News from the

Eagle's Nest

Notes from Mrs. Schacht

Vaughn Families,

As we wrap up the first semester, December is full of exciting events and festive fun here at Vaughn Elementary! This month, we’re celebrating the season with “A Winter Wonderland with Snoopy and Friends” bringing joy, creativity, and a little holiday magic to our school days.

In this newsletter, you’ll find helpful details about:

🎉 Winter classroom party reminders

🏃Color Run Information
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family STEM activities you can do at home
🌟 PTO Events: Cookies with Santa, Holiday Shop, & Spirit Night at Infiniti
🧠 Recap of Student Experiences at VES
📅 Key December events and reminders

Thank you for your continued support as we finish 2025 strong. We’re proud of all that our students have accomplished so far this year and are grateful for the partnership of our families. Wishing you a safe, restful, and joyful December!

With gratitude,
Kendra Schacht

Has a staff member gone above and beyond for your child or family? If so, please let us know by completing the Staff Shout Out form.

Bentonville Schools also accepts nominations for the district's Extra Mile Award. This award is presented to a current staff member who has provided outstanding service. You can nominate someone by submitted this form. Extra Mile Nomination

December Family STEM Activities

Looking for simple, screen-free fun this winter? Try these STEM-inspired activities that build curiosity, creativity, and family connection.

Candy Cane Science: Place candy canes in different liquids (water, vinegar, soda, etc.) and observe which dissolves them fastest. Make predictions and track results!

Melting Ice Challenge: Freeze small toys in ice cubes. Challenge your child to melt the ice the fastest using safe materials like warm water, salt, or friction (rubbing with hands).

Snowball Structure Build: Use marshmallows or cotton balls and toothpicks to build towers or igloos. Can your structure survive a “wind test” (blow gently with a straw)?

Patterned Paper Chains: Create paper chains using repeating color or shape patterns. Talk about sequencing and patterns.

Estimate & Wrap: Have kids estimate how much wrapping paper or tape they’ll need for a box or household item. Then measure and compare!

Zipline Sleigh Ride: Create a simple zipline with string and a plastic cup "sleigh." Use paperclips or small toys as reindeer/riders. Can you make it travel faster or slower?

Tip: Ask questions like “What do you notice?”, “What would happen if…?”, and “How could we change it?”

Important Dates

When attending events at VES, please do not park on the grass or the bus loop unless you’ve received specific instructions to do so in advance.

We encourage visitors to park along the west side of Barron Road or the north side of Opal Road if the front parking lot is full.

Thank you for helping us keep our campus safe and well-maintained!

Color Run FUNdraiser Update

New Date - December 5th at 1:00pm

Permission Slips

If your child has not yet returned a permission slip, there is still time!
✔️ Complete it online through MyPaymentsPlus, or
✔️ Return the paper copy that was sent home in Tuesday folders on November 18.
Students must have a permission slip on file to participate.

Attending the Color Run

Parents/guardians are welcome to join us for this fun event!
If you plan to attend, please arrive early to check in at the front office before heading out to the tracks. This helps us ensure safety and allows us to begin the event on time.

Please remember:

● Bring a valid state-issued ID to check in at the office.

● You’ll receive a visitor badge before going to the track.

● Visitors without an ID will not be allowed beyond the front office or at the tracks.

What to Wear / What to Expect

The Color Run is a bright, joyful celebration! To help your child enjoy the experience:

Send students in white or light-colored clothing that you don’t mind possibly getting color stains. While the color typically washes out easily, we want everyone to be prepared.
Students (and visiting parents!) are encouraged to wear bright socks, shoes, or accessories.
All students will receive sunglasses and a bracelet on run day.

Thank you for your flexibility and understanding as we work around the weather. We are excited for a safe and colorful celebration with our Eagles on December 5!

Winter Parties - Thursday, December 18th

Our Winter Classroom Parties are scheduled for Thursday, December 18th. You can find the time of your child's party on the school calendar.

Volunteers Welcome

Volunteers are invited to attend and help with the celebration. To ensure a safe environment for all students, all visitors must bring a valid state-issued ID to be scanned in the office. You'll receive a visitor badge at check-in.

Important Note: Visitors without a valid ID will not be allowed to go beyond the front office. These visitors will not be able to visit classrooms and attend the party.

Party Times

8:10-9:00 Kindergarten

9:05-9:50 3rd Grade

10:15-11:00 2nd Grade

11:30-12:15 4th Grade

1:30-2:15 1st Grade

You can view events for the year on this master calendar. Please check back frequently for updates as we add events throughout the year.

If you are unable to view the events in the calendar linked above, click here:

VES Event Calendar

You can also view events on our website: VES Website Calendar

A Note from Nurse Brittany

Hello Parents!

Happy and Healthy Holidays to you and your family! Cold and Flu season is here and it is important that students are getting plenty of sleep, filling up on nutritious food (lean proteins, veggies, fruit, and fiber), and drinking lots of water. Please have them bring a water bottle daily. It is also important that they have a seasonal appropriate change of clothes in their backpack. This is important for ALL STUDENTS. You never know when they will spill something or fall and get dirty. If you have not completed your student's online health history, please do so as soon as possible. I am unable to provide medical care with it. You can find the link here. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am very happy to help!

