The Paw Power Press

Butler Elementary will always follow safety measures in place as it reflects our ability to hold recess outdoors during the winter months. Our plan will always be to go outside, but in making that determination, we will follow the safety measures of CBSD. This includes taking into account: the temperature, real-time wind speeds, precipitation, and the cold index temperature table. With this in mind, please be sure your child is always prepared to play outdoors so they are warm and comfortable. We do not have a space with additional supervision available in the event your child forgets to bring their coat, hat, gloves, etc. Thank you for reminding your child before they leave for school each day!

Butler has acquired a collection of jackets, sweatshirts, hats, gloves, and water bottles across varied outdoor recesses throughout the start of the school year until now. For those of you who have come for parent conferences, you noticed the racks of hangers holding items from our Butler Bear students. The clothing racks will remain up through the Winter Break (Dec. 22nd) in our main lobby, so if you cannot seem to find your child's warm, outdoor clothing at home, there is a good chance it was left behind at school waiting for your retrieval! Please visit the main office to peruse the racks to find you child's missing item!

With the holidays upon us, many students in elementary and middle schools might receive electronic devices giving access to social media and online app outlets. It is important for parents to help their children navigate this responsibility - by guiding their use with online safety in mind. We hope parents are able to join Butler and Pine Run Elementary Schools on Wednesday, January 17th, in the Butler gym - where we will host an online safety workshop (iSmart for Caregivers by NOVA) for parents and caregivers (Details Below). Coupled with our workshop, NAESP's Report to Parents focuses upon Teaching Kids About Online Safety to support your efforts in keeping open communication with children about online safety!

"Children’s increased online presence might put them at greater risk of child exploitation. It’s important to discuss internet safety and develop an online safety plan with kids. Use these tips to establish clear guidelines, teach kids to spot red flags, and encourage them to have open communication with you."

Click Here to read more about Teaching Kids About Online Safety.

In anticipation of the grade level realignment, the district extends an open invitation to parents, guardians, students, and community members to provide their questions and feedback here. We greatly value your input as it plays a vital role in our decision-making process, ensuring that our choices are in the best interest of our entire community. To learn more about this initiative, please visit our website: www.cbsd.org/cbrealign.

Butler School & the PTO host many exciting events, including evening activities , Book Fairs, and grade level field trips (to name a few). Some of these activities require monetary payment from families to participate. If any of our families are in need of monetary assistance to support participation for your child, please contact the school counselor Linda O'Connell (loconnell@cbsd.org), Grades 1/3/5/PM-KDG; Kathy Milotich (kmilotich@cbsd.org) Grades 2/4/6/AM-KDG & EDK.

Regular school attendance is necessary for a successful school experience. Instructional continuity is interrupted when a student is frequently absent, tardy, or dismissed early from school. Understanding that regular attendance in school is necessary for students to gain maximum benefits from public education, the Central Bucks School District urges all parents/guardians to stress punctuality and regular attendance habits with their children. Please read Important Updates from the CBSD Attendance Letter - Click Here.

Please review the "Managing Student Attendance Plan" from CB.

At the start of the new school year, the Superintendent shared CBSD Policy that all student cell phones/watches are to remain off during the school day - K-12. Please know that any students who bring in cell phones to Butler are required to leave in backpacks (turned off) and do not have access during the school day. Likewise, some of our students have watches that connect to phones and/or directly to a data source. The rule remains the same, so please know that if any device interferes with the classroom/learning/recess/etc., students will be directed to keep items home. Remember, parents may always contact the school office to relay/share a message for your child throughout the school day. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

Visit the CBSD Technology and Innovation website to troubleshoot issues with any district-provided device. Place a Help Desk Ticket through the website if the tips listed on the website do not resolve the issue.

This year, Central Bucks is launching into our Portrait of a Graduate initiative through our Comprehensive Plan highlighting seven attributes:

• Balanced Individuals
• Responsible Citizens - October Focus
• Resilient Learners - December Focus
• Critical Thinkers
• Effective Communicators - November Focus
• Thoughtful Collaborators
• Adaptable Innovators

To learn more about November's Portrait of a Graduate: Resilient Learners, please click here.

