Powhatan County Public Schools -

“Brick It” is a weekly club that is hosted by Mrs. Gordon, Mrs. Fridley, and student helper David Gordon at Pocahontas Elementary. Each week, they set up a challenge for the children to create with Legos, whether they are building a bridge that holds a cutie orange or building a boat that floats and sail. Each child is busy with their hands, speaking in front of a large group, and making new friends while building something they love! Literally the giggles are ENDLESS! In these photos, the children built Lego mansions. They watched a short video about Emmett, from the Lego movie, in which he taught them how to become the perfect Minifig. The only problem was Emmett only had a plant to share his mornings on the couch with. Each child could work in a team or individually. The only requirement in their house was that it had to have a couch. After they built their mansion, the floor was open to share (which is the their favorite thing to do) what they built and a story of who they would share their couch with! #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Mr. Settle's seventh grade U.S. History students at Powhatan Middle School participated in a West Front project as part of their World War I unit. The students wrote letters "home" from a real soldier who served in the war from Powhatan County, by including lessons from the class to describe the life of a soldier in World War I. The students learned what it was like to live in the trenches of World War I, and how events from across the world affected those who came from Powhatan. After the project, the students were able to learn if their soldier survived the war or not. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Mrs. Dillon's fifth-grade class at Powhatan Elementary modeled the rock cycle, beginning with igneous rock, weathering it and adding pressure to model sedimentary rock, then adding heat and pressure to model metamorphic rock, and finally melting it totally and cooling it to model igneous rock again. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

National Administrative Professionals' Day recognizes the professionals who keep an office running smoothly every day. With all of the activity going on in our five schools, Transportation Facility, and the Pocahontas Landmark Center, Powhatan County Public Schools couldn’t do all we do without the support of these amazing staff members. Please join us in showing our appreciation for the work they do to support our students, staff, and families. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

PCPS loved welcoming part of the Class of 2037 earlier this month at the annual Kindergarten Registration Kickoff. All three elementary schools welcomed our future pupils with special themes: Flat Rock Elementary showed “We are Hungry for Learning!”; Pocahontas Elementary welcomed families to “Camp Kindergarten,” and Powhatan Elementary proved that “Kindergarten is ‘Tiki’riffic!” Have a rising kindergartner but didn’t make the event? You can still register. Anyone with a child that will be age 5 by September 30, 2024, should begin enrolling now. It is important to get students screened and on the rosters as soon as possible to be better prepared for the start of the new school year. In addition, the preschool (VPI/ Head Start) application process for children turning age 3 and 4 by September 30, 2024, is also now available online. Check the Powhatan County Public Schools website for information or contact your local school with Kindergarten Registration or Preschool Application questions. We are so excited and cannot wait to get these students on the PCPS team! #wearepcps #teampowhatan

