Volume 6 Issue 2

October 2016

Blue Ridge Elementary School Bulldog News

Hand in Hand Let's Take a Stand

Red Ribbon Week 2016

Monday, Oct. 24 - "Use Your Head - Wear Red" Students wear as much red clothing as possible

Tuesday, Oct. 25 - “Walk This Way Toward Healthy Choices!” Wear athletic clothes & sneakers and each class will walk Dan River Park Trail during their PE time

Wednesday, Oct. 26 – "Drugs are Despicable" Students will dress as minions (yellow shirt, jeans or overalls, eye-ball headbands)

Thursday, Oct. 27 - “Tie Down Drugs” Students will wear their craziest necktie or bowtie

Friday, Oct. 28 - “Peace In- Drugs Out!” Students will dress in 70s clothing (tie dye clothing, bell-bottom pants, peace signs) Students will also participate in a Beta-sponsored event of fun activities

**Prizes will be given daily for the best-dressed boy and best-dressed girl

**Class with weekly average of most participation will receive free Soda & Popcorn Snack.

Challenge Students Visit Natural Bridge

Blue Ridge Challenge group traveled to Natural Bridge on Thursday, September 21, 2016. The group first explored Natural Bridge Caverns. A tour guide lead the group into the caverns which stay a cool 54°. The group descended around 300 feet viewing various cavern structures including stalactites and stalagmites. After the cavern tour, the group participated in gem mining. The students used water and trays to sift, finding and collecting various natural gemstones. The last stop on the trip was to the famous historic landmark of Natural Bridge. The students enjoyed walking and viewing the bridge, as well as listening to the bridge tour guide. The bridge tour guide provided numerous historical and interesting facts. It was a wonderful trip and great experience for the students.

ARRR you ready for the Bookaneer Book Fair? The Book

Fair will be held October 3-7 in the library. Parent Night is

Monday, October 3 (4-6 pm). And remember, Crew, the

Bookaneer Book Fair is where the treasure is! If you don’t

come, your Captain will be mad!

Announcement submitted by: Morgan Cambron and Gina

Rubio (5th grade)

You can also order online:

http://www.scholastic.com/bf/

blueridgeelementaryschool7

DOT DAY 2016

Our Dot Day celebration was a huge success. Dot Day is an international event to honor the children’s book, The Dot by Peter Reynolds, beginning on September 12 and celebrated the entire week.

I believe the popularity of the book is because all ages can relate to the author’s message, go make your mark!

It was great to see students, teachers and staff wearing their dots. Some creative students made their own shirts by decorating with dots. I even had a gift given to the art room that had been decorated with dots!

Our hallway continues to be adorned with fantastic dot pictures that all students made. They also created a rainbow of colorful dots that became a mural. Adults also got into the art act by making their own dots with chalk, an idea that Mrs. Maxfield shared with me.

Thanks to all who participated, to Mrs. T. Bowman and Nurse Montgomery for taking photos, to Jeff at Lowes Home Improvement for donating all of those paint chips we used to create our dot pictures and especially to those parents who took the time to help create those awe-some dot shirts!

Thanks again, it is awesome to teach art at BRES!

First Grade Grammar Surgeons

The 5th Grade students have been studying about Native Americans in U. S. History to 1865. Mrs. Pack brought her collection of artifacts, so students could have an up close look into the past. She found these artifacts near her home in Kibler Valley. The students talked about artifacts they had found themselves and enjoyed looking at Mrs. Pack's collection. This experience helped students realize that Native Americans actually lived in our local area.

First grade did "sentence surgery" in grammar on September 26. Students matched subject to predicate to make a complete sentence. The students were "sentence doctors" and fixed sentences with band aids.

Students are testing the "Theory of Falling Objects." The scientist Aristotle first predicted that if 2 objects in similar size and shape are dropped from the same height, the heavier object would fall faster, therefore, hit the ground first. This idea went unchallenged for over 200 years. Then, Galileo decided to test it. He disproved this theory. Legend tells that he dropped similar items from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to test this idea. Surprisingly, (to everyone except Gaileo), the objects hit the ground at the same time. Astronauts on Apollo 15 actually did this experiment on the Moon!

7th S C I E N C E

Remember that our paper is available online at http://bre.patrick.k12.va.us

Blue Ridge Elementary will collect drink tabs in memory of Ms. Slate’s son and

Mrs. Slate’s grandson, Jordan.

This fundraiser will continue through May.

We will weigh the tabs and the class that collects the most will win a pizza party in

May.

This collection does not only include drink tabs. Tabs from soup cans, juice cans, dog foods etc. are accepted as long as they are aluminum.

