Hello Parents,

Wow! The school year is winding down, but we had many special events in April to celebrate! Read on for highlights featuring our Father-daughter and Mother-son dances, 1st Grade Night to Shine, Tree City USA day, and more!

4/27-5/13 MAP testing

5/16 Field Day

5/18 Field Day rain date; Grade cards Posted on Parent ProgressBook

5/19 Last day of school, 1 hour early release

In April we moved on to the last ingredient in our Choose Love formula: Compassion in Action. To kick off compassion in action, we played a game called the Inside/Outside game, in which students get into groups but one person gets left out. In every class students showed compassion by inviting the student who was left out to be in their group, or offering to be with that student. After the game we talked about how it feels to be left out and how we can try to include others even if they are different from us. After our discussion we played again, only this time no one was left out. In my experience, Compassion comes naturally to children- they want to help those less fortunate than themselves. We also learned the steps for Compassion in Action: 1. Think about how the person feels. 2. Think about how you would feel if the same thing happened to you 3. Take action to help that person. Classes practiced the steps by doing roleplays of helping someone who is left out and someone who is bullied.

We watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lo-8UWhVcg which shows how the dog's feelings change from anger to compassion when he realizes why the bird is taking the worms. His act of compassion is rewarded even though he was not expecting it.

In this read aloud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IAjsv7MRwM&t=229s Brian starts his day with an act of kindness and people start paying it forward. We talked about how we could try this too!

~Mrs. Maus, School Counselor

For April our asset of focus was the positive value of Honesty, meaning the young person tells the truth even when it is hard. This is an asset with which many children struggle. It is important to teach them the value and importance of honesty at a young age. Teachers did Honesty lessons with their class from Class Dojo and Students of the Week were chosen for their honesty.

1st Graders got the chance to show off their fine art skills at the 1st grade Night to Shine. The art show and musical programs were enjoyed by all! Great job 1st Graders!

Parents and students came and danced the night away at our dances! We were so happy to be able to host these dances again! Thank you to all who came! And thank you to the teachers who organized this wonderful event!

Kindergarteners and 1st graders enjoyed learning about farming from local farmer and parent Caleb Wilson!

2nd graders enjoyed a full day of agriculture related stations.

Each class got to plant a tree on our school grounds for tree day. Students then put their thumb print on our BES tree in the hallway. On Earth day, Bellefontaine Mayor Ben Stahler came to make a Proclamation and Bellefontaine Police Department came to take a drone picture of all the students and staff beside the newly planted trees.

2nd graders who read and completed reports on at least 7 Reading Olympics books qualified to go to the High School for the Reading Olympics. Students worked in teams to answer questions about the books and compete against other teams.

Kindergarten has been busy! We have learned so much about many different life cycles. We even got to have a volunteer, Ben Kennedy, come in and teach us about bees. Many of the classrooms also got to hatch baby chicks and ducks. One of the days, we got to have a farm day and Farmer Wilson brought in a big tractor to teach us about farming. The Kindergarteners also got to go on a Field trip to the park. Those are just a few of the many things we have gotten to do!

First Graders at BES got to participate in their first field trip, as they traveled to Marmon Valley Farm. Students got to take a wagon ride as they learned about native Ohio animals and their habitats, ride a pony, and see farm animals up close! Students got to experience many firsts and had a wonderful time! The first grade would like to thank the BES PTO for sponsoring the trip, BCS Bus drivers, first grade parent chaperones, and the staff at Marmon Valley.

2nd Grade spent the past few weeks observing the butterfly life cycle, specifically painted ladies. The Bellefontaine Highschool Envirothon came to our classrooms to launch this process for us. You can see the cycle in the pictures below. The butterflies were released into their natural habitat when they reached the adult phase of their life cycle. On May 3rd we traveled to Camp Myeerah for our 2022 field trip. Students spent time with WildLife officer Adam Smith discussing different animals found in Logan County. Teachers set up scavenger hunts, hiking events, and outdoor exploration where we discussed how living things impact their environment. Logan County Soil and Water provided us with an eco-table where students were able to see a simulation of how pollution affects parts of our environment.