Bruneau Elementary Newsletter
December 12, 2017
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, December 19th BES Christmas Play 6:30
Thursday, December 21st End of 2nd Quarter/Early Release
12/22-1/7 Christmas Break
Thursday, January 11th Report Cards Sent Home
Classroom News
K/1 Miss Wampler
2/3 Mrs. Graham
We are getting closer to break! I can definitely tell because the kids, and even myself, have been quite squirrely these last couple weeks (haha!). I am back to teaching 2nd grade for reading and I’ve started teaching cursive to both grades. They are finding it a little more difficult than regular handwriting but I constantly remind that it’s not hard, it’s just different! So far, we’ve worked on the letters e, l, b, and r. We also took our field trip to The World Center for Birds of Prey. The kids had a blast getting to have a Kestler Falcon (aka Bob) fly right over their heads and see birds from all over the world. We will continue to dive into more about birds of prey and their habitats in more of a local aspect as the year goes on. Our Christmas party will be December 21 at 12:40 pm and you are more than welcome to join us! Please make sure to fill out the form for our party and send it back with your kiddo as soon as you can. Happy holidays, everyone!
4/5 Mrs. Kangas-Hanes
The North American Native peoples came to life as our class explored the exhibits in the Herrett Center’s museum and participated in an interactive lecture focused on the daily life and survival of the First Peoples of the Great Basin.
Our students were surprised to learn that while most of us assumed that deer and elk were staples for the early peoples, this was a protein they rarely ate because the First Peoples did not have the weapons or horses that made for successful hunts for such animals. In an excellent demonstration, one of the students who could run quickly acted as a deer and was pursued by a band of “First Peoples” who tried to capture him several times. Odin Hipwell was a stealth animal and in the end, his classmates had to settle for their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches lovingly prepared by the Miss Kim.
In the process, we learned that the First Peoples mostly subsisted from gathering wild nuts, berries, and tubers. They also snared and trapped small animals including Jack Rabbits and fish. On occasions, they built corrals from snag wood and mostly large weeds. They would then work cooperatively to herd antelope into the corrals, harvesting as many as they could and drying (perhaps at most 3) at a time. Then they would repeat the process until their need for preserved meat was met or until the best animals were harvested, which ever came first. Finally, the animals which were found to be less than optimum for harvest were set free to be harvested another day.
The students were invited to touch and interact with tools the First Peoples used, fish traps, camas diggers, seed beaters, atlatls, were available for the class to touch and investigate. The Herrett Center is a wonderful resource for learning for all ages. We recommend you visit this learning Center with your family soon. Click here to visit the Herrett Center on the web. Coming after the first of the year, we will prepare and present projects based on the North American First Peoples. This was a great way to bring these wise and ancient peoples to life in one short day.
Music Ms. Volk
A letter from the music room:
I would like to take this opportunity to cordially invite you to Bruneau Elementary’s winter Christmas production, entitled ‘Twas One Crazy Night Before Christmas’. The show will be held in the Bruneau gym on Tuesday, December 19, at 6:30 pm, which is about a week and a half away. Bruneau Elementary students will be telling the story of a family of cousins on Christmas Eve who have a very wacky night. An excerpt from the teacher’s manual: “Most of the cast is playing themselves, excited children both thrilled with and filled with eager anticipation of Christmas, while dreading the consequences of the holidays, sleeping on the floor, putting up with house guests, being disappointed with their presents and so on.” While our selection of narrators tries to keep the show track with the traditional poem, all sorts of things seem to get in the way to create a very crazy and silly Christmas Eve!
At Bruneau we have been working on the songs for this production since before Halloween, so this is a long awaited performance for your students. Compared to previous concerts, this is a full on musical, with characters, acting and scenes as well as some very non-traditional Christmas tunes (like how the mother of the family starts using football to make dinner!). Putting on a real, honest to goodness musical is a very new experience for me; all I’d done before were “stand and sing” concerts that follow a theme but not a story. I was a little nervous to put myself outside of my comfort zone and attempt this with my students because it is a very big undertaking, but I could not be prouder of how hard they have worked. They took to the music and the acting like born performers, and I have every confidence they will wow you with their newfound abilities.
So save the date! It’s going to be quite a show!
Musically yours,
Cathryn Volk
November Students of The Month
K/1 Rigo Lewis Farfan
2nd Grade Mackley Prow
3rd Grade Gael Gallardo
Art Mrs. Pearson
Inclement Weather
If school is canceled due to inclement weather, families will be notified via all-call and the school's closure will be posted on the school website.