Glenwood

Good afternoon, Glenwood families,

Fall continues to fly by at Glenwood! Halloween is right around the corner, the leaves are changing, and colder temperatures are on the way. November will be here before we know it.

Thank you to everyone who supported our PTG’s Trunk or Treat. We were excited to hear it was their largest turnout yet. We appreciate the families and volunteers who helped make the event such a success.

The past few days have been busy at Glenwood. Today, we celebrated our October birthdays during Birthday Bash and gave students an opportunity to use their accumulated PAWs for a variety of experiences. We look forward to recognizing student successes again at Friday’s Pride Assembly.

Next week, students will participate in Red Ribbon Week activities focused on making healthy decisions. We will also have Picture Retake Day on Tuesday, October 27, followed by our Halloween Parade and classroom celebrations on Friday, October 30. Please review the information below for parade details, dismissal procedures, and other important reminders.

We hope everyone enjoys another great week at Glenwood!

Best,

Josh Rehak, Principal

Friday October 23 - School Pride Assemblies 10 am (AM-K, 3-5) / 2 pm (PM-K, 1-2)

Tuesday October 27 - Picture Retake

Wednesday October 28 - Family Night / NO Homework

Friday October 30 - Fall Classroom Parties / 2:30 pm Halloween Parade

Picture retake day will be held on Tuesday, October 27. Students who were absent on the original picture day, or families hoping for a second chance at the perfect smile or better hair day, are eligible!

Families seeking Barksdale’s sibling discount for a third student purchase, when children attend different schools, should contact Jennifer Holmes directly at jholmes@barksdalephoto.com.

Glenwood will celebrate Red Ribbon Week from Monday, October 26 through Friday, October 30! Red Ribbon Week is a national campaign that focuses on being Drug Free. At the elementary level, we focus on encouraging children to make healthy, safe, and positive decisions. Throughout the week, students will take part in age-appropriate activities focused on healthy decision-making, kindness, sleep, exercise, and nutritious foods.

This year’s theme, “Be a Superhero: Healthy Decisions Are Your Superpower,” reminds students that the everyday decisions they make can support their bodies, minds, and relationships.

Students are invited to participate in the following spirit dress-up days:

• Monday October 26: Wear red to kick off Red Ribbon Week as we discuss healthy decision making.
• Tuesday October 27: Dress to impress as we we learn about the benefits of sleep.
• Wednesday October 28: Dress as your favorite superhero as we focus on kindness to ourselves and others.
• Thursday October 29: Wear Glenwood spirit wear or clothing from your favorite team as we celebrate exercise and being active.
• Friday October 30: No special dress-up theme. Students will learn how healthy foods fuel our bodies and brains.

Red Ribbon Week is also a great opportunity to continue conversations at home about healthy habits and the everyday decisions that help us feel our best. We look forward to a fun week of learning and celebrating healthy decisions together!

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

Glenwood’s Fall Parties & Halloween Parade will be held Friday, October 30th, 2026.

Parents, guardians, siblings, and family are invited to join us for our Halloween Parade on the back playground/field starting promptly at 2:30 pm for our parade. Classroom parties will be held at different times throughout the day (only four volunteers per room are permitted into the parties).

VISITORS:

• We have limited parking on our campus (please try to carpool if you can)

• Visitors should use the Bus Entrance and park in the side parking lots

• As in past years, the parade will take place on the back field. Please walk around the front of the school past the green shed to access the back field.

• Adults - in the interest of safety, please do NOT wear costume masks or face paint

• NO animals are permitted on campus

• Visitors will not have access to our school building

• Visitors watching the parade do NOT need their Clearances

STUDENTS: Students may choose to bring a costume for the parade but it is not required.

COSTUME GUIDELINES - If your child wishes to wear a costume, please adhere to the following:

• AM & PM Kindergarten students should come to school dressed in costume

• First through Fifth Grade children should bring his/her costume to school in a bag

• We recommend labeling your child's costume or bag it is brought to school in.

• Children’s costumes must be of a nonviolent nature appropriate for a school setting

• Students are not permitted to carry any item that could be characterized as a prop weapon (grim reaper’s staff, sword, pitchfork, nerf gun, etc.

