Evening Star Elementary
December 2021
A Note from Principal Williams:
December is here! It just doesn't seem possible that we are finishing up the 1st semester, and 2022 is just around the corner. Before we share all about December, we want to send a shout-out to all of our families who were able to participate and/or sent donations in for our Pie Supper. Our 2nd annual ESE Pie Supper was an enormous success with a stellar turnout and an abundance of pies! We had over 100 pies donated. Our PTO did an outstanding job streamlining the pie collection process and the silent auction. Our ESE Pie Supper staff committee, along with support from Ashley Starnes, Allison Hobbs, Kendra Judkins, Sara Fast, Sarah Beahm, Ella Shelton, and the ESE PTO Board, made this event a success! From the pie supper preparation, event setup, and yard game coordination, you truly created a family night filled with fun! We also appreciate our ESE staff for being such good sports with the Pieing event. We hope your family made memories that will last a lifetime.
Also, we appreciate the partnerships our ESE PTO Board and Ashley Starnes formed with numerous community partners. A big THANK YOU to:
- Christmas Decor of Northwest Arkansas
- Focus Commercial Real Estate, Riggs - Springdale, and Sunbelt Rentals - Rogers for the portable lights
- K'Zoli's Little Oven for the great food and the portion of the proceeds donation
- Osage House for sponsoring the obstacle course inflatable
1st place - Amy Lee
2nd place - Matt Sooter
3rd place - Mandy Estes
Also, we would like to thank our judges - Ben Biensenthal, Brooke Dancer, Josh Stacey, Lisa Clark, and Mike Swanson. We know you were tasked with a difficult job. Every pie submitted for the Apple Pie Bake-off was absolutely delicious!
Just a few reminders regarding our car line and parking lot. We would ask parents not to park in the designated handicap spots. These spots are reserved for only those who are authorized to park there. In the morning or the afternoon, if you need to pull around, we ask that you park in one of the 9 open spots in the front row on the other side of the handicap spots or in any of the other open spots throughout our parking lot.
Children should be seated and buckled while the car is in motion. Additionally, our car line is a no cell phone zone. Please put your cell phone down. No call, text, or app is worth the risk! We want to keep everyone safe, which is only possible with your help. Staff will ask you to put your phone down if you are on it while in our car line. Thank you for your support and understanding.
We are excited to share that one of our students has a service dog, Lochie, who will be joining us at Evening Star. We will begin the integration process this week. Our teachers and staff have all been through awareness training regarding processes and procedures with Lochie while he is at school. By teaching our students three simple rules, listed below, teachers will help with a seamless transition. Families, please join us by reviewing these rules with your little owls as well.
Three simple rules regarding Lochie:
- When Lochie is at school, he is working. Please refrain from touching him.
- Lochie will eat at home. He does not eat at school.
- Remember, Lochie is here to do a job. We need all of our friends to ignore Lochie. If you ignore Lochie, he will ignore you. This allows Lochie to stay focused on supporting our little owl he works for while keeping her safe at school.
Last but not least, December is always a busy month. As of today, we only have 14 instructional days left in this semester. Our teachers are working hard to provide quality instruction and quickly assess our students as the quarter and semester come to a close. As we approach the end of the second quarter, teachers are continuing to assess students to determine areas of growth, as well as any areas of focus. When our students return from Winter Break, we will kick off the new semester with MAP testing. MAP tests are designed to measure a student's growth when compared to where he/she was at the beginning of the year. Each student's growth goal is unique to him/herself. Our goal is to ensure that each child shows growth on these tests. We are looking forward to sharing this information with you after the winter break! In the meantime, we ask that you partner with us by ensuring that your child maintains healthy routines, such as reading nightly, getting plenty of rest, and eating a healthy breakfast.
Report cards will be sent through email on January 11th.
We hope you and your family have a wonderful and safe Winter Break.
Thank you again for your support, and thank you for all that you do for your little owlet!
