We Will S.O.A.R

OCTOBER 2019 FIRST QUARTER

WE WILL S.O.A.R

Message from Shavon O’Brien, Principal CONGRATULATIONS t is hard to believe that it is already October and that we TO MS. PATY SMITH

are about to finish the first semester of school. The 2019- 20 school year has gotten off to an amazing start! The Paty’s focus is always on making sure that students have been learning the S.O.A.R Behavior ex- her students succeed. She is not only a fan- I tastic teacher and colleague but also a fantas- pectations and are settling into their classroom routines. We have had some outstanding students recognized for their tic person. We want to congratulate Paty behavior as our SOARING Student of the Week. These stu- Smith for her amazing accomplishment!! dents have been featured on WBET news, Facebook and on The **highest** award given by the U.S. our We Will SOAR bulletin board. We will recognize all nominees by holding a Government to K-12 math and science celebratory parade at the end of each quarter. teachers is known as the "Presidential Award Additionally, we are continuing our journey to creating a personalized learn- for Excellence in Mathematics and Science ing environment for our students. Teachers are participating in professional de- Teaching." This morning, the White House velopment at the school level as well as at the state level. The students are pro- announced that Ms. Smith was one of the vided opportunities to engage in project-based learning, STEAM labs, flexible recipients of this year's award. grouping, and are provided choices in the way they learn. Our goal this year is to encourage students to take ownership in their learning and behavior so that they It is an extraordinary accomplishment, can find their SuperPower. and is based on her excellence in the classroom, and dedication to STEM education. I am excited about the wonderful learning opportunities happening through- Nominees are rigorously evaluated by a dis- out the school and cannot wait for you to hear about some of these experiences tinguished panel of experts in math, science, during our Parent/Teacher conferences and at our Literacy Night. The focus for and education. That panel makes recommen- this years’ Literacy Night will be “Knowledge is My SuperPower”. The students dations to the White House, but even then, will be asked to share their special superpower by choosing the work that they only the best of the best receive this award. are most proud of completing. You will be amazed at how much your child is learning while having fun creating authentic projects and integrating technology. MS. SMITH.... As the Fall season approaches, it provides us with the opportunity to reflect on the many things in which we are thankful. We appreciate our students who ROCK YOUR SUPERPOWER!! come to school every day ready to learn. They provide us all a daily reminder of why we are here and what is important. We are grateful for parents who assist us in building an excellent community for our students as well as trust us to leave their most valuable ones with us. We are also grateful for our volunteers who enthusiastically provide so much to our school. In addition, we are thankful for our staff who care about student success and have the best interests of our students in mind. We see dedicated and hard-working individuals that go above and beyond to make sure that great things are happening in our school. They do make a difference and our students benefit from those efforts. I hope that you have a moment this Fall to reflect on what you are thankful for and to spend time with those that you hold dear to your heart. Bethel Elementary School Shavon O’Brien, Principal 6000 Highway 55 East, Clover, SC 29710 Maurice Thomas, Asst. Principal Ph: 803-631-8300 / Fax: 803-631-2996 We want to say “WELCOME” to our new staff members. Below you can read a little bit about OUR newbies:

Kendall Davis (Resource) Where were you born? I was born in Rock Hill, SC How many years in Clover School District? This is my 8th year in the district. Who is your favorite author? Jodi Picoult My favorite movie of all time is Elf. My favorite TV show is Fixer Upper. Where did you go to college? Winthrop University I bet you didn’t know that I know American Sign Language.

Lori-Ann Phelan (Reading Coach) Where were you born? New Jersey How many years in Clover School District? 7th year in the district Who is your favorite author? Mary Pope Osborne What’s your favorite movie? Shawshank Redemption What’s your favorite TV show? Survivor Where did you go to college? Winthrop University Something interesting about yourself. I am a grandmother Whatever else you would like to include. Excited to be a part of the Bethel School Family

HELLO!

re-K students have been very busy learning the school routine. It an be a pretty big deal for a young child adjusting to a full day at school. The length of time needed for a child to fully Padapt to the school environment varies depending on several factors. Thank you Pre-K parents for your patience and consistency as the children worked through the ad- justment period. Now that the students are thriving in the school routine, they have been working hard in language arts and math. Name recognition is one of the best places to start when it comes to teaching a young child to read. Young children are highly interested in their own name. It has meaning and value to them. Pre-K students have enjoyed many name sensory activities that involve songs, puzzles, playdough, tracing, and painting. Pre-K students have also been exploring with math manipulatives. The hands on learning or learning by doing keeps students’ attention as they naturally want to explore objects. When a child can touch and move manipulatives or put their hands on real objects when learning a new skill, their senses are involved in the learning experience. At the end of October, Pre-K students will take their first field trip to Black’s Peaches to explore the farm. We are looking forward to a great trip and a great year of grow- ing in so many ways!

