The Paradise Press

Click the button below to view the calendar for January. Information for the Daily Specials Schedule for Grades 1 through 4 is listed further down the page.

Highlights:

• 01/01/2025 - HOLIDAY/SCHOOLS CLOSED
• 01/03/2025 - Project TEAM day - please wear t-shirts
• 01/07/2025 - PTO Assembly AM & Kids Heart Challenge Assembly PM
• 01/08/2025 - student council meeting - 8 AM (student council students only)
• 01/16/2025 - PTO student event
• 01/17/2025 - Early Dismissal for Students AM/Teacher In-Service PM
• 01/20/2025 - HOLIDAY/NO SCHOOL for Teachers or Students

Click the button below to go directly to the Menu page on the district website.

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!

The district's full Attendance Policy can be found at the following link: Handbook Policy - Attendance. Please reach out to our attendance secretary, Mrs. Sarah Thompson, with any questions. thompsos@sgasd.org or 717-225-4731 x 1561

If an attendance letter is generated for your student, the goal is to inform the family on the student's standing, create awareness and understanding between home and school, as well as encourage better habits. The District thanks parents and guardians for their important role in assuring their children arrive at school on time and ready to engage in Learning Without Limits.

What are the different types of attendance letters?

1st Notice Letter - This letter is generated when a student has three unlawful days on their attendance portfolio. To avoid unlawful days, always submit an excuse card for approved reasons (and medical note if necessary) within three days of an absence via the Sapphire Portal.

5-10 Day Letter - This letter is generated when a student has at least five days of excused and/or unlawful absences on their attendance portfolio. This letter is intended to be a check-in with family, as this is the point when excessive absences could begin to impact a student's learning experience.

11+ Day Letter - This letter is generated when a student has more than 11 days of excused and/or unlawful absences on their attendance portfolio. After receiving this letter, students are required to submit a medical note to support each future absence. If there is no medical note submitted via Sapphire, the absence will remain as unlawful. A meeting will also be held to come up with a plan to encourage better attendance habits.

Paradise Elementary Attendance % Report for December 2024

Kindergarten: %95.25

First Grade: %95.29

Second Grade: %94.89

Third Grade: %92.87

Fourth Grade: %94.80

Building: %94.60

Fitness classes will be focusing on basketball skills and jump roping skills during the month of January! Grades 3-4 will develop more shooting skills and learn offensive and defensive strategies. Students in 1st & 2nd grades will focus on their ball handling skills, passing & catching skills and be introduced to correct shooting form as well as learning their jump roping skills!

Wellness classes in January will be focusing on nutrition in all grade levels. Students in 1st & 2nd grade will continue to learn about the 5 food groups and what foods belong in each food group. They will learn about the importance of “coloring their plate” to encourage eating foods from each food group at every meal. Third and 4th grade classes will be learning how to read nutrition labels and understand the various nutrients listed on food labels so they can make healthy food decisions.

We will be kicking off our Kids Heart Challenge on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. Please consider signing your child up for the KHC fundraiser so they can help raise money to assist the American Heart Association help kids with special hearts! By completing Finn’s Mission on the KHC website/app, they will also learn the lifesaving skill of Hands-Only CPR. The informational sheet about the Kids Heart Challenge will be sent home after the assembly is held. The KHC sheet will show the various prizes and will also provide a QR code to be scanned to register your child(ren) for the Kids Heart Challenge. Participating in this fundraising event also provides me, as a teacher, with many educational resources to use when teaching about heart health, healthy eating and many other health related topics. Students can earn a large variety of prizes and keychains based on donations they collect. The KHC also raises money for the Physical Education department based on the total amount of donations collected as a school! Fundraising in NOT required and all students will participate in the Kids Heart Challenge stations during Fitness classes in February, regardless of whether they did any fundraising or not.

Please see information below for a stem event at the Guthrie Memorial Library on January 11, 2025

The music classes in grades 1-4 will be presenting a performance for family and friends on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. More details will be coming soon!

The health room is in need of several items of clothing for student needs in case of spills, accidents, etc. - larger size pants, sweatpants, t-shirts, under garments. While going through your children's clothes, please consider sending items into the school. Thank you!

1. 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.
2. Get to know your child's school nurse.
3. Choose healthy, nutritious foods for lunches and snacks.
4. 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.
5. Don't forget the importance of appropriate eye-glasses/contacts and remind your child to bring them daily.
6. Keep your child's teachers and school nurse in the loop about what's happening in your child's life.
7. Make sleep a priority. Depending on age, 8-12 hours of rest per night is recommended.
8. Limit screen time. This will work wonders for your child's eyesight, mental health, and overall wellbeing.
9. 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.
10. Keep your child home from school when they are sick.

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

With the uncertainty of the winter weather over the next few months we wanted to prepare you for the possibility of a VIrtual Learning Day. A Virtual Day is used to replace the traditional “snow day”. In the event school is closed, we can provide instruction to our students at home rather than in the classroom. This will count as a full day of school and we are not required to make up the day during the school year thus maintaining the board approved calendar. In the event we close school and activate a VIrtual Learning Day, your child’s teachers will communicate a schedule and provide additional information as needed. In anticipation of inclement weather, all students (K-4) will be bringing their iPads home. This will ensure they are prepared in the event that the district calls for a Virtual Learning Day. Below are reminders to support parents and students on these days.

Parents/Students Reminders:

• Mute your microphone upon entry into the meeting and keep it muted unless asked to unmute during the zoom session. Have your video on with your face clearly showing (unless prior arrangements have been made with the teacher).
• Teachers will help your child to blur backgrounds once in the session.
• Students will put their first name and last initial in the zoom, no nicknames.
• Students are encouraged to participate in the live zoom sessions provided by their teachers.
• Students will receive support from their teachers.
• Assignments and resources can be accessed in Seesaw/Schoology
• Students should work at their teacher’s direction.
• Specials will consist of a student self-guided lesson. Specials teachers will be available throughout the day, via email, should students have questions.
• For our K-2 students, iPad chargers will not be sent home. Please ensure these school devices are utilized for the intended purposes. (Encourage students to keep iPads in their book bags until it is time to zoom. This will ensure they have enough battery.)

Parent Specific Reminder:

• Parents should check their email/Seesaw first thing in the morning for any last-minute updates, changes, or announcements from the teacher and/or principal.
• If your student is unable to attend the Virtual Learning Day, or any part of the Virtual Learning Day, due to illness or other unforeseen circumstance, please inform your child’s teacher as soon as possible.
• For students unable to participate/engage in the synchronous lesson, completion of assigned work (found in the Schoology/Seesaw classroom) will be considered as evidence of attendance and the student will not be marked absent.

Students do not need to log in to Zoom

• If we have a virtual day, students will go into Schoology/Seesaw and tap on the Zoom link teachers have posted. This will open the app on their iPad and bring them into the meeting.

Thank you for your continued support!

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 January calendar above has the dates for the specials schedule.