April 2019 Newsletter
Westhampton Day School
REMINDER: WDS will be CLOSED for Good Friday (4/19) and Easter Monday (4/22)!
WDS Spring Carnival [Thursday, April 25th]
We're so excited for Spring Carnival Thursday, 4/25! Enjoy an afternoon full of family fun, unicorn rides, yummy food, bounce house, giant slide, carnival games, silent auction, and so much more! Your child's Room Parent will be coordinating your support creating the Classroom's Silent Auction Basket!
We're all "fore" fun so REGISTER TODAY for the 5th Annual WDS Golf Tournament Fundraiser on the Richmond Country Club course Thursday, May 16th - 1pm Shotgun start (lunch & check-in at Noon) followed by awards with food & drinks at 6PM. For any questions sponsor opportunities or general questions about the golf tournament, please email WDSgolf@westhamptondayschool.org
Muffins with Mom
Last Day of School Year (Friday, June 14th) is a Noon Dismissal!
Director's Blurb
While it can be a bit lengthy sometimes, I have a beautiful commute to my home in Powhatan. Once I get off Route 288 on the way home, I’m off the beaten path. I pass fields with cows and horses, trees and shrubs just budding for spring, and folks walking a little slower on their way up the driveway to check the mail.
Some of my best drives home happen on a Friday afternoon when I have picked up a grandchild (Emma or Christopher) to come out for a visit. The nonstop chatter usually starts with the happenings of the day, then turns to what’s outside the window. These conversations give us a chance to talk about our community, and the things we find here. What do you see out your window now that you don’t on days mom picks you up? Children not only have a chance to observe and absorb nature through the glass, but they start to establish an understanding of our community, state, and country.
Several years ago, the WDS Staff read a book by Author Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods. In it, he wrote about backseat window time.
“The highway’s edges may not be postcard perfect. But for a century, children’s early understanding of how cities and nature fit together was gained from the backseat: the empty farmhouse at the edge of the subdivision; the variety of architecture, here and there; the woods and fields and water beyond the seamy edges—all that was and is available to the eye.”
While I can appreciate the television screen’s popularity in the backseat for a 14-hour drive to Florida, they are distracting from the Social Studies lesson unfolding out your car window daily. Take time to let your mind wander and to watch out the window as different forms of nature, various parts of our community, and our world go by.
Danielle Todd, WDS Director