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BARFIELD NEWS LETTER
November 2023
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Dear Parents and Guardians,
WOW! What an incredible first quarter our students and staff have had! We are so proud of all our TBE students for their hard work, and we are looking forward to an exciting second quarter.
As we launch into what seems to be the busiest time of year, we hope to create great memories for our students here on campus.
November brings a few long-standing traditions that our families have grown to love and enjoy, including our Veteran’s Day Performance and our annual TBE Thanksgiving Feast. Please pay close attention to the upcoming dates below as well as the calendar that will be sent home.
- Wednesday, November 1st- No School/Teacher Professional Learning Day
- Friday, November 3rd- Student Leadership Clubs
- Monday, November 6th- Principal for a Day
- Friday, November 10th- Veterans Day Performance (5th Grade students will be performing on stage, while 3rd and 4th grade students will be sitting in the audience)
- Friday, November 17th- TBE Annual Thanksgiving Feast.
- Thanksgiving Feast will be during lunch. An invitation and RSVP will be sent home prior.
* Please note that Lunch times will be different due to an alternate schedule that day.
- Monday, November 20th-Friday 24th- No School
- Monday, November 27th Winter Wonderland Shoppe will open.
- Friday, December 1st Holiday Performance (2nd grade will be performing on stage, 1st and 2nd grade will be sitting in the audience)
PLEASE NOTE THE DATE CHANGE IN THE NOVEMBER CALENDAR BELOW:
PTO MEETING WILL BE HELD ON NOV 14TH (NOT 15TH)
I wanted to also take the time to remind all parents that school drop off time is not until 7:45 am. We have had parents dropping students off in our Zone 1 parking area prior to this time and students are left unsupervised. Please know that this is a safety concern and moving forward we will call parents to pick students up and drop them off at the appropriate time.
Please keep in mind that as the weather begins to cool down, we suggest you send your child to school in a light jacket or sweatshirt. We ask that you please label these articles of clothing with your child’s name. We often find sweatshirts and jackets at recess and in the cafeteria and would like to return them to their owners. If you are interested, complete a TBE Jacket Order Form that has been sent home in Wednesday folders.
Below is some additional information from the district in regards to our strategic plan.
Thank you to all who provided input to question #1 of Planning the Pathway to our new five-year strategic plan. We evaluated 5,383 comments and more than 140,000 ratings that shared thoughts on a variety of topics. The top themes reflecting the most important next steps for the school district focused on high-quality teachers, curriculum, and class size. To see the results from the first question please visit www.collierschools.com/strategicplan
CCPS is seeking more input. The 2nd question is now open and will be open from October 18th – November 1st. Please click here to provide feedback https://tejoin.com/scroll/556110782. Answering this question should require no more than five minutes. Participants will have the opportunity to review and rate responses of others using a 5-star scale. All responses and ratings are anonymous. Your input is important to us.
Also, please see below information regarding Dr. Ricciardelli and Sheriff Rambosk hosting a Sheriff’s Town Hall meeting at Lely High School.
Please join Dr. Ricciardelli as she hosts Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk for a town hall meeting on drugs, safety, and more. On Thursday, November 2nd from 6:00 – 7:00 PM at Lely High School, Sheriff Rambosk will cover several topics of vital importance to parents including the Laced & Lethal opioid safety initiative created by CCSO and supported by CCPS as well as general drug awareness, stranger danger, vaping, traffic safety and social media. CCPS is happy to bring this information to parents to help you stay informed and keep your child(ren) safe.
I look forward to a busy month ahead! Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs. Ledbetter
Principal
A MESSAGE FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
Please help us remind our students of the TBE Expectations.
Be Respectful
Be Responsible
Be a Leader
Being a leader does not necessarily mean leading others. It can mean leading yourself toward your goals.
Safety is a TOP priority at TBE! We appreciate family conversations around these important safety habits!
· Keep your hands to yourself.
· Keep the words that come out of your mouth, kind.
· Keep toys at home unless teacher approval through message to parents.
· Follow the appropriate dress code posted on our website. Avoid losing instructional time to change into appropriate clothes!
Thank you for your help in keeping our school safe and great place to be!
Dana Franklin
Assistant Principal, Elementary / C&I, Tommie Barfield Elementary
KINDERGARTEN NEWS
It is hard to believe that we are now in the second quarter. Our kindergarteners are doing well and are quite comfortable with their classroom routines and school wide expectations. The students will continue to learn more letters, keywords, and sounds, as well as high frequency words. In math, we will be concentrating on addition and subtraction within ten and solving word problems. Science topics will include animals and plants. Social Studies will keep us busy, as we will learn about patriotism, the importance of honoring veterans, and identifying primary sources. Students will also learn about comparing people and objects of today with those of the past. We appreciate all your support and are delighted to be partners in your child’s education.
The Kindergarten Team
FIRST GRADE NEWS
During Leader in Me we have been reviewing many of the habits. The students have been working on helping others and synergizing.
