Thursday
Oct. 18
3rd to Pioneer Farm
Thursday
Oct. 25
WPO Meeting
6:30pm
Childcare
Available Online
Friday
Oct. 26
Spirit/Pizza Day
School Pictures
Saturday
Oct. 27
Halloween Fest
Noon - 4pm
Thursday - Friday
Nov. 1 and 2
Parent/Teacher Conferences
No Classes; Childcare
available online
Friday
Nov. 9
Tour 9:15am
Spirit/Pizza Day
Monday
Nov. 12
Veteran’s Day
No School;
No Childcare
October 18, 2007
From Jo Ann, Parent-Teacher Conferences
No Hiding - We're Seeking!
What Does the WPO Do?
The Mileage Club Returns
From Jo Ann
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Here it is fall. Teachers have had time to really get to know your child, and children have gotten into the flow of another grade and routine. Now it is time to formally talk about goals for each individual child’s success. The fall parent-teacher conference is taking the time to make sure that each parent and each teacher get to share information about a very special person – their student and your child.
Positive Contributions of the Parent Conference:
• Provides better working relationship between teacher and parents
• Gives parents an opportunity for developing a true insight into the school objectives, expectations and the problems the child faces; provides parents with an opportunity to enter more fully and realistically into the child’s education
• Offers an opportunity to place emphasis on the total growth of the child; the child’s strengths and weaknesses can be discussed candidly and fully
• Presents a formal setting for the discussion of aspects of the child’s performance which demand specific united attention
• Develops greater teacher perspective to realize more vividly the environmental forces at work on the child outside the school
• Creates a greater sense of security on the part of the child that parents and teacher are working as a team
This discussion of the grade level educational program and the progress of the child is a means of emphasizing the mutual responsibilities the home and school share. The teacher gains from parents some knowledge of the child’s home environment and learns what out-of school factors affect progress in school. Parents need to understand the standards, the materials, and the assignments and expectations for the school year. The teachers will share skill assessments along with samples of the student’s work. In addition to the grade level content standards, it is important to understand how they contribute to the student’s accomplishing competence, confidence and performance as we teach our student’s work habits. The student’s attitudes, interests, abilities and aptitudes in home and school help the teacher and the parent to know and understand the child better. This open communication is a crucial link in delivering Westside School’s high quality of education.
Please remember that this conference time has been set aside for this very important conversation between the parents and the teachers. We know everyone is busy, and we understand that a few families will not be able to meet during our scheduled conference times. However, please respect the teacher’s time as you reschedule.
No Hiding – We’re Seeking!
If you have not yet signed your life away for Halloween Fest either online or on the sign up sheets outside the office, it’s TIME! Westside’s creepiest Halloween Fest ever is happening next Saturday, October 27th and we need your help! So once again, are you the kind of Mummy who lurks around eerie Duck Ponds or are you a Daredevil Dad who can keep reigns on trick-or-treaters tossing rats and spiders at Haunted Puppets?? Please sign up for just one hour (we don’t really need your whole life) to help make this event fun and safe for our little ghouls and monsters. If you’re not available that day but would still like to help, please let us know – I’m sure we could find something good and frightening for you to do…
Questions or Suggestions?
Please contact either: Krista Wasserman at krista8everything@yahoo.com or Angie Graves at add113@clearwire.net
What Does the WPO Do?
Ask your child about yesterday’s assembly! The Seattle Mime Theater performed for all our students, and the children went wild! Many of them stepped forward to perform, acting out the words “go,” “stop,” and “melt.” Later, six 5th graders stepped up to become the Seattle space needle, crazy weird creatures, a giant, timid, pink dragon, and more! Everyone – teachers, parents and students – were mesmerized by the show!
Assemblies like the Seattle Mime Theater are made possible by WPO events. Participating in pizza day, Halloween fest, buying logo wear and more make events like this possible for our students. Funds raised during WPO activities go back into our community, either as parent activities, student activities or a combination of both.
Upcoming WPO Events:
WPO Meeting
featuring Second Step and Roots of Empathy.
Learn how teachers and staff at Westside resolve conflict and disruptive behavior. Students learn at all grade levels how to be respectful and to get along with others. Creating this caring environment is what we call “the Westside Way.”
Thursday, October 25th - 6:30pm
Childcare is available online!
Halloween Fest
featuring great activities for kids of all ages! Friends and family invited!
Saturday, October 27th -
12-4pm
The Family Dance
A fun family event!
Friday, November 16th - 6:30pm
Movie Night
Watch a fun-filled movie appropriate for kids of all ages in the gym!
Friday, November 30th - 6:15pm
The WPO handbook is available online! Check out the link here - http://www.westsideschool.org/community/wpo.htm.
The Mileage Club Returns!
By Donna Jornlin, PE Teacher
How many laps to a mile? How many laps equal 5 miles? Have you seen those new toe tokens?! The energy and excitement are palatable when the students are running and walking at lunch recess. With the terrific help of the teaching assistants recording laps, this voluntary, non-competitive activity pairs friends from different grades in a positive, lifelong activity as they hustle around the field. Several students are already at their 13th mile! We’d love you to join us (if it stops raining!)
Another fitness tradition at Westside is the annual Seattle Kids Marathon, set for Saturday, November 24th at the Seattle Center. Can kids complete a marathon? They sure can with some goal-setting and preparation. Children are encouraged to “walk or run one mile at a time” and Mileage Club miles count towards marathon miles. Check my web page for details on entering the event and terrific prizes. This is a great family fitness activity and gets everybody walking and talking together!
Cooperation is the word of the month in the gym and it looks like working together in Preschool to help a friend get unstuck in “Stuck in the Mud “ tag to making accurate bounces for catching beachballs in kindergarten and 1st grade. The Cardio Circus relay is a hit in 2nd and 3rd grade, and the 4th and 5th grade learned to focus on teamwork in a multiple ball pass game this week.
We like to “move it, move it, move it!”