The Panther Post

Shenandoah Valley Elementary

LOVE | LEARN | LEAD

September 10, 2023

Greetings Shenandoah Valley Families,

Thank you to our amazing PTO for planning and organizing the Back to School Bash! What a great event to bring the community together! The kids were so excited!!!

We have spent the beginning weeks of school learning more about the overview of the 7 Habits and will dive deeper into Habit 1: Being Proactive during the month of October. Teachers have also spent time learning more about your child academically, through Parkway's new measuring tools, to discover each child's unique needs. You will find a link to a letter from the district below that shares further information. You will also see a reading framework that may help to understand the five components of reading with some friendly definitions.

It is that time of year that we will begin practicing our safety drills. We have a safety team at school that has met with our SRO and will continue to meet with our SRO, regularly, to monitor and update our safety plans and protocols as needed. Our SRO met with grade levels last week to discuss where students and staff should go in case of an emergency and leaving the building is necessary. This week we will practice our intruder drill so that students are familiar with what they will hear over the intercom and how they should respond.

Picture order forms were sent home on Friday, 9/8, and Fall Picture Day is on 9/27. On September 19 and 20, the Girl Scout and Boy Scout Troops will be talking to students during lunch about their programs. If you do not want your child to listen to the presentation, please let your child's teacher know.

Have an amazing week!

Sincerely,

Dr. Terri Politte

Principal | Shenandoah Valley Elementary

Read, Right, Run

Looking for a fun way to get active, read some books, and spread kindness? Join the Read, Right, Run Program at Shenandoah! The program is led by our PE teachers and Teacher volunteers! We will meet once a month, on Fridays, at school from 8:00-8:50 a.m., October through March (exact dates will be sent out before the first meeting). On April 6, we will celebrate our hard work by doing a 1 mile run at Forest Park with the other schools at the Read, Right, Run Event!

If you would like to sign your child/children) up, please use the link below. Any families that participate in Free & Reduced Lunch Program qualify for a discount code. You may get that code by emailing Coach Allen: nallen3@parkwayschools.net. We will cap our group at 50 participants.

https://www.gostlouis.org/rrrm

Updates and Reminders

Academics:

How Do Children Learn to Read? Here are some terms you may hear teachers talk about as they report progress on your kids.

Decoding- Turn printed words into the right sounds
Phonics- Match letter patterns to sounds
Phonological Awareness- Hear and manipulate sound segments in auditory words
Reading Comprehension- Process written language and understand it by making connections with prior knowledge
Language Comprehension- Process spoken language
Oral Reading Fluency- Read with automaticity, including rate, accuracy, and expression

Parkway Assessment Notification Letter - The Parkway School District is using new tools to measure academic growth and progress. Please click on the link for more information.

Reminders:

Lunch with your child...Please use this link to RSVP.
Jr. Colts Tryouts Flyer and Fall Skill Night Flyer

Visitor and Volunteer Information:

If you have already completed fingerprinting, it is good for 6 years. However, the volunteer application needs to be completed each year.

A Parkway volunteer is an individual who has an opportunity to be alone with a student. Please see the Volunteer Information.
A Parkway visitor is an individual in a school for a limited period of time who does not have the opportunity to be alone with a student. Parkway Visitors do not need to go through the background check process.

Volunteers may complete the App Garden (Parkway volunteer tracking software). Use this link to start App Garden Application
It can take volunteers anywhere from 4-6 weeks to be approved so please do not delay if you plan to assist in the coming months. We suggest applying at the beginning of the year.