Friday
November 6
Spirit/Pizza Day
Saturday
November 7
Admissions
Open House
1-3pm
Tuesday
November 10
Annual Giving Kick-Off Breakfast!
7:30am-10am
Wednesday
November 11
Veteran’s Day
No School
Wednesday
November 18
Admissions Tour
9:15am
Board Meeting
6:30pm
Friday
November 20
Spirit/Pizza Day
Wednesday
November 25
Family Friends’ Day
10:30am
November 5, 2009
Annual Giving Kick-Off Tuesday!
Family Friends' Day
Great Books
In My Closet...
What's Laura's Class Talking About?
Halloween Fest Recap
Annual Giving Kick-Off
Join us for Breakfast & Increase your Gift on
Tuesday, November 10th
Annual Giving officially launches on Tuesday, November 10th. Delicious pastries from Bakery Nouveau and lattes will be available from 7:30am on, so drop by and grab something on your way out the door or stay awhile. Our goal is 100% participation from all of you, our Westside families. Whether that means a gift of $25 or $2500, your participation in this fundraiser shows your support of our school. A few generous families have stepped up to create a match. All gifts received on or before Tuesday will increase by $100, and every class that reaches 100% participation means an extra $1000 for Westside. It’s easy to give, and even a gift (or pledge) of $25 is meaningful.
Here are answers to some recent questions:
I couldn’t make it to the Sustainer event. Can I still be a sustainer?
Yes! sustainers make a yearly commitment to give $500 for every one of their children that attend Westside. The Sustainer event is a fun way to kick-off annual giving, and attendance at the event is not required.
I can’t give $500 all at once. Is there a way to give over time?
Yes! Pledges also qualify for the match, and allow you to give your gift when it’s convenient for you. Giving $50 a month for 10 months is $500! You can also pledge to start giving in January and stop in March, or make a one-time gift in May.
I have a child in two different classes. Do I have to make two different donations?
No. Your one donation qualifies as participation in both classes.
I can’t make it into the school by Tuesday. How can I make my gift qualify for the match?
You can give online. Click here. You can also send an email with your pledge information to janar@westsideschool.org.
Other questions? Email Jana at janar@westsideschool.org
Family Friends’ Day
Every year, on the day before Thanksgiving, a family friend is invited to visit with your child in his or her classroom. Guests are invited to Westside at 10:30am for a short program in the gym, and then spend the rest of the morning with your child. Invitations for this event are going home this week. That day is only a half-day; students get out at noon. (K, PS and PK get out at 11:45am.) Please make arrangements with your child’s teacher if your guest will take your child home.
Great Books
By Renee Smith, 1st Grade Teacher
While I was home sick the other week, I listened to three great audiobooks. And it could have been the fever, but I really felt they complimented each other well…The first was Alfie Kohn’s Unconditional Parenting. This author was the key speaker at our recent PNAIS conference. He is a dynamic, fun speaker with a compelling message: some of our widely held views on parenting may be wrong!
The second book was new, called Nurture Shock (subtitled “New Thinking about Children”) by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. This book was full of research based information, entertaining vignettes, and a compelling message: some of our most cherished, widely held views on parenting may be wrong!
Both books discuss at length the thought that perhaps we, as child rearers, are too free with praise (and consequence). Most notable is the phrase, “Good job!” This phrase is worse than meaningless, say the authors. It creates anxiety in the children, who begin to focus on the praise rather than the learning. It is okay to comment on their work, as in “You are trying hard to get that problem right.”
The third book, the oldest of the three and the one which may appear to not match the others, is Tao Te Ching’s Chinese Wisdom. I just wanted to add some Buddhist mysticism to my virus. But what do you know? So old it’s new, right there in the 13th verse, the one named “Self,” are the following words:
Both Praise and blame cause concern,
For they bring people hope and fear.
The object of hope and fear is the self –
For, without self, to whom may
Fortune and disaster occur?
If you are curious about either of the other authors and/or their work, email me or ask. I was especially intrigued by Nurture Shock, which had some good info about talking about race with your children. It was very thought provoking.
Read any good books lately?
In My Closet…
By Cathy Chutich, Music Teacher
In my closet in the Music and Art Room lives an amazing array of instruments, ranging from simple shakers to the beautiful barred instruments of the Orff Instrumentarium, the instruments I’ll be writing about today. We are very fortunate to have enough of these instruments so that each student can play his or her own when we bring them out. Listen and watch for these instruments at Winterfest.
A bit of background: these instruments were created by Carl Orff in the 1920’s, inspired by his hearing African and Indonesian xylophones. At first they were used by older musicians, and later, when Orff began developing his ideas on music for children, they were sized down.
