Website: https://www.ksb.kyschools.us
Location: 1867 Frankfort Ave, Louisville, KY 40206
Phone: (502) 897-1583

Fax: (502) 897-2850
Facebook: facebook.com/KYschoolfortheblind/
Twitter: @KSBWildcats

Happy Friday!

Only two weeks of school left, and lots is happening at KSB! Next week 10th and 11th grade will finish out KSA testing on Wednesday, Prom for high school students is Thursday the 18th from 6:00-9:00 in Food Service and Field Day is Friday, the 19th. Please check your students' backpack for a permission slip as they will be going to Waterfront Park.

Have a great weekend!

Peggy

• Monday, May 15 - All books due back to the Library
• Thursday, May 18-Student devices collected
• Thursday, May 18- Prom, 6-9pm
• Friday, May 19-Field Day (make up day May 22)
• Monday, May 22-Athletics Banquet
• Tuesday, May 23-8th Grade Promotion; HS Awards and Junior Ring Ceremony; Graduation
  
• Wednesday, May 24-Elementary Concert and Awards; LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
• May 30-June 2-KSB Elementary and Middle Summer Program
• June 5-9-Summer Program-Statewide Elementary and Middle
• June 12-16 Summer Program-Statewide High School; Summer Work Program
  
• June 19-23 -Summer Program KSB High School; Summer Work Program

If you have any change in phone numbers, home address, a change in bus routine or you need someone added/removed from your child’s safe pick-up list; please contact Beth or Linda in the front office.

Are you signed up for OneCall? KSB uses OneCall to send school information, including our Weekly Wildcat. If not, please contact Beth Baker at beth.baker@ksb.kyschools.us or 502-897-1583

Thursday, May 18, 6-9pm in the KSB Food Service Building is our KSB High School Prom. Prom is open to any KSB student grades 9-12. All dates/guests that do not attend KSB or KSB Short Course must be approved by Admin. (Permission to attend forms have been sent to your emails.)

Day students may be dropped off at 5:45PM at the Cafeteria entrance. Families will not be admitted past the check in table. All students must be picked up by 9:30PM inside the Food Service Building.

Our students did an awesome job this week with their KSA testing. Fourth graders tested in reading, math, and science, while fifth and eighth graders had a full slate with tests in reading/language mechanics, math, social studies and on-demand writing. Next week, testing concludes with our sophomores and juniors testing. If you have a child in those grades, make sure your child gets a good night sleep before the days of testing, and encourage them to do their best!

If you want to see what types of questions students will be answering use this link.

KSB Music

The music department is so happy with how successful the year has been! On top of great performances, we’ve learned a lot about music terminology, theory, history, and cultures. We have one performance left, and that is our elementary students on May 24th at 9:15 in the cafeteria. We invite you to attend this event and the elementary awards ceremony following it on the last day of school. Our students are working to get their pieces ready for the concert, and they are sounding great! We look forward to showcasing them once more before the school year ends.

Our middle school students are done performing but are still learning about music and playing in a group. We’ve had fun jamming and improvising on a simple chord progression, learning another pop song, even exploring different instruments from a washboard to a synthesizer! It’s been great working with our middle schoolers all year, and we look forward to seeing what they can accomplish next year.

In case you missed it, the high school students did an awesome job on April 27th in their concert! We’re so proud of them, especially our seniors who had their final performance at KSB that day. We’ll miss them! Our 9th-11th graders will get more opportunities next year, but for now, they are all taking it a little easier, learning more about music and exploring new concepts and song ideas for next year. All in all, we had a great year with our students. They always work hard and put on a great show, but also learn valuable skills both musically and otherwise, like working well in a group or not being afraid of making a mistake. We hope you have a great summer and let’s do it again next year!

Fun Fact

Musical Education Leads to Better Exam Scores. Studying music is an actual workout for your brain. Learning an instrument has been proven to help students in myriad ways from mastery of memorization, pattern recognition and emotional development. Students who have experience with music performance or taking music appreciation courses score higher on the SAT(Scholastic Aptitude Test). A report indicated that they score, on average, 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math.

