Panther Post

• 12/3 - Spirit Night at Five Guys, 5-9pm

• 12/4 - Winter Strings/Chorus Concert, 6pm

• 12/9 - Last day to donate for Adopt-a-Family

• 12/11 - Redistricting Town Hall #2 Potomac High School 7-9pm
• 12/19 - Winter Sing-A-Long for students & staff - NO EARLY DISMISSALS AFTER 2PM
• 12/22 - 1/4 - Winter Break: No School
• 1/5 - School Reopens
• 1/9 - 80's Day
• 1/13 - Lockdown Drill

As you probably know, Pattie is slated to be affected by the upcoming rezoning for the opening of two new schools - Woodbridge Area Elementary School and Potomac Shores II.

We encourage you to stay informed. Here is a link to the Redistricting Portal where you can see each proposed redistricting scenario: https://gis.pwcs.edu/portal/apps/experiencebuilder/experience/?id=823b409e091741e1ba886999b1c4f812&page=Home

There will also be a Town Hall meeting where the public is given an opportunity to share their concerns with the current proposals. The Town Hall meeting is on Thursday, December 11th from 7-9pm in Potomac High School's auditorium. If you would like to sign up to speak, please use this link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=bZqwF-SVHk2F4xzg1N5_wbbtFQD7_4dIt9gtNzHokYNUMUwwSzhIM0tBWVpXS0hIVVQ0NVcxQU5MSC4u&fbclid=IwdGRzaAOS1TljbGNrA4yvBGV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMTY5bmJjYmZKYUI2OVZ0d2xzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEen0q3zIfCLzVFjJQgJn8wtWHwizTsvkzeA6K39x-X-TQcBZSAsZot1ljh9A4_aem__084AdR4p43c45_iWI87Tg

Please also pay attention to the Pattie PTCO Facebook page where it is being discussed among the community.

Any items remaining in the lost and found on December 19th will be donated over the holiday break. Please make sure to retrieve your student's belongings asap!

Nominations for PWCS' Outstanding Educators are open. Please see this site for more information: https://www.pwcs.edu/about_us/employee_recognition/outstanding_educators/index

If you would like to nominate a Pattie staff member, please submit your nomination by December 10th, using this link: Pattie Elementary School - Teacher of the Year Nomination Form – Fill out form

On or around the 80th day of school, Pattie celebrates the rad decade of the 80's. All staff and students are encouraged to dress in the style of the 80's and have some 80's inspired fun throughout the day. As the 80th day always falls right after the holiday break, we'll celebrate the 80's on Friday, January 9th.

Pattie has one of the largest contingents of military connected families, and we've also earned two Purple Stars for the supports that we provide to our military connected children and their families. We respect and appreciate veterans and current servicemembers, so we made sure to honor them for Veteran's Day with our annual breakfast. We welcomed over 100 guests to enjoy breakfast and a performance from our chorus. Many of our veterans and servicemembers also volunteered their time to read in classrooms and answer questions from students about their experiences. A big shout out goes to our PTCO and our Paws of Positivity Club for organizing the event.

You can now look up your student's pictures and order directly from the vendor's site. Please follow the directions in the flyer below. If you have any questions or issues, reach out directly to Strawbridge's Customer Support Team via the live chat on their website, www.strawbridge.net

Families are now able to sign up for times to visit their student(s) during lunch. Because of our limited seating in the cafeteria, we do have to limit how many family members visit each day. Please use the sign up below to reserve your day and time.

Did you know that exercise and movement increase brain power? Every minute spent playing and moving can increase levels of helpful chemicals in the body, leading to decreased stress and improve mood and physical health. It's a no brainer! The recommended amount of activity time for a child that is elementary age is 60 minutes a day. On the flip side, on average we are seeing excessive screen usage from our students, which has detrimental effects on social and emotional growth, including a rise in the likelihood of obesity, sleep disorders, and mental health conditions including depression and anxiety. Let's get those kids playing and moving daily! It's great for them physically AND mentally!

Also, please continue working with your children on shoe tying if they have not learned! We are seeing improvements!

Kindergarten artists are exploring a variety of textures; both visual and tactile. First grade artists are continuing to work on their rocket ship, including chalk printing a galaxy sky! Second graders are finishing their Laurent inspired shape art with yarn painting. Third graders are continuing using linear symmetry to create a butterfly mosaic. Fourth graders are rediscovering their love for weaving. Fifth graders are creating the illusion of neon light by mixing their own tints and shades.

Tech Talk – Grades 3 & 5

We’ve kicked off our typing unit for the remainder of the quarter! Each student completed a one-minute typing test to establish their baseline words per minute (WPM) and accuracy. Students have set personal improvement goals and will work toward achieving them by the end of the quarter.
If your child would like extra practice at home, please email me at buttermm@pwcs.edu, and I’ll provide their login information. Typing practice can be done on any computer with internet access and a keyboard.

