Thursday
May 15
1st Grade
Looking Ahead Meeting - 4pm
Friday
May 16
Spirit/Pizza Day
Monday
May 19
2nd Grade
Looking Ahead Meeting - 4pm
Tuesday
May 20
Lemonade Event
for Kindergarten Class of 2008-2009
Wednesday
May 21
4th Grade
Looking Ahead Meeting - 8am
3rd Grade
Looking Ahead Meeting - 4pm
Board Meeting
6:30pm
Monday
May 26
Memorial Day
No School
May 15, 2008
A Week of Appreciation Well Done
Thank You for a Great Teacher Appreciation Week!
From the Teachers & Staff - Thank You!
Spring Fling DVD's
New WPO Officers
Thank You WPO
Chinese Update
TA Week of Appreciation
Well Done!
By Carolyn Comick, WPO President
Special thanks to second grade moms Karri DeJong and Sue Winter for chairing Teacher Appreciation Week last week. They came up with great ideas that kept our teachers surprised, well fed, and wishing the week would never end!! Thank you for stepping up and doing a fabulous job.
Thank You for a Great Teacher Appreciation Week!
By Karri DeJong and Sue Winter, Teacher Appreciation Week Chairs
A big thank you to our entire Westside community for a fantastic Teacher Appreciation Week! Your wonderful flowers, food, and kids’ contributions to the teacher books, made the week memorable and fun for all involved. Please recognize your room parents for all their efforts in coordinating the week’s activities, and a special thanks to those of you who helped out serving lunches, collecting flowers, getting photos signed, binding books, and everything else that made the week run smoothly. It was a great treat for our wonderful teachers and staff!
From the Teachers & Staff - Thank You!
By the teachers and staff
Here’s what Westside teachers and staff had to say about teacher appreciation week last week. Everyone loved it! Thank you for all your work!
Where else can you get sumptuous meals, flowers, books illustrating with how “nice’ you are and all with smiles of appreciation in abundance? Westside School Teacher Appreciation is incredible. Thank you! Jo Ann, Head of School
The food was so fabulous I wanted a bigger stomach! Thank you so very much. Judith, 4th grade teacher
I can’t say enough about the generosity of the Westside Community. Last week I felt appreciated, pampered and definitely well-fed. The lovely sight and scent of flowers made my desk a much more pleasant place to be. I am sure we are the most spoiled staff in Seattle! Thank you, Kathy, Office Manager
Thank you so much for all of the wonderful treats during teacher appreciation week! The gifts were absolutely beautiful and the lunches were amazing! Thanks for everything! Erin and Kathleen, 2nd grade teachers
Everyone does so much for teacher appreciation week, and as a staff person, it’s fun to be included. The lunches are terrific, and it was great way to get all the staff and several parents down to the admin house! Thank You! Jana, Director of Marketing & Development
Thank you all for all the wonderful treats and flowers last week. The most wonderful part were the books that all the children wrote for us. We will always have those to remember your beautiful children. Margaret and I read our books to the class and shared the pictures. The children were so proud of what they had done. Thank you, Marsha and Margaret, Kindergarten
My family was not very happy when I didn’t want to cook dinner all week...but it was all worth it!! Yummy! Thank you!! Chris, 1st grade assistant
Dear parents, Of course I loved all the good food that we were provided with at lunch, but I just LOVED!!! the booklet with the kids’ messages to us. I got all misty reading it. What a great idea! Steven, Chinese teacher
Thanks so much for the amazing food last week! It was all incredible. Sarah, Librarian
Thank you for the amazing lunches and for packing me leftovers. I ate like a king that week. Devin, assistant
I absolutely LOVED the book you put together for each of us. It was a 2 tissue read for me! Thank you! Donna, PE teacher
Everything all week was fantastic, but the thing I appreciated the most was the parent volunteers who came into my class to help cover lunchtime each day, so Jhona and I could enjoy lunch with our colleagues. Nancy, preschool teacher
Sung to the tune of the 1st First Grade Song of Spring Fling, The River is Up:
The food was amazing and our bellies are full,
who’s making our lunch today?
