The crisp autumn air and beautiful fall colors are finally here! Friday, October 23rd marked the end of the first grading period! It is hard to believe that we are 25% of the way through the school year already. Grade cards were sent home already, and we held our first quarter rewards party on Monday. Students enjoyed fresh cake donuts, cider, milk, and juice thanks to the generosity of our outstanding Grover Hill Elementary PTO. We have a fantastic PTO here at WTGHE! They just wrapped up their annual fund-raiser, and they ended the event having made nearly $7,000 that they will re-invest in the students and staff here at Grover Hill. Thanks to all of the parents, grandparents, relatives, and community members who supported their Butter Braid sale. Our third grade students completed their 3rd grade reading assessments on Tuesday, October 27th and Wednesday, October 28th. This is the assessment that third grade students must pass in order to be promoted to the fourth grade. When you hear of the “Third Grade Reading Guarantee,” this is the test they are referring to. Any student not passing the fall test will be provided additional reading interventions and will take the test again in the spring. The 1st annual Grover Hill Elementary Costume Caravan is also now in the history book. Students dressed up in their favorite Halloween or character costume and classes had the opportunity to walk around town showing off their outfits. Payne Elementary has done something similar for quite a number of years, and COVID forced us to stray away from our normal costume parade. I think it was so well received that this may be a new annual event here in Grover Hill. As the years pass by, I envision our costume caravan around town growing in size and rivaling the event that Payne holds each year. Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, November 4th from 5:30 to 8:30 and on Thursday, November 5th from 1:00 to 8:00 pm. Teachers have already sent home conference forms with their students and parents were asked to mark what type of conference they wanted. Options this year included a phone conference at a mutually agreeable time, a virtual conference using Google Meet, or a face-to face conference at the school. For those wanting virtual or face-to-face, instructions were sent home so parents could log into our online conference scheduler and schedule the time slot that works best for them. If parents have any questions, please call the school office at 419-399-4100, option #3. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call the school. Be sure to mark November 4th and 5th on your calendar and sign up for your parent -teacher conference. Remember that due to conferences, there will be no school on Friday, November 6th and there will be no school on Monday, November 9th due to staff development. With COVID cancelling many of our school activities this fall, it seems that there is not much to report on, but I am pleased to say that we are busy learning each day and we feel blessed that we are able to still meet five days a week and in person. As any parent can tell you, there is no at-home learning that can replace what happens here at Grover Hill Elementary every day. Continue to be safe, and we will continue to do our part to make sure our students are safe here at school so in-person learning can continue.
Respectfully, Mark Lange Principal