Friday
Oct. 12
PNAIS Conference
Teacher In-Service
No School
Monday
Oct. 15
Enrichment Classes Start this Week!
Wednesday
Oct. 17
Board Meeting
6:30pm
Thursday
Oct. 18
3rd to Pioneer Farm
Thursday
Oct. 25
WPO Meeting
6:30pm
Friday
Oct. 26
Spirit/Pizza Day
School Pictures
Saturday
Oct. 27
Halloween Fest
Noon - 4pm
October 11, 2007
Time to Show Your Halloween "Spirit!"
Picture Day is Friday, Oct. 26
My Favorite Summer Memory
Help a Kid in Takaungu
Art that Comes Alive
Childcare for Conference Days, November 1-2
Pioneer Experience Days in 3rd Grade
Family Dance Chair Needed
Time to Show Your
Halloween Fest “Spirit!”
By Angie Graves and Krista Wassermann, Halloween Fest Chairs
Westside’s most “Spirited” event, Halloween Fest, is happening on Saturday, October 27th. It’s time to volunteer your life away and join the morbid fun! The volunteer sign up sheets are available NOW both online (click here - or the link on the first page of the parent/student network) and in the office. So, are you truly a jarring Jumper Slide Sentry or do you crave being a Creepy Cashier?? Do tell – we won’t bite!
Questions or Suggestions?
Please contact either:
Krista Wasserman at krista8everything@yahoo.com or Angie Graves at add113@clearwire.net.
Picture Day is Friday, October 26th
Picture order forms should have gone home with your child today in their take home folder. Both classroom and individual pictures will be taken (note that the class photo is ordered separately from the package selection). Payment is due by picture day and can be turned in to your teacher.
My Favorite Summer Memory
By Judith Arvidson, 4th grade teacher
The 4th and 5th graders have just finished a 6-trait writing project describing their favorite summer memory. It is only fair, therefore, that I share a favorite memory too!
In August, my family went with West Seattle Rotary to Kenya to do a service project in the village of Takaungu. Our hosts were Suzanne and Mahmud Jeneby. Suzanne is the founder and Executive Director of the East African Center (EAC), located in Takaungu, Kenya. The EAC operates a community center called the Vutukaka Center, which offers several programs including a health clinic and sewing and farming classes. They also have a school, which will eventually serve students in grades Pre-K to 8. The school arose from the needs of the village. 1000 children live in Takaungu and its surrounding area, and the government schools are overcrowded, with over 60 to 80 students in each grade.
Vutukaka Primary School ran out of available space and wasn’t able to educate all the children in Takaungu; with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the EAC was able to purchase 6.5 acres of land and is building a Pre-K through 8th grade school. Our service work in Takaungu involved constructing a traditional building of the Giriama tribe to accommodate the kitchen for the new school. I also reviewed and made recommendations to the curriculum used at the school.
To construct the building, coconut trees were felled and split to create main beams, quince branches were limbed to create the “fitos” for wall creation, and sisal was stripped for rope. Soil and water from the property were mixed to place in-between the fitos to finish the walls. Sisal was wrapped to create “makutis” for the roof. In five days, a kitchen was built to accommodate one meal per day for 180 students!
While there I spoke at length with Suzanne about setting up a sister school relationship between Vutukaka School and Westside School. The schools are similar in size and one of the missions of Westside School is to promote understanding of all kinds of differences that are in our global community.
Through this sister school relationship the 4’s and 5’s have established pen pals with the 4th and 5th graders in Takaungu. We will also be doing several other projects with these students. Maybe we’ll even be able to visit one day!
The 4th and 5th grade class have also begun an Outreach Project to collect school supplies for their sister school. Each term the students at Vutukaka School are given a set of school supplies. Please see the appeal from the students in the Update!
This was an amazing experience and I am so honored to have been part of this project. I have every expectation that I will be returning someday to the amazing country of Kenya to further my education of children of the world.
Help a Kid in Takaungu
By Dylan Mortimer, Sam Tabbutt and Aidan Chesnut
Do you want to help kids get an education? At the moment, that act is needed in the Vutukaka School in the village of Takaungu, Kenya. Even if kids do get into a school, not many have the money to buy supplies.
But you can help! You can help by individually supplying the following items to help one Takaungu student get through one school year with enough supplies. We need each student to get the following supplies:
• 12 pencils
• 3 color pencil packs
• 3 color crayon sets
• 9 erasers
• 3 mini pencil sharpeners
• 6 inch ruler
• $1.00 to purchase shoes in Kenya
• 1 pencil pouch
Please bring in them to the 4th and 5th grade class by November 15th. Thank you from the 4-5ers!!!
Art that Comes Alive
By Margery Lamden, Art Teacher
The wind is blowing and the colorful leaves are floating gracefully in the sky. There is a lot of change and movement occurring in nature this time of year. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to use the elements of movement, balance and change in an art project.