Talk about creative play!!! Mrs. Garver's preschool class has transformed their learning space into a beach setting. They often swim with the jellyfish, read stories by the campfire, and even sell pretend popsicles at the beachside ice cream shop! What a welcoming place in our school! We want to say “WELCOME” to our new staff members. Below you can read a little bit about newbies:

My name is Laura Clinton. I am the new nurse at Bethel. I was born in Gastonia, NC and have lived in Clover all my life. I grew up on a cattle and turkey farm in the Bethany community. I have been a nurse for 21 years and I have worked as a school nurse in Clover for the last 4 years. I LOVE to read, but don’t really have a favorite author (I like too many!). I don’t watch TV or movies. . . I’d rather be outside if I have spare time . I have been married to my husband, Brent, for 16 years and we have 2 girls - they are 11 and 13 and both play soccer. I enjoy working in the yard, jogging, playing any outdoor game and spending time with my family. We also have a dog named Dixie, 2 cats and 25 chickens!!

I graduated from Clover High School in 1994. I got my BSN from USC-Upstate, but also attended Winthrop University and Mercy School of Nursing. I started out working at a hospital in the Intensive Care Unit and later worked at a local urgent care center. I love to help people feel better and stay healthy and am excited to be a part of the Bethel Team!

My name is Lee Garver (PK Disabilities Teacher). I was born in Clover, SC. I grew up in the Bethel area. I am married and have three children. I have a 21 year old daughter, a 19 year old son, and a 15 year old daughter. I attended school in the Clover School District and then attended Winthrop University after high school. I started my teaching career in Union, SC. I taught in a middle school in Union for four years. The rest of my teaching career has been spent teaching in the Clover School District. My favorite movie is Polar Express and my favorite TV show is Life Below Zero. Some interesting facts about me are I actually attended Bethel Elementary School as a child and in my free time I rescue homeless dogs.

Kayla Grice-Parker (Teacher’s Assistant) I was born in Clover S.C. This is my third year at Clover School District. My favorite author is Stephen King. My favorite movie is Nightmare before Christmas. My favorite tv show is Live PD. I graduated college from York Technical College. Something interesting about myself is that I am adopted. I also have an eight month old little girl named Carole-Ann.

Kindergarten is off to a great start this year! We are very proud of how well the students are learning to follow SOAR expectations in the halls and in our classrooms. Kindergarten celebrated Johnny Appleseed’s birthday the week of September 23rd by creating apple tree crafts, making homemade applesauce and trying different apples to vote on which one was the best. We also made Johnny Appleseed hats. Throughout the month of October, students will be learning about farm life. We will discuss plants and animals that are raised on a farm and also, the life cycle of plants and animals. We will discuss why farms and farmers are so important to us. This is also the perfect time to learn about the season of Au- tumn. The students always love this unit of study!

We want to say “WELCOME” to our new staff members. Below you can read a little bit about newbies:

Shelly Strauss (Music Teacher) Where were you born? I was born in West Union, Ohio. West Union is a very small town with Cincinnati being the closest city. How many years in Clover School District? I taught in Clover in 2006, 07, and 08. I moved away for 7 years and then came back “home”. My family and I have been back since fall 2013. I taught band at Oakridge Middle and Clover Middle and this year I am now teaching music at Bethel Elementary. Who is your favorite author? Dr. Seuss What’s your favorite movie? I have way too many movies that I like. It is too hard to pick one. For the month of December I usually find myself on the couch watching movies with my Hallmark Christmas movie loving daughter. What’s your favorite TV show? Call the Midwife (probably most well-known to our Moms in the crowd) Where did you go to college? Mount Union University (Bachelor of Music Ed) and University of North Texas (Master of Educational Leadership). Something interesting: I have four children. Three are in college and one is a sophomore at Clover High.

