GVA Mrs. Broedlow

Let's give it up for our kindness week stand-outs who were nominated by their teachers for their extraordinary acts of kindness! ♥️

Pictured, we have our parking lot greeters who held signs of encouragement during student drop off to our GVA families, Yvette Vazquez from Mrs. Broedlow's class for spreading positivity and Nathan Vazquez from Mrs. Bruce's class for his great attitude in working as a buddy in the connecting room.

Congratulations everyone, it's thanks to your efforts that help make our school a warmer and welcoming place to be, day in and day out ☺️

Check out The GVA Way Podcast to see why GVA is so unique!

The GVA Way Listen to The GVA Way on Spotify. Great Valley Academy schools exist to champion safe, loved, and learning communities for ALL. Join GVA leaders and community members as they discuss a variety of topics related to education, innovation, leadership, and more.

One middle school teacher begs parents to please keep phones out of kids' bedrooms at night!

Parents, please listen to what one teacher shared with us about helping kids get much needed sleep:

"I teach middle school, and we have many, many students who are falling asleep in class all day because they take their phones to bed and stay up on them, sometimes all night."

"The kids admit it and even brag they were texting each other at 3:30 a.m.. When I ask parents about this, they say they tell the children they can’t use the phones and their kids promise to go to sleep, but parents won’t confiscate the devices. They say they don’t want to make the kids mad. When I ask who pays for the service, they look confused."

"Parents, please, please understand that if you let middle schoolers take their phones to bed with them, no matter what they promise you, they won’t go to sleep! It’s such a huge temptation. Help them resist by taking that phone and locking it away if you have to. Our children desperately need sleep to grow and learn!"

Great advice! EVERY. SINGLE. EXPERT from pediatricians to internet safety gurus to child psychologists agrees that phones DO. NOT. belong in the bedroom at night.

✅ Establish a curfew for the device to checked in with you. Ideally this will be at least one hour before lights are out. Our devices should go to bed long before we do. Down time before sleep time is huge!

✅ Be sure to also establish a curfew on the device itself through parental controls. On an iPhone - Settings > Downtime > Toggle on > Enter down time .

✅ Don't cave to "I need my phone to wake up in the morning." Get an old school alarm clock for each of your kids.

✅ Talk to your kids about the importance of sleep and the crucial role it plays in physical and mental health. Sleep makes a big difference on the academic front too.

Kids thrive with healthy boundaries. It is our job to establish and enforce them. You've got this parents. 🙌🙌🙌

Year 12! @greatvalleyacademy

Mrs. de Visser is amazing!

This week's Administrator Highlight is Mrs. Brianna deVisser

We are getting ready for a great school year at GVA! We can't wait to see you on August 9th.

Love our admin team!

We hope you are enjoying your summer. It's hard to believe the new school year is right around the corner. We want to take the opportunity as the new school year approaches to introduce our administrators at GVA - Modesto.

Stay tuned because each week we will be launching a short bio on each of our administrators. So, enjoy your last few weeks of summer and know that your GVA - Modesto administrators are hard at work preparing for a great school year.

❤️

This week's Administrator Highlight is Mrs. Jennifer Farley.

Join us for the next few weeks as we highlight our school administrators as we ramp up for the start of the new school year.

8 FIGHTS WORTH PICKING WITH YOUR KIDS:

Parenting is hard. Parents have to choose their battles. Here are 8 fights worth picking with your kids:

The Reading Fight:
Make your kids read. Because reading is tied to everything from cognitive development to the ability to focus. Make your kids read now.

The Outside Fight:
Make your kids go outside. The natural world teaches us things. Plus, outside there's sunshine, fresh air, and exercise waiting for them. Most importantly, nature is full of things in short supply in our world: Discovery, wonder, peace, joy.

The Work Fight:
Make your kids work. I’m saddened by how many parents don’t require their kids to lift a finger at home. There are priceless life principles you can only learn with a mop in your hand. Let sweat be their teacher.

The Meal Fight:
Make your kids eat as a family. Our lives are a blur of incessant activity. Meals together are a physical pause to recover a truth so easily sacrificed at the altar of busyness. Nothing's more important than family.

The Boredom Fight:
Make your kids live with boredom. Don't show a DVD on each car ride. Kids need unscheduled time. And, odd as it sounds, boredom is a skill. It's hard as a parent to deal with the assault of boredom complaints. But if you give in and fill up their time with external stimuli, you'll raise an activity addict. Make them learn how to be.

The "Me First" Fight:
Make your kids go last. Not every time for everything. But enough to remember that the world doesn't revolve around them. Take the smallest piece. Give up the remote. Do someone else's chores. Get their least favorite choice. They won't like it, but they need it.

The Awkward Conversation Fight:
Make your kids have uncomfortable conversations with you. S*x, dating, body image, values...Your kids will roll their eyes and resist. You will stumble and stutter. They need and want your perspective, lessons learned, and wisdom.

The Limitation Fight:
Learning to live within limits is a valuable life skill. In fact, many adult problems arise from an inability to accept them. Screen time limits, dietary limits, activity limits, and schedule limits are all good.

As a parent, you have to pick your battles. They're not easy, but they're worth the fight.

Original from David Morris on Twitter
Photography by Rebekah Melancon

JOG-A-THON! Such a successful event for so many reasons. Thankful to welcome parents back on campus 🥰

In case you're looking for a cause, consider donating to our May 5th Jog-a-thon... the first one since 2019!

https://pledgestar.com/gva/pledge/?LgAdGRVZegEBHXxVXXtRQEc-

Enjoy this commercial, created by the GVA Junior High Leadership Club

Jogathon Spring 22

Gearing up for remote teaching!