Thrill on the Hill

Hello SGE Families,

October is here, and with it comes the cool air and the changes of the fall season. As the leaves turn, our school community is also settling into the rhythm of a new year. Students are working hard in their classrooms, building strong habits and routines. We are grateful for the ongoing partnerships with our families, whose support makes a lasting difference in the success of our school. We continue to focus on growth for all—academically, socially, and emotionally—ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn and thrive.

Together, we look forward to the exciting opportunities this month will bring!

As some may know, Mrs. Rittle, our assistant principal, is expecting a baby. We want to wish her well as she and her family prepare to welcome baby Lilly in November. Mrs. Rittle will be taking a much needed maternity break starting in late November and return to us in March. We wish her all the best and we look forward to meeting baby Lilly shortly.

School Counselors will be available to support students socially, emotionally, and academically. Students will have the opportunity to meet with counselors in a whole group setting for various social-emotional and career awareness lessons. Not only are counselors available to work with students in a whole group setting, students also have an opportunity to meet in a small group setting or individually with their school counselor. Dr. Moore and Mrs. Myers also manage academic 504 plans at SGE and are integral members of CST (Child Study Team) as well as SAP (Student Assistance Program). Please feel free speak to your child’s school counselor with any questions or concerns that you may have.

Mrs. Myers is the counselor for Kindergarten (Claycomb, Delair, Godman) and students in grades 1st and 2nd.

Mr. Moore is the counselor for Kindergarten (Clancy, Mann, Miller) and students in grades 3rd and 4th.

SAP is a systematic team process used to mobilize school resources to remove barriers to learning. It is designed to assist in identifying issues which pose a barrier to a student’s success. The primary goal is to help students overcome these barriers so they can learn unencumbered. While SAP is a great program it is not the answer for all student needs and issues, but it can be a great starting point. Please use the link below for additional information.

Welcome to the OT TOOLBOX!

My name is Miss Osborne; I am an occupational therapist employed by the Lincoln Intermediate Unit. I have been assigned to Spring Grove Elementary going on my fourth year where I enjoy working with students of all ages and abilities. As a Spring Grove alumni myself, I am so happy to give back to a community I was raised in and look forward to helping our next generations reach their fullest potential alongside our amazing teachers at SGE.

Each month I will be submitting information about an OT topic or skill and activities everyone can do to help build these skills in their children with everyday objects you already have at home!

First topic - “What is Occupational Therapy (OT)?”. OT helps students access and participate in their school day occupations. This can include anything from cutting and writing, to sensory and self-regulation skills, and even self-help skills. We help students in these areas through skilled activity analysis, fine motor and visual-spatial skill strengthening, and/or modifications and accommodations across school settings. The key is that these skills MUST impact a student’s ability to participate in their classes and school building. Our goal is always the least restrictive environment while also maximizing independence (even if we have to be independent in a different way).

I am looking forward to another great school year! Take advantage of the nice weather in the evenings by going outside to play together. Gross motor skills are important for building core strength required for improving strength down our arms and legs as we get into more fine motor skills with our hands. Consider activities that involve use of both sides of our bodies and use our big muscles such as activities like climbing on a playground, building an obstacle course, or throw/kick a ball together while the weather is still nice!

Stay tuned for different topics and activities that can be completed at each newsletter throughout the school year! Let's go Rockets!

Miss Osborne MOT, OTR/L

Title I programs are designed to help children meet the state content and performance standards in reading, language arts, and mathematics. In buildings with 40% or more poverty, LEAs may use the funds to upgrade the entire curriculum of the school and are Schoolwide Programs. Please use the link below to access our annual Right to Know Letter.

Hello SGE Families,

Thank you for all the families that have turned in their dental forms. The health office is beginning the screening process. This includes the state required Growth, Vision, and Hearing screening. There may be documents that will be mailed to the address on file in Sapphire if your student is recommended for further assessment. The results of the screening will be uploaded in the medical notifications for your viewing when completed.

Health Room Reminders:

Illness or Injury

Students who have a temperature of 100 degrees or more, a contagious illness, or have had repeated episodes of vomiting or diarrhea in the past 24 hours should not attend school. Students should be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to school. Parents/guardians will be contacted if your child becomes ill or injured at school. For this reason, the current home, work, and emergency phone numbers must be maintained in the main office. Please inform the school secretary whenever your contact information changes. Please refer to the following if you are unsure if your child should attend school today.