• Students should be able to put their costumes on independently in their classroom

• Please limit face make-up since we have a limited amount of time to support the students

• We request that students do not wear inflatable costumes, as they can be very challenging to maneuver through stairs and hallways

• Caution your student about the safety factors involved in getting on or off a bus or walking home while carrying their costume

• Children are not permitted to go home at lunch to get dressed
  
  

NEW DISMISSAL PLAN: Due to the size and logistics of parade dismissal, we strongly encourage students to remain at school for the rest of the day and follow their regular dismissal plan whenever possible.

To ensure an organized and safe dismissal, each grade level will have a designated pick-up door. Families with children in more than one grade level will need to pick up each child at that grade level’s designated door. Parents and guardians will not be permitted to enter the building for dismissal. Please see the map below.

If you plan to take your child with you following the parade, please complete the Dismissal Form below. Completing the form in advance helps us ensure your child is ready and allows for a safe, efficient dismissal.

Families who do not complete the form may experience a longer wait while we follow our dismissal and safety procedures.

Please have your photo ID ready when picking up your child at their designated door. With multiple dismissal locations around campus and additional safety procedures in place, families should anticipate extra time. With nearly 600 students, our priority is ensuring a safe and organized dismissal for everyone.

Please see the attached map for door locations.

For those who do not wish to participate in the Halloween Parade or classroom parties, or do not celebrate Halloween, there will be alternative fun offered! Past activities have included festive fall crafts and games. Please be sure to fill out the survey to let us know if your student would like to participate in the alternative activities so that we can plan accordingly!

Alternate Activities for Halloween Survey

We will recognize American Education Week November 16th - 20th. During this time, we hold an Open House, inviting parents/guardians to experience a short "day in the life" of your student. This event is adults-only, since it will be during instruction we cannot allow siblings or younger children. This is also intended for Parents/Guardians... our Grandparents/Special Friends Day will be held in the Spring. All visitors will be asked to sign in upon arrival, you do NOT need to have Clearances on file to attend. Due to space limitations, we ask only two guests per student.

AM-Kindergarten - Thursday November 19th (10 am - 10:45 am)

PM-Kindergarten - Thursday November 19th (2 pm - 2:45 pm)

1st Grade - Tuesday November 17th (9:30 am - 10:15 am)

2nd Grade - Wednesday November 18th (9:30 am - 10:15 am)

3rd Grade - Monday November 16th (10:30 am - 11:15 am)

4th Grade - Friday November 20th (10 am - 10:45 am)

5th Grade - Tuesday November 17th (1:55 pm - 2:30 pm)

*Service animals are always welcome.

Please encourage your students to bring toys at home... Aside from the possibility of items getting misplaced, we are finding the squishy dumpling toys are often not extremely durable - and if they explode, they can make quite a mess on our equipment, lunch tables, desks, etc. We understand it's fun to have these objects; however we prefer students look forward to playing with personal items when they get home.

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

This week’s counselor tidbit: Kindness Take Action: Helping Kids Handle Bullying!

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and at Glenwood, our Character Trait of the Month is EMPATHY. Over the past few weeks, we've talked about building friendships and navigating the bumps that come with them. But what happens when unkind behavior becomes something more serious?

Not every disagreement or hurtful interaction is bullying. Bullying typically involves a real or perceived imbalance of power and behavior that is repeated, or likely to be repeated. But here's what's important: Even when something isn't bullying, it can still hurt and deserves our attention!

As part of Glenwood's ‘One School, One Story’ school wide initiative, Mrs. Vellios-Miller recorded a read aloud of Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson with our students. Miss Segal and Mrs. Vellios-Miller also helped bring the story to life through additional kindness ripple moments with students, encouraging them to think about how even the smallest actions can make a difference. The story reminds us that our words, actions, and missed opportunities to show kindness can have a lasting impact. And sometimes, the smallest acts of kindness create the biggest ripples!

We're bringing that message to life through our schoolwide Kindness Ripple Project, with each classroom contributing its own ripple to show how kindness can spread throughout Glenwood.

But kindness isn't just about being friendly when things are going well. It's also about knowing what to do when someone is being hurt, excluded, or treated unfairly.

Try It at Home!

Help your child practice a few strategies for situations involving bullying or repeated unkind behavior:

• Speak up when it's safe: A calm, confident "Stop. That's not okay" can be powerful. Children should never feel pressured to confront someone.

• Walk away and get help: Leaving a hurtful situation isn't giving up. It's making a smart choice.

• Tell a trusted adult: Remind children that asking for help when someone is being hurt isn't tattling. It's reporting, and taking care of themselves or someone else!

