2 weeks in and 2 new things

We have now been in school for 2 whole weeks. The students are doing a wonderful of learning the ropes and getting into the swing of things. Our teachers have done a great job of establishing rules and procedures to help students to make good choices that will help them to be ready, respectful, and responsible leaders. Our Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program has also started and students are earning Dragon Dollars for being ready, respectful or responsible. We also had our first PBIS hero drawings with Alena, Preston, Ryan, Anijah, Tony, Scott and Sierra. Sierra was the Super Hero (Luck number 7) and gets her picture on the school website and name on the school Marquee. You can see the other Heroes pictures on the bulletin board outside the media center.
We also spent our first week in the book, 7 Habits of Happy Kids, by Sean Covey. Last week's habit was Be Proactive- You are in charge. We talked with our students about how they are in charge of their decisions each and every day. They choose to be ready by having their books and homework; they choose to be respectful by being quiet in the hall and listening to their teacher; and they choose to be responsible by completing their work and cleaning up after themselves. Being Proactive means that THEY make the choice to do right or wrong and no one can control themselves but themselves. The story talked about Sammy the Squirrel choosing to find his own fun. When he chose to make a present for his sick friend, he was no longer bored! The same hold true for KES students, they choose how their day is going to go. They are in charge of their choices! We hope parents can reinforce this at home. I know I am trying to do the same with my own personal children. That is me being proactive!!!

Title I information and Curriculum Night

Tonight is our annual Title I information and Curriculum night. This is a great opportunity for parents to learn about Title funding, our parental engagement plan, and the standards that your child will be learning this year. It is also a night to join PTO and purchase spirit wear. We hope to see you on this very important night.

Great Start to a New Year

On Monday, August 8th, Kennedy Elementary School welcomed 757 students into the building. It was so exciting to see all the new faces and to welcome back some very familiar faces. This year promises to be a fantastic year. We will continue to strive to be the best elementary school in Barrow County academically, but we are also really going to work on teaching our students skills to be leaders. Our goal at KES is to reach ALL students so they can be Ready, Respectful, and Responsible leaders in the future. This year, along with every grade level GPS, we will be teaching your children the 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey. These are an elementary version of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective people by Stephen Covey. We feel that if we can continue to teach our students the GPS and incorporate these 7 Habits, that we will reach our goal.
I am really looking forward to the 2011-2012, and I hope to see you in our school!

Hooray for Books!

Today was a very cool day for Kennedy Elementary School. Today Mr. Frame and myself met with Jayme Carrere from Target in Bethlehem to receive our Target Books for Students packet. This is a $500 donation from Target in Bethlehem in conjunction with First Books to be used to purchase books for our media center. We really appreciate Target in Bethlehem reaching out to Kennedy Elementary School and helping us upgrade our media center. This is another cool addition to our media center that was made this summer. When you come back to school, you will see new furniture, a new electronic cafe, and new laptops. Kennedy is really looking to push a love for Literature in our students! These changes and additions should really make a difference. I cant wait to see our students in the media center engaged with these new items!

It has ONLY been 2 Months!

I know that all 21 of my hard-core followers of the Mr. B's Dragon Page have been saying, "I just can't truly enjoy this summer weather without my fix of Mr. B's blog! When is he going to post again so I can have my joy back?"
Well today is the day! I am ready to blog again. I have been enjoying my summer activities, but have also worked to get ready for the 2011-2012 school year. We are almost ready, and we have some exciting things coming this year. I will share them with you soon, so you will just have to keep checking the blog for updates!
One thing I can give you is a copy of the school supply list for next year. Below is a link to it:
http://www.barrow.k12.ga.us/parentinfo/Kennedy_Elementary_School.pdf

I hope you are enjoying your summer!! I miss you!

FIELD DAY!!!

Field day is a success. Another field day is done; it is hard to believe that we have finished another field day. I have always loved field day, and it has not changed. I love seeing the kids trying their best and cheering each other on. It was great seeing our pre-k - First graders in their field day shirts that were all a different colors. I love seeing the teachers get into it screaming their class along. and of course, TUG-OF-WAR!!!!!
Thanks Mr. Thompson for another great year!

Appreciation Week

It seems like I do this every year around this time, but it is still an honor to do it. Last week was teacher appreciation week, and it was nice to see our students make cards, bring flowers, and candy to their teachers to say thanks for all they do. Dr. Jordan and I tried to appreciate them each day with a special treat and a lunch on Friday. I hope they enjoyed it. I know I did.
As we appreciate the teachers, we also must appreciate our wonderful business partners who do so much for KES. CBT, Stepan, Oak Grove Landfill, Zaxby's, River Hills Community Church, Liberty Mutual, Publix, Winder Housing Authority, and Winder Eye Care. All of these do so much to help KES. Whether it is giving of time through mentoring or giving supplies for our awards ceremony or money to help with field trips; we can always count on these wonderful Barrow County businesses to help us out. We really do appreciate it.
I also need to give a special thank you to Mitsubishi Electric for partnering with our Special Needs program to become an Inclusion Champion Award winner. We were honored last Friday to receive this award. Thanks Mitsubishi and Chuck Painter and Peggy Bray for all you have meant to our program.