books for my Friday night story time on Facebook. Please share any good titles in the comments below that I could put on my list for the second half of the year. Thanks! 

Week of 12/16 - 12/20

Hey Panda Family,

Week 17 is complete! I hope everyone had a wonderful break with friends and family! 😊 

Staff Updates: We are excited to announce that Danielle Wiebking will be joining us in a part-time instructional assistant role in the coming weeks. She will be serving in a substitute role initially, but we plan to officially hire her after HR frees up some funds for us in the new year. Mrs. Wiebking's children were Pandas here at Piney Grove and she is very familiar with a lot of our staff. She has been recently serving as a consistent substitute for KMS, but we are so happy to have her here at Piney Grove in an instructional role. Welcome Mrs. Wiebking! 

On a sad note, we wanted to let everyone know that Angela Gray will be resigning from her 3rd grade teaching position. Angela served our students so well in both her role as a Reading Interventionist and as a 3rd grade teacher. This was a very difficult decision for her, but she felt it was best to allow herself time to fully recover from her leg injury. We want to thank Angela for her service to our school, and she will always be a part of the Panda family! 

Conferences: As discussed at our last staff meeting, please begin scheduling mid-year parent conferences for each of your students. These conferences should be a mid-year check-in to discuss each student's progress (academic, behavior, etc.). I encourage you to schedule them in 15-20 minute increments, unless you feel you need more time with the parents. If a parent can not come in for the conference please attempt to schedule a phone conference with them. Once you have your schedule set please share with Ms. Landreth so she can expect the parent visitors. We will be following up with everyone on how the conferences are going in PLTs. Feel free to use all or some of the teacher workday on January 24 for your conferences. The deadline for K-2 conferences is Friday, January 31. The deadline for 3-5 conferences is Friday, February 14 (we should have all 2nd quarter testing results in at this point for 3-5 to be able to share with parents). 

PBIS Expectations: Take time to review PBIS expectations as well as your classroom expectations over the next 2 weeks.  Doing this now will save you headaches later :) We will also be reviewing PBIS expectations over announcements. 

Fire Marshall: Thank you again for making sure exit doors are clear.  We have a few other things to to address this month after receiving the Fire Marshall's report.  Please look for an email from Ms. Gardner if this affects you. 

Mid-Year PDPs: Please update your mid-year PDP plan by Monday, February 3.  Please look for an email from Elkins or Gardner with instructions. 

Healthy Panda: I plan to announce the Healthy Pandas for December this upcoming week on the announcements. Please add your Healthy Panda to the Google doc if you haven't already: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hKr75hVMT24hNsZi4V3cModMHYzi9_VuaNRZN3cKPM8/edit?usp=sharing 

Good Citizens: I also plan to announce the Good Citizens for December too. Please add your Good Citizen to the Google doc if you haven't already: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DmA16a0lO9MBrA_wduNN9XlSvxbtHZBUwSan4X8nqlE/edit?usp=sharing 

Purchase Pre-approval: Reminder that per district policy we must have a pre-approval form completed for all purchases. The pre-approval form is a yellow form located in the front office. Even if I approve your purchase over email, you must complete a pre-approval form and have me sign off before you make the purchase. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.  

Spelling Bee (4th & 5th grade only): The school Spelling Bee will be this Wednesday, January 8 at 8:30 in the media center. Please see Ms. Sweeney with any questions. 

United Way: Our final total for United Way was $1584! Great job! Ms. Ballou and Ms. Mathis will have the final staff participation percentage this week. We will share it with everyone once we have that figure. We really appreciate everyone who contributed. Thank you to Ms. Ballou and Ms. Mathis for overseeing this fundraising effort. 

Staff Spotlight: Thank you, Mr. Jose for helping hang our new banner outside the main entrance. It celebrates our wonderful state academic growth over the years! 

Teacher Tuesday Spotlight: Our school Facebook page is highlighting a teacher each week! Our spotlight this past week was Ms. Mason. Check it out! 

Lesson Plans: Friendly reminder that Lesson Plans should be posted to the PowerSchool Wiki the first day of each week by 8:00am.

IF Updates

i-Ready: Diagnostic MOY window has CHANGED AGAIN! The Mid-Year is set to begin on January 20th and runs through February 14^th. However, we have scheduled our next training for 2/6/2020, which means that we need to have all assessments completed by 2/5/2020.  We will discuss more details about the assessments in PLT. Also, we will start an incentive program that will track hitting usage goals AND to highlight overall percentages of passing scores for each class.  The bulletin board for this program will revealed very soon!