The flowers are gorgeous and smell so good,
we anticipate tomorrow!
A Starbucks card, how do they know,
what teachers like so well?
A book from our students to fill our hearts,
with warmth and love and joy!
And a picture of our beautiful class
so we always remember today.
Thank you Westside Parents for a truly incredible week. I can’t pick out a favorite part because, I must admit, I like it all.
Yours with a tummy full of delicious food, a classroom full of beautiful flowers and a heart full of warmth, love, and joy. Margie Carpenter, 1st grade teacher
Spring Fling DVD’s
Are you interested in buying the Spring Fling DVD? Go online and reserve your copy now! They will be available to pick-up sometime in the next couple weeks! DVD’s will be $15.
WPO Officers Selected for Next Year
By Carolyn Comick, WPO President
The ballot boxes are closed and the results are in! Many thanks to the following parents who have volunteered to take lead roles in the WPO next year. Kate Petrich has signed on as our new President, with Megan Simmons staying for a second year as Vice President. Pam Snider joins us for the first time as Secretary as will Melanie Leary as Treasurer and Sue Winter as Room Parent Coordinator. Amy Huber, who has been Secretary and Volunteer Coordinator in the past, will remain for a third year as Volunteer Coordinator.
As new officers take the place of those stepping down, I would like to extend a very special thank you to a very special group of moms. Vice President Emily Baker, Secretary Megan Simmons, Treasurer Shelley O’Clair and Volunteer Coordinator Amy Huber have selflessly donated their time and effort as WPO officers, working together to build a welcoming and supportive community for the children, parents, teachers and staff at Westside. It has been a truly enjoyable experience working with these talented and dedicated moms. And, last but not least, many thanks to Jana Riggan, who never missed a beat as our advisor, keeping us focused and on track at our morning officer meetings.
Thank You WPO
By Jo Ann Yockey, Head of School
And a HUGE thank you to Carolyn for her work as President of the WPO for two years! She’s done an excellent job as a leader to the WPO officers and to all the committee chairs! The WPO is responsible for all pizza days, for movie nights, for spring fling and winterfest treats, for Halloween fest, the family dance, kindergarten lemonade and more! And, they’re responsible for helping the school with volunteers for many other events and activities. Thank you every officer for all your help this year, and especially Carolyn who led such a cohesive group!
Chinese Update
By Steven Whiting, Chinese Teacher
Da Jia hao! Greetings All! It’s hard to believe that the school year is winding down already. I think it has been a successful one for our Chinese program. All the classes have moved on to expand their knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.
The kindergartners have just learned the Little Mouse song, which you may have been serenaded with at home. I try to choose up-tempo songs which I think are more fun for the kids so I decided to change my original plan to this one. The kids really love it. We have also been working on likes and dislikes to talk about our animals, fruits, colors, etc. Soon we will begin to review the year’s material so that they won’t forget it over the summer.
The first graders have also learned the Little Mouse song and are presently working on insects and asking how to say something in Chinese. We will also be reviewing our comparisons and this year’s materials in the weeks to come.
The second graders have just received their Chinese names. They are presently learning how to say them and how to write them. I am really impressed by some of the writing skills that I am seeing in their Chinese characters. Review of nationalities and vegetables coming up.
The third graders are learning a second verse of Old Mr. Wang using a second set of vegetables. They are also doing the days of the week to go with telling the date. We have also begun to learn the Snail Song which is always a hit with the kids. Review coming up.
The fourth and fifth graders are learning to tell time and talk about their daily schedules. They are also learning the My Little Mule song, in addition to more vegetables. Unfortunately the Chinese artisans who were scheduled to arrive in Seattle in April to work on the Seattle Chinese Garden have been held up by visa problems and won’t arrive until mid-June at the earliest. So we will wait until September to take a field trip to the SCG so we can see them in action.
Thanks for all of your support during the year. I hope I can learn a lot of useful teaching techniques in Changchun this summer and incorporate them into our program next year. If I don’t get a chance to do so, let me wish you all a fun and restful summer. Zai Jian. Bai Laoshi