Principal Williams
Future ESE Events:
Here are just a few events that we have planned so far. Mark your calendars now and keep a watch out for more events over the course of the school year:
- December 3rd - 8:00 a.m. Volunteer training in our ESE Cafeteria
- December 11th - Bentonville Christmas Parade starting at 6:00 p.m.
- December 17th – ESE Staff December Luncheon
- December 21st - Winter Parties (see the schedule below)
- December 22nd - School-Wide PBIS Celebration!
- December 23rd-January 4th - Winter Break
- January 4th - Teacher Work Day, No School
- January 5th -- Welcome Back, Students!
- January 9th - School Resource Officer & Law Enforcement Appreciation Day
- January 11th & 12th - Third & Fourth Grade MAP Testing
- January 11th - 8:30 a.m. ESE PTO Meeting in our ESE Cafeteria
- January 13th-14th - First Grade MAP Testing
- January 13th-14th & 19th-21st - Kindergarten MAP Testing
- January 20th-21st - Second Grade MAP Testing
- January 17th - MLK Day, No School
- January 18th - Teacher Professional Development Day, No School for Students.
- January 19th - Students return to school.
- January 28th - 100th Day of School
- January 31st- February 11th - 2022-2023 Kindergarten Enrollment
Winter Parties:
Our Winter Parties are just 13 school days away. Winter parties will be held on Tuesday, December 21st. We are looking forward to having parents and guardians back in the building to celebrate with us. We will be allowing 2 adults per child to attend the Winter parties.
Please know that your child’s safety is our primary focus. As always, our front office staff will screen all guests through our Raptor program to ensure we are keeping our little owls safe. You need to have your driver's license or state ID in hand on the day of the party. On party day, staff will ask to see your driver's license to confirm that you have been scanned in, and then they will provide you with a party sticker. Guests must have a current driver's license or state identification card that can be scanned into our Raptor system to access the building beyond the office doors. If a guest's ID is NOT scanned before the winter party, they will need to wait in the office to have their driver's license scanned before they will be given access to the classrooms. For parking purposes, we will have a staggered party schedule. Our winter party times for each grade are listed below:
- 8:45-9:30 a.m. - 4th grade
- 9:45-10:30 a.m. - 2nd grade
- 10:50-11:35 a.m. - 3rd grade
- 12:25-1:10 p.m. - 1st grade
- 1:30-2:15 p.m. - Kindergarten
*Reminder - Please make sure you have your ID on the day of the party even if you have been scanned into our Raptor system earlier this school year. We will check ALL ID's at check-in.
PTO Updates:
Thank you to all the Evening Star staff and parent volunteers that made our Pie Supper event happen! The funds raised for this event will go towards our outdoor learning classroom and additional extension/enrichment materials.
Evening Star Elementary will have a float in the Bentonville Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 11th. Evening Star Elementary is the reigning champion from 2019, and we will win again! This year's theme is Christmas Around the World. Allison Hobbs and her committee have worked hard on float design, props, and costumes. Float assembly will begin on Monday, December 6th (weather permitting) from 9 a.m. - noon at Evening Star. Please email us at eveningstarpto@gmail.com if you can help. Thank you to all who have already signed up to help.
Thank you so very much to our families for supporting ESE Gives Back; your generosity is greatly appreciated. As a reminder, please deliver unwrapped gifts, clothing, and food to the school office or place in the large blue tote outside school marked "GIVES BACK" before Monday, December 13th.
On Friday, December 17th, the Evening Star Elementary PTO will treat our teachers and staff to a holiday lunch. We are asking our amazing Evening Star Families to provide 2 to 3 dozen homemade or store-bought cookies for the luncheon so that our teachers and staff can take home an assortment of 24 cookies each for the holidays! Not a baker, or does the idea of adding one more thing to the holiday season stress you out?? This year we have added the option to purchase one dozen cookies from Signature Sweets for $25 (password STAR). These cookies will be beautifully decorated and dropped off at school for you. Please sign up for the ESE Teachers & Staff Holiday Cookie Exchange using this link. Please have homemade or store-bought cookies to Evening Star by 8:00 a.m. on Friday, December 17th.
