Principally Speaking

Parental Recognition:
We want to express our thanks to parents and families for their support and involvement this year. We always remind students that great things happen at our school because of great students and wonderful adults. Our hats are off to you for being such a fine school community!
Each edition of our newsletter has included mention of parental support or friends of AGIS. We have been the recipient of services, volunteers, donations, and provisions of items free or at a significant discount throughout the year. Some of those have come from individuals and some from local businesses. We wanted to give one last thank you to many of those groups. Hats off to the following friends of AGIS!

• Our PTA
  Wow, what a group and what great events
  and activities they bring to our students!
• J’s Water Ice in Oxford
• Starbucks at the Shops of Jennersville
• Aurora Pizza at the Shops of Jennersville
• Domino’s Pizza in Avondale
• Dairy Queen at the Shops of Jennersville
• Lowes in Avondale
• Giant at the Shops of Jennersville
• Herr’s Chips
• Acme in Avondale
• Shop Rite on Concord Pike
• The West Grove Fire Company
• The Jennersville YMCA
• Avon Grove Lions Club
• The Avon Grove Library

Closing Thoughts:
There is no more important gift than the gift of time spent with your children. Please enjoy every moment of your summer with yours!

We look forward to seeing you in August!!
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

It is difficult to imagine our year is coming to an end. One thing for sure is the activity level at the school is not slowing down, and that includes lots of great learning experiences. Please review the parent calendar for special events involving your child’s class. Additionally there several reminders in this edition about end-of-year details such as our early dismissal on the last day, yearbook distribution (and you can still purchase a yearbook), lunch accounts, lost books, and more. Your awareness of these items is important.

Student Recognition:
It is most appropriate to give a huge congratulations and thank you to our current sixth graders. Regardless if they have been with us at AGIS for 4 years or less, we have been impressed with their academic performance as well as their citizenship. Some outstanding accomplishments for our sixth graders have included a tremendous Shakespeare Club, excellent achievement in Reading Olympics, outstanding PSSA performance by the entire group, equally great effort on their MAP assessments, huge participation in summer reading, as well as the Blue Rocks Challenge, district art show artists that are extremely talented, an excellent band, orchestra, and choir, and much more!
We think you get the point. This group’s academic endeavors have been one of the best we have seen at AGIS. Equally impressive is the citizenship level of our sixth graders. They may have been part of our ambassador group, spirit committee, or morning announcers and provided direct services to the school. As you know we have had multiple caring/giving projects this year as well. Some of those were food drives; some were collections for Haiti and others. Our sixth graders were right there with their support and interest.
Our staff says thank you for allowing us to work with your sixth graders. Great job kids and parents. FSEMS is fortunate to have such a fine entering group of middle schoolers! We look forward to hearing of future successes from these students.

Friends of AGIS:
We have been most fortunate in the support from our PTA and parents in general. You may have served as a parent volunteer in a classroom, been part of our PTA, been a volunteer in our VIP program, or volunteered for a special event. We could never do the many things we do without your direct support here and at home with your children. Thank you to each person for everything you have done for the AGIS school community!
Classroom volunteers will be honored at the upcoming Portfolio Picnics and invitations for that will come from home-room teachers. Each PTA officer, committee chair, and VIP volunteer should have received an invitation to our reception on June 8th at 2:30 PM in the audion. We look forward to thanking you in person for your help!

If you had not had a chance to check out the Muffins for Moms slide show on our website please do so.

We look forward to seeing you at the school (for a couple more weeks!)

Student Recognition:
This week’s recognition goes out to our grade 6 Reading Olympics teams that competed on May 6th in the Chester County competition in Downingtown. As you know we are most proud of the fact our students have taken on this higher level academic challenge. It is equally important that it involves the enjoyment of reading. In addition we are very proud of the high performance our teams exhibited as well. Ribbons are awarded for first place, second place, third place, and honorable mention. Our teams came away with two second place ribbons and one first place award. This is quite impressive considering the number of schools involved in the competition! Special thanks to our school’s coordinator Mrs. Patti Hill and our coaches Marty Staton, Abby Linderman, Erica Sheets, Anthony DiEmidio, Ginnie Goldovich, and Christin Johnson. Congratulations to the teams of students!

