April 2017
Recent Award a Credit to the Entire Parkview Community
A kindergarten class, in recognition of World Down Syndrome Day, spread kindness
by cleaning the entire cafeteria for the custodian (“Mr. Jake”) while he took a break and,
with tears in his eyes, sat back with a cold drink and watched an entire class sweep the
floor and clean the tables.
Last week, every teacher at Parkview sat with every parent and presented a detailed
report on the academic and social progress on every child. This was complete with student
work samples, data tracked throughout the year, and specific goals for the end of the year.
Teachers spent hours and hours - outside of their work day - to prepare for each
conference. Having sat in on many conferences, I know how much parents appreciated the
great efforts on the part of our teachers at Parkview. We had nearly 100% attendance at
parent conferences.
Every K-2 student at Parkview is being read to by their parents, The Chocolate
Touch. All educators at Parkview have met with their book clubs, organized in mixed grade
groups by Sandy and Melissa in the office, several times already and our students can’t
help but run to their book club in excitement each Thursday morning. This effort involves
every student, parent and teacher at Parkview.
Our PTA Leadership Board, over the past month, has organized and executed a
VERY fun and successful adult social to provide parents a chance to build relationships.
They have organized and staffed a book fair - entirely on a volunteer basis - that allowed all
students and teachers to obtain more books. They welcomed new parents at Kindergarten
Orientation and organized two lunches for faculty during conference week. This Friday night
they are hosting a free movie night for families.
The PreK-2 librarians, with full support of principals and teachers, are writing grants
to create “MakerSpaces” in each elementary library to promote creativity, engineering and
collaborative learning experiences for all students.
~ Park-ViewPoint April 2017 ~
Students, staff and families filled every bin we put out in the main hallway with food
donations to the Easton Food Pantry. This enormous contribution will be delivered to the
pantry this week.
Students at Parkview have tragically lost parents this year and many staff members
attended the funerals and services to be there for their students in a time of great sadness.
There are teachers at Parkview that have privately been fighting and beating cancer,
and, on numerous occasions, have credited their Parkview family for the constant support
and strength and love it took to overcome such a physical and mental challenge.
Declan O’Rourke carried his older sister’s backpack to her second grade class
because Niamh broke her leg. Niamh did not have to ask him.
Every single day, at our school, greatness happens. All of our successes are shared
successes. All of our successes are interdependent. No one person makes Parkview the
school that it is. The truth is we all do our part - students, parents, teachers, support staff,
the nurse, the custodian, the playground aides, the bus drivers, the principal. No part is
more or less important than the other. Walk around our school with your eyes open and see
what I am writing about.
We are not perfect, we make many mistakes. However, as we say to the students,
“mistakes are learning times”, and our school is a place of learning.
Thank you all for doing your part.
~Mr. Getchell
Teaching our Students to Respectfully Stick Up for Themselves
During the month of April, through our Open Circle Program, our teachers will work
on decreasing a habit of most 5 - 8 year old children - TATTLING! Through role playing,
modeling and direct instruction, students will learn and practice looking at a peer that is
bothering them and say, “Please stop. I don’t like it when you…” Using “I statements”
empowers students and provides an easy-to-remember sentence starter to respectfully
stand their ground and address misbehavior. We will teach and model using “I statements”
as a “first resort” when someone is doing something you don’t like. We will teach our
students that if that person does not stop with the behavior, then you can decide to play with
or talk to someone else, or ask a nearby teacher for help. It is common for students at this
age to think they will “be in trouble” if they tell another friend to “Stop!” Students are quick to
run to a teacher and tell before trying to solve the problem on their own. We plan on
teaching this strategy that is intended to empower all of our students and teach them how to
be strong with their words in a respectful and safe manner.
~ Park-ViewPoint April 2017 ~
Pennies for Patients
Parkview ran a coin drive for Pennies for Patients to benefit people
with Leukemia and Lymphoma. As a school, we raised $1104.17! That
is a LOT of coins! Many students did chores at home to raise money for
this worthy cause. We are bucketfillers!
PMC Kids Bike Ride – Registration Open!
