Willow Grove Elementary School

Hello Students and families,

Happy November to all Willow Grove students and families! This month we show gratitude as we gear up to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.

After school clubs began on Monday, November 4th. Please be patient as we iron out the transportation issues with the extra obstacle of construction projects on so many of our local roads!

We also started our annual food drive and our fabulous PTA Book Fair on November 4th.

November is School Board Appreciation month. I wanted to take a moment and thank the NR Board of Education for all of their generosity and support. They are truly a group who wants nothing but the very best for our students, and I most sincerely thank them for their commitment to our students and staff!

At Willow Grove we are grateful for our wonderful students, staff and families! Working together makes us stronger. We appreciate the home-school connection and we will continue to work to improve the ways we foster strong family relationships so our students can be their best selves, socially, emotionally and academically.

Again, Happy November and Happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Ayala

Our school wide PINK OUT was held last Friday in honor of our beloved student Michael Bosco.

Happy November!

Fall is in full swing! As we step into this month of gratitude, we reflect on all the amazing things happening at Willow Grove. I'd like to take a moment to express gratitude for our amazing students, dedicated teachers, and supportive community. Together, we're creating a positive and nurturing learning environment every day!

A special thank you to our incredible PTA that continues to go above and beyond to create events that our students will enjoy. We appreciate the time and effort you put into organizing such fantastic events. Last week we had our very 1st Family Trivia night. We had a great time competing and enjoying dinner together. Our annual Halloween Recess Bash was also a huge hit!! Students had a blast showing off their costumes while dancing with their classmates out on the playground. Thank you to our PTA for the snacks, treats, and memories!

We’re incredibly grateful for your continued support and partnership. As we move forward, let’s continue to foster a sense of gratitude and kindness within our school community! We hope you enjoy the start of the holiday season.

Warmest wishes,

Mrs. Pine

Huddle Up With Harold

Each morning, home base teams throughout the school huddle up to connect, collaborate, share perspectives, and learn strategies to be their best selves. Mrs. Pine and Harold had so much fun modeling skills with a different class each morning.

This past month our Huddle Up theme focused on Identity. Your identity is made up of a whole bunch of different things. When you have a strong sense of identity and feel confident with who you are, you are more likely to succeed. Your culture, the languages you speak, what you enjoy doing and what you value make up all the best and unique parts of you!

This theme carried into our Town Halls where we focused on self awareness and which values or characteristics help u s to be our "Best Selves." Your best self is a version of ourselves that people look up to and find admirable. Ask your child what their best self qualities are! If you would like to follow along with our lessons and see what we are learning each day, you can find our calendar attached HERE. We will be focusing on the theme of Emotions Matter during the month of November. Harold is so proud of the hard work and growth he is seeing each day in WGES!

11/4-11/8 - PTA Scholastic Book Fair

11/4- 11/22 -WGES Food Drive

11/4- After School begins

11/5 - BOE Meeting 7:00 PM

11/5 - Daytime Parent/Teacher Conferences 8:30-3:00

11/7 - Evening Parent/Teacher Conferences 5:30-8:30 pm

11/11 - School Closed in observance of Veteran’s Day

11/26 - PTA Meeting 7:00 PM in the library

11/27 - Early Dismissal at 12:07

11/28 & 11/29 - School closed for Thanksgiving break

You can always find our full calendar of events on our website https://www.northrockland.org/Domain/10

Tuesday, November 5th-Day Conferences, 8:30-3:00

Thursday, November 7th-Evening Conferences, 5:30-8:30

All conferences are by appointment only. If you have not made an appointment yet, please reach out to your child's teacher. All teachers sent out a sign up page through their google classroom.

Arrival:

Students taking the bus will be dropped off in front of the school and may proceed directly to their homebase classroom. Car drop offs take place in the south parking lot between the gym and Fieldstone. Our security personnel and teaching staff will be there to assist with traffic and safe exiting from cars. Students should arrive no earlier than 8:15. Please make sure that all car traffic stays out of the bus loop. 4th graders enter by the gym. 5th graders enter through the main entrance. 6th graders enter the doors to the right of the main entrance under the Willow Grove lettering. Students may choose to pick up their breakfast at one of the kiosks by their entrance and then go directly to homebase. The school day officially begins at 8:42. Students who arrive after that time will be marked as tardy.

Dismissal:

At 3:21, students will be dismissed to cars and buses. Teachers will assist students to ensure that they go to their correct dismissal location. Car pick ups will be in the south parking lot between our gym and Fieldstone. Please follow all traffic arrows for safety. Cars must park in designated parking spaces, not on the grassy areas.

