Colt Crusader

2828 Pleasant Acres Drive

Virginia Beach, VA 23453

757-648-2240

http://www.christopherfarmses.vbschools.com

Follow us on Twitter @cfescolts

Principal: Robyn Backer , @Robyn Backer

Asst. Principal: Patti Porter, @sunsetzzz15

Happy Friday Christopher Farms! Congratulations, you have finally finished your last day of Emergency Learning. Although this virtual transition has been a wild ride, I am so proud of all of our families and students for their hard work. Your teachers have been very busy planning some fun activities for you for the last week of school. Each grade level will have a choice board full of different activities planned to focus on social emotional learning for Tuesday through Friday; these will go out on Monday. Remember, Monday is still a professional learning day for staff.

I can hardly believe that the 2019-2020 school year is coming to an end. It has been a crazy year! We have overcome so many challenges in the past few months and I am so thankful for each and every one of you. While I did not expect my second year as your Principal to end like this, I could not be more thankful for our Christopher Farms families and students. I am tremendously proud of the work that has gone into making this year successful by teachers, staff, parents, and students. We are truly a family and we couldn't have done it without your help.

I want to wish the best of luck to our Fifth grade students who are graduating and moving on to middle school next year. You are going to do great things!

If you have a rising Kindergartner, Mrs. Ratner will begin calling families to make registration appointments on June 24, 2020.

While this is not how we wanted our year to end, we hope you know how much we care about the Christopher Farms family. Over the summer, you can expect to see a monthly Colt Crusader with updates from CFES. If you have any questions, please know that we are just an email or a phone call away. Have a fabulous summer, stay safe, and be sure to continue to read, read, read!

-Ms. Backer

It is that time of the year when we typically send home the 'Are You Moving?' in order to prepare for the next school year. If you will not be returning to Christopher Farms for the 2020-2021 School Year, please fill out the information on the flyer below and return it to school as soon as possible, but no later than May 26, 2020. You can return this form via mail at the address listed on the flyer, by placing it in the box at the front entrance to the school or you can email karen.ratner@vbschools.com. Thank you!

Spanish Immersion Summer Boot Camp

Hola, Spanish Immersion families! We are delighted to offer a virtual enrichment opportunity for all immersion students this summer. Spanish Immersion Summer Boot Camp will be held online Monday through Friday, August 3rd-7th. The time and length of the sessions are still to be determined, but will likely be held in the morning for no longer than an hour. Students will have the opportunity to practice their Spanish language skills in a FUN and engaging environment with their peers and teachers from all three of our immersion elementary schools.

If your child is interested in participating, please complete the form below by Monday, June 1. Additional details will be shared by July 1 with all families who indicate interest in participating.

Click Here to Sign-up: https://forms.gle/KkrGowBVwLEB4jXG8

Kelly Arble, M. Ed.

Coordinator, K-12 World Languages

Wow, What a Year! This one will definitely not be forgotten! Though the challenges seem to be in the forefront of many our minds right now, please take a moment to recognize the triumphs. As a community we have not only weathered several storms, literally hurricanes and flooding and figuratively, a world pandemic, social distancing, the anniversary of a local tragedy and recent incidents of horrific racism, we have also made great strides.

Our city has created the VB Strong Center to support social/emotional needs of our community. Our school division had earned 100% accreditation for student achievement for 3 years in a row and pledged to include Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and development as one of our strategic framework goals, in recognition of the need to support the whole child.

Christopher Farms has been awarded the Virginia Purple Star designation for demonstrating a major commitment to supporting students and families connected to our nation’s military and has been named a Kindness Certified School by Kids for Peace for our commitment to show kindness during the Great Kindness Challenge. We raised awareness for unity during National Bully Prevention Month and collected food and books for local families in need.

As a family, you may have learned to balance working from home, navigating online learning, 24/7 family time and rationed toilet tissue. Perhaps most importantly, however, your children have completed a year of growth and development. Each starting from different points have made progress toward their goals. Some may have finally learned all of their letters, some may have memorized their math facts, others may have hypothesized a science experiment.

All have learned the traits of a Colt, most have enjoyed relationships with their peers and staff, and many have celebrated the success of an accomplishment. The growth and development of each of our students both academically and social/emotionally will ultimately contribute not only to their individual success, but also to how our community continues to be resilient in times of challenge and even crisis. Our CFES Colts were amazing this year!