Our other group of students deserving a pat on the back includes the 120 children that have their art work on display at the district’s art show at Avon Grove High School. The show is open from 6:00-7:30 PM May 19 and 20. The quality of the art work is reflective of extremely talented children and some excellent teaching from Mrs. Hallman and Mrs. Benjamin. The various mediums and techniques include charcoal, crayon resist, pastels, water colors, ceramics, tessellations, architectural drawings, Chinese brush technique, and more. We are proud of our AGIS artists!

Parent Recognition:
Our parental recognition goes out to the multitude of homeroom parents and volunteers that helped us with last week’s Dr. Seuss Day. If you were in the school last Monday you saw how wonderful the third and fourth grade centrums looked. In addition, the lobby and café were Seuss wonderlands! On top of all the set up and decoration help, we had many parents here all day serving food or participating in activities with our students. What a special day it truly was, and it was made possible in part due to parental support. Thank you parents and PTA!!!!

Parental Involvement:
The calendar has a great many opportunities for parental involvement these last few weeks of school. Please check the parent calendar for possible events you might attend. One event is our annual Portfolio Picnics. This is a grade level celebration of student work and a chance for parents to have lunch with their children outside. One change for this year is that we are expecting students to stay for the entire school day following their event. All events are scheduled around 11:00 AM and will end around noon. Your child will be bringing home communication on this event.

Your Awareness:
Over the last 6 weeks we have had two break-ins related to cars in our parking lot that were here for after-school activities such as sports on the back fields. Those incidents have been investigated. Please be aware, and be sure to lock your vehicle and secure your valuables.

We look forward to seeing you at the school!
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

Student Recognition:
Student recognition goes out this week to our fifth grade Reading Olympics teams. This challenging academic competition is based on the students’ abilities to answer questions about several books. Prior to the competition students meet with their teacher coaches here to read and discuss various books. It is a tremendous program in that it fosters a love of reading, as well as teaching students strategies for comprehension and more.
At the fifth grade competition held last week, our three teams earned two blue ribbons and one red ribbon. If you were there you know the competition was steep to say the least, and our students did a marvelous job! It is not about winning a ribbon as much as it is about taking on the academic rigor and challenge. Be looking for our sixth grade teams’ competition report in the next issue of our newsletter.

Our other student recognition this week goes out to our grade four choir and our grade five and six choir. We continue to be very proud of our performing groups and the choirs are excellent examples of the high quality found in our school. “Great job” to both choirs and “Thank You” Ms. Truitt and Mrs. Smith.

Parental Involvement:
Thank you to all who have contributed to Teacher Apprecia-tion efforts this week. The PTA luncheon and all the kind messages individuals have sent to teachers are appreciated. Thank you!

May and June are extremely busy months here at school. Our parent calendar lists multiple events that offer opportunities for you to be involved in your child’s education in some way. There is still much learning to do and your continued support on homework, projects, and more is appreciated.

Thank you for all you do to support the school and your children. We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

Student Recognition:
This week’s student recognition goes out to several groups. First, the AGIS band made us super proud with their rendition of The Star Spangled Banner at the Blue Rocks opening game last Friday. If you were there you know what we mean! Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum, and Mr. Harvey heard many comments from spectators about the quality of the band’s performance and how well organized they were. Great job Mr. Evans and band students!

We were equally proud at the last Avon Grove Board of Education meeting to see Mrs. Fenza’s MATHCOUNTS students and her grade 5 Knowledge Master Open teams honored and recognized. It was great to see so many parents there as well.
On behalf of the staff we want to express our appreciation for the wonderful effort put forth by all students on the PSSA tests these past several weeks. Students worked diligently on the various sections and GMAs (Good Mental Attitudes) were everywhere! Thanks to our PTA for providing incentives for our PSSA drawings as well. The last portion of the PSSA is our fourth graders’ science tests next week.

Parental Suport:
We notice parental support in many ways at the school. We wanted to take a moment to thank you for the support you are offering your children on projects, homework, and special activities. Our students come prepared, and the displays of student work around the school are a reflection of good student effort as well as support for educational things at home.