Istation: It’s Istation MOY time!  This should be administered in a testing-friendly environment (quiet in the room, take a bathroom break before you start, etc).  We anticipate having enough adults in the room for your whole class to test at once instead of in small groups.  For some grades, testing will occur over several days.  You should have access to the testing schedule in your google drive (search for MOY Istation if you want to reference it). 

Upcoming Dates:

January 6 - School resumes
January 7 - PBIS & Wellness Committees meet @ 3:30
January 8 - Spelling Bee @ 8:30
January 9 - FCAE Meeting @ 3:30
January 13 - PTA Meeting @ 6:30
January 14 - ELA Check-In & EOQ Test (3rd - 5th grades)
January 14 - SIT @ 3:30
January 15 - Math Check-In & EOQ Test (3rd - 5th grades)
January 20 - MLK day (no school)

January 21 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30

January 22 - End of 2nd Quarter

January 23 - Workday (reserved for central office)

January 24 - Workday (conference day - reserved for schools)

January 27 - Jerry Yale @ PGE

January 28 - Elkins @ Principal's Meeting 8:00 - 3:00

January 28 - SCC & Media Committees @ 3:30
January 29 - Class Pictures
January 30 - Gardner @ AP Meeting 8:00 - 11:00, Elkins @ Principal's Meeting 12:00 - 3:00

January 31 - Reports cards due to Ms. True

January 31 - K-2 Parent Conferences completed by this date
February 3 - Midyear PDPs due
February 4 - Science EOQ Check-In

February 4 - Jerry Yale @ PGE

February 4 - PBIS & Wellness @ 3:30

February 6 - Iready Training @ 3:30 (3-5 grades only)

February 7 - Report cards go home

February 10 - PTA Meeting @ 6:30

February 11 - Boosterthon Assemblies (3-5 @ 1:30, K-2 @ 2:10)

February 11 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30

February 12 - 19 - Boosterthon Pep Rallies during Specials

February 12 - Jerry Yale @ PGE

February 13 - Mary Starling @ 10:00 (5th grade only)

February 13 - FCAE Meeting @ 3:30

February 14 - 3-5 Parent Conferences completed by this date

February 18 - Elkins @ Principal's Meeting 8:00 - 3:00
February 18 - SIT @ 3:30

February 19 - Early Release Day

February 20 - Boosterthon Fun Run (times TBD)

As you prepare to return tomorrow, just remember this...

Week of 12/9 - 12/13

Hey Panda Family,

Week 16 is complete! I can hear the sleigh bells ringing 🔔 

 

Staff Meeting: Staff meeting this Tuesday @ 3:30. The agenda items are: Kay Pridgen dedication, AIG Retirement information, SIOP, I-ready updates, Staff awards. 

December 20: On Friday, December 20 we encourage all staff to wear your favorite holiday outfit! You may wear PJs, ugly Christmas sweaters, etc. We hope it will be a fun and festive way to end the week! 

Lesson Plans this Week: Lesson plans will still be due this week. I fully understand that you may have parties/activities that are going on and will take some time away from instruction. If you would please just make it clear in your plans when these activities are occurring.

Family Tree News Story: Click the link to watch the wonderful story Fox 8 did on our family tree! 

https://myfox8.com/2019/12/13/kernersville-art-students-and-faculty-create-family-tree-at-piney-grove-elementary-school/ 

Purchase Pre-approval: Reminder that per district policy we must have a pre-approval form completed for all purchases. The pre-approval form is a yellow form located in the front office. Even if I approve your purchase over email, you must complete a pre-approval form and have me sign off before you make the purchase. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. 

Staff Updates: Please join me in congratulating Caryn Monroe! Ms. Monroe has accepted a behavior specialist position with Iredell-Statesville Schools. We hate to see her leave us, but we know she is super excited for her next adventure. Thank you, Ms. Monroe for everything you have done for your students during your time at Piney Grove! Ms. Monroe's last day will be this Friday, December 20. 

Matt Pisini had to have emergency surgery this week on his heart. The surgery was successful. Please keep Matt in your thoughts and prayers as he recovers. 

