BARFIELD NEWSLETTER

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and had the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. While December is a short month here at school, it is packed with several events for our students and families. As we move through the next few weeks, please be sure to check your child’s Wednesday folder and monitor Dojo and school messages.

Below is a list of events that will be taking place. Additional activities are happening within each grade level/teacher classrooms as well. It is certainly going to be an exciting month ahead!

· December 4th-December 13th TBE Winter Wonderland Shop

· December 12th Second Grade Holiday Performance (Kinder and 1st will be in attendance as well, they will be sitting on floor facing stage)

· December 13th Leadership Clubs

· December 16th Fall Picture Retakes

· December 20th Field Day

· December 21st- January 5th No School Winter Break

*Students will return to school on January 6th

Please note that CCPS made some slight adjustments to their Academic Calendar due to time off for hurricanes. A revised calendar is attached to the banner.

We look forward to creating wonderful memories for your child(ren) this upcoming month.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Alyssa Ledbetter

Upcoming Testing Dates

Please mark your calendars for the state testing dates and try to plan any appointments outside your child’s testing time.

District Science Quarterly Benchmark Test -Tues. Dec 17 Grade 5th

STATE FAST PM2 ELA

o Tue Jan 14 – Grades 3rd and 4th

o Wed Jan 15 – Grades Kdg and 1st

o Thu Jan 16 - Grades 2nd and 5th

STATE FAST PM2 Math

o Tue Jan 21 - Grades 3rd and 4th

o Wed Jan 22 – Grades Kdg and 1st

o Thu Jan 23 - Grades 2nd and 5th

Toys in School

Please be sure to clean out backpacks regularly and make sure all toys stay at home. Toys can be a huge distraction in the classroom and sometimes even cause disruptions in learning.

Attendance Procedures

We strive for all students to be at school all day, every day. In the event your child is sick and has to be absent, please report the absence either by email tbedismissal@collierschools.com to let us know or by calling 239-377-8500. Reporting all absences avoids “unexcused” absences on your child’s attendance record. If your child visits the doctor, please submit a doctor note within 24 hours of returning to school to the office and the absence or early pick up will be marked “excused”. Excessive absences and/tardies could result in Out of Zone designations being rescinded and/or having to attend truancy court.

Update Parent Portal Information

Please make sure all information in the parent portal is updated with any changes that may occur throughout the school year.

Cell Phones and Smart Watches

Students must keep smart watches and cell phones powered off and in their backpack during school hours.

TBE Dress Code

Please be reminded that students must follow the Dress Code Monday-Thursday. On Fridays, students are permitted to wear TBE Spirit Shirts. On occasion, students are permitted to earn a dress down pass from their teacher or other staff member. Please visit TBE website for Dress Code information

https://www.collierschools.com/Domain/56

Dana Franklin

Assistant Principal, Curriculum & Instruction, Tommie Barfield Elementary School

December will be a short, but very busy, and fun-filled month in kindergarten. In reading, we will use different versions of the traditional Gingerbread Man to learn about comparing and contrasting, sequencing, and retelling. We will also tie in other language arts and math activities to accompany the story. The focus in math this month will be adding and subtracting numbers within 10. In Social Studies, our Kindergartners will explore some winter holidays celebrated around the world. We will take a closer look at the celebrations and traditions of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, and Christmas. The students will travel with a holiday passport to each celebration and enjoy a brief history and craft.

If the children have any free time during the winter break, it would be beneficial for them to continue practicing their sight words, reading, and counting to 100. Wishing you all a very happy holiday!

The Kindergarten Team

The time to develop a love for reading is when your child is young! Here are a few tips to help your child.

Make sure your child is reading a book at his/her level. Keep in mind, if you are reading to your child the book should be at a higher level.

Let your child see you read.

Limit T.V. and video time and encourage reading instead.

In writing, we are continuing with Top Score (our new writing program.) This program teaches your child how to organize and expand on their writing. It carries over and the goals increase from year to year. It is very important that your child learns how to organize their work. Ask your child to show you. Four words is all they need. The top and bottom are the same.

During math, we are working with numbers up to 60. The children are adding, subtracting, and solving word problems. We are learning to balance equations. Example: 6+3=2+2+2+3.

Remember to talk with your child daily and take an interest in “their work.”

First Grade Teachers

As the month of December arrives and the holiday season is upon us, we want to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt appreciation to our students, families, administrators, fellow teachers, and staff. We want to say a big THANK YOU for your unwavering support of our school for being our partners in education. The way everyone came together after the recent Thanksgiving Balloon Parade showed us once again how special our school and our town truly are. We are proud to call this place our home!

