Westside Update

Sponsored by the Westside Board of Trustees and the entire staff of Westside School

When? Tomorrow, in the gym. Starts at 8am, ends when we’re done! Stop by after you drop off your children!

Featuring: Your favorite coffee beverage and delicious treats from Bakery Nouveau!

Please join us ! Stop by and grab something to go, or stay and socialize. We hope to see you there!

Spirit Week

Don`t you just love Spirit Week? This year is the 11th annual Spirit Week, starting next Monday, April 27th through Friday, May 1st. The whole school will be showing school spirit by participating in the five spirit days.

• Monday will be Pajama Day.
This is a fun one because you don`t have to get dressed to go to school. All you have to do is get up, brush your teeth, comb your hair, have breakfast and go to Westside right in your pajamas!

• Tuesday: Raid Your Parent’s Closet Day.
All your siblings and parents usually don’t like you taking their clothes, do they? Well, this day is an exception; wearing your parents’ or siblings (if you have any) clothes to school is the theme on Tuesday.

• Wednesday: Mix & Match day.
Mix & Match has a freer theme, when you wear anything you want, but it can’t be what you normally wear. (You don’t have to participate in any of these, but it’s really fun.)

• Thursday will be Inside-out-and-backwards-day.
You wear your normal clothes to school, just inside out and backwards.

• Finally, Friday will be Wacky Hair Day.
This is a Westside School tradition. You make your hair as wacky as you can by using anything you want.

Sign-Up for Westside’s Summer Camp!

What are your children doing this summer? What about summer camp at Westside? It’s only running for three weeks, but we’re offering some fun activities that will keep your kids entertained and active.

Camps are for grades K-5 (for students entering grade K in the fall of 2009) and run from 9am-4pm. (If you’re interested, but need before and after camp care, let us know!) We are offering some really fun camps, click here to check them all out or visit the Westside website and click on the summer camp link.

Ever wanted to Search for Sasquatch? Well, here’s a chance to explore the myth…. Or reality….? Grades 1-5 will search for answers! They will unravel the myths and reported sightings, explore local forests, discover the secrets of Sasquatch and learn the skills they’ll need to become a Sasquatch Field Researcher. Campers will also learn forest survival skills and gather their own evidence to answer the question, “Is Sasquatch real?”
Dates: July 27-31 Cost: $300/week

Be a Mentor Family

We still need several families to be new family mentors. Being a mentor is easy! We just ask that you connect with your mentee family a few times a year, answering questions they might have and helping these newbie’s figure out what’s going on! Remember when you were new? What’s Winterfest? Springfling? Do you have to go? What do you wear? What’s all this stuff about an auction? What’s Halloween Fest? And the list goes on and on….

There’s so much information and terminology that it can be overwhelming for new families, but mentors can help a lot! We just ask that you try to contact your mentee family once over the summer, and then occasionally as the year goes on. You can contact them by email, phone or make it more personal and get together for coffee, dinner…. It’s up to you!

This year, we’re adding a couple of new helpful additions to the mentor program. We’re having a new family reception on Saturday, June 6 from 1:30-3pm. You can stop by and meet your mentee family at that event, if you want. We’re also adding a mentor coordinator volunteer position. This person will send helpful email reminders to mentors to send along to their mentee family…… again, if they want!

It’s fun, easy and a great way to connect and get to know new families. How to get involved? Email Kathy at kathyw@westsideschool.org!

Preliminary Childcare Contract

By now, you should have received your preliminary childcare contract for the 2009-2010 school year. You may not have looked at it too closely, but if you did, you might have noticed that the price for one day contracted care looked suspiciously like the cost for two day contracted care. That was a mistake. The price for one day contracted care is as follows: Both AM/PM: $90, AM only: $30, PM only: $60. Sorry for any misunderstanding this may have caused. The actual childcare contract will be mailed to you this summer.

Get into the 50’s at the Westside
Sock Hop!
Friday, May 1, 6-8pm

Fiftiesville at Westside is a week away, and we need your sugar (special abilities) ...or your 50’s style comfort food:

While President Eisenhower’s favorite Prune Whip may not get you fired up, “this decade also marked the beginning of ethnic food entering mainstream America. GIs returning from tours in Europe and the Pacific developed new tastes. “Americanized” versions of Sukiyaki, Egg Foo Yung, chowmein, enchiladas, pizza, lasagna, and barbecued meats with Polynesian sauces regularly appeared in 1950s cookbooks.” Deviled eggs, fried chicken, potato salad, cheese sandwiches...for more on what Americans were cooking in the 1950’s, click here.

Please sign-up at westsideschool.org to set-up, bring a 50’s style dish, serve punch or clean-up.

The Hop is for both students and parents. Greaser threads (clothes), beehives, flat tops and hula hoops are optional. Light snacks will be available, but leave your dough (money) at home - it’s free!

