Friday Updates

October 31, 2014

Dennis R. Kergick

Panther Valley School District

Happy Halloween! Well we made it through October. November is here and already they have said the “snow” word. That is so hard to believe and it seems like only yesterday we were preparing for our students to attend the opening of school. I think that time travels far too quickly in most cases and it scares me. Is it just me or am I thinking along the same lines that you are thinking?

Thoughts for the week

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

Leo Tolstoy

Or

“If you want to make enemies, try to change something.”

Woodrow Wilson

Wow, is this a set of loaded quotes…I felt like picking two this week. I think that I have been in this predicament from time to time. We all are facing change in a number of factors in our lives. I also realize that change is sometimes viewed as a negative word. It does require modifying the way we view things and it also can be difficult to implement. I know that change has been one of the major points for all of us this past year. It isn’t easy and it hurts. Giving up the way that we have always done things will be part of the process. I need everyone to understand that we are all involved in this process. With impending release of the SPP it is abundantly clear that change is necessary. I would like to believe that all of us are willing to change the way we feel and do things.

Panther Valley High School

Mr. Gunnels reports that on Wednesday October 29, 2014 the PVHS Band performed a Halloween Concert at 7:00 PM in the auditorium. Young musicians from the elementary, middle and high schools joined together for an evening of fun. Ms. Catlin Guinn stunned the audience when she performed the theme form Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas on the grand piano! On Friday October 31, 2014 a dress down was held to benefit the Senior All Night Party. Also, students in Mr. Kasien's and Mrs. Martin's classes attended a Poetry Festival ad DeSales University in Center Valley.

Senior Night for members of the band and cheerleading will be held during the football season finale will take place this evening at the High School Stadium v. North Schuylkill.

Mini-Float Parade and HS Fun

The Panther Valley High School is just one of those places that makes you feel good about why we joined the field of education. The staff and students are always involved with activities and programs that provide much needed stress relief and allows students to be creative, relaxed and themselves.

The mini-float parade was held on Friday October 24th and the theme was “Halloween”. A truly marvelous experience for all involved and the attached photos are courtesy of Mr. James Hull and Mr. Rick Morgans.

Panther Valley Middle School

The middle school celebrated Red Ribbon Week this week. There have been many events running all week. Students were given a red ribbon to wear all week long. Each day during a different class period, students receive “PAWS” if they are wearing their ribbon. Raffles are being sold each day at lunch for the famous dodgeball tournament that is held on Friday afternoon. There have been dress down days all week to support this effort – Monday was the kick off day and everyone wore red. Tuesday’s theme was “our futures are bright when we are drug free” and students wore bright colored shirts. Wednesday we stomped out drugs by wearing two different shoes. Twins united against drugs on Thursday as students dress in jeans and matching shirts. The week ended Friday with drugs being no sweat and students wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts. There is a poster contest also running for the week and the winner will be announced Friday afternoon during the dodgeball tournament. All grades watched a different video one day during 9th period. 8th grade watched Truth and Choices: Shane’s story, 7th grade watched Natural High 2, and 6th grade watched Natural High. This is always a great week for our students and a special thanks goes out to Mrs. Ogozalek for putting this all together. Ametek, Inc. has been assigned to the Panther Valley School District team to highlight in the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” video contest this year! This project is being headed up by Janet Branchide in the middle school. Students who are involved include Jordan Bamford, Aaron Miller, Trey Turner, Erica Tout, and Emiline Markovich. The group will be creating a 90 second video to submit to PBS as the

first step in this process. It is very exciting to be a part of this program and work with a company that has supported our district through the years. Kim Laird, 8th Grade Language Arts teacher, and Lucy Kozuch, 8th Grade Math teacher both had the opportunity to attend professional development opportunities at the IU this week. Kim attended the ELA Networking Session and gained knowledge about the Text Dependent Analysis and there was new information from the state released about the ELA PSSA test. Lucy is a member of the new Math Design Collaborative and will be reporting back on the information presented.

Panther Valley Elementary School

September Positive Panthers

The Panther Valley Elementary PBS Team instituted a new student recognition program this year. Positive Panthers are recognized by their classroom teachers for improved or model behavior in the classroom. The students are chosen monthly and their picture is displayed on the front lobby bulletin board. At the end of each marking period, the students will receive a certificate at the awards assembly. Panther Valley Elementary School was excited to celebrate Red Ribbon Week and Bullying Prevention Month in October. Red Ribbon Week is a National event that focuses on preventing drug, alcohol and tobacco use and having students pledge to live a healthy, drug, free life. Life is a work of art. Color it drug free! - Camouflage Day was one of the many themes that we tied in to our drug free/anti-bullying activities. Chief Smith and Officer Wattke of the Nesquehoning Police Department distributed lollipops and flashing buttons to all students in grades K-5. The buttons were designed to be worn during trick-or-treat nights to enable students to be seen while walking along the highways or crossing the streets. The students loved the buttons and interacting with the police officers.

Photo courtesy of Lehighton Times News

Sweet Treats

Panther Valley Elementary kindergarten students, from left, Julio Diaz III, Chase Kerestes and Willow Schlegel pick out their goodies in the school cafeteria Wednesday morning as Nesquehoning Police Chief Sean Smith watches. The treats were sponsored by the Panther Valley school board and Kovatch Motorsports. The Nesquehoning Police have been running the program for about 10 years.

Happy Halloween from 1st Grade Staff in Downtown Nesquehoning !!!!!!