October PMP: Falling into our flow!

Dear Falcon Families,

Happy Fall and Happy Hispanic Heritage Month - October is just a couple of days away, literally, and I am sending out the October PMP (Principal Monthly's Post) a little early with a reminder that Meet The Teacher Night is this Thursday October 1st from 6pm - 7:30pm. * The evening ends at 7:30, you have two options to visit your child’s teacher (6:10 - 6:40 or 7:00 - 7:30); this also allows parents with children in multiple grade levels to visit those teachers. **This is an evening for parents/caregivers only - if you are in a circumstance where you have to attend with your child/children please reach out to Mrs. Wiggins directly!

• Reminder - Please complete this form to ensure we have accurate dismissal information: STUDENT PICK UP FORM
• Please note, if there are court orders or custody agreements, those are required to be provided directly to our registrar, Deirdre Bonanno, at 10 Education Drive.

Thank you for your partnership and all that you have done to help us fall into Fall so smoothly! If you have any questions please reach out at 845-838-6900 x5601 or sessomswiggins.c@beaconk12.org.

October

• 1st Walk, Bike, Roll to School Day (Roundhouse Parking Lot 8am meet-up, start walking/riding 8:20am) + Meet the Teacher Night 6pm - 7:30pm
• 2nd - Last Day of the PTSO Scholastic Book Fair
• 4th - Spirit of Beacon Day
• 8th - Fall Picture Day
• 12th - No School - Indigenous Peoples' Day / Italian American Heritage Day
• 16th - Ms. Sterbenz fills in as the admin sub for Mrs. Wiggins maternity leave (through mid-Dec.)
• 17th - BCSD Girls in Sports Day (Registration Link)
• 18th Roll Out Event at The Yard (5th Grade Print Making Culminating Project) Everyone's invited! 12pm - 5pm

Have a great day and look forward to seeing everyone at Meet The Teacher Night!
Mrs. Wiggins

PTSO School Store!

The store will be closed for the second half of the month, while Joker Ink prints your Spiritwear and ships it to the school to be sent home with your student. The school store will remain open according to this schedule over the summer months!

There is an optional $5 donation you can add to your cart. This will help ensure that the PTSO can make sure every student has a tshirt that needs one.

Walk, Bike, Roll to School Day

Meet up location: Roundhouse Parking Lot 8am

Start time: 8:20am

Fall Picture Day

Girls In Sports Day

We are excited to launch Moments Of Our Year, a community bulletin board located right in our school lobby! We invite you and your children to contribute memories to this board throughout the entire school year to help capture our community's journey. You are welcome to share family photos, sweet notes, or favorite student artwork and writing pieces. To participate, just stop by the lobby and leave your items in our designated drop-off area next to the board, where you will find pins to add them. We can't wait to see this grow into a beautiful, reflective snapshot of our year by June!

P.S. Thank you to Mr. Alfred, our Head Custodian, for helping us bring this vision to life!

National Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from September 15 to October 15 by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

The observance begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile follow with their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively. In addition, Indigenous Peoples’ Day (October 10) and Día de la Raza (October 12) also fall within this 30-day period, adding to the significance of this time of year.

This year at JVF, we will be acknowledging Hispanic Heritage Month by reading books written by Hispanic authors and/or centered on Hispanic culture and history. Attached you will find:

• A list of books currently available in the JVF Library

• Resources shared by our Office of Curriculum & Student Support (Dr. Rudecindo-O’Neill), including one highlighting the importance of correctly pronouncing names with links to online platforms

We invite you to join us in celebrating and learning together. Happy National Hispanic Heritage Month! If you have any questions or ideas, please reach out to Mrs. Wiggins or anyone on the Building Equity Leadership Team

Kindly,

JVF Building Equity Leadership Team

Alicia Donovan

Sasha Greenspan

Meri Keogh

Jessica White

Sarah Coleman

Parking & Safety

• Please keep in mind that The Villas lot is a private property and there is no parking allowed there.

• Please do not double park along Liberty Street.

• Bus loop is for buses only between 8:30–9:00 a.m. and 2:45–3:45 p.m. If picking up early, please park in the school lot and report to the main entrance. Early pick up must be before 2:45pm

• Speed limit: 15 mph on school days (7:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.).

• Families should park on the Liberty Street side of the parking lot. The building side is reserved for staff - there is signage there as well

Throughout the year, this section will be updated with monthly curriculum updates and highlights of the work happening across JVF.

This month we are highlighting Art - both to introduce our new Art Teacher, Ms. Maher and to share information about 5th grade's Roll Out project in collaboration with South Ave Elementary School and Roll Out Beacon!

Hello! My name is Alexandra Maher, and I am so excited to join the Beacon City School District! I am from Marlboro, NY, and earned my degree in Art Education from SUNY New Paltz.

I have always loved creating art, especially oil painting, and I am passionate about helping students discover their own creativity. My own high school art teacher, Mrs. Tremblay, inspired me to become an art teacher, and I hope to inspire my students in the same way. In my classroom, I love showing students that art can take many different forms, whether that is traditional drawing, painting, or digital art.

Outside of school, I enjoy painting, spending time with my two dogs, and playing volleyball. I am so excited to be part of the school community and can’t wait for a wonderful year of creating together!

This is our second year collaborating with Roll Out Beacon and South Avenue School on a hands-on printmaking project with fifth graders.The project involves fifth graders from the schools working on an amazing collaborative printmaking project. The project gives students an opportunity to experience the process of creating art in a very hands-on way rather than simply learning about it.

You are invited to come out to the culminating event on October 18th from 12pm - 5pm at The Yard!

This past week we focused on Open Mindedness - looking ahead, here are the family letters and schedule the character strength we will be working on each week:

OCT 5–9 Other People Mindset - Being present and giving others my attention

OCT 12–16 Integrity

OCT 19–23 Creativity

OCT 26–30 Other People Mindset - Knowing my words and actions affect others

Fall clubs are rolling and our students are having a lot of fun! Here are a few snapshots from a few of the Fall Club offerings!

The district is hiring for a variety of roles - You can view the full list of BCSD employment opportunities here:

BCSD Employment Opportunities

JV Forrestal Elementary School

125 Liberty Street Beacon, NY 12508

Crystal Sessoms Wiggins, Principal

Main Office: 845-838-6900 x 5601 or x5602 (Attendance)

Instagram: @jvffalcons

NYS Cell Phone Update & BCSD Policy

While New York State has passed the Distraction-Free Schools Law, our elementary school cell phone policy remains unchanged:

• Phones must remain off and stored in backpacks from 8:50 a.m. to 3:10 p.m.

• No phone use is allowed during the school day or on the school bus

Need to get a message to your student during the day? See the elementary contact sheet below