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Hope Valley School Weekly Update
Friday, November 30, 2018
Calendar of Events
November 2018
11/30 - Trimester 1 Grades Close (Report cards will go home Dec 7)
11/30 - Movie Night (second showing)
December 2018
12/7 - Hope Valley Picture Retake Day
12/7 - Report Cards Issued
12/10 - PTO Meeting @6:30
12/11- Bank Day
12/11 - Incredible Years Seminar (see information below)
12/14 - PTO Holiday Shop
12/18 - 4th Grade Chorus School Concert
12/20 - 4th Grade Field Trip to State House Singing and Tour 9:00-2:00 Lunch Provided
12/21 - A Christmas Carol Assembly @ 2:00 PM
12/24 - 1/1 > Winter Break
Town of Richmond 2018 Annual Tree Lighting
Where and When: Friday December 14, 5:30-7:30 PM-Richmond Town Hall
***Please bring a non-perishable canned /boxed good to donate to our community!
More information in the Main Office.
RICAS Results are in .............
I wanted to share the Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS) test scores with you which were officially released yesterday to the public. Overall, Hope Valley School did great compared to all RI schools. We were in the top 10 of all RI schools (public, private, charter) in both ELA and Math. Below you can also see the breakdown of the district from Mr. Ricci's e-newsletter. Below that, you can see how Hope Valley School grades 3 and 4 did on the RICAS. The top charts under the heading "Hope Valley School Results" are combined grades 3 and 4 and below that are each grade levels respectively. The green shows students who met and/or exceeded expectations. As you can see Hope Valley School outperformed the state of RI as well as the state of Massachusetts who has been giving this test for years. So as you can imagine, I am pleased with our scores especially our the ELA (English Language Arts). Just shows how well we do delivering high quality instruction. Math scores as a state were very poor but we managed to be the best Chariho school in math scores. Obviously we always strive for 100% proficiency but I am very pleased with our results for taking this test the first time. We (meaning teachers, staff, and parents) are a SUPER POWER TEAM and we work hard to have every child succeed. I am honored to be working in such an amazing school and community.
Last year we took the PARCC test which used 5 achievement levels. RICAS only has 4 achievement levels (4-exceeding, 3-meeting, 2-partially meeting, and 1-not meeting). Parents will be receiving a student report eventually. Next steps for us is to take these results and dig deeper to see where on the RICAS test we did poorly (as well as good) and see what we can do to improve those areas and what we can do to maintain/improve the areas where we scored well. I will be presenting on RICAS data at the next PTO meeting on December 10th. Feel free to attend.
District RICAS Results (info from Mr. Ricci)
Hope Valley School Results
IMPORTANT School News
Calendar Raffle
I want to thank all the families and friends who helped support Hope Valley School by purchasing calendar raffle tickets. All the money will go to our students for field trips, assemblies, special events. Thank you Stephanie DaPonte and Art Smith for coordinating this year's calendar raffle!!!! All the calendar raffle winners are listed below.
Classes in Action
Below are some pictures from Miss Hopfer's first grade class and Mrs. Mellos second grade class. Miss Hopfer was demonstrating how an anemometer works. Mrs. Mello's students are working on a google slideshow presentation all about the Pilgrims. Stay tuned for completed project.
Lunch Menu Change
With the recall of romaine lettuce, the menu for next week has changes. Choice 3 for the week of Dec 3 was popcorn chicken salad (one of my favorites) will be replaced with a muffin bag lunch.
Holiday Assistance
To help brighten the holidays, Chariho schools will once again offer assistance to families whose children attend school in our district. If your family could use assistance this holiday season, please contact Lynn Larned at Hope Valley by November 26th. 401-315-2826
Holiday Shoppe: 12/14
We will need help the night before with set up and through the day. Please email Lauren with the time if able to help on either day Lauren.Coggeshall@gmail.com.
Head Lice
Head lice always rears its ugly head every year and it is very frustrating for parents. Unfortunately, there are still some isolated cases at the school, so I would like to remind you to check your child’s head on a routine basis. In accordance with the rules and regulations for head lice in schools, there is no longer a school wide screening for head lice. The nurse will be happy to advise you if you need assistance or have questions. If so, please feel free to call Mrs. Larned at 401-539-2321. For more information please go to http://www.health.ri.gov/diseases/lice/.
I have been informed that this is a great treatment plan: http://nuvoforheadlice.com.
