Friday
May 1
First Tuition Payment Due
for 2009-10
5th Grade
Assembly
9:30am
Spirit/Pizza Day
The Family Dance
“Sock Hop”
6-8pm
Monday-Friday
May 4-8
Teacher Appreciation Week
Tuesday
May 5
Cinco De Mayo assembly 9:30am
Thursday
May 14
Spring Fling 6:30pm
Friday
May 15
Spirit/Pizza Day
Monday-Thursday
May 18-21
4th & 5th Grade to Islandwood
April 30, 2009
From Jo Ann - The Swine Flu
The Sock Hop is Tomorrow!
Teacher Appreciation Week Next Week
Cinco de Mayo Assembly
Learn the Pizza Day Ropes
Bugs to Kindergarten
Chinese Update
First Graders Talk about 1st Grade
Summer Camp Highlight
From Jo Ann
Swine Flu
As I am sure you are aware from newscasts, there are concerns at the national level and in Seattle about the Swine Flu and its potential to be a major issue in the United States. I want to assure all of you that Westside will follow-up with any information we receive about the illness. I also want to reiterate that, while we have not had a lot of flu-like symptoms in the school recently, I want to remind every parent that keeping your child home from school when they are ill is important to maintaining the health of our community. Swine Flu or no, students with fevers and persistent coughs should be kept home. Thank you for following our policy for illness, shared in our Parent/Student Handbook available on our website at www.westsideschool.org/parents.htm.
Now that a case of Swine Flu has been identified in Seattle at Madrona K-8, Westside School would follow any King County Health Department guidelines. At this point that means reminding families, staff and students to take preventative steps to stay safe.
These steps include:
- Sneeze or cough into a tissue, elbow or sleeve.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
- If you are sick, stay home, and call the school to keep us informed.
If you have any questions feel free to call the Seattle King County Public Health Department at (206) 296-4949 or visit www.kingcounty.gov/health or visit the Centers for Disease Control website, www.cdc.gov or http://www.doh.wa.gov/swineflu/facts.htm.
Westside Sock Hop Tomorrow!
Tomorrow, May 1
from 6:00-8:00pm
By Kate Petrich, WPO President
Load up the tank (large sedan, usually driven by parents) Westside cats! It’s time to make a scene at the Family Dance tomorrow.
Poodle skirts and leather jackets are optional. Light snacks will be available, but no need for long green (money) - it’s free!
There’s still time to sign up (at westsideschool.org) to bring a 50’s style dish or scrub the decks after the bash. For hip fifties slang to get you in orbit visit: http://www.daddy-o.us/slang.htm.
Let’s go to the Hop!
Teacher Appreciation Week Next Week - May 4 to 8!
By Shannon Marsh and Lisa Medina, Teacher Appreciation Week Chairs
“The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask him which he finds it hard to answer.” (Alice Wellington Rollins)
We are excited to remind you that next Monday, May 4th begins the weeklong celebration of our incredible teachers here at Westside School. While we may attempt to show our apprecation throughout the year, next week provides us a special time to remind our teachers how much we recognize the hard work they are doing to help shape our children into responsible, considerate, intelligent people.
So, please review the emails forwarded to you this week about the Westside events for the coming week. We will attempt to send out an email reminder this weekend, but here’s to a wonderful week of fun and celebration!
Cinco de Mayo Assembly
By Ashley Kloess, Spanish Teacher
This is a reminder that your students in pre-school thru 4th grade have been hard at work learning new songs in Spanish and your 5th graders have written plays in Spanish. We are having a Spanish assembly on Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) and all of our songs and plays will be performed then. I enlisted students help in creating motions to go with their songs and they did a great job being creative. I’m sure they would love it if you could be there to see them perform!