As we continue our learning journey into the holiday season, our students will be exploring the joy of giving and the importance of kindness. We will be focusing on how people can resolve conflicts and work out disagreements in a peaceful and respectful manner. These lessons are not only valuable in the classroom but also in our everyday lives. During the second half of these nine weeks, students will continue to learn phonics skills such as vowel-consonant -e, closed syllables, double final consonants, and multi-syllables words. Students will continue to identify rhyme schemes in poems, use texts such as “If The Shoe Fits” to build comprehension skills, identify the central idea, story structure, relevant details, identifying, and explaining the theme, and retelling a text to enhance comprehension. In math, students will use their addition and subtraction skills to solve two-step problems with comparison. In Science, students will be able to understand what it takes to change the motion of objects, and we will explore the composition and structure of the surface of the earth.

We hope that this holiday season brings you joy, love, and peace. May it be filled with laughter, warmth, and cherished moments with your loved ones. Thank you again for your continued support, and we look forward to a wonderful holiday season together!

Warmest Wishes,

Your Second Grade Teachers

Our third-grade students are learning so much in quarter 2!

The students will continue to use their math facts to solve word problems. Our multiplication number chants continue to be the foundation for learning multiplication and division. Please encourage your child to continue practicing and saying them at home. They have been introduced to many strategies that will help them solve both multiplication and division problems.

In Reading, our students learned why some stories are better told as plays. The students are focusing on identifying an author’s claim, summarizing text, and explaining theme and how it develops in a story. In Writing, students are writing an expository essay about an article they read in class. The students had a great time exploring, measuring, and comparing liquids and solids mass, temperature, and volume. In Social Studies, we learned about types of maps, continents, oceans, and the purpose of maps and map elements.

Please continue to read with your child every night and practice their multiplication math facts with skip counting. We appreciate your support and all that you do for our students!

The Third Grade Team

Hello Fourth Grade Families:

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. We are now in the home stretch for Christmas vacation! We will be finishing Quarter 2 upon our return from the Holiday Break. We had another exciting and successful meetings with our Leadership Clubs last month and the students, and teachers, are really enjoying themselves. We have continued with learning our reading standards and finished our second novel study of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Your students have been working hard with summarizing theme, points of view and vocabulary using context clues just to mention a few. Please remember that your child should be reading at home every night and be able to summarize what they have read. Math has really taken off with learning long division and starting equivalent fractions. December brings us into learning addition and subtraction of fractions and fractions greater than one. I am sure you have seen the many different strategies that our students are using to solve these problems; it is fantastic to watch them find their strategy and master it.

This month has also been packed full of adventure for your students. In Social Studies we will be learning about Florida history from 1850 to today. While in Science students are excited to start our unit on weathering and erosion and renewable and non-renewable resources. November had us focusing on Habit 3: Putting first things first. Remember to talk to your students about the importance of setting priorities. We have been looking at ways that keep us disciplined and organized. While doing this, students have been working on setting priorities, making schedules, and following their plans to the best of their ability. December brings us to Habit 4: Think, Win, Win. Ask your students about the importance of this habit.

In closing, please remember the importance of your child being at school daily. Make up work cannot replace an entire day’s worth of learning. Please contact your child’s teachers at any time should you have any questions or concerns, and as always, thank you for your support. We are so fortunate to have such a supportive community.

Important Dates for December:

· December 9th Wonderland Gift Shop shopping day for 4th grade

· December 10th and 11th iReady Diagnostic AP2:

· December 20th Field Day

The Fourth Grade Team!

Dear 5th grade families,

December is here, and our classroom is buzzing with energy as we dive into exciting new topics. Here is what your child will be exploring this month across our core subjects:

Science: Adaptations and Survival

This month, we will explore how animals and plants adapt to their environments. Students will compare these adaptations and learn how differences between individuals help some survive and reproduce, while others must move or face challenges when the environment changes. This fascinating topic teaches resilience and the importance of diversity in nature.

Language Arts: Art in America

In ELA, we will focus on nonfiction, prose, and poetry centered around the theme of Art in America. Students will explain the central idea, summarize texts, and compare and contrast different sources. These activities build critical thinking and analytical skills while introducing students to the rich cultural history of art in our nation.

Math: Decimals and Building Strong Foundations

We are continuing our work with multiplying and dividing multi-digit numbers, including decimals. Mastery of multiplication and division facts is key to solving complex equations. A little daily practice at home goes a long way in strengthening these foundational skills! Please encourage your child to complete their homework and review multiplication facts regularly.

Social Studies: Exploring Early America

In Social Studies, we will journey back in time to trace the European exploration routes to the Americas. Students will learn about interactions among Native Americans, English, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Africans, along with stories of the early English settlements. This unit will give your child a deeper understanding of the cultural exchanges and challenges of early American history.

As always, thank you for your support in fostering your child’s learning. Please feel free to contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions. We will be reaching out soon via ClassDojo with opportunities to contribute to our December celebrations of meeting our goals and being a class family!

