News from the

Eagle's Nest

Notes from Mrs. Schacht

Vaughn Families,

We’ve had such a strong start to the 2025–2026 school year! These first few weeks have been filled with excitement, smooth transitions, and most importantly - a lot of learning. Students are already diving into their curriculum, exploring new ideas, and connecting with their teachers and classmates. Thank you for the role you play in helping us start the year off so positively.

As you support your child at home, here are a few simple questions you might ask to spark conversations about learning each day:

What is one new thing you learned today?
What was the most interesting part of your reading/math/science lesson?
Did you work with a partner or group today? What did you do together?
What is one thing you’re proud of from today’s work?

We’re proud of the incredible start to this school year and grateful for your ongoing support. Together, we’re truly Building Futures at VES—Every Eagle, Every Day!

Kindly,
Kendra Schacht
Principal, Vaughn Elementary School

Student Handbook Updates

The Bentonville Schools Elementary and Middle School Student Handbook has been updated for the 2025–2026 school year. We encourage all families to review the handbook carefully, with special attention to the behavior expectations and student discipline rubric, as some consequences have changed this year.

Handbook link: Bentonville Schools Student Handbook
K–6 Discipline Rubric link (page 13 of the handbook): K–6 Discipline Rubric

Please take time to review these updates with your child. A shared understanding of expectations helps us create a safe and supportive learning environment for all.

Arrival & Dismissal Procedures

Thank you for your cooperation as we continue to refine our carline. A few important reminders:

Front doors open at 7:05 AM. Staff are on duty to supervise students beginning at that time. Please do not drop off or leave students waiting before 7:05, as there is no supervision available.
Stay in your vehicle during carline. If your child needs assistance loading or unloading, please park in the parking lot and walk them across using the crosswalk.
The goal of carline is to load and unload quickly and safely. When parents exit vehicles in carline, it slows the process and creates additional safety concerns.
Students should not exit vehicles until a staff member on duty signals for them to do so. In the mornings, this will happen as staff in yellow vests pass by cars in the unloading zone.
Students should not unload behind the first stop sign, which signals the end of our unloading zone.
Say goodbyes quickly. Students will be moved into the building promptly and will not be allowed to linger on the sidewalk to wave. Please remain alert to staff and cars in the line, rather than extended waving.
In times of storms or significant weather, carline procedures will be modified, and staff will communicate those changes.

We appreciate your attentiveness in helping us keep carline safe and efficient for all families.

Dates to Remember

Monday, September 1 – No School (Labor Day)
Enjoy the long weekend with your family!

Last Day to Order Your VES Shirt!

Show your VES spirit with this year’s school shirt!

Price: $15 each

Pay cash or check in the office

Or purchase online through My Payments Plus: https://www.mypaymentsplus.com/welcome

On sale now through August 29th – don’t miss out!

Important Dates

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

A Note from Nurse Brittany

Hello Parents!!

I am looking forward to an amazing year with your students! Please make sure to complete your student's online health history so that I may provide care if needed. Here is the link Etrieve link. Also please make sure every student has a change of clothes in their backpacks. This can be for accidents, spills, or nosebleeds. Also please make sure your student is bringing a water bottle daily. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am happy to help. My email is bclupny@bentonvillek12.org.

PTO Posts

We are so excited to get this year kicked off. Below is information on upcoming events and ways that you can get involved to help make our school amazing!

Meetings

We hold our meetings in the cafeteria. The first one is 9/8 at 8:30. You can find the updated meeting schedule on our website by clicking here.

Special note that our first meeting will also have the mandated volunteer training required by the district if you plan to attend any field trips this year. So that meeting will run 8:30-9:30

Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteers make our school amazing! There are options for as little as an hour a month up to as much as you have time to give.

Our first big event is our Fall Carnival on 10/10 and we need help planning and executing this event! You can click the link here to see the options.

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.

Spirit Nights

These are fundraisers where local businesses give us a portion of their sales for that particular day/time. We have one coming up at Popup and Gusano’s!

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

We are looking forward to an amazing year together at VES!

-Amanda, Jessica, Jennifer, and Kelly

Transportation and Safety Procedures

Arrival & Dismissal Procedures

Your child’s safety is a top priority for the Bentonville School District and for the staff at Vaughn. For that reason, all K-4 principals and district officials are requesting your cooperation in following the district’s transportation and safety procedures.

We welcome visitors and volunteers at Vaughn. All visitors between the hours of 7:05 am and 3:30 pm must check in at the office. Please be prepared to show a photo ID when visiting or picking up a student. Again, we cannot reiterate enough how important your child’s safety is to us, and so for that reason, we appreciate your support. If your child has a performance, or you invite family members to events at Vaughn, all guests must check in with a photo ID.

To ensure the safety of all children, we will send your child home the same way every day unless we are notified by you, prior to 2:00 p.m. If you have any questions regarding your child’s after-school dismissal status, please contact the school office at 479-254-5500. Please do not contact your child’s teacher with requests for dismissal changes. The teacher will not see your message during instructional times, or may be out of the building. Contact the office with all requests for dismissal changes. The office is open daily from 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., if you need help or have any questions.