Jody Boyer (Cafeteria) I was born in Chambersburg, PA. I have only worked in Clover for 1 year. Karen Kings- bury is my favorite author and my two favorite movies are The Proposal and Sweet Home Alabama. I really like the tv series, This is Us. Something interesting is that I drove a school bus for 19 years; 5 years for special needs. I am a style consultant with Magnolia & Vine Jewelry and accessories.

irst grade is off to a great start! The students have adjusted well to the new routines and procedures, which are very different from that of Kindergarten. We Fhave begun our guided reading groups, where the students meet in small groups every day with a teacher to work on decoding, comprehension, and written response to literature based on their current reading levels. Our students are also very excited about our writing workshop. They have been working on Small Moment stories – one moment in time when something happened to them. In math, we have just begun our unit on addition strategies. Students will be exposed to various ways to help them solve addition problems. The goal of these strategies is to simply find a way that works the best for the individual child. We have also begun our guided math rotations and small groups. The students are being very productive during this time and are demonstrating great math- ematical thinking in these rotations. In Social Studies, we have spent a lot of time learning about ourselves and each other and how to display positive character traits such as responsi- bility and respect. In addition we are learning exciting facts about our great state of South Carolina. The first graders have already shown great pro- gress and we are looking forward to a fantastic year! We want to say “WELCOME” to our new staff members. Below you can read a little bit about newbies:

Maurice Thomas (Assistant Principal) Where were you born? Charleston, South Carolina

How many years in Clover School District? First year in Clover and my 8th year in education

Who is your favorite author? Malcolm Gladwell

What’s your favorite movie? Toy Story

What’s your favorite TV show? NFL Red Zone

Where did you go to college? Winthrop University

Something interesting about yourself: I broadcast football games for ESPN Radio in Charlotte. My best friends are my wife, Tif- fany, and my 1 year old son, Grant.

Trina Sherer (Teacher Assistant) Where were you born? Gastonia, NC How many years in Clover School District? 3 years subbing and 1st year as a Teacher Asst. Who is your favorite author? Steven King What’s your favorite movie? Titanic What’s your favorite TV show? Master Chef Where did you go to college? Gaston College Something interesting about yourself: I love shopping. I am married with three children, 2 boys and a daughter.

Verbs in Action This is our 2nd year implementing the Rooted in Reading program. Students are really enjoying the different activities we do each week in reading, vocabulary, and gram- mar. Our unit this past week was on verbs. Students participated in a search for verbs around the room or in books, they sorted nouns and verbs, and they completed the unit by getting with a partner and taking several pictures of their partner acting out a verb. They then used these pictures in the PopLite app, where they wrote a sentence to describe their partner and their verb. Students loved this project and it was such a great activity for students to really grasp the concept of what is a verb!! ☺ We want to say “WELCOME” to our new staff members. Below you can read a little bit about newbies:

Security Officer (John Cocchi)

Where were you born? I was born in Queens N.Y. which is one of the 5 boroughs in NYC. My house was right on the border of Brooklyn and Queens. My neigh- borhood was called Ozone Park.

How many years in Clover School District? I live in Waxhaw, North Carolina and I just started working here in Clover in August.

What is your favorite T.V. show? I have a few but “Game of Thrones”, “The Sopranos” and “The Office” are the top three. I can also watch World War 2 documentaries all day long too.

Where did I go to college? John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Something interesting about myself? Lets see….I recently retired from the New York City Police Department after 25 ½ years. I started out in the Police Academy where we learned about Law, how to shoot a gun and different tactics. We also learned how to understand others who are having a hard time and how to calm situations down. After the Police Academy I was assigned as a Patrol Cop in Manhattan and made over 200 arrests.

I studied hard and was promoted to Sergeant and was transferred to a Brooklyn Precinct. I worked many different positions there including Narcotics, Domestic Violence and also worked undercover.

I was off from work on 9/11 but drove to work as soon as the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Cops are on duty 24 hours a day and every cop in the NYC was called into work. I worked at ground zero for months digging through the pile with other cops and fireman. I was a very sad day and I will never forget what I saw.