Your 5th Grade Teachers

Students have been creating beautiful masterpieces lately!

Kinder students painted Snow Globes!

First grade painted Snowmen!

Second grade learned about depth and created this Fall Landscape.

Third Grade created Veterans Day paper bags to give out at Publix on Veterans Day!

Fourth Grade created Veterans Day paper bags to give out at Publix on Veterans Day!

Fifth Grade created Veterans Day paper bags to give out at Publix on Veterans Day!

If you haven’t check out your student’s artwork on Artsonia, check out their art here: https://www.artsonia.com/connect/TCCPZFNC

To look at our artist’s work or to see who the Star Student was for each day, follow @beauvaisCCPS on twitter.

Lane Beauvais

Teacher, Art, Tommie Barfield Elementary School

It’s time for some WINTER WOW!!! This is the time of the year that HOLIDAY MUSIC is everywhere. TBE students are getting PERFORMANCE READY! From Veterans Day performances to the December Holidays, our students have and will be participating in shows here at school as well as in our community. Whether it’s SOLI taking part in Christmas Island Style Activities like CELEBRATE at Marco Lutheran Church on December 5th and 6th or many dancing in the Tree Lighting at Veteran’s Park on December 7th, our superstars are out there shining brightly. Our Kindergarten, First, and Second graders are eager to sing in the season on December 12th at the annual WINTER WOW Program right here at TBE. Finally, so many will enjoy watching and/or marching in the Big Parade on December 14th. As we welcome in this festive season, I hope we all can take in some kind of musical event… Be Merry!!! Happy Holidays!!!

Craig Greusel

Teacher, Music, Tommie Barfield Elementary School

This month we will celebrate physical health and good sportsmanship with FIELD DAY! Field day will be school-wide on Friday, December 20th. Students will rotate between six different activities throughout the morning, and then one class in each grade level will be awarded a Sportsmanship Award. Our focus every day in physical education class is for students to be respectful, responsible leaders in the choices they make. We are looking for students to follow directions of the activities, use equipment properly, use proper problem solving techniques, and have a positive attitude! In the upcoming weeks students will receive more information, including their class colors.

Deana Richett

Physical Education Teacher

Riched1@collierschools.com

Our SSYRA school challenge is on and going well! Sunshine State Young Reader Award (SSYRA) is a statewide reading program to encourage students to read.

We have one 5th grader who has already read all 15 books! Way to go Emerson!! We have on 4th grader who has read 12 of the 15 books, Keep up the fantastic effort Monroe!

We have 24 students who have read 3 books which qualifies them to vote for their favorite book in April. We have 4 students who have already read 7 books and will be celebrating with us in January at our Gaga Ball Celebration. Encourage your 3-5 grade students to read and join the fun!

This year we are choosing individual books to feature and challenge students to read and celebrate. Our first book is
The Ultimate Goal by Tommy Greenwald. All 3-5 students that read and pass an Accelerated Reader test on this book will be involved in a soccer shoot out on December 19th! Read all the SSYRA books, you never know what book will be the next read and celebrate SSYRA book.

SSYRA Jr. books and challenges will be shared in January for our K-2 students. This includes 10 picture books and 5 beginning chapter books.

The media center is open every morning from 7:45- 8:15. Students can come in and work on Aleks, iReady, Accelerated Reader or check in and out books or find a comfy spot to read.

Halloween Book Character Fun!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

By the time you read this, I will have retired on November 22, 2024. I want to thank each of you for allowing me to support your children through classroom lessons, small groups, individual counseling, and school-wide activities. I enjoyed collaborating with our parents and community volunteers. Tommie Barfield Elementary School is a special place where you trust us to care for your children while in school. I appreciate the way you have supported your children’s involvement in school. Thank you for being kind, compassionate, and for always listening to concerns!

Sincerely,

Leanne Hope

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As we face the upcoming holidays, this is a good time to share a resource with all of you: 211. Dialing 211 connects people in need of up-to-date community resources such as food and housing assistance, family support services, health and wellness, mental health, and more. You may also access these resources by getting the app COLLIER CARES. Wishing you a healthy and happy winter break!

Maher Bigley

239-377-8506

biglem@collierschools.com

TBA

This habit is about prioritizing important tasks over less important ones, helping kids manage their time and focus on what truly matters. It teaches kids to make a plan and stick to it, starting with schoolwork, chores, or other responsibilities before moving on to fun activities.

What can kids do at home:

1. Create a daily schedule: Write down tasks like homework, reading, or chores and tackle the most important ones first.
2. Set goals: Break big tasks into smaller steps and work on them one by one.
3. Limit distractions: When doing homework, turn off TV or phone to stay focused on the task.
4. Review priorities: At the start of each day, check what needs to be done and make sure to get those tasks done first.