We encourage you to look over the parent calendar to note upcoming activities as they might relate to your child. Whether it is spirit day events, special activities, or a special day, please look for opportunities to speak with your child about those things or to ask them how they are participating in those.

We are going to continue to ask parents for support of the dress expectations we have for our students. This is particularly important for older students. Those expectations are found on page 5 of the student/parent handbook.
In addition we have continued to mention the drop- off area in the morning and the need for parental support as it relates to guidelines for that busy time. Over the next weeks you may notice our administrative team out front distributing some specific reminders about this topic. Our goal is safety and your help is appreciated.

We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Todd Harvey, Denise Schrum, Carol Bove

Student Recognition:
Every AGIS student gets a pat on the back in advance for the fine effort they will be putting in on the PSSAs these next couple of weeks. On morning announcements we have been reminding them all that they are ready and it is simply time to show what you know! Thanks to the PTA for sponsoring our ticket incentive program which will include two winners from each homeroom at the end of the test weeks. Parents, don’t forget that your child is permitted to chew gum during the tests, and this year students are to bring their own favorite flavors.

We are looking forward to Mr. Evans’ band once again playing the national anthem at the Blue Rocks opener on Friday, April 16. What a great sound they have! In addition, please note the many special events and celebrations that many students may be participating in throughout the month of April. Those include Pi Day (grades 5 & 6), Autism Awareness Month, our ACES Walk, Healthy Kids Day, and National Turn Off the TV Week! Many of these promote fitness, while others relate directly to awareness or learning topics. AGIS is a happening place for sure!

Parental Involvement:
Thank you to all parents who were able to attend our most recent conferences. There is no better way to fully understand your child’s efforts than a face-to-face conference with a teacher. The percentage of parents attending the conferences averaged well over 90%.
Your Awareness & Support:
AGIS does have dress expectations and those are found on pages 5 and 6 of the Student/Parent Handbook. As the weather warms we want to remind parents of these expectations. Please take time to review those items with your child to ensure compliance. The purposes behind those expectations relate directly to safety and an environment conducive to learning.

We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Todd Harvey, Denise Schrum, Carol Bove

Student Recognition:
We continue to strive to highlight many of the student accomplishments here at AGIS in a variety of ways. In each newsletter we make mention of individuals or groups related to their recent accomplishments. In addition we often print articles, photos, or press releases to post in our lobby or on the bulletin boards in the lobby by house color. If you look at our website under School Happenings you will see many photos as well. Regardless of what appears, we think it is important for students to see or hear their group’s name mentioned. Take time to look for the many great learning activities involving our students found in a variety of locations.
This week we want to compliment several groups of students for outstanding effort. First, our beginning band and strings groups performed beautifully at their March 4th concert. If you were here we are sure you were impressed with the skills of both the strings and instrumental groups. It was also enjoyable to have them perform in groups by instrument versus a large group performance. The quality of the concerts was even more impressive when you take into account the amount of rehearsal time students have missed with all the snow days! Great job strings and instrumental students, and thank you Ms. Lucas and Mr. Evans for your hard work as well.
One other group we wish to highlight is our Shakespeare Club. They recently participated in the Chester County Shakespeare Festival performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. From the stage crew to the actors it was outstanding. We are very proud of this group of students for taking on such a high level academic challenge and performing so well. Be watching for articles in local papers and check out our website on this event as well. Thanks to Mrs. Benjamin and Ms. Linderman for their guidance with this group.

Parental Support and Friends of AGIS:
Thank you for supporting the medical supply collection project we held in February. Due to your generosity we collected several boxes of supplies that will go to the Medical Reserve Corp from Delaware for direct delivery to those in need. We want to thank Mrs. Kim Petrella who works for Christiana Hospital for her efforts in bringing this opportunity to our attention and for helping coordinate everything with the project. Thanks to all who donated and thank you Mrs. Petrella.
This year’s Artist in Residence Program will be highlighted in a future issue of our PTA newsletter. The program, N’Bonye’ Dance and Drum, featuring director Ms. Janet Peck, was excellent. Many students had the opportunity to participate in music classes, PE classes, in the core group, or to see an assembly. The PTA coordinator for this event is Mrs. Karen Pederson. We commend Mrs. Pederson for her dedication and organizational efforts each year to bring such good programs to the school. Check out the PTA website at http://agispta.org for more information.

