We are excited to welcome our Fruit Valley students and families to the 2015-16 school year! We look forward to reconnecting with our continuing students and families, and would like to extend a warm welcome to those of you new to Fruit Valley, including our new families coming to us from Franklin Elementary.

You’ll find a list of our Fruit Valley teaching staff on page 3. All of the names will be familiar to our returning families, as our only new hire is Dinah Nguyen (sounds like “win”), who student taught with Mrs. Pamiroyan and Ms. Corlett last year. Ms. Nguyen will be teaching a third/fourth grade class.

I hope you are planning on attending our annual Back to School Barbecue to be held at the school from 5-6:30, on Monday, August 31, 2015. Please note: The Barbecue is being held a day earlier than we usually have it…not the night before school starts. As in the past, Burgerville, River’s Edge Church, the Fruit Valley Neighborhood Association and our Fruit Valley PTO are partnering to bring you a great meal featuring Burgerville hamburgers and all the fixings. We have changed things up a bit this year, as we really want our families to be aware of the many opportunities you have access to at Fruit Valley. You will receive a “Passport” upon entering the building. You will take this passport with you as you visit your child’s teacher and classroom, as well as several tables with information about programs and resources available to you and your student(s). At each stop on your journey through the building, you will receive a stamp for your passport. Once you have the required number of stamps, your completed passport becomes your ticket for dinner. Dinner will be served on the north playground (near McCallister Village) where you can enjoy your meal under the covered area.

Some of the programs and services you will learn about as you tour the building include before and after school childcare provided by ESD 112’s SWCCC program, and Boys and Girls Club. Representatives from both programs will be here that evening to share information and answer questions about their programs and get you signed up! If you are interested in signing up for the Parent @ccess program, which allows you to access and monitor your child’s attendance and assessment data or pay into your child’s lunch account, you can complete the paperwork that night, as well, when you visit the office.

Don’t go out and buy school supplies! We’ve had an overwhelming amount of generous donations from our amazing partnersand several community members. The supplies will be taken directly to the classrooms. Ms. Staci and her crew of volunteers will also be distributing backpacks that evening.

Please review the calendar on the front and on page 5 of this newsletter. You will want to pay particular attention to the early release schedule for this year. As noted in the article on page 5, all Vancouver Public Schools will release students one hour early on 16 Mondays over the course of the year. This will allow staff to continue their work in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), where they will be collaboratively studying student progress data and discussing and planning how to improve student learning. The first one hour early release will take place on Monday, September 14th.

First Day of School on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd
The first day of school is Wednesday, September 2nd. Our cafeteria opens at 8 a.m. for breakfast, with classrooms open to students at 8:20. School begins promptly at 8:30. Although we know kids are excited about coming back to school, for safety reasons, please do not have your child(ren) arrive any earlier than those times, as there isn’t any supervision. We do not allow students on the playground before school for that reason, as well. We want to be certain, as we know you would, that all students are supervised and cared for at all times. Supervision is not available until 8 a.m.

Please note: if you are dropping off or picking up your child, we request that you pull into the school parking lot to do so. Dropping off and picking up students on LaFrambois interferes with bus traffic and is not allowed. Students who walk to school are required to use crosswalks and should follow the crossing guard’s direction when crossing at the intersection of Fruit Valley Rd. and LaFrambois. It is a good idea to emphasize this with your children from the very first day and to set a good example for them by following these rules yourself. Student safety is a priority!

You are always welcome to come into the building with your child in the morning, but do understand that for the safety of all children, we require any adult entering the building to sign in and present some form of picture identification. Students are all asked to go to the cafeteria once they arrive in the building, where they can eat breakfast, visit with classmates, or request a pass to the media center until the bell rings at 8:20. At that time, all students will be released to go to their classrooms. Kindergarten parents may accompany their child to the classroom door. We ask all other parents to say goodbye to your child at the entrance to the hallway going to the classrooms. Parents are asked not to go into classrooms with their children in the mornings. I’m sure you can appreciate that when the bell rings, teachers need to have 100% of their attention focused on greeting students and getting started with their very busy day. If you need to get a message to a teacher in the morning, you may send a note or an e-mail +or stop in the office to make an appointment to meet. Your understanding is greatly appreciated.

Lastly, I would like to welcome our kindergarten parents to join me for our Kindergarten Boo Hoo Breakfast at 8:30 a.m. thefirst day of school. At that time I will go over procedures for dropping off and picking up your children and answer any questions you might have about our kindergarten program. And we’ll have plenty of tissues available for those of you shedding either tears of joy or tears of sadness as your child transitions to kindergarten!

Looking forward to seeing you at the Barbecue on August 31st!