Learn the Pizza Day Ropes
for Next Year
Do you have a little free-time on Fridays now and then? Want to be the most popular parent in your child’s class? Do you long to control the world? We are seeking a parent volunteer who would like to learn the Pizza Day ropes and provide some help next year, and then take over not just the world, but the Pizza Day Universe for the 2010-11 school year. Time commitment 2009-2010: a few pizza days in the fall and winter, three or four in the spring. More for the next year, although you can recruit your own co-chair for that year to share the job. Questions? Contact Kathleen at kathleen.whitson@gmail.com or 933-1088.
Seattle Bug Safari Visits Marsha’s Kindergarten Class
By Marsha Lovely, Kindergarten Teacher
Our class had an in-class field trip last week. Brian, from Seattle Bug Safari came to our class as a culminating activity for our bug investigation. We have written poems, bug word problem books, made our own bug museum, and many other activities. Brian was amazed with their depth of knowledge. It’s all about critical thinking skills and not just memorizing facts. The questions that the children asked Brian were very sophisticated. Here is a quote from an e-mail he sent me. Just another example of how Westside teaches an accelerated program from Pre-K through 5.
“Thank you so much for having Seattle Bug Safari out to Westside School. I must say, your kindergarteners were very knowledgeable about our subject. More so than most 1st and 2nd graders at other schools. I was very impressed with their knowledge.”
Chinese Update
By Steven Whitng, Chinese Teacher
Cao er qing, The grass is green
Hua er kai, The flowers bloom
Xiao niao jiao, Little birds sing
Chuntian lai. Spring has come!
Da Jia Hao! The school year is entering the final phase, and students are making good progress in Chinese. As usual, I’ll let you know what is happening in each class.
The kindergartners are getting used to the “Good Morning Song.” This is the first time I’ve taught this to the little ones. They are getting it nicely. They’ve also learned the whole color song with five more colors and the last four fruit in the “Good Fruit” rhyme. Their last song for the year will be the Chinese version of “Twinkle, Twinkle.”
First graders are just polishing up “The Pekinese Dog Song.” They have each made a Ha Ba Gou crown/mask and soon we will video tape the two first grade classes singing together and put it on the school website. They have learned the days of the week with the “Monkey’s Week” rhyme, and can now say “Today is Tuesday.” etc. We have also practiced writing some simple Chinese characters. They seem to enjoy writing Chinese characters. I hope they will also practice at home.
The second graders have finished “The Little Honey Bee” song with movements. They are getting used to their Chinese names and are remembering their classmates’ Chinese names, too. They have also learned how to do addition in Chinese and play an addition board game, and they will be writing more Chinese characters in the coming weeks.
Third graders have mastered “The Jasmine Flower” song. They have learned how to say what is good for us to eat and drink. We made “stir-fried vegetables” and asked why a particular vegetable was chosen and explained our reason for choosing it. They have also done addition in Chinese and played the addition board game.
The fourth and fifth graders are finishing up the second verse of the Flower Drum Song. They have been working on shopping, buying and selling things using Chinese money. Soon we will get into basic bargaining, so if you visit China this summer maybe they can save you some money. They have also been asking, “Why.....?” and explaining “Because.......
The fifth graders will have a field trip to the Seattle Chinese Garden on May 7 where they will learn about the long history and importance of gardens in China, as well as see our own Seattle Chinese Garden in its construction phase.
As always, please encourage your kids to perform what they learn in class and be your “little teachers.”
First Grade in the Eyes of First Graders
By Margie Carpenter, 1st Grade Teacher
It started with a brainstorming session. On the 135th day of school, I asked the question “What have we done in first grade this year?” First, the responses came slowly and consisted of yearlong activities such as Writers Workshop, Self-Selected Reading, Math Center, and other Center choices. Then I asked who had a good time at Camp Sealth, our camping trip last fall. Hands shot up in the air and students started naming field trips that we have taken this year. From then on there wasn’t a lull as the first graders started remembering all that we have done so far this year, the math games we’ve played, the science we’ve studied, and the social studies topics we’ve learned about. I stopped them when the white board was full and pointed out how one idea helps bring about another idea…that’s the joy of brainstorming.
