Woods Road School Paw Pride
May 2020 - Volume 7 - Issue 9
Special Points of Interest
- May 04, 2020: No Preschool Monday
- May 04, 2020 - May 10, 2020 - Staff Appreciation Week
- May 04, 2020: Report Cards Released in Genesis Parent Portal 4:00 PM
- May 05, 2020: Cinco de Mayo
- May 06, 2020: National Nurses Day
- May 07, 2020: Virtual WRSHA Meeting 7:00 PM
- May 10, 2020: Mother's Day
- May 14, 2020: Virtual YAD (Young Author's Day)
- May 16, 2020: Armed Forces Day
- May 18, 2020: No Preschool Monday
- May 24, 2020: Eid al Fitr
- May 25, 2020: Memorial Day - NO SCHOOL
Principal's Message
Happy Spring Wildcat Families!
I hope this newsletter finds everyone healthy as we continue to work in this new normal of remote learning. It is hard to believe we are in the month of May already! We will begin Week 7 of our remote learning plan on Monday, May 4, 2020. This new normal can be stressful for everyone, so it is important to maintain routines and a schedule. Children thrive on consistency. As you know, educators have spent years learning different educational platforms so that they can stay current with the latest and greatest in education. Overnight, you were asked to learn Google Classroom, Zoom, Google Meets, Flipgrid, Screencastify, Seesaw, Canvas, Epic etc...The pressure to do the impossible is normal. If a lesson didn't go well today with your child, you can always try again tomorrow. Give yourself some grace. Focus on the little wins, what went right instead of what went wrong. At the end of the day, the only important question to ask yourself is did my child feel safe? Did they feel like they belonged? Did they feel loved? If you can answer yes to those questions, then you ROCKED the day! My advice to you is to take a deep breath and relax. You are doing great! Please remember that tomorrow is always a fresh start. WRS Staff loves you and thinks you are doing amazing! Be sure to encourage your child(ren) to take movement breaks, as well as screentime breaks. As the weather gets warmer, head outside to enjoy some vitamin D and quality time with your family.
The week of May 4, 2020, through May 10, 2020, is known as Staff Appreciation Week. Our staff is working harder than ever creating virtual lessons and activities to keep our students engaged and learning. Here are some activities to show appreciation to our staff:
MONDAY MEDIA - Use social media to send a shout out to your favorite teachers, instructional assistants, lunch-aides, custodians., office staff, kitchen staff, and related arts specialists. https://twitter.com/WildcatsWrs
TUESDAY TUNES - Share an inspirational song or poem with a staff member by email or video. You can sing it or post the video link. https://twitter.com/WildcatsWrs
WISHES WEDNESDAY - Share a special wish with your favorite teachers, custodians, instructional assistants, office staff, lunch-aides, kitchen staff, and related arts specialists. https://twitter.com/WildcatsWrs
THANKFUL THURSDAY - Send a note of thanks to a staff member via email or video.https://twitter.com/WildcatsWrs
FUNNY FRIDAY - Send a funny joke or a fun memory to a staff member by email or video.
National Nurse's Day is on May 6, 2020. To show our appreciation to our School Nurse, Mrs. Paulhus, send virtual thank you cards to her email kpaulhus@htps.us. We thank Nurse Paulhus for all that she does for our school community.
CLASS PLACEMENT FOR 2020-2021
We are about to begin to construct classes for next school year. Classes are built with sincere care by the professionals who work closest with your child. A variety of important factors are weighed during this process, including ability levels, balance of male/female students, and special needs. Please continue to work closely with your child’s teacher to find out more about your child’s strengths and weaknesses and how you can work with the school to ensure the most success for your child.
Please keep in mind that requests for placement cannot be made for specific teachers. Any requests for specific teachers will not be considered. If you believe you have information that may greatly affect your child’s placement for next year, please put that information in an email addressed “CONFIDENTIAL Placement Info" to jhowe@htps.us, no later than May 22, 2020. Please note that pertinent information shared with me in previous years must be resubmitted. Final placement information will be made available in August.
As a reminder to our school families who are planning on moving out of the district over the summer months, please remember to contact Mrs. Jeannie Demetrio via email at jdemetrio@htps.us before June 17, 2020, to sign a transfer card. This will give us authorization to transfer your child’s school records to their new school.
If you will be moving within the Hillsborough Township Public School district, please be sure to inform the school (jdemetrio@htps.us) of your plans so all school records are transferred to the appropriate in-district school. When transferring within the district, you are required to provide new proof of residency before the transfer can be completed.
