Happy Friday, Valley View!

WOW! What a week!

First, what an amazing turnout for the Valley View PTO Trunk or Treat! It was so great to see so many of our families together, dressed up, and having fun. The trunks were AMAZING and so creative. A huge thank you to our PTO and everyone who helped make the night such a special one for our students.

We also had a wonderful Valley View assembly this week. The students helped Ollie complete his Valley View Heart Challenge and learned about all of the important pieces that make up the heart of Valley View.

Our big message was simple: Valley View is special because of the people in it. At Valley View, we notice feelings, work through big feelings, take care of each other, and make sure everyone belongs.

We also had lots of Halloween fun throughout the week!

On Thursday, we celebrated with our Pre-K friends during their morning and afternoon parades. Today, our Kindergarten and Grade 1 students joined in the fun with our Halloween parade, led by the Portland High School band! It was so much fun seeing all of the costumes and excitement throughout the building.

It was a busy week filled with community, celebrations, and lots of fun. These are the moments that make Valley View such a special place!

Don’t forget to turn your clocks back this weekend and enjoy that extra hour!

We hope everyone has a safe, happy, and restful Halloween weekend!

Ms. Mallory Emmons

Principal

Please make sure to email vvattendance@portlandct.us if your child will be absent or if there is a change of dismissal/transportation plans. Please do NOT send messages directly through ParentSquare to the office. The email should include your child’s first and last name, name of teacher, reason for absence, and the date or dates of absence. Please make sure the email is sent the night before or the morning of the absence to ensure the office staff, nurse and teacher are aware. Please make sure the office is aware of all transportation updates regarding your child.

Busing in the Portland Public Schools is provided by M&J Bus. Bus route lists are posted here: https://www.portlandctschools.org/bus-routes The bus lists identify each stop's pick-up/drop-off time and location.

 

On a typical day, when all drivers are present and there are no abnormal road conditions, we expect that the routes will pick up and drop off students at times identified on the bus lists, give or take ten minutes.

 

If parents/guardians need real-time information about the whereabouts of a bus, please call M&J Bus at (860) 342-2217. The dispatcher at M&J Bus has real-time access via radio to all bus drivers.

Your child’s school works with Community Health Center, Inc. School Based Health Center program to provide health services (behavioral/mental health) services to your child during the school day. This means they won’t miss as much class and you don’t need to miss work to support their health care needs. 

Lean more about the services offered at your child’s school and enroll today at SBHC1.com! Interested families can also seek this service through the link or through our school website.

 

A functional pencil grasp supports comfort, control, and legibility. It helps children draw, form letters, and write without tiring as quickly. While there is no single perfect grasp, developing an efficient grasp helps children manage increasing writing demands.

The best way to develop pencil grasp is through fine motor activities and regular drawing and writing practice.

Try these simple activities at home:

Alyssa Sampognaro, OTR/L asampognaro@portlandct.us 

Happy Friday!

Halloween is upon us and the air is slightly frenetic with excitement.  The week has been quiet in my office. There have been no reports of specific illness in any one classroom.  No reports of lice, which makes for a great week!  Please continue to let us know why your child is absent so we can track trends.

Enjoy the weekend and all the fun of trick or treating with your children!

 

Mrs. Karen Rettich

Valley View School Nurse

Phone 860 342 3226

We started a new unit in library- learning how to use Chromebooks!  The students are very excited.  After learning about the parts of books, students are now learning about the parts of the computer and how they help us get information.  

Thank you to everyone who participated in our birthday book club for November and December birthdays!  We have 8 gorgeous new books for our library!  Our next birthday book club will be December 9th for January and February birthdays.  

Save the date! Our Scholastic Book Fair will be held November 16-24th in our Valley View Library.  We will need shopping helpers during the classes’ library times which are 8:45-10:15am.  See attached flyer for more information and if anyone is able to help students shop, please sign up at the following link- Book Fair Sign Up

I am going to share our library stats as often as possible. See the picture below.  We are down to 20 overdues- down 10 from last week- great job!  If you or your child is having trouble keeping track of the A-E special schedule, please have them keep their library bags and books in their backpacks daily - take them out to read them and then put them right back in.  That way, they will always have them ready to return.  Our 100% club on our board is classes who have ALL returned their books that week.  Thanks for helping your child keep track of their library book(s)!  

Finally, we received a shipment of new library books thanks to our generous PTO!  We made an unboxing video to show everyone some of our newest library books so if your child is interested in checking them out, they can let me know on their library day! They should be ready for check out in a couple of weeks once they are put into the system.  Thank you so much, Valley View PTO!   

Thanks for all your support!  Happy Reading!

Melissa Thorpe

Library Media Specialist

This week Valley View artists practiced what they know about lines and showing movement in their artwork. Take a look at these colorful kitties peeking out around the page.

Mrs. Julie French

Visual Art Teacher

This webpage includes all nutritional information for everything offered in the cafeteria at school. 

This app allows you to monitor your child’s cafeteria account at school. You can see each transaction and balance information.

Breakfast is FREE for all students. If your child should be eating breakfast at school, let them know they need to come see me in the Cafeteria before they head to their classrooms. 

In order to purchase milk or snacks from the cafeteria, students must have a positive balance in their account or bring in cash. The easiest way to manage their meal account is by downloading the MySchoolBucks app.