During reading we will continue to work on some important skills such as: story structure, who is telling the story, comparing, and contrasting, retelling and more. Be sure to listen to your child retell a previously read story.
The students have been doing a tremendous job with I-Ready! We will continue to work to meet our school goal of 45 minutes a week and at least 80% pass rate.
In math we have been working with addition and subtraction to solve problems. The students are using information to find totals and unknown addends. We are discovering how addition and subtraction are related to each other. Building math fact fluency is something that we are working to improve. Math fluency will prepare the children for the steps to come in math. We have been identifying and analyzing two- and three-dimensional figures. Now we will start into adding real world problems.
First Grade Team
SECOND GRADE NEWS
As we approach the month of November, we want to express our gratitude to TBE families for their support and involvement with their children’s education throughout the 1st quarter.
As our learning continues throughout the 2nd quarter, we will be focusing on how people can resolve disagreements while reading and responding to texts that follow this theme. Students will continue to learn phonics skills such as glued sounds, closed syllables, vowel teams, r-controlled vowels, and digraphs. Students will use texts such as Meet Me Halfway, Working with Others, and Pepita and the Bully to build comprehension skills such as identifying the central idea and relevant details, identifying, and explaining the theme, and retelling a text to enhance comprehension. In math, second grade students will add within 10 with automaticity; and add two numbers with sums from 11 to 20 with procedural reliability. They will use number relationships to develop addition and subtraction strategies within one hundred. In Science, students will be able to understand that people use electricity or other forms of energy. They will focus on the ways energy impacts our lives (electrical energy, solar energy, light energy, heat energy, and sound energy). Students will also begin investigating the effect of applying various pushes and pulls on different objects and that the greater the force (push or pull) applied to an object, the greater the change in motion of the object. In Social Studies, students in second grade will continue to learn about map skills, the United States Constitution, and symbols representing the United States.
Please continue to have your child practice the 8 Habits at home, read for at least 20 minutes each night, and support your child by reviewing their nightly homework with them.
The Second Grade Team
THIRD GRADE NEWS
Third grade readers and writers worked on their first novel study of the year, Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White. Throughout the novel study, students practiced comprehension skills such as character development, characters’ perspective, figurative language, and summarizing. The students developed a Character Web.
In Math, the students learned how to multiply and divide with 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 with procedural reliability. In Science, third graders studied animal classification. They learned how plants and animals respond to changing seasons. In Social Studies, students learned about the levels of government, state, and local governments, and then shifted to geography where students learned about different types of maps, globes, map elements, and the purpose of different maps.
Please continue to read with your child every night and practice skip counting. We appreciate all your help and support at home!
The Third Grade Team
FOURTH GRADE NEWS
Hello Fourth Grade Families!
It is hard to believe that it is already November and that the second quarter is in full swing. We loved meeting with our Leader Clubs last month and are looking forward to our next meeting. This quarter in reading we will be focusing on text features, figurative language, and the theme of a story. Students are really enjoying the stories and be sure to ask them to summarize what we have read for you! In Math we are continuing to work with multiplication and division. Be sure to ask your student to teach you all the different strategies they have learned and what strategy they enjoy using the most. We also continue to work on our Math Fact Fluency. Knowing our multiplication facts fluently will make long division so much smoother! We started quarter 2 in Social Studies by learning about the Native American tribes that inhabited Florida. We will continue to learn about how these tribes were influenced by the different explorers that came to Florida. In Science continue to talk about energy and food chains before we move into our study of rocks and minerals.
The month of November brings us to focus on Habit 3: Put First Things First. Talk with your student about what it means to spend time on things that are most important, set priorities, make a schedule, follow a plan, and to be disciplined and organized. How do you and your family demonstrate Habit 3?
The Fourth Grade Team
FIFTH GRADE NEWS
Happy Fall! We have had a great first quarter together! This is a wonderful group of kids who shine in so many ways.
In ELA, we have just completed a novel study of The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. The students and teachers enjoyed rich discussion surrounding the plot, characterizing, figurative language, and cracking the mystery. In 2nd quarter, we will be reading short literary texts to analyze how the setting, culminating events, story conflicts, and characters’ perspectives contribute to the plot. Using informational texts, we will explain how the details support the central idea in the text. We will also be investigating how the author organizes the text to highlight pertinent information. As 5th graders, we do not simply answer questions, we make a claim, back it up with evidence, and explain the reasoning for our claim. We require all our 5th graders to read each night. The more that you read, the more you know. The more you know, the more places you will go!
In math, your child will learn how to estimate and solve long division problems using multi-digit and decimal numbers. Next up- fractions! If you notice your child is not quick with multiplication facts, please practice at home by using flashcards, online games, or online quizzes.
In science, we are wrapping up our unit on weather and will soon begin our unit on climate. Please talk to your child about various climates you, your relatives, and/or friends may have experienced around the world. Our subsequent unit is survival and adaptations. Ask your child to tell you about adaptations in the plants and animals you see. For example, your student should be able to tell you how a lizard in the yard will choose survival over a body part to escape capture.