I Need To Keep My Child Home If They Have:

• A temperature of 100.4 or higher
• Vomited within the past 24 hours
• Had diarrhea within the past 24 hours
• A body rash with itching or fever
• An itchy head active with head lice
• An eye infection or presenting redness, itching, and/or crusty drainage from the eye(s)

My Child Is Ready To Go Back To School When They Are:

• Fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication, i.e., Tylenol, Motrin
• Free from vomiting for at least two solid meals
• Free from diarrhea for the last 24 hours
• Free from rash, itching, or fever/have been evaluated by a doctor if needed
• Treated with the appropriate lice treatment at home, and the proof is provided to the school nurse
• Have been evaluated by a doctor and have a note to return to school

Rocket Rally is next Thursday 10/9. Donations can be made through 10/8.

Donations link:

Rocket Rally Pledge Link

Fall Fest has been rescheduled to Wednesday 10/8.

Book Fair is Tuesday 10/14 from 5-8.

This is also the pick up night for R&K sub orders.

R&K sub orders are due today 10/3, latest 10/7.

Reverse Trick or Treating well be on October 31st. Clearances are required to volunteer.

The children are excited to explore and pick from our BRAND NEW library books. Kindergarteners are loving storytime with Mrs. Diehl and then having the opportunity to pick a fiction or nonfiction book. First graders are able to check out easy fiction and nonfiction books. Second graders are finding some great chapter books that are “just right” for them to read. The third and fourth graders are searching for new topics, new series, and favorites from the past. PLEASE help your child/children find a safe place for their library books. HELP: We have had 10 WET books and 4 STICKY books already. Maybe you have a ziploc bag or plastic grocery bag that they can put their books inside for extra protection.

During Library Skills and Library Enrichment, each grade learned how to be safe, respectful and responsible when using devices online. Please ask your child/children what they are learning about digital citizenship and the digital citizens.

Now, first graders are learning about the various GENRES that authors may choose to write their stories. We have learned about Folktales, Fantasy, Biography and Realistic Fiction. Next up are Mystery, Historical fiction and Science Fiction.

We are starting our first STEAM (Science, Engineering, Technology, Art, Math) unit in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades. Each grade will be “wondering and exploring” a variety of materials. They will be trying to create something, using only the materials given. We are learning how scientists experiment through wondering and exploring. They are also learning that we might not succeed on the first try, but that we need to be resilient. 3rd and 4th graders are also being challenged to think about this question: Why am I using these materials? (PURPOSE and INTENTION). Next they will be creating: the “most magnificent thing”, a library rule, or a model of their dream library.

Falling into Reading...

The reading team has been working with Title I reading students and in Kindergarten and First Grade classrooms. We have enjoyed getting to know our new students and our youngest readers! We are so proud of their progress in letters, sounds, heart words, and decodable words! Keep up the great work!

Did you know?

• Children who are read to at home have higher success rates in school.

• Children who read books often, score higher in math, vocabulary, and spelling.

• Daily reading lowers stress levels in children and adults by as much as 68%.

Check out the following...

We went on our field trip to Hollabaugh’s. We had a great time going on the tractor ride, picking 5 apples, drinking cider, learning about bees, and playing on the cool playgrounds.

We are finishing our ABC letter and sound review as well as practicing our numbers to 10.

With cool fall weather coming, please practice putting on jackets and zipping them. Make sure your child’s name is on their jacket.

First Graders are reviewing counting to 120 by 5’s and 10’s, place value of ones, tens, and hundreds, and/or completing different activities dealing with 120! We are listening to stories and practicing retelling the story elements. This month, as students learn new words every day, they are now reading their own fiction stories and retelling the characters (who is in the story), setting (where the story takes place), problem, details (how they tried to fix the problem), and solution (how the story problem was resolved). Students continue to discuss the topic, main idea, and details of non-fiction text. They are also improving upon writing their own stories as we practice more detailed sentences full of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. First grade even had Clifford come to encourage them to keep reading and to sign-up for GOAL (Grade One at the Library - books/prizes). Keep up the hard work, first graders!

Second graders are focusing on the SGE 3 to become responsible listeners and learners, no matter where they are in the school. We are also practicing knowing the difference between tattling and reporting, especially during recess.

In social studies, we are learning about communities and how to be good helpers and citizens at home, at school, and in our neighborhoods.

We are working hard to learn about place value and number patterns.

We have read some wonderful stories by Tomie DePaola recently as well.

Please keep reading nightly at home!

The last month in third grade language arts has been very exciting. In the last cycle we began learning about the RACE strategy. This strategy will help us craft our written responses to open-ended questions about the passages we read. The R stands for restate the question. The A stands for answer all parts of the question. The C stands for cite evidence from the text. The E stands for explain how the evidence supports your answer. Ask your third grader to share all they know about the RACE strategy.

