Putnam Valley Elementary School

Dear PVES Families,

Happy last Friday of the school year! We have been working hard to wrap up an amazing year, celebrate our successes, and enjoy the warm and positive culture of our elementary school this week! Our PVES Spirit Week was a huge success! Each day, staff and students were dressed in colorful, creative attire, with lots of smiles and laughter. We were so fortunate to be able to have our complete Field Day yesterday, with no rain, and great, friendly competition throughout our fields. Thank you to Mrs. Aurigemma and to Mr. Heitman for organizing this yearly whole-school event. We had a wonderful day!

Our Fourth Grade Breakfast will take place on this Monday, June 24th, at 8 AM in the Auditorium. All fourth-grade students are welcome to come to school early that day, receive their ordered yearbooks, and enjoy some grade-level time together. Thank you to our PTA for making this event possible for our students. We then look forward to our Fourth Grade Moving Up Ceremony on Tuesday, June 25th, at 10 AM. Tickets have been distributed for this special event, and everyone attending must have a ticket. Dismissal for all students will take place at 12:30 on Tuesday. Wednesday, June 26th, will be our last day of school. Dismissal will take place at 12:00 on Wednesday. Report Cards will be available online and mailed via U.S. mail by the end of next week. There is so much to celebrate, and we are so very proud of our amazing PVES students!

Our Lost & Found collection is displayed on a table in the front hallway of our school. Please take a moment to look through this collection before the end of the school year. All remaining items will be donated to charity during the summer months. Please also make sure that all library and classroom books have been returned to school. Thank you so much for your help with this.

Our Character Education & Diversity Committee facilitated our End of Year Assembly today, celebrating our wonderful Character Education program, our Great Expectations, and our Social Emotional and Sustainability Initiatives, such as the Yale RULER Program. Thank you to this committee for all that they do throughout the school year to provide such a foundation for our character education and culture building in our school. We love to gather as a whole school community to discuss anti-bullying behavior and the effort to always be our “best selves.” This supports our academic growth as well.

As many of you know, Ms. Mistretta will be moving to the District Office next year, as our new Director of Curriculum and Instruction. As this school year winds down, I want to thank Ms. Mistretta for all she has done for PVES as our Assistant Principal, and I know we all wish her much success in her new position. We look forward to working closely with Ms. Mistretta in this new capacity. After an extensive search, our Assistant Principal hiring process will be finalized soon. We look forward to welcoming a dynamic new member of our school team!

Thank you to all of you who have supported our Spirit Week, our end-of-year celebrations, and your child’s readiness for school throughout this busy spring. Your positive outlook on responsibility, the love of learning, and school pride affect your children in such lasting, important ways. Thank you for all of your support. We are all so lucky to be working together!

Enjoy the sunny weekend ahead! I look forward to our three festive school days next week!

Warmly,
Margaret Podesta