Check out our May PTSO newsletter below! Reach out if you have any questions, suggestions, or interest in volunteering!
Our Board Election Is Tomorrow at 4pm!
Please join us tomorrow, Tuesday May 17 at 4pm at school (main entrance), for the May meeting and election for next year's board! Click here for the full agenda!
We have eight amazing candidates excited to step up and lead the PTSO next year, including our current VP and Treasurer. Please see the flyer below (or at this link) to meet all our candidates — thank you so much to all these awesome volunteers for stepping up!
Can't make it to the meeting? You can vote early (and anonymously) through this Google Form: https://tinyurl.com/JVF-election-22. All members of the JVF community are welcome to vote. You may vote only once, and ballots must be received by May 17 at 4pm to be counted.
And if you're interested to get involved with the PTSO for next year, to be part of a committee or to lead a project, you can always send us an email at jvfptso@gmail.com! (We would also be glad to have a dedicated Treasurer!)
Thank you! Here's to another great year ahead!
📚 Family Fun Night Is BACK! This Friday 5/20 from 6-8pm!
If you are a parent of a certain age, or have a kid of a certain age, you may remember Family Fun Nights—free monthly events at JVF open to all. Well this Friday we are (finally!) bringing back the story time/literacy-themed FFN, at JVF from 6 to 8pm. Kids will have the opportunity to write poems, listen to read-aloud stories, play theater games, and make a bookmark to take home—and everyone leaves with free books! Snacks will be provided and there will be plenty to do, so come on down this Friday! Special thanks to our Literacy Chair Kristen Holt-Browning for organizing, and to our awesome volunteers for the evening: Gwynne Watkins, Phoebe Zinman, Mrs. Coleman, Mrs. Tompkins, Andrea Lenci-Cerchiara, and Hannah Holdsworth!
📖 Home Stretch for the Read-A-Thon! Ends Friday 5/20!
WOW! Our hard-working readers have read nearly 50,000 minutes and raised over $2,600!! We have a stretch goal of reaching $3,000 by this Friday 5/20 — can we do it?! Here's our school page if you or your friends and family want to make a pledge! Thank you so much and keep up the amazing work! The top 3 reading classes and top readers in each grade will receive special prizes! The proceeds will help support classroom author visits, enhance our library media center, and fund other PTSO programming next year!
🦅 Thank You for Supporting Our Fabulous 5th Grade Falcons!
A huge THANK YOU to all the supporters of our 5th Grade Committee's awesome raffle and GoFundMe campaign! With your help, we raised over $1700 to support our 5th grade Falcons with end-of-year celebrations! Raffle winners have been contacted individually to arrange delivery.
If you'd like to make a donation, you still can through our GoFundMe page!
Enormous thanks to our fantastic 5th Grade Committee: Bekah, Jodi, Phoebe, Caitlin, Diana, Loni, Christina, Kelsey, Dan, Kelly, and most of all Margaux and Dave who spearheaded this awesome effort!
For any current 4th grade parents, we would love to keep the momentum going next year — please email us at jvfptso@gmail.com if you'd like to be on next year's 5th Grade Committee!
🌸 Thank You for Shopping Our Spring Flower Sale!
Thank you to all who ordered cheery geraniums, color bowls, and gift cards from Sabellico's! With your help, we sold over $533 worth of flowers and made $102 that will help support end-of-year activities!
🌎 Thank You to Our Earth Day Cleanup Volunteers!
Thank you so much to all the awesome volunteers who came out last month to help us beautify JVF's campus! Our crew cleaned up and marked off a looping hiking trail, and unearthed some more big bulk trash too! Our grounds are looking great and ready for some nature walks this spring! Thank you to Green Beacon Coalition for spearheading!
🌈 JVF Springfest Success!
What an incredible time we had at the first-ever JVF Springfest!! Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate spring with us!
