Friday
November 30
Movie Night
Thursday
December 6
Last day of Elementary Oscars (Thursday)
Friday
December 7
Tour 9:15am
Spirit/Pizza Day
Last day of Kindergarten Chess
Saturday
December 8
Open House
1-3pm
Barnes and Noble Book Fair
Monday
December 10
Last day of Elementary Oscars
(Monday)
Tuesday
December 11
Tour 9:15am
Thursday
December 13
Winterfest
6:30pm
Friday
December 21
Early Dismissal
No School
No Aftercare
November 29, 2007
Annual Giving Update
Toys for Tots!
Winterfest
Help Wanted: Auction Procurement
Thank You for School Supplies
Who Writes Update Articles?
Family Movie Night Tomorrow!
Westside Marathoners
Admissions for Westside Siblings
Illness Policy
Annual Giving Update
Annual Giving is well underway, and many of you have participated already! Thank you for showing your support of Westside School in this very important way. Two classes have already reached 100% participation – Marsha’s Kindergarten Class and the 2nd Grade Class. The second grade reached 100% participation on November 15th – our official kick-off! Over 150 grandparents, staff and families gave on November 15th! Thank you everyone who has contributed!
Three students donated this year, Christopher (1st grade, Margie), Easton (1st grade, Renee) and Jing (4th grade). It’s always exciting to see students participate in this essential fundraiser!
Below is a participation graph showing how close each class is to reaching 100% participation. If you haven’t made a donation, or pledge, yet, it’s easy! Just visit www.westsideschool.org/annualgiving.htm or pledge by email to janar@westsideschool.org. Remember, each class that reaches 100% participation means Westside receives an extra $1000. This match really helps bridge the $2000 per child gap between the actual cost of a year at Westside and the cost of tuition.
Toys for Tots!
It’s that time of year again! The kindergarten class is busy decorating a giant collection box for the Toys For Tots drive. We will begin collecting toys that are new and unwrapped on Monday, December 3rd. Our last collection day will be December 12th. Look for the decorated Toy Box in the hallway and drop off your new, unwrapped toy.
Winterfest
Thursday, December 13, 6:30pm
Save the Date for Westside’s own celebration of music – Winterfest! This year, because our community has grown, Winterfest will be held at Grace Church, just half a block away from Westside School. Every class participates, and students dress up in their finest to sing the songs they’ve been practicing in music class all year.
This year, there should be plenty of parking! And refreshments and hot coffee will be served after the show to catch up with parents and friends.
Share Winterfest with family and friends. It will be available as a DVD by Friday, December 21! A perfect holiday gift!
Stay tuned for more information next week!
Help Wanted: Auction Procurement
Have you been holding out for one of the coolest, most impactful, fun opportunities to help Westside School? Wait no longer! Your chance is here! The auction procurement team (of 1) is looking for folks.
What does the procurement team do? We are responsible for getting all the great stuff that gets sold at the auction. Almost all of our donations come from the Westside community and a targeted mailing to local businesses. We typically do NOT do door to door solicitation (if there’s someone out there who wants to that, we welcome it, but we have found that we don’t really need it to be successful.) Most of the procurement’s team work is in tracking items, writing descriptions, packaging stuff together, and picking up donations.
This is a great way to have a huge impact on the success of the auction (and get an up close sneak peek at donations.) If you have a couple of hours to give before Winter break and 3-5 hours a week to give starting mid January please contact Jana Barber at janabarber@comcast.net.
Thank You for School Supplies
Many of you donated school supplies to Vutakaka School in Takaungu, Kenya. The organization that runs the school is called the East African Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children (EAC). When the EAC asked the community in Takaungu how they could best help them, they were asked to start a top-notch professional school. The EAC opened the Vutakaka School on January 6, 2004. Judith, our 4th grade teacher, visited the school this summer, and asked everyone to donate school supplies. Over 100 supply kits were donated! The following is a thank you letter from the EAC:
Dear EAC Supporters at Westside School,
Thank you so much for your contribution of school supplies for the children at the Vutakaka Junior School in Takaungu, Kenya. At last count, the community of West Seattle has collected over 100 school supplies kits!
These supplies are desperately needed, and will allow our students to come to school prepared, and to be successful throughout the year.
Your generosity will help to improve the life of a child through education, and education changes everything! It is our hope that with a solid education, these children will have the means to overcome extreme poverty, and improve the standard of living for themselves and their community.
Thank you for helping so many children in Africa move forward to a better life.
Warmest regards, Theresa Wilson
Board President, East African Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children
Who Writes these Update Articles Anyway?
By Jana Riggan, Marketing and Development Director
The other day, someone asked me if I wrote every Update article that didn’t have a byline attributed to someone else! Wow! I would be really busy if that was true! Update articles are written by everyone on the administrative team – Jo Ann, David, Heidi, Kathy and me. If someone writes an article that especially pertains to them, a byline is included, but most of the time, general articles are written by one of the admin team. Every week, a specialist and a teacher are also assigned to write an article. I am responsible for the layout and general editing, and Kathy is the final editor. Every Update is a joint effort between the entire administrative staff. I hope you enjoy it!
Family Movie Night Tomorrow!
featuring The Jungle Book, Rated G, 78 minutes, Admission is free! Doors Open at 5:45 pm, Movie Starts at 6:15pm
By Kate Petrich, Movie Night Chairperson
Don’t miss your chance to see “the bear necessities of life” tomorrow at Family Movie Night. Admission is free!
Everyone is invited. Kids are welcome to come dressed in their PJ’s, and bring pillows, mats, sleeping bags, lawn chairs, etc., to make movie viewing comfy. (Big chairs will be set-up for parents in the back). Westside spiritwear, pizza and other concessions will be for sale. So come hungry and enjoy an evening with family, friends, and fellow classmates.
For those of you who haven’t seen The Jungle Book, it’s a fun, lively story about friendship and adventure with great music. See you there!
Westside’s Merry Marathoners!
By Donna Jornlin, PE Teacher
Hail, hail the gang from Westside was there last Saturday & the fun began with 3000 others running around the Seattle Center for the final 1.2 miles of the Seattle Kids Marathon. Congratulations to Clare Tuch, Grant Comick, Sawyer & Blaise Webbeking, Kelvin Wallace, Spencer Dean & Emma Stammen. Special thanks to Robert Dean for painting a terrific Westside sign for all to see & meet at. Participants agreed the finish line was awesome with t-shirts, free chocolate milk & super cool silver mylar blankets to wrap up in just like the real marathoners!
Admissions for WS Siblings
Admissions for the 2007-2008 school year are well underway. Application materials for new students are due February 15, 2008. If your student has a sibling that you would like to attend Westside next fall, it is very important that we receive your application materials by the deadline. We give first priority to Westside siblings if they meet the February 15 deadline. Last year we had more applications than places available and had large wait pools in both PS and PK. Please stop by the office to request application forms.
Westside School’s Illness Policy Reminder
To help prevent the spread of illness to other students and to the teaching staff it is important to follow the guidelines set out in our Parent and Student Handbook:
When children come to school, they should be able to participate fully in all activities, including outdoors. Children should not attend school when they have a contagious disease, diarrhea, a fever, been vomiting within the last 24 hours, have yellow-green mucous discharging from their nose, or when they are in the early stages of a cold. Please send your child back to school only after they have had a normal temperature for 24 hours. If your child has special health problems, please discuss this with the teacher. If children become sick at school their parents or a specified person will be called to take them home.