KES receives $3000 Target Store Grant

Kirbyville Elementary School is currently providing several successful efforts to encourage family reading. Last year's Target Store Grant allowed us to expand these services by giving books to students to build their own personal libraries as they participate in our current programs. The books were both incentives to increase participation and resources for the students to have appropriate reading materials at home with their families.

Thanks to the new Target Store Grant, the expanded number of books provided to students will continue into the 2008-09 school year. Students will earn one new book of their choice each time they attend "STAR" or "Stay Today and Read", and will earn a free book of their choice at four benchmarks along the way during the “BLAST Books/Literacy: A Super Time” at-home reading program. Additional Scholastic books will be provided to students for summer reading packets as well for our "Splash Into Summer Reading" program. This continuation of the program improvements made through our previous Target Store Grant will provide an additional incentive for students to participate, but more importantly, will help to remove the barrier of lack of reading materials at home for low-income students. The lack of reading materials at home has been an ongoing concern for many families and is a cause for non-participation in at-home reading programs for some students. Also, at the lower grades, finding books that students can read themselves available in retail outlets is a challenge. The school, through educational materials outlets, will find books at beginning reading levels for the students who need them.

The more you read, the better you read. The better you read, the more you read. Thank-you, Target for supporting our efforts to build better readers.

Thank-you, Springfield-Greene Co. Library District and MO-PIRC

The Missouri Parent Information Center, working in conjunction with the Springfield-Greene Co. Library, provided each first grade student in Taney County Title 1 schools with the gift of a book. The Kirbyville first graders were very excited to receive their very own copy of a Junie B. Jones book, by Barbara Park. Junie B. is an inquisitive, lovable and often mischievous first grade student who finds herself in all sorts of adventures and misadventures. The book is definitely at a first grade interest level, but in most cases is a read-aloud selection at this point in the year.

Included with the book was information for parents about literacy and some tips to make family reading enjoyable. The purpose of the gift was to encourage families to make reading together a regular habit.

PTO Participates in Belk Charity Days...

Do you know 10 people who like to shop? (Seriously, who doesn't?!?) Do you think those10 people would like to help a charity while shopping? (Another no brainer!) Well, here is your chance to combine shopping and helping all at once - The Kirbyville PTO has signed up to participate in Belk's Annual Charity Day!

Belk Department Store on the Landing will be sponsoring a 4 hour sale that benefits charities. They have provided $5 coupons/tickets which entitle the purchaser to $5 off their first purchase at Belk’s and the opportunity to qualify for a $1,000.00 Belk shopping spree.

Here’s how Kirbyville benefits – the PTO gets to keep ALL the proceeds from any pre-sales of the coupons we make, let me stress KIRBYVILLE KEEPS ALL THE PROCEEDS OF PRE-SALES OF THE COUPONS/TICKETS. For example, if we sell 100 coupons/tickets at $5.00 each the PTO gets to keep the entire $500.00 we raise. This is an event that is geared towards charities and is a win-win proposition for participants.

We are asking for your help. Would you be willing to take on 10 tickets (or more) to sell to your friends, family, church, etc for $5 each? These tickets can be used on November 15th, 2008 from 6am-10am at Belk’s for $5.00 off their first purchase of any one $10 (or more) item! Plus, they can register to win a $1,000 Belk shopping spree. Even if you can’t attend, purchasing a ticket ahead of time is a donation to the Kirbyville Schools and your kids. If you can’t go, just give the ticket to a friend and at least get signed up for the $1,000.00 shopping spree. Click on the link for Belk’s Store Ad on Kirbyville PTO’s site for specifics. (http://www.kirbyville.k12.mo.us/nov.htm)

Kirbyville has many needs. Last year the PTO purchased new playground equipment for the elementary school, which depleted most of the PTO monies! It is time to replenish our cash! This is a great opportunity to make some money for our kids and their needs. Please help as much as you can.

We will be having a bake sale at Belk’s on the day of the event. Please sign up to bake items in groups of 2-4 (ie, cookies, brownies, etc). Items that shoppers can eat on the go! J

Thank you for all the help you can give,

Dawn Motley

Kirbyville PTO Officers:
Kristol France, President
Dawn Motley, Vice President
Lynna Blevins, Secretary
Lana Gilliam, Treasurer
Laurie Lohbeck, Personal Attenion Officer

Please feel free to contact the PTO at…
email KirbyvilleMOPTO@yahoo.com
or call and leave a message at (417)334-2757 - Elementary School Office

TumbleBook Library

The KES Library is pleased to feature a new subscription to TumbleBook Library. TumbleBook bills itself as "E-books for e-kids..." but in reality it is so much more than that! The TumbleBook Library has picture books with options such as having the book read aloud, reading independently and getting help with unknown words at the click of a mouse. Books range from picture books to chapter books and from newly published titles to familiar classics. You can take a quiz about the story that you read or write a book report. Finally there are related games and puzzles for many of the selections. Simply go to Kirbyville Elementary's Virtual Library at http://kirbyville.k12.mo.us/library/virtual_library3.htm and click on the TumbleBook Library icon to access KES's subscription! Happy reading!!!