PTO Posts

We have several fun events coming up for our families and staff that

we are excited to share with you all this month!

12/5 Infiniti Spirit Night/Parents Night Out

Open gym for kids to play, pizza is served

$15 per child, RSVP by clicking here

PTO Holiday Shop 🎁

Our annual Holiday Shop is almost here! Students will receive a flyer the week before with all the details and their scheduled shopping day. The shop will be open on December 8th, December 10th, and December 12th (makeup day). Gifts range from $0.50–$10, and students can shop for family and friends. Please send the shopping form and cash on your child’s assigned day. We can’t wait to help them spread some holiday cheer!

12/9 Cookies With Santa

This is a free event where children can meet Santa, enjoy cookies and other fun craft activities.

RSVP by clicking here no later than 12/2

We are also in need of donations to pull off this free event.

Please click here to check out the Amazon Wish List

12/15 PTO Meeting 8:30-9:00 am

We hold our meetings in the cafeteria, but also have a virtual option to join, by clicking here.

12/19 Cookies & Cocoa Hospitality Event For Teachers and Staff

This month we are providing a cookie exchange and cocoa and are asking for cookie donations to make this event possible. These can be homemade or store bought.

Click here to sign up to provide store bought cookies for this event.

Parent Directory

The parent directory is the only way you can share/receive the contact information of other students at the school. This document is shared the first of each month with the people who sign up. This is for personal use only. You can join that here.

If you have any questions or suggestions please email: vaughnptopresident@gmail.com

We are looking forward to an amazing Nov. together at VES!

-Amanda, Jessica, Ashley, Kelly, Ellen and Sabryna

Updates from Activity Classes

Tales from the Library

BIG BEANSTACK NEWS!! We blew past our original year-long goal of 200,000 minutes read! We are currently at 220,783 minutes in ONE SEMESTER!! Wowza! We are planning a school-wide celebration for this semester and will keep challenging them next semester. Not only has this been fun, but is going to show HUGE dividends when it comes to our students' reading skills. I'm so proud of them!

In December, we will be enjoying books of the season! Kindergarten will be focusing on making connections to books. First graders will be working on problem and solution in stories. 2nd grade will be learning how authors use fiction stories to teach us lessons. 3rd grade will be learning diving deep into the Grinch and 4th grade will learn how a Gingerbread Man helped save America!

P.E.

Hello Vaughn Families!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! We are excited to start working on our basketball skills in Physical Education in the month of December! Our youngest Eagles in Kindergarten, First, and Second grade will be learning the basics of dribbling, bouncing, and passing skills. Our older Eagles in Third and Fourth grade will be perfecting their dribbling, passing, and shooting skills while building teamwork concepts and confidence. We have lots of fun basketball activities planned! We can't wait!

- Coach LaValle, Mrs. Mackey, and Coach McFadden

Art

Vaughn Artists will be creating various forms of art this month. Students will work on their blending skills with oil pastels. Creating radial art with string and yard. Using unconventional objects as tools to make art. All will work on creating unique pieces of art while learning and reviewing the Elements of art and Principles of design.

Music Notes

We're enjoying fall in music class! This week all of the classes took some time to reflect on things we are thankful for.

K: After our discussion of being thankful, we tried learning a new rhythm game. The challenge was to keep a steady beat, while one student tried to figure out the identity of the Rhythm Master.

1st: We took a familiar song, "What Is In My Lunchbox?", and changed it to "What Is For Thanksgiving?"

2nd: Students wrote down things they were thankful for. After learning a short chorus of an original song about being thankful, we sprinkled their thoughts of thankfulness in between choruses of "Thankful".

3rd: Students wrote down things they were thankful for. After learning a short chorus of an original song about being thankful, we sprinkled their thoughts of thankfulness in between choruses of "Thankful".

4th: We experimented with a song from Quaver called "Don't Need Riches". It's about finding treasure in everything you do. It was a vocal challenge because there were two parts of the song happening at the same time.

Innovation Lab

What a fun month in the Innovation Lab — students have been busy with pollinator games & Ozobots.

Next month they will:

Kindergarten–2nd: After break we’ll begin a gingerbread-coding game where students give simple commands to help a gingerbread character reach its goal.

3rd Grade: Students practiced coding with markers to control their little "R2D2s". Our future architects are designing and building bridges to test how much weight they hold and learn which shapes and materials make the strongest structures.

4th Grade: We’ll finish our Ozobot unit and then explore basic circuits — hands-on work with conductors and simple circuits.

Have a great fall break!

Across the Grade Levels

Fourth Grade

4th Grade was on the move again this month and headed down to Fayetteville to cheer on the Lady Razorbacks during their elementary game day. To say we had fun would be an understatement and we enjoyed getting to watch the collaboration and communication that it takes to help make a team successful! We can find our core values anywhere! Woo pig!

