Red Pride Weekly - Family Edition

Greetings Gladiator Families!

Welcome back to Daylight Savings Time! If you haven't already, be sure to set those pesky microwave, oven, wall and car clocks ahead one hour. I'm excited for the return of Spring so that we can enjoy longer days and especially the extra daylight at the end of the day! The weather looks like it will cooperate with us this week too, I see the possibility of hitting 70 on two different days this week!!

Congratulations to our 5th graders who participated in the Elementary Honors Choir Concert on Friday night at Buffalo Gap High School. We had a large group of students participating, led by our music teacher, Mrs. Emily Glenn. The show was great and we are proud of the hard work and dedication of all of our Honors Choir participants.

Our PTA has rescheduled their meeting for tomorrow, Monday, March 10 at 6:00 pm in the school library. You can also join virtually through Google Meet. The PTA is also hosting a Spirit Night at Chick-Fil-A on Tuesday, we look forward to seeing many of our families there!

Important Dates

• Monday, March 10 - No School for PreK Students
• Monday, March 10 - PTA Meeting; 6:00 pm, Library
• Tuesday, March 11 - Chick-Fil-A Spirit Night
• Friday, March 14 - End of 3rd Grading Period
• Monday, March 17 - Onsite Kindergarten Registrations Begins
• Monday, March 17 - 3rd Grade Program; 6:00 pm, Gym
• Friday, March 21 - Career Fair
• Friday, March 21 - Report Cards distributed
• March 24 - 28 - Spring Break
• Wednesday, April 2 - STEAM Family Night
• Saturday, April 5 - PTA Spring Fling Dance
• Monday, April 7 - Full School Day
• Friday, April 18 - Full School Day

Shout Out

Deputy Jacob Green, our new, full time School Resource Officer for Riverheads Elementary joined us this week. He spent lots of time with our students at lunch and made the rounds of the building, including taking time out to read to our students (see picture above).

Our 5th graders will be completing the Integrated Reading and Writing component of their SOL testing this Wednesday, March 12. The remaining SOL tests for 3rd - 5th grade will begin April 30.

Please take a moment to read the attached letter from our Superintendent, outlining expedited retakes and score reporting. Please reach out to your child's teacher or the school office if you have additional questions.

For the 2025-2026 school year, children who will be 5 years old by September 30 of 2025 are eligible to enter kindergarten. There are two steps to register your child for Kindergarten.

Step 1: Online Registration

Online Registration must be completed for each child. You can access the link through

the Augusta County Schools Website by clicking the “Register Online” link.

Step 2: Onsite Registration

Beginning March 17, onsite registration runs from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm daily. Onsite registration is completed by bringing the following documents:

• Birth certificate
• Immunization and Physical Forms
• Proof of Residency - 2 forms are required:
• The 1st proof of residency must be either a Lease Agreement or a Mortgage Statement.
• The 2nd proof of residency can be any of the following: Bank or Tax Statement, Utility Bill, or a Pay Stub

Be sure to share this information with family and friends who will have a child turn 5 years old by September 30. We are excited to welcome new Gladiators!!

You are invited to join us for Game Night on Wednesday, April 2 as part of our annual STEAM Family Night celebration. There will be pizza and lots of engaging STEAM activities, including games being designed by our 5th graders!

Please make plans to attend on April 2 and to RSVP by Thursday, March 20 so that our STEAM Night team can plan for food and fun.

The Middlebrook Library is hosting a Children's Art Show featuring Riverheads Elementary School. Open House is from 3:30 - 6:00 pm on March 6. The show will remain open through the end of March. We are thankful to the Middlebrook Library for hosting this show and we look forward to seeing folks out at the Middlebrook Library Station.

We previously announced that the Youth Art Show, an annual exhibit of artwork from youth in Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County, began on Saturday, March 1 at the Staunton Augusta Art Center. The exhibit is one of my favorites each year and I'm excited to see artwork from our students alongside artwork from other elementary, middle and high school students around the region. The exhibit runs from March 1 to March 30. SAAC galleries are in the R.R. Smith Center for History & Art, 20 South New Street in downtown Staunton (across from the Visitor Center and parking garage). Free & open to the public, routine gallery hours are Wed-Fri/1-4pm, Sat/10am–4pm, and Sun/10am–2pm.

Our School Board made changes to the 2024-2025 School Calendar. Due to the number of missed days in January and February, the School Board decided to make Monday, April 7 a full school day (formerly a teacher workday) and Friday, April 18 a full school day (formerly a 1:00 pm release).

You can access the updated calendar from our division website. The April 7 change will require an updated Specials calendar for our school and we will release that next Sunday.

March will be an exciting month for our PTA, including a Chick-Fil-A Spirit Night on Tuesday, March 11 and a PTA Meeting on Wednesday, March 12. They are also excited about their plans for a Spring Fling Dance on Saturday, April 5, so please get those dates on your calendar to come out and support our PTA.

Each morning our Gladiators are asked to live up to our Red Pride Pledge by being safe, respectful, responsible, caring learners. Students who live up to our Riverheads Expectations for Success have a chance to be nominated by their teacher or another staff member for the honor of being a Good News Gladiator. Students who earn this honor are given a shout out over the announcements and are allowed to choose a book from our book vending machine.

Please join me in celebrating these Gladiators for showing their Red Pride!

We have been busy recognizing students all year, so be on the lookout for more Good News Gladiators each week.

Congratulations to our Gladiators whose artwork is on display at the Riverheads Elementary Art Show at the Middlebrook Library. Thanks to Ms. Coleman and Ms. Quebe for collaborating to put together a great show, including the Open House last Wednesday. The art work will remain on display throughout the month of March, which is designated as Youth Art Month. The bears pictured above were created by our Kindergarten Gladiators.

This week in math some of our 3rd graders were learning how to construct money values up to $5 in at least two different ways. One way had to be with the LEAST amount of coins and bills possible. To make it fun and real life based, each student drew a students name from a bucket. They “bought” that peer a toy from Funky’s Toy Store with the least amount of coins and bills possible. Then they delivered the toy and a nice note to that peer! They had a lot of fun and blew their teacher away with their critical thinking skills!

We had a good time celebrating Read Across America Week. Each day we announced the Top Reading Class of the Day, with Mrs. Eavers' class winning on Monday, Mrs. Hollinger's class winning on Wednesday, and Mrs. Davidson's class winning out the week on Thursday and Friday. Each class got a shout out at the end of the day!

Our students engaged in lots of reading this week, including a "Drop Everything and Read" time during Morning Meeting on Friday with students and teachers engaging in read alouds or independent reading.

Mr. Matherly got into the act on Friday by dressing up as the Lorax. Thanks for our school community for raising over $260 last week, with more than $190 going to the Lorax jug.