BRES Sharing Parade (2011)!!

On Tuesday, December 20th, Blue Ridge Elementary school celebrated its 26th annual Sharing Parade. The Sharing Parade is an event where students, faculty and staff come together help families in need. This year's theme for the parade was "Uniting." As our Sharing Parade coordinator Kathy Roe says, the purpose of the event is to "brighten the holiday season to those in our community; show we care; help instill in our students it is important to give, to help, to share, and the good feeling you get when you help someone."

Throughout December, students donated food items to their classroom. The day of the Sharing Parade, the students bring all their items to the auditorium and place them on tables in front of the stage. This "parade" of giving is a very special tradition at Blue Ridge Elementary.

Parents are invited to come and join in the celebration of singing and sharing thoughts. Kristen Burkhart, elementary music teacher, led the students in song. Thena Summers, a community member and volunteer for the Great Bend Fire Company and American Red Cross, came to speak about the unity she witnessed this September during the devastating floods our community suffered.

This year food boxes were given to 30 families in need. A ham and a bag of potatoes were donated by Blue Ridge Elementary PTO. Toys for each child in the family were added in by Kristen Hinkley, another Blue Ridge teacher, on behalf of the Toys N Tots and Leo Club programs.

Photo Caption: Students read their sharing thought on stage while their classmates hold the UNITE sign. From left to right (reading): Brock Gumaer, Tommy Gudykunst and TJ Hand. Holding sign: Evan Snyder, Andrew Merrell, Kaleb Folk, MaKayla Phillips, Jillian Stone

Clcik Here to view another blog of the Sharing Parade: http://brsdgifted.blogspot.com/2011/12/26th-annual-sharing-parade.html.

PreK Visits Emerson Apts (Elderly Housing)

The BRES PreK classes took time out of their day to sing Christmas Carols and provide the Elderly at the Emerson Apartments with a Holiday snack and an Ornament for their Christmas Trees.

Mrs. Templeton's 4th Grade Math Class

Mrs. Templeton’s fourth grade math class recently began their geometry unit. The students will be studying such things as polygons, lines, points, rays and angles. In these photographs, the students are using geoboards to make various polygons. They were asked to make a triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon and an octagon. Great job class!

Once again, Blue Ridge Elementary partnered with Trehab and WNEP Channel 16 to collect food items during the annual Feed-A-Friend food drive. Students in grades PreK-5th collected a grand total of 638 food items. Those food items ranged from
Jell-O mix to canned fruit and applesauce. This year the first grade class collected the most items with 157 donated boxes of pudding. They were rewarded with extra recess time on their new playground equipment.

Caption – First graders at Blue Ridge Elementary School enjoy their extra recess time reward.

1st Marking Period Honor Roll.............Grade 5

Honors:
Beach, Makayla E.
Beesley, Samuel J.
Carr, Aleksander T.
Clapper, Cassandra A.
Colwell, Jason E.
Cramer, Micah L.
DelLongo, Danielle R.
DeVoe, Clayton J.
Gelatt, Brandon R.
Glatzel, Matthew J.
Goff, Danielle L.
Goff, Joshua J.
Kelly, Jerry P.
Kerr, Mary V.
Lewis, Mackenzie M.
Martin, Alec J.
McAndrew, Christopher J.
Perrington, Autumn E.
Phillips, MaKayla M.
Schell, Jerni G.
Smith, Zachary T.
Stepniak, Lauren T.
Vogel, Sarah M.
Wojtkowski, Wesley A.
Zawiski, Jeff W.

High Honors:
Bailey, Devon M.
Bonner, Anna M.
Brant, Taylor P.
Bryden, Kimberly M.
Cosmello, Samuel J.
Cramer, Tabitha P.
Dissinger, Parker J.
Folk, Kaleb M.
Gudykunst, Benjamin V.
Gudykunst, Karly G.
Gumaer, Brock H.
Hand, Todd J.
Hepler, Krystal E.
Johnson, Natasha L.
Lewis, Frederick D.
McAulliffe, Jillian E.
Merrell, Andrew C.
Mirra, Ashley M.
Morris, Isabelle N.
Mudge, Avy M.
Mullen, Micah M.
Powell, Kyra J.
Reynolds, Robert G.
Roe, Adam T.
Snyder, Evan M.
Stilloe, Ardine
Stone, Jillian S.
Tierney, Daniel P.
Tobon, Luis A.

