Pennies for Patients Change Drive

Reminder:  All change for the student council change drive, Pennies for Patients, benefiting children with Leukemia and Lymphoma, will end tomorrow.  If your student is interested in participating in this, please make sure they send their change no later than tomorrow. 

EARLY DISMISSAL/NO SNOW PANTS

Reminder:  Today is a 1:00 dismiss for the end of the 3rd quarter.  Report cards will come home on Monday.

Snow Pants:  Students are no longer required to wear snow pants at recess.  They have been asked to stay away from the few piles we have left.  However, they are REQUIRED to bring their boots if they want to go off of the cement.  

PICTURE DAY TOMORROW

Tomorrow is SPRING PICTURE DAY.  Remember, these are the pictures that you see before you pay.  All students will have their picture taken.  After they're developed, they will be sent home. At that time you may decide whether or not you'd like to purchase them.  

Please email me if you have any questions. 

PTO Carnival 2014

The Keystone/VH PTO Carnival was a HUGE success thanks to all of you!  Thank you for your help and for attending.  It was pretty obvious that everyone was having a terrific time!  Below are a few pictures of some of the festivities.  If you have more to share, please email them to me  

Pep Band

Please take a moment to vote for the Benton High School Pep Band.  They have made it to the final stages of the March Music Madness competition through West Music and will receive a prize at the end if they win.  Your support is greatly appreciated.  As hard as it is to believe, our children may be in HS band before we know it!

VOTE HERE

Recess Toys

Please remind your first grader that they are not allowed to bring toys from home to play with at recess.  This is a rule that is in the school handbook and will be enforced more strictly at Van Horne Elementary.  

PTO Carnival

Reminder:  Tomorrow is the PTO Carnival at Keystone Elementary from 6-8pm.  There will be games and inflatables for families to play and food for sale. There will also be some pretty awesome silent auction baskets available to bid on.  Please plan on making tomorrow night a night of family fun and attend the Keystone/Van Horne PTO Carnival.  

Safetouch

A representative from St. Luke's Hospital came and talked to our students about touches today.  She talked to students about good touches, bad touches and secret touches.  I was extremely impressed with the content, context and presentation of the information.  There is a coloring book coming home with your first grader about this today.  Please contact the office if you have any questions about this program.  

Decorah Eagle Cam

We checked out the eagle on the live eagle cam today.  The first graders were super excited to hear that the video footage is live.  We even caught a glimpse of the eggs in the nest.  They asked if I would share the site.  I have ordered a number of books about eagles to feed their curious minds.  Enjoy!  

http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

Tie Your Shoes

Follow the link to find the activity that the students completed in Technology today.  It gives a number of videos they can watch that will help them learn to tie their shoes.  Please keep working on this life skill at home.  

http://padlet.com/wall/jy3zt0jhxw

PTO Meeting TONIGHT

Reminder:  There is a PTO meeting tonight at Keystone Elementary at 7pm.   Final plans for the carnival will be the main topic.  Please plan on attending if you are able.  

 I'm SUPER excited about our classroom basket!  If you are still looking to donate, we could use a beach towel, sunscreen or goggles.  Already included in our basket is a Belle Plaine Pool FAMILY SEASON PASS, a certificate for private swimming lessons with a Water Safety Instructor (5, 30 minute sessions), a kiddie pool, water guns, a water skipping ball, and a few other things.  With all items so far, I would guess our basket is nearing a $200 value!  THANK YOU for helping support our PTO and students by generously providing these items.  

Read Across America Day

THANK YOU for joining us for Breakfast for Buddies and celebrating Read Across America Day at Van Horne Elementary.  My first graders were buzzing about how great of a day yesterday was this morning still!  We had a day full of celebrating Dr. Seuss and books, books, books!  Adults joined us for breakfast, Mrs. Bange had a special Dr. Seuss Symbaloo for us (You can find it on her library website.  The link is below.), we learned about Dr. Seuss' life, had a couple special guest readers, high school speech students performed for us, and we even had Dr. Seuss math themed activities. It was an absolutely wonderful day.

Benton Elementary Library

PBIS Luau Celebration

We earned over 100 PBIS tickets for positive behaviors in the month of February!  As a reward for the great behaviors, the whole school participated in a PBIS Luau Celebration.  Each student received a pair of glasses and a lei.  Students participated in activities like volleyball, hula hooping, and limbo!