Wildcat Weekly
January 7, 2022
Happy New Year Wildcat Families!
I hope this newsletter finds you and your families doing well. The new year is off to a great start! Our amazing PTO kicked off the year with refillable buckets full of sweets and treats in the faculty lounge. This thoughtful gesture did not go unnoticed and it is much appreciated by our grateful staff!
The new year also brings changes to our faculty and staff. In addition to welcoming WTE parent, Kellie Wallace, as our full-time CSN (certified school nurse), we also welcomed back Miss Emily Shopf. Miss Shopf was a full year PDS intern in Mrs. Wethey's kindergarten class last year. We were fortunate to bring Emily back to fill the vacancy left by Mrs. Algier's midyear retirement. Welcome (again) Kellie and Emily!!
With the surge in Covid-19 cases across the country, I would be remiss if I did not address the increase in cases we have seen this past week at WTE as well. Although we have seen an increase in positive cases, please know this is not indicative of transmission in the school. As expected, the numbers rose over the holiday break and as a district we are hopeful that they will start to decrease again over the next month. In the meantime we will continue to be diligent in our mitigation efforts to minimize any opportunities for transmission.
Finally, just a reminder that this year the Wildcat Weekly is sent every other week instead of weekly as to alternate with the newsletter from the PTO. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you ever have any questions about the happenings at WTE.
I hope 2022 brings health and happiness to everyone in our WTE community.
Kind regards,
Dr. Cruice
A Note from Mr. Davis
Dear Wildcat Community,
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for all of your support following my recent surgery. The outpouring of love and kindness I experienced from the many get-well cards, notes, and emails from you and the children was truly overwhelming. Thank you for your very kind words, your encouragement and your prayers. I am very thankful and excited to be back at W-T, the best school there is. Happy New Year to you all and Let’s Go Wildcats!
After School Sports
WCASD Community Conversations
We are excited to share that registration is now open for the final night of our Community Conversations series. During part three of this series, we will continue to engage in conversations that strengthen our community. We are also pleased to welcome special guests from police departments throughout the West Chester area to join us in these important conversations.
Registration is required. Interested parents can register via the following link: www.wcasd.net/equity by Tuesday, January 18. This event is not open to anyone living outside of the WCASD boundaries.
The event is being held at Bayard Rustin High School on Thursday, January 20, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. However, please note that we will continue to monitor COVID cases and transmissions levels in Chester County as we approach the date of this event. If we determine that it is best for the health and safety of our community to postpone the Community Conversations Part 3 event, we will notify you and our WCASD community.
Should you have any questions about this event, please contact Dawn Mader dmader@wcasd.net.
Health Screenings Information for Parents
Annual Student Health Screenings have been completed. These screenings include Vision, Hearing, and BMI. Vision and BMI screenings are assessed for all students. Hearing screenings are completed based on the grade level.
Results are available on the Parent Portal page. The health screening tab is located on the left hand side of the parent page. Please note that screening results are not available on the student portal page. If your child has failed a screening, a referral form has been sent home already. Referrals should be completed by a physician and returned to the school nurse. Referrals are noted on the screening page.
Vision Screenings:
Please note that 20/40 is passing for Kindergarten and 1st Grade; passing for 2nd through 5th grades is 20/30.
BMI percentages are calculated using CDC standards:
Underweight: <5th percentile
Normal/Healthy Weight: >5th percentile but <85th percentile
Overweight: >85th but <95th percentile
Obese: >95th percentile
Concerns about the results of your child’s BMI should be discussed with your child’s primary care physician.
Volunteers Needed for Track Meet
Is your child in 4th or 5th grade? We are excited to share that the 4th and 5th District-Wide Track Meet is back! Our students will enjoy a day at the WCU track in a friendly competition against other WCASD elementary schools. WE WILL NEED YOUR HELP!!! The success of the track meet rests heavily on the parent volunteers. YOU WILL NEED YOUR CLEARANCES. You can visit this link on the district website for information for information about obtaining your clearances. We suggest you put in for your clearances now as they do sometimes take a bit of time to receive them back.
Save the Date below to attend as a parent volunteer. More information will come with specific times.
May 18, 2022 (rain date – 5/20)
Citadel Heart of Learning
Nominations for the Citadel Heart of Learning award will be accepted until January 15th! Take a few minutes to nominate any one of our amazing faculty members!! Nominations can be done quickly and easily via the link below!
WTE Courtyard
We are beginning to plan and design the renovation of our courtyard using the money that the PTO has raised. We are so excited with the ideas we have come up with so far! Before we start finalizing and ordering materials, we wanted to reach out to see if we had any families that would be willing to lend a hand and had more knowledge in this area than ourselves! If you are or know someone who is knowledgeable in hardscaping and landscaping we would appreciate your expertise! We were also hoping to get our scouts involved-boy scouts, girl scouts, eagle scouts-whoever would like to participate!