There are three different families within his ensemble:
• Glockenspiels (bells), both soprano and alto
• The heavier metallophones, xylophone-like but with heavy metal bars which ring
• The wooden xylophone family
These last two groups come in three sizes – soprano, alto and bass.
The bass itself is a very versatile instrument. It can be used alone to accompany rounds, songs, and stories. The bass is also the heart and leader of an Orff ensemble. It is a beautiful looking and sounding instrument and everyone loves to play it. It allows kids to learn to play alone rhythmically as well as to play with others, and it makes every group sound like a high-quality ensemble.
With just a small number of xylophones, ensemble playing can begin. What the metal instruments bring to the ensemble is color and range– the bells shimmer in a higher register, while the metallophones sustain glistening sounds in contrast to the dry, woody xylophones.
Orff instruments can be used in both simple and complex ways. Most simply, the xylophones help with beat competence and gross motor involvement - even young children can play accompaniment patterns on the xylophone.
Children are drawn to the instruments because they make beautiful sounds and are challenging to play (gross motor reflexes with complicated body crossings – not easy to do!). It’s even trickier to sing and play simultaneously.
Instruments help the class develop better ensemble skills and take more responsibility for staying together, raising the general level of music-making. The kids see as well as hear pitch relationships – larger instruments and longer bars produce lower sounds. The instrumentalist has the important role of maintaining the beat, and learns to hold the group together by listening and singing while playing the accompaniment part. This adds more levels of challenge within any class. Once the basic principles and techniques are learned, kids can improvise their own parts as well, and help each other improve. This small family of instruments has a big effect on musical development.
What’s Laura’s Class Talking About?
By Laura Holmes, 2nd Grade Teacher
Our discussions during Meeting Time are truly amazing! We start with the initial discussion and then off we go as more information is added on. Here’s how several recent discussions have led to deeper learning and a stronger understanding of the topic.
• Eden and Olivia brought in an article about wind turbines and bat migration pathways—a rare green vs. green lawsuit is taking place in West Virginia. The discussion about the facts in the article expanded to talking about producing electricity by burning coal, mine safety and comparing mining with caving.
Vocabulary: spelunking, turbine,
• Ben read a story he wrote during Writer’s Workshop which mentioned caterpillar treads on a robot. A listener question was, “What are treads?” That discussion led to wheels vs. tires and car tires vs. bike tires.
Vocabulary: slicks, knobbies, hydroplaning
• The World Series homework page provided quite a discussion about baseball rules, why we cheer for certain teams, which uniforms we prefer (socks out vs. baggie pants, pinstripes vs. solid), and how do the players travel between NYC and Philadelphia - Car? Train? Team bus? Plane?
Vocabulary: “Best out of seven,” playoffs, manager, home field advantage
I can’t wait to find out what we will be discussing tomorrow after I ask my daily question of, “Any news, announcements, questions or comments?”
Halloween Fest a Success!
By Shelli Park, WPO Vice President
Halloween Fest 2009 was a spook-tacular success thanks to this year’s co-chairs Angie Graves and Krista Wassermann. We are in awe at the amount of thoughtfulness that went into creating this celebration sensation. Of course, it takes ALL of the volunteers to make the Halloween Fest happen, (Hats off, again, to all the volunteers) but without the co-chairs dedicated organization, Westside would not be host to this truly scary event! If you see Angie or Krista, please stop and thank them for their dedication and for creating another fabulous fest.
Angie and Krista are putting together a comprehensive list of notes and directions for the NEXT Halloween Fest chairs. This is a wonderful opportunity to donate your talents and make Halloween Fest 2010 a smashing success. Angie and Krista can answer your questions and help you understand what it takes to be the 2010 H-fest Rock Stars.
A quick note to anyone who hasn’t collected their photos; photos are outside the front office on a spooky bulletin board. Such wonderful costumes this year! Did you see that cute little chicken? (There are also a few lost and found items. Come and claim them before they become disgruntled and haunt the office.)
If you donated one of the many delicious treats, there are a several dishes left from the goodie sale. They are in the kitchen for bakers to collect with names marked on the back (thank you Celesta Bjornson for washing all those!).
From our Halloween Fest Chairs Angie Graves and Krista Wassermann:
To all of our over 103 absolutely fantastic 2009 Halloween Fest Volunteers: We thank you so much for all your hard work and/or your donated goods!!! Once again, we’ve exceeded the numbers from the previous year selling more than 3900 tickets!! Think about how many fortunes told, prizes fished for, goodies bought and faces painted... That’s a LOT of kids you made very happy Saturday!!