As we eagerly await news about the rest of the school year, we are comforted in knowing that parents, students, and teachers continue to do outstanding work. Now more than ever, the quote "it takes a village..." applies to our extraordinary school community. We certainly couldn't do it without you!
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me or your child's teacher. Be well!
Sincerely,
Jodi L. Howe
Principal
Counselor's Corner
by Gerri Guastella
Happy May, everyone! I know this certainly is not how any of us expected to be starting the month of May this year. As the days continue to tick on with us spending our time at home, I wanted to send a quick message of support to everyone in our school community. Each of us are dealing with stress in our own way and I hope that each of you know that just as we are here for your children, we are here for you too! As so many of you are taking on the tasks of working your own jobs along with helping your children with their work, it adds unwanted stress to everyone's plates. Please try to take into account your own stress levels and ask yourself if there's anything that you need to do to address it. We cannot pour from an empty cup so it's important to remember that you are all doing an amazing job balancing an
extraordinary situation.
A huge thank you to all of our first responders, healthcare workers, and essential workers during this time!
If anybody would like to contact me to set up private conversations with their children as a check in, please feel free to email me: gguastella@htps.us
Nurse's Corner
by Kimberly Paulhus
I hope everyone is staying safe, healthy and finding some time to relax with your families!
The weather is starting to warm up a bit and it’s the perfect time to get out and exercise (while of course maintaining social distancing)! Exercise is a great thing for everyone to be doing, including the children!
Just like with adults, regular exercise is extremely beneficial for children. Some of these
benefits include maintaining a healthy body weight, prevention of diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes and reducing stress levels. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children should get a minimum of 1 hour of physical activity per day.
Some tips that you can use to help your child maintain an active lifestyle include: limiting time spent playing video games or watching TV and finding activities that you can enjoy as a family such as taking walks or riding bikes around your neighborhood. If the weather is not cooperating and you are stuck indoors, you can use a YouTube video that leads children through an exercise program.
Exercising and getting outside in the sun are absolutely wonderful things to do just don’t forget to also drink plenty of fluids and apply sunscreen!
As always, I am here to assist you in any way I possibly can! Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns!
Library
by Dina Stoff, Media Specialist
I miss seeing all of the students in the library and I hope that your families are well. As we continue our distance learning, each cycle students in all grades will be given choices that they can complete for their Library assignments. The choices range from listening to me read a story, reading a story on their own and even some STEAM related choices. There are a ton of free resources out there for you to read and access books, if you need assistance with any of these please let me know. I look forward to the day when I can be with the students again in person, but until then, stay safe and know that I am thinking about you. Follow the library on Instagram @wrslibrary
Speech
by Shelley Garraway, Erica Katz, Allie Policastro, Barbara Pearson
Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” - Mr. Fred Rogers
Did you know that play is the cornerstone for your child’s cognitive and speech-language development as many language concepts and social skills are learned through the act of play. The framework for play involves your child’s ability to imagine, negotiate, create, explore, experiment and problem-solve. Through play your child is involved in multi-sensory, hands-on exploration where all of their senses are engaged for the purposes of learning (e.g., What does it look like?, What does it sound like?, What does it smell like?, What does it feel like?, What does it do?, What does it do if I do this?). Children begin to experiment and wonder aloud, “What will happen if I do this?”, “Will it fit in here?”, “Why or Why not?”. Children learn the concepts of similarities and differences and begin to compare objects by size, color, weight, texture and number. They begin to categorize information, understand function (e.g.,What is this used for?) and group toys for play schemas (e.g., Toys needed for play with a baby doll, a tool bench or a train set). When you talk to your child during play, you are teaching your child vocabulary by naming the objects that they are playing with. You are also teaching them action words while acting out play scenarios and are modeling the use of adjectives while describing the toys that you are playing with. While engaging in play, you are exposing your child to simple and complex sentence structure and are tapping into your child’s listening skills and turn-taking abilities. Socially, your child will learn to wait, share, turn-take, compromise, be flexible, assert their ideas, negotiate, problem-solve and listen to others’ perspectives. These skills will help your child develop the social skills necessary to nurture successful peer relationships in and outside of the classroom setting.
So, the next time you and your child are playing together, think about all of the wonderful speech and language skills that you are instilling in your child with this one activity! Play is fun and research indicates that children retain information more readily when the experiences are memorable, engaging, multisensory and fun!! And most importantly, family bonding ensues when conversations are started, questions are asked and a dialogue begins around the simple act of playing with toys!
https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/welcome-to-kid-confidential/full/
Woods Road Elementary School
Website: www.htps.us
Location: 401 South Woods Road, Hillsborough, NJ 08844
Phone: (908) 431-6600
Twitter: @WildcatsWRS