What a wonderful first week and a half it has been at Valley View!

Our students have been busy learning routines, making new friends, and settling into the school year. It has been so much fun seeing the excitement and energy throughout the building.

I am incredibly grateful to our staff for the care and enthusiasm they have brought to these first days, and to our families for your patience and partnership as we all get back into school routines.

We had a wonderful turnout at Wednesday’s PTO meeting, and it was so nice to see so many families interested in supporting Valley View. Our PTO plays an important role in helping make so many special events and experiences possible for our students. Please be on the lookout for a Google Form where you can share your interest in getting involved with the PTO and upcoming events in whatever way works best for you. Every little bit of involvement helps!

We are excited to welcome our preschool students on Tuesday! Please be patient and mindful during pickup as we adjust to having our preschool friends join us and settle into our new routines.

I have loved getting to know our students and families and seeing Valley View come to life. We are off to a great start, and I am excited for all that is ahead.

I hope everyone enjoys a relaxing long weekend and gets some well deserved rest!

Ms. Mallory Emmons

Principal

Parent Pick Up Reminder: Thank you for helping us keep dismissal running smoothly! Please be mindful of your arrival time when picking up your child. Parent Pick Up ends at 3:15. If you arrive after 3:15, please come to the main office to sign your child out. We appreciate your patience and cooperation!

Please make sure to email vvattendance@portlandct.us if your child will be absent or if there is a change of dismissal/transportation plans. Please do NOT send messages directly through ParentSquare to the office. The email should include your child’s first and last name, name of teacher, reason for absence, and the date or dates of absence. Please make sure the email is sent the night before or the morning of the absence to ensure the office staff, nurse and teacher are aware. Please make sure the office is aware of all transportation updates regarding your child.

Busing in the Portland Public Schools is provided by M&J Bus. Bus route lists are posted here: https://www.portlandctschools.org/bus-routes The bus lists identify each stop's pick-up/drop-off time and location.

 

On a typical day, when all drivers are present and there are no abnormal road conditions, we expect that the routes will pick up and drop off students at times identified on the bus lists, give or take ten minutes.

 

If parents/guardians need real-time information about the whereabouts of a bus, please call M&J Bus at (860) 342-2217. The dispatcher at M&J Bus has real-time access via radio to all bus drivers.

Your child’s school works with Community Health Center, Inc. School Based Health Center program to provide health services (behavioral/mental health) services to your child during the school day. This means they won’t miss as much class and you don’t need to miss work to support their health care needs. 

Lean more about the services offered at your child’s school and enroll today at SBHC1.com! Interested families can also seek this service through the link or through our school website.

 

Happy Friday & Welcome to a new school year!

Some important information for the school year from the nurses’ office:

Please be sure to contact the Valley View email if your child is going to be absent.  Please include the reason.  I do track illness so I can communicate to parents/ the school community if we have an outbreak of a specific illness.  We also need a doctor’s note for any absence beyond 10 days or for consecutive days.  Students need to remain home for 24 hours after last episode of vomiting and/or diarrhea and must be fever free for 24 hours without medicine.  Any student who has a fever or vomits will need to be picked up.  Please be sure to have all contacts listed in PowerSchool and an emergency contact as well.

Medications cannot be sent in with your child.  Please drop off all medications, including anything over the counter at school.  Office staff can collect medication if I am not available.  A doctor’s order is required as well as the medication in the original container and with prescription label if it is a prescribed medication. 

You should have received the blue standing order forms.If you have not completed it and returned it, please so do as soon as possible.  Be sure to cross off anything you do not want your child to have.  I do not give out Tylenol, Motrin or Benadryl unless I have spoken to a parent/guardian first.  

I communicate through ParentSquare most often.  If your child needs to be picked up or an injury is more serious, I will call first.  If I am unable to reach someone, I will send a message.  Mostly visits are not communicated if they are for minor complaints, abrasions etc. 

 

I am always available during the school day so never hesitate to reach out if you have a question or a concern.  Please keep me updated on illness, injury or medications that are being taken by your child.  All of this information helps me take better care of your child during the school day.

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Mrs. Karen Rettich

Valley View School Nurse

Phone 860 342 3226

It is so exciting to have everyone back in the Valley View Library! Students have started taking home their library bags and practice books this week and will begin to check out books during their third class.  All students will bring home library books unless I hear from you.  Please keep the library bag in a safe place because we only ordered enough for each student to receive one bag for the entire year. 

Our summer reading celebration will be September 16th.  Please send in any reading forms by Tuesday, September 8th if your child read over the summer and they want to be included in our celebration. We have a lot of students who read a lot this summer and it’s wonderful to see! 

During library classes, we have been learning about how our library works and how to take good care of library books when they are reading them at home.  Please help your child to take good care of the books and return them on time.  They do have the option to renew them once.  

Please send back the blue birthday book club forms if you think you want your child to participate this year.  Our first birthday book club will be for September and October birthdays and it will be held on September 23rd. Information will be emailed soon for those who sent in their forms and have a September or October birthday.  Thanks in advance for your support of our VV Library.  

Melissa Thorpe

Library Media Specialist

Welcome back to the art room for the new school year! For their first lesson, Kindergarten and First-grade artists created a portfolio to store work that doesn't go home right away. First graders learned to create their name in bubble letters, and both grades focused on showing something about themselves to the others in their class. We saw lots of rainbows, pets, sports scenes, and family members. Take a look at a few of the charming results!

Mrs. Julie French

Visual Art Teacher

Greetings Valley View Families...My name is Ms. Denise and I provide breakfast and lunch here at Valley View! Welcome to all new families joining us and welcome back to our returning families. I look forward to working with your students and getting to know them all throughout the year. 

I have a couple of things to point out to get us started. The biggest and most exciting news is that Breakfast is FREE for all students. If your child should be eating breakfast at school, let them know they need to come see me in the Cafeteria before they head to their classrooms. 

Secondly, milk is included in any complete meal. However, if your students wish to purchase milk to have with their lunches from home it costs 60 cents. In addition to purchasing milk your children will have the opportunity to buy other items throughout the school year. Thursdays will be our designated "Snack Day" In order to purchase milk or snack, students must have a positive balance in their student lunch account or cash can be sent in to school. 

More detailed information regarding snack day will be sent out soon. 

Hope everyone has had a great start to the year!