The Bee's Knees

We are finishing the third week of school and both the students and staff are getting back into the routine. Our morning students are learning the school routine but they are off to a good start! It would be fair to say that in general our goal is to teach our AM students how to be a student. Whereas our PM students are expected to conduct themselves as students. Our PM classrooms are a preschool approximation of a WSD kindergarten class, but much smaller!

If you have a PM student it is very likely by now you have found the Brain Quest Pre-K workbook in their backpack. We do not assign "homework" at Barfield. We certainly do not grade any of the work completed in the workbooks! But we do encourage our students to complete the pages in the workbook independently (whether supervised at home or at school) and we praise them for the progress they demonstrate. We certainly encourage you to assist and praise your child for their effort. Your student's teacher will provide you details in how she intends for the workbooks to be used.

For more information about our curriculum please visit our webpage.

Sept. 12 - BEC PTO Bobo's fundraiser ends. Please send all orders to BEC.

Sept. 21 - "Farmer Day" at BEC
Sept. 22 - BEC/PAT Parent Group: Let's Talk! Infusing Language in the Home Environment

Sept. 30 - No School for all WSD students Professional Development Day
Oct. 6 - Bobo's Pizza order pickup at BEC @ AM dismissal and PM drop off
Oct. 6 - BEC PTO Meeting @ 6:00 PM

This year Prairie View Elementary has been assigned a School Resource Officer from the Saint Charles County Police Department. He is Police Officer Ron Neupert. Officer Neupert reached out to the Barfield administration and said he would be patrolling our parking lot and walking through our school building from time to time. We were very happy that Officer Neupert wanted to have a presence on our campus. We are informing you so that you would not be alarmed if you come to our campus and see a Saint Charles County Police cruiser in our parking lot.

Now more than ever it is critical that we secure our school building. Of course, we want to make our school welcoming to families. But we have to balance the desire to foster that sense of welcomeness with the need for security. Our teachers receive students into their classrooms at 8:55 AM and 12:55 PM. Parents are not ordinarily permitted to walk their children to their classrooms. The first week of school is an exception to the rule and parents are permitted to walk their children to their classroom. Typically, drop-off occurs at the curbside on the South side of the building. In order to reduce disruption, minimize congestion in the halls, and promote security, parents are not permitted to escort their children to their classrooms after the first week of school.

My name is Nicole Myers. I am the new Assistant Principal at Barfield. This is my 23rd year in education. I have two daughters. Brianna is a junior at UMKC studying Nursing and Kylee is enrolled in Vet Tech School. When I am not at work I enjoy being outside and traveling to see family.

Parents As Teachers and Barfield will be partnering once again this year to host an expert in the field of child development. This is an awesome opportunity for parents to attend an in-person educational parent group. Each month, an expert within their field will present information and helpful tips to assist and support parents. These topics range from language development, speech, sensory needs, potty training, Autism, or even how to work through challenging behaviors. Each month we will provide free childcare and Papa John's pizza. All you have to do is follow this link to sign up each month. We also have a vast library of resources available to watch at any time. Here is the link to the library.

One of the WSD Teaching and Learning Department's goals is to enhance community engagement in order to gain feedback and increase transparency. To that end, the Teaching and Learning Department is looking for WSD community members to apply to be a part of an important committee that will engage in conversations about teaching, learning, and technology that will guide the WSD as we continually improve our curriculum. Applications to join this committee will be taken until Sept.12 at 8:00 AM. Here is the link to the application.

At the Aug. 25 School Board meeting, the Board voted to transition to an electronic Public Comment Period sign-up process for Board of Education meetings. This change will go into effect at the October Board meeting.

Starting in October, patrons who wish to speak at Board meetings will be able to find the sign-up sheet under the Board of Education tab of the District website.

Read more about the new process here.

The BEC PTO is amazing and supports our students and staff in so many wonderful ways. The BEC PTO is the sole purveyor of BEC spirit wear. You can purchase BEC spirit wear on their website. We encourage families to dress their students in BEC spirit wear on the first Thursday of each month. This also happens to be the date for the monthly PTO meeting.

The PTO's Fall fundraiser ends on Monday, Sept. 12. You can make purchases online here. If you are collecting money and/or checks please collect payments as you take orders. Checks should be payable to Barfield PTO. Our PTO is very supportive of our students and staff! This summer the BEC PTO purchased inclusive playground equipment (which like everything these days is on back order) and a basketball hoop and post.

Bobo’s will deliver the orders to Barfield on Oct. 6. We will bring your order to you when you are waiting in the AM pick-up line for our morning families and in the PM drop-off line for our afternoon families. If your child rides a bus to school we ask that you make arrangements to come to Barfield during their session delivery time. If you cannot come to BEC during the day to pick up your order you can come to Prairie View Elementary between 6:00 and 7:00 PM on Oct. 6 to pick up your order. BEC staff will be in the PVE café to meet you and give you your order. We used the PVE café because we do not have a walk-in freezer at BEC. Since we don’t have freezer capacity we ask that you please make arrangements to pick up your order on Oct. 6.

The Barfield Early Childhood Special Education Center of the Wentzville School District is an integrated preschool in which children with disabilities participate in classes with their typically developing peers. We believe that all children benefit when educated in an inclusive environment, regardless of their ability. It is through these interactions that children learn to accept differences, but more importantly, learn to recognize and appreciate similarities.

Email: kevingarcia@wsdr4.org
Website: https://www.wentzville.k12.mo.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=9
Location: 2025 Hanley Road, Dardenne Prairie, MO, USA
Phone: 636 561-5757