The 4th annual Easton PMC Kids Bike Ride will held at Parkview on Saturday,
April 29. Pre-registration is required, visit www.kids.pmc.org/easton.aspx to register! If
you want to volunteer, you can sign up at the above site as
well. Participation is voluntary… but it is always a very fun
event for students that participate. A minimum of a $25
fundraiser fee is due for all riders. Last year this event raised
over $38,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy
Fund for cancer care and research!
PE Update
Over the last month in P.E. your kids have been learning the skills used in
volleyball. They learned that volleying is keeping an object in the air and
striking is moving a body part toward an object to send that object into the
air. We learned this by using balloons and had tons of fun! Who doesn’t
like balloons? We started this unit by simply using different body parts like
their fingers, hands, heads and elbows to volley. Then we moved to striking and
volleying with partners learning about the force needed and where on the
balloon to hit in order to keep balloons in the air. This week we pulled out a
volleyball net to learn what it takes to actually hit balloons and beach balls
(for older kids) up and over the net. I even pulled some of the older kids
over to bump a trainer volleyball back to me….showing them what they will
be using in the older grades.
This month I had the privilege of attending SHAPE (Society of Health and
Physical Educators) conference for one day. This really helped reinvigorate me in my
teaching as I learned many things that can help me in my teaching your children. Ideas
on how to bring technology into P.E., how to incorporate a little more fitness to their
learning. I also learned about SHAPE Americas “50 million strong” movement. The 50
million represents the approximate number of students currently enrolled in U.S.
schools from pre-k to12th grades. We as members want to make sure that our
youngest students graduate from high school in 2029 empowered to lead healthy and
active lives.
~ Park-ViewPoint April 2017 ~
I am only one small part of this movement as a PE teacher but I am looking
forward to helping our school and community toward this goal. Our school gives
opportunities for exercise during recess, using our walking track, learning skills in sports
and other activities in PE and even walking through our outdoor garden. I will continue
to give them the skills they can use in sports and other activities and give them a
chance to learn about some lifetime activities. Many of our children quit organized
sports by the time they reach their teenage years. Please help your kids find something
they like to do for exercise that they can do for their lives such as hiking, biking,
swimming, frisbee golf, etc. Every choice will have a positive impact on your child’s
life. I feel strongly that involving kids in lifetime activities now will help keep them active
the rest of their lives.
Thanks,
Mr. White
Donations for Animals
Webelos 11 - Pack 76 is collecting blankets, towels and sheets for the local
animal shelter as a recycling/community service project. Donation boxes are at
Parkview and Richardson-Olmsted. Collections will run until April 27th.
In the Spotlight! Recent Parkview Pics…
~ Park-ViewPoint April 2017 ~
~ Park-ViewPoint April 2017 ~
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~ PTA PAGE ~
Upcoming Meeting, Reminders, Notes...
April 14: Panda Pride Day (students encouraged to wear
their PKV spiritwear)
April 27: 9:30-10:30 AM - Daytime PTA Meeting at
Parkview Cafeteria
Calling all volunteers...are you interested in joining the PTA as a board member for next
school year? Or simply haven’t gotten around to signing up as a card-holding PTA member
yet? If so, please contact anyone on our current board. We’d love to have you join us for all
of the fun events, fundraisers, and teacher appreciation we organize for Parkview!
2016-2017 Parkview PTA Leadership Board
Co-chair: Diane Hrenko ([email protected])
Co-chair: Edwina Hern ([email protected])
Vice Chair: Jessica Block ([email protected])
Co-Secretary: Laura Weiler ([email protected])
Co-Secretary: Jocelyn Denny ([email protected])
Treasurer: Jodi Bryant ([email protected])
Enrichment Coordinator: Nicole Colegrove ([email protected])
Green Team Leader: Meredith Bonny ([email protected])
Faculty Representative: Barbara Wallace ([email protected])
Green Team! Parkview’s
outdoor classroom will be
opening soon! If you’d like to
volunteer to water/weed the
garden, please email
[email protected]
Keep clipping and sending in those BOX TOPS!
Other ways to collect more box tops…
Receipt scanning:
https://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/receipts
can/lysolbuy5
Sweepstakes: https://www.1millionboxtops.com/
~ Park-ViewPoint April 2017 ~