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what s happening in the perkiomen valley school district november 2010 on thursday november 11 south elementary school hosted an informational evening featuring keynote presentations on stress management and break-out sessions on job hunting skills and community resources the presentations included grown up stress by thom stecher and influences of stress on kids by dr john bearoff the sixth-graders on the explorers team from pv middle school east had a wonderful time at settlement camp despite the rain on thursday of their november 3-5th trip students participated in many team-building activities as well as going fishing visiting the animals on-site and of course enjoying their cabin time students from perkiomen valley middle school east and perkiomen valley middle school west recently attended teenage library day at kutztown university they enjoyed a fabulous presentation by catherine gilbert murdock an awardwinning young adult author followed by a meetthe-author/book-signing session and tour of the college campus as an incentive for receiving 50 tickets the students in ms lynne caffee s class at skippack elementary school earned a special day caffee campout on this day the students were allowed to bring in a sleeping bag a flashlight or a canteen the students moved the desks off the floor and completed work in a camping setting everyone enjoyed our special day!

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author visit at evergreen students at evergreen elementary school enjoyed author/illustrator tedd arnold who recently visited the school mr arnold explained the process of having a book published from idea to published book he showed that there are many many steps involved kindergarten students made paper fly guy puppets one of mr arnold s favorite characters mixing it up at east students at pv middle school east participated in the second annual mix it up lunch on tuesday november 9 2010 the lunch was an opportunity for students to sit with other students that they do not know or sit with normally as students walked into lunch they were handed a number that represented the table they were to sit at each table was headed by a pv teacher staff member or administrator who facilitated a conversation with students around family traditions in the united states and also in foreign countries with help from the pv middle school east home school association and building staff the cafeteria was decorated as a small café students parents and staff members all seemed to have a very enjoyable lunch!

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every month perkiomen valley middle school west selects one boy and one girl from each team to receive model student of the month recognition the characteristics considered when selecting students for this recognition include but are not limited to diligence responsibility organization common courtesies and friendliness it is our hope that all students moving through the middle school will develop these qualities and become successful school citizens we would like to extend our congratulations to these students for their consistently positive behaviors each student is an exemplar for others to follow the magic of nutrition the the magic of nutrition show was recently performed in perkiomen valley elementary schools the show was funded by a grant received by the school health advisory council from the pvsd foundation the students really enjoyed seeing mr todd kupper s magical performance todd kupper r.d l.d.n a.k.a taddo is a registered dietitian and a licensed nutritionist in the state of pennsylvania he is also an award-winning professional magician who has developed a unique program called the magic of nutritiontm which is designed to combat the growing number of children and adolescents who are struggling with nutritional issues such as obesity lack of activity and poor food choices this program teaches children the importance of good nutrition and staying active using magic and illusion to create an educational and unforgettable learning experience five main messages consistent with the current nutrition education objectives were featured using an engaging combination of illusion comedy live animals and audience participation they are the importance of eating breakfast increasing intake of fruits of vegetables healthy snacking decreasing soft drink consumption and increasing activity.

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pumpkin characters second grade students at schwenksville elementary school recently had the opportunity to decorate pumpkins as a book character of their choice the students brought these in to school to share with their classmates the students enjoyed guessing each other s pumpkin character second graders at skippack elementary school recently displayed their pumpkin people the children decorated pumpkins as storybook characters wrote clues for their character then traded rooms to guess the identity of the pumpkins.

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in preparation for a visit by author/illustrator tedd arnold students in 3rd 4th and 5th grades at evergreen elementary school created and illustrated idioms using the computers in technology class mr arnold uses this figurative language in several of his books including parts more parts and even more parts students pictured are having a ball idiom which figuratively means they are having fun students in mrs merideth field s fourth-grade class at schwenksville elementary school recently participated in book talks as part of the reader s workshop program part of balanced literacy students present a 3-5 minute commercial for a book peer recommendation there are six steps involved share title and author show book cover share just enough information about the book to get someone interested tell the audience why you enjoyed the book read a small part aloud and finally ask for questions lending a helping hand during the week of october 25-29 schwenksville elementary school students and staff showed their personal commitment to a drug-free lifestyle by recognizing and celebrating red ribbon week the mission of the red ribbon campaign is to present a unified and visible commitment towards the creation of a drugfree america schwenksville students and staff recognized red ribbon week by signing a pledge to be drugfree and participating in spirit days throughout the week for more information about the national red ribbon campaign visit www.nfp.org.

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what an ending a completely unexpected event occurred at the perkiomen valley high school powder puff game it ended in a tie for the first time in the history of the game with only about 3 minutes remaining in the game and the score 16 ­ 8 in favor of the seniors one of the greatest plays in recent memory occurred the juniors facing 4th and goal passed the ball to the wide receiver in the left side of the line the ball was tipped backwards and then recovered by the junior tailback who then ran it in for the 6 points following the 2 point conversion the score was knotted at 16­16 mr heist moved his coaching record to 5­0­1 lifetime mr stipa moved to 0­5­1 there were more than 600 people in attendance and the perkiomen valley student loan association will receive a donation of $2,000 from the event thank you all for coming out and supporting the game the girls and the pvsla and a special thanks goes out to the teachers and administrators mr heist mr stipa mr connolly mr hinkle mr doyle ­ they volunteered a lot of time for this game and they did an excellent job the officials mr petsko mr kuhn mr keenan and mr berk ­ a thankless job the chain crew mr conver mrs kinkead mr leister ­ they were there to the end mr pongras ­ the voice of the vikings mr poysden ­ clock operator and our gate attendants ­ mr eicholtz and mrs verbeke roaring excitement the second graders at schwenksville elementary school were roaring with excitement during our dinosaur assembly presented by the franklin institute in conjunction with the science unit on dinosaurs there was a lively presentation for the students the students learned about fossils and features of a carnivore after the presentation the students participated in a mock dig for real dinosaur bones the students also got to see other interesting pictures and fossils from the paleontologists various digs and discoveries this was truly a valuable and fun learning experience for our students.

