December, 2012

Dear students and families:

Happy Holidays!  With Thanksgiving just over and the holidays just weeks away, this seems like the perfect time to thank so many of you for all you do to make Valley View the wonderful place it is for our students. 

Thanks to the Valley View PTO, students will once again be participating in RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) this year!  The RIF program is a special opportunity for our students to receive a free book on December 6.   Since our district no longer qualifies for this grant, our VVPTO has made an extra effort to support reading as one of their top priorities.   We will have a second RIF distribution in the spring.  Thanks to Bobbi Miner who is organizing volunteers for our distributions this year.  In addition to receiving a free book, we will also have senior citizen volunteers reading in all classrooms on this day, with an extra special readers’ theatre in grade 5.  Thank you to our senior volunteer coordinator Debbie Bodanger for organizing this reading event.

Thank you to all of you who attended out 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade special friends lunches.  This year we had another great turnout.  Your presence means a lot to the children at Valley View.  In addition, we would like to thank Michelle Kallas, Deb Hocking, Michelle DeGrave, and Moira Engles for all of their great work in making sure these days went off so well.

Thanks to all of the dads, grandfathers, uncles, and friends who attended our ‘Date with Dad’ breakfast.  We had an outstanding turnout, as we do each year.  We appreciate all of the hard work of Leanne Snell, who organizes this event each year.  Look for information later this winter about ‘Morning with Mom’.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you who attended parent-teacher conferences over these last few weeks.  These days are important ways for parents and teachers to make connections and share strategies to help our children be successful.  It was wonderful to see so many of you.

Throughout the months of December and January, I encourage students to read as often as possible- even over the winter break!  The cold weather is the perfect time to enjoy a favorite book.

A little about Mr. Bake:

This is my third year as Associate Principal at Valley View.  Prior to this role, I was a second grade teacher at Valley View for five wonderful years.  I also taught at the elementary and middle level in another district prior to teaching in Ashwaubenon.  My wife Paula and I have two children: my daughter Addison is five and my son Peyton is two.  I enjoy travelling and going for walks and bike rides with my family.