New Panther Ball Date: Friday, November 4, 2022
After careful consideration, we have decided to postpone this spring’s Panther Ball and Auction to Friday, November 4, 2022. The event will be held at the Bradbury/Vault Virginia on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall and will honor Peabody’s exceptional teachers, with all proceeds dedicated to supporting them, their professional development, and tangible classroom needs.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or would like to help, please contact our event chairs Sarah Krishnaraj (parent of Priya and Nayan) or Kiran Chapman (parent of Hank).
Thanks in advance for your support, and stay tuned for much more information in the coming weeks and months!
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Peabody Family Speaker Series
Join us for the third session of our Family Speaker Series, and our first in-person session of the year! Featuring Alejandro Prince, Educational ProgramsCoordinator at the Virginia Center for InclusiveCommunities. VCIC has been a Peabody partner since2019. To learn more, visit inclusiveva.org/
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Charlottesville Family Awards
We are proud to share that Peabody placed in the top 3 in 5 categories in the Charlottesville Family Awards!
Best Preschool
Best Private School-- Elementary School
Best Private School-- Middle School
Best Preschool Teacher-- Ella Chin
Best Middle School Teacher-- Kris Chain
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Book Fair
As mentioned in last week's newsletter, this year's Peabody Book Fair will be held from March 7-11 in the Peabody library. The Book Fair is a great opportunity to stock up your home book collection while also supporting the school, as 25%-35% of all proceeds from book sales will translate into new books for the library and our classrooms. You also have the opportunity to gift a book to a teacher directly from their wishlist.
Students will have the initial chance Monday and Tuesday to peruse the offerings at school and compile their wish lists, which will then be sent home in backpacks on one of those two days. Meanwhile, parents may browse the Peabody book fair website themselves through Bookworm Central to search for additional titles only available online, and also are welcome to come to the school to purchase books anytime Wednesday through Friday, 9-2:30 and during the evening from 3:30-7:30. Transactions may be finalized in person using a credit card, cash, or by sending a check to the school for the exact amount, made out to Peabody School.
For those interested in volunteering to help, you may still sign up here for any of the few available slots that remain. If you have already signed up to help staff any of the book fair time slots, Peabody's library Mary Beth Perry will reach out the week before the fair with more details and information
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Join Us for Peabody Partners in Action!
February
26: Hiking Club, 10:00 AM-1:00 PM at Patricia A Byrom Forest Preserve. The club will hike the outer loop of the preserve, up to Flat Top Mountain, 4 miles (2 up and 2 down in a loop). It is very steep and will take 2.5-3 hours. Prizes for anyone able to carry a full conversation while headed up the hill. Please RSVP to Nicola McGoff if your family or child(ren) plan to attend. Parents are encouraged to join in but not required.
March
5: Partners for the Earth will meet again at Rivanna River Company at 3:00 PM Saturday to clear invasive plants and plant native plants, followed by refreshments together. Please bring your own drinking vessels and work gloves, and be sure to RSVP to Eric if you plan to attend
8: Peabody Book Fair AND Parent Speaker Series, 6:30-7:30: Social Health & Inclusivity: Alejandro Prince from VCIC will be at Peabody (In-person! In the school!) to talk about raising socially inclusive kids. Middle school students are invited to attend the presentation, and childcare will be available for students PS-4 whose parents would like to attend. If you plan to attend, please RSVP here.
26: Hiking Club: Location TBD and Music Together: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Dori Freeman @ The Front Porch
April
2: Partners for the Earth will meet at Rivanna River Company at 3:00 PM Saturday to clean up riverbanks, help clear invasives, and plant natives. Afterward, we’ll have time to enjoy some refreshments together. Please BRING YOUR OWN DRINKING VESSELS.
9: No outing, Spring Break
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Oh, to be a First Grader Again, Part 1
Integrated learning, and the joys of brain-boosting. threading the needle between planning and learning from mistakes
Peabody’s first grade this year is guided by the dynamic duo of Ms. Fox and Ms. Armstrong. Both veteran teachers, Ms. Fox is one of the well-known highlights of the Peabody experience, while Ms. Armstrong just began sharing her talents with our community this year after many successful years in area public schools. Each class is constantly abuzz with engagement, and I stopped in both rooms this past week to experience the excitement.
As someone who throughout her childhood enjoyed both helping and performing, Ms. Fox knew from an early age that she wanted to be a teacher, and in her planning draws frequently upon the most memorable and impactful learning experiences from her own childhood. She very intentionally sets the bar in her classroom “just on the cusp between possible and impossible,” assessing constantly whether the experiences she orchestrates are boosting brains, growing hearts, and allowing opportunities to go deep and make connections. Sitting in a lesson on fractions, one is struck certainly and immediately by the systematicity with which learners are guided through a shared vocabulary and mutually supportive conceptual understanding of how the fractions work and how they can be used.
Even more profound, though, is the facility with which Ms. Fox notices and seizes every spontaneous opportunity to connect one compartment of learning to others. While using the number line to help learners map out and visualize the relationships of different fractions to one another, Ms. Fox deftly pointed out the similarities between the number line they were using on the board and the chronological timeline for the Ancient Roman civilization that they were studying in social studies. Later, one student noticed that their number line was reminding him a bit of a ruler; wouldn’t you know it, but Ms. Fox just “happened” to have both a yardstick and a meter stick at the ready up on the chalk tray for everyone to then examine and apply some of their emerging understanding of these concepts. It turned out, too, that another student had seized Ms. Fox’s always-open invitation to extend learning however one feels inspired, as he pulled out a loaf of ancient Roman bread he had made at home with his family, offering that they had had to use fractions to make that bread. All of these connections between oft-compartmentalized subject areas represent the kind of integrated learning that at once deepens understanding and heightens engagement, as it offers learners multiple opportunities to reinforce their learning from different angles and to plug into learning from diverse areas of interest and experience.
Thank you, Ms. Fox, for always thinking carefully, creatively, and holistically about all the opportunities to engage, support, and challenge our first graders. Meanwhile, readers, check back next week for our second episode highlighting life in first grade and an in-depth peek into Ms. Armstrong’s class.
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Theater Arts Camp
Ms. Saunders, Ms. Parr, and Ms. Colleen are so excited to be offering a Theater Arts camp this summer! Please see this flyer for details. To register and find instructions for submitting payment, please fill out this form. Registration is first-come, first-served once you have filled out the form and paid in full to reserve your spot. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to one or all of the instructors!
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Annual Fund
It is not too late to participate in the Annual Fund! Your participation in the Peabody Annual Fund provides essential operating support to Peabody. Income from tuition does not cover all of our operating expenses. The generosity of our community supports almost everything that keeps Peabody running, from salaries and classroom technology to arts and supplies. Lastly, the Fund supports financial aid as we ensure that any student can share in the Peabody experience. We hope that you will support Peabody in this area and that you will keep in mind that your Annual Fund gift, of any size, really matters to the school. Let's all MAKE AN IMPACT!
Thank you in advance for your consideration of a gift to Peabody School for the 2021-22 year and for being such strong supporters of our wonderful school! Please remember to keep us in your plans for the end of tax year giving.
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Parent Information Center
- Financial Aid applications are due on March 1st.
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We Love our Peabody Students and Teachers! |
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