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respect the flag on november 4 2010 members of the pennsylvania state honor guard visited with skippack elementary school s fourth and fifth grade ambassadors to demonstrate the proper folding raising and lowering of the u.s flag at the start of the school year teachers in third fourth and fifth grades selected two students from their classrooms to serve as ambassadors ambassadors are selected for their leadership courtesy dependability attitude towards others and scholastic standing as schoolwide helpers one of the duties of fourth and fifth grade ambassadors involves raising and lowering the flag each day with the assistance of the honor guard the ambassadors learned all the intricacies that go into the folding and unfolding of the flag in addition to learning the importance of handling the flag with respect the students also learned that the color white on the flag represents purity blue represents liberty and justice and red represents vigilance prior to being members of the honor guard both soldiers were stationed in iraq the honor guard attends military funerals and other important events and on a daily basis folds and unfolds approximately 60 flags we feel extremely fortunate that the honor guard took the time to travel from indiantown gap pa to our school to offer this important training.

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ursinus college students in the environmental science department and their teacher dr leah joseph are participating in a community outreach project with perkiomen valley high school six students from the global climate change class prepared lab investigations for mrs paul s earth science class which examine changes that may be occurring in the world oceans with the college students as mentors the ninth graders tested ocean currents temperatures density and salinity to see the effects of changes in each variable these lab activities will be refined by the college students and eventually incorporated into the science in motion program which the college sponsors to bring higher level science and technology to local high schools the builder s club at pv middle school east sponsored a cap day event on friday october 22 students paid $1.00 in order to wear their favorite hats to school the proceeds of $260 was sent to an organization called caps for kids which purchases hats for pediatric cancer patients the hats are then autographed by various entertainers notable celebrities and athletes and delivered to the hospitals many students expressed how good they felt donating to this worthy cause local artist visits skippack during art class skippack elementary school students are learning about pennsylvania artists and pennsylvania museums we were lucky to have a local artist dan christ come to our school and talk about his artwork mr christ lives in kempton pa and has been painting realistic wildlife art for forty years he is best known for his deer and turkey art not only does dan paint images from the pennsylvania region but he also portrays the wildlife of his experiences in the rocky mountains alaska and africa.

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helping to make a difference twenty one volunteers from the perkiomen valley high school student forum and key club under the direction of their advisors mrs slavin and mr hinkle organized a very successful blood drive for the american red cross penn/jersey region more than 180 students and staff came out to donate blood and 130 pints were successfully harvested the student volunteers helped to prepare the donors manage paperwork and provide snacks and juice to participants after their donation mrs slavin and mr hinkle generously volunteered their time to train the student helpers verify that each donor was eligible to participate create the donor schedule and passes to permit students to leave classes and help the red cross set up beginning at 5:30 am on the day of the event all the work pays off when you see that stack of life giving bags growing larger and larger students in miss courtney collins fifth-grade music class at skippack elementary school were practicing their kazoos to get ready for the winter concert students are learning about medieval times in joust a musical themed around the legend of king arthur we honor our veterans at schwenksville elementary school first-grade students had the opportunity to visit our neighbors at the colonnade students had the opportunity to not only honor our veterans but also to learn about community service the students brought joy to the residents of the colonnade by singing patriotic songs on veteran s day.

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thanksgiving feasts many schools in the perkiomen valley school district welcomed the thanksgiving holiday with feasts and programs above and left the kindergarten classes at south elementary school participated in a thanksgiving feast students enjoyed their snacks with kindergarten friends from other classes they learned to make butter by pouring heavy cream into a jar then shaking shaking shaking each student dressed as a pilgrim or native american-costumes that they made in class below students at pv middle school west enjoyed a thanksgiving celebration featuring turkey all the fixings and a delicious piece of pumpkin pie!

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south superheroes south elementary school teachers will do just about anything to excite their students about books and reading teachers participated in a superhero costume contest during the annual south library book fair there was excitement in the air each day as students came to school delighted to see what superheroes were protecting their school.

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student leaders at schwenksville pictured above are members schwenksville elementary school s student leadership council during a recent visit to the colonnade schwenksville elementary school s student leadership council slc is now up and running for the 2010-2011 school year approximately 30 students filled-out leadership applications and pledged to give up one recess per week to serve on the slc each student selected a leadership committee committees include 1 spirit day helpers students create posters advertising spirit days and help to recognize classrooms that have shown the most school spirit 2 collections/counting committee students help to collect and count box tops soup labels cell phones ink cartridges and soda tabs from the classrooms 3 character counts committee students will help to recognize students who are nominated to receive the monthly character counts awards students will assist with taking pictures and maintaining the character counts bulletin board 4 teachers helpers students will volunteer time in classrooms 5 colonnade committee students will walk to the colonnade a local assisted living community to engage in activities with the residents in order to promote intergenerational learning.

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