Schwenksville Family Newsletter

I hope everyone is enjoying this snowy weather! Please note that tonight's Home and School BINGO night has been canceled for this evening and will take place on Friday, January 26th in the Perkiomen Valley High School cafeteria from 6-8:30 PM.

Also, Our 2nd/3rd year orchestra & band students dress rehearsal & concert has been moved to January 24th. Students will be transported to Middle School East for their dress rehearsal at 2:00pm. The Concert will take place at 6:00pm in the Middle School East Auditorium.

Take care and be well,

Mrs. Venza

Monday, January 22 - F Day

Tuesday, January 23 - A Day

Wednesday, January 24- B Day

Thursday, January 25 - C Day

Friday, January 26 - D Day

Tuesday, January 23 - District Elementary Band (5th Grade) & Orchestra (4th/5th) Concert - 6pm at MSE

Friday, January 26 - H&S BINGO Night - 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM - PV High School Cafeteria

Wednesday, February 7 - Half Day In-Service

Monday, February 19 - No School - Holiday

3-5th grade students attended an assembly called "Eat the Rainbow" to encourage students (and staff) to eat more fruits and vegetables of all colors of the rainbow!

The whole building is invited to participate in the Eat the Rainbow Spirit Days and Lunch options.

• January 22nd - Wear something BLUE and/or PURPLE

Eat the Rainbow Lunch Menu

If your child is interested in joining the Spring 2024 Girls on the Run team, go to gotrpa.org and select Register, 3-5th Program and Schwenksville Elementary as the site.

Starting February 24th for 8 weeks, our team will practice M/W from 3:30-4:45.

Financial aid is available. Please reach out to Mrs. Krauss LKrauss@pvsd.org or Miss Barth RBarth@pvsd.org with any questions!

Do you have a child that will turn 5 years old by September 1st, 2024? If so, your child is eligible to attend school in the Perkiomen Valley School District next fall. Please register by February 23rd.

**Kindergarten will be a full day program in Perkiomen Valley starting with the 24-25 school year.

Click the link below to begin the online registration (OLR) process:

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

Submit your registration in its entirety for review. If there is additional information needed, a member of the school district will reach out. If you need assistance with the kindergarten registration process, please contact the main office at Schwenksville (484-961-7064).

Kindergarten student screenings will be scheduled at a later date in May so we can meet you and your child and learn more about your child's early reading and numeracy skills.

Please pass along this information to family, friends, and neighbors who have a child planning to start Kindergarten next year.

Please have your child practice tying their shoes. This is a great video that offers a helpful shoe tying technique.

Please remind students to:

• make sure their shoes are tied before leaving home in the morning.
• make sure their shoes are tied before going into the hallways and using the stairs.

Shoe Tying Tutorial

Beginning January 16th through January 26th there will be a Shoe Tying Challenge that students may participate in. If they can demonstrate successfully tying their shoe to a staff member, they will be given a certificate to fill out that will be displayed on a bulletin board in our cafeteria hallway!

We will spotlight a special area class to share the amazing things that are happening in Art, Explorations, Library, Music, P.E., and Wellness classes.

What are students exploring in Explorations class with Mr. Silver? Kindergarten and 1st Graders started coding units with coding puzzles in their Code.org classroom. Code.org lessons teach students about block coding by moving characters through puzzles. If you would like to learn more about Code.org, go to code.org.

2nd graders have begun their coding unit using the iPads and Scratch Jr. Unlike Code.org, students will be creating projects by coding multiple sprites (characters) and adding backgrounds. Scratch Jr. is a free app available for IOS and Android tablets. If you would like to learn more about Scratch Jr., go to https://www.scratchjr.org/.

3rd, 4th, and 5th graders have created new complex passwords for their Google accounts and changed their passwords. If a student forgets their passwords, they should see Mr. Silver so he can reset them.

