The Paradise Press
December 2024 Information
December Calendar Info
Click the button below to view the calendar for December. Information for the Daily Specials Schedule for Grades 1 through 4 is listed further down the page.
Highlights:
- 12/02/2024 - Teacher In-Service/NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
- 12/04/2024 - Scholastic Book Fair - during school and 5-8 pm for families
- 12/06-2024 - Project Team Day - wear t-shirts
- 12/16/2024 - Fill the bus food drive ends
- 12/16/2024 - Polar Express Dinner and Movie at High School
- 12/17/2024 - Kindergarten Field Trip to HS
- 12/18/2024 - Polar Express Presentation at PES (2nd grade only)
- 12/16-20/2024 - spirit week (see below for what to wear each day)
- 12/20/2024 - early dismissal for students
- 12/23-12/31/2024 - HOLIDAY/SCHOOLS CLOSED
Book Blast Update
Books are Fun Book Blast event was held at Paradise from November 6th to November 15th. The program helps students grow their home libraries. Over the course of the blast, students had the opportunity to invite family and friends to help contribute to grow their library earning prizes and a chance to win 1 of 5 treasure chests. As a school, Paradise raised just over $12,600!! This gives 891 books for the entire school! Students will receive anywhere from one book all the way to 10 books depending on how much they raised. Keep an eye out for your students’ books in the next couple weeks!
Miss. Wallace
PTO Scholastic Book Fair
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
The book fair will be held on Wednesday, December 4th in the Paradise library. The fair will be held during the school day for students. Paradise families are invited to attend the fair from 5-8 pm.
Please click the link below to see information for the PTO Scholastic Book Fair.
Polar Express Dinner and Movie
Elementary and intermediate students of Spring Grove Area School District and their families are invited to a pasta dinner and showing of The Polar Express. Please click the button below for more information. Flyers will be sent home with students this week.
Spirit Week
- Monday, December 16th - wear your favorite holiday sweater
- Tuesday, December 17th - wear a festive winter hat
- Wednesday, December 18th - wear red and green
- Thursday, December 19th - wear your best festive outfit
- Friday, December 20th - wear pajamas
Fill The Bus Food Drive
Fill The Bus Food Drive - November 12 - December 16
The high school National Honor Society will be running the Fill The Bus Food Drive to support those in need of assistance in York county. Please click the link below to see the accepted items to donate. Items can be brought to the Paradise lobby. You can also click the video link to view a video from the National Honor Society. Thank you for your help with this event!
December Menus
Click the button below to go directly to the Menu page on the district website.
Lost and Found
The lost and found pile is still growing. If your child is missing a sweatshirt, jacket or hoodie, etc. please ask them to look at the racks in the lobby. Please note that these items will stay here until the December holiday break. Any items left on the racks will be donated.
Morning Announcements
Interested in seeing the morning announcements that are played at Paradise Elementary? Simply click the Morning Announcements button below. You may see a familiar face!
Attendance
Consistent attendance at school is a key pillar of academic progress and social and emotional learning. Students will feel better about themselves and their studies when they are invested in being in school and on time. The skill of attendance carries far beyond school, including in post-secondary education, and employment.
- As always, all absences must be submitted via the Sapphire Community Web Portal within 3 school days of the absence.
- *** Please notify the school via written note OR email officePES@sgasd.org when your child will be leaving school early for an appointment or if their transportation will be different for the day. Parent/Guardian picking their child up MUST bring their license to the office.***
- Visit the link below to view the district's full Attendance Policy
- Please reach out to our attendance secretary, Mrs. Sarah Thompson, with any questions. thompsos@sgasd.org or 717-225-4731 x 1561
Paradise Elementary Attendance % Report for December 2024
Kindergarten: 95.6%
First Grade: 95.4%
Second Grade: 95.0%
Third Grade: 92.9%
Fourth Grade: 94.7%
Building: 94.7%
Envirothon
The PES Envirothon Teams have been determined! Envirothon is the largest environmental education competition in the nation. York County Conservation District creates a curriculum of study resources for our team to prepare for the competition in May. Close to 1,000 students from York County schools in grades 3-12 will participate. These students earned team membership by completing a qualifying quiz and having one of the top 5 scores, per grade level.
grade 3
Abel Gardner, Javante Louey, Ellie McCormick, June Pieper, Kasen Smith
grade 4
Klaire Beard, Hunter Billet, Ella Henry, Isaac Jansky, Logan Jansky
Fitness Corner
FITNESS
In Fitness classes, students have been practicing their throwing accuracy and working on their cooperative skills and teamwork.