April is Virginia School Boards Association #WorkforceReadinessMonth, and one way PCPS wants to celebrate is by honoring the students in our amazing Career and Workforce Development programs. This weekend, eight Powhatan High School students traveled to Virginia Beach to compete in 59th Annual @SkillsUSA Virginia State Leadership Conference competitions. Please send some love to our amazing competitors, who competed in a variety of categories, and the Cosmetology team for bringing home Bronze medals in the Total Fantasy Look category: Olivia Brown – Nail Care Ashley Beach - Nail Care Model Olivia Benton- Total Fantasy Look Brielle Walters- Total Fantasy Look Kendall Hayton- Total Fantasy Look Model Mason Heckel- Electrical Construction Wiring Bradley Wade- Electrical Construction Wiring Xander Wheat- Masonry The team of Kendall Hayton, Brielle Walters, and Olivia Benton competing in Total Fantasy Look received Bronze medals for their third-place finish. Great job ladies!!! And a special thank you to Mrs. Hazelwood and Mr. Payne for guiding these students and taking them to the competition. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Offering a huge congratulations to Powhatan High School Class of 2017 alumnus and current Signal Knob Middle School agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor Dakota Stroud. Earlier this month, Mr. Stroud was awarded the 2024 Virginia Association of Agricultural Educators (VAAE) “Teachers Turn the Key” scholarship. The Teachers Turn the Key Scholarship Program was created in 2003 by the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) to combat the teacher shortage in agricultural education and to encourage young agricultural teachers to remain in the profession. PCPS reached out to Mr. Stroud, who is in his third year of teaching, to congratulate him and ask him how Powhatan played a role in his path to becoming an ag teacher. He said, “The classes that influenced me began in 7th grade at Powhatan Junior High and taking Agriscience exploration with Mr. Henry Paris. This continued into the high school, where I continued to expand my skills and interests taking many different agriculture classes ranging from Veterinary Science to Horticulture with Caitlin Smith, Ed Olsen, and Chris Whitlow. In addition to these courses, I took Culinary Arts, Teachers for Tomorrow, and many more Career and Technical Education Classes.” With April being Virginia School Boards Association #WorkforceReadinessMonth, we are happy to highlight how workforce development opportunities can enable students to find what they are passionate about and to be prepared to succeed. #wearepcps #teampowhatan #teachag @visitpowhatanva #SignalKnobMiddleSchoolFFA Shenandoah County Public Schools

Flat Rock Elementary third graders had a blast with the past when they embraced a full day of activities for Ancient Civilization Day. In the morning, the students headed to the bus loop to compete in their own Olympic Games, with activities such as the Long Jump, Relay Race, Bowling, Javelin Throw, Disc Throw, Chariot Race, and a Foot Race. A special thanks to the Powhatan High School RHO KAPPA National Social Studies Honor Society students who volunteered to officiate the games! In the afternoon, students created mosaics and Greek vases, built the Egyptian pyramids and Great Wall of China, constructed Chinese lanterns and Roman leaf crowns, and completed an Ancient Civilizations Word Search. The students also indulged their taste buds with a food tasting made up of various foods that originated from Greece, Rome, China, and Egypt. #wearepcps #teampowhatan #elevateeducatorsva

Powhatan County Public Schools follows the Virginia Department of Health's Minimum Immunization Requirements (02/21). The Health Department has posted this information at https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/immunization/requirements/.

Mrs. Ayers’ first graders at Flat Rock Elementary created hot air balloons for Read Across America Week. The kids drew and painted the balloons and had an accompanying writing assignment where they were asked where they would go if they could go anywhere. This was inspired by reading Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, the Places I’ll Go! By ME, Myself.” #wearepcps #teampowhatan

