Wade King Elementary
February 2019 Newsletter
A Note from the Principal
Dear Wade King Families,
As an International Baccalaureate School, Wade King Elementary works to promote international-mindedness as a part of our school culture, as well as cultivate the acquisition of a second language for our students. In fact, both of these are Standards and Practices of the IB Primary Years Programme, and central to our philosophy as a school.
As an authorized IB School offering the Primary Years Program, we are required to teach our students a second language. When our school was opened, staff collaborated with families to decide which language to offer. When considering the benefits of teaching both Spanish and Chinese, the decision was made to teach Chinese because it would give our community a chance to learn about an eastern culture and as well as experience with a tonal language and characters that are very different from English letters.
Since returning from winter break, Mrs. Wendy Hagin, our Chinese teacher, has been teaching our students about Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival. This is an opportunity for our school community to learn about the cultural traditions and celebrations of another culture, as we learn its language. Be sure to ask your child what he/she already knows about Chinese New Year and what questions he/she still has?
It has been an annual tradition at Wade King to hold a school-wide Chinese New Year Celebration, during which students participate in a dragon dance performance, sing several songs in Chinese, and are entertained with a puppet show featuring Shizi. Did you know it is the 'Year of the Pig 豬? The Pig is the twelfth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. We will learn more about that during our celebration too. Finally, this year, our 5th graders also engaged in an inquiry-research project about the Lunar New Year, which is celebrated in several Asian countries in addition to China. They will be presenting their completed research project at our celebration on February 14th. Their presentation is designed to teach others about the holiday and will provide an additional educational component to our celebration.
We invite you to join us on Thursday, February 14th at 8:10am for our Chinese New Year Celebration!
Stay Warm!
Stephanie Johnson
Principal, Wade King Elementary
Important Dates in February and March
2/1 PTA Spirit Wear Sale through the end of February
2/2 Saturday Chess Tournament at King (PTA Sponsored)
2/5 Field Trip: 3rd Graders to the Lightcatcher Museum 9:30am-11:45am (PTA Sponsored)
2/7 Kindergarten Inquiry Celebration with families 12-12:30pm
2/7 Family Game Night &Dessert Auction 6-8pm (PTA Sponsored)
2/14 Chinese New Year Celebration 8:10am
2/18 NO SCHOOL - President's Day
2/21 Report Cards sent home with 1st-5th grade students
2/21 Parent Technology Information Night 6-7:30pm in the WK cafeteria
2/26 Yeti Competition at 1:00pm in the Library
2/26 Report Cards sent home with kindergarten students
3/1 Class Picture Day
3/1 Field Trip: Mr. Livezey's Class to Fairhaven Park 9:10am-12:50pm (PTA Sponsored)
3/1 School Choice Forms Due Today
3/7 District-Wide Yeti Competition 2:30pm at Birchwood Elementary
3/8 NO SCHOOL for students: Teacher Learning Day
3/20 5th Grade Exhibition Evening
Wear Warm Clothes
If you are in need of a warm coat, hat, or gloves for your child, please connect with our counselors, Mrs. Regina and Mrs. Wakefield.
PTA Needs a Web Master-- Could it be YOU??
If you might be able to help, please contact our PTA president, Rebecca Hutchison or Greg Mroz at wadekingpta@gmail.com.
First Grade Instrument Building
Spirit Wear Sale This Month
5th Grade Strings Concert
King's Chess Tournament
Our annual Wade King Elementary Chess Tournament was held at Wade King on Saturday, February 2nd. The tournament was open to players of all abilities in grades kindergarten to 8th grade. We had MANY Wade King students participate and some great volunteers to help make it possible. A special thanks to chess coaches Ethan and David... and to volunteers Robin Stimac, Lisa Niva, and Lisa Sanders! And congratulations to our Wade King Chess Team for taking 1st place!
Labeling Is A Good Thing!
Family Game Night and Dessert Auction: February 7th from 6-8 pm in Cafeteria/Gym
Volunteers are still needed! Sign up with this link!
Join Our Chinese New Year Celebration: Thursday, February 14th from 8:10-9:00am
Parent Connect Technology Night: Thursday, February 21st from 6-7:30pm
Are you wondering how technology is being used at school or how to establish healthy technology use at home? Join us for our Parent Technology Night at Wade King! We will answer these questions and more! This evening has been planned for parents, but childcare will be provided.
Next PTA Meeting - Thursday, March 14th from 6-8pm in the Wade King Library
At our January PTA meeting, we were talking about ways to increase the number of parents who attend our meetings. If you have come before, we hope you will come again... and bring a friend! If you haven't ever come, we hope you'll be a risk-taker and put our next meeting on your calendar. PTA meetings are a way to connect with other families and learn about things that are happening in our school. There are always delicious treats and there is never pressure to take on responsibility.
