News from the
Eagle's Nest
Note from Mrs. Schacht
Vaughn Families,
Happy New Year! I hope this message finds you well and rejuvenated after the holiday break. January brings with it a sense of renewal and opportunities for growth. We were eager to welcome back students and are so glad they are here.
Please stay connected through our various communication channels, as we value your involvement in your child's education. You can find links to our Facebook and Instagram pages at the bottom of this newsletter. Together, let's make this year a remarkable journey of discovery and achievement for our students.
Warm regards,
Kendra Schacht
Principal
Has a staff member gone above and beyond for your child or family? If so, please let us know by completing the Staff Shout Out form.
Inclement Weather:
I want to share the district's inclement weather procedures as we look at the forecast. When weather and road conditions are a concern, district-level school officials drive the roads to check for areas of difficulty. Their goal is to make school closing decisions by 5:00 am each morning.
Should we cancel school, you'll receive an email and a phone call. We use the primare contact information in your eSchool account for these communications. If you need to update your information, do so by calling the office at 479-254-5500. Closure information is also shared on Facebook and Twitter @Bville_Schools.
In the event that the district needs to run limited bus routes, you will be notified. You can find pick-up and drop-off information on the Bentonville Schools website.
Important Dates
See the calendar at the end of this page to view events scheduled throughout the year.
February Events
February 7 - PTO meeting @ 8:30am
February 14 - Class Valentine's Parties
11am - 3rd grade
11:45am - Kindergarten
12:50pm - 1st grade
1:30pm - 2nd & 4th grade
February 19 - Staff Development (NO SCHOOL for students)
February 22 - School Bus Driver Appreciation Day
February 28 - Class pictures
Family STEM Corner: Ignite Curiosity at Home!
As we foster a culture of curiosity and innovation at Vaughn, we are thrilled to share opportunities to further STEM exploration at home. Together, let's ignite the spark of creativity and curiosity in our young minds, encouraging them to become the inventors and innovators of tomorrow.
We're excited to share a bit of innovation with you! This month, we'd like to introduce you to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, a prestigious institution that celebrates the brilliant minds behind some of the world's most transformative inventions.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame honors inventors who have made significant contributions to society through their groundbreaking innovations. From life-changing medical advancements to revolutionary technological breakthroughs, these inventors have left an indelible mark on the world. This institution not only recognizes the accomplishments of inventors but also inspires the next generation of problem solvers and creative thinkers.
They also have a blog with links to a variety of STEM activities. Here are a couple of activities that you and your child can do together this month.
Vaughn Elementary STEM Scholarship Fund
We are currently raising funds for a scholarship fund aimed at supporting a Bentonville West High School senior who is passionate about pursuing a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Our goal is to ensure that all students have access to quality STEM experiences, and your contribution can make a significant impact.
By supporting this scholarship, you are helping to empower a promising student on their journey toward a STEM-related career. Your generosity will contribute to fostering the next generation of innovators, scientists, and engineers. Together, we can make a meaningful difference in providing opportunities for students to excel in the exciting and rapidly evolving fields of STEM.
We appreciate your consideration and support in helping us achieve our mission of promoting education and creating a brighter future for our students.
The order form below was sent home with students this week. If you need an additional copy, click this link or reach out to your child's teacher.
Kindergarten Enrollment 2024-2025
Pre-Registration for new kindergarteners for the 2024-25 school year will be open from January 22nd-February 2nd. Detailed information will be on our district website towards the end of the month. You must complete the online pre-registration process (Step 1) before submitting an enrollment form (Step 2) and moving on to the final enrollment (Step 3). The pre-registration link will become “live” on 1/22 at 8:00 AM and will close on 2/2 at 3:00 PM. If you miss the pre-registration deadline you will have to wait and submit the enrollment form for kindergarten when our general enrollment for new students opens up on April 1st.
Open Enrollment for grades K-12 for the 2024-2025 school year will begin on April 1, 2024.
Buddy Bench
We are very excited to finally have our buddy bench installed and ready to use. Last spring, our Student Council raised money to purchase the bench. You might be thinking, what is a buddy bench?
A buddy bench gives students a safe space to eliminate loneliness and foster friendships. It teaches children empathy by showing them how to recognize when someone else is in need and how we can be kind to them. This also teaches them to be more proactive—to recognize the feelings of others and to step forward to do something about it. In addition to encouraging empathy, it will also help kids develop social and leadership skills.
If you are sitting on the bench …
You are looking for a friend. When someone asks you to play, join them, and always remember to glance over at the school's buddy bench to invite new friends to join in on the fun.
If you are not sitting on the bench …Ask your classmate on the buddy bench to play, and make a new friend today! Keep growing your circle of friends until everyone has someone to play with. :)
Counselors' Corner
Classroom Lesson for January: Conflict Resolution
Snack Packs
If you are interested in your child receiving a snack pack on Fridays please email msnow@bentonvillek12.org. Each pack has about 8 different snacks for the weekend to help with food needs.
Winter Coats
If you need assistance providing a winter coat for your child, please reach out to Mrs. Snow. You can reach her through email at msnow@bentonvillek12.org or by calling 254-5500.
Guardians in Action
If you are interested in volunteering with our Guardians in Action program you must complete our Volunteer Training. Reach out to Mrs. Snow, msnow@bentonvillek12.org for more details.
Core Value: Responsibility
A Note from Nurse Brittany
Welcome back students and parents!
