Friday
October 23
School Pictures
Wednesday
October 28
Admission Tour
9:15am
Thursday & Friday
October 29 and 30
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Saturday
October 31
Halloween Fest!
Sunday
November 1
Daylight Savings Ends
Tuesday
November 3
Assembly
9:30am
Wednesday
November 4
Westside
Sustainer
Event
7pm
Friday
November 6
Spirit/Pizza Day
October 22, 2009
Sooo Close You Can Feeel it!
Seattle Kids Marathon
Digital Literacy
Fire Safety in PS/PK
Spanish Update
Soooo Close You Can Feeeel It!
Westside’s Creepiest Halloween Fest Ever Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31, Noon - 4PM!
By Angie Graves & Krista Wassermann, Halloween Fest Chairs
New to Halloween Fest fun or need a little reminder? Here’s how it works… Buy lots of tickets (50¢ each) for your costumed critters and then use them to “buy” turns at the different activities/booths. Kids can slide down a gigantic Jumper slide, challenge themselves in the Ghouly obstacle course (new this year) and get their future told by a “genuine” fortune teller! It really can’t get any better (or scarier) than this. In addition to all this fun – there will be pizza, snacks and treats aplenty to buy with tickets or real money. We know - you’re shaking in your shoes already…
There are still some super spooky volunteer spots to fill so if you haven’t already, don that Halloween Spirit, head to your computer (hey look, you’re already there) and SIGN UP! We need you for just one hour to help make this treasured event (yes, there is a REAL treasure chest) most amusing for our little specters and their fiends, oh sorry, we mean friends. Or do we???
Questions or Suggestions? Please contact either: Angie Graves at add113@clearwire.net or Krista Wassermann at krista8everything@yahoo.com
Seattle Kid’s Marathon
By Donna Jornlin, PE Teacher
Can your child run a marathon? Well they can if it’s the Seattle Kids Marathon. Designed to encourage young students to set goals & complete a marathon, children walk or run “one mile at a time.” Here’s how it works: parents sign up your child on-line at www.seattlemarathon.org, click on KIDS. After registering, keep a log of the miles completed BEFORE Saturday, November 28th. The goal is to complete 25 honor miles in the next few weeks & finish the final 1.2 miles around the Seattle Center with hundreds of other students on Nov. 28th at 10 AM. Westside students have been enthusiastic participants for several years & the good news is that Mileage Club miles count towards their total. Mileage Club is a voluntary walk, talk & run activity during lunch recess. 11 laps of the field equal 1 mile & children earn mini toe tokens as well as other prizes for every 5 miles completed.
Let’s get fit!
Digital Literacy
By Jo Ann Yockey, Head of School
During the teacher in-service week in August, Jean Orvis (former PNAIS Head of School and Board member) was invited to present and share her work on the NAIS Committee on Schools of the Future with the teachers, staff and Board. Her presentation outlined the challenges of the 21st century. The essential capacities identified by the committee were: Analytical and Creative Thinking Skills and Problem-Solving, Communication Skills, Digital Literacy, Global Perspective, Adaptability and Flexibility, and Character.
Westside School has talked a lot about critical thinking and communication as well as other competencies, but what is digital literacy? What competencies do our children need to live in a digital world?
Since I have been in education, these last 30 years, educators have been grappling with this question. Definitions of digital competence abound. In the 80s, we were struggling with whether to teach Basic and how to use specific software. We have come a long way, as our society has been transformed by technology.
ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) says to define digital-age literacy we must include basic literacy, scientific literacy, economic literacy, technological literacy, visual literacy, information literacy, multicultural literacy and global awareness. Wow! ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) divide its National Education Technology Standards and performance indicators for students into six categories:
1. creativity and innovation
2. communication and collaboration
3. research and information fluenc,
4. critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making
5. digital citizenship
6. technology operations and concepts
How do these apply to the elementary classroom? This will be an ongoing dialog which the teachers are reviewing this year. Stay tuned for more articles as the dialog is about to begin!