Holiday Giving Program

A great way to offer comfort and support to Butler families this holiday season.

Thank you to the Butler Community for your generosity to our families this Holiday Season. Your support most certainly will make a huge difference for the children and will hopefully brighten their time over winter break. Best wishes to our Butler Community during this festive time of year!

Thanks to Principal's Secretary, Mrs. Bernabei, for all of her organization and support!

First grade artists’ studied the Impressionist artist, Claude Monet, and his use of light in paintings of water lilies. The children used oil pastels to draw scenes of Monet’s famous backyard in Giverny, France. We connected to a recycling process where we place dried markers in water spray bottle where the ink can be applied to the papers (for the blue water) - It was fun!

Bark paper, papal amate, is produced by hand by Otomi Indians of Mexico using bark from mulberry or fig trees. Fifth grade artists learned about this tradition of Folk Art, then they designed their own “Tree of Life.” They focused on creating a design with balance, which is a Principle of Design. Finally, they embellished their art with details which suggest movement, to make the artwork come alive!

Butler was thrilled to welcome local visiting author, Hillary Sussman, to present to grades K-3 on December 12. Mrs. Sussman has been a physical therapist for many years and decided to write a children’s book series about physical differences, empathy, and kindness. Her presentation was interactive and engaging! She read and discussed two of her books aloud, and students had opportunities to respond both in writing and orally. Kindergarteners to third grade loved seeing the stuffed animal versions of the stars of her books: a three-legged dog named Roxy, and a one-eared dog named Maliboo. Mrs. Sussman also brought prosthetic limbs and showed images of children with whom she has worked proudly posing in their prostheses with the Roxy stuffed animal.

Butler Musicians have been busy this month preparing for the Holiday Sing! This event is a student only assembly held on December 22 that showcases beloved holiday music from various December holidays.

We dance, play instruments, compete in games, and even sing in 4 different languages! Each grade has a special song to learn more about and students can volunteer to come down to the stage and participate in jingle bell shaking, cookie races, hula hooping and more!

Pictured are 3rd grade students learning to dance the Hora while playing tambourines in one of the many special songs showcased in our Holiday Sing!

Please see what is happening in the PEN room for our students!

• 1st Grade PEN - Students are getting ready to start an animal project using online research tools and the app Chatterpix.
• 2nd Grade PEN - We have just learned about forensic hair analysis and will be learning about fabric analysis to solve a Phillies Phanatic mystery!
• 3rd Grade PEN - Students have learned about the mechanics that keep a game running. Most recently, we learned about the game Survive: The Lost City of Atlantis, and the use of a modular game board.
• 4th Grade PEN - Students have studied the 4 elements of creativity: fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. We are beginning to learn about kid inventors for inspiration with the inventions we will create later this year!
• 5th and 6th Grade PEN - The classes finished all of the qualifiers and will next choose a country to represent them in our Robotics Olympics. Each team will be completing challenges to Go for the Gold!

Students from each grade finished their cooperative learning/problem solving unit in November and began the motor skills and movement patterns unit in December.

• K-2 students have been working on locomotor/non-locomotor skills and parachute activities.
• Students in grades 3-6 created movement to music routines using a variety of movements, including dance moves, exercises, and sports related movements.

Groups presented their routines to the class when they were done and did a great job! All grades also participated in patriotic games and activities in honor of Veteran’s Day during the week of November 13th.

1. In QUEST, second-grade students embarked on an adventurous exploration of wind-powered creations! Their first build delved into the world of engineering by crafting a LEGO car propelled by a sail. Working collaboratively, they harnessed the force of a hairdryer to navigate their ingenious vehicles, discovering the impact of wind on motion.
2. Then students moved on to crafting and optimizing sails for boats, experimenting with various designs to catch the “wind” to guide their vessels across a 15-foot raft.
3. The unit ended with students engaged in the art of designing a functional parachute tailored for flight within a wind tunnel. They meticulously refined their prototypes to withstand the wind and support a passenger aloft for a thrilling minute.

These hands-on activities not only fostered creativity and teamwork but also ignited a passion for scientific exploration within the budding minds of these young innovators.

