Friday
April 25
Parent
Appreciation
Breakfast
Friday
May 2
Assembly 9:30am
Spirit/Pizza Day
Monday-Friday
May 5-9
Teacher
Appreciation
Week
Tuesday
May 6
Town Meeting
6:30pm
Tuesday
May 13
Spring Fling
6:30pm
Friday
May 16
Spirit/Pizza Day
Tuesday
May 20
Lemonade Event
for Kindergarten Class of 2008-2009
Wednesday
May 21
Board Meeting
6:30pm
April 24, 2008
Parent Appreciation Breakfast
Teacher Appreciation Week
Hot Lunch News
The WPO Wants You
Bai Laoshi Traveling to China
In the Spirit of the Dalai Lama
I am Compassion - poems by Aidan Jensen & Dylan Mortimer
Parent Appreciation Breakfast
Tomorrow, April 25th, 8:30am
In appreciation of everything you do to make Westside great, please join us for breakfast and latte’s tomorrow morning at 8:30am in the gym.
Jo Ann, her daughter Beth and her son-in-law Scott will be at the breakfast as well. A memorial book for Ross is in the office, if you would like to sign it. Also, a special fund has been set-up at the University of Washington called the Ross Yockey Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Fund. Here’s the link: https://secure.gifts.washington.edu
/uw_foundation/
gift.asp?page=search. If you enter “yockey” in the search box, the fund will come up.
We hope to see you at the breakfast!
Teacher Appreciation Week
By Sue Winter and Karri DeJong, Teacher Appreciation Week Chairs
Do you make a mean cherry pie? A fantastic lasagna? Are you a whiz with a takeout menu? Your room parents can use your help! Planning is under way for this year’s teacher appreciation week, beginning May 5th, and we need help with lunches as well as many other great surprises for our staff & teachers. Details of all the week’s events have already been emailed to you by your room parents. Be sure to take a look and let them know how you can help with this great celebration!
Hot Lunch News
By Blue Plate Express
May and June menus are on line and ready to order. Be sure to check out our Summer Cooking Camps. Just click on “Summer Camps” for more information about these fun summer day camps.
The WPO Wants YOU!!
By Carolyn Comick, WPO President
The school year will soon be over, so the WPO officers are busy planning the upcoming 2008-2009 school year’s schedule of events and fundraisers. We’d like to encourage all parents to consider one of the many volunteer opportunities available for next year. It’s a fun way to meet fellow Westside parents, and become involved in our community. There is something for everyone (moms and dads) so please think about how you can help! The sign-up sheet will be at the Parent Appreciation Breakfast tomorrow morning and then it will be re-located to the hallway outside the office.
Here is a quick look at some of the volunteer opportunities available for next year:
- WPO Treasurer
- Ambassadors for School Tours and Open Houses *
- Room Parents *
- Scholastic Book Orders *
- Library Coordinator
- Cartridges for Kids Recycling Coordinator *
- Pizza Co-Chair
- Friday Movie Night Chairperson
- (Sept. 19, 2008 and March 6, 2009) *
- Halloween Fest (Saturday, October 25, 2008) *
- Winter Fest (December 18, 2008) *
- Family Dance (Friday, April 17, 2009) *
- Teacher Appreciation Week (May 4 - 8, 2009)
- Spring Fling (May 14, 2009) *
- Kindergarten Lemonade (Tuesday, May 19, 2009) *
- Field Day (Friday, June 5, 2009)
Items denoted with an (*) offer more flexibility for working parents. For more information on these opportunities, please contact Amy Huber at amyhuber@comcast.net.
Bai Laoshi Traveling to China
By Steven Whiting, Chinese Teacher
Da Jia Hao! I would like to let our Westside School community know that I have been fortunate enough to have been selected by the U. S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to attend an Intensive Summer Language Institute this summer at Northeast Normal University in Changchun (Manchuria), China. I don’t have many details yet other than that we will participate in a six-week course with five hours of classes a day, in addition to other cultural and educational activities, including visits to Chinese schools. It sounds like we will have a very busy schedule. I get the feeling that I will be the only elementary-school teacher in our group. I will leave for the other Washington in late June for orientation (no pun intended), and then we will fly to China (unless they put us on the proverbial slow boat) as a group. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to upgrade my Chinese level and learn some more aspects of Chinese culture and effective teaching techniques that I can implement to enhance our Mandarin Chinese program at Westside School.
Thanks for all your support and encouragement.
In the Spirit of the Dalai Lama
By Linda Turner and Fifth Grade Students
It was a grand privilege to be in the exhale of the Dalai Lama last week. The Seeds of Compassion program at Key Arena on Monday included presentations from drummers, singers, poets, storytellers and student ambassadors.
It was evident from watching the responses to His Holiness, that all who greeted him on stage were in awe, some a bit awkward. And to all who passed by him that morning, he extended his hands, grabbing theirs, and pulled each person in for a hug, whispering something in their ears.
There were tears, joyfully shed by teenage boys, standing ovations, and laughter. It was a cherished event, the impact of which our kids may not realize for some time. In the spirit of being ‘seeds of compassion,’ the fifth graders share the message of the Dalai Lama.
I Am Compassion
By Aidan Jensen, 5th Grader
I am compassion when I feed our family dog,
I am compassion when my brother needs help,
I am compassion when I work together with my teammates in soccer,
I am compassion when I help my cousin with her homework,
I am compassion when I do something that I do not want to do but
someone else wants to do it, and I do it anyway.
I am forgiveness,
I am love,
I am playfulness,
I am willing,
I am respect,
I am compassion.
I am a seed,
I am sprouting into compassionate,
I am young but powerful,
I have the power of compassion.
In someone’s everyday life compassion is everything,
In sports,
Playground activities,
It helps us make the right choices.
All together,
I am compassion
I Am Compassion
By Dylan Mortimer, 5th Grader
I am compassion
I find paths of peacefulness
If something wrong is done I aim to improve it not to sulk
I am compassion.
I am compassion,
I learn to forgive others wrongs
And even in arguments violence is never necessary
People treat me the way I treat them
I am compassion,
Compassion,
An act of sacrifice if you give something up for someone else
All can give to the world flow of compassion
All should
Be compassion