Wolf Pup Weekly

Hello Wolf Pup parents! On Monday, we will be serving moose soup to our entire student body to continue our celebration of Alaska Native Heritage month. To top off our celebration, Tuesday, November 21st, we will have a huge festival with activities taking place featuring volunteers and guest speakers from all around our community. Highlights include: presentations from World Eskimo and Indian Olympic athletes, making fry bread, a visit from Molly of Denali, a fiddle player, and so much more. The festival will take place from 1:30-3:30 and each class will experience four culturally relevant activities in different locations around our building. A special thanks to Pam Pilon, Genevieve Chacho, Heidi Cambier, Jessica Lee, Karen Dullen, Dawn Brashear and the many other volunteers who have organized and donated their time to make this festival, and the serving of moose soup a reality!

Just a reminder there will be no school on Thursday and Friday due to the Thanksgiving holiday. We also will not have a Weekly Wolf Pup next week due to the short week. I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope everyone gets the opportunity to spend time with your family and friends. Each year at this time I remind people that it is the little, often overlooked, things in life that mean the most. As we prepare for Black Friday sales, remember that it is relationships, and a sense of purpose, that bring happiness. It's those moments when your children are excited about something and they want to share it with you that will disappear before you know it, and are irreplaceable. Cherish those moments, and all the little events that make life so special.

The 2024 education budget has been released. Please note that with our current numbers of students, Woodriver will be operating at a deficit of $575,600 compared to our budget in 2012.

“When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating." - Attendance Works

• For elementary students, regular attendance supports students' reading skills
• In Fairbanks, students with 90% or greater attendance were shown to have higher proficiency rates in reading.

• Chronic absenteeism is when students have lower than 90% attendance during the school year.
• There is growing consensus of research that points to chronic absenteeism as one of the most overlooked indicators that a student will become disengaged, fall behind academically, fail courses, and eventually drop out of school.

DID YOU KNOW....

We record absences and tardies differently depending on the reason? An absence due to illness or Dr. appt is recorded differently than an absence because of a family trip or event. And there is also a difference between a tardy and an early pick-up, and a half day AM or PM absence. Also, if your student is tardy, and you do not walk them in and fill out a tardy slip, or call the office, their tardy is coded unexcused.

We know students who attend school regularly see more opportunities for success and we want to partner with you to support you in making sure your student has access to whatever they need to get to school on time every day! Parents, please be mindful of appointment times, late check-ins and early check-outs to help our students be at school every day, and ready to learn the Wolf pup way!

Attendance Matters! #AlldayEveryday

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is an important part of your child's education. Why is this important? It makes your child's school life better, improves their behavior, and helps them do well academically. To promote social and emotional learning in our students, as parents and caregivers, we can ask our children questions to start meaningful conversations.

Before asking your child about their day, make sure you set your phone aside and really pay attention to what they’re saying. Sometimes, children don’t want to talk because they don’t feel heard and other times, they say more with their body language than with words. That’s why it’s important to be fully present, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

Keep in mind that children, like adults, sometimes need some time to decompress before they want to chat. If your child is not very responsive after your first question, try again later.

If you’re still struggling with getting your child to open up about their day, try connecting first. Do a fun activity together that lightens the mood and creates an open environment. And then, ask any of the questions in the graphic and let the conversation flow.

Parents,

There has been a lot of concern over late buses and finding out when students will be home. If you have concerns you would like to share, please call Durham at 1(907)206-7789. This number can also be called for Dispatch if you would like to get an ETA on a route.

If you cannot get ahold of Durham, please call the transportation dept at (907)452-2000 ext 11351

There are a few tools available to help as well: One is to set up email notifications for late buses. Directions to set that up are below.

The other tool is a new system the district has set up that is a live bus tracking service. This allows you to see where the bus is along the route, the time it arrived at each stop, and even if the doors opened at the stop.

you can use this service at http://busroutes.k12northstar.org

Click on your school (Woodriver is WRV - Ryan is RYN), and then on the route you would like to view.

There are additional instructions on how to use it at: https://www.k12northstar.org/cms/lib/AK01901510/Centricity/Domain/1159/Bus%20Route%20Tracker_2023-09-06.pdf

Please note: Special Education buses are not listed on the live tracker. Please call Durham Dispatch or the transportation department with questions/concerns about those routes

If you would like additional resources for learning at home, you can follow the directions below for access to your student's Classlink.

When your student puts in their username, please note that you will have to add the "@student.k12northstar.org". School computers do this automatically, so that is the most common problem families have at home

23 - Holiday | No School

24 - Holiday | No School

Dec 20-22 - Early Dismissal

Dec 25-Jan 5 - Winter Break | No School

Jan 8 - teacher work day | No School

Jan 15 - Holiday | No School

Home of the Wolfpups

OFFICE HOURS: 8:45-4:15

SCHOOL HOURS 9:15 - 3:45

Email: nicole.wells@k12northstar.org
Website: www.k12northstar.org/woodriver
Location: 5000 Palo Verde Ave
Phone: 907-479-4211