Check our BRES Student Artwork on Artsonia!!

Click on the link to check out our online student gallery at Artsonia. Blue Ridge Elementary gallery can be viewed at http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=17116 We have about 237 pieces of student work and counting! I'm hoping to have at least one piece of student art for every student by the end of the year. Students can purchase items from the gift shop with their own art on the merchandise. Part of the money is put towards funds for our art class. This is all done through the Artsonia website.

Sarrah Dibble
Blue Ridge Elementary Art Teacher

The Blue Ridge Elementary School would like to thank our local Robb’s supermarket and School/Community Family Members for their partnership with the eScrip program. eScrip is proven to be a fantastic resource for fundraising where participating business partners contribute a percentage of your grocery loyalty cards, credit card, and debit/ATM card purchases to the school, group or organization of your choice.

Here's How it Works:
•You register any one or all of your existing grocery loyalty, debit and credit cards for use in the program.

•Participating merchants will make contributions to your chosen group, based on purchases made by you, just by using the cards you have registered.

•Your purchases are tracked and available to you online, allowing you to see just how much you are earning on your child's behalf!

Pictured above(attached), is Matthew Button (Blue Ridge Elementary Principal) and Robb Robinson (Owner of Robb’s Supermarket) holding a certificate recognizing the Blue Ridge Elementary School for being among the “Top Participating Groups” in the ShurSave/eScrip Community Rewards Program for the Fall of 2011.

Grade 1 is Learning About "Careers"

In the first grade reading curriculum their is a unit on "Careers." During the first week of December the students learned about various careers in the world and the week concluded with many first grade parents visiting first grade and presenting on their career.

Pictured above, is Mr. Button reading "Frog Principal" and explaining to the students what it is like to be a Principal.

Mrs. Rhone's & Mrs. Skal's Fabulous 50th Day of Kindergarten

On Tuesday, November 22, Mrs. Rhone’s and Mrs. Skal’s Kindergarten classes celebrated the 50th Day of Kindergarten, 1950’s style! Of course, we dressed up in our best 50's gear and danced whenever we had a chance. The Jitterbug, the Hand Jive and Twist were the dances on our list! We compared today to the 50’s and talked about what was so nifty: Lassie, Howdy Doody, poodle skirts, greased hair, bowling, hula hoop and of course, counting to 50! We integrated social studies, science, math, music and movement and art into our theme with activities such as: now and then, predicting if ice cream sinks/floats in Coke floats, patterning, counting, addition, subtraction and spin art. We concluded our day with a 1950’s party that demonstrated all of our activities to our parents.
Happy 50th Day of Kindergarten!!!

Thank You!

Dear Kindergarten Families and BR Community,

On Saturday, November 19, Kindergarten had a very successful bake sale! We are very thankful for donated baked goods and monetary donations that our community contributed. Special thanks to Mrs. Kira Connelly, our PTO President for assisting 5K Kindergarten teachers with our Saturday bake sale!

Thanks for your support!

5K Kindergarten Teachers

Coat Drive at BR!

This past Saturday the BREA & Leo club sponsored a Coat Give Away. We gave out 262+ coats to people in need. Thank you all who donated or helped in some way. The people were very appreciative & thankful, many had lost clothing in this years flood. We will collect all year to stock up for next year. Please feel free to bring in coats anytime & I will store them. All the coats the Blue Ridge family donated have gone to a new home & we do not have any coats left. Best time to buy is off season, many stores have fantastic deals on new coats in the summer & spring.

Thanks again for helping make our community warmer this winter season!

Kristen Hinkley
FCS Teacher
Leo Club Advisor

Kindergarten's Annual Thanksgiving Feast!!

This Year's Top Feed A Friend Grade was..............Grade 1

1st Grade collected 157 cans of jello to support the Feed a Friend Program. Pictured above is First Grade enjoying their reward..............an extra recess on the new playground.

American Education Week (Nov 14-18)

To celebrate American Education Week the Blue Ridge Elementary School had a Community Read Aloud and a Parent Visitation Day on Tuesday, November 15.

Students really enjoyed hearing stories from their class visitors and also having the chance to have their parents stop by and visit and see what they do at school.

BRES would like to thank parents who took time out of their day to stop by and visit our school.