I took another test and was promoted to Lieutenant and was sent to Times Square in the middle of New York City which is called the center of the world!

I met so many different people from all over the world and also met a lot of celebrities too. I even worked with Lady Gaga!

I was transferred again to the Counterterrorism Unit and got special tactical training and even went to New Mexico for Bomb Training. After a year my assignment was to guard the President of the United States and his family members at Trump Tower which is where he lives when he is not at the White House. I even got to meet him and take a picture with him. His family would invite my entire team to up to their office and have pizza for lunch with us. They were very nice to us.

My favorite part of my job here at Bethel Elementary is playing football at recess with the 3rd graders. I gave some of them cool names: The Beast, The Spy, The Blitz and The Speedster are just some of them. The players are: Big Jackson, Parker, Tommy, Damon, Alex, Jackson, Marcus, Nolan, Colin, Andrew, Brayven, Timmy and Chase. Fall is for family and friends, fall is for hird grade students have been working festivals and fun, Fall is for falling very hard the past two months in math leaves, fall is for pumpkin seeds, learning their multiplication tables. They Fall is for apples, fall is for pumpkin have been practicing their facts with spice, Tsongs, flash cards and iPad apps. They have also Fall is for finishing feasts, fall is for pumpkin carving, Fall is for pumpkin spent time working on problem solving strategies. pies, fall is for fruits, Fall is time for snowflakes, fall is for scarecrows,

Fall is for corn mazes, fall is for trick or treating, Fall is for candy and Halloween, fall is for costumes, Fall is for so much more, but we don't have time to tell it all! Fall is for so much more, but we don't have time to tell it all! - Caroline Rosanova

In science students have been working on an I love art especially when I am at school. The amazing art teacher Mrs.. Earth’s Materials Unit. Students performed soil Walker makes it 10 times better. She samples, studied how landforms are made and is so nice she never yells and she al- practiced their engineering skills building structures ways has fun things ready for us to do with natural and synthetic materials. in art. - Bridgette Maddox Students have been busy writing personal narratives during writing workshop time and reading Science is what I like. the novel, Charlotte’s Web, during reading Its more fun then riding a bike! workshop. Students are learning all about our I would do science instead of climb- wonderful state in Social ing in a tree. I like science so you see. Studies. Ask them to Experiments are what we do. If i like share what they have science so should you. learned! - Maggie Sturgill We have had a wonderful start to the new school year. Everyone has transitioned well and is making friends! We are doing a great job of learning routines, procedures, and schedules.

Students have been working on narrative writing. We are learning how to write a paragraph, including indentation, spacing, punctua- tion, and formatting. We have also been practicing using our writ- ings to illustrate and are focusing on using key details in our illus- tration to match our writing.

In math, we are working on multi-digit addition and multiplication. Students are working hard to master math facts and multi-step math equations. Everyone is working hard! In ELA, students have been busy learning about Char- acterization. Students have been listening to Interactive Read-Aloud’s and learning about how character traits can be both positive and negative. We have been learning how setting affects the characters and the plot of the story. In Writing, students are working on writing their Per- sonal Narratives. Students have learned how to write different kinds of introductions and endings for their stories. Students will be revising and publishing their stories. In Math, students are continuing to work on place value, addition, and subtraction. Students will begin multiple strategies for Multiplication. Encourage your child to practice their multiplication tables. In Social Studies, students have learned and present- ed their research projects for Native Americans and are moving towards learning about the exploration of the United States.

In Science, students have worked on learning about qualitative and quantitative experiments, and begin- ning to learn about the life cycles of both invertebrates and vertebrates. SOAR EXPECTATIONS

Interview with Mrs. Long By: Noah Kroeger

What is your job? My job is to register new students that come to Bethel. What do you do after everyone leaves? After everyone leaves, I file attendance notes, and update attendance files. Is your job hard? My job is not really that hard. What is your favorite thing about your job? My favorite thing about my job is the students that visit and the co-workers.