Our hope is to keep a grassy area around the tree and we would like to build or purchase some sort of circular bend around it for students to gather. We also would like to do some raised garden beds so we can plant a variety of produce that could be donated to the Chester County Food Bank. Finally, we are hoping to change up a good portion of the remaining grassy area into different stones, gravels, mulch, etc. for the students to work on with some sort of large stepping stone divider.
We aren’t sure if the scouts would like to do any of this as a service project, but we are open to anything! Our hope is to work with Mrs. Griffin to have each class create a large stepping stone to incorporate into the divider/pathway.
This is a project that we hoping to have complete this spring so that the teachers and students can take advantages of this space as soon as possible. Please contact Dr. Reilly (mreilly@wcasd.net) or Mrs. Worrilow (jworrilow@wcasd.net) if you are interested in helping out in the renovation of our courtyard.
Thank you!
Maggie Reilly
Jess Worrilow
Volunteers Needed for Pretzel Fridays
Help make pretzel Friday's successful by volunteering to sort pretzels by class and prepare the pretzel bags for pick up. Please click on the sign-up genius below for more details and to sign-up for a slot. Thank you in advance!
5th Grade Baby Photos Needed!
Attention 5th grade families!!
We are collecting baby pictures of our 5th graders to include in the 5th grade section of the WTE yearbook! It is always fun to play “guess that baby” with our 5th grade class! We don’t want to miss anyone! Please send a digital copy of your 5th grade student’s baby picture to: janicestief@gmail.com. Kindly include your student’s first and last name, as well as their 5th grade teacher! Thank you!!
¡Atención familias de 5º grado!
Estamos colectando fotos de bebés de los estudiantes de 5to grado para incluirlas en el anuario de fotos. ¡Es muy divertido todos los años jugar a “adivinar quién ese bebé” en el anuario! ¡No queremos olvidar a ningún estudiante! Por favor envíe una copia digital de la foto de bebé de su hijo(a) a janicestief@gmail.com lo antes posible. No olvide incluir en el correo electrónico el nombre de su estudiante y el nombre de la maestra de 5to grado! Muchas gracias.
Supporting Reading, Writing and Math at Home
Grades K - 2
Listed below are the areas in grades K - 2 that are integral to learning beginning math and reading, k-2.
· In K-1, phonological awareness and phonics.
· In 1-2, practicing high frequency words and addition concepts.
· In K-2, understanding story elements( character, setting, events, problem and solution) , reading/writing numbers, and skip counting.
In the link below, please find fun ways to practice these with your children at home.
Supporting Reading, Writing & Math at Home
Attached below you will find a wealth of resources with ideas on how you can support your children at home in the areas of reading, writing and math. Providing additional support at home can have a tremendous impact on student learning.
Attendance
ABSENCES/LATE ARRIVALS/EARLY DISMISSALS
For all absences or late arrivals, please call the Safe Arrival phone line at 484-266-1810. This answering system can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to leave messages. For all early dismissals, you MUST send in a signed note with your child on the day of the early dismissal. Only if it is a last-minute emergency change, please CALL the office at 484-266-1802 or 1803.
Drop Off
The school day begins at 9:10 which means students must be in their classroom by 9:10.
This year the gate to the parent drop-off will be closed at 9:00 a.m.
Please be sure to drop your child off with enough time to get to their classroom by 9:10 so that they are not marked late.
- ACP uses the cafeteria and the back playground. If you are later than 8:30 for ACP drop off, continue all the way to the back in the regular CAR LOOP with the rest of the parents, please.
- Buses are able to transport more kids than last year, so that should help alleviate our large car line from last year (hopefully).
- If the gate is closed when you arrive, please park your car and walk your child to the door to be let in. If it is after 9:10, you will need to sign them in, too. If it is later than 9:00 but the buses are also still emptying, you are able to drop them off at the walkway as we will still have staff out front.
Update and Reminders About Parent Pick-Up at Dismissal
Starting with ACP and parent pickup, dismissal begins at 3:35 daily.
Please do not arrive before 3:00 for car line as this causes a backup on Westbourne Road. When you arrive for car line, please do not park directly in front of the gate as we have students playing outside for recess. The car line should start at the flag pole.
Once the gate is opened, you will be directed to pull all the way down to the lower lot and loop around. Cones will once again be out to designate the spots where students will be walked to their car. See the pictures as well as additional reminders below.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
1. PARENTS MUST STAY IN CARS during pick up. Staff members will assist students in getting into the cars.
2. NAME CARDS (provided on the first day of school) MUST BE DISPLAYED IN WINDSHIELD. If you need a new one, please notify the office.
3. CARS MUST STAY IN THE CAR LINE. Please DO NOT try to cut around a car that is still loading in front of you.
4. If you need to pull over to get situated after picking up your child, please pull all the way up to the basketball hoops parallel to Westbourne road and pull over to the side out of the car line.
Thank you for your cooperation!