We moved on to the writing prompts. The first graders had two choices of prompts. Sarah and Milo decided to answer the question “What advice would you give to kindergartners who are thinking about first grade next year?”
Sarah’s advice is “Margie counts from five to zero and if you’re not in your meeting spot you owe a minute. So, be careful but do not be scared.”
Milo writes, “Don’t be scared, First Graders. First Grade is fun…totally fun and your teacher’s name will be Margie or Renee.” The sun in his picture also has something to say… “You can do it!”
The rest of the class chose to answer the question “What is your favorite thing that we have done so far in first grade and why is it your favorite?”
Jocelyn, Drew, Devin, Meredith, Madeleine and Karl all wrote that Camp Sealth was their favorite thing in first grade. They had various reasons. Madeleine liked the hot cocoa and finding the anchor on the beach. The anchor “might belong to the Titanic.” Karl liked Camp Sealth because “all the girls were chasing me and Connor” and, conversely, Meredith liked “sneaking up on the boys.” She also liked seeing a sea lion. Devin and Drew both liked hiking up to Uncle Wiggle-Bottom’s cabin. Jocelyn liked Camp Sealth “because we got to sing songs and get breakfast ready. At the cabins, there are bunk beds.”
Sam and Axel liked studying continents and writing Continent Reports. Axel wrote that it was “really, really fun to study Antarctica. My team had Sam, Will and me.” Sam also thought it was fun studying continents and said, “I learned a lot.”
Gabriel wrote, “I want Tess to be in First Grade. She will learn a lot. She will go to Camp Sealth. She will have fun!”
Ben wrote, “I liked when Koosh (our classroom guinea pig) came to our classroom. He is an Abyssinian and Blackie, my guinea pig is an Abyssinian too.”
Both Tierney and Helen decided that the bakery and making bread have been their favorite things so far. Tierney “liked the bakery because we baked bread and then tried it. My favorite bread was the banana bread.” Helen writes, “First grade is fun because of the bread. I made some but my family ate all of it and I do not know why.”
Adam likes that his mom, EmilyAnn, helps in our classroom. He especially liked when “my mom let us into Flat Stanley because she worked hard.”
Finally, Olive’s favorite time of day is SSR (Self-Selected Reading). “I like reading and SSR is when somebody reads a certain book out of a bag.”
There you have it…First Grade from the viewpoint of some of Westside’s current first graders. The original work is on the bulletin board in our classroom and includes illustrations. Feel free to stop in our classroom to take a look!
Innerspark, Westside’s Summer Program
By David Bergler, Director of Studies
The weather may not seem like it, but summer is just around the corner. This year, Westside is offering some very creative and fun summer day camps for grades K-5. Start making plans soon as spaces are limited. Sign up at Westsideschool.org and click the link on the bottom of the page.
Each week, I will highlight a few of the upcoming classes.
Science Meets Art is a short series of camps for 2nd – 5th graders. The day is divided into morning and afternoon sessions, or they can be combined. (Extended day is available an hour prior and after each session.)
Date: July 13-17
Cost: Morning or Afternoon Only: $150 per week
All Day: $300 per week
Gadgets and Gizmos – Inventors Club
Morning, 9am-Noon
What can you invent with ordinary things? Household items, hardware, odds and ends put together in unusual ways result in one-of-a-kind creations. Kids explore balance, math and motion in addition to seeing familiar things as having artistic potential. This is an amazing opportunity to stretch the imagination and invent artful creations.
Kites, Windmills & Whirligigs, the Art & Science of Wind
Afternoon, 1-4pm
Campers will explore the forces of wind by creating movable art. Pinwheels, parachutes, kites, windsocks and more will be created as the kids learn about wind power. This will be an active camp with lots of outdoor experiments. Campers will design, create, decorate, and operate these incredible wind powered devices.
Spread the word - camps are available to non-Westside families as well.