*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*

The Grove Grizzly A Note from Mrs. Matthews    Thank you to all of our parents who have been working with their children to complete the weekly reading logs! As stated in my newsletter last week, this will be valuable information for our classroom teachers in the upcoming weeks! Over the course of this week and next week, our staff is also conducting additional assessments with students in order to learn more about them as readers and also as mathematicians. With students in kindergarten through 2nd grades, we have specific assessments that we conduct with all students. These assessments are not ones that students can prepare for, and they are used for school staff to make decisions regarding instruction and support for students within the building. In addition, our teachers are currently being trained on using updated reading assessments kits that we typically use with students in kindergarten through 5th grades. Once classroom teachers have been trained, they will be using these reading assessments throughout the year to continue to monitor students reading and determine when students should increase in their reading levels. These assessments help our staff match readers to books and provide teachers information as to what skills students have mastered and where they need additional instruction. This will be beneficial for our teachers to help children choose “good fit” books to read at home each night as they determine specific reading levels. Parents can anticipate that the rate at which students move levels will be different than our previous practice as the result of the new assessment tool. I have included links below to several articles for parents to read in order to learn more about how you can continue to support your child as a reader at home.   The Rewards of Reading – in English The rewards of Reading – in Spanish Tips for Parents to Help Kids Become Successful Readers – Pre-K-3rd Grades Parent Tips for Raising Strong Readers and Writers: Growing Readers! - in English   Parent Tips for Raising Strong Readers and Writers: Growing Readers! – in Spanish            Upcoming Dates: Monday, September 3rd – Labor Day, NO SCHOOL Tuesday, September 4th – 2nd Grade Prairie Walk Field Trip (4 classes) Tuesday, September 4th – 1st Grade Field Trip to Stillman Nature Center (1 class) Wednesday, September 5th – 1st Grade Field Trip to Stillman Nature Center in (2 classes) Friday, September 7th – 2nd Grade Prairie Walk Field Trip (2 classes) Friday, September 7th – 3rd Grade Smart Farm Field Study (4 classes) Thursday, September 13th – 3rd Grade Smart Farm Field Study (2 classes) Friday, September 14th – PTO Back to School Bash, 5:00-8:00 p.m. @ Grove Tuesday, September 18th – PTO Meeting, 9:15 a.m. in the Art Room Tuesday, September 18th – 5th Grade Parent Outdoor Education Mtg., 6:30 p.m., Art Rm. Thursday, September 20th – Grove Parent Curriculum Night, 6:30 p.m. Friday, September 21st – 5th Grade Challenger Learning Center Field Trip, 2 classes Monday, September 24th – Friday, September 28th – Safety Week   Monday, September 24th – Room Parent Meeting, 9:15-10:00 a.m. in the MPR Monday, September 24th – Picture Day for Students and Family Picture Night Tuesday, September 25th – Family Picture Night Tuesday, September 25th – Community Safety Night, 7:00 p.m. in the BHS Auditorium Tuesday, September 25th – Kindergarten Field Trip to Crabtree Nature Center (1 class) Wednesday, September 26th – Kindergarten Field Trip Crabtree Nature Center (2 classes) Wednesday, September 26th – 4th Grade Stillman Field Trip (4 classes) Friday, September 28th – 5th Grade to Challenger Learning Center Field Trip, 2 classes Wednesday, October 3rd – Friday, October 5th – 5th Grade Outdoor Education     Only 2 weeks left until Grove's Back-to-School Bash!  This fun-filled evening is not possible without our amazing volunteers and donors - thank you to those that have already committed! We are still in need of many parent volunteers. Grab a friend and donate an hour of your time. We promise you will have fun too, all while giving back to your school! www.tinyurl.com/GroveBSB2018Volunteers Please consider donating, or sponsoring an item here: www.tinyurl.com/GroveBSB2018  Thank you for your support and generosity! Questions?  Please contact Bash Co-Chairs Alejandra Acosta & Kelly Daugherty   Fall Box Top Competition at Grove!   Please keep an eye out for a baggie coming home to collect your Box Tops for Education!    All you have to do is cut the little pink and white box with the Box Tops for Education logo out of various grocery items and collect them in the baggie coming home. The baggie is one convenient way your student can return their Box Tops to school.  Please remember to write your student’s name on the baggie or on the piece of paper inside of the bag in order for us to know who it’s from!  Box Tops can also be put in the Box Tops collection box that is located in the school front office.  It's just all that simple!    A few examples of common products that have the Box Tops logo include: General Mills cereals, Annie’s fruit snacks, Ziploc bags, Yoplait yogurt, Motts juices and applesauce, LARABAR, Nature Valley, etc. Each box top is worth 10 cents with the exception of Super Box Tops and Bonus Box Tops which are worth more.    So please, start cutting out those little coupons and turn them in by our deadline of Monday October 15th. The three students to submit the most Box Tops will receive a $5 gift certificate to use at the Grove Avenue School Scholastic Fall Book Fair!  Can you imagine how many box tops we can collect if the whole school participates? Every little bit helps!  (Please note ** be careful not to cut off the expiration dates.)   Contact Leena Varghese at Leenavarghese326@gmail.com with any questions.  September 18 - PTO, 9:15 a.m. @ Grove Art Room  October 16 - PTO, 9:15 a.m. @ Grove Art Room  November 20 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room  December *Week of 17th - PTO Luncheon TBA   January 15 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room  February 19 - PTO Evening Meeting, TBA March 19 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room  April 16 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room  May 21 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room