Once again, we are so proud of the resilience our entire community has shown over these last few months and would like to specifically recognize the students listed below as our Citizens of the Month for May as they showed they are RESILIENT!

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable summer and look forward to our return.

-Mrs. Yoshida

Kindergarten

Mrs. Burok - Elliana Marlowitz

Ms. Kane - Stella Wiedemann

Mrs. Sinnen - Anna Hunger

Ms. Witherow - Liam Ballard

1st Grade

Mrs. Cooley - Victoria Hardcastle

Mrs. Kernodle - Charis Bulthouse

Mrs. Matney - Eric Powell

Sra. Torres - Kalista Maillie

Ms. Frierson - Charlotte Douglas

2nd Grade

Mrs. Bullard - Bentley Clark

Mrs. Greer - Brinley Westre

Ms. Love - Lauryn Colagene

Mrs. Minehan - Maddox Lent

Mrs. Zipprich - Noah Gressley

3rd Grade

Ms. Crouch - Basil Robinson

Mrs. Kemper - Connor Ellyson

Sra. Rodriguez - Mackenzie Osvath

Ms. Willett - - Olivia Palcic

Ms. Zaleski Dustin King

4th Grade

Ms. Cucuzza - Leilani Diaz

Sra. Dorbin - Roman Faulkner

Mrs. Kesner - Kara Kroupa

Ms. McNeely - Peyton McMillen

Mrs. Nicolosi - Nolen Nettleton

5th Grade

Mrs. Armada - Emilie Burleson

Mrs. Bagnall - Callie Harroun

Mrs. Cochran - Genae Cason

Mrs. Pascual - Lacey Derrick

Mrs. Zajac - Anthony HInes, Jr.

Congratulations on making it through another year at Christopher Farms! This week you all will have multiple art activities to choose from. The first is an art scavenger hunt that will send you looking for various art related objects, the second is a create your own emoji activity, and the third is continuing the rock painting. Have fun and get creative!

Check out these awesome resources that have been provided by the Virginia Beach Public Libraries for the summer!

Spring into Summer Reading Challenge 2020 - We would like to invite students to kick start summer reading early with the Spring into Summer Reading Challenge. The program is open now, and students can earn prizes for the time spent reading for school. To participate, students can log their reading online in the Library’s Beanstack program. Students can also participate in weekly enrichment activities through fun activity badges. Each week, readers that complete 3 activities will unlock the activity badge and be entered to win coupons to food venues that offer drive-through or take-out. The coupons will be mailed to each winner’s home until our buildings reopen.

Virtual Programming - Virginia Beach Public Library is excited to pilot online programming for children of all ages during our extended building closure. Check out our virtual youth book club for grades 3rd – 5th! To see the full list of events, please visit our Event Calendar, making sure Digital Program is selected in the navigation bar under Library Branch.

Student Accounts - Virginia Beach City Public Schools and Virginia Beach Public Library have partnered to provide year-round digital public library access to all K to 12 students. For more information visit https://www.vbgov.com/government/departments/libraries/Using-the-Library/Pages/vbcps-student-account.aspx.

1. Check our website weekly: https://christopherfarmses.vbschools.com
2. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cfescolts
3. Download the VBSCHOOLS app in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store
4. Make sure the school has your updated phone number and email address in order to receive Alert Now communications
5. Follow your child's progress on Parent Portal: https://www.vbschools.com/parents/parent_portal

Email: robyn.backer@vbschools.com
Website: https://christopherfarmses.vbschools.com/
Location: Christopher Farms Elementary School 2828 Pleasant Acres Drive Virginia Beach, Virginia 234
Phone: (757) 648-2240
Twitter: @RobynBacker

This week we will be starting a collaborative art project. Collaborative art is made by working together to complete one work of art. We will be creating a collaborative work of art through painting rocks! K-2 will be painting their rocks with different colors of blue, and 3-5 will be painting their rocks with different colors of green. You can paint any sort of design on your rocks, as long as you stick with you assigned color! Once your rocks are dry, you can turn them in to the school. Ms. Jones will have boxes outside of the school labeled by color starting May 26-June 5. Once enough rocks are turned in, they will be arranged outside of the school to make a work of art. If you do not have paint, paint pens or sharpies should work as well. If you do not have those materials, you are more than welcome to choose one of the other projects on schoology! Have fun, and I look forward to seeing all the different rocks that you all create!!