PSSA Moment:
We want to thank all parents for their awareness of the PSSA dates found on our school calendar. The assessments are important and the preparation for those has been found in our everyday teaching. To that end our messages to students are simple. First, they are ready! By working hard and attending school regularly they have learned a great deal this year and are well prepared. Secondly, the PSSA is an opportunity to show what you know and we know students will give their best efforts. The final message we have is for students to come to school each day with a GMA (Good Mental Attitude) which is displayed in their positive attitude and effort taking the tests.
As parents you can be supportive by following the practices that have helped your child throughout the year. Those would include eating a nutritious breakfast, getting a good night’s rest, and being in school on time each day (unless ill). Please encourage your child during the testing weeks and ask them how the tests are going.
During the test days we will provide a small snack for all children except for the final day (April 23). Students may bring their own snack that last day. Students are also permitted to chew gum during the test sessions and parents may provide that as they deem appropriate. We will be having drawings from tickets students receive each day for good effort in their test group as an added incentive for them. The PTA is once again partnering with us on that program.
Thank you for what you have done to support your child’s learning thus far this year. We look forward to the PSSA and the results we will receive once the tests are scored.

We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Todd Harvey, Denise Schrum, Carol Bove

Student Recognition
The accomplishments of so many AGIS students seem to be never ending! This week we want to say congratulations to our 4th & 5th grade Science Fair participants and all of the students that participated in the PTA’s Reflections program.
The Science Fair projects were reflective of some wonderful thinking, planning, and project development by our students. The following students will be going on to compete at Downingtown High School in March, either as partners or with their individual projects:

Aidan E., Phillip Y., Andrew G.,Eli W., Bryce D., Josh P.,Ciara B., Luke B., Anthony O.,
Michael R., Evan B., Julian C.,Evan A., Lindsay T., and Zach D.
Once again, congratulations to all our participants and good luck to those students moving on to the next level of competition!

We also want to once again congratulate the 160 students that entered items in our PTA Reflections program this year. The quality of the projects was amazing. The proof of that high quality was found in the fact that we had 28 regional finalists from our entries! In addition 10 of those students became regional winners! Those regional winners will now have their entries judged at the state level. Good luck to the following students as their projects move forward:

Visual Arts - Maggie D., Hayden W., Jenny R.
Literature - Ryan G., Hannah M., Emily L.
Photography - Kristina J., Emily W.
Musical Composition - Charlotte C., Jennifer S.

Parental Support & Friends of AGIS
Thank you to everyone that contributed to our Haiti relief project, Your Pennies Make Cents for the Red Cross and Haiti. Due to the generosity of our school community we collected $724 in coins and cash in a very short period of time. In addition, one of our staff members, Mrs. Betty Ann Clark, will be matching our collection amount, which brings our school community total donation to $1448. Thank you!
We will be doing one more collection project beginning next week. That project will be the collection of Ace bandages, bandaids, medical tape, rolled gauze, boxes of 2x2 gauze bandages, and boxes of 4x4 gauze bandages. These items will be given to the Medical Reserve Corp group from Delaware that will soon be traveling to Haiti. They will distribute those supplies directly to communities during their time in the country. The project is being coordinated by a parent volunteer who works at Christiana Hospital and is a member of the Reserve Corp. Boxes will be placed outside the counselors’ offices for the donations beginning this Monday, February 22.

We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Sincerely,
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

Student Recognition:
One of our Robotics Club teams qualified in the area of Creative Presentation for an added competition this Saturday at the University of Delaware. Best of luck to Brendan Marani, Kyle Twesten, Walter Jones, Brennan Ingalls, Benjamin Schunke, Nicholas Waters, Will Stevens, and David Ruta. We look forward to hearing how well
you do. We are proud of all five of our teams this year!

