Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year!

Dear Baker-Butler Families:

Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year! We are glad that you are a part of our Baker-Butler community.

We strive to be a community at Baker-Butler. One of the ways we are strengthening our community is our new staff biography sheets that are displayed outside each classroom or office. All of the members of our Baker-Butler community – including our teachers, teaching assistants, custodians, office staff, kitchen staff, and bus drivers – will have these sheets displayed within the next few weeks. We believe that this is a great way for everyone to make connections with the many different members of our Baker-Butler community.

This year we are excited to welcome several new staff members as well as several teaching changes in our school:

Kindergarten: Jamie Davis (new)                   Kindergarten: Tammy Schwab (change)

1^st grade: Katherine Shifflett (change)           1^st Grade: Kellee Cole (new)

2^nd Grade: Ryan Drago (change)                    Speech: Melissa Eich (new)

3^rd Grade: Sarah Fagan (new)                         3^rd Grade: Lindsey Graybill (new)                 

4^th Grade: Meg Whitehurst (new)                   4^th Grade: Ashley Wright (new)                    

School Counselor: Emily Lathe (new)

Arrival & Dismissal information:

In order for our school day to run smoothly, we want to share the procedures for the safe arrival and dismissal of all of our students. Here are a few important reminders about arrival to school and dismissal from school:

Arrival:

• School starts at 7:55 a.m.
• Students may enter the building starting at 7:40 a.m.
• Car riders: Student drop off begins at 7:40 a.m. when a faculty member is present.  All cars should use the drop off circle located at the front of the school. Student car riders should not be dropped off unless a faculty member is present.   
• If you walk your child into the building in the morning, please park in the parking lot.

  Dismissal:

• Students will begin exiting the building at 2:20 p.m.  Kindergarten, first and second grade students will dismiss at 2:20 p.m. and third, fourth, and fifth grade students will dismiss at 2:25 p.m.
• If you are in the car circle line, your child will be called and brought to you in your car.  Please remain in your car while in the car circle. 
• Pick up: Please park in the parking lot and meet your child in the designated area on the sidewalk.
• For the first week of school, the afternoon bus routes may be a little late due to the beginning of the year safety and attendance procedures.

 Visitors:

• Please report to the main office to check in and to receive a visitor’s badge.

Upcoming events:

Here are some important dates for the start of the 2015-2016 year:

• No school for students on Monday, September 7^th (Labor Day)
• PTO Bike Rodeo: Friday, September 11^th  6:30pm-8pm
• Back to School night for grades 3-5: Tuesday, September 8^th 6-7:30pm
• Back to School night for grades K-2: Tuesday, September 15^th 6-7:30pm
• No school for students on Monday, September 28^th (professional development day)

 We are looking forward to working with you and your children. This is going to be a great year.

Sincerely,

 

Steve Saunders  & Wendy Eckerle

 

Spring Musicals and We Notice!

This blog post is written by Donna Rehorn, music teacher, on behalf of our art and music departments to highlight some of the great performances we've had recently. 

Spring Musicals

Baker-Butler Third Grade students presented the musical, “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears” on April 21^st.  Through student played instrumental accompaniment, dances, songs and narration the students shared their musical interpretation of this famous West African pourquoi story.  A pourquoi story provides a fanciful explanation for a common occurrence-in this case, why mosquitoes buzz around our ears!

We learned how significant one small act may be when it ignites a chain of events!  Our students provided the musical parts of our program and we were delighted to have our Third Grade Teachers become the narrators!

The students created their headpieces in Art Class with Ms. Purdon and learned the dances, songs, and instrumental pieces in Music Class with Mrs. Rehorn.  

 

 

We Notice!

On Thursday, April 23^rd, eighteen Baker-Butler fifth grade students performed at the countywide “We Notice” celebration. This recognition was given to staff member s who work in our schools, such as teachers, office staff, building service team members, teaching assistants, cafeteria workers, school nurses, and bus drivers.  We were honored to perform at this ceremony!  Many Baker-Butler teachers and staff were recognized in this ceremony as well. 

 

Mindfulness at Baker-Butler

Today we feature a guest post from our fourth grade teacher, Ms. Kathy Shupe, who is writing to share her classroom's experience with mindfulness. Albemarle County received a grant from the Contemplative Science Center at UVA to offer free mindfulness sessions to our students, and Ms. Shupe and her students joined in this program this year. Below find out their perspectives on this experience this school year.

 Mindfulness Class with Ms. Marian

By Mrs. Shupe

My class participated in the mindfulness and movement class this school year.  Ms. Marian Matthews was our kind instructor.  We began our journey in the fall and the progress has been amazing.  Some of us could not hold a pose for 3 seconds and now we are able to not only hold poses, but also follow a sequence of yoga poses and movements without missing a beat.   Our class has learned to be mindful, caring, and kind to others and ourselves.  I am grateful for Ms. Marian, the mindfulness class, and my students.

Mindfulness Class By Nina Lee Mindfulness class helps me relax when I am angry or scared.  I feel like a floating cloud, drifting away because of how peaceful it is.  Mindfulness class helps My friends and I remember to breathe slowly when we are tense and when we re taking a test.  We should always breathe slowly when we get frustrated.  Mindfulness class gives our class time to relax and feel calm.  It gives us relaxation and helps me when I am in a bad mood.

Mindfulness Class By Jin-Tao Malone What I like about yoga is that we learn to relax and calm ourselves down.  I like yoga because we are just mindful about everything from our heads to our toes.  I value this class because I get crazy sometimes and Yoga helps me to calm down.

 

Mindfulness Class By Celia Hull Being mindful is about being calm and breathing.  It is very powerful because if you just breathe, you can calm down if you are angry or sad.  In yoga we talk about being minful, breathing, and sending good thoughts to yourself and everyone in the room.  We also do yoga poses.  But most important is our breathing.

Mindfulness Class By Gwen Weinheimer Working with Ms. Marian in yoga has helped open me up to the world and the possibilities in it.  I hadn’t taken yoga before, so now I understand what it’s like.  Yoga can be soothing and relaxing but it is also full of movement.  I enjoy everything about it.