• Be an upstander: If your child witnesses someone being targeted, they can invite that child to join them, check on them afterward, or help them find an adult.

• Keep telling: If the behavior continues, encourage your child to tell another trusted adult until they receive the support they need.

You might also ask:

• "Who are the adults at school you feel comfortable going to for help?"

• "What could you do if you saw someone being left out or treated unkindly?"

• "What's one small act of kindness that could make someone's day better?"

And as adults, our job is to listen, take concerns seriously, and work together to keep children safe. We don't expect children to handle bullying on their own.

Something to Remember:

Kindness is more than being nice. Sometimes kindness means having the courage to help someone who needs it. Our hope is that the ripples from Each Kindness extend far beyond our bulletin board. Every invitation, encouraging word, and act of support helps create a school community where children feel safe, included, and valued.

One small action can create a ripple. Imagine what happens when an entire school joins in!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Vellios-Miller & Miss Segal
Glenwood School Counselors

NEWS FROM THIRD GRADE:

Third grade is learning across the curriculum! Our mathematicians are exploring place value through metric measurement and learning about grams and kilograms and using metric scales to weigh everyday classroom items.

Our favorite scientists are also investigating life cycles and asking, "Why do plants give us fruit?" We examined common produce and predicted whether each item was a fruit or a vegetable while learning about the role fruits play in a plant’s life cycle.

Our reading is focused on nonfiction books and classifying animals by using text features. We are using the resources to classify animals as vertebrates or invertebrates and warm-blooded or cold-blooded. We love making connections across subjects as we explore, question, and discover the world around us!

Introducing Woody’s Pride Leadership Council

By: Kelly Morgan, Charlie Reeser, Blake Carlson

This year, Glenwood started a council of students to make the school a better place. They will lead with kindness and make everyone they can smile. Each student will be working in one of three groups. Each group will be led by a teacher.

School Climate/PBIS Liaison Committee:

Service Learning Committee

The Service Learning Committee is mainly going to be helping coordinate service projects,which will be once every trimester. They will also be volunteering for a lot

of projects around the school.

Pictured: Mrs Steffan (Teacher Leader), Graham Doyle, Piper Moore, Sunny Parson, Sanhya Nair, and Lucie Hohn

Student Voice/Communication Committee Student

Student Voice/Communication Committee is where we send messages to other classrooms, make the student of the month bulletin board, and take pictures of the student of the month. We share ideas with the advisors and the administration. We will work with the Communications Coordinator to push out messages and make announcements.

Pictured: Ms. Dorsey, Kelly Morgan, Kai Gonzalez, Charlie Reeser, Blake Carlson, Andrea Heo, and Sky Opshinsky

Thank you to all that attended, donated candy, and decorated their trunks! We had a record-breaking turnout. There were some amazing and extremely creative themes - - and we loved seeing whole families involved!

Kindergarten Get Together

Glenwood Cafeteria on Thursday, November 5th from 6-7 PM

This is a time for all of the kindergarten classes to come together for a fun night of games & crafts!

An evite link has been sent to all kindergarten families who are registered on Membership Toolkit. If you did not receive the evite to RSVP to please RSVP to Denna Armstrong at guittared@gmail.com

November 16th 6-8 PM

$20 a ticket per child

Tickets can be purchased on Toolkit. All money raised goes to GLENWOOD!

Our Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held Monday November 23rd from 4pm-8pm and Tuesday November 24th from 8:30am-8pm. Please sign up for a designated slot to meet with your child's Homeroom Teacher!

We have enough room for one slot per student.

Kindergarten:

Mrs. Bradley

Mrs. Harkness

Mrs. Kotzen

1st Grade:

Miss Atkinson

Mrs. Megahey

Ms Moretzsohn

Miss Torrillo

Miss Yachetti

2nd Grade:

Miss Burgess

Ms Forsyth

Mrs. Gulliver

Mrs. Hensel
Mrs. Miller

3rd Grade:

Ms Bruno

Ms Coyne

Mr. Davies

Mrs. Grace-Green

4th Grade:

Ms Barry
Mrs. Gallagher

Miss Lewis

Ms Mazzella

Ms Salera

5th Grade:

Mrs. Beller

Ms Dorsey

Mr. Keeler

Miss Pinsley

Mrs. Steffan

AGP:
Mrs. Rigatti

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