February Newsletter

Holmes Families,

One of the most powerful ways to support your child’s learning is through simple conversations at home. When family members ask thoughtful, open-ended questions about the school day, children have the opportunity to reflect, build confidence, and make meaningful connections to their learning.

The questions below are designed to spark conversation and help your child share not just what they did at school, but how they are growing as a learner. Try them out! We wish you many joyful and meaningful conversations at home.

• What was the best part of your day today?
  

• What made you smile or laugh at school?
  

• What is something new you learned today?
  

• What was something that felt tricky or challenging?
  

• What is one thing you’re proud of from today?
  

• Can you teach me something you learned?
  

• Did you help someone—or did someone help you?
  

• What did you do when something didn’t go the way you expected?
  

• What are you excited to learn tomorrow?

Thank you for being amazing partners in your children's education!

Sincerely,

Heather McCarthy, Ed.D.

Principal

Holmes Elementary

HMcCarthy@ktufsd.org

As the winter months arrive, we want to remind families how important regular school attendance is for student success. Even during colder weather, consistent attendance helps students stay on track academically, maintain routines, and feel connected to their school community. We understand that illness happens—please keep students home when they are truly unwell—but on healthy days, getting to school makes a big difference. Thank you for your continued support in helping your child build strong habits and make the most of every learning day!

Please review the following dismissal reminders to ensure a safe and smooth dismissal for all of our students:

• Dismissal begins at 3:25pm. All students must be picked up by 3:45pm.
• The bus loop is closed to cars 8:45am-9:00am and 3:00pm-3:45pm. We need our bus loop for buses and to ensure safety.
• If you are picking your student up for the day, please send a note or call the Main Office as soon as possible
• Please do not send teachers messages with changes to your student's dismissal plans. Please send a note or call the Main Office with any changes as early in the day as possible.

Please review the student drop off procedures above. Safety during arrival and dismissal will always be a priority!

The bus loop is closed to cars 8:45am-9:00am and 3:00pm-3:45pm. Please do not pull into the bus loop during these times as it creates an unsafe situation for our students and staff. We will ask any car that pulls into the bus loop during these times to exit the loop and park on the street or parking lot.

Thank you for your cooperation.

In January, students learned about Growth Mindset and how our brains grow stronger when we keep trying and learn from mistakes. We talked about using positive self-talk, flexible thinking, and not giving up when things feel tricky. Next month, we’ll focus on fair play and teamwork, and practice solving problems peacefully with others.

Our students have been working so hard in Physical Education while learning about the circulatory system and how it helps keep our bodies moving during exercise! Students explored how the heart and blood work together to deliver oxygen throughout the body, and they even practiced finding their pulse and observing how it increases with physical activity.

We also discussed fun and creative ways to stay active during the colder months and why regular movement is so important for overall health and wellness. It has been exciting to see students make real life connections between exercise and how their bodies feel and function!

Hello Holmes Families!

Our art room is bustling with creativity! Students are currently putting the finishing touches on their Square 1 Art masterpieces. As those wrap up, we are immediately shifting gears to start creating new works for our upcoming Art Rocks Art Show. We can't wait to share our students' hard work with you!

February is African American History Month! Students in grades 3 and 4 will be reading stories of African Americans who have shown achievement, determination, and most importantly grit!

How Do You Spell Unfair? : MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
Frederick's Journey : the Life of Frederick Douglass
The Oldest Student : How Mary Walker Learned to Read
Because Claudette
A Computer Called Katherine

We have started using the African Drums in our music classes! The students have been doing a wonderful job thus far. Our students are doing amazing work by following along and listening to directions, and are even starting to play by themselves --including our youngest learners!

Band and Orchestra rehearsals have now begun! Orchestra meets every Monday at 2:20 pm. Band meets every Tuesday at 2:20 pm. Please remind your instrumentalist to bring their instrument and book to school for rehearsal in addition to their music lesson.

Thank you,

Ms. Aurigema

Cold and flu season is here! Check out our healthy handwashing procedure below, with the help of our favorite quarterback- Josh Allen! As a team, we can all stay healthy this winter.

PBIS experiences have been a success! Students are enjoying time with adults in the building to take part in special activities. Some examples include story time with hot chocolate and a craft, assembling piggy banks and board games. Students continue to be rewarded for being safe, kind and good listeners. We are looking forward to our next PBIS assembly where we will celebrate Upstanders and Grit Ticket recipients!

On Monday February 2nd 2026 our 4th grade had a visit with paranormal graphic novel author V.P. Anderson who recently published the second book in her Blood City Rollers series. All 4th grade students were gifted a copy of Blood City Rollers, the first book from the series, by the Kuettel Family of Buffalo, NY.

V spoke to students about trying new things. "If something scares you because you're afraid of looking silly, the best thing that you can do for yourself is to try it!" And "everything is more fun on roller skates" she added! In addition to being a published author, V has tried many careers including literary publisher, working in a t-shirt shop, professional roller derby player, and volunteer fire fighter

Ms. Farrauto's Kindergarten classroom wrote and published their own book about farm animals! Kindergarteners have been learning about farm animals in their CKLA unit in reading!

Our January upstanders played "Pin the Nose on the Snowman" during our recent PBIS assembly.

Students in Ms. Rajski's class have been working very hard during their UFLI lessons! We love when our students show grit!

Fourth-grader, Hasenat, is teaching younger students about Afghanistan. Students completed poster projects during our after school clubs and rehearsed presentations for their peers.

Our partners at Linde donated MLK Kits to our students, which included books to celebrate MLK Day and Black History Month. Students brought these home in colored drawstring bags. Thank you, Linde!

Dennis and Zakari were working hard during Physical Education class!

Check out our upcoming events at Holmes Elementary! Click the link below to access the Holmes Google Calendar and see scheduled events!