the buzz at bessie - staunton.k12.va.us · you will join me in congratulating the staff and...
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Quarterly Newsletter, October 2018 The Buzz at Bessie
Have you heard the …
Our teachers, staff, and students have worked hard
for several years, and this Dream Team’s dream has
finally come true. The teachers have helped your
children make tremendous growth over the past three
years, and this dedication has finally paid off. I hope
you will join me in congratulating the staff and
students in their awesome accomplishment!
I also hope you will join me in thanking so many
others who have supported Bessie Weller and have
been an important part of our success. From
community members to the school board office to
you, the parents, Bessie Weller has received a
tremendous amount of support - and for that, we are
blessed.
Your children have been learning and growing for
years - we all know that - and now the rest of
Virginia knows that, too!
Bessie Weller is a great place, and I am proud to
work with the staff, students, and parents! Please join
me in celebrating our success!
Rich Fletcher
Principal
When Mrs. Kester's 1st grade class read How Do
Apples Grow?, they learned it takes 50 leaves to
grow 1 apple. Using all the unifix cubes in a tub
they had enough "leaves" to grow 64 apples.
It is hard to believe, but the 1st 9 weeks of school
is almost behind us. Students have worked very
hard mastering new grade level academic materi-
al as well as expressing kindness to their friends
and teachers! By the end of this marking period,
there will be over 200 Kindness MVP recogni-
tions on our Kindness Wall of Fame.
In addition, at the beginning of each month we
hold a short assembly and hand out certificates
to students who excelled in academics, citizen-
ship, and attendance. During our first assembly
this month, we handed out 563 certificates. Bes-
sie students have obviously been working hard to
reach their dreams!
Sandra McGrath
Assistant Principal
Counselor’s Corner It has been a great start to the school year! Students
have been working hard. I want to say a big thank you to our
parents/guardians for getting our students ready to learn! All
students had the opportunity to meet me and learn the role of
the school counselor. Students have been requesting to have
individual and group session meetings to talk about solutions to
their challenges at school. Students are working well to resolve
conflict with each other and using words to express feelings.
Students will be focusing on kindness for the next
classroom guidance lessons. We are excited to have Positive
Paws K9 Therapy Dogs come to Bessie Weller starting
September 28th! We will be having therapy dogs coming to
some of the classroom guidance lessons. The therapy dogs will
also be visiting some of our classrooms. During this time,
students will practice reading to the dogs. There are many
kindness initiatives we have here at Bessie Weller. Join us in
encouraging kindness both at Bessie Weller and at home.
Please feel free contact Mr. Chiles, School Counselor, at (540)
332-3940.
Lawrence Chiles, School Counselor
3rd
The world’s smallest frog is the size of a Cheerio!
Strawberries have more vitamin C than oranges.
A baby porcupine is called a porcupette.
*Info courtesy of: kids.nationalgeographic.com
M’Kaijah Fitch in 4th grade is creating her
salt dough map of Virginia’s 5 regions.
Our Scholastic Book Fair will be held
from October 10-15.
The Fair will be open each school day
from 8:30-3:20.
The Family Night will be on
Thursday, October 11,
from 6:00-7:30.
Please sup-
port your
school library
and come to
the Fair!
There’s lots of exciting learning going on
at Bessie Weller!
The Wildlife Center of Virginia visited Mrs. Marx’s
1st grade class to teach students about the Eastern
Box Turtle.
Students in Mrs. Bozung’s
class held a fashion show to
practice using adverbs and
adjectives! Students worked
in groups to pick outfits,
select their models, and
narrate the red carpet walks
using adverbs and
It is hard to believe we are over thirty days into the
school year! We are moving right along in kindergarten
learning our letters and numbers! So far, we have learned the
uppercase and lowercase letters C, O, B, M, S, R, T, A, N,
and G, along with their letter sounds! In math, we have been
learning all about numbers and shapes. We now are able to
recognize and write numbers 1-10 and are continuing our
learning with numbers 11-20! We have also learned to iden-
tify squares, triangles, rectangles, and circles using their
characteristics! We are pleased with the progress your child
is making and we hope you are too! We can’t wait to see
how they will continue to flourish!
