Monthly Wildcat April
All of the news from Woodcrest Elementary!
Principal's Message
Welcome to our April edition of the Monthly Wildcat! I am excited to share all the latest news and updates from Woodcrest Elementary.
I am sure a lot of you already know, but I wanted to share that I am leaving the Fullerton School District. I have accepted a job closer to home in the Walnut Valley Unified School District. Although this was a difficult decision, this change will enable me to have more time with my family. Thank you so much for the opportunity to serve as your principal for the last six years. It was truly and honor and I will miss you all. Woodcrest will always have a special place in my heart.
On April 2, 2022, the students of Ms. Somoza's class will be representing Woodcrest at FSD Fest Innovation Experience. They will demonstrate their innovative Mad Hatter Cafe, serving coffee and lemonade to guests. They will show the process for making, serving, and accepting pay for their cafe items. They will showcase their excellent customer service skills that our staff gets to se every Friday at the Mad Hatter Cafe!
On March 5, 2022, our 4th grade Hockey Team participated in thee FSD Hockey Tournament sponsored by the Anaheim Ducks. They played against Richman and Rolling Hills. They played hard and tried their best. Although they didn't win, they did a great job. Way to go Woodcrest Hockey!
On Monday, March 28, 2022, our primary SPED teacher, Mrs. Tran, competed on Wheel of Fortune. She did so well, winning some cash prizes and a trip. Congratulations Mrs. Tran!
Open House is on April 21st. PTA will be selling snacks starting at 5:00, the school band will have a concert at 5:30 and staff introductions will be at 5:45. Classroom visits will go from 6-6:30 and 6:30-7:00. Please join us to see all the amazing learning your child experienced over the year.
Saturday April 23rd is LOVE Fullerton. LOVE Fullerton is a service project day, where volunteers help out at various organizations across the city. This year Woodcrest projects include painting our blacktop surface to make our playground a more colorful and inviting plane. If you would like to volunteer, please clink on the link here: https://www.lovefullerton.org/communityservice/projectdetails/61fdab5733bc694af40dfbaa
We are offering three new clubs this last trimester. French on Wednesdays for anyone in grades 3-6, Yoga on Mondays for grades 1-6, and Soccer on Fridays for grades 5 and 6. If you are interested, please pick up a flyer in the office. French and Soccer are free and Yoga is $30. If your student is really interested in Yoga, but the cost is too high, please call the office. We can work with anyone to make sure students who wants to participate can! Space is limited, so classes are first come, first serve.
Students who will be five years of age on or before September 1, 2022 are eligible for kindergarten. Students who will be five years of age from September 2, 2022 through February 2, 2023 are eligible for Transitional Kindergarten. Registration for Kindergarten and Transitional Kindergarten will begin on Monday, February 28, 2022. If you have a child or know of a child who will be entering kindergarten or transitional kindergarten next school year, please come to our school office to obtain more information.
Please check out our Family Learning Den. The site has a variety of videos on a wide range of topics, such as letter names and sounds, sight words, fluency, active reading, counting, addition, and multiplication. You can access the Family Learning Den through our website under Parent Info our at this link:
https://sites.google.com/myfsd.org/wc-family-learning-den/home
If you don't already, please check out our social media. We are very active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Follow us on Twitter @WoodcrestFSD
Like us on Facebook: Woodcrest Elementary School
Follow us on Instagram: woodcrestschool
Here are some upcoming dates to remember:
April 1st- Wear Blue for Autism Awareness
April 1-2, 2022- FSD Fest
April 8th- ELAC in MPR at 8:30
April 11th- Fullerton Education Foundation Gold Tournament
April 12th- Pawsitive Choices Assembly
April 15th- DELAC at Rolling Hills
April 16th- Saturday School
April 21st- Open House
April 23rd- LOVE Fullerton
April 27th- Second Harvest Mobile Pantry
Thank you for choosing Woodcrest for your child's education.
Go Wildcats!
Mrs. Rochelle Wolf
Principal
Teacher of the Year: Mrs. Dionna Spencer
Our teacher of the year is an excellent teacher. From her planning and instruction, to her lesson closure and assessment, she excels. She is skilled at creating an effective space for learning by teaching students the positive expectations of our school. Because of this, her classroom is a highly engaging place to be where all students have access to the curriculum. She has mastered the standards for teaching reading, using a variety of standards to facilitate student learning.
Before we returned to in-person learning, this teacher was chosen to help in the creating of videos to assist teachers with hybrid teaching. Her colleagues have called her a trail blazer and very supportive in this area. Based on that experience, multiple school districts from as far as Central California visited Woodcrest to see how she provided instruction in this new and innovative way. She was also asked to be a panel member on this topic for a neighboring school district. Her excellence is something we proudly share as a model of innovative and high quality instruction.
This teacher is a leader on campus. She is an active member of the leadership team and a member of our Social Justice Squad. In terms of professional development, she is always wanting to learn and try new things. She is always an early adopter of new things and jumps in to do anything that will help her students succeed. She is tech savvy and integrates technology into her lessons in a meaningful way. When we first started moving towards our social justice focus, she was “all in” from day one, integrating the social justice standards first into isolated lessons then quickly into her Readers Workshop. This commitment to equity and inclusion reaches not just her students, but also the students in our special education classes, as they participate in reciprocal inclusion multiple times a week.