School Meals & Our Good Food Promise
Remember that all school menus can be found online. We also send home a copy of the menu each month with our elementary students.
New Central Kitchen
Our Central Kitchen is now open and beginning to prepare meals for some schools. This kitchen has state-of-the-art equipment; space for receiving; dry, freezer and refrigerated storage; expanded cooking and preparation areas; blast chilling; and a training/conference room. Over time, all of the meals served to students in our district will be prepared at the Central Kitchen!
Recent Federal Nutritional Changes
While the federal government recently relaxed regulations regarding sodium and whole grains in USDA reimbursable meal programs, the food services program in Bellingham Public Schools is committed to our Good Food Promise. We serve more than 5,000 meals each day and we “meet or exceed” federal standards for all food served in our schools. Changes at the federal level will not result in lower standards locally in Bellingham.
Winter Weather Information
Emergency and Weather Procedures
It’s that time of year to think about snow and our procedures and impact of weather-related school cancellations. Depending on conditions (which could include snow, flooding, power outages, etc.), school could:
- close for the day
- open two hours late with regular bus routes or snow bus routes
- open on time with snow bus routes.
How can I get weather/emergency information?
Changes to the school schedule are usually announced by 6 a.m., and we use a variety of methods to keep families informed:
- If you did NOT receive text messages and/or emails about Monday's school closure, sign up to receive these! To receive email, phone, and/or text alerts, set your communication preferences on the Skylert tab within Skyward Family Access. (Need help? go here for step-by-step directions or contact 360-676-6520.)
Please note: You may select a phone call “early a.m.” option, but we do not plan to use the call feature for this school year to increase the speed of our communications.
· Tune to local media: 790 AM, 96.5 FM, 104.1 FM or Seattle media.
· Check bellinghamschools.org
· Check social media: @BhamSD on Twitter or @bellinghamschools on Facebook.
· Call 360-676-6400 for a recorded message.
· Call 360-647-6815 for a message translated in Español, русский, tính từ and Punjabi.
Please familiarize yourself with our weather procedures at bellinghamschools.org/weather.
Snow routes for buses
Last school year we modified our snow bus routes to run on main roads with flatter and more accessible loading areas. These new routes increase the chances that we can hold school and help reduce the number of make-up snow days. If we can safely keep our schools open, it means less impact for students, less disruption for families, more consistent access to services/meals for students in need and fewer make-up days in June.
You can find our snow routes here: www.bellinghamschools.org/snow-routes
Box Tops - An Easy Way To Earn Money For Wade King PTA
Do you want to help out the school, but don’t have the time?
Did you know you earn $.10 per BoxTop and can easily earn 2-5 times more just by using the BoxTop app? Yes, there’s an app for that too, and it’s EASY! Check it out:
https://www.boxtops4education.com/bonusapp/how-it-works
Here’s the quick run down on how it works!
Check out all the products you get Box Tops for.
Buy the products you want.
Take a picture of your receipt.
Earn extra money for the school!
Seriously, it’s that easy!
Then, turn in the BoxTop to school and our PTA can collect even more!
Here's another tip... Trim your box tops well! BoxTops have to be trimmed before mailing them in so they can be bundled and to save on shipping costs.
Link Your Fred Meyers Rewards Card & Use Amazon Smile - Easy Ways To Support Wade King PTA
If you link your Fred Meyer Reward Card to Wade King PTA, every time you shop a portion of your purchase will be rewarded back to our school. It’s simple, takes only a moment, and has a positive impact on our fundraising efforts.
If you linked your card last year, you will need to re-link it again this year!
To link your Fred Meyer Reward card...
- Go to Fred Meyer Community Rewards: www.fredmeyer.com
- Follow the links to COMMUNITY REWARDS and link your card to Wade King
If you shop Amazon.com, you can also earn money for our PTA.
- Go to Amazon Smile: www.smile.amazon.com
- Search for Wade King PTA
- Start shopping... and 0.5% of your purchase will come back to the PTA!
Don’t forget to tell your friends and family about these programs.
They can link their cards to Wade King too!
Wade King Elementary School
Email: Stephanie.Johnson@bellinghamschools.org
Website: http://wadeking.bellinghamschools.org/
Location: 2155 Yew Street Road, Bellingham, WA, USA
Phone: (360) 647-6840
Facebook: facebook.com/WadeKingElementary
Twitter: @WadeKingElem