HEALTHY BODIES, HEALTHY MINDS
Check out this site for ways to keep healthy bodies and health minds:
Parent Teacher Conference
Requests for a parent-teacher conference may be made at any time. Just contact your child's teacher. You will then receive a response within one school day; a meeting will be scheduled within five school days. Schools will no longer be closed for conferences.
Calendar Raffle Winners
Miss Hopfer's anemometer lesson
Mrs. Mello's class working on a Google Presentation
Mental Health Corner
Here are the Monthly Mental Health Newsletters! This month's topic is Depression. Please click on the link as it has many helpful live links for parents.
(Parent) December 2018 - Depression
(Parent) November 2018 - School Refusal and Avoidance
Copy of (Parent) October 2018 - Anxiety
Incredible Years Information
The Incredible Years is an evidence based program supported by over 30 years of research. The goal is to prevent and treat young children's behavior patterns and promote their social, emotional, and academic competence. Parents who attend the group report seeing a difference in as little as 3 weeks, and research shows that attending as few as 3 groups has lasting positive effects on the behavior of children. The Incredible Years program has been proven effective in kids who have been diagnosed with ADHD, ASD, and also children who are at high risk due to other factors, and has also been proven to prevent or stop challenging behaviors in typically developing children. Contact Rebecca Allen at 401-261-1126 for the dates.
Tech Night opportunity for parents
The PTO Corner
Holiday Shoppe: 12/14
We will need help the night before with set up and through the day. Please email Lauren with the time if able to help on either day Lauren.Coggeshall@gmail.com.
PTO Board Members:
- PTO President: Becky Champlin
- PTO Vice President: Catherine Giusti
- PTO Treasurer: Anna Pruitt
- PTO Secretary: Kim Vuono
PTO meetings are typically the second working Monday each month. If you’re not able to make the meeting but still want to be involved please send an email to our PTO to make sure you receive a copy of the meeting minutes hopepto15@gmail.com
Differences between being RUDE, MEAN, or a BULLY
This was shared with teachers and staff and wanted to share it with all of you to help children understand the differences between someone being mean, someone being rude, and someone being a bully.
From the article “Rude, Mean, or Bullying? A Child Therapist Defines the Differences” https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=20215&https=true
RUDE is “inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts someone else.” In children this takes the form of social errors like “burping in someone's face, jumping ahead in line, bragging about achieving the highest grade or even throwing a crushed up pile of leaves in someone's face.” The critical factor? “Incidents of rudeness are usually spontaneous, unplanned inconsideration, based on thoughtlessness, poor manners or narcissism, but not meant to actually hurt someone.”
Being MEAN involves “purposefully saying or doing something to hurt someone once (or maybe twice).” Mean behavior very much aims to hurt or depreciate someone.... Very often, mean behavior in kids is motivated by angry feelings and/or the misguided goal of propping themselves up in comparison to the person they are putting down.” And while Whitson agrees that both rudeness and mean behavior require correction, they are “different from bullying in important ways that should be understood and differentiated when it comes to intervention.”
BULLYING is “intentionally aggressive behavior, repeated over time, that involves an imbalance of power.... Kids who bully say or do something intentionally hurtful to others and they keep doing it, with no sense of regret or remorse — even when targets of bullying show or express their hurt or tell the aggressors to stop.” Whitson gives examples of multiple kinds of bullying, including physical and verbal aggression, relational aggression (like social exclusion, hazing, or rumor spreading), and cyberbullying. The key aspect to all of them is the ongoing nature of the behavior, which leaves the victims feeling powerless and fearful.
Hope Valley School Information
School and Attendance Information
- School Hours: 8:35 – 3:25 (Office hours are from 7:30-3:30)
- Students will be marked tardy after 8:40. Students leaving before 3:20 will be marked for early dismissal.
- Tardies and early dismissals COUNT towards your child’s attendance record.
Important Note: Attendance is CRUCIAL and I will be keeping a close eye on for all students!
- Before School Care is available for $3.50 per day.
- You can find a dismissal form here or you can contact the school and we will send you more: https://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/sites/default/files/dismissal_note.pdf
Attendance Matters!
Anytime a child is tardy or is taken out of school early without a medical note counts towards his/her attendance. Per the district attendance policy, after 10 combined tardies, early dismissals, and absences, the matter then is referred to the truancy officer. Our goal this year is to ensure that every student attends school regularly and on-time. I cannot stress this enough. Showing up for school has a huge impact on a student’s academic success starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school. Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students get to school safely every day and on-time. Attendance is so important for success in school and in life.
