Mountaineer Monthly

It is the vision of Berlin Elementary School to empower each student to grow academically, socially, and emotionally based on their individual needs. Students will be provided with meaningful, relevant, and connected learning to reach success. We will foster a learning environment that collaborates with families and the community to achieve this vision.

School begins at 9:00 am and ends at 3:30 pm

Student drop-off: 9:00 am - 9:10 am (student will be marked tardy after 9:10)

Parent pick-up: 3:12 pm at the front of the building

Buses depart BES by 3:30 pm

October 2 - Wear Green and Gold

October 2 - Kindergarten Field Trip to Ioka Farms

October 5 - 4th and 5th Drama Club Practice - 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

October 6 - Fire Prevention Assembly - Fire Drill

October 7 & 8 - Scholastic Book Fair

October 12 - No School

October 13 - PTO Meeting 6:30 pm Library (meet.google.com/eme-jthd-zrx)

October 16 - Monster Mash Dance 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

October 20 - Lockdown #1 (see letter to parents below)

October 20 - Board of Education Meeting at BMHS 7:00 pm

October 26 - 4th and 5th Grade Drama Club Practice 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

October 30 - Wear your costume or Black/Orange

PreK students are adjusting well to school. We are learning how to follow the classroom routines and all of our new friends' names. We learned all about the letter Aa. We made apple sauce, went on a pretend apple picking adventure and learned how apples grow. We are also learning how to recognize and write our own names. Most importantly we are learning that school is FUN!

Kindergarten is off to a fantastic start! Our newest learners have spent their first few weeks learning classroom routines, building friendships, and becoming part of our school community. We’ve jumped right into learning with lots of hands-on activities, stories, songs, and play while beginning to build important early literacy and math skills. We are so proud of how quickly our kindergarteners are growing in confidence and independence—and we can’t wait to see all they accomplish this year!

First grade has been very busy since day one! We are all working so hard adjusting to new routines, rules, and schedules. So far we are all first grade Rockstars with all of this! In ELA, we are working on identifying our vowels, reviewing letters and sounds, reading stories together in our My Books, and practicing our handwriting. In Math, we are reviewing number identification, counting, and writing through various activities and games. What mathematicians already! We are making new friends as well as reuniting with old friends. We have welcomed the season of Fall through observations, discussions, and mystery science. We are very excited to keep learning more and more! First grade is fun!

The second grade students are off to a great start this year! They began the school year learning about citizenship. The students learned that all communities have rules, and that rules are established to protect the things that citizens value. All of the second grade students worked together to write a class contract with rules that they think are important.

Welcome back to school from the Bright STARS! It is the start of a new year and we have jumped right in. We are learning to get back into a school routine, transitioning from one activity to the next in centers. We love OT and PT groups, and we are having so much fun so far! Our weekly themes this month included Back to School, All About Me, and Squirrels/Acorns. We are super excited for the year to come!

• Some of the special skills we are continuously working on:
• Using TouchChat to communicate what we need
• Cutting, pasting, and coloring
• Using sensory bins and tools to calm our brains and bodies
• Following directions independently in the morning to unpack
• Using visual schedules to transition successfully

Our third graders have been busy building friendships and learning about one another through getting-to-know-you activities. We’ve also been exploring what makes a community through the stories we read and the conversations we share.

In our “Me on the Map” activities, students are discovering where we live in the world as they identify countries, continents, and oceans. In math, we’ve been strengthening our understanding of place value, practicing rounding, and exploring the properties of addition. It has been a wonderful start to our learning together!

This month, we have focused on establishing routines, getting to know one another, and building a strong foundation for the year.

Reading: We began our first module, Becoming Yourself Students have been practicing a variety of reading skills, including identifying central idea, determining author’s purpose, using text and graphic features, and understanding figurative language.

Writing: Students created LEGO glasses that represented themselves and then wrote about their glasses. Families will be able to check out their work during Open House.

Math: We are wrapping up our first unit on place value. Students have been working with rounding and comparing numbers, as well as representing numbers in different forms.

Social Studies: We began our first geography unit. Students have been learning about maps and map features and created their own maps of New York State.

Overall, students have been working hard to learn our classroom routines, get to know their classmates, and build confidence as learners. We are excited about the strong start to the school year!

Math: Currently, students are reviewing their knowledge of place value. Over the first three weeks of school students have focused on how to write both whole numbers and decimal numbers in standard form, expanded form, and word form. Along with this, they have also reviewed how to convert between decimals and fractions; two ways to show a part of a whole. In the coming weeks, they will review rounding, comparing and ordering decimals and examine the relationship between place values.