PBIS Gaming Truck: The gaming truck will be here this Friday, December 20! See below for your grade level time slot. We will announce when we are ready for grade level participants to come to the truck. The location of the truck is TBD. 

Time	Grade	# of kids	Supervision
8:30	K	15	Pizzino
9:30	1	11+ 6 of Brookshire’s	Musten
10:30	5	20	Medley
11:30	3	24  ** eats in classroom	Vaden
12:30	4	21	Rempe
1:30	2	19	Ball

Safety Update: We will have a community lockdown along with our monthly fire drill before we leave for break.  Please review procedures for a community lockdown with your students.

Spelling Bee (4th & 5th grade only): Reminder that you need to have your class representative selected by December 20. Please see Ms. Sweeney with any questions. 

United Way: This is the online link & the easiest way to donate to United Way: https://uwfc.upicsolutions.org/WSFCS We have met our monetary goal (currently raised $1,563), but we are still working towards 100% participation. As of Friday we had 67% participation from the staff. If we meet both goals then I will cancel the January staff meeting :) 

Winter Parties: If you are planning a winter party for your class please schedule it for the last week before winter break (week of December 16). Make sure to keep the focus of the parties more winter themed (snowmen, candy canes, etc.) than holiday themed; unless you plan to highlight a variety a winter holidays. We want to avoid highlighting one holiday over another. 

Staff Spotlight: Huge Thank You to Ms. Mabe & SCC for planning and hosting such a wonderful staff holiday party! 

Teacher Tuesday Spotlight: Our school Facebook page is highlighting a teacher each week! Our spotlight this past week was Ms. Gant. Check it out! 

Lesson Plans: Friendly reminder that Lesson Plans should be posted to the PowerSchool Wiki the first day of each week by 8:00am.

IF Updates

i-Ready: Diagnostic MOY window has CHANGED! The window is now January 6 to February 7.  REMARK your calendars!  Also, we will start an incentive program that will track hitting usage goals AND to highlight overall percentages of passing scores for each class.  Stay tuned for more details about this super program!

Istation: When writing your lesson plans for the week of January 6, don’t forget to include time for the Istation MOY benchmark!  This should be administered in a testing-friendly environment (quiet in the room, take a bathroom break before you start, etc).  If you need to borrow computers in order to make a complete class set, then just see your buddy class to work out a time. 

Upcoming Dates:

December 16 - WFU Women's Basketball game for 2nd, 4th, & 5th grade 10:00 - 1:30
December 17 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30
December 17 - PGE Skate Night @ 6:00
December 19 - Gardner @ AP meeting 8:00 - 11:00, Elkins @ Principal Meeting 12:00 - 3:00
December 23 - January 3 - Winter Break! 
January 6 - School resumes
January 7 - PBIS & Wellness Committees meet @ 3:30
January 8 - Spelling Bee @ 8:30
January 9 - FCAE Meeting @ 3:30
January 13 - PTA Meeting @ 6:30
January 14 - ELA Check-In & EOQ Test (3rd - 5th grades)
January 14 - SIT @ 3:30
January 15 - Math Check-In & EOQ Test (3rd - 5th grades)

Winner from last week was Ms. Gant! I will get you your prize :)

We had this discussion at a holiday get together recently: What is your favorite Christmas/Holiday movie? Please share in the comments below! Mine is Tim Allen's Santa Claus 🎅

Week of 12/2 - 12/6

Hey Panda Family,

We can check off Week 15! Inching closer to the holiday break 🎁

PBIS Gaming Truck: Enter your numbers for the Gaming Truck using the following link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GnoI0AkCXGQeFYoAjF-329fZPk86378TloWIAEVfzgU/edit?usp=sharing by Tuesday, December 10th.

Safety Update: We will have a community lockdown along with our monthly fire drill before we leave for break.  Please review procedures for a community lockdown with your students.

Spelling Bee (4th & 5th grade only): Reminder that you need to have your class representative selected by December 20. Please see Ms. Sweeney with any questions. 

TOY/Classified Nominations: It's time to nominate our colleagues in recognition of the wonderful work they do each and every day for our Panda Family 😊 Please use the google form below to nominate a teacher of the year and/or classified employee of the year. Please communicate with your nominee to ensure they are interested in being nominated. Please complete your nomination(s) by Tuesday, December 10th. We will then vote based on nominations through December 13th. https://forms.gle/vWXnB3HAhnKWkMtk9

Early Release Day: Please complete the Early Release Day planning form that was placed in your box. The ER Day is this Wednesday, December 11. Completed forms should be returned to Mr. Elkins.  