Incredible Field Trip offered to BLAST at-home readers

"Incredible Science" is the name of the game for K-3 students who complete the BLAST (Books/Literacy: A Super Time) at-home reading program. The special field trip to reward this accomplishment will consist of several components: a hands-on science presentation by Discovery Center of Springfield, an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet at Incredible Pizza in Springfield, a $3.00 play card donated by Incredible Pizza, and a round of mini golf, also donated by Incredible Pizza.

It is anticipated that this trip will be available to the students who earn it at no cost to families. Terry Miller and I are working on a Target Field Trip Grant to cover the majority of the cost and we will use various other fund raiser money to underwrite the cost of the trip as needed. We would also accept donations towards the cost of the trip from parents, community members or other blog readers. Please contact the elementary office at 417-334-2757 if you are interested in contributing in this way.

Ronald McDonald Show

Due to technical difficulties, Ronald McDonald is unable to perform at KES on Thursday, September 18. The show has been rescheduled for Thursday, October 9 at 2:15. The students look forward to the annual Ronald McDonald Show, an entertaining assembly during which Ronald teaches the children about various topics which have included: reading, safety, and character development.

The more you read, the better you read; the better you read, the more you read...

Kirbyville Elementary is pleased to present “BLAST: Books/Literacy = A Super Time”, which is a program to encourage regular at-home reading practice. The program begins September 15 and concludes on April 24, 2009. Students will have plastic envelopes in which to put reading material and a “BLAST folder” to keep track of their progress. All students who meet the “BLAST: Books/Literacy = A Super Time” goal for their grade level will be invited to attend a special field trip in May. The goal for kindergarten and first grade students is to read 100 books. The goal for second and third grade students is reading a total of 2000 minutes. Parent signatures are required for the books/minutes to count.

Jillian Hodge from the Discovery Center in Springfield was on hand Thursday to help us kick off the program at a special assembly combining outer space learning with children's literature.

We are striving for 100% student participation! 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...BLAST-off to reading success!

PTO update

The Kirbyville PTO met on Thursday, Sept. 11 after school. New officers were elected:

Kristol France, president
Dawn Motley, vice president
Lynna Blevins, secretary
Lana Gilliam, treasurer
Laurie Lohbeck, personal attention officer

A fall festival-themed carnival was scheduled for Saturday, October 18 from 12:00-2:30. Volunteers are needed to help run booths, create baked goods, work in concessions and more.

The PTO will sponsor the second annual craft show on the first Saturday in December.

Please visit the PTO web page: http://kirbyville.k12.mo.us/pto.htm for more information about how to get involved or call the office at either school.

Celebrating Grandparents in the Library

Mrs. Horr's kindergarten class was walking down the hall to lunch following the school hallway procedures when they were greeted by the principal and a pair of grandparents. The excitement was apparent in the body language and smile of the "grandchild" who belonged to the grandparents. He was working hard to decide whether to let his feelings explode and jump out of line to hug them or continue to show his grandparents what a "big kindergartner" he was along with his classmates. He chose the latter with a big grin in his "bubble." His grandparents joined the class for lunch and then read a story at their library time.

This was just one great experience among many as the KES library welcomed grandparents as guest readers all week this past week to celebrate Grandparents Day which is Sunday, Sept. 14. Each class had the opportunity to have a special guest read a story to them during the libary time. Several of the grandparents also came early and enjoyed lunch with their grandchild.

If you are a grandparent and you didn't have the opportunity to read to a class during this special week, contact librarian, Terry Miller, who would be happy to schedule a time for you to visit. If you are interested in other volunteer opportunities at KES, please call the office and ask to speak to your grandchild's teacher or to the principal.

Thank-you, Telecom Pioneers!

KES third graders were the grateful recipients of new paperback dictionaries, courtesy of the Telecom Pioneers. Jan and Frank Espinosa visited KES yesterday and presented the resource to the students and had them write their names on a name plate that was on the book. The students will keep the books to use at school during the year and then they will take them home to keep when school lets out for summer break.

Bus Safety Starts With You

Each year in the United States, school buses travel over 4 billion miles to safely transport over 23 million children to and from school and school activities. That is a pretty amazing statistic.

At Kirbyville, we are committed to making each and every bus trip safe for our students. As part of this commitment to safety, we provide annual bus safety training and bus evacuation drills. It is important to remember that bus riding is a privilege reserved for students who display safe, appropriate bus behavior.

Behaviors that are critical include following the directions of the bus driver, staying seated while the bus is moving, keeping all objects out of the aisles, keeping heads and hands inside the bus, avoiding distracting actions such as loud talking or yelling, scuffling or horseplay or throwing objects around. At the bus stop, it is important that students stay out of the road, arrive before the bus, avoid horseplay and load the bus single file. A major point of emphasis is staying out of the danger zone, which is the area within 10 feet of the bus on all sides. The driver cannot see a student, even in the mirrors, when he/she is that close to the bus.

For the elementary students, check out http://kirbyville.k12.mo.us/gaines/bus_safety.html for links to bus safety online games, an original song and music and a letter to students.