Fitness classes have been focusing on reviewing recess safety rules and games. Students in 1st and 2nd grades have been taught how to play kickball using the school’s recess kickball rules and are really using fielding strategies in the games! Students in 3rd and 4th grade were taught how to play Ultimate Football in Fitness class so everyone knows how to play it correctly and safely during recess time.
In December we will focus on ball handling skills and seasonal cooperative games with all grade levels.
WELLNESS
Wellness classes are finishing their safety lessons in November and will soon begin their nutritional units in mid-December. The safety lessons in grades 1-2 include seasonal safety, weather safety, playground safety and personal safety (Good Touch/Bad Touch). Grade three students will learn basic first aid practices while fourth grade classes will learn to recognize home safety hazards. All grade levels also completed their career education lessons in November.
December lessons will focus on nutrition related content. Grades 1-2 will learn about the 5 Food Groups and identify foods that belong to each food group. They will also learn the importance of “coloring their plate” by selecting foods from the 5 food groups for each meal. The 3rd and 4th grade students will learn how to read and understand nutrition labels on food products and analyze the various nutrients in a variety of foods.
Library Information
Looking for a free way to read on a home device? Check out the information below, to learn about Sora. You can download Sora for free and access our collection of e-books and audiobooks today!
Here's how to access titles at home through Sora
- Download the SORA app or access your account via www.soraapp.com
- Select: Find your school
- Select: Spring Grove Area School District
- Sign in with your student's school username and password (username needs to be followed with @sgasd.org)
- Begin checking out books or audiobooks. Titles are checked out to you 14 days and automatically return the collection
News from the Nurse
10 WAYS TO HELP YOUR CHILD HAVE A HEALTHY SCHOOL YEAR
- Be sure your child is up-to-date with immunizations, preventative healthcare, and dental visits before the school year starts; and schedule regular check ups.
- Get to know your child's school nurse.
- Choose healthy, nutritious foods for lunches and snacks.
- Update the school nurse if your child has medical conditions such as life-threatening allergies, asthma, or seizure disorder. Any prescription medications needed during the school day should be refilled and up-to-date.
- Don't forget the importance of appropriate eye-glasses/contacts and remind your child to bring them daily.
- Keep your child's teachers and school nurse in the loop about what's happening in your child's life.
- Make sleep a priority. Depending on age, 8-12 hours of rest per night is recommended.
- Limit screen time. This will work wonders for your child's eyesight, mental health, and overall wellbeing.
- Incorporate movement into the day. Students do a lot of sitting, so adding physical fitness into your child's before-school or after-school routine is important.
- Keep your child home from school when they are sick.
Mobile Dentist
Spring Grove School District has partnered with Mobile Dentists to provide an annual dental exam to any student in need. If your child has not seen a dentist in the past 6 months, they can be seen by the Mobile Dentist provider for free or reduced dental care during the school day on February 27 or 28, 2025. With completed permission slip and registration form, students may be seen during the school day. Permission forms will be sent home the week of December 16th. If you do not receive one, please contact the health room. Please fill out the information and send back to school as soon as possible. You can also sign up online with Mobile Dentists by clicking the button below.
Lisa Bahn M.Ed, BSN, CSN
Report Card Update
Please watch the video below from Mrs. Rittle regarding how student progress will be represented on the report card this year. The button below also has important information about the report card adjustments.
Tech Help
Specials Schedule
Day 1 - Fitness or Art/String Lessons
Day 2 - Art or Fitness
Day 3 - Fitness or Library
Day 4 - Library or Fitness/Instrumental Lessons
Day 5 - Wellness or Music
Day 6 - Music or Wellness
Please note that students in grades 1 through 4 will have two days of Fitness this year. It is important that they wear sneakers on the days they have Fitness. The December calendar above has the dates for the specials schedule.