Change up ahead: Starting Monday, attendance for virtual students (hybrid and remote) will shift from families to the classroom teacher. Families will no longer check students in on Infinite Campus. If you have any questions about attendance expectations on remote days, please contact your classroom teacher as participation is still a requirement.
The Future of Maine Bulldog Scholarship received several large donations over the past few weeks. We want to thank Skowhegan Savings Bank for a $3,000 donation and for being our partner bank. Scholarship winners will receive their scholarship award at the bank when they choose to use it. We also received a $500 donation from Sheridan Construction, $500 from the Benton PTO, $200 from the Albion Lions Club, and $100 from Flood Brothers, LLC. We are incredibly grateful for these donations as they will help our students pursue their future aspirations. This year's essays are due today by 3 PM TODAY. We do not accept late entries. Best of luck! If you wish to make a donation to the Future of Maine Bulldog Scholarship, please contact the school.
Mrs. Burkhart's hybrid and remote students learned about density with a density column experiment. Her remote students completed the lesson with their parents using their at-home science kit.
Tomorrow, March 19th, is a teacher in-service day. The next student day is Monday, March 22nd, which is a Blue day.
Our food service staff are incredible. In February, they provided 6,677 breakfast and 6,358 lunch meals to our school community. Thank you!
Winter NWEA MAP Family Reports are going home this week. Please take a minute and review the report. This is a great opportunity to talk to your student and their teachers about learning.
Below are two videos that might help you better understand the MAP NWEA.
https://vimeo.com/230226438
https://vimeo.com/226809774
Did you know that Benton Elementary has Friday Fun Trivia during our morning announcements? Today, our grades 1-3 students were asked, "How many noses does a slug have?" Our grades 4-6 students were asked, "Which country was the first to use paper money?" Do you know the answer?
Benton Elementary students and staff participated in The Great Kindness Challenge over the past two weeks. Participants were in the running for a fun prize. As a result, we had 38 students and 16 staff winners that were awarded "Be Kind" masks. Thank you for making the world a better place!
Important letter from Mr. Wedge in regards to travel over February break.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aMatlsiM-mnjivVxah4WerCJucpzwX2q/view?usp=sharing
Here's a shout out to our kitchen staff who made these healthy snacks for classrooms for Valentine's Day!
Please consider sponsoring one of our Bulldog Future of Maine Scholarships. Ask your student today, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and "How will you do it?". Most people decide whether they are attending college/educational aspirations beyond high school in elementary school. At Benton Elementary, we are talking about it right now. We hope our partnership with the Maine College Circle will help many of our Benton students make the first steps to achieving their future aspirations. Check out the video below:
https://mainecollegecircle.networkforgood.com/projects/69187-bulldog-fom-scholarship-benton-clinton-albion
Starting Thursday, February 11, FREE grab & go breakfast and lunch bags will be available to students at Benton Elementary as they leave school. Students can bring additional bags home for the weekend. These meals will be shelf-stable and do not require refrigeration.
Big Thank You to Brad Carr, our Custodial Supervisor, who built our students a nice sledding hill. Recess in the snow with friends is tons of fun.
Are you in need of some food assistance? AmeriCorps at Colby have generously donated non-perishable food items for Benton Elementary families for February break. Please sign up by February 4th.
https://forms.gle/xwe1cW64Adj1mWdJ9
Benton Elementary 5th Graders love Science and Literature. After reading Poppy by Avi, our students had a hands-on experience dissecting owl pellets. To quote one student, "This is awesome!"
Great Kindness Challenge Spirit Days
Our guidance counselors are super excited that we are participating in the Great Kindness Challenge this year! Below is a short video that explains the challenge. Let's make the world a better place. Please watch!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F1wXufmrWe1sV00P32-4UNO8xpDk9MpT/view
This year we made the Great Kindness Challenge very simple, as we know you all are busy enough!
1) Watch the video
2) Complete the Kindness brochure
3) Share the brochure with your teacher by February 9th (Gray day) and February 10th (Blue day)
4) Have fun spreading kindness! Thank you for everything you do!
5) You will be in the running to win a prize!
Benton Elementary would like all 100% Remote Learners to complete an important survey. The goal of the survey is to find ways to increase student engagement. The survey should take five to ten minutes to complete. The survey will close on February 5th. A link to the survey is https://forms.gle/ayT8CAF5JgxQ2dn2A
Benton Elementary students are getting ready to take the Winter NWEA. Our winter testing window is from January 25th – February 12th.
One of the most important questions we can ask as educators, students, and families is, “Are students learning?” To help answer that question, students will be taking the MAP Reading and MAP Mathematics assessments. Some students will also take the MAP Fluency assessment depending on their needs. Each one takes about one hour to complete. The winter scores will be an important indicator for teachers, students, and families to see how well students are growing academically since our fall assessment. This is one metric we will use to measure learning and help determine next steps. Please take take time to review this website: https://www.nwea.org/the-map-suite/family-toolkit/.
Our goal is for 100% of our students to take this assessment. Similar to the fall, we invite our remote families to schedule a time to come to the school for 2-3 hours to take the assessments. Remote students will test in a classroom spaced six feet apart from one another and the teacher. They will be expected to wear a mask during testing, but will have opportunities to take mask breaks. They should bring a water bottle, snack, and an independent reading book. Please call the main office today at 453-4240 to schedule a day and time.
This is a great opportunity to talk to your child about some attributes of learners: persistence, grit, citizenship, engagement, risk-taking, dreaming, and being adventurous. These can all contribute to academic achievement. In regards to the NWEA, you can ask: What was your Fall RIT score? What are you doing in school to increase your score? What are you learning about?
The experience of learning is an exciting endeavor, and we look forward to seeing great gains at the end of this school year.
Respectfully,
Mr.. Wedge
Welcome back! Benton Elementary is looking forward to seeing our Gray cohort students tomorrow, 1/4/2021. Remember that symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, shortness of breath, and lower respiratory distress, and may appear 2-14 days after exposure. If you are exhibiting these symptoms or have been identified as a close contact, contact your medical provider and remain at home until you get guidance. If you have any questions about school attendance , please contact the school and speak with our school nurse at 453-4240.