Putnam Valley Elementary School

Dear PVES Families,

We are off to a wonderful start to 2023 at PVES! The students were so happy to return to school, and our teachers are always ready to welcome them with warm, engaging classrooms and well-prepared lessons. We are quickly approaching the January midpoint of the school year, and Report Cards will be mailed and available online by the first week in February. As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to your child’s teachers.

Our school celebrated with a whole-school Sing Along this past Friday, which had been rescheduled due to weather. It was truly wonderful to gather all the staff and students in our building to sing and enjoy the season together. Thank you to our music/band teachers, Mrs. Calhoun and Mrs. Bennett, for helping to make this possible, and thank you to our talented Mr. Evans, first grade teacher, who sang and played the guitar for all of us. It was a very special event!

We have several exciting calendar events that are approaching!  At PVES, we look forward to hosting a Parent ELA (English Language Arts) Scholastic Literacy Night on Thursday, February 16th. More details will follow about this Parent Workshop, but please mark your calendars! Our fourth-grade families will be invited to the 4th Grade Winter Concert on Thursday, January 26th, at 7:00 PM. And, our Kindergarten parents will be invited to the Kindergarten Chinese New Year Celebration on Wednesday, February 1st, at 2:00 PM. We thank our Mandarin teacher, Ms. Lei, for working with our Kindergarten students and preparing for this special event.

Schools will be closed on Monday, January 16th, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Schools will reopen on Tuesday, January 17th. Please be sure to always have alternative or back-up plans for weather-related closings, school delays, or early dismissals. If you have any questions about your child’s dismissal plans, please always call our office at 845-528-8092.

We are collecting names for our Kindergarten Registration! If you have a child who will be 5 years old by December 1, 2023, please call our main office to sign up for registration. Thank you for reminding your friends and neighbors in the community to do the same. Kindergarten Screening will take place in the spring with our newest students!

Our PVES students are becoming great readers! All classrooms are filled with books, and our Scholastic Book Room is a busy place! Our elementary students will soon begin borrowing books from our school library as well. Your child’s teachers will be sharing “library days” in class emails and newsletters. Thank you for helping your children to care for their library books respectfully and responsibly. These are great life lessons!

I hope that your New Year’s resolutions are going well! This is such an exciting time in the school year, with great growth happening every day. Thank you all for your support!

Sincerely,

Dr. Margaret Podesta
Principal