Tigerville Times

Dear Tigerville Families,

Happy New Year and welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a joyful and restful holiday season. We are excited to begin 2025 and look forward to all the learning and growth that lies ahead.

January is always a time for new beginnings, and it’s the perfect opportunity for our students to set goals, try new things, and reflect on their progress. We encourage every student to embrace the opportunities ahead—whether it’s reading a new book, learning something new in math, or working on building strong friendships.

We have two important dates coming up. Please mark them on your calendar.

January 13th: Reading Round-Up for parents of K4-2nd grade students

January 20th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day – No School

Entering the winter months, our area's weather is prone to change quickly. During this time of year, our area can experience a wide range of weather conditions. Please know that the safety of students and staff is always our primary concern when making any weather-related decisions.
To ensure you’re getting the latest information, sign up for a Parent Backpack account and confirm your child’s school has the most up-to-date contact information for you.
Learn more about the district’s weather-related closing procedures at the GCS website. | GCS Weather Related Closing Procedures

As always, please stay connected with us through our newsletters, the school website, and social media for important updates and news. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or if there’s anything we can do to support your child.

We are excited for the wonderful things this new year will bring! Thank you for your continued partnership in helping our students succeed.

Wishing you all a fantastic start to 2025!

Partners in Education,

Amy Kern, Principal

Winter greetings Tigerville Families! Together, we welcome a new year 2025 with bright hopes and positive thoughts for the best year possible. We move into the cold season with winter arts on our mind. I have many fun and creative art works displayed on our art banners. Kindergarten 4 students made their first snowmen with long stocking hats and patterns while K5 students have winter self portraits who are looking up trying to catch a snowflake on their tongue! First graders created penguins sitting on snow with the Northern lights in the background sky. They worked to change a 2D circle into a 3D form. Second grade students worked on using positive and negative space to create a reflection art of a winter setting. Third grade students made the cutest Winter Bear with Birch Trees display. Fourth grades continue their study of landscapes with a Winter scene in a bottle unique art design work. Fifth grades are testing their skills by working on a mixed media piece showing a polar bear with a bright and beautiful scarf using abstract shapes and geometric designs to give a blast of icy color and pizazz to the winter coat of the bear. These pieces and some other artful pieces will be displayed through January for all to enjoy! Don’t forget to do a little snow dance to bring a cold flurry or two our way this season. We will be making snowflakes in the art room for a bit of creative help in making this happen. A winter weather advisory may be possible! Stay tuned.

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful and joyful holiday season. This month, our lessons will revolve around career exploration. We believe it's never too early for our young minds to start thinking about the many possibilities that lie ahead. To kickstart this journey, students will be taking a Career Interest Inventory, helping them discover their interests, skills, and passions. Students will then have the opportunity to find out more about careers that may be a good fit for them based on their inventory results. Let's make 2025 a year of exploration, growth, and endless possibilities!

Welcome to 2025! It is exciting to start a new year fresh. We have two exciting reading events for the month of January.

First, we have an exciting opportunity for our primary families on Monday, January 13. Immediately following the PTA meeting and family fitness, Tigerville is sponsoring a Reading Round-Up, All parents of K4 - 2nd grade students are invited to join us for a special night of fun, learning, and bonding at our Reading Roundup!

What to Expect:

• Partner with your child for engaging, grade-level reading activities
• Take home a handy practice packet to continue the learning fun together
• Make memories while fostering a love for reading

When: January 13, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Don’t miss this opportunity to wrangle up some reading skills and spend quality time with your little one. Saddle up and join us for this rootin’-tootin’ good time!

Second, the Greenville Drive and Michelin N.A. proudly present the 17th Annual Reading All-Stars Challenge. The Reading All-Stars Program is a reading incentive program for any Kindergarten – 8th grade student aimed at promoting reading and academic success across the Upstate.

Entering your child in the Reading All-Stars reading challenge is EASY! To complete the program, Elementary Students must read 5 reading-level appropriate books in the 5-week time period (Monday, January 13 – Friday, February 14). Complete the reading log provided by your teacher, and return it no later than February 14, 2025. | Greenville Drive Reading All-Stars Form

Looking forward to seeing everyone in the library! Happy reading!