Please email us at eveningstarpto@gmail.com with any questions or for more information.
The ESE PTO Board
Updates from Nurse Crutchfield:
A few COVID 19 Reminders…
If your child has a sore throat, cough, diarrhea, severe headache, nausea or vomiting, body aches, fever/chills, shortness of breath/breathing difficulty, or newly developed loss of taste or smell, contact your physician and do not send your child to school.
If your child is waiting for their COVID test result, they should remain at home.
If your child has had close contact with a COVID-19 case, they should not go to school.
Should your child test positive for COVID 19, or they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, please contact me, Nurse Dana Crutchfield, during school hours by calling 479-360-7400 or emailing me at dcrutchfield@bentonvillek12.org.
Acute Illness:
‘Tis the Season! Please remember students should be symptom-free for 24 hours without the use of medication for fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or other symptoms prior to returning to school. Also, please know that students are not allowed to carry and self-administer cough drops or other over-the-counter medications at school.
Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns.
Wishing you a healthy and happy winter season!
Nurse Dana
Transportation Changes:
If you need to make a change in transportation, please notify the office BEFORE 2:00 p.m. As stated in our district handbook, changes in transportation home or early pick-up from school may not occur within 30 minutes of building dismissal time, unless it is an unavoidable emergency. Furthermore, we ask that you call our front office at 479-360-7400 if you need to make a transportation change. Please do not rely on emailing the teacher regarding a transportation change. Teachers are in the middle of instruction and are unable to respond or even read emails throughout most of the school day.
Counselor Updates:
Thank you to all for your generous contributions to our Gives Back Program. With your help, our most needy little owls have daily snacks, weekend food, and extra food for extended breaks. This fills not only their tummy but also their hearts and ours!
We hope you all enjoy your holiday season. There are so many free activities to make wonderful memories as a family over the two-week Winter break. We could not resist sharing some of our favorites with you!
Go on a tour of lights (Hot cocoa after!!!).
Make a pinecone bird feeder (pinecone, peanut butter, and roll it in birdseed). Maybe an OWL will find a tasty treat!
Decorate your front door (or your child’s) for the season.
Movie night (Popcorn is a requirement!)
Check out local events (Crystal Bridges, Parades, Town Squares).
Go caroling in your neighborhood (AND OURS!!!).
Make a craft as a family to hang in your home.
Go through gently used toys or stuffed animals and donate them to a shelter.
Check out seasonal books from the library.
Have a family slumber party (dancing is required for this!!!).
Make cookies or other treats for neighbors or community helpers.
Boardgame night (NO phones or other electronics!).
As always, please reach out to us for any reason! We are here for your children and YOU! Thank you for sharing your most precious little ones with us.
Pam Gaskin 479-360-7407 pgaskin@bentonvillek12.org
Paula Kaufmann 779-360-7408 pkaufmann@bentonvillek12.org
Literacy Coach and Math Coach News:
Math Games for the Holidays!
With the holidays coming up, shopping is in full swing. There are so many great board games that integrate math skills. If you are looking for a few games to shake things up over the holiday break, check these out:
Osmo Numbers - This game combines tangible tiles with an interactive game to fire up a child’s imagination and build math confidence. Practice building numbers, adding, subtracting, and multiplying is a fun game for all ages.
Osmo Tangram - Arrange tangible puzzle pieces into matching on-screen shapes.
Tiny Polka Dot - 16 easy-to-learn games that playfully teach math, from counting & early numeracy to arithmetic & logic
Prime Climb - Roll the dice and add, subtract, multiply and divide your way to the center of the board, picking up Prime cards and bumping your opponents back to start as you go. The first to land both pawns on 101 wins the game!