Grade 4

Students have reviewed PVLEGS strategies to prepare for the upcoming Gauntlet Competition. Applications are currently being written and submitted, and selections will be finalized after Winter Break.
As in previous years, all applications will be recorded on video at school only (no exceptions) to ensure an equitable playing field. You are welcome to encourage and practice with your student at home.

For families new to Pattie: This is the 4th year of the Gauntlet Competition—a unique oral communication challenge for 4th graders. Thirty selected candidates will participate in a “boot camp” during school hours, where they’ll receive training in real-world communication skills. The program culminates in an exciting competition in April where members of the community attend and help test and judge their skills.

Tech Talk – Grades K–2

Students have been exploring Digital Drawing using tools in Freeform and will soon begin learning coding skills. They’ll start with the Bee-Bot App and progress to coding a real Bee-Bot robot—an engaging way to introduce programming concepts!

Students in grades 2 through 5 recently had an opportunity to earn their first singing badge of the year. We learned a fun call-and-response song, titled The Other Day I Met a Bear. Students worked in small groups to lead and echo the song in front of their classmates and earned a badge for their hard work and bravery. The students were quite proud to decorate their badge and wear it with pride.

First graders have learned about quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes, and rests. They were even able to make a connection between the syllables in their name, and corresponding music rhythm. Ask your student what music note they are hiding!

Kindergarten students recently completed a bear hunt in the music room. After exploring several instruments to add sound effects to the story, we went on our own classroom adventure to search for the bear. The students had so much fun crawling through a tunnel, jumping over lava, and balancing on the alligator bridge in search of the bear hiding in the music room.

⛄Annual Winter Sing Along

In the next few weeks, students will be preparing for the Winter Sing Along. This is a fun event for our students and staff. During music, students will learn and practice various seasonal songs. This is a fun opportunity for students to learn about different cultures and discover the history of our music. On Friday, December 19th, the entire school comes together to sing and make music together. We are excited to also have some special guest singers from Forest Park joining us this year. It is a fun way to be together as a Pattie Family before we leave for Winter Break. Song selections for the sing along will be chosen ​from this list​.

These winter months are the perfect time to create strong reading habits! Check out the picture for all of the reasons reading 20 minutes a day can benefit our Panthers in all aspects of their lives.

#readallthebooks #readreturnrepeat

Staff members had the option of sharing their favorite things so that you can treat them with gifts they love this holiday season. Check out their favorite things here!

PTCO Zoom Link: https://pwcs-zm-edu.zoom.us/j/86987817532?pwd=YlRlZm5rTlpNcVl1a2tqWUV1TGsvUT09

It’s Adopt-a-Family time! We have been given a wonderful opportunity to adopt several families from our Pattie community in need of holiday gifts which are currently beyond their means. Please consider sponsoring a child or children so that they may experience the happiness and excitement of the holiday season! Learn more and sign up here.

Join us for our December Spirit Night at Five Guys! 20% of the sales will come back to the PTCO to defer costs of field trips, pay for fun community building and staff appreciation events. See you there!

The Pattie PTCO would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our incredible volunteers, sponsors, and donors who played a pivotal role in making our Giving Thanks month a success! Together with the POP Club and school staff we were able to honor our Veterans with breakfast and reading in the classroom. We were also able to thank our staff members with fun treats, recognize some special groups of people who serve Pattie every day, and help Pattie families express their gratitude with shout outs. Finally, our 3rd annual Giving Thanks Color Run fundraiser was an amazingly good time despite the weather, and we’re so glad to be able to put more resources toward field trips and contributing to our school community. Finally, thank you to all of the families who participated in our Spirit Night at Chick-fil-A. Together we are Pattie Strong!

Confused about the redistricting process and what it means for you? Planning on attending the Town Hall on Thursday, 12/11, at Potomac High School but don’t want to sit alone? The Pattie PTCO is here to help! Interested parents and guardians can reach out to pattieptco@gmail.com with questions.

The Pattie PTCO is all volunteer run and needs your help. There are lots of opportunities to get involved, like working a shift at Pattie events, attending meetings and sharing your ideas, scanning your receipts for Box Tops, dressing up as Pattie Panther, helping stock the staff lounge snack cart, and more. Join here and tell us how you would like to help.

*If you joined in previous years, you will need to rejoin for the 25-26 school year.*

PTCO Facebook Page - The Pattie PTCO Facebook page is active and a great place to get more information, see reminders and ask questions.

Pattie PTCO Linktree - This link is updated with resources you may need related to the PTCO.

If you have any questions, ideas, or would like to help in any way, please feel free to contact us at any time at PattiePTCO@gmail.com.

If you are interested in checking out Pattie's daily, student produced, morning show, they are uploaded to Pattie's Youtube channel daily. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh-odLQZRxQm1vN_zOTSiYw