Note:

Kindly communicate with your child's teacher either through email or agenda regarding a change to your child's dismissal plan. If a change arises during the school day, call the main office at 845-942-8000 and the office staff will get the message to your child's teacher. The earlier we know, the better we can assure proper communication in the interest of safety for your child. Any students getting picked up past 3:10PM will have to be picked up in the dismissal parking lot.

As per NYSDOH All 5th graders need a current physical in the health office for 23-24 school year. If one is not submitted your child will be seen by the School Doctor during the school year.

Please keep your child home when not feeling well. If a your child has a fever, diarrhea, or any vomiting they must be fever free, no vomiting or diarrhea for 24 hours with no medicine such as Tylenol, Motrin, Advil or any fever reducing medicine.

Just a reminder that medications cannot be kept in student backpacks. A doctor's note is needed with the name of medication, dose, and frequency. All medications will be held in the nurse's office.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by phone or email.

Nurse Hardin

845-942-8013

ehardin@northrockland.org

Happy November to our Willow Grove Families:

We have many exciting events coming up at WGES. Check out our interactive newsletter to see what we have done so far and what we all have to look forward to in the upcoming months!

November PTA Newsletter

WGES PTA Membership:

Join the Willow Grove PTA today. Our students and school greatly benefit from our membership dues and your voice. Visit our online store through the link below to sign up as a member. When you become a member of the PTA, you can look forward to extra member benefits and voting rights on PTA initiatives. But don't worry - we love your input and help, but we don't expect a big commitment!

Become a PTA Member Today!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook at: Willow Grove PTA and on Instagram at: WillowGroveElementaryPTA to stay up to date with all of our activities and information.

The Willow Grove PTA

All school meals with the exception of snacks are free of charge to all students this year.

Breakfast:

Students who choose to eat breakfast at school can simply pick up a "to go" breakfast at one of the kiosks at the entrances and proceed directly to class. Students will be given 10 minutes to eat their breakfast in class before the instructional day begins.

Lunch:

Lunch is served in both of our cafeterias daily. Students may always choose to bring a lunch from home. The school lunch always includes a hot option or cold option along with fruit, juice and milk. Student may opt to purchase the snack of the day. Prices range from $.50 to a $1.00. Students may bring in money to purchase the snack daily or parents may choose to fund their lunch account in advance using cash, check or do so electronically using my school bucks.

Here is the November lunch menu for your planning purposes. Please note that if your child forgets to bring lunch to school, all they have to do is tell their teacher that they need a school lunch that day. Your child will never be denied a meal.

Class snacks:

Teachers will provide a short snack break in class to break up the longer part of the student's day in the afternoon or the morning. The classroom snack should be quick and easy and should be brought from home. Students will not be allowed to go to the cafeteria to purchase the classroom snack.

Our lunch supervisor is Mrs. Dawn Bishel. If you have any questions for her, you may contact her at: 845-942-8010 or dbishel@northrockland.org.

Our school nurse gives all allergy information to the staff to ensure that students are not consuming an offending allergen from our kitchen. To update your child's food allergy plan, please contact our school nurse, Mrs. Elizabeth Hardin at 845-942-8013 or ehardin@northrockland.org.

School attendance is critical to student success. The expectation is for students to be in school each and every day unless there is an illness or emergency. In the event of an absence, please call the school attendance office at 845-942-8006. Students will be marked as absent "unexcused" until an email or follow up note from home is received. Thank you for your cooperation.

Music classes are all in full swing now! We look forward to seeing you at our winter concerts:

Tuesday, December 17 - 5th Grade Concert @ FMS 6PM

Tuesday, December 17 - 6th Grade Concert @ FMS 7:30PM

Wednesday, December 18th - 4th Grade Chorus Concert @ FMS 7PM

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Ms. Bankey (Chrous), Ms. Leibesberger (Band), Ms. Allen (Orchestra), Ms. Benson(General Music)

Our counseling center is staffed with school psychologists, social workers, school counselor and family resource center liaison. Here you will find their contact information.

Adelis Melendez Cedeno, Family Resource Center Coordinator (Spanish Speaking)

(845) 942-8032 amelendez@northrockland.org

Laureen Ceresnik, School Counselor

(845) 942- 8019 lceresnik@northrockland.org

Lindsay Amitrani, School Social Worker

(845) 942-8015 lamitrani@northrockland.org

Juli Cole, School Psychologist

(845) 942-8017 jcole@northrockland.org

Emily Conklin, School Psychologist

(845) 942- 8021 econklin@northrockland.org

Karen Miller, School Psychologist

(845) 942- 8016 kmiller@northrockland.org

Email: layala@northrockland.org
Website: https://www.northrockland.org/wges
Location: 153 Storrs Road, Thiells, NY, USA
Phone: (845) 942-8000