Happy New Year! Hard to believe it is now 2025 and the school year is half over. I must admit the first half of the year has flown by so fast and has been amazing. I love to hear the kids singing and playing instruments and watching them dance is always a treat.

Chorus is now on our final push to learn all the leading up to our Performance date of March 10th and 11th. We have a few added rehearsals on the calendar so please go ahead and mark them on your calendar. Feb. 20th and the 27th, as well as March 3rd, 4th, and 6th leading up to the performance dates. Also, if at all possible, please make arrangements for transportation. We lost 2 members in Nov./Dec. due to late pick-ups. I absolutely hate having to dismiss students from the group for late pick-up, but I also have responsibilities outside of work.

3rd, 4th, and 5th It is finally RECORDER time! The kids are so excited! If your child was here last year I have their Recorder here in my room so no need to buy one unless they want one for home. If your student in new to Tigerville this year they will need to either bring their Recorder from their other school or purchase one from the music room. ALL 3rd Graders will need to purchase a Recorder that will stay in the music room for them to use each week. If they want one to practice with at home they will need to purchase 2. I currently have 8 colors: Red, Blue, Green, Brown, Yellow, Pink, Purple, and Black. Once a color is gone-well-it is gone. Please send money, cash or check made out to TES, into Ms. Biondo with their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice of color as well as their Teachers name. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email.

K, 1st, and 2nd will be starting new instruments and Units of study. 2nd will start on the barred instruments and 1st will start in the Piano Lab and they are super excited. K will start playing many more instruments like the Barred Instruments and the Boomwhackers. Yes, Boomwhackers. They are long pitched tubes that play rhythms and melodies. I’m sure they will love it!

We are starting the new year off strong in PE! Our 3rd through 5th graders will be taking the midyear pacer test and comparing their scores from the beginning of the year. K5 through 2nd grade students will start the basketball unit, where they will be learning dribbling, passing and shooting. Running Club will start again on January 9th, and I will be trying a new program called Marathon Kids. This will use a QR code to track students' distance and give them goals to reach. I'm really excited to get to start using this, and I think the kids will love it too! There is a family fitness night on Monday, January 13th from 5:30 to 6:00pm. This time I have a representative from the Travellers Rest YMCA coming to lead a game and provide some information on some of the programs they provide for elementary age kids. The literacy night follows right after that at 6:00pm.

We are so excited to be back at school and begin our spring semester! There are a lot of exciting things happening in the STEM lab this month. Please help us with our challenges by sending in the following recycled materials: plastic bottles, egg cartons, toilet paper or paper towel tubes, empty and clean spray bottles, newspapers and magazines.

In second grade, students will continue to make connections with their Science standards by creating landforms and bodies of water out of materials they choose. In third grade, students will be completing challenges that help them understand animal adaptations such as creating an animal habitat using recycled materials. 4th grade students will learn about coding this month and will get to use our Dash Robots to send a message using Morse Code. In 5th grade students will complete challenges that help them make closer observation about Earth and it’s systems such as creating their own infographic explaining how stars shine and why some are brighter than others.

In K5 and first grade students will begin to explore symmetry this month. They will look at real photographs of snowflakes. They will use glue and salt to create their own symmetrical snowflakes on paper. I can’t wait to see their creations!

Our Tigerville PTA is sponsoring our local Reflections Program as a part of the National Reflections Program. Encourage your child to showcase their creativity and talent through the 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐓𝐀 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦! This year’s entries are due 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟏𝟓𝐭𝐡. Please read all rules and guidelines on entry form. | Tigerville PTA Reflections Program Submissions Form

Open to grades K-5, plus an Accessible Arts* division for all grades.

Categories Include:

• Dance Choreography
• Film Production
• Literature
• Music Composition
• Photography
• Visual Arts

Students who receive the 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 at Tigerville will move on to compete at the district and state level!

Let’s celebrate our students’ imagination and creativity. For questions or more details on how to participate, reach out to the reflections committee. | Reflections Committee

We can’t wait to see the student’s amazing creations!