The Grove Grizzly

We had a great first week of school at Grove! We enjoyed welcoming back our students and getting to know many new students! Thank you to our PTO for providing some extra pep in our step as we entered the building this week with music and visits from Grover the school mascot. It is going to be an excellent year of learning and growing together as a school community! Your child received a Grove tee-shirt from our PTO on Thursday! Please make sure you keep this in a special place to wear throughout the year. The classes will wear these tee-shirts at events such as Field Trips and the Big Event and Field Day in the spring! Finally, I want to thank you again for your patience and understanding earlier this week as we worked with local law enforcement to navigate the police activity occurring in our area. I understand you may have experienced delays and disruptions, and I appreciate your flexibility as we worked through an evolving situation.

Safety is always our top priority and I am grateful for our strong partnership with local law enforcement, which helps keep our students and staff safe during emergencies.

Our staff is eager to share details about the school year and each of their unique classrooms with you on Thursday, September 5th at Grove’s Parent Curriculum Night, beginning at 6:30 p.m. At this time, you will have an opportunity to get to know your child’s teacher, visit the classroom, and receive an overview of the grade- level curriculum and classroom expectations. We will start the evening in the gym, during which time I will introduce the entire Grove Staff and share additional information about the year. We view this evening as an important opportunity to communicate with parents, and we look forward to seeing you there. Please note that this event is for parents only.

Schedule for the Evening:

• 6:30-7:00 p.m. Principal Presentation - Gym

• 7:00-7:10 p.m. Transition to Classrooms

• 7:10-7:40 p.m. Classroom Session 1- Individual Student Classrooms

• 7:40-7:45 p.m. Transition

• 7:45-8:15 p.m. Classroom Session 2 - Individual Student Classrooms

• 8:15 p.m. Evening Concludes

*Sessions 1 and Session 2 will be identical presentations, allowing parents to attend the presentations for multiple teachers in the school if they have more than one child attending Grove.

We are offering the opportunity for Grove families to come in on two different evenings to take family pictures to be added to our collage of Grove Families in the main hallway of the school. The pictures will be taken on Tuesday, August 27th and Wednesday, August 28th from 5:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. It is free to have your picture taken and you can decide once you view the pictures whether or not you would like to purchase them. The school does receive a copy of the photo automatically for our Family Picture wall even if you choose not to purchase.

Please click on the link to the Sign-up Genius to sign up for a time slot to come and get your family picture taken!!

All car riders and walkers should be dropped off and picked up on Grove Avenue. Bus riders will continue to be dropped off and picked up in the circle drive at the main entrance of the school. Upon arrival, students will go to either the primary playground (kindergarten-2nd grade) or intermediate playground (3rd - 5th grade) for our morning recess from 7:40 a.m. - 7:55 a.m. Starting at 7:55 a.m., students will enter the building, and all classes will begin at 8:00 a.m. Please note there will not be supervision on the playgrounds until 7:40 a.m., so students should not arrive before 7:40 a.m. Any students who arrive at 7:55 a.m. or after will need to enter the building at the main entrance by the office and must be accompanied by an adult to sign the child in for the day. This procedure is in place to maintain the safety of our students and ensure that all students are accounted for in our daily attendance.

We request that parents communicate with their children in the morning before leaving for school with any changes to students’ plans for going home. Should a last minute change arise for how a student will get home, parents should communicate the change by calling the main office to ensure that the message is received and can be communicated to classroom teachers and children, as classroom teachers may not see an email message in time. Please be sure to view the linked video of our arrival and dismissal procedures for Grove Avenue if you are planning on dropping off or picking up your child. It is critical that all parents or caregivers follow these procedures in order to ensure a smooth drop off or pick up process and to keep all children and adults safe. Please share these procedures with individuals who will be aiding in transporting students to and from school.

All personal electronic devices such as cell phones or smart watches must remain in students’ lockers or can be given to classroom teachers for safe keeping throughout the school day. This minimizes disruptions and distractions to the instructional day and maintains a productive learning environment for all students. All registered families received a communication from the district office regarding personal electronic devices on August 13th. We would like to communicate the district's existing personal electronic devices expectations to minimize distractions and enhance face-to-face classroom connections:

Digital Mobile Devices are not permitted in learning environments. Devices must remain powered down and out of sight during class time.

Picture Day for students is Thursday, August 29th. Picture day flyers will be going home in your child's backpack and information for online prepay ordering is coming as well!

Please note: Every Wednesday is 2:10 p.m. dismissal for elementary schools in Barrington

Monday, August 26th-Friday September 13th, Fall Assessment Window (NWEA MAP and Fastbridge)

Tuesday, August 27th - August PTO Meeting, 9:15 a.m., Grove Multi-Purpose Room (MPR)

Tuesday, August 27th - Family Pictures, 5-8 p.m.

Wednesday, August 28th - Family Pictures, 5-8 p.m.

Thursday, August 29th - School Pictures for Students

Friday, August 30th - Early Release Day for Students Elementary Day: 8-10:45am

Monday, September 2nd - NO SCHOOL, Labor Day!

Thursday, September 5th - Parent Curriculum Night, 6:30 p.m.

September 9th - 13th - Safety Week

Friday, September 20th - Grove Family Movie Night, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, September 24th-PTO/Room Parents Meeting, 9:15 a.m., Grove Multi-Purpose Room (MPR)

Thursday, September 26th - Families New to Grove Mixer, KGround (Primary playground), 4-6 p.m.

Friday, September 27th - Early Release day for Students Elementary Day: 8-10:45am

Grove's first PTO meeting of the year will be held this coming Tuesday, August 27th at 9:15 a.m. at Grove. I hope many of you will join us to connect and engage with our PTO Executive Council in planning activities and events for our students and the entire Grove Community! We look forward to the exciting events that our PTO has scheduled for us this year. Please check in at the office upon your arrival.

What an incredible week back to school! Our PTO is very excited to partner with teachers and parents this year to make this a memorable one for all of our students and families! We have some new faces on the PTO Executive Board and a wonderful slate of event chairs and volunteers - thank you to everyone who has already put in so much time and energy into kicking off a great 2024-25 school year!

Click here for the latest flyers on upcoming events and other PTO information!

We would like to highlight a few things to make you all aware of:

• Grove Spirit t-shirts - This year our PTO started a new tradition for our students and staff! Each grade level has received a different color spirit t-shirt with the Grove Ave School logo on it to wear throughout the school year. Please hold onto these t-shirts as your children will be asked to wear them for school spirit days, field trips and the end of year Field Day event.
• The Tae Kwon Do after school Enrichment Program is coming in September! This is a very popular activity with our students and has limited capacity. If you missed out on this sign-up, don't worry, we will have another event in the winter.
• Our first PTO General Meeting is on Tuesday, August 27th at 9:15am in the multi-purpose room at Grove. All parents (& non-school aged siblings) are welcome to join us. We hope to see you there! Please check in at the office upon your arrival.

General Questions? Email us at: GAvenuePTO@gmail.com

Get to know the 2024-25 PTO Executive Board below!

We welcomed back staff on Friday with a very special 70th Birthday Celebration and Kick-Off! Grove Avenue School is #ThePlaceToB