A humongous thank you to our wonderful co-organizers on the JVF Building Leadership Team: Mrs. Ciotoli, Mrs. Joyce, Mrs. Tompkins, and Principal Wiggins; our fabulously talented musicians Thom Joyce, Tom Kelly, Martin Courtney, Jessica Kepler Cloutier, Perrin Cloutier, and Hayden Cummings; our fantastic green group friends at Stony Kill Foundation (Annabeth), Green Teen Beacon (Samantha, Aidon, and Cody), and One Nature; facilities/security team superstars Anthony, Wayne, and Will; Mr. Z, who kindly lent us lawn game equipment; 5th Grade Committee volunteers Jodi, Phoebe, Margaux, and Dave; our awesome Student Council helpers Desmond, Kylie, Marina, Willow, and friends Addison and Gabby, and advisors Ms. Gall and Mrs. Pezzo; our generous volunteers Ms. Grant, Jessica, Monika, Dan, Kristen, Andrea, Tom, Henry, Hannah, Jaime, Chris, Peter, James, Mandy, Daryl, Val, Brin, Teagan, Loni, and Zoraida; and all the families who came out to make the event a success!
Thank you for all the donations too — we really appreciate your support and look forward to putting on more events like Springfest in future! For more pics and some fun videos of the event, check out this Google Photos album!
✏️ Creative Workshops with Local Author/Illustrator Deb Lucke
JVF's 4th and 5th graders enjoyed creative workshops last week with awesome local author/illustrator Deb Lucke, creator of The Lunch Witch! Thank you, Deb, for sharing your craft with our students! And thanks to PTSO volunteer Tessa Dean for your help organizing! (photo credits: Ms. Fisher)
Helpful Reminders
📕 Book Nook
The Book Nook is a free resource for all JVF students. Remind your kids to stop by the Nook, just outside the nurse's office, to check it out! Kids can take as many books as they wish and they don't need to be returned! Special thanks to our Literacy Chair, Kristen Holt-Browning, for spearheading this great program!
Mark the Marker Recycling Program
All year long our students and staff will be collecting used Crayola and Non-Crayola brand markers, Dry-Erase markers and Highlighters. We will ship what we collect to Crayola for free recycling! We encourage families to participate by sending in your used plastic markers from home. Look for MARK the MARKER, our collection box, located at the main entrance! Thank you for helping JVF do our part to protect the environment. Special thanks again to PTSO member extraordinaire Margaux Lange for spearheading this program!
⏰ Upcoming Dates and Programs
Here are some key dates coming up:
May 17, 4pm at JVF – JVF PTSO May Meeting and Board Elections for next year!
May 20, 6-8pm at JVF – Literacy-themed Family Fun Night (and the last day of our Read-A-Thon!)
May 30 – No school for Memorial Day
🔖 Helpful Resources
We send out a monthly PTSO newsletter and occasional special announcements to keep everyone updated on news, events, and volunteer opportunities. Sometimes you’ll also get paper flyers sent home with your child(ren). For up-to-the-minute updates, be sure to follow the JV Forrestal PTSO Facebook page (our online bulletin board) and join the JV Forrestal PTSO Facebook discussion group (our closed discussion group.)
Not on Facebook? The JVF PTSO is also on Instagram (@jvforrestalptso) and Twitter (@JVFPTSO). On Twitter, also follow @MsSessoms and @JVFElementary.
For your reference, you'll find the JV Forrestal Student Handbook here and the BCSD Code of Conduct here. Get the latest BCSD Superintendent Blog post here.
Shop and Earn Money for JVF!
Did you know that when you shop at ShopRite or purchase Box Tops products, you can easily earn free money for JVF? Follow the links below (it’ll take 5 minutes!) to set it up and watch the rewards roll in! Thank you so much for helping our school!
ShopRite for My School: Click here to register your ShopRite card and earn money for JVF each time you shop! This program will automatically redeem any Box Tops credits you get from products you buy at ShopRite!
Box Tops for Education: For any Box Tops products you buy outside of ShopRite, you can still earn 10 cents per product for JVF! The Box Tops program has gone fully digital — download the Box Tops app and scan your receipts!
The JVF PTSO:
Fostering community among JVF families and staff
Email: jvfptso@gmail.com
Website: jvfptso.com