Glenwood

Good afternoon, Glenwood families,

Fall is in full force at Glenwood, and it is hard to believe that September is already behind us. This week, we celebrated our September Students of the Month, who were recognized for demonstrating Growth Mindset and GRIT. The highlight of my week was visiting each classroom to honor these students, present their certificates, and give them a Woody: Growth Mindset button. We are proud of the perseverance, positive attitudes, and willingness to keep trying that they show each day.

As we begin October, we look forward to introducing this month’s character trait: empathy. Classroom teachers will be recognizing students who show care and understanding by respecting others’ feelings, including classmates, listening with kindness, offering support, and considering how their words and actions affect those around them.

We look forward to seeing our students continue to make Glenwood a kind, welcoming, and supportive school community. Thank you to our families and staff for reinforcing these important character traits each day.

Best,

Josh Rehak, Principal

Friday October 2nd - Wear GREEN
Friday October 9th - 8:45 am: BMX Assembly

Wednesday October 14th - PTG Meeting

Thursday October 15th - Woody's Warehouse during lunches (grades 1-5)

Friday October 16th - 12:20 pm Early Dismissal / NO PM-Kindergarten / NO Lunches Served

We’re excited to introduce One School, One Story at Glenwood Elementary! Each month, students in kindergarten through fifth grade will come together around one special book that encourages meaningful conversations and connections across our school community.

In September, we read Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal. This beautiful story reminds us that our names can be an important part of our identity and can help shape how we see ourselves and our place in the world.

Students were encouraged to talk with their families about how they got their name, who chose it, and why their name is special to them. We hope these conversations helped children learn more about their own stories while celebrating the unique stories of others.

We look forward to sharing many more wonderful stories and creating connections across Glenwood, one book at a time!

Dear Parent/Guardian:

We are conducting surveys of all students in third through twelfth grade in order to gain a better understanding as to the students thoughts and feelings about their school. There are two surveys that seek to find information focusing on Academic Challenge and School Culture. For each student there is one survey that is specific to their level (Elementary/Middle/High) and a second survey that is applicable to all students. While we will collect basic demographic information from students as part of the survey, we will not be able to link survey results to individual students. To reiterate, survey respondents will remain completely anonymous. Students will take the surveys in school on Friday October 16th and they should take only a few minutes. This information is for our internal use as we develop our district's strategic plan and work on continuous improvement in both academics and school culture.

We are committed to maintaining and enhancing an affirming and supportive learning environment for all members of the Rose Tree Media School District. The information collected from the students will be helpful in this endeavor. However, if you would prefer your child not to participate in this survey please let us know by completing this link. GES Opt Out.

Included is a link to a copy of the survey for you to preview

Elementary School

All-Student Survey

Miss Segal and Mrs. Vellios-Miller will often share counselor tidbits with our parent community throughout the year!

This week’s counselor tidbit: Before You Fix It…Pause!

For the past two weeks, we’ve talked about helping children develop a growth mindset and grit when things get hard. But this brings up an important question for adults: What should WE do when our child is struggling?

Our instinct is often to jump in and fix the problem. We have more experience, we can usually see the solution, and sometimes it would be so much faster to just do it! But everyday problems give children opportunities to build independence, confidence, and problem-solving skills.

One way to support this is through scaffolding, which simply means giving a child just enough support to take the next step, and then gradually stepping back as they become more capable.

A helpful question to ask yourself is: “What is the least amount of help my child needs to take the next step?”

Try It at Home!

The next time your child brings you a manageable problem, try a simple Help Ladder. Start with the least amount of support and move up only if needed:

WAIT → ASK → HINT → MODEL → HELP

• WAIT: Give them a little time to think or try on their own.
• ASK: “What do you think you could try?” or “What part are you stuck on?”
• HINT: Give a small clue without providing the solution. “What did you do last time this happened?”
• MODEL: Do one part together, then hand it back. “Let’s do the first one together. Now you try.”
• HELP: If they truly need more support, step in and help. Next time, start back at WAIT and see what they can do!

Something to Remember:

Independence doesn’t mean doing everything alone. Knowing when and how to ask for help is an important skill, too. Our goal isn’t to see whether children can manage without us. It’s to help them gradually need less of us! For more on this topic, check out Mrs. Vellios-Miller’s favorite parenting book How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims.

Confidence grows through repeated experiences that teach children: “I can figure things out, and I know how to get help when I need it.”

Have a great week!

Mrs. Vellios-Miller & Miss Segal
Glenwood School Counselors

Our Fall Parties will be held at various times throughout the day on Friday October 30th:

Kindergarten - 10 am - 11 am & 1:15pm - 2:15 pm

As we mentioned, this year we will celebrate ALL our students accomplishments (big and small). This week we rolled out the first group of our Students of the Month! One student from each homeroom was recognized with a special certificate and button. While we are proud of all our students, these children were nominated by their teachers for doing an exceptional job.

Keep up the great work, Glenwoodians!!!