Our school’s fifth grade Academically Talented (AT) students recently participated in the 42nd Knowledge Master Open academic competition. They competed here at school on computers answering one hundred challenging questions from all curriculum areas. Fifth graders from across Pennsylvania competed against them (14 teams) as well as 223 other teams nationally. Our team came in first place in Pennsylvania and placed 10th out of the 223 teams nationally!! This is quite an accomplishment and a tribute to the enthusiasm these students have for learning. We are very proud of Ms. Fenza and the team. Way to go fifth grade AT classes!!!

Parental Support and Friends of AGIS:
This week’s PTA Donuts for Dads event has been wonderful to see. Each morning we have had a huge turnout of dads and other family members. Just taking the time to come in before a busy day sends a tremendous message of care to your child. Thanks to the PTA volunteers for the great help including parking signs, outside
greeters, and more. We hope to post some great images on our website over the next week on this event, so check it out!

Haiti and Red Cross Relief Effort at AGIS:
We have all been moved by the images on the nightly news, particularly those of children, related to the situation in Haiti. Beginning Monday, February 1, we will be starting a loose change collection campaign entitled “Your pennies make CENTS for the Red Cross and Haiti.” Our plan is to simply collect loose change, no matter
how small, in containers placed in the lobby. Those funds will be sent to the Red Cross to replenish their disaster relief funds or to channel directly to this cause. Please look for the containers in our lobby and give as you are
able. Students and adults may participate. Parents, please be clear with your children as to what amount, if any, they are permitted to donate.

Please Help:
As you know we have many parents dropping off students in the morning. As we monitor that process we have noticed the need to seek parental help in keeping that system as safe as possible for children as well as for the vehicles moving in and out of the area. Please review and help us with the following:

• Pull as far forward as you can prior to your child exiting the car.
• Please drop children as close to the flag pole area as possible and avoid dropping children too far from that area.
• Please stay in a single file line and wait for the car in front of you to depart.
• Avoid pulling out of line and passing others to leave or passing others to move up into an open spot.
• Do not allow children to exit your car unless you are along the curb. Most importantly, please demonstrate patience, even if it requires you to wait to pull forward.

Student Recognition:
Over the past several years the school has been the recipient of some excellent Eagle Scout projects. Our picnic tables in the back of the school last year was one. This year we want to thank and compliment Alec McCloskey, an AG high school student, for his project which was to build recycling bins for use throughout our school. AGIS is good at recycling and the bins are of great use to us. Alec was a former AGIS student as well.

We also want to recognize and encourage the many students that are currently participating in academic clubs here at AGIS. Those clubs include our Robotics Club, the Reading Olympics Club, and our Shakespeare Club. Each one of these groups will have opportunities over the next several weeks to demonstrate their skills against other schools in our area. Winning is not the goal as much as taking on these higher level academic challenges. Thank you to all parents whose children are involved for encouraging your child’s participation. Be looking for results in our upcoming newsletters!

Correction and One Last Thank You:
As you know our school continues to demonstrate the values of caring and helping others. This is done in many ways. The most recent example of this can be found in the many contributions of food and personal care items our school community sent in prior to the holidays. Check out the Avon Grove District website for pictures and information on the types of projects that went on around the district and in our school.

One correction is that in our last newsletter we failed to mention that our collections were part of the Knights of Columbus effort in the district. Sorry for the mistake, and thank you for helping!

We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Sincerely,
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

Tis The Season…

The holidays offer us wonderful opportunities to enjoy each other’s company, spend special times with family, and to offer help to those who may be in need of a kind word or even more. That spirit is being lived out right here at AGIS in several ways.

First we want to send out a warm thank you to all of our fourth graders, their teachers and parents. These past couple of weeks they have participated in Project Dog Tag. This caring initiative included our students collecting snacks and personal care items to send to troops overseas. To date our fourth graders have collected over 22 boxes of items that will be broken down into smaller caring packages to send to our troops. Not only will the items be appreciated, but so will the thought that our school community took the time to send the things and to say thank you to those troops for serving. Way to go fourth grade team!!!

Next we must say “WOW” to our entire school community for sending in over 1060 canned goods and personal care products for our district wide collection project. Thanks to the help of Mrs. DiDomenico and her Ecology Club those items are boxed up and ready to be delivered to the food cupboard. Thank you everyone!

