Dear Graden Families,

Our first Hornet Pride Day was a success! You can find more information about our monthly Hornet Pride Days in every issue of the Buzzin' in the Hive. Continue reading below to see why we engage in Hornet Pride Days.

Thursday, October 17th, marks the end of the first quarter. We have engaged in many learning opportunities this quarter and I am proud of all of our Hornet's hard work. Our AVID binders are designed to be sent home each night so your child can share about their day. I encourage you to take time with your child to reflect on their growth and accomplishments they have gained in the first quarter of school.

We have over 150 students participating in building leadership roles spanning from the cafeteria, bus, office, safety, spirit, speaker, and greeter leaders! We truly have leadership occurring in every aspect of our building.

Our fall parties will be Thursday, October 17th. Teachers have sent home communication regarding fall parties and you can find more information below including the schedule for the day, a donation list per grade level, and visitor information.

Friday, October 18th will be a NO school day for Park Hill Elementary students as teachers will be working on preparing report cards and finalizing information for the end of the quarter.

Our Graden Staff and Family Engagement Team and Student Leadership Team will be hosting a Fall Trunk or Treat event on Monday, October 28th from 6:00 pm - 7:15 pm. Look for information from our Student Leadership Team sponsors, Mrs. Fohl and Mrs. Schmidt about sign-ups for trunks and donations of candy.

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held Wednesday, October 23rd and Thursday, October 24th. Teachers have sent families conference sign-up forms. If you have yet to sign-up for a conference time, please reach out to your classroom teacher. There will be no school on Thursday, October 24th and Friday, October 25th.

I would like to thank each of you for all that you do at home to support all of us at Graden.

Upcoming Dates:

• Thursday, October 10th - Mathletics Competition #1 - 4:45 pm - Graden Gym
• Monday, October 14th - PTA meeting - 5:30 pm - Graden Library
• Wednesday, October 16th - 3rd Grade Musical - 6:30 pm - Graden Gym
• Thursday, October 17th - Fall Parties - Rolling Schedule (See Below)
• Friday, October18th - No School For Students
• Wednesday, October 23rd - Parent Teacher Conferences
• Thursday, October 24th - No School For Students - Parent Teacher Conferences
• Friday, October 25th - No School For Students
• Monday, October 28th - Trunk or Treat - 6:00 pm - 7:15 pm

It's a GREAT DAY to be a HORNET!!!

Dr. Easley

Principal, Graden Elementary - Home of the Hornets

Graden's Fall Parties will be on Thursday, October 17th during each grade level specials time.

We are excited to welcome 2 adult visitors per student and would like to make the check-in process as smooth as possible.

Fall Party Schedule:

4th Grade: 10:05 am - 10:55 am

3rd Grade: 10:55 am -11:45 am

5th Grade: 11:45 am - 12:35 pm

1st Grade: 1:15 pm - 2:05 pm

Kindergarten: 205 pm - 2:55 pm

2nd Grade: 2:55 pm -3:45 pm

If you would like to provide items for our parties, please access the links below to sign-up.

All visitors MUST be checked in using our Raptor visitor system with photo ID prior to entering the building.

If you plan to attend the fall parties, please complete the pre-registration form below to notify Graden that you will attend. If you are already in our system, you will have a visitor sticker upon your arrival on Thursday, October 17th.

*** If you are NOT in our Raptor system, you will be notified by the Graden office to come to Graden and pre-register with your photo ID prior to the 17th. If you are not able to pre-register, you will need to complete this process at the front office before joining class parties. Pre-registering is highly encouraged.

* If you have multiple students, please fill this out for your oldest student ONLY.

Hello Graden Hornet Families! The start of the 24-25 school year is in full swing, and I wanted to send out a couple of resources that might be helpful. Below is the link for the Confidential Resource Checklist. When you fill it out online, I can check your need and will send the appropriate resources. You can also call/email and request a paper copy that I will send home with your student.

Confidential Resource Checklist

I also wanted to include the QR code for the Free/Reduced lunch form. When you scan the code, it will take you to School Café where you can sign up. If you prefer a paper copy, please call/email and I will send one home with your student.

I am at Graden on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays but will respond to any requests all week long. I am so excited for the rest of an awesome 24-25 school year.

Allison Dawson LCSW|School Social Worker

Park Hill School District

Graden Elementary|Hawthorn Elementary

p: 816-359-5765

dawsona@parkhill.k12.mo.us

We are excited to continue our tradition of hosting our 4th Annual Trunk or Treat event. Please access the link below if you are interested in hosting a trunk.

Hornet Pride Days will replace early release days for the 2024-25 school year. Once a month we will celebrate our Hornet Pride with a full day of team building, class building, student celebrations, assemblies, and interest groups.

Our next Hornet Pride Day is October 31st. We will have our first quarter celebration assembly. We can't wait to celebrate our hornets.

