
This morning, Powhatan Middle School honored 9/11 with a heartfelt remembrance flag ceremony. 🎖️ The event, beautifully led by members of Scouting Troops 1833 and 1832, was accompanied by a moving performance from our eighth-grade chorus. 🎶 It was a touching tribute to those who serve and remember.

📚✨ Mrs. Meaker’s third grade class at Pocahontas Elementary is diving into literary elements with their new Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) reading curriculum! 📝 They’re exploring character and setting, and learning about first-person and third-person perspectives. It’s exciting to see them develop their storytelling skills! 🌟📖 #wearepcps #teampowhatan

🎨👩🏫 At Powhatan Elementary, Mrs. Rose’s third graders started the school year with an awesome project called "What a Character Is!" 🌟 They used adjectives to describe themselves and then created self-portraits to match. It’s all part of getting to know each other and laying the groundwork for their new curriculum. 🖍️📸 #wearepcps #teampowhatan

📚✨ September is Attendance Awareness Month! 🌟 From the first day of school to our students’ future careers, showing up consistently can help pave the way for success at every stage of life. Let’s make every day count! 💼🎓 #wearepcps #teampowhatan


Do you know a Powhatan County Public Schools employee who is Inspiring, Empowering, or Innovating? We want to hear from you. Tell us about any staff member who is making a difference in the lives of our children by inspiring, empowering or innovating. Just click on the link in the first comment to tell us about a Powhatan Schools staff member who deserves to be recognized. We welcome suggestions from students, families, co-workers or community members. #wearepcps #teampowhatan


PCPS wins statewide award for history curriculum
POWHATAN, VA – Powhatan County Public Schools’ (PCPS) efforts to develop a dynamic, in-house geography and local history curriculum for fifth graders were recently recognized with a 2024 Achievement Award from the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo).
PCPS was among 45 recipients across Virginia to receive this prestigious honor, which highlights excellence in local government programs. The award-winning curriculum, developed during the 2023-2024 school year, emphasizes local history to ignite community pride, honor our heritage, celebrate our future, and inspire future generations.
The VACo Achievement Awards are highly competitive, showcasing innovative solutions to challenges faced by counties. The winning entries announced on Thursday, August 29 addressed issues ranging from housing and recreation to communication strategies and beyond.
“Thank you to all who participated in the 22nd year of the Achievement Awards,” VACo Executive Director Dean Lynch said. “Last year we received 135 submissions, which was then our highest total ever. This year 145 entries were submitted. The program continues to grow because our member counties continue to do innovative work and find solutions to problems. The VACo Achievement Awards is a celebration of the hard work, good decision-making, and problem-solving skills of county staffs and leadership.”
The new curriculum was developed after the division moved the Virginia Studies course down a grade level, reducing the testing burden on fifth-grade teachers and students. This shift left a gap in the fifth-grade instructional program, which PCPS addressed by creating a comprehensive geography course aligned with Virginia Department of Education standards, including a mandatory unit on local history.
The curriculum was primarily crafted by Toni Kilpatrick, former K-12 History and Social Studies Curriculum Specialist, with valuable contributions from retired specialist Carol Simopoulos.
Superintendent Beth Teigen praised their efforts, stating, “I am so proud of the work Toni Kilpatrick and Carol Simopoulos spearheaded to create a unit of study focused on the geography and history of Powhatan County for all fifth graders. The noticeable boost in students' understanding and enthusiasm for local history speaks volumes about the quality and effectiveness of the program these educators have developed."
Dr. Teigen also highlighted the collaboration with the Powhatan County Historical Society, which offered resources and insights that enriched the curriculum to help bring Powhatan County’s history to life for students.
PCPS will honor the innovative work behind this award-winning curriculum at an upcoming School Board meeting.
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Students in Mrs. Hannaford’s fifth-grade class at Flat Rock Elementary School work in teams to create imaginative maps that have a title, three regions, three geographic features, examples of absolute and relative locations, and one industry. The students are learning new vocabulary they will see throughout the year in the division’s new fifth-grade geography curriculum. #wearepcps #teampowhatan #elevateeducatorsva

🎉🎺🚶♂️🚶🏿♀️ @powhatanmiddle_pcps kicked off the school year with an epic pep parade last week! ✨ Our amazing students lined the hallways, cheering their hearts out as our enthusiastic administrators and talented band marched and played their way through the school. 🎶👏 The energy was electric and the excitement for the year ahead is OFF THE CHARTS! A big thank you to members of the PMS PTO for passing out candy to spread a little cheer. 🎆📚 Here’s to an incredible year filled with fun, learning, and school spirit! Let’s make it the best one yet! 🙌💪🎈

