Mr. Leida’s Page

It is certainly a time for lots of celebration at Pleasantville. I would like to thank all of the parents and family members for your tremendous support at Parent/Teacher Conferences, Polar Assemblies, and during our S.M.A.R.T Kids Day. This type of involvement significantly contributes to making Pleasantville Elementary such a special school. We are so proud of the Pleasantville School Community that raised nearly $400.00 during our penny drive for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Kudos to the 3^rd grade students who filled almost 3 entire ‘fish’ bowls. Congratulations to all of our S.M.A.R.T. Kids Day winners, 2^nd Marking Period Honor Roll students, and our 2^nd Marking Period Polar Students. Keep giving 100% each and every day.

Our 5^th graders have been working hard in preparation for our 1^st Annual Battle of the Books Competition. Several students have been selected to ‘Battle’ against students from Wilbur Elementary School on December 9th @ 4:30 in the Pleasantville gymnasium. It is certainly an exciting time for those children and we wish them the best of luck!

As always, this is an exciting time of year with many different activities. On Thursday, December 11^th, we have our Winter Concert at George Read Middle School. Our chorus and band students have spent a lot of time and effort practicing in anticipation for this concert and I look forward to celebrating their talents. On Wednesday, December 17^th, we have a Pleasantville McDonald’s Night at the Hares’ Corner McDonald’s. Several staff will be ‘working’ at McDonald’s from 4 to 7 that evening and a portion of the proceeds from purchases made that evening will be donated to the PTA. Finally, I would like to welcome the newest addition to our staff, Ms. Sateriale, who will be the kindergarten teacher in Room 32. On behalf of the staff, I would like to wish each of you a safe, relaxing, and fun winter break. As always, thanks for all of your support.

Dear Pleasantville Families,

Thank you for all of your support through the first couple months of the school year. It’s amazing that November is already upon us. We had a terrific turnout for our Celebration of Reading Night on October 22^nd. Almost 400 people were in attendance, in addition to the staff, and enjoyed a number of wonderful activities including the door decoration contest, which was won by Rooms 35 and 11! Several parents took an on-line survey before they left that evening and I would like to thank them for their input as it will help us with planning future reading nights. The survey will be available on-line at http://pleida.edublogs.org/until November 7th, we look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks to the PTA for the delicious dinner!

In the next week, you will receive information about the parent-teacher conferences, which are just around the corner. Please take the time to schedule a conference and learn about your child’s progress at Pleasantville.

SMART kids day is scheduled for November 24^th during the school day. This annual event showcases the Science and Math talents of our students. We hope that you will be able to join us for part or all of the day as a volunteer in the classroom. Information will come home in the near future about signing up to help during the day and to help with the penny drive donation for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. As always, thank you for all of your support!

Thank you so much for coming to Pleasantville for our Celebration of Reading! Please take the time to click on this link and take a quick survey!

Reading Night Survey

 Dear Pleasantville Families,

I would like to thank you for helping us to get off to a terrific start of the school year. Our Open House was very well attended and the staff enjoyed meeting with you. As stated during Open House, we are committed to making Pleasantville a safe and wonderful learning community that rivals all schools in achieving high academic standards. Your support towards this goal is greatly needed and appreciated.

Since our Open House, we have had a couple of changes to our office staff. Mr. Haber (Assistant Principal) has been moved to Wilbur Elementary School and Mrs. Nuneville (Student Advisor) was placed at Pleasantville. I’d like to thank you in advance for welcoming Mrs. Nuneville to Pleasantville. It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that Mrs. Guajardo has been moved to McCullough Middle School. Her warm and welcoming smile and cheer will be greatly missed by the Pleasantville community. 

We have our 2nd Annual Celebration of Reading Night scheduled for October 22nd from 5:30 to 6:30. The evening will be filled with fun and informative reading activities for both students and parents. Additional information will be provided in the near future and I hope that we have the same type of terrific turnout that we had last year.

We’d like to congratulate Ms. Kolinka who was nominated as an outstanding educator to receive an Office Max award titled, ‘A Day Made Better’. On October 1st, Ms. Kolinka was visited by a representative from Office Max who presented her and her class with a variety of supplies including a digital camera, teacher chair, and many, many other school items.  Ms. Kolinka was one of only 1,200 teachers across the nation to receive this recognition.

As most of you are aware, the Colonial School District has moved to 6 marking periods. This gives us an opportunity to provide all parents with an update regarding the children’s progress on a more frequent basis. The first marking period ends on October 3rd and report cards will be mailed home on October 10th. If you have any questions about the report cards or grades, please contact your child’s teacher. As a reminder, at the end of the 2nd marking period (November 14th), we will have Parent-Teacher Conferences from November 18th through the 21st. As always, thank you for all of your continued support and please contact us with any questions or concerns.

