I hope all of our BRES families enjoy your winter holiday break!!

Reminder: School Resumes on Wednesday, January 2

Photos from Dinner with Santa Program (sponsored by PTO)

Blue Ridge 5th Grade Art Club News!!

In the next two weeks, Blue Ridge Fifth Grade Art Club will be displaying their Hexagon Donation Containers in local participating businesses. This is the third year that Art Club will be collecting money to donate to Susquehanna County Interfaith to help people heat their homes this winter. Last year, Art Club raised $766.99 and also received numerous awards at the Interdependence Day/Hexagon Project Art Exhibit in Scranton.


The students built and decorated the Hexagon Donation Containers in the after school Art Club program over the last few weeks. We wanted to help our neighbors by keeping them warm.

If you see a container at a business please help by donating a few coins, if you can. Art Club thanks the help of local businesses, Susquehanna County Interfaith, and the community for helping one another and being INTERDEPENDENT! For more information on this project please visit www.interdependencedaynepa.org

If you would like to make a donation please contact Sarrah Dibble at dibbles@brsd.org or 465-3141, ext. 548.

Bottom Left: Lisa Cowell, Walter Donahue, Josiah Smalley. Middle Left: Gia Fiore, Lucas DeBella, Dylan Stone, Luis Alvarez, Tori Auckland, Makenzie Cook, Nelly Walters. Top Left: Ashley Torres, Morgan Mansfield, Morgan Leeming, Spencer Renwick, Gabe Waldowski, Nathan Yegar, Rowan Ryan, Raymond Lindquist, Selena Chandler.

Thank You Rob's Supermarket!

The Blue Ridge Elementary School had the opportunity to thank one of our local businesses, Rob’s Supermarket for their partnership with the eScrip program. The eScrip program is proven to be a fantastic resource for generating funds 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 is 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.

On November 30, 2012 Blue Ridge Elementary School Principal Matthew Button and Charline Demusere, Shursave/eScrip representative had the opportunity to say thanks to Rob Robinson for his store’s contribution of $8228.15 from January 1, 2012 to November 30, 2012.

These funds have contributed to the expansion of the Blue Ridge Elementary School’s playground and equipment students can use on a daily basis. In the picture below, a few Blue Ridge students are showing off their new playground.

Picture below is Rob’s Supermarket owner Rob Robinson and Blue Ridge Elementary School Principal Matthew Button.

Student Standouts for November

1st row – James Minton, Matthew Carey, Logan Frantz, Jaden Cokley, Aaron Griemsmann, Madeline Naylor, Kaleb Hinkley, Jozalynn Merritt, Sam Callahan

2nd row – Danielle Tierney, Gracey Hinkley, Taylor Holtzman, Yesenia Hernandez-Portillo, Natalie Welch, Tara Kauchis

3rd row – Mr. Button, Sarah Marble, James Coates, Carson Koehler, Evin Davies, Eli Aldrich


Absent from Photo – Gavin Parker, Abigail Bednarchik, Nicholas Little, Derek Kruger

Click Here: October Student Standout Students posted in the Scranton Times

Weekly Class and Support Group for Parents!

Kindergarten wins the Feed-A-Friend Contest by bringing in the most cans of food...........Great Job!

Blue Ridge Elementary Celebrates Character Education Week

Blue Ridge Elementary School celebrated its fourth annual Character Education Week and first annual pep rally during the week of November 12th. It was a week to celebrate the school’s character education program and good character of the students, faculty, and staff. The character education program is based on the six pillars of character which are respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

Character Education Week included daily spirit themes such as crazy hair day, mismatch day, and pillar of character color day where each grade level wears a different color to represent a specific pillar of character. Students also read special character education messages each day. The week of celebration ended with a pep rally.

The pep rally included cheers and a routine from the Blue Ridge Triplet “C” Team cheerleaders, a tricycle race, a hula hoop contest, the Cupid shuffle, and a pie in the face contest. We ended the pep rally with each grade level revealing their pillar of character chant, such as “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, treat others the way that you want to be!”