The 3rd grade dream team is chugging along
with a full head of steam! Third graders have been busy
learning about main idea, details, and summarizing while
reading Soil and Biome. They are learning new strategies
when it comes to adding and subtracting two 3-digit
numbers. They completed a soil experiment where they
had to collect a sample and make observations on what
they found in the soil. Third graders from all classes are
still continuing to earn many kindness MVP awards and
their pictures are being shown on the MVP wall in the
cafeteria!
In September, 1st grade has been learning to add
by figuring out the parts to a whole. We also are work-
ing on counting to 110 by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s. In literacy
we have been reading about how apples grow and why
leaves change. Some exciting facts students learned
through their reading are that it takes 50 leaves to grow
one apple, chlorophyll helps leaves to be green, and
leaves have red, yellow and orange pigment. In science
we have been studying the different characteristics of
animals including: coverings, appendages, and how they
move (fly, swim, walk). We got to see real coverings of
animals, such as a deer hide, bird hackles, and bug exo-
skeletons.
Our focus for math this month has been on ordinal
numbers, probability, and graphing. Students have been
working hard to have meaningful math discussions about
these topics. We have been working on summarizing events
and connecting our reading to our previous experiences
while reading Ivy and Bean. We are so excited that our
caterpillars finally arrived! Students will get to experience
part of our science curriculum as they watch the caterpillars
go through their life cycle and become beautiful Monarch
Butterflies. Our goal for this year is that our students en-
gage in and take charge of their own learning. We are eager
to watch all of our students grow this year!
4th grade has been busy this month! In Virginia
Studies, students learned about the 5 regions of Virginia
and created salt dough maps to review their learning. In
math, we learned about least common multiples and
greatest common factors, and we are now starting our
graphing unit. While reading Blood On the River, we
focused on main idea and details, and predictions. Our
students are loving the cliff hangers at the end of every
chapter! Students learned several prefixes and suffixes this
month, as well as how they change the meaning of
words. As we look forward to October, we are SO excited
to take our first field trip of the year to Jamestown and
Williamsburg.
Our 5th graders have been showing determina-
tion and perseverance this past month! They have made
being a good classroom citizen seem like a piece of cake!
They have been working diligently each week to earn Fun
Friday activities, as well as Free Seating Fridays in the
cafeteria.
Students are delving into our fictional novel,
Walk Two Moons. Our focus standards while reading this
text are using context, inferences, author’s choice of
vocabulary, point of view, plot, and theme.
Students have exhibited their creativity during
math and science. They created their own mnemonic
device to help them remember the order of operations, and
in science they constructed models of flowers while learn-
ing about plant structures and functions. Students will
continue moving through the curriculum as they learn and
apply the concept of probability and begin exploring
animal adaptations.
Ready, Set Covered!!!
Quality low cost health insurance
for kids that covers:
• Annual well checkups for
babies, kids, and teens
• Prescription drugs
• Shots
• Doctor visits
• Dental care
• Mental health care
• ER care
• Vision care and glasses
• Tests and X-rays
• Hospital stays
...and much more!
Coming soon...quality low cost health
insurance for adults!
Call Cover Virginia toll-free at 1-855-242-8282 or
Visit www.coverva.org for more information or to
apply online, or Contact your local Department of
Social Services.
FAMIS must be renewed every 12 months.
The Nurse’s Corner
October 3&4 Frontier Culture Museum
Nonfiction Night (at the
Museum) 5:00-7:00 pm
October 5 2 Hour Early Release
October 5 5th Grade Field Trip to
Grand Caverns
October 8 No School
October 9 PAT Meeting 6-7pm
October 10-15 Book Fair
October 11 3rd Grade Spaghetti Supper
Fundraiser 5:30-7:00 pm
October 11 Family Night for Book Fair
6:00-7:30 pm
October 11-12 School Pictures
October 13 P.A.T. Trunk or Treat
5:00-7:00 pm
October 16 Report Cards
October 16 2nd Grade Field Trip to Back
Home on the Farm
October 25 1st and 2nd Grade Musical
6:30-7:30
October 26 4th Grade Field Trip to
Jamestown
October 26 Kindergarten Field Trip to
Back Home on the Farm
Bessie Weller Elementary School, 600 Greenville Avenue, Staunton, VA 24401 Phone: 540-332-3940 Fax: 540-332-3959
Be Respectful
Be Responsible
Be Safe
Be A Life Long Learner
Students from Mrs. Hoy’s class releasing their
butterfly that they got as a caterpillar.