Worthington Park Shark Sentinel

This past week has been an action packed adventure at Park. We kicked off the week with our school picture day and our Bus Safety experience with our Kindergarten through third graders. We additionally celebrated National Start With Hello Week. Start With Hello is one of Sandy Hook Promise’s programs that teaches students to be more socially inclusive and connected to each other. Each day our kids had a special challenge to meet a classmate or school peer they previously didn't know while additionally celebrating the diverse make up of Worthington Park. I speak for our whole team at Park when I say it has been such a heartwarming week where our kids have gone above and beyond to make sure everyone in our building feels seen and heard. Thank you to all of you for additionally participating in this past week.

As we have shared before- Worthington Park is a wonderfully diverse school community. We celebrate the community that calls this school home and we firmly believe that our diversity is our strength. Thank you to everyone who completed our home language survey! Based on the feedback from our parents, I am happy to share that our community has continued to grow. Our Park Sharks speak a wide range of languages that include: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Marathi, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu, Twi, and Vietnamese. This year we additionally welcome families and students who speak Korean, Malayalam and Tigrinya. When you include our English speaking students that brings Park's total to 22 different languages!

During Wednesday- we welcomed one of our own 4th grade students who not only read our announcements in English- but additionally in her native Chinese. We were so proud of her and the exciting opportunity this past week presented for all of our students!

Below are a few quick messages and reminders for the coming week. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out to our main office or me directly. Have a great weekend and Go Sharks!

-Principal Garrity

(pgarrity@wscloud.org)

(614) 450-5500

This coming Friday is our PTA Walk-A-Thon event here at Worthington Park. Students will be walking during their related arts time on that day to help raise money for our parent and school organization. This is our only fundraiser of the school year and a great day for our staff and students.

Please make sure to have your student wear comfortable clothes and shoes that day!

For more information on the event, donations, and how to volunteer please scroll down and check out the PTA portion!

Our school doors open at 7:25a. Our tardy bell rings at 7:40a (This is when students should be in their seats and ready to learn here at Park!). Students arriving after 7:40a will be marked tardy.

We hope this updated information helps you in getting your child/children to school on time. If you have any questions at any time, please feel free to contact Mrs. Buckingham with any questions or concerns.

Just a reminder that Worthington Park and all Worthington School buildings are NUT FREE.

Please remember to check your child's lunch and snacks to ensure they do not accidently have any peanut or nut based products (especially prepackaged Lunchables) Thank you for helping us keep our Park Shark Students Safe

Did you know Worthington Schools has a new financial information resource. Check it out on our website? Here is the link that share an update on all school financials and the upcoming election in November.

The 3rd Annual Monarch Makers Market at our Worthington Preschool- Sutter Park is Saturday, October 1 from 9am - 1pm.

This is a family-friendly event in which you can shop local vendor merchandise, purchase goodies from our bake sale fundraiser, and buy raffle tickets for our INCREDIBLE raffle fundraiser (trust us, there are always REALLY GOOD raffle items up for the taking).

More information is on the flyer next to the text! We hope to see you there

Our annual Walk-a-Thon is now only one week away! That means you have just one week to keep collecting pledges toward our goal of $10,000! All pledge envelopes are due back to school next Friday, September 30th. Online donations are also open through September 30th at https://worthingtonparkpta.memberhub.gives/parksharks.

We are also in need of posters, bottled water, and volunteers to make this our best Walk-a-Thon yet! You can sign up below if you are interested.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080544A8AF2EA7F58-worthington

To show our school spirit for our AMAZING school, we are inviting all students and staff to wear blue or Worthington Park gear on Friday, September 30th for the Walk-a-Thon. Go Sharks!!

If you have any questions, please email worthingtonparkpta@gmail.com.

Hi all! We have our Fall book fair coming up the week of October 17-20 which is parent/teacher conference week. I am looking for volunteers to help me out with set up/tear down, running the register, and assisting students during class time. If you would be willing to help, please follow the link for the Sign Up Genius to choose a time slot! Your help is greatly appreciated!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4FA4A72AA1FDC16-fall

Worthington Park Elementary is looking for volunteers to build reading skills with kindergarten students. Even if you only have 30 minutes a week, our kindergarten students would love to welcome you! Read below for more information and click HERE or on the flyer to register. Following registration, a program coordinator from our school will be in touch with more information.

September 30th- PTA Walk-a-Thon Fundraiser during the School Day

October 17th-19th: 4th Grade CogAT Testing

October 17th-20th- Parent Teacher Conference and Fall Book Fair

October 21st- No School

October 28th- Fall Halloween Celebration at Park

November 8th- No School (Election Day)

Worthington City Schools Special Education Parent Mentor is Colleen Cintrón-Rivelli. Parent Mentors are trained to help. They are guides, collaborators, and, most importantly, they are peers. Parent mentors provide free peer-to-peer support to other families of children with disabilities. Specifically, Colleen can provide information and support to assist in understanding transitions, literacy, guiding families through any special education meetings, connecting families with agencies and support understanding the rights and responsibilities of families, students and schools. Additionally, her training can provide current and updated information about special education laws and policies.

Phone: 614-450-6044, Email: ccintron-rivelli@wscloud.org | Parentmentor.osu.edu

Here is more information about the Parent Mentor Program and how Colleen can support your family in the district: Arabic, Napali, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish and English.

Email: pgarrity@wscloud.org
Website: https://www.worthington.k12.oh.us/domain/25
Location: 500 Park Road, Westerville, OH, USA
Phone: (614) 450-5500
Twitter: @WoParkSharks