Veteran's Day Assembly (November 11, 2011)

On November 11, 2011 the Blue Ridge MS/HS Leo Club and the Blue Ridge ES combined their efforts to recognize local Veterans. The Blue Ridge MS/HS Leo Club recognized and thanked our local Veterans by providing a breakfast prior to the Veteran's Day Assembly, put on by the Blue Ridge ES.

The program was well-attended and 35 local Veterans and Auxiliary members were in attendance.

The Assembly consisted of.....................

ENTRANCE OF THE COLOR GUARD AND MEMBERS OF THE HALLSTEAD AMERICAN LEGION AND AUX., GREAT BEND VFW AND AUX., AND PENNSYLVANIA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (Please rise)...........................................Bill Kienzler, Commander
(American Legion Post 357)

NATIONAL ANTHEM (Please rise) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . 5th Grade Select Choir & school
Directed by Kristen Burkhart

INVOCATION (Please rise). . . . . . . . . Chaplain (Veterans’ organization) Reverend James Sollar

GRADE 1 POEMS – EACH CLASS READ A PART OF A POEM AND PRESENTED POSTERS TO THEIR LOCAL HERO'S

MESSAGE ON VETERANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ron Cranage, Commander
(Veterans of Foreign War Post 6223)

“THANK A VET” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5TH Grade Select Choir
Directed by Kristen Burkhart

INTRODUCE VETERANS IN ATTENDANCE - VFW . . . . . . Ron Cranage, Commander
(Veterans of Foreign War Post 6223)

INTRODUCE VETERANS IN ATTENDANCE –AM LEGION. .......... Bill Kienzler, Commander
(American Legion Post 357)

“IN SERVICE OF OUR COUNTRY. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5TH Grade Select Choir
Directed by Kristen Burkhart

INTRODUCE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY . . . . . ………Vicki Moelaer, Auxiliary President (American Post 357)

INTRODUCE VFW AUXILIARY . . . . . …………………………. Willy Sollar, Auxiliary President
(Veterans of Foreign War Post 6223)


PLAYING OF TAPS (Please rise). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nathaniel Wellman
HS Band Student

“THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Select Choir and Audience

TerraCycle Leap Into Fall Points Giveaway: We Won!

TerraCycle Leap Into Fall Points Giveaway: We Won!
Here in the elementary school we participate in the TerraCycle waste collection program. By participating in the program, we earn money for our school, which we put towards recycling and other green initiatives.Today I got exciting news that we were one of the winners for October's Leap Info Fall Points Giveaway! During October and November, TerraCycle is giving away 5,000 additional TerraCycle points to five winning locations each month. 5,000 points equals $50 dollars for our school. Every time we sent in a shipment of collected materials to TerraCycle during these months, we earned an entry in the contest.

We won!Thank you to the classroom teachers and students who have been working hard to collect and sort TerraCycle items. Your hard work in October certainly paid off!
To learn more about TerraCycle collection at Blue Ridge, visit our GreenBRSD wiki.

New Playground

The "New Playground" is assembled and almost ready for students to use. If all goes well this week the students will be able to use the playground on Friday, November 11.

BRES would like to say "THANKS" to all of the volunteers who volunteered their time to assemble the new playground.

During the week before Halloween, in Miss Carden’s class, the students learned about names for body parts and clothing. As part of the seasonal unit, the students learned about scarecrows.
For a Halloween treat, Mrs. McFadden, Speech Therapist, was invited to the elementary life skills class to read a story.

The story was: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. At the end of the story, the little old lady made a scarecrow, and so did the students! The students identified clothing, body parts, and dressed the scarecrow.

Mobile Agriculture Education Science Lab Visits BRES!

From October 31 to November 4 the BRES students, faculty, and staff will have the opportunity to explore the Mobile Agriculture Education Science Lab. The lab is a 32 foot long trailer that contains a science lab for students to perform hands-on science experiments related to agricultural concepts involving agricultural commodities.

BRES would like to thank the Susquehanna County Farm Bureau, PA Dairymen’s Association, and the PA Soybean Board for sponsoring the Mobile Ag Ed Lab coming to our school.

Pictured above is Ms. Chamberlain's 5th graders performing the experiment "Corn to Plastic." The students experimented with two types of packaging foam. They came to the conclusion that one of the types is biodegradable and better for the environment then the other.