Proof! - The Fast paced game of mental math magic. Race to find equations among the numbers on your cards using as much multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction as you can!
Clumsy Thief - In this hilarious, adding, snatching game everything is changing hands. Practice adding numbers to 100, probability, and strategy.
These are just a few games to practice math skills with your child. If you are looking for even more ideas, check out this list.
Mrs. Myers - Math Coach & Mrs. Dibee - Literacy Coach
Whooo Loves to read? Your ESE OWLS DO!
What a fantastic time I am having with our owls! 4th-grade is involved in two separate projects, 3rd-grade will be looking closely at informational text and learning how to determine bias and credibility, 2nd-grade will finish up with literary devices and move into perspective, 1st-grade will begin preparations to write their own fairy tales, and kinderten will begin coding.
Read, Learn, and Explore!
Mrs. Watson, ESE Librarian
"Gym Shorts"
This month in PE, we will be learning how to use teamwork and think outside the box to complete various challenges. Your little owls will be building their very own boat to cross the river, work together with their peers on a circle relay, and remember where things are in our memory challenge. We will also be incorporating some of our health lessons about our muscular and skeletal system as well.
It's going to be a great month of learning!
Coach Kerkhover and Coach Harris
ART Studio:
In the Art Studio this month, our little owls will be working on several projects for our community (cards and decorating food containers). We will also work on several projects, including painting and mixed media. The ½ point of the school year is almost upon us, and I see improvement in all grade levels with craftsmanship and effort.
Mr. Van Slyke
Music Notes:
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”
From Tchaikovsky and Beethoven to Fitzgerald and Ellington, ESE owls are learning to appreciate a wide variety of musical styles while exploring seasonal melodies. Kindergarten and 1st graders are beginning to recognize patterns and forms in music while discussing their likes and dislikes of different styles of music. Our 2nd through 4th-grade students continue to grow as musicians by singing, moving, and playing instruments with classical, traditional, and jazz arrangements of well-loved holiday music like Frosty the Snowman and The Nutcracker Suite.
Mrs. Simpson & Mrs. Berry
Global Connections:
Season’s Greetings!! We are flying south for the winter during the month of December. Specifically, South America, that is. In all grades, we will spend time learning and reviewing some of the beginning Spanish vocabulary words (such as colors, numbers, and greetings) as we make our way through the incredible countries of Brazil and Peru.
Sincerely,
Ms. Garrett
STEM Lab:
Happy Holidays! For the month of December, K-4th will be discussing and exploring careers in the field of technology. Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd- grade will primarily focus on the Uses of Computing & Technology. 3rd and 4th-grade will learn about binary code, and our 2nd-graders will begin to explore this topic as well.
Ms. Castro
ESL News:
I cannot believe it is already December! I have really enjoyed working with my students. They are some of the hardest-working kids I know, and I am so proud of them! One of the biggest things we are working on in class is understanding vocabulary. A fun and great way to practice English vocabulary is through games. With the upcoming holiday break from school, playing games is a great way to bring families together and have some fun while learning!
Here is a list of some of my recommended games:
Happy Holidays!
Melissa Tomblin
Whooo's Soaring at ESE?
To access the Google form click on the following link: https://forms.gle/6Pa164KjtjRwjd5V7
SCHOOL BREAKFAST AND LUNCH MENUS:
If you would like to see what our cafeteria will be serving for breakfast and lunch for December, simply click on the following link: https://www.bentonvillek12.org/Page/7010
You can also follow the steps below:
1) Access the District website: bentonvillek12.org
2) Under the Departments tab, choose: Food and Nutrition
3) Click on the Printable Elementary School Menus link
The breakfast and lunch menus are available for preview.
Lost and Found:
ESE Yearbook!
To order visit: https://tr5.treering.com/validate and enter our school code: 1015671061902803.