Students, faculty, and staff all contributed to making Character Education Week and the first annual pep rally a huge success! We look forward to another year of good character at Blue Ridge Elementary!

3rd Grade

Mrs. Hull off to the races

Cupid Shuffle

Cupid Shuffle

Cupid Shuffle

Cupid Shuffle

Mrs. Hepler and Mr. Burchell showing off thier moves

Josiah Smalley

Mr. Jones' hoola hoop slipping away

Mrs. Pearson has it figured out

The lucky faculty prepared for their pie!!

Ben Bleck has his ready for Mrs. Tench

Mr. Button's pie was delivered by 1st grader Molly Yannone

Blue Ridge Students Attend Annual Young Authors’ Day

Students from the Blue Ridge Elementary, Middle, and High Schools attended Young Authors’ Day at Keystone College on November 9th. This is an annual event sponsored by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Reading Association that enriches and encourages students’ writing abilities. This year’s highlighted author and illustrator was Robert Bender who has written and illustrated over a dozen highly praised children’s books. Mr. Bender shared from his book Never Eat ANYTHING that MOVES: Good, Bad, and Very Silly Advice from Kids. He then encouraged the students to think of their own advice to write down and then had several students share. Students then attended additional break-out sessions given by professionals who have careers in writing. A final presentation was given by Suzanne Fisher Staples, a children’s author who has written several books on the Middle Eastern culture. This knowledge comes firsthand to her since she lived and worked as a news reporter in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Hong Kong for nearly twenty years. The event proved to be a wonderful educational opportunity for all students!

Blue Ridge Students Who Attended Young Authors’ Day: Back Row – Stephen Lines, Garrett Mansfield, Charlie Randall, Kristine Carlsen, Kyra Powell Third Row – Alley Ayers, Gabe Waldowski, Makenzie Cook, Sarah Marble, KayLeen Conklin, Madison Welsted, Ryan Mills Second Row – Rachel Upright, Danielle Tierney, Alexis Parks, Ashley Tomassacci, Hannah Gallagher Front Row – Kaelin Hughes, Sienna Kowalewski, Gerald Welsted, Mason Conklin, Cassidy Howe, Breanna Post.

Third grader Ashley Tomassacci is thrilled to get her book signed by children’s author and illustrator, Robert Bender

On the bus ride home, fourth grader, Ryan Mills entertains his classmates by asking them jokes from Robert Bender’s book, Ribbit Riddles.

Preparing for the Kindergarten Feast

Research: What's That?

Fifth grade students are learning to conduct research during their library classes. Research is the process of collecting information about a particular topic. We are learning that there is A LOT to think about during the research process! Throughout the year students will be learning to use the Big6 Approach which involves:

Step 1: Task Definition
This is when you define your job, including questions that need to be answered, the kids of information needed, and how much you need.

Step 2: Information Seeking Strategies
This means thinking of all of the different ways that you could find the information you need and then picking the best ones.

Step 3: Location and Access
This means actually finding the sources of the information. This is when you figure out all of the places that might have what you need and figure out how to get the information.

Step 4: Use of Information
Now it's time to dig in and learn the material. You may end up reading it, listening to it, looking at it, etc. Taking notes is very important so that you can organize the information later.

Step 5: Synthesis
This is the toughest part. You have to put everything together in a way that makes sense to you and to other people.

Step 6: Evaluation
Even after you have solved the problem, it is important to go back and figure out how well you did and to look for ways to improve the next time you have a problem to solve.

For the first project of the year students are conducting Animal Research. They are learning to pick, evaluate, and cite sources and take notes. They are using 4 different sources for this project; nonfiction books, World Book Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, and Internet sites.

A screen shot of Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Walter using a nonfiction book about Turtles and taking notes

Tyler taking notes from Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Morgan choosing a World Book Encyclopedia.