We also want to say a special thank you and good bye to two of our cafeteria staff members who will be retiring on December 23rd. Those two staff members are Mrs. Diane Bowman and Mrs. Linda Brown. Mrs. Bowman is our cafeteria manager and Mrs. Brown is one of our cheerful cafeteria workers. Both have served the children, parents, and staff of the Avon Grove School District for over 33 years! Their kind and caring presence in our daily routine will be missed, but we know happy times await them in retirement. Thank you Diane and Linda!

Finally, we say to each parent “Thank You” for allowing us to work with your children every day. What a joy teaching is because of the students. Each day is special and different, and the opportunity to work with our students is one of the greatest gifts of all. We receive that gift each day of the year! In the fast paced world of digital communication and hurry everywhere, we hope you take the opportunity to give your children the greatest gift of all this holiday season. That would be the gift of time spent with them just having fun.

We wish you all the joys of the season!

Sincerely,
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

Student Recognition: Our Robotics Club had their first competition last week at Lansdale Catholic High School. AGIS has five teams consisting of about 40 sixth graders. During the competitions the students are judged on their abilities to complete a project, robot design, and the ability to work as a team. All teams represented the school well and everyone learned a lot. We can’t wait for our next competition in early January! Great job Robotics Club! Thanks also to Mr. Murray, Mr. Robinson, and Mr. Gaerity for coaching our teams.

On December 9 at 7:00 pm we will be having our annual Holiday Choral Concert featuring our grade 4 choir and our grade 5/6 choir. Both groups have been practicing all fall and we guarantee you will thoroughly enjoy the music and performances. We have many talented voice students and the efforts of Ms. Truitt and Mrs. Smith are greatly appreciated as well. If your child is participating, a letter was sent home with them today about when students should be at the school for the performances.

On December 17 at 7:00 pm our band and orchestra will have their concerts as well. Mr. Evans and Ms. Lucas have worked equally hard with their students and the show will be a fine one. We are proud of our performing students and the time they put in practicing here and at home. Our new flex period at the end of the day has helped us coordinate large group rehearsals for these students as well. The performing arts are an integral part of our school. We look forward to hearing the fine quality of the music our students will bring us.

Parental Involvement: The PTA Continues to Rock
Our PTA book fair was a huge success due to the organizational skills of our PTA coordinators, but also because of the support we have seen from parents encouraging their children to purchase books. Thank you to everyone for emphasizing the importance of reading!
Check out the article in today's edition of the newsletter about the upcoming Holiday Shop. The dates are on the calendar and the PTA could still use the help of a few more volunteers. If your children are bringing money to school for the Holiday Shop please review your expectations for the types of things you want them to purchase and be aware of the amounts of money needed for those things.
Last, but not least, the world’s best Christmas event will be happening here this Saturday from 9:00 AM-2:00 pm. Yes it is time for the annual Country Christmas! Come out and get some great items for the holidays while supporting our PTA.

Parent Conferences: We had outstanding parental attendance at our recent conferences. 32 of our regular classrooms had 100% attendance at conferences, while in most other cases the numbers ran right near the 92-95% range. We hope you found your child’s conferences informative and helpful. Thank you for attending.

Student Recognition: This week’s pat on the back goes out to every student here at AGIS for their hard work during the first marking period. For our third graders and their parents, we want to compliment you on your efforts to adjust to a new school and for the efforts we see daily in classrooms. A simple walk through looking at bulletin board displays of student work will tell you we have a wonderful group of third graders! For all of you “veteran” AGIS students in grades 4-6, we are equally impressed with the quality of work we see displayed around the school and types of learning efforts we observe daily in classrooms. All of these indicators remind us of the talented students we have as well as the strong parental support in our school community.
We encourage all parents to attend their child’s conference over these next few days. There is no substitute for a face to face conference to share information with your child’s teacher and to see student work samples. Attending conferences and discussing progress with your child is one of the best ways to be involved in your child’s education.