Inventions of the 50’s: Barbie Doll, M&M’s, Life Saver Candy, Super Glue, Color TV, Mr. Potato Head, Aluminum Cans, Tupperware parties, McDonalds... for more about Life in the 50’s, see http://www.1030kcee.com/index-lifeinthe50s.html.

More “Crazy, Daddy-O!” sayings from the fifties:
“When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 50 cents a gallon. Guess we’d be better off leaving the car in the garage.”

“If cigarettes keep going up in price, I’m going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.”

“If a few idiots want to risk their necks flying across the country that’s fine, but nothing will ever replace trains.”

“I’m just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.”

Second Grade Meteorologists

The Second Grade classes are studying weather this month. We are having very interesting discussions about why we need to predict the weather and why we record so many different aspects of the weather. We are also taking time to share fascinating, real-life weather stories--rainbow sightings, snow and ice problems, wind damage and tips for cooling off after a hot day. The daily weather information from the newspaper is packed with information that connects to our daily learning. We are connecting the weather topics to literature and poetry—reading about it and writing about it. Graphing weather types and temperature readings connect us to our math learning. But our favorite part is the hands-on science taking place when the two classes get together.

The classes come together to perform experiments—making thermometers (plastic bottle, straw, rubbing alcohol and food coloring), learning how to read thermometers by placing them in containers of cold water, room temperature water and hot water, making weather vanes (Styrofoam cup, straw, pencil, pin and paper paddles) and illustrating the Beaufort Wind Speed Scale. Upcoming experiments include making rain gauges, building an anemometer and creating a pop-up book of cloud types.

Be on the lookout for Second graders looking up! They are in the process of studying the weather.

From Jo Ann
Parent Survey 2008-2009 Results

Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in our annual parent survey. We are looking at the results and your comments as we plan for next year. The admin team and the board appreciate hearing what is important to you and what opportunities we have to be even better.

Last year 98 people shared their opinions by participating in the Westside School survey. This year 140 people took the time to give their thoughtful responses.

In response to “I am proud to be a part of Westside School.” Strongly Agree/Agree: 96%, Neutral: 3%, Disagree/Strongly Disagree: 1%

The survey questions that focused on curriculum gave Language Arts the highest marks with technology receiving the lowest. For the question, “What do you like most about Westside School?” 72 comments chose our sense of community, which included our caring community, happy children and a nurturing and safe environment. Fifty people also commented on our wonderful teachers. To the question, “What would you like to see changed at Westside?” Twenty people identified areas of the curriculum and 14 commented on our facilities.

	Excellent Good	Average	Below Average	N/A
Language Arts	92%	6%	0%	2%
Math	85%	10%	2%	3%
Science	79%	15%	2%	3%
Social Studies	84%	9%	2%	6%
Art	84%	13%	2%	1%
Music	87%	11%	0%	2%
PE	92%	7%	0%	1%
Spanish	71%	23%	5%	1%
Chinese	88%	6%	0%	7%
Technology	39%	25%	13%	22%

Skeletons in the Gym

By Donna Jornlin, PE Teacher

What do string cheese & Popeye’s favorite food have in common? Calcium! Tickle your humerus bone, pat your patella, scratch your cranium. These words have all been part of our gym vocabulary these last few weeks. Check out the “word wall” in the hallway to see what else we’ve been talking about.

Skeletons are “invisible” but we can feel them & we certainly need to take good care of them with weight bearing exercise & calcium rich foods. I placed food pictures on the floor & asked each student to choose one that was rich in calcium. Everyone knew french fries weren’t a winner, but we discovered apples & bananas (while really good for us!) didn’t have any calcium either. Children ages 4-8 need three servings of calcium a day & children ages 9-25 need four…. milk, yogurt, orange juice, broccoli & tofu are good sources. Chocolate milk has been shown to be very beneficial after a workout or game for replacing fluids & protein. And it has a big yum factor too.

Our feet have been dancing through fabric ladders as we learn dynamic balance, agility & coordination. Hopscotch jumping helps rhythm & our ability to see patterns, and I added sprints for the older grades to develop speed & acceleration. Each grade has also worked on the balance beam; pre-school & primary grades balance a beanbag on their head, while intermediate students dribble a ball as they walk or pivot without falling. This month we are practicing baseball skills. We’re throwing at a target on the wall, hitting from a large cone and fielding off the wall. The 3rd, 4th, & 5th grades will begin Presidential Fitness testing next week.

The Mileage Club is rolling along with several kindergartners & first graders over the 50 mile mark! And April 20-26th is national “Turn off the TV” week. Find out more at www.tvturnoff.org or just go outside & play!

Parent Appreciation Breakfast Tomorrow AM in the Gym