We realize some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. But, we also know that when students miss too much school or are tardy often (regardless of the reason) can cause them to fall behind academically. Your child is less likely to succeed if he or she is chronically absent or tardy—which means missing 18 or more days over the course of an entire school year. Chariho policy states that tardies and early dismissals count towards your child’s attendance. Research shows:
• Children chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade.
• By 6th grade, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign for students at risk for dropping out of school.
• By 9th grade good attendance can predict graduation rates even better than 8th grade test scores.
Absences and tardies can add up quickly. A child is chronically absent if he or she misses just two days every month!!
Peanut Free Classrooms
ALL classrooms are designated as nut & peanut-free. We have multiple students at varying grade levels with severe allergies to peanuts. Foods that “contain,” “may contain,” or are “manufactured on shared equipment” will not be permitted as snacks. However, students may bring in a lunch that contains peanuts or nuts.
Background Check
All volunteers in the Chariho School District must have an annual background check prior to volunteering. There is no cost for this. Please go to the Central Office with a picture ID and fill out a volunteer form. It takes a few weeks to return. Or you can go to the Attorney General’s Office in Providence and get it done right there and then.
Lunch
There are 2 options to pay for lunch:
- There is a website where you can pay for and keep track of your child's lunch account. T site is www.myschoolbucks.com. You will need your child's school code, which you can get by contacting Fran Sayer at Frances.Sayer@compass-usa.com or (401) 552-7078. Please visit http://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/MyNutriKidsInfo for more information. There is also an app for your smartphone or tablet. You can pay for meals, check balances, and view purchases from anywhere. It is safe and secure.
- If the student is paying with cash or check when buying hot lunch, please send lunch money to school in an envelope or Ziploc bag with the student’s name, teachers name (i.e. KA, 1H, 2D, 3F, 4R). This will be placed in a classroom bucket and brought to the office. Checks can be made out to the “Chariho Regional School District.”
If you need further information, please contact Fran Sayer at Frances.Sayer@compass-usa.com or (401) 552-7078. Chariho is keeping accounts accurately updated.
Dismissal/Pick-Up Notes
Please use the dismissal/pick-up note that came home with your student this week. Keep the extras around for future use. Fill it out accordingly and return it to school. You can find the dismissal note on the Hope Valley webpage if you need to make additional copies. You can find this at: https://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/sites/default/files/dismissal_note.pdf
Contact Information
School Principal: Giuseppe Gencarelli – Giuseppe.Gencarelli@chariho.k12.ri.usSchool Secretary: Donna Sunderland– Donna.Sunderland@chariho.k12.ri.us
School Clerk: Carrie Marshall - Carrie.Marshall@chariho.k12.ri.us
401-539-2321 > school phone
401-633-7099 > school fax
401-552-7608 > bus company
401-552-7078 > lunch service
Social Media
Twitter for Hope Valley is @JoeGencarelli1 (Chariho Twitter is @CharihoRegional)
Facebook: Hope Valley School
Text Messages using the Remind app. It lets me safely send 1-way texts to parents.
https://www.remind.com/?rid=73395966&utm_source=sms&utm_medium=android&utm_campaign=teacher_share
School Website: https://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/hv
Library Blog: http://hopevalleylibrary.weebly.com/mrs-wards-blog
Spanish Website: http://senoracarpenter.weebly.com/
Psychology Corner: https://sites.google.com/chariho.k12.ri.us/psychology/home
Child Outreach Information
Hope Valley School Vocabulary Initiative
Vocabulary is a significant predictor of reading comprehension. “Indeed, one of the most enduring findings in reading research is the extent to which students’ vocabulary knowledge relates to their reading comprehension.” (Osborn & Hieber, 2004)
We will continue with our Monthly calendars to be used across all grade levels throughout the school. Each month will have a “theme” and all vocabulary words will be related to that theme. We are starting the end of September so Mrs. Ward can train her "Green Screen" team so they can incorporate the vocabulary words on the morning announcements.
Each month a new calendar will be sent home. Hang it on your refrigerator or keep it somewhere that it can be seen each day. Challenge your whole family to become “Word Wizards” by using these words in their own vocabulary. Look for these words in books or listen for them on the television or radio. Encourage your child to share these valuable experiences with their teacher(s).
About Hope Valley Elementary School...visit our website below
The mission of the Hope Valley Elementary School is to work in partnership with our colleagues, students and families. We are committed to creating a learning environment where children are expected to achieve their full potential.
Email: ggen@chariho.k12.ri.us
Website: www.chariho.k12.ri.us/hv
Location: 15 Thelma Drive, Hope Valley, RI, United States
Phone: 401-539-2321
Twitter: @JoeGencarelli1