Pennsylvania announced the implementation of a universal free breakfast program in Pennsylvania schools, effective October 1, 2022 through the end of the 2022-23 school year.

Beginning today, Monday, October 3, Aramark Food Services at Central Bucks will offer breakfast at no cost to ALL CBSD elementary and middle schools students, regardless of free/reduced eligibility status. In addition, breakfast is currently served at all Central Bucks high schools and will be offered at no cost to any student who is eligible for free or reduced cost meals.

CBSD Administration

Save the date for Butler's Halloween Parade - taking place in the AM of Monday, October 31st outdoors on school property. Further information and details will be shared with the community about the parade route and timing, but please anticipate the morning event and hope for nice weather!

Please note this is a half-day for students. For our Kindergarten Families, AM Kindergarten is reporting in the morning to school on the 31st. Therefore, our PM students will hold their parade on Friday afternoon, October 28th.

All registered students must be updated by September 30th - via Parent Portal

If normal dismissal plans change for your child, PLEASE notify the teacher AND the office (267-893-4250). Communication may not happen if a teacher is absent on any given day. THANK YOU!

Gina Giovinco is the Certified School Nurse (CSN) to begin our year. With October upon us, please review these reminders for the current school year:

Dental Exams:

All third graders and any new students must turn in a dental exam dated on or after September 1st, 2021.

Physical Exams:

All 6th graders and any new students must turn in a physical exam dated on or after September 1st, 2021. Please turn in the dental and physical forms by October 15th, 2022. Dental and physical forms can be found on Butler’s Health Office website under “Medical Forms.” You can also access the forms using this link: Health Office / Medical Forms (cbsd.org)

Health Screenings:

Starting next month, the Health Office will begin performing the annual state mandated screenings. These include the following:

• Height & Weight: Kindergarten through 12th grade. You can view your child's results and BMI (Body Mass Index) percentile via the Parent Portal.
• Vision Screenings: Kindergarten through 12th grade. If your child does not pass our screening, you will be contacted and advised to follow up with your eye care professional.
• Hearing Screenings: Kindergarten through 3rd grade, 7th grade, and 11th grade. If your child does not pass our screening, you will be contacted and advised to follow up with your physician.
• Scoliosis Screenings: 6th and 7th grades. This tests for the evidence of curvature of the spine. If identified early, we will recommend you follow up with your physician who will monitor for changes. Scoliosis screenings will take place in the spring of 2023.

We wish your student(s) a healthy school year ahead. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. You may email me at ggiovinco@cbsd.org, or contact the Health Office at (267)893-4265.

Students in all grades have been working on introductory activities, getting to know you games, and partner challenges. Students in grades 1-6 have also been practicing recess games, such as GAGA, 4-Square, Cornhole, and Red Light/Green Light. This helps our students learn the games for focused and facilitated play during their time outside. Additionally, 6th grade students learned ultimate frisbee and a few 6th graders are playing in an after-school ultimate frisbee club with Mrs. Engart!

After listening to the story, Goldisocks and the Three Libearians, third graders practiced using Goldisocks’ Five Finger Test to help them choose “just right” chapter books in the library. The students opened a chapter book to a random full page of words and put up one finger for each word they did not know. Four-five fingers up, means the book is probably “too hard.” Zero-one finger up, means the book is probably “too easy.” Two-three fingers up, means the book is probably “just right!” This is a good process to use with all students so they might find the most appropriate book when choosing independent readers.

Children are natural scientists and engineers! They are curious about the world around them! Butler students are creative problem-solvers, full of questions... willing to roll up their sleeves to build, test, improve and experiment. QUEST taps into students’ curiosities and builds on their problem-solving skills. This hands-on special class is designed to harness all that natural curiosity, inventiveness, perseverance, and creativity to help students learn more about engineering and explore the world around them. Below is a peek into what students are beginning to learn.

Grade 1 just started a unit titled, Once Upon a Design. In this unit, students will engineer various rescue missions for beloved fairytale and nursery rhyme characters. This is a favorite unit and one that students will talk about at home!

Grade 2 is completing a Treehouse Design Challenge! The creativity and collaboration with this build is truly incredible. Once students finish, they will begin a unit focused on wind and the impact it can have on structures.

Grade 3 is just starting their coding unit! The students are bounding with excitement to start working with our brand-new Lego kits! Student teams will build a LEGO design and then program it to perform a variety of tasks. In this unit, critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving are paramount.