We are off to a terrific start this school year! The students have quickly adjusted to the routines and procedures and are really in the swing of things. We are looking forward to an exciting year this year with a number of activities planned both during and after the school day. Of course, our first activity is our Open House on September 16th. We will start the evening with a brief meeting in the gym before proceeding to the classrooms. We strongly discourage having  children attend the Open House as it is an opportunity for the parents to hear about the classrooms and school year from the teacher.

I’d like to thank each and every parent of a car riding student for their patience and cooperation during the car line dismissal. We have continued to work out the ‘kinks’ and have things moving smoother each day. We believe that it has really helped to ensure the safety of our children at dismissal.

As you may or may not know, we have the newest reading series from Harcourt. We will be implementing the curriculum this year and you will have an opportunity to learn more about it during our Celebration of Reading Night on October 22nd. This should be a fun family evening where students and parents will have an opportunity to listen to ‘celebrity staff readers’, take AR quizzes, and learn of ways to integrate reading at home. We are looking to have parents serve on our Reading Night Task Force to help plan the evening for our families. The first meeting will be on September 8th from 3:30 to 4:30 in the library.

We are really hoping to increase our parent involvement through our school activities this coming year.  We will have a number of events asking for parents to be involved either during or after the school day. If every parent participates in at least one of the events, we will have met our expectations for this year.

Again, I would like to thank you for your continued support and as always if you have any questions or concerns, please contact us either by phone (323-2935) or through email, which can be found on the website.

Sincerely,

Peter J. Leida

Principal

 Dear Pleasantville Families,

I would like to welcome you to the 2008-2009 school year! The Pleasantville Staff is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with your children and know that they will find Pleasantville Elementary School to be an exciting learning atmosphere. I would like to welcome the following educators to the Pleasantville Elementary Staff: Steven B. Haber (Asst. Principal), Holli Millman (Art), Stephanie Hemler (4th Gr.). We wish both Mrs. Haushalter and Ms. Sareyka the best of luck in their new schools.

Parents, it is quite normal for children to become excited and perhaps a bit apprehensive about the start of a new school year. In support of a smooth start, you are invited to “Tour of Pleasantville” on Tuesday, August 19, 2008, from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. This event provides an opportunity for parents and students to learn their way around the school and become comfortable in their school environment. Administrators will be present to provide maps of the school and guide you in the right direction; however, teachers will not be present during this time. We are also having our PTA Back-To-School Social that evening in the cafeteria, which will give you an opportunity to join our PTA and meet other Pleasantville families. Our formal Open House is schedule for September 16th beginning at 6:30.

Kindergarten and 1^st grade students will find a card and label with contact information and his/her homeroom number. Please add the transportation information after you receive the flyer from the transportation department. Also, pin the card to your child’s shirt throughout the first week of school. This will help ensure that he/she gets to the proper classroom and gets home safely at dismissal time. We suggest that you label all of your child’s possessions with his/her name and room number.

All 2nd – 5th grade students will get their homeroom assignments with their transportation information. The transportation department will mail out bus information around August 13th. If you notice a discrepancy with the transportation information, contact us as soon as possible. We will have staff members available to assist students in finding their homerooms on the first day of school. 

The first day of school is Wednesday, August 20, 2008. Children may arrive by 8:20 a.m., classes begin at 8:45, and dismissal will be at 3:14 p.m. We ask that all children who will usually ride the bus to school do so the first day, so that they will be familiar with the routine. If a parent/guardian would like to see their child’s first entry into school, it would always be better to follow in a car. It is important that children know their bus stops, drivers and fellow riders as soon as possible. Parents/guardians will not be permitted to walk to the classrooms on the first day, so that we can get the children in their routines as soon as possible.

Each month, you will receive a copy of the Pleasantville Post to inform you of upcoming events at Pleasantville. Additionally, the Pleasantville Parent and Student Handbook will provide detailed information for you. If you have any questions, please contact us at any time during the school year to discuss your child, so we can have a coordinated educational approach.

I am truly looking forward to the new school year and anxiously waiting to meet the children on the first day of school, Wednesday, August 20, 2008.

Resources for Parents: If you are interested in learning more about reading and helping your child to improve his/her reading ability, visit these sites. They provide parents and educators with current research and strategies for teaching reading and early literacy skills. 

Reading is Fundamental

Reading Rockets

The Florida Center for Reading Research

The Parent Institute

National Reading Panel

Internet for Classrooms

Safe Sites For Children: Make reading fun! Encourage your child to visit these safe websites either at home or at the library. They will develop their reading skills using a variety of engaging activities and games. Have them show you the sites and what they are doing. Pleasantville students should be familiar with several of these sites as they have used them in the classroom.

Fun Brain

PBS Kids

Starfall-(Great site for pre-school/kindergarten/early elementary)

Primary Games

Read, Write, Think

Funschool

Kids Click-(Search engine for kids developed by librarians)

Scholastic-(Allows children to play games and read some of their favorite books.)

Game Goo

Readquarium