In social studies, we are studying early civilizations and their cultures in the Americas. We will also embark on lessons about European exploration. Students will use primary and secondary sources to understand history. Our students will honor our veterans at an assembly on November 10. Students have been learning about the branches of our military while preparing for their singing and speaking parts to recognize those who have sacrificed so much to serve our country.
Thanks for your support!
Your Fifth-grade team
ARTIST STROKES
Students have been having a fantastic time learning about and creating art!
If you haven’t check out your student’s artwork on Artsonia, check them out 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 (X).
Lane Beauvais
Teacher, Art / Elementary, Tommie Barfield Elementary
MUSIC NOTES
Here we are “Fallin’ into Fall!” Our musical emphasis now turns to the “Holidaze” ahead of us. Kindergarteners are emphasizing that it is “ALL ABOUT THE BIRD!” (Turkey that is) while our first and second graders are eagerly stuffing their stockings in anxious anticipation of someone’s arrival. Our upper grades are preparing to offer their musical thanks to our Veterans on November 10th. Is not it wonderful that holiday traditions are so wrapped up in MUSIC… Our DRUM CLUB cannot be BEAT!!! Thank you for a wonderful field trip to the Coconut Bowl…
PHYSICAL EDUCATION NEWS
During quarter two we will be working on our dribbling, throwing, and rolling skills. While we continue to practice basic techniques and application with our K-2nd graders, the 3rd -5th graders will be applying offensive and defensive tactics while using the skills sets. Take time to sharpen the saw as a family and practice tossing and catching different objects or make up a fun new game together using these skills. These skills are great ways to help improve hand-eye coordination for your student(s). We will also continue to work on respectful and responsible behaviors by problem solving to resolve conflicts and cooperating during physical activities.
Do not forget to sign up for the CCPS 5K Race, which is on Saturday, November 4th at 8am. Wear any TBE shirt to represent our school and meet us by the flagpole in front of the Administrative Building.
Here’s the link to sign up and join our TBE Team: https://runsignup.com/Race/Register/RaceGroup-1371933?raceId=25617.
Deana Richett
Follow me on X (Twitter) @PEatTBE to see what we’ve been up to!
MEDIA CENTER NEWS
We had another successful book fair that ended October 27th. We could not have done it without all our parent volunteers, thank you all for your time and support. I would also like to thank all the parents that supported us by sending in money for their students to shop. The money made at the book fair will fund new books for the Media Center. Thank you!
Reading Counts continues to show growth. First through Fifth graders have read 20,673,397 words so far this year. Students in grades 1-5 have taken and passed 3,202 tests on Reading Count Books. I have met with each second-grade class and explained how they set goals and track their progress and we have now had every second grader take at least one reading counts test. That equals 649,775 words read this year by second grade alone!
TBE received a grant for Brad Meltzer books. Twenty-five books in the Ordinary People Change the World series were purchased. The mission of this series is “It is our dream for our daughters. Our dream for our sons. Our dream for all of us who need to see the power of an ordinary person… And the power- and potential- in each of us.” These books will be on our shelves soon and we look forward to our students learning from these leaders.
COUNSELOR'S CORNER
Dear Caring Adults,
As we think about what we are grateful for, our children come to mind first. Keeping in mind our three school-wide expectations (Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be a Leader), we can look at ourselves and see how we are leading our school family and home family in the area of respect. Instead of yelling or scolding, we can model by saying our feelings out loud, “I am feeling angry right now, so I am going to take a break until my voice is calm and I can reteach our expected behavior in this family (or at school).” We can tell our children that it is okay to be angry, but it is not okay to be cruel when we are angry. When our children are upset and yelling/arguing, we can say, “I’ll talk to you when your voice is as calm as mine.”
Thanks for reading this, and please let me know if you have any questions.
Leanne Hope, School Counselor
239-377-8506
TOMMIE BARFIELD PTO NEWS
What another exciting month for our PTO. We just Launched out new WEBSITE. Please check it out on www.tommiebarfieldpto.com. Here are a few links to upcoming events, calendars through the end of December and information on becoming an approved volunteer plus much more.
Pumpkins sales went well, we hope you are all having fun making your creation. We have our 2nd Annual Coin War Fundraiser coming up at the end of October, all funds will go towards leadership Clubs and Activities for Semester 2 of the school year. So, start collecting your pennies and get ready for your grade to win.
The monthly staff breakfast this month will be – Snack bar for Staff. It is going to be on Tuesday 24th October. We ask for parents to donate this month. This is the link if you would like to contribute https://signup.com/go/gZMagdc.
Thanksgiving Feast will be on November 16th So mark your calendar and look out for scheduled class times coming home soon. We will be looking for volunteers to help the cafeteria. Stay tuned for those links coming home soon.
Thank you all for your support, we appreciate all the volunteers and help to make this all possible. We look forward to a fun holiday season.
Tommie Barfield PTO Team!