I hope 2024 will be the most amazing year for you all. Let's get that year off to a good start by making sure we have a water bottle daily to stay hydrated and a warm set of clothes in our backpacks for accidents and spills. Please make sure to complete your student's health history form online here. This is necessary for me to provide medical care. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am very happy to help!
bclupny@bentonvillek12.org.
Updates from Activity Classes
Digital Literacy
Happy New Year Eagles! This month in Digital Literacy we will continue practicing and learning online safety skills as well as practicing proper keyboarding technique. 3rd and 4th grades will be practicing without looking at the keys with their keyboards covered and participating in the district-wide keyboarding competition after Spring Break. I encourage all students to practice at home.
Art
Hey everyone! I can't wait to get started back doing some amazing artworks! Kindergarten will be working on Wayne Thiebaud ice cream paintings, 1st grade is going to make cardboard sculptures, 2nd grade will be making 3D animal sculptures, and 3rd and 4th will be working on circle weaving with yarn! It's going to be a challenging 3D artwork time but I know they will do great!
Global Connections
Happy January and happy new year!
Can't believe we are halfway through the year already! We had such a great time in Europe. They learned the Zorba, a traditional dance from Greece and even learned a song in French. We got to see what Finland was like and we are finishing off with Spain. Soon we will see Antarctica and start exploring Africa. We have so many fun things planned and I can't wait to share it with the kids. It's going to be a great rest of the year. I can't wait!
P.E.
Happy New Year, Vaughn Families!
Physical Education in January will be packed with lots of large group activities and team games! Our 3rd and 4th grade students will be playing three modified, indoor versions of kickball! We will be stressing the importance of teamwork and strategy. Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade students will be participating in tossing and catching activities, learning a few whole group fitness games, and reviewing our locomotor skills.
Coach Fewell, Coach Calvert, and I are excited to be back with your students!
- Mrs. Mackey
Music
Kindergarten: We are starting a unit on instrument families: woodwind, brass, percussion, and strings. Try to identify different instruments you may hear on the radio or on tv.
First Grade: We will be learning about sounds, rests, notes, and rhythms.
Second Grade: We will begin learning about note duration, accent marks, and how to write notes and rests. A great connection is cooking! Whole cup, half cup, and quarter cup measurements. How many halves in a whole? Quarters?
Third Grade: Recorders!!! We will dig into form, introductions, and refrains. We can analyze our favorite songs and determine their forms.
Fourth Grade: Recorders!!! We will be taking a deeper look into instrument families and orchestral instruments. Consider having a conversation about what instrument your child might want to learn in middle school.
PTO Posts
Hello families,
What an incredible first half of the year it has been! The PTO board would like to extend a big thank you to all of our volunteers! We have had a successful start to the year and we couldn’t have done it with your time and talents! THANK YOU!
It was such a joy to watch your children pick gifts at the holiday shop! We hope they had as much fun as we did. The school store fundraiser continues to go strong. We have raised $506 in profit from the store and sent $21,775 to the classrooms! We are so close to our additional playground equipment. WAY TO GO!
Across the Grade Levels
4th Grade
4th grade students worked in groups to design a bike course to support the development of a measurement model for fractions. This problem solving investigation provided students with an opportunity to use local bike trails as a real world context for learning to explore equivalent fractions and their relationships.
3rd Grade
Third grade has been learning about the Roman Empire. We have studied government, important people, daily life and Roman myths..
In this activity, students are making a model of a Roman road.
2nd Grade
2nd grade built Santa's sleigh and attached it to a zip line! The goal was to keep the presents inside as it glided down our zip line. The smiles tell us the sleigh was successful!
1st Grade
1st grade began CKLA Knowledge Domain 5: Early American Civilizations in December. We have discussed important details of the religion, cities, and farming to the ancient Maya. A highlighted vocabulary word we have been discussing during this time is constructed. To help our students best understand the vocabulary word constructed in context, we challenged them to use their stem bins to construct pyramids, temples, and tombs like the Mayan ones we have been discussing.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten wrapped up their unit on farming this month. Our kids were able to see a show cow first hand to further their understanding on different types of livestock.
Culture Night
Culture Night Interest Form
Hello Eagle Families! We would love to hear your story! If you are interested in participating in our Culture Night this Spring, please fill out this form. You can participate however you feel comfortable, it could be a dance, a posterboard, food, etc. Depending on the responses, we will decide the date and time. If you have any questions, please email Mrs Richey/erichey@bentonvillek12.org. I can’t wait to hear from you.
Year at a Glance
Helpful Links
Important Contacts
Main Office
479-254-5500
If you have a question about...
Grades, assignments, or tests: your child's teacher
Attendance: Dana McKasson, Attendance Clerk vesattendanceclerk@bentonvillek12.org
Medical issues: Nurse Brittney Clupney bclupny@bentonvillek12.org
Counseling: Marisa Snow msnow@bentonvillek12.org & Jalynn Mayo jmayo@bentonvillek12.org
Volunteering: Marisa Snow msnow@bentonvillek12.org
Special Education: Angie Cynova, SPED Lead acynova@bentonvillek12.org
English as a Second Language (ESL): Eunice Richey erichey@bentonvillek12.org
Address/phone/email change: Mary Samuel, Registrar msamuel@bentonvillek12.org
Library: Carol Halbmaier, librarian chalbmaier@bentonvillek12.org
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