BRES October Citizen of the Month Students

FRONT ROW: Mason Christ, Clarissa Muzzy, Parker Glasgow, Brandon Carpenetti


SECOND ROW: Olivia Seaman, Andrew Kowalewski, Tiffani Henke, Jesse Robbins, Aiden Glasgow, Isaiah VanScoy

THIRD ROW: Andre Plunkett, Kayla Blaisure, Madison Carpenter, Elijah Austin, Stephanie Smith

LAST ROW: Nellyna Walters, KayLeen Conklin, Mason Conklin, Sierra Bross, Brandon Gentile, Isaiah Rosa

ABSENT FROM PHOTO – Vanessa Frantz, Troy Ehrie, Elise Argust

BRES 2012 Mock Presidential Election

The BRES students have casted their vote!!

On Election Day 2012 (November 6) the BRES students participated in a mock election during the school day.  It wll be interesting to see if our students predicted the winner.  The results are..................

Classroom Results:

• President Obama won 12 classrooms
• Mitt Romney won 7 classrooms
• 1 classroom ended in a tie

Grade Level Results:

• President Obama won 7 grade levels 
• Mitt Romney won 0 grade levels

Overall Results:

• 273 votes for President Obama 
• 201 votes for Mitt Romney  

October Student Standout Students

Front row – Aiden Cisek, Micah Reid, Kaelynn Brant, Zachary Rudock, Jamere Minton
Second row - Madison Manzo, Wyatt Bross, Dillon Macleod, Dylan Ross, Noah Martin
Absent from photo – Taryn Briggs, Addison Welch, Gavin Miller, Jaden Cokley

Front row – Ayden Judge, Reese Allen, Kendra Brant, Ashley Tomassacci
Back row – Garrett Conklin, Jacob Morris, Sean Knight, Olivia Martin

New Milford Rotary Donates Dictionaries to Grade 3

The Blue Ridge Elementary School's 3rd Grade would like to thank the New Milford Rotary for donating dictionaries to all 3rd grade students. 9th year and counting!!

 

Mr. Dibble's 3rd Grade Class

Mr. Burchell's 3rd Grade Class

Mrs. Watkins' 3rd Grade Class

 

BRES Supports Feed-A-Friend!!

A thanks is due to the BRES students, families, faculty, and staff for donating 608 items to the Feed-A-Friend Program.  Great Job!!

# of items per grade:
Pre-K - 84

Kindergarten - 159

1st - 115

2nd - 63

3rd - 50

4th - 43

5th - 94

Check OUT the Library's Online Resources



Our Fourth grade students are learning to use Edmodo, a social learning platform, to connect and share student created book reviews and provide feedback to classmates.





We have a lot of great online resources that are available to you and your students. Just navigate to the Student Links menu on the District homepage and choose Destiny from the drop down menu. From there choose the Elementary school and let the fun begin.



Under Ebooks you will find Tumblebook Cloud Junior and Tumblebook Library.



Under Ebooks you will find Tumblebook Cloud Junior and Tumblebook Library.




Please contact Mrs. Tench, Elementary Librarian, at tenchj@brsd.org if you have any questions or need help using these resources.























Pumpkin Activity in Miss Swartwood's Kindergarten Class

Miss Swartwood's kindergarten math class were learning the concept of base 10.  The students enjoyed getting their hands dirty as they dug pumpkin seeds from pumpkins and grouped them into sets of 10.  Before the lesson the students had to weigh the pumpkins and make a prediction of how many seeds they think will be in their pumpkins.  

On Monday, October 15th, second graders celebrated Career Awareness Week by holding a Career Day. Students heard about some of the careers of their classmates’ family members. Students learned what it is like to be a middle school family and consumer science teacher from Mrs. Hinkley, how motherboards and cables are assembled from Mrs. Cudo, what mechanics do from Mr. Shaw, what it is like to be an autistic support teacher from Mrs. Geyer, and how heavy machinery is operated from Mr. Hausser. Thank you to our volunteers for allowing our students to learn about some of their future career choices.