ELA: Fifth graders have jumped right into our first module from our Into Reading program. The first module contains several stories all related to inventors. We have read the stories The Inventor’s Secret about Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, as well as, Winds of Hope about an innovative boy from Malawi, Africa. While reading these stories we have discussed the author’s point of view, the central idea and text structure. Also, we discussed the importance of using strategies to help clarify meaning when you come to an unfamiliar word or passage that does not make sense.

Social Studies: The focus in social studies has been on community building. Students engaged in several activities to get to know their classmates and teachers. They created a “Coat of Arms” art/writing piece describing their interests and hopes for fifth grade. This art/writing piece will be on display at Open House night.

Science: We have begun our Web of Life unit. Our first three lessons have focused on food chains & matter flow, plant growth & matter, and decomposers & matter flow. As we complete each lesson in the unit, students take a quiz the next day. This helps me identify quickly if they’ve grasped the concepts or not and it allows me to reteach something before moving forward with the unit. Students will receive a study guide and should also use the labs and quizzes to help them study for unit tests. Directions for the homework are at the front of their science journals.

The Shooting Stars classroom has jumped back into the swing of things and are doing great things. We are kicking the year off with a year long project and learning about the 50 states. We will be writing to each state's Office of Tourism and asking them to send us materials about their state. We look forward to learning about each state. We will be working with our Really Great Reading program this year to strengthen our skills and continue with our reading successes. We also have some special events and special days planned to brighten our student and staff days.

Use this QR code to view the BES Lost and Found items.

At BES we continue to promote student attendance every day! Our jar will be filled each day with classrooms who have perfect attendance, and once our jar is filled, we will have a school-wide celebration! Please review the information below as well as some resources linked at the bottom.

What You Can Do To Support Good Attendance

Start Early: Build Strong Attendance Habits:

• Work with your child and his/her teacher to develop your child’s strong attendance. Talk about it – sing about it – make it an adventure!
• Set a regular bedtime and morning routine.
• Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
• Introduce your children to their teachers and classmates before school starts.
• Develop backup plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, a neighbor or another parent.
• Try to schedule non-urgent related medical appointments and extended trips when school isn’t in session.
• If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to teachers, school counselors and other parents for advice on how to make your child feel comfortable and excited about learning.
• If you are concerned that your child may have a contagious illness, call your school or health care provider for advice.
• If your child must stay home due to illness, ask the teacher for resources and ideas to continue learning at home.

If you are interested in joining or volunteering, or have any questions or ideas please send an email. Contact us at: bcspto@berlincentral.org or join the Facebook Group Berlin Central School PTO

Go Mountaineers!!!

2026/2027 PTO Officers

President – Renee Van Keuren Secretary – Courtney Sroka

Co-Treasurer – Carrie Minkler Co-Treasurer – Rachel Turetsky

Contact us at: bcspto@berlincentral.org

Are you interested in giving back to your community while learning new skills and meeting new people? Well, we have the perfect opportunity for you – become a PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization) volunteer!

Our school’s PTO is looking for enthusiastic individuals who are dedicated to helping our students and staff succeed. By volunteering, you can provide valuable support during school events, fundraisers, and other activities that help enrich our school community.

As a PTO volunteer, you’ll have the chance to work alongside other parents and educators in a positive and collaborative environment. You’ll also have the opportunity to use your skills and talents to make a difference in the lives of our students and our school community.

So what are you waiting for? Join our PTO today and help make our school community stronger than ever before! For more information on how to volunteer, please contact us at bcspto@berlincentral.org

Our PTO meets the second Tuesday of every month at 6:30 pm. We offer in person and online options to fit your schedule.

Thank you for your interest and support!

The Berlin Central School District's Transportation Department is excited to announce the return of SpotMyBus, which has been newly updated with improved connectivity in our district!

What is SpotMyBus? SpotMyBus is the mobile app that shows you where your school bus is, so you can track it as it heads to your bus stop.

It is free and newly updated with both English and Spanish versions of the app. You must go to spotmybus.com to install the SpotMyBus app on your phone, as it is not available from Google Play or the App Store.

You will receive an email from the transportation department with the code for our school. Please do not share this code with anyone. If you misplace or do not know your group code, please contact the BCSD Transportation Department. More details can be found on the attached flyer. For questions or help with the app, please contact SpotMyBus directly at questions@spotmybus.com. We look forward to seeing you at the bus stop! Wishing all Mountaineers and families an excellent and safe school year!