B ethel fifth grade math students are exploring place value in decimal numbers and powers of ten. In science class, the fifth graders are having fun learning about variables through water bottle flipping, paper prod- ucts and making swingers. In ELA, we will be diving into TDA’s (text dependent analysis) and learning to support literary responses with textual evidence. In social studies, we will begin Westward Expansion and Immigra- tion. Our first Book Fair will be November 18th - 22th. We are using Bedford Falls again this year. Flyers will be sent home closer to the time of the Book Fair. Monday will be a preview day for the students. Stu- dents will come to the library and make their wish list. The Book Fair is a great time to buy Christmas gifts.

We will have our Literacy Night on Tuesday of that week. You will receive more information about Lit- eracy Night when our plans have been finalized. Please make sure you put these dates on your calen- dars.

If students carry a water bottle in their backpack, please make sure it is in a zip lock bag. We have had library books to get wet from water bottles that leak. Thank you! A few ways Parents can support Reading and Writing at Home. - Read aloud daily to your child. Talk about the pictures. Make predictions about a story and see if they come true. Read aloud a chapter-book before bed. - Encourage your child to read aloud to younger siblings, cousins, neighbors, even stuffed animals. - Listen to your child’s retellings and expand them. Encourage them to add more detail. Say, “That would make an amazing story.” Then, imagine the story together.” Say, “You should write about that.” Say, “The way you said that sounds like a poem.” Then, encourage him/her to write it down as a poem. - Play word games such as Scrabble Junior, Boggle, ABC Bingo, Word Concentration, etc. Tell jokes, rid- dles and limericks. See how many words rhyme with ______. - Encourage your child to bring their writer’s notebook whenever they go on family outings. Whether it’s to grandma’s house, a soccer game or restaurant, there will be plenty to notice, wonder and write about. - Have your children select three things they want to include in a story. Make up a story that includes those three things. For example, the selections might be a princess, a race car, and an ice cream cone. The children will love helping you find clever ways to include three things in the story. - Also, please remember if students carry a water bottle in their backpack please make sure it is in a zip lock bag. We have had library books to get wet from water bottles that leak. Tech Lab News

Pre-k enjoyed their September by strengthening their fine and gross motor skills with a bear hunt. Then they built their own trap designs.

Kindergarten students have been mastering the mouse. We have learned multiple educational games on ABCya.com website. The games helped with sorting, patterns, less than/more than, alpha- betical order, letter/number recognition to name a few.

First grade and Second grade students have been learning touch typing with Typetastic and how to log-in with our math app Prodigy.

Third through Fifth graders are journal writing each week. They are encouraged to record their thoughts feelings, fears, failures, successes and dreams using the app Pages. I want all of our Beth- el children to know the true super powers in themselves, and the POWER of their words. ROCK ON BETHEL!

As always, we cranked up the new school year learning and/or reviewing rules and procedures, demonstrating safe space awareness, and practicing good manners and sportsmanship. On their first day of class, students in grades 3-5 participated in teams that involved catching, writing, and characteristics on how to be “Super”/like a super hero. Students were led in discussions on how these concepts can be transferred to sports and everyday life in general. Wow! Our students demonstrated such outstanding teamwork, communication among teams, kindness, and sportsmanship!

We also had a great time performing a variety of exercises during warm-up/work-out time. Students were able to identify some of the muscles targeted by specific activities and movements. We will continue to engage in a variety of exercises throughout the school year as students learn about different muscle groups. We enjoyed the “Train” activity which involved students in team work and pacing themselves as well as sprinting. The fact that moving can make our hearts healthier and helps prevent heart disease will be stressed throughout the year. Students are continuing to learn to pace themselves when running longer distances and how to sprint more efficiently in shorter distances. Students also participated in the Fitnessgram Pacer test as they used pacing skills. Overall, results were outstanding! Several students ran over eighty 15-meter laps! It is obvious Bethel’s students are healthy and active, which reminds me…. I was fortunate to recently have the opportunity to attend some of our current and former students’ softball games. These players displayed outstanding effort, sportsmanship, and success! Way to go!!

