Fire Prevention Week  This past Monday the Branson Fire Department stopped by the school and conducted Fire Safety Assemblies for each grade level.  They talked about the importance of having families develop a fire safety plan for their home.  The assemblies were fun and very informative.  Special thanks to the Branson Fire Department for investing in our kids and community.

McTeacher Night  On Tuesday Night, Branson Elementary East / West participated in McTeacher Night on Hwy. 248.  With your great support we earned $640.00 which the schools will split evenly between buildings.  Thanks for supporting our schools and our community partners. 

End of 1st Quarter / Early Dismissal  Can you believe that Oct. 17th is the last day of the first quarter?  Students have made a tremendous amount of progress learning new concepts, meeting new friends and establishing their daily routines.  The last day of the first quarter and third quarter are early release days.  Students will be dismissed at 11:45 a.m. on Friday, October 17th.  The afternoon is designed for teachers to collaborate, plan and prepare for parent conferences. 

Parent Conferences October 23rd and 24th have been reserved as official parent conference days where teachers meet with families and share accomplishments made during the first quarter and set goals for the upcoming quarter.  Parents, if you have not scheduled your parent / teacher conference, please contact your child’s teacher for more information.   Dismissal these two days will be at 11:45.

This week Branson Elementary West embarked on a new journey to meet the needs of our students by providing intentional, targeted intervention.  The RtI (Response to Intervention) team has been meeting, investigating and planning for this targeted intervention since January.  Their work stems from the No Child Left Behind legislation.  Students entering this intervention have been identified using their Fall NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) reading score and the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment).  Identified students are receiving intensive support in the areas of phonics, fluency or reading comprehension.   Starting today, we hope to close the achievement gap and inspire greatness. If you have any questions, please feel free to call, write, talk with your classroom teacher or stop by.

PTO Meeting – Oct. 2^nd

PTO will be meeting Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in room 608 to conduct monthly business. This is great opportunity to get involved and learn about the many different committees and services that PTO provides. 

Cookie Dough Kick Off Assembly – Oct. 3rd

It’s that time of year when we welcome the Cookie Dough representative to the building and hype the PTO’s annual fundraiser event.  The all school assembly is scheduled for 10:30 am on October 3rd in the gym to showcase the prizes and review safety procedures.   Parents, you are more than welcome to attend.  Sales and safety information will be sent home with students October 3^rd.  All sales will be due on October 14^th and pick-up is scheduled for November 14^th from 4:00-6:00 at the Intermediate Building.   Cookie Dough helps fund a number of PTO projects including classroom supplies, learning materials and supplement field trip costs. Show your support and sale that dough!

Fire Prevention – Oct. 6th

Branson Fire Department will be conducting their annual Fire Prevention assemblies on October 6th.   The following times have been arranged and confirmed by Mrs. Detig and Chief Martin;  2^nd at 9:30, 3^rd at 10:25 and 4^th at 11:20.  Parents, you are welcome to attend and participate in these informational assemblies which could help you and your family construct a home safety plan. 

McTeacher Night – Oct. 7th

Branson Elementary will be participating in McTeacher Night on October 7^th from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the McDonalds on 248.  This special event helps raise money for the school and creates a great family friendly activity.  Teachers and staff will be on hand to greet you, clean tables and help you at the drive through.  This year the funds raised from the event will be used to buy additional playground equipment. This is a great opportunity to build partnerships with our business community.  Stop by and join the fun!

Wow! The WATCH D.O.G. kick off was great!  The men that attended are motivated to serve our school. We estimated over 800 people (men and children) attended our kick-off event. Between the three schools we estimated that 90% of our sign-up calendars were booked with committed men to serve and protect our schools. 

We start on Monday with our two volunteers.  I want to thank Ellyn Lennon, Pam Powell^, Sandi Attaway, our teacher volunteers, kitchen staff, TOP DOGS and Brenda Romine for all their organization, promotion and preparation to make this kick-off a success.  This is a special moment for our kids, school and community and I’m proud of the way the staff has embraced this movement. 

Thanks again.  If you have a suggestion to make our kick-off more successful for next year, please email me or Mrs. Powell your suggestions, ideas and thoughts.  The DOGs are in the house!

Book Fair Week -

This week the PTO has arranged to sponsor our annual Scholastic Book Fair. The PTO was here late on Friday preparing Room 504.  I appreciate their leadership and volunteer spirit.  Our 1st quarter Family Book Night is Tuesday from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. in the East Gym. Special thanks to Mrs. Matzat for her leadership and everyone who is volunteering to make this a great event.  The proceeds from this event are “books for the library” where we invest the dollars raised right back into our library collection to ensure our students with the newest and greatest literature.  We appreciate your partnership with the PTO and for visiting the book fair.   

Picture Day / Staff Picture – Sept. 25th

Picture Day is scheduled for Sept. 25th.  Life Touch will have three cameras at school and all photos will be taken prior to lunch recess. 

On behalf of the school and staff I want to thank you for investing in our students.  The WATCH D.O.G.S program has many benefits to the school, providing an extra layer of security and support, but how did you benefit from the experience?  What would you tell the next guy coming to school about your day at Branson Elementary West?

Thanks again for your leadership and service.

Mr. Dawson

During the week of September 8th, Branson Elementary West will be embarking on our Fall NWEA (Northwest Educational Association) testing cycle.   NWEA is administered twice a year (Fall and Spring) and helps teachers measure a students’ growth over time, generates instant results and provides targeted objectives for individual students.  Each test is about one hour in length and administered in the computer lab under the supervision of each classroom teacher. Teachers are planning to share the results with families at parent conferences later in October, but if you would like to learn more about NWEA, please contact your classroom teacher.   

Test 1 – Reading (Sept. 8-12)  Test 2 – Language (Sept. 15-19) Test 3 – Language (Sept.22-26)

New School Year 2008-09 – Blast Off with Good Character

This blog is designed as a link to help keep our families and community notified and involved within the hallways and classrooms of Branson Elementary West. Our school puts students first and cultivates a school culture that is positive, caring and nurturing and fosters professional collaboration to increase student achievement.

The following staff members have joined our school for the 2008-09 academic year and we welcome them, their talents and their positive attitude.

New Hire - Congratulations to Mrs. Starnes.  Karen was married in June to Kyle Starnes.  Karen will be new to our school this year and assigned to teach fourth grade.  She is originally from Lebanon and is a recent graduate of C of O.  Karen has been on the President’s List and awarded the Wilder Work Award. She’ll be a great fit.

Welcome Aboard   Elementary West also extends a warm welcome to our transfer teachers: Donna Baker (2^nd), Katrina Dukes (2^nd), Joshua Hart (PE), Vanessa Hogan (2^nd), Erin Ipock (2^nd), April Mulnik (2^nd) and Sara Pardeck (3^rd).  Each brings expertise and leadership.  I’m thankful to have this new crew and look forward to getting to know them and their families.

Registration “Fast-Pass” Feedback This summer we implemented a new enrollment procedure to help better serve our families.  We expanded our registration window from one day to five weeks.  Parents were sent their full registration packet at the end of June and strongly encouraged to stop by their school office between July 7–August 8 to deliver their registration materials in person.  Once all registration materials were completed, families were issued a “fast pass” which allowed them to by-pass any long lines and walk directly to the class assignment table at Registration / Open House on August 19^th.  We believe this practice was more family friendly and a win-win situation for everyone involved.  Families were able to register in the office at their convenience and each school received the necessary safety / transportation information they needed prior to the start of school.