I showed the students many photographs of different mobiles created by Alexander Calder. We discussed how Calder wanted to invent an art that was not merely representative of action, but art that really changed positions. He experimented and devised a type of sculpture that actually moves.
I demonstrated many techniques of wrapping wire and how to connect various objects, and every student at Westside constructed their own mobile. The materials used for the mobiles varied; some classes used glass forms, while the younger artists created their sculptures with interesting beads, buttons, and jewels. The students were eager to construct their mobiles. They worked with focus, skill and a lot of imagination. One student, in Claudia’s Pre-K class, said, “Wow, it came alive, look at it move!”
Alexander Calder said, “a mobile laid flat exists as a skeleton, but when suspended it seems to come alive. Each element can move, shift or sway back and forth in a changing relationship to each other.”
I hope you enjoy these delicate creations that create movement and rhythm with the wind.
Childcare for Conference Days, November 1 - 2, 8am-5pm
Classes will not be meeting on conference days, Nov.1 and 2. We will be offering childcare for full day Westside students, 4 and older from 8am-5pm. All families who wish to use childcare must register online. We have 20 spots available for K-5 and 20 for PK; space is limited because classrooms are being used for conferences.
First priority will be given to our families who are contracted for childcare (not drop-in only contracts) until October 25. If there is still space available, we will then open up the childcare to other families wishing care on those days first come, first serve. There will be a $40 flat fee for everyone, for use of care for any part or all of the day.
You must register for this care on the parent-protected part of the website. Click here, or go to "Before and Aftercare,” the provided link, then “Conference Childcare” to sign up.
Childcare for conference time only
Drop-in care, for the length of the conference only, is provided free of charge for all Westside students. Children must attend Westside School. When you sign up for your conference with your child’s teacher, please note whether you will be using this service. The drop-in care will be in the art room.
Pioneer Experience Days in Third Grade
By Joe Tutch, 3rd grade teacher
Third grade has put a new spin on the old saying T.G.I.F. (Thank Goodness It’s Friday). The new version used by 3rd graders is T.G.I.P.E.D. (Thank Goodness It’s Pioneer Experience Day.)
“My favorite thing about Pioneer Experience Day is how interesting everything is. Everything is my favorite part of Pioneer Experience Day,” said Caitlin.
“My favorite thing about Pioneer Experience Day is cooking biscuits,’’ said Spencer.
Every Friday from 1:30 until 3:00, 3rd graders are able to participate in what is quickly becoming a favorite event. It is called Pioneer Experience Day. This event consists of three different pioneer activities. One activity is playing a pioneer game with Joe. The second activity is making a pioneer craft with Kevin, the 3rd grade assistant. The last activity is cooking pioneer food with 3rd grade parents in the school kitchen.
Each 3rd grader first dresses up in pioneer garb. The boys wear a cowboy hat with a scarf. The girls wear a bonnet, shawl, and apron. Once their pioneer costumes are on, the class embarks on their pioneer experiences. The class is split into thirds, and each group starts out with a different activity. After 30 minutes, the groups switch. This half hour rotation lets each group have the opportunity to participate in each pioneer activity.
So far, the pioneer experiences have included all of the following:
• “rolling the hoop” game
• buzz saw making
• flapjack cooking
• “drop the handkerchief” game
• pony express relay games
• wool friends
• biscuits and cider cooking
• “hide the button” game
• “blind man’s bluff” game
• corn husking and wood whittling
• “shadow tag” game playing
• peach cobbler cooking
• cat’s cradle playing
• rag doll making
• corn fritters cooking
Here is a list of the rest of the activities 3rd graders will be engaged in for the remainder of our Pioneer Experience Days.
• marbles playing
• thaumatrope making
• horseshoe cookie cooking
• bull roaring & mountain bolo making
• corn bread cooking
• “jackstraws” & “poor doggie” game playing
• cup & ball making
• hoe cake cooking
• “Who has the button?” & target practice game playing
• corn husk doll making
• cornbread pudding cooking
• bean bag toss & 3 leg race playing
• butter churning & winter window scene making
• gingerbread cooking
• square dancing
Once the 3rd grade pioneer unit ends, a new instructional unit will take its place. During our next unit, 3rd grade will learn all about Africa and the tropical rainforest. So the Pioneer Experience Days will turn into African Experience Days. 3rd grade will end its year by studying Mexico and the African Experience Days will become Mexican Experience Days.
If you would like to come and visit 3rd grade during one of its Friday Experience Days just stop by the room and join in on the fun!
Family Dance Chair Needed
All parents and families, we are still in need of a chairperson for this year’s Family Dance, Friday, November 16 at 6:30pm. The date has been set, the DJ has been reserved; we just need someone to organize and drive this event. If you are willing and able to help this year, please contact Amy Huber, amyhuber@comcast.net.