Nothing can stop a great year at VVES |
| August 30, 2012 |
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By Gary Pflueger Principal Valley View Elementary Wasn’t that a fast summer!?! Time flies when you’re having fun, they say! I hope the break will allow you and your children to join us refreshed and ready for an exciting year. The staff of Valley View Elementary School (VVES) has been hard at work preparing for a special school year. We will offer great challenges, adventure and excitement as we prepare our students for success in the 21st Century. Many changes are coming to the public schools system: the advancement of technology/communication and National Common Core Standards, to name a few. Our school goal will remain the same as last year — “VVES will strive to promote a SAFE, CIVIL & PRODUCTIVE school environment!” Safe is both physical and emotional safety. Civil behaviors allow us to live in a polite and cooperative society. Productive is accepting our role and responsibility to make it all work, by completing given tasks to the best of our ability! Last year we worked to provide consistent behavioral supports; this will continue. The goal this year is to raise our academic expectations, particularly in the 3 Rs: reading ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. Through an Idaho grant we hired Debbie Pauls as an Idaho Reads-Vista Coordinator. Her challenge is to solicit volunteers and materials to advance the reading skills of all our children. The written word will take an advanced position in our academic day; all students will complete a formal monthly writing. The staff will work together to identify and score the students’ writing using a Direct Writing Assessment Rubric. Finally, VVES has adopted a new math curriculum, "My Math," published by McGraw-Hill. This is a mastery based program which, in my opinion, will better meet the needs of our students. To help us with our goals we have 11 new employees at VVES. I am proud to introduce the following: Amber Weymer, fifth grade, Adrienne Warren, fifth grade, Doug Shryock, third grade, Julie Vinton, pre school, Patricia Burlingame, afternoon librarian, Karen Moore, school nurse, Angela Hittle, Americorp, Debbie Pauls, Idaho Reads, Candy Behrens, Title 1 para, Debbie Flory, Title 1 para, and Ammie Christopherson, Life Skills para. I am very excited to have these good people on our roster. This year the VVES PTO is under new leadership. Angela Hittle, Anne Tompkins and Jennifer English will lead the way as this important parent/teacher organization provides academic and financial support for our students. This group will organize special events, provide additional academic support and pay the way for field trips to advance the classroom instruction. The first meeting of the PTO will be held at 4 p.m. Wedesday, September 12, at Valley View. See you there! Thank you ladies! School will begin for the students on Tuesday, September 4. We will be open for business! Doors open at 7:45 a.m.; tardy bell rings at 8:10 a.m. Breakfast is available for no cost and lunch will be served. THERE WILL BE NOTHING THAT CAN STOP US FROM HAVING A GREAT SCHOOL YEAR—PLEASE JOIN US! I look forward to working with your children and the Bonners Ferry community! Mark your calendar: Back to School Night and Open House, 6 p.m. Monday, September 10. |