Dear WJES Families,

We are so grateful for your continued support and partnership as we continue to work together to engage our students in authentic, connected learning, while keeping everyone safe! As we head into 2021, we continue to emphasize the mindset “Attitude of Gratitude!” We have so much to be thankful for at WJES, and we love being intentional about showing gratitude and kindness, as we work together in our school community.

While these next few weeks will be a little different as we implement a district-wide, temporary alternating day schedule for safety, we want to ensure a great start to the new semester for your child. The spring is always a time of great growth in our students, and we want to do everything we can to ensure your student has a great spring semester of learning. Please let us know if we can help you or your child; we appreciate your partnership so much!

This year’s school theme is "Dream Big! Work Hard! Be Kind!” Our vision is to inspire and empower all of our students to engage and excel in the opportunities of a global society so that our students can ask questions, think critically and creatively, and work with others to solve problems in their lives, in our community, and in the world. We hope your students continue to be engaged and inspired by unique opportunities to connect their learning to the world outside of the classroom. We love taking our learning outside to the gardens, engaging in virtual field trips, and connecting our content learning with the arts, technology and real world application. If you would like to partner with us to support our students or to share in STEAM learning, or if you have any questions or input, please feel free to contact me by phone or email ahardegree@jcss.us or (706)654-2044.

Stay safe, and go Panthers!

Dr. Amity Hardegree

Principal

Vision-

West Jackson Elementary School seeks to inspire and empower all students to engage and excel in the opportunities of a global society.

Mission-

WJES students can ask questions, think critically and creatively, and work with others to solve problems in their lives, in our community, and in the world.

Guiding Principles-

• Students’ learning needs are the focus of all decision making to support academics and the whole child.

• WJES provides a highly effective, committed staff and the resources for all students to achieve excellence and reach their full potential.

• Through Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), we ensure and celebrate a nurturing, student centered, and respectful environment for learning, where every student is valued and known.

• WJES offers a rigorous, authentic, standards-based curriculum, guided by data and research-based, best instructional practices through STEAM based learning experiences.

• WJES is a community school, where all stakeholders work collaboratively to support one another to inspire and engage students in connected learning.

• At WJES, we embrace a growth mindset and encourage one another to reach challenging goals, while having fun on the journey!

January 4th: Student Holiday/Teacher Workday

January 14th: District Math Night 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

January 28th: 100th day of school!!!

February 8th - 12th: School Counselor Week

February 10th: District Math Night 5:00 PM - 5:45 PM

February 11th: 8:00 Monthly Q and A with admin meet.google.com/shv-rytz-rep

February 14th: Happy Valentine's Day!!!

February 18th: District Family Math Night 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

5th GRADE PARENTS:
Don't forget our 5th grade tradition! Upload 1 favorite Baby Picture of your 5th grader. It's just $5.00. The instructions are posted below. Don't miss out honoring your beautiful baby in their last yearbook from WJES!

If you have any questions regarding yearbook purchases, feel free to email Lauren Turner at lturner@jcss.us.

West Jackson is thrilled to be selected again as a Project Site for the 2021 MLK Day of Service! The event will take place on Monday, January 18th from This year, our focus will be building a Fine Arts Garden, located just outside the WJES Art Room and Gym. We already have an amazing amount of donated materials, and we greatly appreciate the volunteers who join together to serve our school on this day! Please see

https://www.facebook.com/jcmlkdayofservice/ for more information and https://givepul.se/i01cu0 to register to volunteer at our school! Additionally, the following information addresses any concerns you may have regarding COVID-19 transmission:

We will require online registration for volunteers, including a liability waiver and a wellness self-assessment, and require them to notify organizers if they develop any symptoms or test positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of the event. Volunteers will be capped at a level that allows for social distancing at each site. Single-use PPE will be required and provided (masks, gloves, sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer) or volunteers can bring their own.

Thank you!

Here at WJES, we want to help support our students and their families in the best ways we can. In order to do that, we have decided to launch "Parent Universities" which will be short, prerecorded videos published throughout the year with relevant topics to help inform, educate, and guide families on how to best assist their student(s) as well as provide families a chance to learn more about WJES. We would love your feedback on what topics you would like to see discussed in these videos. (Examples include: social and emotional learning/mental health strategies, academics, PBIS/7 Mindsets, our STEAM journey, school vision, distance learning, etc).

This year we are continuing to focus on the 7 Mindsets, which is our social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum. We have decided to continue to focus on the Mindset "Attitude of Gratitude" through the months of December and January. Attitude of Gratitude teaches us the importance of seeking the positives from every experience and being thankful for all that we have. Through this mindset, we learn that we can use the positives or the negatives of our lives as the foundation on which to build. Our dream is to encourage students, families, and our community to seek gratitude and thankfulness amidst what has been a challenging year for everyone.

Below is the link for the parent newsletter for the current "7 Mindset" - Attitude of Gratitude. At the bottom of the second page are cool activities that you can do with your children.

Attitude of Gratitude- English Parent Newsletter

Attitude of Gratitude-Spanish Parent Newsletter

February:

This year we are continuing to focus on the 7 Mindsets, which is our social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum. At WJES, we will be focusing on the Mindset "Live to Give" the entire month of February. Live to Give teaches the importance of serving others while maximizing our own potential. This mindset points to the necessity of learning how to give love, respect, and time first before we look to receive those things. It goes back to the phrase, it is better to give than receive. This mindset also teaches us that the greatest gift we can ever give is our unique and positive impact on the world. Our dream is to encourage students, families, and our community to create a culture centered on the mindset "Live to Give" in 2021 and beyond.

Below is the link for the parent newsletter for the current "7 Mindset" - Live to Give. At the bottom of the second page are cool activities that you can do with your children.

Live to Give Parent Newsletter (English)

Live to Give Parent Newsletter (Spanish)

7 Mindsets Winter Service Project:

WJES is looking forward to continuing to find ways to express our "Attitude of Gratitude" in the month of January. Please feel to reach out to Ms. Brooks or Ms. Isa if you have any questions!

Dear WJES Families,

Families and caregivers are key in the implementation of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in their homes on a daily basis. It is especially helpful when events disrupt normal routines – events like worldwide health pandemics. This practice provides recommendations for families and caregivers on how to use PBIS to continue to support their students’ social and emotional growth and minimize behavioral disruptions in the home. If you need a PBIS code for your student, feel free to reach out to your child's teacher.

Please click here for Parent Information & Resources in English.

Favor de hacer clic Aqui para obtener Información y Recursos de ayuda para promover conducta positiva en el hogar.

Kind regards,

Your PBIS Team