Banks Road Elementary School

Our PTA organized a Chili and Cornbread Cook Off this past Friday during Teacher Appreciation Week. Four staff members entered their versions of chili and cornbread for the staff to sample. Although all of the chili was delicious, one recipe had to come out on top…Mrs. Rutherford and her Pork Tenderloin Chili took 1st Place. Congrats goes out to all the participants: Ms. Morse, Ms. Parsons and Ms. Graf. The Cornbread Cook Off was also a tasty treat for the staff. One recipe stood out above the rest and that belonged to Ms. Parsons. Congrats goes out the cornbread participants: Ms. Morse and Ms. Davis. Thank you again to our PTA for taking such good care of our teachers and staff during Teacher Appreciation Week!

Calling all parents of rising Kindergarten students! Please join us this Thursday, May 10th at 6 p.m. in the multipurpose room for a parent only information session on Kindergarten. You will receive information about the Fundations Program, the Common Core, transportation, and our PTA. You will also learn more about Banks Road Elementary school.
Have questions? Call the Front Office at 919-890-7333 and we would be more happy to assist you.

PTA Board Meeting will meet at 11:00 a.m. instead of 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 8th, 2012. The meeting will take place in the Conference Room.

End of Grade Testing is in process at BRES. Track 2 EOG’s begin on May 7th and continue through Friday, May 11th. May 7th: Reading, May 8th: Math-Calculator Active and May 9th: Math-Calculator Inactive. On May 14th Track 1 will begin EOG testing. May 14th: Reading, May 15: Math-Calculator Active, May 16th: Math-Calculator Inactive. Fifth grade for Tracks 1 will take the Science EOG on May 17th.
Generally testing begins at 9:30 a.m. You can support your child in preparing for the EOG’s by assuring a good nights sleep and giving positive praise to ease any concerns. All of our students have worked hard this school year and this is just an opportunity for them to show what they know!

Tracks 3 & 4 EOG testing will take place June 4th: Reading, June 5th: Math-Calculator Active, June 6th: Math: Calculator Inactive. Track 3 & 4 5th grade will take the Science EOG on June 7th.

As part of the first grade curriculum students learn about geometric shapes like spheres, cylinders, rectangular prisms, cubes, and cones, and we also focus on non-fiction text. This is the inspiration for the Geo-animals. The students and parents selected an animal and made their animal at home using geo-metric shapes out of recycled materials. At school, we researched the animals with books from the library and online from sites like National Geographic for Kids and Science Kids. The students developed their reports by summarizing the information into their own words and then publishing the reports in the computer lab. Students practiced technology skills such as inserting pictures from clip art. Then each student wrote a realistic fiction story where they became the animal making sure to connect the facts and information they learned. This past Friday, the parents visited our Geo-Animal Zoo and the students shared their animals and all of the information they learned!

On Monday, April 23, Banks Road fourth grade students participated in Siemens Science Day. Siemens Science Day’s mission is to promote math and science literacy by providing classroom materials that will help children develop the knowledge, skills, and self-confidence needed to succeed in school and in the workforce. The program emphasizes the importance of math and science and their impact on society through fun and engaging hands-on science activities.
Our students enjoyed learning about weather and making their own weather stations consisting of several real weather measurement instruments. Students made sling psychrometers to measure humidity, barometers to measure changes in air pressure and wind vanes to determine wind direction. Students also explored the relationship between storms and air pressure and used the Beaufort Scale to classify wind speed and discuss hurricanes and tornados.
Banks Road fifth grade students will participate in Siemens Science Day on April 30.