Website: https://www.ksb.kyschools.us
Location: 1867 Frankfort Ave, Louisville, KY 40206
Phone: (502) 897-1583

Fax: (502) 897-2850
Facebook: facebook.com/KYschoolfortheblind/
Twitter: @KSBWildcats

Happy Friday, Wildcat Families! During the month of February as we celebrate Black History Month, I will be highlighting African American individuals that contributed to KSB and the community. Faustin Soulouque Delany (1859-1912), was the principal of the segregated school at KSB between 1906 and 1912. We know next to nothing about Mr. Delany’s time at KSB, since the KSB annual reports provided little to no information about the segregated school. Mr. Delany was the son of Major Martin Delany (1812-1885), a prominent African American physician, newspaperman, soldier, and politician who is considered the father of Black Nationalism in the U.S. Faustin Delaney graduated from Wilberforce University, later taught there, and came to Louisville in 1906 to join the staff at KSB. After Mr. Delaney’s death, his wife Mary, replaced him as principal of the segregated school.

Take good care and have a wonderful weekend!

• Tuesday, February 14-KSB Sock Hop (more details bellow)
• Monday, February 20, 2023-Family/Teacher Conference Day (No School)
• Thursday, February 23, 2023-Kentucky Regional Braille Challenge (more details below)
• Friday, March 3, 2023-No School (PD Day for teachers)
• March 7-17-ACT Testing Window (grade 11)
• Thursday, March 30-Middle School Concert
• April 3-7-Spring Break
• April 18-19-Senior Trip A (more information to come)
• May 1-2-Senior Trip B (more information to come)
• Thursday, May 4-Founder's Day
• Monday, May 8-Summative Testing Window Begins
• Thursday, May 18-Prom, 6-9pm
• Friday, May 19-Field Day (make up day May 22)
• Tuesday, May 23-8th Grade Promotion; HS Awards and Junior Ring Ceremony; Graduation
  
• Wednesday, May 24-Elementary Awards; LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
• May 30-June 2-KSB Elementary and Middle Summer Program
• June 5-9-Summer Program-Statewide Elementary and Middle
• June 12-16 Summer Program-Statewide High School; Summer Work Program
  
• June 19-23 -Summer Program KSB High School; Summer Work Program

If you have any change in phone numbers, home address, a change in bus routine or you need someone added/removed from your child’s safe pick-up list; please contact Beth or Linda in the front office.

Are you signed up for OneCall? KSB uses OneCall to send school information, including our Weekly Wildcat. If not, please contact Beth Baker at beth.baker@ksb.kyschools.us or 502-897-1583

❄️KSB Inclement Weather Scenarios❄️

• Students in the dorm and JCPS on delay
• KSB will delay the start of school, identical to JCPS.
• Students in dorm and JCPS cancels classes due to weather
• KSB will operate on a two-hour delayed schedule
• Parents responsible for transportation
• If a storm is predicted to cause a significant impact on the state, KSB will disseminate information (OneCall, Facebook, email, …) with the plan for the closure or delay of school. Students will take home devices and needed materials in anticipation of NTI learning.

Test your Skills!

On Thursday, February 23, 2023, students in grades 1-12 are invited to compete in a series of five skills contests demonstrating braille reading and comprehension, speed and accuracy, spelling, proofreading, and tactile graphics.

To learn more & download practice tests, visit BrailleInstitute.org/braille-challenge

Hosted by: American Printing House for the Blind 1839 Frankfort Avenue Louisville, Kentucky 40206 Regional Coordinator: Jane Thompson Phone: (502)899-2370 Email: jthompson@aph.org

In honor of that, let’s do some dress up/ down fun! The schedule is for Fridays and is as follows:

Friday, 2/17- Peace, Love, Kindness (Wear Tie-Dye)

Friday, 2/24- Team Kindness (Wear a sports jersey or your KSB Wildcats spirt wear)

Participate to Spread Your Kindness!

Students must be signed in and out if not accompanied by an adult.

WHAT: Elementary Valentine’s Day Celebration

WHEN: Tuesday, February 14th

WHO: please plan for 22 elementary students

Students will have the chance to decorate their own bag and deliver Valentine cards to their friends.

If you would like to send in a special treat for your Wildcat to share, we ask that it be NUT FREE.

If you have questions, please reach out.

-Your Elementary Team

Ms. Evers, Ms. Ward, Ms. Deal, Ms. Sothen, & Ms. Stanley

5th Grade: We are continuing our work with the American Revolution. This week we are focusing on the Battle of Yorktown. Students are analyzing strategies used and studying content specific vocabulary as well.

2nd Grade: Students are working with timelines and using them to analyze information.

Kindergarten and first grade students are working on Map skills in Social Studies. They are focusing on different types of communities, reading maps, and locating places on a map.

Middle and High School:

6th & 7th grade social studies are finishing the unit on Ancient Greece this week with their Greek Mythology presentations and then will start our next unit on Ancient Rome. Students in U.S. History just started investigating the details of the American Civil War after learning about what was dividing the nation in the 1800s. Integrated Social Studies class is spending time learning about Black History during the month of February focusing on civil liberties. Last, in World History, we are in the middle of our Imperialism unit studying how European nations competed for overseas territories and the effects on the native country.

KSB Music

The music department thought we’d update you this time using a little variation on the classic song L-O-V-E.

L is for how long the middle schoolers have had to wait to perform. We’ll get to that later!

