Dear PVES Families,
Spring is here, and there is hope on the horizon! As a community and as a nation and world, we are certainly facing challenging times. We will get through this, and we will continue to communicate with each other, support our young students and their families, and do whatever we can as individuals to move to a healthier time in our country. Thank you for staying home, cancelling those social engagements, trips, and playdates, and doing your very best to slow down the spread of this virus. I know that this is something we have never experienced before, but if we all do our part, things will improve.
I want to thank all of our parents and guardians for the amazing job you are doing to support distance learning for your children at home. We have been receiving many emails, photos, and videos letting us know the great efforts you are making to provide structured schedules and supportive, happy learning environments in your homes each day. Thank you for making this atmosphere warm, supportive, and comforting for your children. Please do the best you can. These are stressful times, and the confusing nature of it all can certainly scare all of us, especially children. Please turn off the tv news when your children are in the room, and celebrate the family time, house projects, and at-home learning on which you are focusing every day. Our teachers continue to do an amazing job providing lessons, videos, learning links, and newsletters to their classes every day. Without much time to prepare, our faculty has stepped right up so that not a learning day was missed. I thank you all for your incredible efforts. Our school/home connection has never been more important!
All school calendar events are in question at this time, and so we will continue to keep you posted, and we know how disappointing this feels to our students and staff. This year, the elementary school plans on holding a PTA Book Fair/Specials Curriculum Night for Grades K-2, on Monday, May 11th, from 7:00 to 7:45 PM. This new event would replace the two spring Open House nights that have taken place in the past. We certainly hope to be able to hold this new innovative event this year. It is hard to know at this time if this will be possible.
In our Putnam Valley School District, we want to stay connected with you and your families! We know that you are receiving MANY emails from your teachers each day, and this will get easier to manage over time. Please know that you can also now connect with PVES on Twitter. You can follow my “refreshed” Twitter account at @MPodestaMcD, and Mr. Chickery’s Twitter account at @ChickeryJ. Our goal is to stay even more connected with our PVES friends and families. We miss our students so very much! #ConnectPV
Please know that your PVES faculty continues to be available through email (or phone) to help in any way. Our teachers and other staff members are busy planning lessons, connecting with parents, and providing suggestions for engaging learning activities that can be completed at home. Take the time to play out in the yard, read many great books, complete art projects, listen to and create music, play board games, and write lots of stories together. I am hoping that during this strange time, any video game time is strictly limited in your homes. As I tell the students, there are so many great things to do each day. Don’t miss these opportunities by playing video games. This is so challenging, I know, but thank you for your wonderful efforts!
Enjoy the warmer temperatures today. I look forward to hearing from you. Keep sending your pictures and videos. We miss you. We’re all in this together, and we will be ok.
Warmly,
Ms. Podesta