Volunteer Reactivation: Deadline is Approaching!

Reactivation for Continuing Volunteers

·         All continuing volunteers approved for the 2011-2012 school year MUST reactivate as a volunteer no later than 4:00 p.m. on October 31, 2012. Volunteers may go to any WCPSS site and register through the intranet.  Access to the volunteer system is:  WCPSS Intranet – Business Applications – Volunteer Registration.

·         After October 31, 2012, individuals previously approved may not volunteer without a new criminal record check. 

·         The volunteer system will be open daily for reactivation/registration from July 2, 2012, through October 31, 2012 for 24 hours a day. 

·         From November 5, 2012, through May 20, 2013, the volunteer system will be open on Mondays only, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.  However, during this time period, the volunteer system will be closed on the following Mondays:  December 24, 2012, December 31, 2012, and January 21, 2013.

Kids Voting at BRES!

BRES students will participate in the National Kids Voting Program.  Kids Voting North Carolina is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes voter participation by educating America's youth about the importance of being an informed citizen and the responsibilities of voting to sustain democracy.


Kids Voting USA is the only organization that virtually replicates the voting process by taking students into official voting precincts on Election Day. Kindergartners through high school students register to vote and participate in an engaging classroom curriculum about the election process.

• Kids Voting kids:
• read newspapers
• follow politics on television
• talk to adults about candidates and issues more than other students do

To find out more information about the Kids Voting Program please follow this link:  http://www.kidsvotingnc.org/. 

(If you do not want your child participating in this program, please contact Mrs. Reed at 919-890-7336 or lreed@wcpss.net and your child's teacher.)

Lost and Found

  



Trailblazer Families,
Our Lost and Found is overflowing with clothing items. Our school psychologist has washed all of the items and returned them to the Front Office.  These are items that do not have names on them.  If your child has lost an item, please ask them to come to the office.  This Friday, we will sort the items that can be used in our Student Closet (for accidents, spills, etc.) and the rest will be donated to Guardian Angel.  Please call the Front Office at 919-890-7333 with any questions.  Thank you. 

Parents Are Connected at BRES!

We just finished our first Parents Are Connected (PAC) Night here at Banks Road Elementary School.  PAC is a event hosted by our Tier II Intervention Teachers focused on increasing student literacy skills.  Banks Road Elementary's Title I program this year is "school wide."  This means every student and their family is invited to participate in our PAC Night events.  The first session gave an overview of the federal Title I program at Banks.  After the first session parents were able to choose from a session in Spanish, a K-2 literacy skills session or a 3-5 comprehension skills session.  Each family that attended was given a book to take home for their child's reading library.  Thank you to our Title I Tier II Invention teachers (Ms. Mathis, Ms. Tyson, Ms. Cutrell, and Ms. Bone for their hard work and time in preparing and hosting this event.  Thank you to our ESL teacher Ms. Blair for presenting a session in Spanish to our families.  Thank you to our homeroom teachers Ms. Bishop and Ms. Chesser for providing FREE childcare so that our parents could come and learn about these critical literacy skills. And finally, thank you to our families who took the time to come out this evening and learn more about how to support literacy instruction.  Look at the photos below and please be sure to follow the links for the presentations of the materials tonight. 



Ms. Mathis and Ms. Cutrell presenting on comprehension skills



Ms. Chesser (L) and Ms. Bishop (R) who provided FREE childcare so our parents can attend the literacy sessions

Ms. Tyson leading our K-2 literacy session

Ms. Blair, our ESL teacher, presenting to our Spanish speaking families

An example of the handouts we provided to our parents

Please check our website soon for the PowerPoint presentations.  Please call the school if you would like a hard copy of the handouts. 

BRES is participating in JDRF!

Banks Road Elementary School values and promotes living a healthy lifestyle.  Our active PTA supports these values with their programming with events such as our Boosterthon Fun Run and Family Fitness Night.  This year BRES will participate in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund Walk Program.  Students will attend a Kick Off Event on Monday, October 1st, where they will hear about healthy living strategies and Type I Diabetes.  Materials will be sent home after the kick off event for tracks.  This is a fundraising event for JDRF.  10% of the funds collected will go directly to BRES.  Please follow the link to learn more about the mission, vision and work of the JDRF http://www.jdrf.org/.  Please feel free to contact the school with any questions about this opportunity to support JDRF and BRES. 

5th Grade Tree Planting Ceremony is Coming!

                                              

A tradition will continue this year at BRES as we will once again plant a tree in honor of our fifth grade student body.  Parents and families of fifth grade students, please join us on for the tree planting ceremony on the 3-5 playground area, near the large shade structure on October 12th for students on Tracks 1, 2 and 3 at 9:30 a.m..  Track 4 parents and families please join us on October 24th at 3:00 p.m. 

Please call the school if you have any questions about this special event. 

First Grade Project Based Learning Activities

First grade students explored academic content through the world of apples.  Today students participated in learning activities that included geometry (shapes), problem solving, reading and writing skills.  Additionally, students were able to use their five senses to see, taste, smell and touch products that were made from apples.  A big thank you goes out to the parent volunteers who supported this event.  Check out the learning process in action below.