Grade 4 is revving up to begin a unit focused on car design! They are ready to press go on learning why car designs are changing! Once background knowledge is gained students will work collaboratively to build two designs. One car design will be powered by gravity and the other design will encourage students to learn about kinetic energy.

Grade 5 is just starting a unit focused on catapults! This favorite unit is filled with students testing and improving. Students quickly grasp the concept that first designs are prototypes and need revision to succeed.

Grade 6 is starting a unit focused on Ancient Egypt and coding. This unit brings content and coding robots together. Teams will design a chariot that will be powered by a robot of their choice. The students will show their understanding of Ancient Egypt as they work through a maze by answering content-focused questions. Student teams will program their robots to act like Indiana Jones as they are in search of treasure while driving their chariots along.

3rd graders are excited to learn how to read and perform music in the keyboard lab this year! Each grade at Butler will learn various music objectives by applying their skills in the keyboard lab.

Mrs. Milotich & Mrs. O’Connell spent time in September meeting with our new students to Butler! They also facilitated lunch bunches (with "seasoned" Butler students) and visited classrooms to introduce their roles as School Counselors.

October:

Oct. 3-7 - PTO Scholastic Book Fair

Oct. 4 - 5th Grade Ecology Field Trip @ Peace Valley (Filson)

Oct. 5 - Holiday - No School for Students & Staff (Office Open) - Yom Kippur

Oct. 7 - 5th Grade Ecology Field Trip @ Peace Valley

Oct. 7 - Butler Bash - 5:30 PM (Behind School - Outdoors) - Details to Come

Oct. 13 & 14 - 6th Grade Ropes Field Trip (Elbow Lane)

Oct. 21 - Haunted Gymnasium (Details to Come)

Oct. 24 - Holiday - No School for Students & Staff (Office Open) - Diwali

Oct. 24-28 - Red Ribbon Week

Oct. 27 - Picture Retake Day

Oct. 31 - Half Day for Students - Dismissal Begins at 12:25 PM

Oct. 31 - Halloween Festivities (Parade & Party in AM)

Across the last few weeks, , Butler Elementary continues with school-wide preparations and planning for emergency events - so staff, students, and other school personnel are ready at a moment's notice. This week, Butler held their September Fire Drill, which was also a special occasion for one student, Shea H. Last year at the spring fair, Shea won the raffle for "pulling the fire alarm" during one of our drills! It is a fan favorite and one that Mr. Sutton, head custodian enjoys sharing with the children! Additionally, our School CERT Team (Teachers Only) reviewed protocol and planning for the 22-23 school year - which is led by our Certified School Nurse, Nurse Gina. Butler will also be planning a mandatory school-wide lockdown drill later in October - more details to come.

Butler benefits from our South Cluster community and secondary school connections. On Thursday, September 22, CB South’s “School-Aged Child” class came to work in classrooms for the first of four visits (they returned on 9/29). The HS students were introduced to the children and watched our teachers in action. They also conducted student interviews that support their learning of students of elementary ages. It was fun to see former Butler Bears who remembered the High School visiting during their days at our school! Looking forward to their future visits!

On September 23, Butler Elementary celebrated the opening of the year with our very first PTO Event. Who doesn't love BINGO!?! Students and their families enjoyed the evening festivities and prizes awarded when those special words (BINGO!) were called out from filled cards. Thank you to Mrs. Beaver and her team of helpers who organized this great event for our school community - the first of many!

The start of the school year brings excitement and fun in our Butler hallways. The start of the school year also coincides with our pride in our Philadelphia Eagles start to the season. This past Monday, Butler Bears wore their Eagle Green (or favorite team gear) in hopes of supporting the Eagles on Monday Night Football! Hopefully our students did not actually stay awake for all of the late game, but we certainly were able to show our support during the day!

Butler Elementary School practices the Paw Power Attributes of B.U.T.L.E.R.

Butler (at its Best!); Understanding; Teamwork; Leadership; Educational Excellence; Respect

Each week, students earn Positive Paw Powers for their good behaviors and positive attitudes at school. Children enter them into our collection bin where names are then drawn for a special treat each Friday for every grade level.

Winners 9/23/22:

Sutton L., Ethan W., Katelyn B., Sadie M., Emme M., Ella D., Harper P., Jude C. (T-Shirt Winner)

Winners 9/30/22:

Leah R., Luci T., Ava B., Steven N. Wesley W., Leo S., Evan S. Leighton Y. (T-Shirt Winner)

To read the latest from the Butler PTO, please click here for access to the Weekly Newsletter!