Third Grade

This month, third graders have been busy with lots of exciting learning! In social studies, we explored the Roman Empire and discovered the many ways ancient Romans shaped the world we live in today. Students also had fun disguising “Mr. Turkey” and writing creative stories to keep him from becoming Thanksgiving dinner. In science, we’ve been investigating forces and motion by designing balance sculptures that show how gravity works on our planet. It’s been a full and fantastic month in third grade!

Second Grade

Second graders had a blast creating their own “balloon floats” for the VES Thanksgiving Parade! Our parade theme this year was America, inspired by our current Knowledge reading unit on the War of 1812. Students used their creativity to design floats using balloons, paper, streamers, and all kinds of imaginative materials. We loved seeing their hard work and patriotic spirit on display!

First Grade

First Graders recently took a field trip to the Blue Zoo Aquarium, in Rogers. Students were given hands-on opportunities to feed marine life, birds, and reptiles. We enjoyed looking at the different characteristics of adult and baby creatures.

The Blue Zoo gave first graders a HUGE compliment! We were told Vaughn Elementary First Graders were the best group of kids they had ever had to attend while on a field trip! WAY TO SHINE, EAGLES!!

First Grade

The Blue Zoo gave first graders a HUGE compliment! We were told Vaughn Elementary First Graders were the best group of kids they had ever had to attend while on a field trip! WAY TO SHINE, EAGLES!!

Kindergarten

Before starting our Thanksgiving break, our kindergarten classes celebrated the spirit of gratitude with a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast. Students gathered as a school family to enjoy popcorn, pretzels, toast, and jellybeans—just like in the classic Peanuts story. The room was filled with smiles, laughter, and the excitement of sharing something special with friends. This simple celebration gave our youngest learners a chance to practice kindness, build community, and reflect on all the things they are thankful for. It was the perfect way to head into the holiday break feeling connected and grateful.

Counselor Connections

Core Value for December: Joy

Click the link to find out how to incorporate the core value at home

CEV Parent Podcast

Personal Safety

In December, the Vaughn counselors will be teaching personal safety using the district Empower Me Program. Topics covered include:

Check first with the adult in charge before going anywhere with anyone.
Identifying five trusted adults who make up their safety net.
Listening to their “uh-oh” feeling.
Saying “no” to anyone asking them to break a safety rule.
We talk about touches - Understanding that no touch should ever be a secret.

For more information, please visit https://youtu.be/OffEHgvmzg0. If you have any questions about the Empower Me presentations, please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs. Snow and Mrs. Mayo at vescounselor@bentonvillek12.org.

We have some exciting news about a partnership coming to Vaughn this spring and continuing for years to come. Big Brothers Big Sisters of NWA had been around our area since 1995. To find out more about their program visit https://bbbsnwa.org/.

Mission: To create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.

Focus: Mentorship, education, and positive youth development.

Target Population: Children and youth, typically ages 5 through young adulthood, who can benefit from a positive, caring adult role model.

Mrs. Snow was a Big Sis through the program and here is her take aways….

For 10 years, I had the privilege of serving as a Big Sis with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Over that decade, my Little and I built a meaningful, lasting bond through simple but memorable moments—going to the movies, making Christmas cookies, spending afternoons on the playground, and cheering together at Arkansas sporting events. Watching her grow while being a consistent, supportive presence in her life was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had, and it strengthened my belief in the power of mentorship and connection. My Little is now 27 and has a family of her own.

Home-School Connection

Preparing Kids for Returning After Break

Tips for an easier transition:

Start adjusting bedtime a few days before school returns
Review morning routines
Talk about what they’re excited to learn or see again

Winter Wellness Tips for Kids

“Taking care of our winter wellness helps our brains stay ready to learn!”

Drink water even when it’s cold
Get movement every day
Keep a regular sleep schedule
Use a feelings chart to check in

Winter Break Social–Emotional Activities

Fun ways to use SEL skills at home:

Create a “Warm Fuzzy Jar” for kind moments
Try a mindful walk and name things you see/hear
Play feelings charades
Have kids share a “rose, thorn, and bud” from their day
(rose = something good, thorn = challenge, bud = something they’re excited about)

Need Support This Season?

If your family needs help with food, clothing, resources, or holiday assistance, please reach out.
We are here to support you with care.

Contact the School Counseling Office
We’re here for all students, families, and staff.

vescounselor@bentonvillek12.org

Schoolhouse Pantry Grocery Assistance Program

Through the counseling department we offer customizable food boxes for families in need of food support, in partnership with the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank and their Order Ahead program. If you are in need, please complete the Bentonville School Pantry Registration Form. You will then receive a text or email with a link to set up your account. Once your login is created, you can place an order each month and choose the foods you'd like to receive. You will be able to pick up your order on a specific date once a month at Vaughn. Mrs. Snow will send out those dates when you register and place an order. If you need help placing an order, contact: Amanda Kelly | akelly@bentonvillek12.org | 479-367-8076