There are two modes of transportation: car riders and bus riders. Click the dropdown arrow below to learn about the procedures for your child's arrival and dismissal.

Updates from Activity Classes

Tales from the Library

📚 Welcome to the Library! 📚
We’re so excited to kick off another great year of reading adventures!

Kindergarten – We’ll learn all the library routines so we can start checking out books!
1st Grade – We’ll review the difference between fiction and non-fiction and explore both sections of our library.
2nd Grade – We’ll investigate our Chapter Book section and learn how to pick “Just Right” books.
3rd & 4th Grade – We’ll review our reading genres and set exciting reading goals for the year.

A friendly reminder that students and parents are responsible for damaged or lost library books. We encourage students to have a safe place to keep their library books—both at home and at school—so they stay in great shape for everyone to enjoy. Thank you for helping us take care of our books and keep them ready for the next reader!

If your student loved our Rainbow Reading, Genre Journey, or Champions for Kids reading challenges, just wait until they hear about BEANSTACK! This year, we’ll be using Beanstack for monthly, yearly, grade-level, and school-wide reading challenges. It’s a fun way to track progress, celebrate achievements, and keep the reading excitement going all year long. More information will be coming soon! At the VES Library, our goal is simple: to build READERS!

Happy Reading!

P.E.

Hello Vaughn Families! My name is Leslie Mackey. Coach LaValle, Coach McFadden, and I will be your student's physical education teachers this year. The first few weeks of school, we like to focus on moving safely in the gym, being respectful of our classmates and teammates, and using equipment responsibly. With our Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students, we are learning about moving in different pathways, changing the speed in which we are moving, and reviewing basic locomotor movements. Our third and fourth grade students are performing several fitness activities, cooperation activities, and we will soon be focusing on throwing overhand. We are having a wonderful time! I have been so excited to see our students from last year, and meet the students who are new to Vaughn! Movement matters, and we want your students to love it! Thank you!

- Mrs. Mackey

Music Notes

Let's Make Some Music! 🎸

I am excited to make some music with the students this year! So far we have gotten to know each other and learned/reviewed how music has a steady beat.

Kindergarten & 1st: We'll explore as we match sounds and movements with different stories and songs.

2nd: We will explore and create as we think of how we can add sounds to stories to help with the meaning.

3rd & 4th: We will create our own beats and melodies as we try to help each other connect to stories and songs.

Innovation Lab

Welcome back!

I'm thrilled to introduce the Innovation Lab, a dynamic space where students will explore all the exciting elements of STEM. Throughout the year, I hope to incorporate hands on experiments that bring learning to life! It’s wonderful to see how enthusiastic the students are about this new subject. This month, we’re easing into our journey by discovering what science truly is and beginning to develop an engineering mindset learning to think creatively and solve problems like engineers.

Art

Vaughn Artists:

This month in Art we talked about patterns and designs. The whole school studied a street artist, Kelsey Montague. We learned how her interactive street art can encourage community and bring joy to the people walking by. We all created a feather that we will add to the LARGE Vaughn Eagle wings in the hallway. The students will get to interact with the art and stand in the wings.

Digital Literacy

Hello, Vaughn family! Mrs. Amos here. This month in our Digital Literacy K-1 has been focusing on navigating our Chromebooks using a mouse, touch screen, and track pads. 2-4th graders have been working on creating Google Docs and correct typing skills. As always, we talk about staying safe online with all grades.

Across the Grade Levels

Fourth Grade

Fourth Grade is enjoying working in our science unit, structures and processes that shape living organisms! Students worked in groups last week to look at the various structures that living organisms have and came up with a presentation for their classmates to show how this helps them to survive.

Third Grade

Third grade is off to an exciting start! Our classes kicked off the year with team-building fun by “Saving Fred” the worm during our very first STEM activity. We’ve already jumped feet-first into learning—reading the classic The Wind in the Willows while practicing how to find the main idea and supporting details. In math, we’re thrilled to begin our multiplication journey. We have an amazing group of learners, and it’s clear this year is going to be full of fun, growth, and discovery!

Second Grade

We’ve had a great start to the year! Students shared their “All About Me” bags and played fun games to get to know one another. Our class is already starting to feel like a family, and we’re excited for what’s ahead!

First Grade

First graders are playing a math version of the classic game, Rock, Paper, Scissors. Ready, Set, Compare allows students to work on counting and comparing numbers. They are focused on using math phrases like "____ is greater than ____" or "____has fewer than ____". This game allows students to collaborate and ask questions about numbers being represented.

Kindergarten

Kindergarteners have had so much fun with our Color Days while building early writing skills! Students have also been practicing “Mat Man” and even doing some “tummy time.” Laying on their tummies helps children build core and shoulder strength—important muscles for developing strong writing skills. Our teachers are enjoying the joy and energy that a new group of learners brings to the building!