Welcome to Spring!
Greetings Parents and Community Members! Can you believe there are only 40 days left in the school year? I cannot believe how fast this year has gone! I can say without a doubt that I’ve learned more in the past 10 months than I have the prior 10 years! We often talk about engagement as being that feeling you have when you get home from work. Are you tired? Worn out, sad, mad or depressed? Or are you eager and invigorated to get started with where you left off? I know where I stand! While working with children all day can often put a drain on you, I love the feeling I have at night (and so does our staff, knowing we get to pick up right where we left off the next day – and this past week was no exception…
- 3rd grade teacher Mr. Freeman worked with his class on communicating information about the physical attributes of rocks and soils. His class actually made their own crystals, making learning about rocks and minerals fun!
- Mrs. Lander and Mrs. Ingram, our resident Media Specialists, organized book bins for our APS school buses. Now children can choose a book to read while on the school bus!
- 5th grade teachers Mrs. Stansbury and Mrs. Rinkowski worked on math applications as their classes measured volume using real world objects. I loved seeing students measure random objects around the house to determine the volume.
- How many ways are there to classify an object? Ms. Harron’s class continued the instructional practices of 5th grade by developing a classification system for shoes. Her students learned that this system helps us identify similarities and differences in order to organize information!
- We loved seeing Ms. Hudson’s 1st grade class learn math by using manipulatives. This way of learning really puts math into perspective as students discussed the properties of various shapes.
- Our entire second grade team participated in “What’s the Matter” day at MB primary. Students learned about solids, liquids, and gases and the difference between a reversible and irreversible change. They made pancakes (physical) and poured water over skittles (chemical)!
We also celebrated an end to our 3rd quarter by celebrating our students at our second-to-last Hive Rally! I love our Hive Rallies as they bring together our school in an environment where our students are the highlight. We gave out IB awards, attendance awards, Science Fair awards and, most importantly, Read-a-Thon recognitions! This year was among the most successful ever as we raised over $55,000 for our school, and our students read over 550,000 minutes! I cannot thank our organizers enough for the hard work and dedication to this awesome Brandon initiative, our students for going “all in,” and, especially, our parents and community partners who generously donate so much. This money goes right back to our students and staff and, for that, I thank you!
Also, on Friday 3/22, led by parent volunteers Jared Lina, Ryan Davis and Sean Fogarty, our first annual Duel of the Dads golf tournament took place with 72 dads signed up for golfing in teams of four. In the end, the 2nd grade team of dads won the Silver Jug with a one-stroke combined-score victory over the Kindergarten team. The foursome of John Balfour, Zan Banks, Matthew Finger and Doug Smith tied the foursome of Brian Love, Brooks Morris, Travis Peck and Huston Stewart with a low score of 63. The Balfour/Banks/Finger/Smith foursome ended up winning the overall title in a dramatic putting contest playoff following the round. There was even a closest-to-the-pin challenge with Will Porter, Ben Sutherland, Stewart Caughman and Ryan Hart all taking first place. I have to say how awesome it is that Jared, Ryan and Sean pulled off such a cool event. In one day, they raised close to $3,000 for our school in a tradition unlike any other! Hats off to everyone who participated in this sure-to-be longstanding school tradition.
As we inch closer to Spring Break, know that it’s full steam ahead when we return. Parent input forms are coming out soon, Go Team elections are right around the corner, and end-of-year testing, field days, celebrations and graduations are all on the horizon.
Exciting times to come for sure!
See you in two weeks…
j