O is for our outstanding elementary students! The younger students have been continuing working in groups while learning some music terms and concepts (such as counting correctly) and how to apply them. They also have been practicing memorization and call and response both with speaking and playing instruments. The older students continue to have individual lessons to learn a specific instrument, either keyboard, string or percussion. They will performing on these instruments in the future with their instructors. We will keep you updated.

V is for very excited to tell you that the middle school students will be performing March 30th at 1:30 PM in the cafeteria! Our students have been waiting their turn and learning songs to play in large ensembles. As we’ve mentioned before, it requires patience and they have been doing very well. We also have a few middle schoolers who will be performing in a smaller group or two that we are equally excited about!

E is for even more music in high school! This is when we begin to pick songs to perform while still working on technique and exploring their instrument. Any given hour in Howser you might hear drum fills, strummed guitar chords, Doo Wop piano accompaniment, and all kinds of songs. It’s always fun to hear the variety that the teachers (and usually the students!) come up with. We love the progress all of our students are making while making music!

Fun Fact: Did you know a person's heartbeat mimics the beat of the music he or she is listening to?

KSB Art

By the time that you read this, we will only have one week left with guest artist Janet Britt from KMAC. The students participating in her classes have made a wide variety of items! Mandalas, Snow Globes, Story People, Paint Brush People, Decorated Hearts, Ice Cream Cones, and Other Types of Food! (made from model magic clay of course). The hearts have already been given out to the students in time for Valentine's Day to take home, and all of the other items will be packed up in a tote bag to go home in a couple of weeks with the participating students. Parents, you might need to start a special place in your homes for all of these fabulous pieces! Our fourth and last artist for the school year from KMAC will be Liz Richter. We can't wait to see what she has planned for us.

Ms. Roark's Arts Appreciation class took some time to do a little heart project of their own. While learning about the art of mosaics, the students took items such as colorful buttons, heart buttons, and wooden butterflies to create heart mosaics on a wooden heart base that has been placed into a frame for display. They really turned out great!

Fun Fact: "Artist Willard Wigan once inhaled his own work! What’s that, you say? He inhaled a painting?? The man must be enormous! Not quite. Wigan’s works are ‘micro-sculptures’, so tiny they must be viewed through a microscope. In creating his art, Wigan has to slow his heartbeat and work between pulses. The work he inhaled was Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, but apparently she was even better when remade." As always, please don't try this at home!

For the month of February we will be talking about social interaction skills.Social interaction skills are skills we use everyday to interact and communicate with others. They include speech, gestures, body language and expression.

This week let’s practice good conflict resolution. Conflict resolution is the ability to get to the source of a problem or disagreement and find a workable solution. Good conflict resolution skills are important in any environment. 5 ways to implement and solve conflict is to

Find the cause

Find a safe and private place to talk

Listen actively and let everyone have a say

Investigate the situation-talk with the individual (s), get the facts (truth)

Determine ways where both parties can agree on the matter

Agree on the situation and determine responsibilities each person has in the resolution.

TRANSFORMATIONAL BREATHWORK for educators and caregivers

www.constantloveandlearning.com/breathwork

VIRTUAL MEDITATIVE SESSIONS- promote the deepest self-healing and personal transformation

Monday, Feb. 20, 4-5 p.m.

RELEASE STRESS & WELCOME WELL-BEING or bring your own intention

Sunday, Feb. 26, 6-7 p.m.

BREATHE & BE (WITH WHAT IS) or bring your own intention

VIRTUAL “TAKE A BREATHER” SESSIONS- easily use during the day and root into relaxation and mental clarity

Come to any or all:

2/13, 11-11:20 a.m.

2/14- 8:15-8:35 a.m.

2/15- 9:30- 9:50 a.m.

2/27- 3-3:20 p.m.

2/28- 2:40-3 p.m.

Transform Your Life and Make Your Greatest Impact, One Breath, One Feeling, One Connection at a Time

KSB Varsity Bowling starts Monday, February 13. All permissions and physicals to compete are due to Ms. Belcher by Friday, February 10.

Practice Schedule will be Monday through Thursday. Monday and Wednesdays will be at the Bowling Alley and Tuesdays and Thursdays will be on campus. The Conference Championship will be held virtually on Monday, March 6.

KSB Varsity Swim practice will begin this March! Stay tuned for more information!

JV Athletics Permissions and Physicals are due by Friday, February 10. Practices begin the week of February 13. Practice schedules will be sent out to participants next week! The Spring JV Meet will take place on Wednesday, March 15 at Kentucky School for the Blind. Stay tuned for more information.

Please reach out to Ms. Belcher for any questions.

• Wednesday, March 15-JV Little NC Tournament (KSB)
• Thursday, March 23- KSB Virtual Swim Meet
• Wednesday, April 12-Forensics ISBVI Virtual Day Meet
• April 14-15-ISVI Swim Invitational, Illinois
• April 25-29- Forensics NCASB Conference Championships
• April 28-29-NCASB Swimming Conference Championships, Ohio

Registration Deadline: March 15, 2023

The INSIGHT Post-Secondary Preparation Program is the only program in the Commonwealth of Kentucky dedicated to promoting college and career readiness for students who are blind or visually impaired. The program is open to students who have completed grades 10-12 and are interested in attending a post secondary institution after graduating from high school. INSIGHT takes place on the beautiful campus of Morehead State University in Morehead, KY during the summer. The students stay in a Morehead University dorm, eat in the cafeteria and attend a Morehead college class. INSIGHT Post-Secondary Preparation Program was designed to promote self-advocacy and independent living for students that are blind or visually impaired so that they may experience what it will be like to go to college.

For more information contact INSIGHT Coordinator.

Newsletter background shows red hearts of different sizes on a white background.