Pecan Sales October 3-21

Our South Georgia Pecan sales will begin on Monday, October 3 and end on Friday, October 21. This is a prepaid fundraiser and all money and orders must be turned in at the same time.

Prizes will be rewarded to the top 3 sellers:

1st– $50.00

2nd—$30.00

3rd—$20.00

Thanks for supporting our school!

First of all, I would like to say “hello” to each of you. I always start the school year off with safety reminders.

1. Please make sure your child sits in his/her seat until the vehicle comes to a complete stop. (Child Safety)

2. Always have your child walk around the front of the vehicle when exiting on the passenger side. (Child Safety)

3. If you are picking your child up at the end of the day, please make sure to park in the rear of the building. No vehicle is allowed to move while we are loading buses. I am pleased to say that your adherence to this rule has reduced most traffic control problems in the afternoons and I thank you for that.

4. This is a smoke free campus including the car rider line.

5. We do not let any child leave the school unless it is documented that the person picking them up has permission to do so. This is for the safety of the child and there are no exceptions.

Thank each and everyone of you for making our school such a safe and great school.

Thanks!

Officer Bob

If at anytime myself or Sheriff Smith can be of help to you, we can be reached at the following numbers.

Officer Bob School—276-251-5271 Cell—276-952-5279 Sheriff Smith Office—276-694-3161 Cell– 276-692-7012

In case of an emergency, please dial 911.

Monday, October 3rd

PTO Meeting

7 pm

2nd Grade will be performing

Students with 600 Scores in SOL testing will also be recognized

Wondering what the VA Apple Crunch-a-Palooza is? In celebration of National Farm to School month we encourage all Virginia residents to crunch into a VA Grown apple on October 6!

VA Apple Crunch-A-Palooza

Butterflies in the Classroom

Written by: Lillian Estep

At the end of August, the seventh graders and Mrs. Smith went into a field across the road. There we found many Monarch eggs and an imposter caterpillar who turned out to be an Eastern Swallowtail . This was the first one Mrs. Smith’s class has ever raised. Almost a week and a half later we had our first chrysalis. It belonged to the Eastern Swallowtail. Not too long after the discovery of the chrysalis, we had our first “J” up. Later, Mrs. Smith found an already formed chrysalis. Sadly, our first “J” didn’t make it. A week later we had several more “J” up and over a short course of time they formed the most magnificent chrysalises. They looked like emerald earrings. After a while, the beauty of the chrysalis started to fade and it became transparent and a Monarch butterfly was revealed. On September 27, our first butterfly hatched! We were so excited! When they all hatch, the class will release them.

Counselor’s Corner—Mr. Coulter

October is Bully and Drug Prevention Awareness Month

Our guidance lessons will focus on bully and drug prevention this

month. Blue Ridge Elementary will also be kicking off it's new bully prevention initiative. This initiative includes a link that will allow students to report a bully anonymously (more will be said during October guidance).

To report a bully students can:

Go to the Blue Ridge Homepage

Hover the mouse over the "For Families" section located at the top of the screen

Click on "Report a Bully"

Fill out the form

More details about this link to come during October guidance lessons.

New School Buses Arrive at BRES

JoAnn Boles’ new bus

The students are very excited and adults are very thankful for the two new buses that arrived at school this week.

Grandparents Day Breakfast Another Success

The Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers would like to thank all the grandparents who came out to have breakfast with their grandchildren at our Grandparents Day Breakfast. It was a wonderful way to get the day started for our

students!

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2 3 Nut Sale Begins Title 1 Advisory Meeting 5-6 pm

PTO 7 pm

2nd Grade/600

Students

Parent Night—Bookfair 4-6 pm

4

Bible Club 3:00-4:30

5

Jr. Beta

3–4 pm

6

Crunch-A-Palooza (Fresh

Apples)

Fitness Club

3-4

7

Bookfair Ends

8

9 10

Challenge Meeting

3:00-4:30

1st Qtr. Benchmarks

Begin

11

Bible Club 3:00-4:30

12 13

Star Reward Ice Cream

Sundae Party

Fitness Club

3-4

14

End of 1st 9 weeks

Early Dismissal 12:20

15

16 17 18

Bible Club 3:00-4:30

19 20

Early Dismissal 12:20

Report Cards go home

21

Girl Scouts 3-4 pm

Nut Sale Ends

22

23 24

25

Bible Club 3:00-4:30

26

Club Picture/Make Up

Picture Day

27

Parent/Teacher Conferences 3:30-6:00

28 29

30 31 Halloween

(NO Costumes Please)

NED Show Gym 1pm

October 2016

Virginia Farm to School Week Oct. 3-7

RED RIBBON WEEK! SEE FRONT PAGE FOR DAILY DRESS UP THEME!