KSB Art

The partnership with KMAC has ended for another school year. It was again a great year with tons of creative projects, and we want to thank our 4 artists Suzy Hatcher, Lizzie Gulick, Janet Britt, and Liz Richter for all of their dedication and hard work with our students.

Ms. Roark's Arts Appreciation class is wrapping up their final art project for the year and it included another project with the medium of wet felting with wool. These pieces are of landscapes and seascapes. The students were first going to make the final products into mug rugs (coasters) but they ended up being so beautiful that they are adhered onto small canvases. Ms. Roark is putting them together this week and will give them to the students along with small easels for them to take home and put on display. We have had a great year of learning the appreciation of the arts as well as creating some items as well.

Fun Fact:

Art competitions were once part of the Olympics.

Here’s one of our more surprising art facts. Between the years of 1912 and 1948, medals were awarded for painting, sculpting, music, architecture, and literature. Olympic athletes were required to be amateurs in the arts for them to qualify.

As the horse, Mage, made his final turn in the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby, he was as far back as 7th place before making his final push to finish strong and win this year’s Kentucky Derby. With the end of the school year fast approaching, the promise of summer fun can cause students to go into autopilot.

Instead, we would like to help your student end the year on a high note, foster a sense of discipline, and build lasting confidence that will prove to be invaluable to your student throughout their academic careers. Here are four tips to help your student make their final push and finish the school year strong:

Take stock of their year.

Have a conversation with your child about their school year. What were their biggest successes in your opinion? How about in theirs? First and foremost, celebrate these! Let them know how proud you are of them and that you believe in them to continue to achieve their goals. Always be their biggest cheerleader. Similarly, discuss what areas they could improve on. While you will undoubtedly have your own ideas, try to first ask if they can think of anything that they are struggling with. Is there anything they would do differently in the future?

Declutter physically and mentally.

While your student may have started the year with a pristine binder and an immaculate set of pencils, a lot can happen in nine months. It’s important to ensure they still have everything they need to get their work done effectively. Is there anything they have run out of, broken, or misplaced?

Stick to your routine.

Longer and warmer days can tempt the best of us to begin to bend the rules around our schedule. However, it’s vital to remain consistent with whatever school year routine you have set in place. Stability, along with a good night’s rest, can do wonders for a child’s performance and motivation. One of the most impactful ways to inspire your student to stay the course these last few weeks is to lead by example. If they hear you wishing the summer would hurry up already, it will be easier for them to lose focus.

Keep them motivated!

If you notice your student is starting to procrastinate their schoolwork more and more, remind them of all the hard work they’ve already put in this year. Wouldn’t it be a shame for one bad grade at the very end to undermine all that effort?

Remember to advocate for frequent breaks, which will allow them to regroup and keep their focus. Are they sick of being cooped up indoors while completing homework? Suggest they set up a study station outside for a change of scenery!

You and your student are so close to the finish line – don’t slow down now! Staying focused and continuing to work hard through the end of the year will benefit your student so much in the long run.

The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation is accepting applications for Coca-Cola Merit Scholarships through May 31st

The Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), in partnership with Coca-Cola, will be awarding four $5,200 merit scholarships for entering freshmen, undergraduate and graduate students, who will be enrolled in an accredited college or technical program for Fall 2023. OVR, who administers the scholarship program, will award the scholarships to four consumers who are legally blind, to help with educational financial needs such as tuition, fees, room and board and assistive technology.

To be eligible to compete for a scholarship, applicants must be an OVR consumer with an IPE, be legally blind, have maintained at least a 2.75 GPA, and be enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited educational program for the 2023-24 school year. Students must submit their application and all required materials by May 31st.

For more information about the scholarship program, and to obtain an application, please visit Coca-Cola & Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Scholarship - Kentucky Career Center.

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