It’s time to crunch some numbers! Mrs. McComb and Mrs. Ligatti turned snacks into solutions when they recently covered Circumference and Area of Circles in their sixth-grade math class at Powhatan Middle School. Students derived Pi by measuring the circumference and diameters of cookies, rice cakes, and crackers using Twizzlers. Mrs. McComb said they were so engaged and got a full understanding of why we use Pi when calculating these measurements of circles. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Powhatan High School’s Mr. Powhatan competition to raise money for the fight against cancer was once again a wonderful success. A huge thank you to all of the young men and women who volunteered to make this night possible last week. Now on to the winners! Congratulations to Gavin Utley for being named Mr. Powhatan 2024 and Tommy Menting for being chosen as the Runner Up! We also want to recognize the specialty winners: Mr. Congeniality - Henry Bowman Photogenic - Tyler Atchison Best Dressed - Jackson Cary Best Smile - Coleman Smith Most Entertaining - Will Pollard Best Hair - Michael Saunders Thank you, gentlemen, for putting on a hilarious and energetic show for such a good cause! #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Attention families of Class of 2024 graduates! PHS has set up a graduation page on its website that will be a great place to get information about graduation on May 23 and other relevant information. More updates will follow in the coming weeks as information is finalized. Check the first comment for the link. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Each year, the Powhatan Education Foundation (PEF) awards Innovative Classroom Grants that present ideas for achieving the county’s curricular goals, enhancing students’ personal development, and/or encouraging links with the community. This year, PEF fully or partially funded six grants for a total investment of $16,146.28, and we are taking time over several weeks to highlight how those projects are going. We are wrapping up this series by highlighting a PEF grant for a project called Droning Across the Curriculum, submitted by Amanda Henley, Jordan Nutt, and Cara Alexander. This proposal funded coding drones that Powhatan Elementary students have been using to engage in practical coding application through collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Mr. Bell’s Economics and Personal Finance class recently visited Mrs. Meade’s Community Based Instruction (CBI) class at Powhatan High School. The CBI students prepared a tasty spread to help their fellow students celebrate taking the W!SE Financial Literacy Certification Test. In preparation for the visit, the CBI students made cinnamon muffins as part of a lesson to learn about fractions. Mrs. Meade said the visit also helped her students practice their social interaction skills. She said, “We are working on social skills, communication skills, helping our students meet new people in the building, and they made muffins that required using fractions from recipes.” #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Earlier this semester, Mrs. Peyton's Introduction to Film students at took a field trip from Powhatan High School to the Powhatan campus of Passion Community Church to learn more about film production. Students learned about the equipment and techniques the church’s production team uses and got hands-on experience using it. A big thank you to PCC for hosting our students and increasing their real-world knowledge of how the skills they are learning in the classroom can be implemented. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Reminder: We are only a few hours away from welcoming the families of the Class of 2037 for a Rising Kindergarten Parent Information Night. We invite you to equip yourself with the knowledge to help your child succeed at the information meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, April 17 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Flat Rock Elementary School. Presentations will focus on: What to expect in kindergarten, how to prepare your kindergartener over the summer, helping your child work through big emotions, and community resources for family support. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Pocahontas Elementary’s Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Altizer were recently named the first recipients of the Instructional Technology Team’s new Innovative Learning Shout Out award for their work designing instruction to develop creative communicators. For a culminating activity, students acted as historians to research a notable figure from the Civil War era and write a mini-biography. The students used their knowledge of the person and era to create a book cover. They designed the book cover using Canva design tools and practiced being artificial intelligence (AI) prompt engineers to create unique images. Congratulations to these awesome educators! #wearepcps #teampowhatan #elevateeducatorsva

The Powhatan Education Foundation (PEF) presents its 8th annual Golf Tournament on June 6, 2024, at Mill Quarter Plantation Golf Course. Shotgun start is at noon. Proceeds benefit Powhatan schools. Register now at PEF’s website, which can be found in the first comment. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

In March, each PCPS elementary school sent two young competitors to participate in the Future Chefs Culinary Challenge. Students had to submit a recipe and be chosen to compete in the live competition held at Powhatan High School. With the help of assigned assistants, the students prepared their dishes and presented them to a panel of judges for consideration. All of the students did an amazing job. Congratulations to: • Quinn Ellis – First Place • Pierce Ward – Second Place • Lanie Jastram – Third Place • Charlotte Smith – Best Decorated Hat contest winner • Charlotte Smith, Holden Cooper, and Levi Luck – Chef Finalists Special thanks to: • Judges: Vicki Hurt, Susan Smith, Jeanne Wade, James Taylor, Michele Ward, Beth Teigen, Mark Robertson, and student judge Lea Butler. • Sodexo Chef Helpers: Mary Smith from Powhatan Elementary; Suzanne Johnson, manager at Flat Rock Elementary; and Shawna Highsmith, manager at Pocahontas Elementary. • Student Chef Helpers: Abbie Mills, Jackson Roop, and Kenley Dalton • All of the staff of Powhatan High School’s food service team who also lent a hand: cafeteria manager Ashley Sharp, Sharon Brown, Chakita Langhorne, Kristy Hall, Jessie Wheless, and Donna Stewart. #wearepcps #teampowhatan #SDXFutureChefs