Hornet Pride Days:

Oct. 31(Q1 Celebration Assembly) - Wear your grade-level leadership Shirt

Nov. 22 (Interest Group)

Dec. 19 (Q2 Celebration)

Jan. 31 (Interest Group)

Feb. 28 (Interest Group)

March 19 (Q3 Celebration)

April 25 (Interest Group)

May 23 (Q4 Celebration)

Students may bring birthday treats into class to celebrate their birthday as long as they come from our list of treats that contain none of the major allergens.

Thank you for understanding that all classroom treats must come from this list, because we do not have the staff capacity to check for allergens that could threaten the health of some students.

Each classroom celebrates birthdays at a time that is conducive to their schedule. We do not allow parents or families to join classrooms for birthday celebrations as these are opportunities for students to celebrate with the teacher and classmates.

Approved Birthday Treats:

Please bring birthday treats ahead of time (two hours after the start of school, at the latest).

• Stickers
• Erasers
• Pencils
• Crazy straws
• Blow Pops
• Juice boxes
• Popcorn
• Smarties
• Dum Dum lollipops
• Jelly Belly
• Nerds
• Ring Pops
• Skittles
• Sour Patch Kids
• Starburst
• Swedish Fish
• Life Saver Gummies

We are looking forward to having parent volunteers support our classrooms this year. If you would like to volunteer in your child's classroom or on field trips, you will need to complete the volunteer screening process below.

Volunteer Screening Information:

• Any volunteer who will be alone with students must have a full screening, which includes a criminal background check, a check of the child abuse and neglect registry, and a check of the sexual offender registry. Volunteers must complete the paperwork (attached below) and return to the Park Hill Communications department or to the Graden office.

• Any volunteer that plans to attend a field trip with students must have a full screening completed which includes the above information.
• If you completed a background check with Park Hill before March 2020, you must do it again, because the earlier screening process did not include the criminal background check.
• If you have completed the full screening, you will NOT need to do it again.
• All volunteers must read and agree to the rules in our policy and procedure, and each volunteer will sign in and reaffirm the rules each time they arrive at a school to volunteer.
• The district will receive updates if a volunteer’s screening status changes. Someone’s volunteer status can change at any time.

• The district must pay a fee of $42.75 for each background check, as required by the state. If you would like to donate to help defray this expense, please enclose a check made out to the Park Hill School District for this amount with your screening form. This donation is not required.

The screening process can take up to two weeks or longer, depending on the time of year. Please be aware of this when submitting your application in anticipation of volunteering for specific events.

Lunch visitors are welcome each day at Graden. If you would like to join your Hornet for lunch, please bring your license upon check-in at the Graden office. If you plan to purchase a school lunch, please have funds in your student's account or bring payment with you.

Just a reminder, due to student allergies, you may only bring food items for your own child.

Visitors may also join recess after lunch. Please head immediately to the Graden office after recess to check-out.

Graden Lunch Schedule:

Kindergarten: 11:00 am -11:20 am

1st Grade: 11:20 am - 11:40 am

2nd Grade: 11:40 am - 12:00 pm

3rd Grade: 12:20 pm - 12:40 pm

4th Grade: 12:00 pm - 12:20 pm

5th Grade: 12:45 pm - 1:05 pm

Hornets!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support of the Silent Auction this year! We raised $4,900! This financial support is vital to providing opportunities like fun assemblies and teacher grants! We are in the process of contacting all winners of the Silent Auction and organizing the events.

Our first Gift of Time was on September 17th for 4th and 5th grade teachers. It was quite the success and we want to thank all our volunteers for providing this collaboration time for our teachers!

We enjoyed seeing everyone at our fundraiser nights at Stone Canyon and River Roll this last month. We hope to see you at Dairy Queen on October 15th!

There have been so many new faces at meetings this year and we look forward to seeing everyone in the library for our next meeting on October 14!

Upcoming Dates:

PTA meeting 10/14

Dairy Queen Fundraising Night 10/15

2nd and 3rd Grade Gift of Time 10/22

Culver’s Fundraising Night 11/05

PTA meeting 11/11

Chipotle Fundraising Night 12/05

PTA Board Members:

President: Brittany Conklin

Vice President: Angie Liberty

Treasurer: Brooke Harvey

Parliamentarian: Betsy Verhoeff

Secretary: Marissa Sundeen

Teacher Representative: Maggie Wright

Brittany Conklin

Mom of K and 2nd Hornets

Conklinb@parkhill.k12.mo.us

School Office (816) 359-4340

School Fax (816) 359-4349

Attendance Line (816) 359-4341

First Student Bus Company (816) 359-4560

Adventure Club (816) 359-5015

Email: easleyv@parkhill.k12.mo.us
Website: https://graden.parkhill.k12.mo.us/
Location: 8804 NW Highway 45, Parkville, MO 64152
Phone: (816) 359-4340