📚✨ Mrs. Ford's second graders at Pocahontas Elementary are having a blast diving into their new Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) reading program! 🚀 In this lesson, the students learned all about phonics—practicing their sounds and using their shiny new materials like pros. 🎉✏️ It’s amazing to see how these young readers are mastering structured literacy, and their excitement is absolutely contagious! 🌟 Keep up the great work, kiddos—your reading superpowers are growing every day! 📖 #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Are you ready for some football? !? So are we, but before the season officially kicks off, we need to share important information as we prepare to host our Varsity Football Team and guests at James W. Woodson Stadium for our first home game against the Mechanicsville Mustangs on Friday, September 6th. Please take a moment to review our updated guidelines and procedures for attending this and other PHS events. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you on Friday night. #wearepcps #teampowhatan




It’s been a few weeks, but we had to share these first-day photos of the cuties Ms. Katie and Ms. Kim welcomed into their preschool class at Flat Rock Elementary. The first day was a huge success, and Ms. Katie said they are looking forward to an amazing school year watching these kids learn and grow. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Ms. Antosiak's seventh graders at Powhatan Middle School are charting success as they dive into data analysis. The kiddos explored the data cycle by collecting data online, creating a graph using that information, and then analyzing it. Some data found included last month's temperature, Flying Squirrels stats, and Taylor Swifts' age on the release date of each of her albums. Students worked together to create a stem and leaf plot, and then found measures of central tendency. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

When students miss school, they miss out on so many things! #SchoolEveryDay #wearepcps #teampowhatan


Flat Rock Elementary is fully living up to its name! It was decided this summer that the school should indeed have a flat rock. School staff reached out to the Powhatan Luck Stone site leadership to see if they could possibly make this happen. The Luck Stone associates carefully selected the boulder to donate, and on Tuesday, August 13, Darren Prince, plant manager, and long-time Luck Stone associate Randy McMasters delivered a beautiful boulder to FRES. It's a perfect addition to the school grounds and a great example of PCPS embracing the Family and Community Engagement goal of the division’s Strategic Plan. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

For the first few weeks of the new school year, Pocahontas Elementary School’s littlest learners in preschool and kindergarten are focusing on a different color each day as part of their instruction. To help them learn their colors, all students and staff have been invited to dress in the Color of the Day. And POCA is definitely here for the fun! A special poultry guest (principal Samantha Martin) came to visit Miss Morton’s kindergarten class on yellow day. For red day, Mrs. Senger’s kindergarten class read “Clifford the Big Red Dog” and made their own Clifford ears. The celebration of color concludes on Wednesday, Sept. 11, which is Patriot Day, when students are encouraged to wear red, white, and blue. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

🎭 Ms. Firda's Theatre Arts class at Powhatan High School had a blast getting to know each other and testing their deduction skills with a fun game of charades! 🤫 The students were learning how to communicate without saying a word, all while gearing up for their pantomime unit. Who knew silence could be so expressive? 👐✨#wearepcps #teampowhatan



🎉 Mrs. Bean's first graders at Powhatan Elementary got a sneak peek at all the exciting things they'll learn this year, like counting money and mastering number bonds! 🧠💵 They're diving into the cool new terminology that'll make them math whizzes in no time. 📚✨ First grade is off to a fantastic start! 🎈#wearepcps #teampowhatan

We peeked in on story time as Mrs. Schwartz read a book called “School Day” to her kindergartners at Flat Rock Elementary. Afterward, she talked about activities the students did in the book such as reading, writing, playing on swings, waving, painting, and listening – all things her own students would do – to help them connect to the story. We love seeing students connect the dots between stories and their own lives to understand the power of the written word. #wearepcps #teampowhatan

👯♀️ When great minds think alike… they twin! Two of our central office team members showed up Thursday rocking the same outfit. Who says working together doesn’t mean matching wardrobes too? #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Mrs. Newby is kicking off the new school year strong with her World History II students at Powhatan High School! In the first week they were diving right into a review of the empires and trade routes of the world around 1500. Here’s to a year full of exciting discoveries and historical adventures! #wearepcps #teampowhatan

Powhatan County Public Schools will be closed on Friday, August 30 and Monday September 2 for Labor Day weekend. We wish all of our families a safe and happy long weekend.
