GVS Family Newsletter

Grantham Village School

75 Learning Drive

Grantham, NH 03753

603-863-1681

frontoffice@gvshawks.org

Principal: Kristen Reed

kreed@gvshawks.org

Self-Direction is the ability and learned skill to cast a vision of future goals and then take intentional steps toward who, where, and what we want to be. Instead of focusing on things to control or avoid, we emphasize our responsibility to make positive choices related to our emotions, attitudes, and actions.

• Self-Direction strengthens relationships. Self-Direction helps to grow social skills and develop meaningful, positive relationships with others.
• Self-Direction teaches personal responsibility. Learning to Self-Direct teaches students to take responsibility for their own actions.
• Self-Direction helps us to regulate emotions: Self-Direction empowers students to regulate their impulses and emotional responses to situations and circumstances in their life.

• Practice goal setting and action planning. When we establish goals and develop action plans, we learn to take intentional steps to successfully achieve goals.
• Monitor and adjust. Provide students with regular feedback and opportunities to self-assess progress toward goals to make adjustments and improvements in their behaviors.
• Reflect and evaluate. Facilitate discussions and reflection to prompt students to examine what they do, think, and say against their goals and vision for their life and learning.

• Tuesday, Sept. 29 - Lion's Club Vision Screening
• Tuesday, October 6 - Grantham School Board meeting 6:30pm - GVS Music Room
• Friday, October 9 - No school for students - Teacher Work Day
• Monday, October 12 - Holiday - No School
• Monday, October 26 - SAU75 Presentation to the Community - NH School Fair Funding 5:45pm - GVS Cafeteria
• Wednesday, October 28 - SAU 75 Policy Committee meeting 9:30am via Google Meet
• Friday, October 30 - Costume Day - No face coverings or face paint. No weapons or gore.

Drone Club is open to GVS 4th, 5th and 6th grade students!

Sign Up via Google Form. You may use the QR code or https://forms.gle/Kx1Gk4kZsCfbQokP6.

Please sign up by Tuesday, October 13, 2026. Students need to submit this form before attending a practice or competition.

GVS Practice Dates

Starting October 15th, the drone club will meet every 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month from 3:30pm to 4:30pm in the GVS Gym. There are also opportunities to practice with other students from different schools and attend competitions. More info to come!

One of our students had an idea, set up meetings with adults, and then initiated this community service project!

She also got Mr. Will on board to dye his hair as an incentive!

You can access PaySchools from our GVS website or by clicking here.

If you have PaySchools questions, please direct them to Brenda Molloy at the SAU. Her contact information is bmolloy@gvshawks.org or 603-863-9689.

Playing quick games is one of the best ways to practice math facts! Games turn practice into play, and kids love the surprise of not knowing which fact will come up next.

Adapted from Edutopia’s "Strategies to Help Build Students’ Math Fact Fluency," here are 5 simple games you can try at home using items you already have—like dice and standard playing cards:

1. Fast and Slow Piles
   Have your child run through a stack of math fact cards and sort them into two piles: "Fast" (facts they know instantly) and "Slow" (facts that take a strategy to solve). The "Slow" pile becomes your focus list for the next round. Watching facts move to the "Fast" pile is a huge confidence booster!

2. Target Number
   Pick a target number (such as 10, 20, 50, or 100). Roll two dice and use addition, subtraction, or multiplication to get as close to the target as possible. Players explain their thinking to see who got closest. Tip: Try 10- or 12-sided dice for an extra challenge!

3. Four in a Row
   Draw two cards or roll two dice, then create a math problem with the numbers. Calculate the answer and cover that number on a grid or homemade number chart. The first player to get four covered spaces in a row wins!

4. Catch & Calculate
   Toss a soft ball back and forth. Every time you pass the ball, state a math fact within a target family you're working on (like the "plus 3s" or "times 5s"). It keeps hands active and minds sharp!

5. Math War
   Divide a deck of playing cards between two players. On "Go," each player flips over one card. The first person to combine the numbers (using addition, subtraction, or multiplication) and call out the correct answer wins both cards! Younger mathematicians can count the shapes on the cards to help them calculate.

6. Just 5 to 10 minutes of math games a day makes a massive difference in building speed, strategy, and a love for learning!

Grassi, C., & Lowe, M. (2025, November 3). Strategies to help build students’ math fact fluency. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-elementary-math-fact-fluency/

Looking for a fun way to stretch your child’s brain beyond their daily classwork? Starting October 9th, we are launching the GVS Math Challenge for all students in grades K–6!

This challenge is designed to encourage out-of-the-box thinking, strategy, and creative problem-solving skills. A brand-new set of brain-teasers will be released about every two weeks, and families are encouraged to work on them together!

• Who: Open to all K–6 GVS students & families

• When: Launches October 9th (new challenges every ~2 weeks)

We will be sending more information about the GVS Math Challenge in next week’s newsletter!

Grantham Village School, the Grantham School District/SAU 75, and the Grantham School Board proudly partner with various non-profit and community organizations to enrich our students' experience. Please note that while we include information about these organizations for communication and community awareness, they do not represent or act on behalf of the Grantham Village School, the Grantham School District/SAU 75, or the Grantham School Board in any official capacity.

This fall, NHSFFP is taking our School Funding + Property Taxes Tour to all 10 New Hampshire counties. We’ve revamped our presentation, and over the next three months we’ll be bringing it directly to communities across the state.

Along with a brand-new slide deck covering New Hampshire’s school funding system, property taxes, recent legislation, and potential solutions, we’re introducing new interactive activities, debuting our first-ever policy platform, collecting stories and perspectives from attendees, and creating more opportunities for communities to tell us what they think. In other words: these events are designed to be as much about listening as they are about presenting.

At every stop, you’ll have opportunities to learn how state school funding decisions affect your community and property taxes, explore local and statewide data, ask questions, participate in interactive exercises, and share your own experiences and ideas. What we learn along the way will help inform our work heading into the 2027 legislative session and state budget process.