December:

Dec. 18 - Hip Hop Assembly - Students and Staff

Dec. 21 - Spirit Day - Fancy Day

Dec. 22 - Half-Day for Students - 12:25 pm Dismissal

Dec. 22 - Spirit Day - Pajama Day

Dec. 22 - Family Concert 5th & 6th Strings & Band

Dec. 22 - School Wide Holiday Sing!

Dec. 23-Jan. 1 -Winter Break - Happy Holidays and New Year!

January:

Jan. 2: School Resumes (Tuesday)

Jan. 9: Butler PTO Dine & Donate - Texas Roadhouse (Montgomery)

Jan. 12 - Spirit Day - Decades Day - "Dress in Your Favorite Decade"

Jan. 15 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - No School for Students and Staff

Jan. 17 - Digital Literacy Night - Butler Parent Event (Gymnasium) 6:30 PM (Wednesday)

Jan. 18 - 6th Grade "Bridge Concert" at Unami (School Day Concert for 6th Grade)

Jan. 22-29 - Art Goes to School - Art Appreciation Class Event

Jan. 22 - Butler PTO General Meeting (ZOOM)

Jan. 23 - Butler PTO Family Fun at Sky Zone (After School Event)

Jan. 24 - Half- Day for Students - 12:25 pm Dismissal

Please enjoy your meal from Texas Roadhouse to support the Butler PTO! Details Below.

Butler and Pine Run Elementary are coordinating a unified Digital Literacy Night for our parent communities - for Wednesday, January 17th in the Butler Cafeteria/Gym. This is a Parent Only event where we will host members from NOVA to share information with you about online safety and security measures parents might take to help their children navigate their online presence. Please see the information below for details and explanations!

See details listed below for a cheerleading opportunity for your child.

CB West Baseball's annual youth clinic will be held on Sunday, February 11, 2024, from 9:00 a.m. to noon. and is open to children K-7th Grade (regardless of future high school). This is an important fundraiser for CB West Baseball and a great way for kids to interact with the high school players and coaches.

Review the below to see what is being offered through the Bucks County IU in Doylestown.

Click Here to Sign Up!

AN AFTER SCHOOL GUITAR SINGING PROGRAM - Open to grades 3,4 5 & 6

7 Sessions (7 weeks)

To Register: www.mypaymentsplus.com/welcome

Includes a 7 session after school program - beginning After school on January 4,11,18,25 & February 15,22,29 (Performance on Feb. 29). Parents are asked to transport child to local Senior Citizen Retirement Home the evening of the seventh week. It is a very memorable and rewarding performance for the seniors and the students!

For more details, Click Here

Besides strengthening your child's drawing and coloring skills, he or she will also learn about art history as we present lessons featuring a master artist.

Mondays - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM beginning 01/22/2024 - 03/18/2024

ENROLL ONLINE at www.mypaymentsplus.com

Refer to this Calendar to anticipate Spirit Days for the year! **Updated dates for December and January.

Butler Elementary hosted Parent/Teacher conferences this past week with a majority focused during 2-half-days on Thursday (12/14) and Friday (12/15). Teachers, parents, and in many cases, your students conducted important conversations discussing the progress of the children throughout the first trimester. Students were celebrated and important work was reviewed, and the team determined goals for the second trimester! Thanks to everyone who joined our teachers to discuss our most important people: the students!

Thank you to the Butler PTO for their delicious Staff Lunch/Dinner for our evening conference night held on December 14th. It was a BBQ-style lunch that everyone enjoyed as a quick boost during the short amount of time from dismissing students to welcoming our families for their conference! The team of parents who organized and prepared the display of food, snacks, desserts, and sparkling waters did such an amazing job with the presentation! Thanks to all who contributed and supported the event for our teachers and staff!

The Roxy Reader Therapy Dogs support many of our schools in the area - and we are fortunate to have a team of certified canines who will regular visit Butler. Tucker visited for the first time, where children can interact and read to aloud. The program helps with our students practicing fluency and applying those reading skills learned in our classrooms - and the dogs are very patient, good listeners! Roxy dogs have shown to improve self-esteem by providing a sense of well-being and relief from anxiety. To a child who feels safe and relaxed, learning is accessible, and both physical and emotional healing are accelerated. Thanks for our Roxy Reading dogs - for enriching our Butler Bears!

