Bancroft Community Newsletter

Dear Bancroft Community,

With the calendar year coming to a close, I find myself reflecting on how fortunate I am to be part of this community. Your acceptance, support, and partnership have not gone unnoticed. I'm grateful for the trust you place in me and our team. This community truly embodies what it means to care for one another.

Every day, I witness the amazing care our staff displays for our students and families. Their dedication, creativity, and commitment to making each child feel valued and supported is truly remarkable. I'm equally inspired by our students, who consistently demonstrate perseverance in their learning and kindness in their interactions with one another. Watching them grow, learn, and support each other has been one of the greatest joys of this year.

As we enter Winter Break, I wish you and your families rest, joy, and meaningful time together. Thank you for everything you do to make Bancroft the special place it is. I look forward to seeing everyone back on January 5th.

Sincerely,

Gerry Weinhardt

gweinhardt@kcsd.org

(610) 925 - 5711

Each month, we randomly select two fifth-grade students to share their honest thoughts about life at Bancroft.

You'll find our first student right below this introduction. We're excited to share what they're looking forward to this month! After you've read through all the amazing updates from our grade levels and departments, you'll meet our second student at the end of the newsletter with their reflections on what makes Bancroft special.

We've intentionally placed our Fifth Grade Features at the beginning and end as we hope their perspectives help bring to life everything else you'll read about our school. These aren't rehearsed answers. We hope you enjoy!

What's one thing happening at Bancroft this month that you're excited about?

I look forward to the Kahoot hosted by Mrs. Smith and our PTO team.

If a new student joined our school tomorrow, what would you want them to know?

We have second recess. There is a lot to do like playing soccer, going on the swings, and going down the slides.

What's your favorite thing about winter or the holiday season?

I like the pajama day that we have at school. A lot of our school dressed up in their pjs today.

What's something you've gotten better at this year that you're proud of?

I am proud of my reading. I have gotten better with my tests.

In December the First Grade went on a field trip to the Herr’s Snack Food Factory to see how snacks are made, packaged and packed. The best part was tasting the yummy, hot potato chips that came right out of the oven! For Social Studies, we have been busy learning about the different holidays in December - Christmas, Los Posadas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. The First Grade team hopes you all have a wonderful holiday vacation with your family and friends!

When we return to school in January we will be making and writing about resolutions of what we want to learn or improve in the New Year. See you in 2026!

The second grade teachers were excited to spend some time together earlier this month to meet a celebrity in the children’s book world: the amazing author and illustrator, Jan Brett! Based in Massachusetts, Jan’s book tour led her to Wayne, PA where she discussed her new book, The Christmas Sweater. We were thrilled to receive the book and read it to our students. We enjoyed talking about the characters, illustrations, and making connections to other books by Jan Brett that the students already knew. What a fun way to include holiday read-alouds in our day!

In math, we started working on identifying different types of coins and their values: the penny, nickel, dime and quarter. A fun activity to do at home is to play “Coin Grab.” For this game all you need is a jar of coins, some paper and a pencil. Kids grab a handful of coins and count how much money they grabbed. Write down the total on the paper and repeat the process. The goal is to see if you can grab more total money than you did the coin grab before. This is a great game to play over the winter break!

A game kids enjoy playing in school is called “Write the Room.” We use our spelling words for the week. Students work with a partner to complete sentences using the correct spelling word. It’s a wonderful way to work with friends and learn at the same time!

The second grade teachers have noticed how well kids are interacting with each other. This is the time of year we often have indoor recess due to inclement weather or freezing temperatures. On those frigid days, the students have enjoyed playing games together during our indoor recess. We have seen lots of great teamwork, heard kind words, and watched kids care for each other.

As 2025 comes to a close, we want to extend our gratitude to our amazing families for making this such a great year! The unwavering support you have provided to your children, the teachers, and our school has made this such a successful year. We wish you all the best for 2026! We truly cannot wait to see your beautiful children in January!

The month of December has been filled with lots of fun learning and celebrations. Students in third grade spent a week learning about how different countries celebrate the holidays. Some countries that we explored were Mexico, Sweden, Italy, Brazil and the USA. From there students also participated in a fun holiday twirl around the third grade POD. They participated in fun team building games, activities and crafts. We also had a visit and got to spend some time with our four-legged furry friends from PAWS for People.

We ended our week before the holiday break by exchanging compliment presents. Third grade students spent weeks designing and writing compliment notes to other students in the classroom. We are looking forward to the new year and the changes that come with it. The third grade teachers would like to wish all of our families a happy and safe holiday break and a Happy New Year!

The 4th grade class recently enjoyed an exciting and educational trip to the Franklin Institute. Students explored many of the museum’s exhibits, including the Giant Heart, the SportsZone to test balance and reaction time, the Brain exhibit, and Sir Isaac’s Loft, which sparked many conversations. Also, a highlight of the visit was the thrilling combustion show, where students watched dramatic demonstrations of fire and science in action.

We would like to extend a sincere thank-you to our wonderful chaperones and dedicated bus drivers who made this trip possible. We truly appreciate your willingness to help create such a memorable experience for our 4th graders.

This month we are focusing on the house trait of respect. Our 5th graders are filling stockings with kind notes for their classmates. It’s a great reminder that this season is about generosity, community, and showing we care.

Health - In Health we are continuing our Personal Health unit. Students are learning about healthy habits, exploring our five senses, understanding body systems, and beginning to discuss communicable and non-communicable diseases. Mileage Club is starting to wind down as the weather gets colder, but that hasn’t stopped us! Even with some snow on the ground, students were eager to squeeze in a few laps (or make a quick snow angel).