This event cannot happen without volunteers like you to pull it off! We hope you enjoyed it as much as all those happy kids!
There are a few Halloween Fest Volunteers we wanted to call special attention to:
* The team of Face Painters: Peg Nelson, Jennifer Costello, Yvonne Frankovich, Dawn Mills, Amy Eby and Esther Cohen
* The Infamous Fortune Tellers: Sophia Townsend, Katya Spielberg and Keni Cohen!
* Ev Kar - Photographic Genius extraordinaire!! Ev stayed for the entire Fest with her patient daughter Sofia
* Gabby Moorhead – Spook-cessions Chair - What an amazing display of all those fantastic goodies!
* Tracy Beck - Tracy wrapped over 400 prizes for the treasure chest, and some how made those beautiful invisible lollies.
* The 4th and 5th graders who volunteered to make two of our new stations successful this year!
* And... anyone who had to stay a bit extra, start early or just jump in to fill unexpected empty spots - your flexibility was invaluable!!
Thanks so much!!
Please let us know what suggestions and feedback you have for next year so the WPO can keep making Halloween Fest better every year. A lot of feedback from last year was incorporated into this year’s event so please help us make next year even better!
Thanks again for your time and efforts - it’s parents like you who truly make the Westside community tick!
Here are a few event reviews from some of the toughest critics:
Bailey G., 5th: I liked the Treasure Hunt, and just the whole thing.
Matt K., 5th: My favorite part was where we (fourth and fifth graders volunteered at the fishing game) were actually inside of the big, circular tent thing, and we were giving the little kids treats in their buckets, and we did the shark head thing, which was really cool. I liked the games. I like stomping on the balloon in the Obstacle Course.
Flora M., 3rd: I liked the Treasure Chest. I like throwing the skeleton squishy heads with the worms and stuff.
Blake L., 3rd: I like the food.
Aisha W., 3rd: I liked the treats at Halloween Fest.
Tess W. 3rd: I like the costumes and the fishing station. Well, I also really liked how my mom helped with the Halloween Fest. She does that every year.
Jocelyn S., 2nd: I liked the slide.
Will H., 2nd : I sort of liked the Obstacle Course. I didn’t go on the slide because there was too big of a line. Ummmm. I liked the Cake Walk, the Face Painting, and the Ghoul’s Golf, and that is pretty much it.
Henry M., 2nd: I like Halloween Fest because I like watching people go down the big slide, and I like the Ghoul Golf, even though I didn’t get any putts in the hole, and I liked the Cake Walk, and the Obstacle Course.
Emma M., 3rd: I like the Treasure Hunting. And Graveyard Golf.
Kieran, 2nd: I liked the slide. I liked where you threw skulls at fake witches and stuff, and I liked one more thing: Graveyard Golf.
Kylie M., 2nd: I liked the slide and the thing where you reach inside all of the paper stringy things and you get something that is wrapped in foil, and then you open it.
Devin G., 2nd: I like the Wizard Lair Obstacle Course. It was my favorite game this year.
Soleil P., 2nd: I liked the big, bouncy-slide-thingy. I was wearing a witch costume and it was really hard to climb up the step-thingies. It is kind of like you are in a castle, and then you have to slide down to get out of the castle. It ís fun.
Ava S., K: My favorite was the slide bouncy house.
Kate S., K: My favorite part was getting my picture taken. And guessing how many spiders were in the jar.
Emerson D., K: My favorite part was when I was on the slide.
Amalia, K: Winning my game, which was super easy. The broom one where you had to find your way through the brooms, and then pop the balloons.
Alex K., K: The slide.
Jordan F., K: When my mom painted my face, and where there was an obstacle course and you had to press the balloon down and push a button, and you had to go through the spinning brooms and go through a tunnel, then stamp on a balloon, and then push a button and then you were done. It was so funny.
Luci N., K: There was these face painting kids, and a girl painted my face with little triangles with blue and green (motioned around her eye in a crescent pattern.)
Xochitl A., K: Face Paint. I got a giant spider painted around my whole face.
Bellamy S., K: Going on those brooms, like when you go through the brooms, and you go under this little tennis thing, and you have to pop this balloon,
Sofia F, K: The bouncy house, because I got to slide down it, and I almost lost my tickets because my tickets were in my shirt.
Blake P., K: I was a vampire. I was a wearing a mask, and nobody was going to scare me so I scared them!
Aina S., P-K: The fishing.
Vivienne P., 1st: My favorite part was getting a whole bunch of treats because Jeff let me.
Sophia C., 1st: My favorite part was winning the spider guess contest!
Thank you Westside Community for another great Halloween Fest!!