In addition to activities mentioned above, 5th graders practiced a variety of FitnessGram fitness tests, ran a FitnessGram pre- Pacer test, and took a multiple-choice pre-test to assess knowledge of fitness concepts. Students are encouraged to set personal fitness goals based on pacer test results and to study and learn the fitness concepts in the study guide that will be posted in Can- vas in the near future. A post FitnessGram Pacer and multiple-choice fitness concepts test will be taken by 5th graders later in the year. Fifth graders, in order to reach your goal for the post Pacer test, please practice jogging at least 4 – 5 days per week. Also, remember to study the fitness concepts in Canvas for the post multiple-choice test. J

Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and 1st graders learned, reviewed, and practiced a variety of locomotor skills. Students practiced these skills while participating in fun freeze games and dancing. Students also demonstrated space awareness, dodging/ fleeing, and safety this month. Students in all grade levels practiced throwing and teamwork in fun games of “castle ball” as well as “critter tag” games (one of our students’ favorite activities!) Grades 2-5 did an outstanding job demonstrating teamwork, sportsmanship, and throwing skills while participating in captain dodgeball. Students are currently learning and practicing vol- leying skills with an emphasis on the volleyball forearm/bump pass. This has been an exciting first quarter for all in Physical Edu- cation as we began a fun-filled and healthy school year!

Lastly, I would like to thank parents and students involved in Bethel’s Scrambled Legs running club. Thank you, Sarah Work, for all of your hard work in making the club such a great success! So far, we have enjoyed a lot of fun activities that are helping our runners im- prove their running distances, speed, cardio- vascular endurance, flexibility, and muscular strength and endurance. Some activities in- cluded obstacle courses, treasure hunts, and keeping track of laps with digital scanning. Scrambled Legs will continue to train for up- coming 5k events.

Thank you again to everyone involved! The following Bethel chorus students repre- Chorus Members sented our school at the Clover School District Alizzi Lauson th Choral Festival on October 15 . Blue Nasir Burrell Riley Mae Burton Natalie Campbell Aajah

Ferrell Peyton

Ghent Reagan Gill Sahij Knight Brinley Kroeger Noah Lane Chris Montgomery Hoss Peake Payton Perkins Emma

The pictures below are from a Perotti Presley lesson about the Star Spangled Prigmore Carleigh Banner. The students in grades 3-5 have been studying the Relation Kaileigh history of the banner and Rodgers Keller learning what the words Thomas Lucy mean. The pictures are of students trying to put the words Tilley Luke of the Star Spangled Banner in Visser Marley order. Zech Bryson Welcome to Bethel Elementary for the 2019-2020 school year. Some of you are new to our school while others have been a part of our school community for several years. Either way, we want to you feel a part of our school and be aware of the counseling services provided here at Bethel Elementary.

School counseling services at Bethel Elementary include:

• Classroom lessons

• Small group counseling sessions

• Individual counseling sessions

What are Classroom Counseling Lessons?

• Lessons that are taught to each classroom in every grade level throughout the school year to help students gain an awareness of self, others, and the world around them.

• The focus of classroom lessons is to foster students’ academic, social, emotional and career development through a planned series of developmentally appropriate activities based on the American School Counselor Association Standards.

• Topics discussed can include: exploring peer relationships and effective social skills; developing awareness of diversity and tolerance; exploring problem-solving and decision-making; understanding conflict resolution strategies; investigating careers; identifying learning styles; study and time management skills; and test-taking strategies.

What is Group Counseling?

• Group counseling is offered to provide additional services to children with common needs and concerns.

• Referrals for group participation can be made by parents, teachers, or by the students themselves.

• Types of groups offered can include: coping with family changes; dealing with the grief of losing a loved one; exploring friendship issues; and developing effective social skills.

What is Individual Counseling?

• I can help with individual students to help them explore their concerns and problems, to better understand themselves and others, and to work toward positive educational, personal, and social growth.

• Students are referred by parents, teachers, administrators or through student self-referral.

Ashlyn Condon [email protected] WE WILL S.O.A.R

Bethel Vision Statement Our vision at Bethel continues to be maintaining academic excellence and a community feeling while embracing change and taking risks to en- able our students to become productive citizens in our ever changing world.

Bethel Mission Statement The mission of Bethel Elementary School, in partnership with the parents and community, is to prepare students to become productive, confident and responsible citizens by creating a safe, friendly, child- centered environment which effectively addresses the social, emotional and intellectual needs of each child.

Clover School District Mission Statement Clover schools will prepare every child for a successful, productive, and responsible future. Each Child, Each Day…..Excellence!