The Butler PTO hosted another well-attended event at the Water Tower Theater on Sunday, December 3rd - with a new viewing of the Troll movie which is now in theaters! Attendees were in their comfiest clothes as they curled up in the seats - with movie theater refreshments. Thanks to the PTO for their organization and continued opportunities for community involvement. We hope everyone had a fun time!

At last weekend's Bucks County Symphony Orchestra Concert (held at CB South), Butler Elementary had special representation by students and staff performers. Mrs. Donna Hartzell, Butler strings director, and 12-Butler Bears participated in a special opportunity as guest performers. It’s not often that a young musician has the chance to work with an established conductor (Maestro Jose Luis Dominguez) and perform with a professional level community orchestra featuring Saint-Saëns’ musical suite, The Carnival of the Animals. This will surely be a significant memory for our students, especially as they continue their music journeys in CB!

Butler Students who participated: Lucia F., Katherine S., Sophia A., Achyuth C., Sofia F., Emmett M., Violet E., William K., Celina K., Ryleigh C., Jocelyn W., and McKenna T.

Congratulations!

One of our most important roles at school is to practice our safety measures - of which we are required to hold fire drills monthly. Students and staff are diligent in how we exit and re-enter the building with responsibility at the forefront of our actions. During our December drill, we had a Shea H. lead our drill as part of her winning a PTO Spring Raffle from last year. She had the exciting responsibility of being allowed to "Pull the Lever!" We hope it was fun! Thanks to the PTO, and Mr. Sutton & Mr. Garza for their participation in the event - a favorite and popular prize!

Butler Elementary School prides itself on upholding to the highest standards of conduct and good work. When students demonstrate and promote our Positive Paw Power attributes and Butler Pledge (Respectful, Responsible, and Kind), it is noticed and acknowledged. Student Power Paw coupons are placed in the collecting bin in hopes of a special selection, which may include a unique Butler t-shirt or Breakfast with the Principals! With our breakfast (for our November winners), students had special time with Mr. Funseth & Mrs. Dowd, while being honored with a certificate acknowledging their time.

Students work hard at helping our building rise to the top each and every day!

Simon Butler's students and staff embrace the Butler Pledge, the foundation of our school's positive behavior program. Our Butler Community promises to:

Be Respectful * Be Responsible * Be Kind

This pledge to all Butler Bears upholds our traditional Pillars: B.U.T.L.E.R.

Butler (at its Best!); Understanding; Teamwork; Leadership; Educational Excellence; Respect

Each week, students earn Positive Paw Power Coupons for their good deeds and honorable actions as recognition. Children enter them into our collection bins where names are drawn to earn a special "Breakfast with the Principals".

12/8 Winners: Mila K. (Kdg.), Yanni B. (Gr.1), Sabrina S. (Gr.2), James M. (Gr.3), Allison P. (Gr.4), Jaiden D. (Gr.5), Sophia A. (Gr.6), T-Shirt - Cydnee B. (Kdg.)

12/15 Winners: Caleb W. (Kdg.), Amina M. (Gr.1), Maddox K. (Gr.2), Brayden W. (Gr.3), Emily O. (Gr.4), Kseniya T. (Gr.5), Molly B. (Gr.6), T-Shirt - Kelsey S. (Gr.3)

Congratulations to all students who earned Positive Paw Power awards!

The Butler PTO Newsletter is an informative publication that provides insight and info for events hosted by the Butler PTO. Please click here to open the newsletter.

Principal: Karl Funseth

Administrative Assistant to Principal: Peggy Bernabei

Assistant Principal: Lauren Dowd

Administrative Assistant to Assistant Principal: Michele Droxler

Website: https://www.cbsd.org/butler
Location: 200 Brittany Drive, Chalfont, PA, USA
Phone: 267-894-4250
Twitter: @CBButlerElem

Superintendent: Charles Malone, Ed. D.

Assistant Superintendent-Elementary: Nadine Garvin, Ed. D.

Website: cbsd.org
Location: 20 Welden Drive, Doylestown, PA, USA
Phone: 267-893-2000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbschools/
Twitter: @CBSDSchools