In writing workshop, we are wrapping up our sentence and paragraph unit. In the coming weeks we will take our paragraph skills and apply them to writing our first opinion essay! Students will have an opportunity to express their opinion on various topics as they learn to write a five-paragraph essay that states an opinion and provides detailed reasons and examples to support it.

We are wrapping up our first unit in math in place value, rounding, addition and subtraction. Even though the unit is ending, we will continually revisit these concepts throughout the year. Beginning in October, students will be learning about the meaning of multiplication in Unit 3. Keep practicing those addition and subtraction facts at home. We will be starting to memorize our multiplication and division facts soon.

Our Social Studies unit ended with a trip to Harrisburg to visit the State Capitol Building and the State Museum. Students were able to see artifacts related to Pennsylvania’s history, natural resources and so much more. We were also able to see Pennsylvania’s government in action and meet with our State Representative Seth Grove. He spoke with students about his role in making decisions for our state.

Wow! What an amazing start to this school year.

Looking forward to a great year!

Our fabulous lunch ladies are cooking up a new side dish...Baked Sweet Potato & Apples this month along with pumpkin soft pretzels. Keep an eye on the monthly menu for other delicious servings.

This year our school doors open every morning at 8:25 with homeroom starting at 8:45. If your child arrives after 8:46 they will need to report to the office at which time they will be marked Tardy.

If your child is going to be absent or has been absent, from school please fill out an excuse card in your Sapphire Portal. If you do not have access to a computer please contact our main office for assistance.

If your child arrives between 10:16-12:05 or leaves between 12:06-1:54 they will be considered absent for 1/2 school day. If they arrive after or leave before 12:05 this will be considered a full day absence.

Arrival and Dismissal

Arrival: 8:25 – 8:45 AM

Arrival time for students is 8:25 AM. Please be aware that students are NOT permitted to enter the building prior to 8:25. All AM car riders are to follow the car line around the back of the school. Students will enter the building through door #3 by the cafeteria. Students arriving by bus/van will enter the building through the main entrance. Students must be in their classroom by 8:45 AM. They are considered “tardy” at 8:46 AM.

Dismissal: 3:20 PM

• Occasional Car Rider - If you choose to pick up your child at dismissal on any given day, it is extremely important that you notify the school office by email (whites@sgasd.org), sending a note to school with your child, OR by calling the office by 2:00 PM. The occasional car rider will be dismissed from the ART ROOM. (Please see attached map) When writing notes, please be sure to include child’s first and last name, date, and teacher. Please notify the district transportation office, ext. 3024, with any transportation changes. ALWAYS use the cross walk when crossing from the parking lot to/from the car rider door. Please DO NOT cross in between the vans/buses, or permit children to run freely to the parking lot.

• Rocket Rider - If you plan on transporting your child at dismissal each and every day, please contact the school office to make arrangements to pick up your “ROCKET RIDER” tags before the start of school. Rocket Riders get dismissed from door #3 by the cafeteria. (See attached map) You must have a NEW Rocket Rider tag in order to pick up through the line. You may not use signs from previous years.

• Bus Transportation – Transportation information can be found in your Sapphire Parent Portal.

Student Emergency Form - Please review and make additions or corrections to your child's emergency form in your Sapphire Parent Portal. Use the link below to access the Sapphire Parent Portal. If you need to create an account please use this link "Apply for a Sapphire Community Portal account."

If your child is arriving at school late or leaving early due to a doctor or dental appointment, please be sure to get a note from the physician. The time may be considered unexcused if a note is not provided. You will find further information on this subject in the student handbook. If your child is arriving late, we ask that you check the child in at the school office. Please do not drop the student off and leave without accompanying him/her to the office.

Please remember that all visitors must sign in at the office upon arrival. Every person that enters SGE will be asked to sign in using our RAPTOR security system. You will need to have your drivers license/identification scanned at least one time in order to be in our system. We kindly ask that you have your identification with you at all times when visiting a district building.

ALL volunteers must complete the volunteer registration process before volunteering in any district school. You may find more information on the volunteer process by visiting Volunteer Services on our district website.

SGE communicates mostly by email or by posting information on the SGE webpage. Please be sure to include your email address on the student emergency form. For split households, please include both parent email addresses. We want to make certain that all parents/guardians are aware of SGE news! If you do not have email access, please make note of such on the emergency forms.

Starting with the 25-26 school year, students will no longer be receiving free breakfast/lunch. A student school breakfast is free for all students, and a school lunch is $2.45. Please go onto the district website & apply for the free/reduced lunch program. You may access your child’s lunch account through myschoolbucks.com.