Time Change: The time for the Winter Musical dress rehearsal on December 12 has been changed to 1:00. We will use the early release lunch schedule that day and all classes will eat in their rooms. 

Featured Teacher: I know it's a busy time of year, but if anyone has time to fill out the link and send Mrs. Jones a photo (email or text 407-2197) to use by Tuesday, she would greatly appreciate it! And it would be great to get a few submissions so she can be stocked for Winter Break. Classroom teachers, assistants, specialists, etc. are all eligible! 
Here is the link: https://forms.gle/UXmaMHbCwk2uXABW9

United Way: This is the online link & the easiest way to donate to United Way: https://uwfc.upicsolutions.org/WSFCS We have met our monetary goal, but we are still working towards 100% participation. As of Friday we had 61% participation from the staff. If we meet both goals then I will cancel the January staff meeting :) 

Winter Parties: If you are planning a winter party for your class please schedule it for the last week before winter break (week of December 16). Make sure to keep the focus of the parties more winter themed (snowmen, candy canes, etc.) than holiday themed; unless you plan to highlight a variety a winter holidays. We want to avoid highlighting one holiday over another. 

Staff Holiday Social: Staff Holiday Social will be on December 13th at 6:30 pm at "Liberty Brewery and Grill” formally known as Liberty Steakhouse, located at 914 Mall Loop Rd, High Point, NC. This event will be for staff and their spouse/significant other. Staff Members meal only will be paid for courtesy of SCC. Drinks will not be covered, but can be purchased separately (sodas, tea must also be purchased). Spouse or significant other attending with you will also order from the Set Menu. No payment needs to be made until that night. Please see the email from Ms. Mabe with more information. If you can attend please complete this RSVP - https://forms.gle/EN5yDB2BbjtTvGA79 

Staff Spotlight: Fox 8 is scheduled to air a news story on our Family Tree mural on Monday, December 9 at 7:15. It is also supposed to be featured on their website after it airs. Check it out! 

Teacher Tuesday Spotlight: Our school Facebook page is highlighting a teacher each week! Our spotlight this past week was Ms. Bolchalk. Check it out! 

Lesson Plans: Friendly reminder that Lesson Plans should be posted to the PowerSchool Wiki the first day of each week by 8:00am.

IF Updates

i-Ready: Diagnostic MOY window has CHANGED! The window is now January 6 to February 7.  REMARK your calendars!  Also, we will start an incentive program that will track hitting usage goals AND to highlight overall percentages of passing scores for each class.  Stay tuned for more details about this super program!

Istation: When writing your lesson plans for the week of January 6, don’t forget to include time for the Istation MOY benchmark!  This should be administered in a testing-friendly environment (quiet in the room, take a bathroom break before you start, etc).  If you need to borrow computers in order to make a complete class set, then just see your buddy class to work out a time. 

Upcoming Dates:

December 10 - SIT @ 3:30
December 11 - Testing Team Meeting @ 7:30
December 11 - Early Release Day
December 12 - MTSS Team Training 8:30 - 3:30
December 12 - Use Early Release Lunch Schedule
December 12 - Winter Music Performance 1:00 (dress rehearsal for school) & 6:30 (evening show)
December 12 - FCAE Meeting @ 3:30
December 13 - Staff Holiday Social @ 6:30 - Liberty Brewery and Grill
December 16 - WFU Women's Basketball game for 2nd, 4th, & 5th grade 10:00 - 1:30
December 17 - Elkins at Principal's Meeting 8:00 - 3:30
December 17 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30
December 17 - PGE Skate Night @ 6:00
December 19 - Gardner @ AP meeting 8:00 - 11:00, Elkins @ Principal Meeting 12:00 - 3:00
December 23 - January 3 - Winter Break! 
January 6 - School resumes
January 7 - PBIS & Wellness Committees meet @ 3:30
January 8 - Spelling Bee @ 8:30
January 9 - FCAE Meeting @ 3:30

A holiday prize goes to the first person who can solve this holiday riddle/joke: Santa went to buy his sleigh but he was surprised that it was free. How did Santa get his sleigh for free?

Put your answer in the comments section below with your name!