Friends of AGIS and Parental Involvement: Our PTA contin-ues to lead the way in supporting the students and staff here at AGIS. This week’s Book Fair is yet another example of their unending support for student achievement. By offering books at reduced costs and helping fill teacher wish lists related to books, they are helping students access reading material they might not otherwise have received. The Book Fair is run by many faithful volunteers and has been co-chaired by Mrs. Sadie Casper, Mrs. Kelly O’Doherty, and Mrs. Anne Caruso. Please consider visiting the Book Fair in the audion when you are here for conferences.
We will be doing an Edulink message on Thursday evening, November 19, to remind parents of conferences and early dis-missal. In addition we will remind parents that we will have our entire Lost & Found collection on display in the hallway near the nurses’ suite. Please look over that display when you are in for conferences and take what belongs to your children. We will be donating any remaining items to needy families through several local agencies following conference week.
Have a wonderful conference with your child’s teacher and may you all have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday!

Student Recognition: We were impressed with the many PTA Reflections submissions from our students. We had 160 entries and those are on exhibit in the lobby hallways. What wonderful talent has been displayed. Each child that had an entry is to be commended.
In addition we had numerous award-winning entries and want to say congratulations to all the finalists. They appear on the right side of this page.

Friends of AGIS and Parental Involvement: As conferences approach (November 20-25) we want to encourage you to attend. Parent invitations will be going home on November 16. Please be looking for these. There is no substitute for a face to face conference with your child’s teacher to discuss progress and to see work samples.
We want to thank the Gaerity family for their donation of an additional robot and team registration fee for our Robotics Club. Through their generosity we were able to field an additional team.

H1N1 Update: Please continue to take note of the district’s website related to precautions all families can take. We have included a copy of some items from the site on the back of today's newsletter.
The district continues to monitor each school’s daily attendance. We have had some elevated absentee rates, and those have fluctuated between 2.2% and 13.6%. Our average daily attendance rate for each month appears regularly in our school newsletter.
We encourage everyone to practice best health practices and follow the advice of your physician if family members are ill.

We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Sincerely,
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

Student Recognition: We want to take time to recognize our grade 6 morning announcers in this edition of our newsletter. Here at AGIS our sixth graders are offered some opportunities and privileges to serve the school in special ways. For example we have an Ambassador program and Spirit Committees for each house organized by our counselors. Sixth graders serve in these two groups. Our morning announcement program is another way some of our sixth graders can share their talents with the school. Each sixth grade homeroom has two students that will be announcers at different times during the year. The skills needed are an interest in having this job, the ability to read fluently, and a little enthusiasm for the job! Each morning at 8:25 AM we begin our student-lead announcements. If you are in the school at that time we are sure you have heard our young celebrities as they share news and views with the school. We are proud of this group of children for participating in the opening of school each morning, and we hope it leads to some possible future endeavors for our students. Who knows but we may have the next famous anchor person right here at AGIS! Great job sixth grade announcers.

Friends of AGIS: Our school and students continue to be the beneficiary of many wonderful contributions from community members and parents. This month the West Grove Volunteer Fire Company provided our grade 3 and 4 students with their annual fire safety program. The presenters are organized, efficient, and kind in presenting this important program to our students. Thank you West Grove Fire Company!
Our PTA continues to offer multiple resources and learning opportunities for students and teachers. This week we have author Ann Bausum here to share her work with fifth graders, and next week we have Julie Freeman, a storyteller, coming to meet with our third graders during the day and our parents and children in the evening. All of this has been made possible by the PTA. In addition you have all seen the information coming home about our Reflections Program which is also a PTA sponsored event. We are thankful for the support of educational programs by the PTA!
Parental Involvement: As we approach next week’s fall classroom celebrations we are reminding parents we need your awareness of special dates on the calendar. Friday, October 30 is AGIS Spirit Day. Students may wear Halloween colors or costumes to school, but costumes are not to reflect violent themes, and there are to be no weapons, masks, or glitter. Any face paint should be applied at home, not at school. Classrooms will have celebrations that include activities and may include food items. As you know from our student/parent handbook (pages 13-14) we require that anyone wishing to send any item into the classroom for any celebration first discuss this with your child’s teachers. Please keep in mind this relates to health issues such as allergies and wellness. Parental support on this is important and we thank you in advance for your help.

