Grout Family Newsletter

March 3 - No School, Teacher Professional Development Day

March 7 - Puppet Book Parade through Odd Fellows

March 11 - Virtual Kindergarten Information Session

March 19 - Early Release, 11:50

March 24-28 - Spring Break, No School

April 3 - Connect to Kindergarten, 6:00-7:00

April 4 - No School, Grading Day

April 7 - No School, Planning Day

April 11 - K-2 Author Visit

May 7 - 3-5 Author Visit

May 17 - Curriculum Night

Link to PPS 2024-2025 School Calendar

Kindergarten registration is open and Grout will be hosting information sessions for incoming and interested families. If you know of any children who will be 5 years old on or before August 31, please encourage their families to attend!

Virtual Information Session

March 11, 2025

6:30 (Link coming soon)

In Person Information Sessions at Grout

Thursday, April 3

6:00 - 7:00 pm

OR

Thursday, May 1

6:00 - 7:00

These sessions will include a slideshow and question / answer session about Grout, followed by a chance to meet our Kindergarten teachers and tour the classrooms.

If you are unable to attend either in person event, please stay tuned for an alternative, virtual information session. Date and time coming soon.

The Grout clothes closet is running low! We use this closet to change students who may have had a toileting accident, or other mishaps. We are especially in need of small & medium pants, shirts and underwear. If you have any gently used clothing that you are willing to donate, please drop it off at the Grout office.

Also, if your child comes home in Grout clothing closet clothes, and you don't need them at home, please wash them and send them back at your convenience.

Thank you!

Hi Parents & Caregivers: Are you aware of the PPS Clothing Closet resource? This is a large collection of new and lightly worn clothing, shoes and jackets available to all PPS students. There is no cost to access the clothing closet and it's a great place to shop first when needing to size up your students' clothes.

The Clothing Closet is located at Marshall High School and open on Mondays and Thursdays 10am - 1pm. No cost, but you will need a pass from the school, we can provide this via email or send home with your student in their backpack.

We are coordinating group transportation for adults to the Clothing Closet on Thursday March 20th & Monday April 14th.

Reach out to Kate (School Social Worker) at khoffman@pps.net for a pass or to join the group, or if you'd like to volunteer for a few hours to sort and organize. Part of ensuring this is available at no cost to all PPS families is the labor and coordination offered by the PTA members from each school. If you'd be willing to donate your time, let us know!

The Clothing Closet will close until the 2025-2026 school year on Monday April 28th.

Our wonderful librarian, Alicia Hazen, has invited two authors to visit us at Grout this spring.

Our first visit will take place on April 11. Leslie Barnard Booth will share her book, A Stone is a Story, with our K-2 students. She will do an interactive read aloud with the students and also have them look at rocks.

The second visit, for our 3rd-5th graders, will take place on May 7. Author Vera Brosgol will share her new illustrated novel entitled Return to Sender.

If you are interested in ordering one of these books ahead of the visits, to be delivered the day of the readings, you may order below at the following links:

Author Leslie Barnard Booth Book Order Link

Author Vera Brosgol Book Order Link

When you arrive at the checkout screen, you should select "I would like to pick up this order," and then under the pick up options, select Grout School for pick up.

In addition, please write your child's name and teacher's name in the comment box so the books can be distributed easily.

The deadlines for submitting your orders will be March 28 for Leslie Bardard Booth, and April 23 for Vera Brosgol.

PTA Upcoming Events:

03/04 Grout T-Shirt Contest Begins

03/06 PPS/PTA Clothing Center Volunteers

03/15 Native Plant Sale

03/17 Dine out For Grout

03/04: Grout T-Shirt Contest

On 03/04 students will receive a flyer outlining the details for the Grout T-Shirt contest. Once the designs are complete students will turn their designs to the main office. All designs must be turned into the office by the end of the school day on 03/14.

03/06: PPS/PTA Clothing Center Volunteers

It is Grout's turn to send volunteers to the PPS/PTA Clothing Center Closet on Thursday, March 6th from 9:30am- 1pm. Please sign up to volunteer on Konstella or email groutpta@gmail.com

03/15: Native Plant Sale

Come support the Grout Learning Garden at the native plant sale on Saturday, March 15th: 9am - 2pm on the Grout basketball courts. The native plants are from Bosky Dell Natives. All proceeds go to the learning garden. Please see Konstella to volunteer for this event.

03/17: Dine out for Grout

Mark your calendars for Monday, March 17th to dine out for Grout at Dick's Primal Burger Woodstock location.

Konstella Information:

A reminder that all the minutes for PTA meetings can be found on the Konstella app in the files tab.

Please check your junk and spam folders to see if Konstella emails are being filtered there. Need help signing up for Konstella? Please email groutpta@gmail.com

Grout PTA's Annual No Stuff Fundraiser:

Currently we have $1910 in donations. A big thank you to everyone who had donated. Our yearly goal is $6000 in donations. All donations are welcome in any amount $5 to $500, they all make a difference for our Grout community. Please donate today

https://gofund.me/3f64a7bdi

Congratulations to our Grout second graders, along with Ms. Flax and Teacher Karen! They packed the house on Thursday night for a concert of songs they have been practicing.

Thanks to all of the generous donations during our fall Move-A-Thon, we were able to enjoy the fantastic drumming and dancing of Ekome, a Ghanian performance group. Thank you to everyone who contributed!