3rd Graders finished up the 1st semester by creating a Google form asking their classmates a question. Students then looked at the results exported the results into Google Sheets and created different graphs.

4th Graders completed a short commercial using WeVideo. Students learned about trimming video clips, adding music, and adding text. Please ask your children to show you their final commercials on their Chromebooks.

5th graders in Mr. Basile’s class, Mr. Young’s Class, and Mrs. Lycosky’s class learned about using green screen in WeVideo projects. They created a short video demonstrating their understanding of the process. Please ask your child to see their final videos. Miss Barth/Mrs. Krauss’ class recently finished their Lego WeDo unit. Students build and program small Lego robots. Each 5th-grade class will get a chance to use build and program with the Lego WeDo kits throughout the school year.

At the start of the 2nd semester, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will all begin their Scratch coding unit. Students were given a username and password and their accounts are managed by Mr. Silver. 3rd Graders are just beginning to code with Scratch and will do a few simple projects.

4th and 5th graders will build upon what they learned in Scratch in the previous year and build upon that. For more information about Scratch, go to https://scratch.mit.edu/.

Lastly, the Explorations classroom received a makeover earlier this year with new tables and chairs. The top photo is the before and the bottom is the after. The room feels much brighter, the tables are on wheels, so many different table arrangements can be made, and Mr. Silver does not miss the spinning chairs at all!

Every month our staff voluntarily gather together before students arrive to school to learn from each other during our “Just Sharing” sessions. Staff members volunteer to present something that they have learned, have expertise in, or is working in their classroom and share their knowledge with their colleagues.

This month, Mrs. Squeri, our district Humanities Instructional Coach, shared engaging strategies and routines for teaching vocabulary. Mr. Meck, one of our 4th grade teachers, shared how AI may be utilized in the classroom in creative and time saving ways to enhance instruction. Mrs. Fitzpatrick, our ESL Specialist/ELD Teacher, taught staff how to use programs and apps to effectively communicate with families who speak languages other than English.

There is much talent and expertise within our building/district and we are committed to learn from, with, and on behalf of one another so that we may provide an exceptional learning experience for our students!

Schwenksville Staff are life long learners!

On Wednesdays we invite special guest visitors to join us to welcome students to school.

Dr. Champagne-Lee was our WELCOME WEDNESDAY VISITOR this week! She helped to welcome students to school while we danced into the building to upbeat music! Dr. Champagne-Lee is our district’s Supervisor of Equity and Student Services.

Thank you for spending time with us on this brisk morning, Dr. Champagne-Lee!

Dear PV Parents/Guardians of Grade 5 students,

We are thrilled to share exciting news with you! PVSD is currently exploring the possibility of launching our very own Mountain Biking Team, which would be co-educational and open to students in grades 6-12. The proposed season is scheduled to run from July 1, 2024, to November 1, 2024.

Mountain biking is not just a thrilling outdoor activity but also a community-driven sport that promotes physical fitness, outdoor exploration, and skill development. Whether your child is passionate about navigating challenging trails or you, as a parent, are eager to provide support and guidance, your experiences and opinions are invaluable in contributing to the growth and improvement of the mountain biking community.

To gain insights into your perspectives and address any concerns you may have, we kindly request you to complete the following survey. A similar survey will also be sent to all students in Grades 5-11 on Friday, January 19th. You can find the student survey questions attached to this email.

Parent Survey Link

Additionally, are sharing a short video highlighting what students love about mountain biking: Mountain Biking Video

As we progress with this initiative, you can expect more updates and information about the PV Mountain Biking Team proposal in the coming weeks and months. Should you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact me at mwolf@pvsd.org.

Sincerely,

Melanie Wolf
Community Education/Curriculum & Instruction Administrative

If you took any fun pictures of your child playing in the snow today, upload them here and Mrs. Venza will post them to our School Facebook and X (Twitter) pages. Have a wonderful weekend! Stay warm and safe!

Upload Pictures Here