*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*

The Grove Grizzly A Note from Mrs. Matthews Dear Grove Families,   We had a terrific first week back at Grove! It was wonderful to see all of our returning students on Monday and equally exciting to meet the many new students who have joined our school community! As our students and staff begin to get back into the swing of things for the year, I would like to take this opportunity to communicate with you as parents as to how you can support your child. Together we want to help set your child up for success throughout the entire school year and for years to come.   As many of you are aware, Grove’s homework policy does not reflect the traditional homework practices that we as adults experienced growing up. With that said, there are still important routines and practices that we know all children need to engage in to help contribute to their academic achievement. At the top of the list, is the amount of reading students complete each day, which requires students to read outside of school at home every night.   Teacher and author, Donalyn Miller, writes, “Children who read the most at home surpass the educational success of their peers who do not read at home—even those who are hardworking and capable students. The children who read the most, both inside and outside of school, are the best readers, of course, but they are also the best writers, spellers, possess the best vocabulary, and perform better in content-heavy areas like science and social studies.”    As a result, our school staff is dedicated to partnering with parents this year in order to help each student develop a “reading life” at both home and school. As our Grove staff launches our reading routines at school, we are requesting parents commit to establishing reading routines at home that include every child reading every night. Our staff has created reading logs for each grade span that we are asking parents to complete over the course of the next month. The purpose of the logs is twofold: first to help aide in communication between home and school regarding each child’s reading, and secondly to help inform parents and teachers of students’ reading habits in order to then provide support and instruction to students to move them forward as readers. For example, information gathered over the course of the next month from the logs will be used to aide staff in not only gathering more data about students as readers but also in: Helping students choose appropriate books or books they will enjoy  Helping students increase their reading quantity or stamina for reading Used as a tool for goal-setting in reading conferences Used to help develop strong reading habits or a stronger reading life   While our staff is here to aide and support families in setting up daily routines for reading, please keep in mind that the only people who can carve out reading time for your child outside of school is you. As a result, we strongly encourage you to develop strong and consistent routines right from the start of the year and make the reading time outside of school a priority for the entire family. There are a variety of ways in which a child can complete their reading, so if we can be of assistance in finding what works for your child in this process, please feel free to contact your child’s classroom teacher, our librarian Mrs. Banach, or me! Upcoming Dates: Tuesday, August 28th – PTO Meeting, 9:15 a.m. in the Art Room Monday, September 3rd – Labor Day, NO SCHOOL Tuesday, September 4th – 2nd Grade Prairie Walk Field Trip (4 classes) Tuesday, September 4th – 1st Grade Field Trip to Stillman Nature Center (1 class) Wednesday, September 5th – 1st Grade Field Trip to Stillman Nature Center in (2 classes) Friday, September 7th – 2nd Grade Prairie Walk Field Trip (2 classes) Friday, September 7th – 3rd Grade Smart Farm Field Study (4 classes) Thursday, September 13th – 3rd Grade Smart Farm Field Study (2 classes) Friday, September 14th – PTO Back to School Bash, 5:00-8:00 p.m. @ Grove Tuesday, September 18th – PTO Meeting, 9:15 a.m. in the Art Room Thursday, September 20th – Grove Parent Curriculum Night, 6:30 p.m. Monday, September 24th – Friday, September 28th – Safety Week   Monday, September 24th – Room Parent Meeting, 9:15-10:00 a.m. in the MPR Monday, September 24th – Picture Day for Students and Family Picture Night Tuesday, September 25th – Family Picture Night Tuesday, September 25th – Community Safety Night, 7:00 p.m. in the BHS Auditorium Tuesday, September 25th – Kindergarten Field Trip to Crabtree Nature Center (1 class) Wednesday, September 26th – Kindergarten Field Trip Crabtree Nature Center (2 classes) Wednesday, September 26th – 4th Grade Stillman Field Trip (4 classes) Wednesday, October 3rd – Friday, October 5th – 5th Grade Outdoor Education   The Grove PTO has been hard at work this summer planning our annual Back-to-School Bash!   This event is not possible without our amazing volunteers and donors, please considering signing up today!   Donate: www.tinyurl.com/GroveBSB2018  Volunteer: www.tinyurl.com/GroveBSB2018Volunteers Thank you for your support! Bash Co-Chairs Alejandra Acosta & Kelly Daugherty   August 28 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room  September 18 - PTO, 9:15 a.m. @ Grove Art Room  October 16 - PTO, 9:15 a.m. @ Grove Art Room  November 20 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room  December *Week of 17th - PTO Luncheon TBA   January 15 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room  February 19 - PTO Evening Meeting, TBA March 19 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room  April 16 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room  May 21 - PTO, 9:15 a.m., @ Grove Art Room

*|REWARDS|*