Fifth grade has been working hard during the first weeks of school. The who;e school was working on showing that they have a growth mindset. At the end of the month one student in each class was recognized for grit. Our classes cheered for each winner! In addition to having overall growth mindset, 5th grade classes have been working on learning how place value concepts can help them to convert metric units. They have also been reading and writing personal narratives. The first narrative they wrote was a story about their name. They are finishing up that unit by writing a story about a surprise!

Our students are very fortunate to have the opportunity to explore places in our community through Field Trips, carefully planned by our teachers (and we are very lucky our generous PTG helps to offset the costs of these trips).

Today was Glenwood first trip of the school year: Fourth grade visited Longwood Gardens! Students even “made a wish” for a Phillies playoff win in the reflection pond of the Conservatory!

Tomorrow we celebrate a 'behind the scenes' group at Glenwood, with Custodian Appreciation Day. Mr. Boneparte, Mrs. Goolsby, Mr. Holland and Mrs. Oksyuk keep our school clean and safe... we appreciate all of their hard work - all year long. THANK YOU for all you do for Glenwood!

Please share with parents and caregivers whose families have been impacted by trauma!

CGRC offers FREE monthly gatherings Via ZOOM for parents and caregivers to learn and support one another to move through the pain of trauma towards healing, hope, and growth.

Please see the flyer below (and attached) for more information.

To Register: Parents and Caregivers, click here.

Remember to sign up or update your information in Membership Toolkit for our PTG! Membership Toolkit is the PTG's tool for our family directories, online store, field trip payments, volunteer signups and email communications, including emails from your child's homeroom parents. It's secure, easy to use, and free to families of Glenwood Elementary. Install the Free app! Questions? Contact our system administrator at glenwoodptg@gmail.com.

Join us for a Parent's Only Meet Up - because why should the kids have all the fun?

This is an event for our Glenwood parents only and will be held on Wednesday, October 7th from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at 320 Market Cafe in Media. Come out and meet and mingle with other parents, enjoy a kid-free evening, and snack on 320 Market's delicious chips!

Parent Meet Up RSVP

Please join us for the first PTG Meeting on October 14th!

Attend our Parent Teacher Group meetings to learn more about what is going on at Glenwood! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. The meetings will be held in the Glenwood Library and over Zoom at 7:00 pm.

Glenwood PTG will have Penncrest volunteers available for childcare so guardians can attend our meetings in person. Please sign up here.

Save the date for Trunk-or-Treat! As in years past, this event will take place at Arasapha Farm on Saturday, October 17th (rain date: October 18th). This is a free event for our students. We will send more information about candy donations, monetary donations for candy, and volunteers to decorate trunks.

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It wouldn’t be a Trunk-or-Treat without the TREATS! The candy monster will be collecting candy in the lobby of Glenwood October 1st - October 15th. Feel free to send bags in with your students or donate to our candy fund here: Candy Donation

To streamline communication, please use this form for all early dismissals and changes to your child’s regular dismissal plan. The form will notify both the classroom teacher and office staff, so there is no need to call or email separately.

If more than one child has a change to their regular dismissal plan, please submit one form entry for each student. All early dismissals require a photo ID or driver’s license at pickup.

If your child will be late, please call the Attendance Hotline (610-627-6900) and press 2 to let us know. When they arrive, an adult should walk them into the building and sign them in.

Notify us of your child's absence by click on the button below or by sending an email to:

ges-attendance@rtmsd.org. A note (or completion of this form) is required within three (3) days of the student's return to school.

In order for days out of school to be approved for a pre-planned absence, the “Pre-Planned Absence Form” must be submitted to the building principal for consideration a minimum of five (5) days prior to the absence. Please note that pre-planned absences will not be approved during the standardized testing windows. Trips taken without pre-approval by the building principal will be recorded as unexcused absences. No more than 5 pre-planned days will be approved during the school year.

Once completed, please send a paper copy with your child to the Main Office OR you can email it to Leah Benson: lbenson@rtmsd.org. She will request approval from Mr. Rehak and email you the decision. You also do not need to call your student out those day(s).

School hours for the 2026-27 school year are as follows:

Grades 1-5

• Student Arrival: 8:40 - 8:50 AM (Note: School Day starts at 8:50 AM)
• Student Dismissal: 3:30 PM

AM Kindergarten

• Student Arrival: 8:40 - 8:50 AM (Note: School Day starts at 8:50 AM)
• Student Dismissal: 11:25 AM

PM Kindergarten

• Student arrival: 12:55 PM (Note: School Day starts at 12:55 PM)
• Student Dismissal: 3:30 PM

Josh Rehak, Principal

Email: jrehak@rtmsd.org
Website: ges.rtmsd.org

Address: 122 South Pennell Road Media, PA 19063

Phone: (610) 627-6900

2026-2027 SCHOOL HOURS: Monday thru Friday

Grades 1-5: 8:50 am - 3:30 pm
AM-Kindergarten: 8:50 am - 11:25 pm

PM-Kindergarten: 12:55 pm - 3:30 pm