Finally! Fall weather!! Students have really enjoyed spending the first part of their days outside at morning recess. Please pull out those jackets so kids are warm during that time of the day!

This month, we have wrapped up our beginning of the year assessments. We will be starting our small groups very soon for reading and math for students. Clubs have started and we are celebrating the huge participation in our upcoming muscial, Pirates!

You are invited to take a climate survey. The survey closes on October 31. Here is the link. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M9KNKY9

Wishing you a fun filled October!

Our PTA is shifting to a PTO. We will be doing MOST, if not ALL of our work in committees to help keep work loads manageable. We have 5 committees at this point and are looking for amazing parents to help lead them and becoming members of them. There's a large range of possibilities so you can get involved a little or a lot! Please take a minute to fill out the following google form if you are interesting in serving our school.

As parents we want to support our little ones during tough times. However, adults can’t help children navigate upset feelings and reach a calm state unless we are composed ourselves. Conscious Discipline allows adults to focus on self-control in order help students move from turmoil to tranquility.

Young children co-regulate with trusted adults. Our calm nurtures their calm. Our distress increases their distress. You can check in with yourself and practice active calming by taking three deep breaths when you feel yourself becoming frustrated, fearful, angry or desperate.

At Benton we teach students to breathe during tough times. One of the breathing techniques we teach is S.T.A.R. breathing. S.T.A.R. stands for:

Smile, Take a deep breath And Relax. As we breathe, we encourage belly breathing where the tummy goes out when the air goes in, and in when the air goes out, exhaling slower than inhaling.

Your student can teach you different breathing techniques we use at Benton. You might even ask them to help you invent a new one just for you!

For more information on breathing techniques, you can visit consciousdiscipline.com or look for more by going to YouTube at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWW9z80JD0U

Until next time!

Cathy Cox, Home School Communicator

Did you know?

Starting in kindergarten, missing 10% of school (or just 2 days every month) can make it harder to learn to read and cause children to fall behind in school.

Good attendance can help children do well in school, and eventually in the workplace.

Good attendance in school can lead to positive peer interactions, and helps build community and a sense of belonging.

Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school—and themselves. Start building this habit today so they learn right away that going to school on time, every day is important. Eventually good attendance will be a skill that will help them succeed in high school, college and the rest of their lives.

Every month, our amazing specialist team will send updates about all the fabulous things kids will be learning about with them. Here's the first one!!

Our school district offers vision and hearing screening for all students. The objective of this program is to identify individuals with possible visual and/or hearing defects at the earliest possible stage in order to refer for diagnosis and treatment.

School nurses will screen students in grades kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 5th, all new students to Columbia Public Schools, and referrals from teachers and parents/guardians.

Students who are being evaluated for special services will require a vision and hearing screening, as do those students in special services receiving a 3-year evaluation.

Nurse Angela will screen your child unless you choose to opt-out. If you would like to opt out, please call the office and ask to speak to Nurse Angela.

October 10-12: PTO Pumpkin Auction Online

October 12: 3rd & 5th grades to CCUA

October 18: 2nd to Runge Nature Center

October 23: 1st to Bradford Farms

October 24: 4th to Arrow Rock

October 25: KD to Peachtree Farms

October 30: 2nd to Audubon & 5th to Boone County Nature School

Principal, Benton STEM Elementary School

Email: ssicht@cpsk12.org
Website: https://www.cpsk12.org/bee
Location: 1410 Hinkson Avenue, Columbia, MO, USA
Phone: 573.214.3610
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2817444325022543/?ref=share
Twitter: @SarahSicht