We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Sincerely,
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

Student Recognition:
Our school counselors have established an excellent citizenship recognition program entitled Caught Caring. This program is a simple yet purposeful way for students and staff members to nominate someone who demonstrates kindness or caring. Each teacher has shirt-shaped nomination forms which anyone can access to submit nominations. On the form the person doing the nominating gives a brief description of the kind efforts of the nominee. We have seen everything from helping someone pick things they dropped to playing with a new person at recess to make them feel welcome. Regardless of the reason we take time to read the nominations on morning announce-ments and the shirt-shaped forms are displayed on a clothes line outside the counselors’ offices. Check out the display the next time you are in the school, or ask your child if they have been nominated or have nominated someone else!

FLEX Period Takes Form at AGIS:
If you attended Back to School Night in September you probably heard your child’s teacher mention our end of the day FLEX period. We established this period from 2:30-3:05 to give a set time each day for coordinated pull-out time for band, orchestra, and our various choirs. In addition the period was set up to allow teachers to provide extra instruction for students based on student need. By coordinating our performing music pull-out times and focusing on extra reading or math time, we hope to continue our overall school goal of improving achieve-ment for all students.
During the month of September all students participated in an SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) model. Starting next week we will begin the first of our six week cycles to have students across all grade levels either continue with their SSR model or work in small groups on targeted math or reading skills. As we do for many subjects, students may receive instruction from their own homeroom teacher or another teacher in the school. We have expanded our base of teachers to include nearly every teacher in the school, including our special area teachers, during this period of the day.
On Friday teachers will be discussing with students the FLEX period plans for our next cycle and when those will begin. We encourage you to ask your child about their FLEX period work.

We look forward to seeing you at the school!
Sincerely,
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

Student Recognition:
This week’s student recognition goes to the 898 students who completed and verified all four of their summer reading books. During these past two weeks we have held grade level assemblies in the centrums to take time to honor those students for their efforts. Each student who completed the four book goal received a certificate and pencil. Grade three and four students also received bookmarks. All students’ names are listed on our recognition display outside the cafeteria as well. The best reward of all is the fact that children gain enjoyment and knowledge when they read year ‘round!

Special recognition goes to the following top reading grade level homerooms:
•Mrs. DiVincenzo’s third grade
•Mrs. McManus’ fourth grade
•Mrs. Shaw’s fifth grade
•Mrs. Waldman’s sixth grade

We want to thank all parents for encouraging their children to read and helping to get the verification process completed on time. Our program was organized by our literacy team which includes Mrs. Hill, Mrs. Rosen, Mrs. Trainor, and Mrs. Bove.

Friends of AGIS:
Our PTA has come out of the gate quickly in supporting our students in many ways already this year. They donated the pencils for our summer reading recognition program, and we are sure you have noticed the wonderful Take Home Thursday folders they purchased for all of our students. We hope you have taken the opportunity to join the PTA and seek ways to become involved in this excellent organization.

We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Sincerely,
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum

 

September 15, 2009 Read our Special Welcome Back Update for Back to School Nights,HERE!

We want to welcome everyone to Avon Grove Intermediate School for what we are sure will be an outstanding year for students, parents, and staff alike! We have 73 new families to our school community this year, so a special welcome to all of you.

We have several new topics for parental awareness that we will be sharing with you in our welcome back message soon to be posted on our website and in a special edition of our school news that we will distribute at next week’s Back to School nights.

Our school newsletter will be posted on our website and sent home every other Thursday beginning with today’s edition. This year we are partnering with our PTA to have each Thursday be Take Home Thursday. On Thursdays all school communications will come home with the youngest child in your family in a Take Home Folder our PTA has purchased for each child. More information on this will be shared at the Open Houses, and this plan will begin on Thursday, September 17. We encourage all parents to check those book bags!

We are very pleased to serve such an excellent school community as Avon Grove Intermediate School. In each newsletter edition our Principally Speaking article will focus on three main topics. Those will be student recognition, parental involvement, and thanking community friends for their support. We look forward to communicating with you about many things. Most of all we look forward to working with your children to have this year be the very best it can be for you and your child! Do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of help to you in any way.

We look forward to seeing you at the school.
Sincerely,
Mr. Harvey, Mrs. Bove, Mrs. Schrum