Fire Safety in PS and PK
By Nancy Levine, PS/PK Teacher
This past Monday, you may have seen a fire truck parked on the black top outside the gym. No worries, no one was injured and there was no fire. The Highline Fire Department sent Engine 18 as a culmination of the Pre-S/Pre-K’s week-long look at fire fighters and fire safety. After being shown numerous cabinets that store all their equipment, such as the big hoses and nozzles, the fans for blowing the remaining smoke out of a room after a fire, the pick axes and drills; each child had the thrill to sit in the driver’s seat. We also saw the enormous ladder stored on the side of the truck.
Prior to their visit, we held some serious discussions around important fire safety tips but managed to have some fun with the subject as well. Our dramatic play area was transformed into a fire truck with jackets and hats and other props to aid in putting out those fires. We cut out red paper fire hats, glued a paper fire truck, and learned a few songs about fire fighters. There were puzzles and books and a dice game involving fire fighters, racing to the fire.
On a more serious side we looked at a smoke detector and talked about the importance of having them in our homes. I sent the kids home to search for and count how many they could find in their house. The answers varied anywhere from 1-10 and all those numbers in between, but right or wrong my goal was to make them aware.
We discussed:
• What to do if the smoke detector goes off, especially at night.
• Getting out of the house is the number 1 priority.
• Crawling low if the room is filled with smoke.
• Feeling the door, and never opening it if it feels hot.
• Finding another way out of the room, if you can’t use the door.
• Setting up a family meeting place outside, where everyone knows to go to in the event of a fire.
• Stop-Drop- (cover your eyes) and Roll if your clothes are caught on fire.
• And never hide or go back in the house, once you are out safely.
All of this information may seem scary for 3 and 4 year olds, but it’s necessary just the same. This is the time of year to change the batteries in your smoke detectors and to sit down with your family and make (or review) a plan. It doesn’t hurt to practice with a fire drill, as we do at school every month. Hopefully, you will never have to put that plan into action, but you’ll have piece of mind knowing everyone in your family knows what to do in case you ever do.
Spanish Update
By Ashley Kloess, Spanish Teacher
We’re off to a great start in Spanish! September was all about reviewing basic Spanish phrases and numbers, and students practiced speaking to each other in pairs or small groups as they rehearsed basic conversations. In second thru fifth grade, they also performed short conversations in front of their class!
After last week’s assembly with Bochinche, I decided to teach salsa dancing to supplement the cultural education our students received. This has been a great success with our students! They enjoy the music and had fun dancing. Ask them to tell you about it!
In an effort to integrate as much as possible, I have been teaching Spanish songs and vocab about what the different classes are learning. In kindergarten, we learned colors, counting, shapes, and basic phrases in Spanish. Ask your kindergartener to sing some new songs to you! The first grade classes learned about spiders and shadows and light, so we learned La ipsy dipsy araña - the classic song The itsy bitsy spider. We also read Somos un Arco Iris, meaning we are a rainbow. In second grade, integrating Spanish with the curriculum was more challenging. How do you incorporate owls and nocturnal animals into a Spanish curriculum? I found a song called Mira los Monitos which means “Look at the monkeys” because some monkeys are nocturnal animals!
I have big plans to do all sorts of exciting Aztec stuff with the third graders this spring when they are studying the Aztec people in social studies. For now, they have worked on counting to 100 and learned a song about basic conversational words. 4th grade has reviewed a whole bunch of basic Spanish and learned some new songs to go with it. They’ve learned days, months, seasons, 16 new verbs, and most recently, the verb that is used to express liking or disliking something. We’ll begin a project to tie all this together soon. 5th grade also began the year with a review of verbs and previously learned songs. Now we are working on Spanish speaking countries and capitals, and we’ll soon learn about Hispanic artists.
In closing, I would like to remind you about a fantastic opportunity. The Hispanic/Latino holiday, El Día de los Muertos, is approaching quickly! We’ll learn about it at school, but I encourage you to visit the Center House at the Seattle Center the weekend of Oct 30-Nov 1. Each year, there is a wonderful display of the traditional papel picado banners, sand paintings, dancing, and activities for children - the most popular activity being the sugar skull decorating. This is a great cultural experience for all ages and is free!