PE - In PE, students have been getting into the holiday spirit with fun, active games like Grinch Tag, Snowball Fight, Candy Cane Battle, and Snowman Takedown! Through these festive activities, we’ve been working on skills such as throwing and aiming, dodging, teamwork and keeping our heart rates up! When we return to school in January we will begin Volleyball!

In this month of giving, I’d like to highlight 4th graders who are giving their time and energy to giving back to our community by leading the growing of hydroponic lettuce. They volunteer their time to keep seeds germinating, planting the seedlings to keep the lettuce growing in the hydroponics system, and harvesting the lettuce. So far this year, they have harvested 268 heads of lettuce, about 16.68 pounds. All lettuce has been donated to the Kennett Food Cupboard. Thanks to 4th grade volunteers: Kim, Stephanie, Connor, Cyrus, Justice, James, Scarlett, Adrian, Zinnia, Maddie, Emily, Caroline, and Ariana! Great work hydroponics team!

December has been an exciting month in the art room! First grade has been painting wintery landscapes for their penguin drawings. Second grade has been drawing and painting the Nutcracker. Third grade finished up their Gusav Klimt trees and added some festive sparks. Fourth grade is finishing up their supper soups inspired by Andy Warhol. Fifth grade is finishing their winter birch trees and making snowflakes. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!! Happy Holidays everyone!

This month in music has been an eventful one! We had our Holiday Concert and all of the students did an amazing job. We are so proud of all of you! Chorus and Mighty Mallets will begin again in February. In the classroom, we have been learning some Holiday pieces on the xylophones, learning about ballet and the story of the nutcracker, and beginning to talk about instrument families. It’s been busy-but we are having lots of fun!

In December, we enjoyed some beautiful seasonal stories. We have also been connecting those stories to real-life events and our own experiences. It is a joy to share the love of reading with your children!

The 5th grade Reading Olympians had a special visit from Paws for People this month! We had so much fun reading and cuddling with our sweet visitors. Thank you, Paws for People, for this wonderful experience!

It has been another great month with many exciting things happening at Bancroft! My highlight of December was our annual Pajama Day and School-Wide Morning meeting to kick off winter break! It was a great morning filled with joy and excitement about the holiday season.

Tip of the Month:

The beginning of a new year is a great time to model how to set goals for your child. Explain that a goal is when you work toward something that you are passionate about. A goal involves planning or working towards something specific. This is also a great time to work on areas in your family that you have been struggling with or would like to see changes in.

1. Choose a goal - sit down as a family and have everyone pick a goal. This could be something big or small!

2. Have periodic check-ins on your goals - what is going well and what needs to be worked on.

3. Celebrate achievements when a goal has been accomplished.

As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns!

Emma Termini, NCC

School Counselor

etermini@kcsd.org

610-925-5714

We have had a very cold fall and winter this year! However we have noticed many students come to school without a coat. Please make sure your child wears a coat daily. Besides traveling to and from the building, students also go outside for 2 recesses. If you need assistance with obtaining a coat, please contact me at tcarter@kcsd.org or 610-925-5715 or send a me a Talking Point. All requests are confidential. Thank you and stay warm!!!

Teresa Carter

MSN, RN, CSN

What is your favorite thing about being a student here at Bancroft Elementary?

Everyone gets treated right and equally.

What advice would you give to younger students at our school?"

I would say always keep your hands and feet to yourself. We don't want to hurt anyone.

What's the best book you've read this year?

The Wild Robot! I really like how she saved the baby goose she hurt.

What's something new you'd like to try or learn in the new year?

I want to try harder and longer math problems this year.

Hello Bancroft Families,

This year we created a School-Parent Compact for our Title I program. It is a requirement for all Title I schools. The goal of the compact is to outline how our school staff, families, and students can work together to create a supportive environment where every child can succeed. We will revise our compact each year with parent input from the PTO to ensure it fits the needs of our school community.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me or to Dr. Jen Miller, our district Title I Coordinator at jenmiller@kcsd.org.

Thank you,

Alicia Naimoli

Title I Interventionist

Bancroft Elementary School

anaimoli@kcsd.org

November and December were busy months for the PTO! We were able to help fund the first grade field trip to Herr’s and put on a wonderful holiday luncheon for our Bancroft staff. We are so thankful for all they do for our students! Thank you to everyone that helped support our fundraiser at Cafe Emis! Students created adorable sleeves for coffee and hot chocolate and our families loved getting to see them when they stopped in to get a treat!

We are looking forward to a busy New Year! Our first PTO meeting of the year will be held on January 12th at 2:15. We are looking for ways to get more families involved and will be sending out a poll in the year for potential new PTO meeting times. On January 26th, we will host our annual Family Kahoot night (details will be sent out in early January). We are also gearing up for Bancroft’s annual Bingo night on Friday, February 20th. We already have several amazing raffle baskets put together, but will need additional donations and volunteers to help make this another fun time for our Bancroft community.

As we end the year, we want to say THANK YOU for all of the families that have donated their time and money to help support the PTO, we couldn’t do it without you! We hope everyone has a happy holiday season, and hope to see everyone in the new year!

We're excited to welcome parent volunteers as valued partners here at Bancroft Elementary! Your involvement makes a meaningful difference in our school community. To ensure the safety of all our children, we do require all volunteers to complete three background clearances,

• PA State Criminal Record Check
• Federal Criminal Background Check
• Child Abuse History clearance.

Click here to find out more information or access and upload the necessary documents. Please do not send any clearances to the school as all clearances must be submitted on the district website. Thank you for your willingness to be part of the Bancroft family!

Bancroft Elementary School

Location: 181 Bancroft Rd, Kennett Square, PA 19348
Phone: (610) 925-5711

Website: https://be.kcsd.org/