She is also a leader in PLC meetings. She works with her team in planning assessments, analyzing data, and responding to that data. She is supportive of her newer colleagues and provides them with the level of support they need to be successful in their grade level. Her support and collegiality extends past the scheduled PLC, as she always makes herself available to her team. Her team describes her as their “greatest cheerleader”. She received a nomination from almost every member of her team. All of our staff regards this teacher as not just a stellar educator, but as someone they can count on.
Mrs. Wolf refers to this teacher as the “kid whisperer”. She is skilled at managing her classroom of diverse learners because of one simple fact: she loves her students. She starts by getting to know her students and how they learn. She has handled some of our most challenging students. From an outside observer, she makes it look easy. In truth, how she handles these challenges is methodical and well planned.
This teacher celebrates her students’ success, no matter how big or small. Her classroom environment is such a positive, engaging, and warm environment for both kids and adults. She was a trailblazer in terms of flexible seating and giving students some choices during the day. Her students love her so much, as do her colleagues. It is our pleasure to announce our Woodcrest Teacher of the Year Dionna Spencer!
Classified Employee of the Year: Ms. Diana Venegas
Here is a little about what our staff has to say about our Classified Employee of the year.
This person is a rock star at her job. She works well with other staff and is a great team player! She’s always willing to learn new things, helpful, knowledgeable, positive attitude, great sense of humor & has a smile every day. She takes on new tasks without complaint and doesn't miss a beat. She works hard and is extremely patient with staff, students, and families. She is enthusiastic and passionate about her job. She is very communicative with our school families, as well as with staff.
Her organizational skills are exceptional! She has taken tasks in the office and redefined them into something more efficient. She makes running the office look easy! She goes above and beyond, especially during COVID. She learned how to troubleshoot iPad issues, went on home visits with me, and helped provide our families with resources when we didn’t have an SSA. She even covers for the health office when our health assistant is out, treating the kids with respect and kindness.
She greets the staff , students, and families warmly and makes everyone feel welcome and happy to be at Woodcrest.
It’s our pleasure to announce our Woodcrest Classified Employee of the year: Diana Venegas.
Classroom Happenings
From Mrs. Alarcon, Preschool
From Ms. Scofield: SPED Preschool
Spring has sprung! We are reviewing our shapes and learning about patterns. This months color we will be learning about is purple. We will also be continuing to express how we feel and how to work together for a common goal. Our weekly themes will be about insects and animals.
From Mrs. Michaels: Kinder/1st
Happy April! I hope everyone had a great spring break! We are excited for the new season of spring and can’t wait to learn about seasonal plants, animals, and insects! In ELA, we will explore themes and read stories about growing up, being good citizens, and natural resources. We learned all of our alphabet letters and sounds for consonants and short vowels. We will begin to learn more about long vowels and work on words with the silent e. We are continuing to practice blending, segmenting, and decoding. For Writer’s Workshop, we will be working on opinion pieces. In Math, we will focus on identifying and describing 3D shapes and at the end of the month we will start to learn about measurement. In Science, we are continuing to discuss weather and shelter. For All the Arts, we are taking classes on media arts by using our iPads for photography and video. For Social justice, we will focus on how to take care of the Earth and celebrate Earth Day with read-alouds and activities. “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” -Albert Einstein
From Mr. Ledon
Welcome back to the March Madness Wildcat Families!
April Fools! Welcome to the wonderful month of April, I am so happy to hear about your wonderful Spring Break adventures. This month for Social Justice, we will be focusing on how to take care of our planet Earth through read alouds and hands-on activities. For Writer’s Workshop, students will continue to focus on opinion writing. In All the Arts, students will continue to work with iPads during our Media Arts unit. In Kinder Math, students will be finishing up 2D shapes and will be moving onto 3D shapes. In 1st grade math, students will continue with measurement and start with our geometry unit. For Kinder ELA, students will have just finished learning all the letters in the alphabet and will be preparing for a fun letter project! Students in 1st grade will be wrapping up their Insects ELA, Science, and Art combined unit with a visual art piece. We are nearing the end of the year so let’s make every single day count by ensuring your child gets to school on time. Go Wildcats!
From Mrs. Spencer: 1st Grade
From Mrs. Tran: SPED Kinder/1st
IHappy Spring!
In April, we’ll be working on the following:
In ELA, we are reading interactive stories related to the Spring animals, especially the frog life cycle, and our Letter of the Week. In the area of math, we are learning about beginning subtraction. In All the Arts, we are learning all about photography and how to take pictures with our buddies. In Social Justice, we will learn about jazz music, Arab Americans, and autism with our 1st grade buddies. We will review all of our Social-Emotional Learning strategies with our kindergarten buddies. Please help us celebrate Earth Day on April 22 by doing something to help clean up our planet (e.g. pick up trash, recycle, ride your bike, donate old clothes or books, etc). In Room 2, our class always stays SHARP!
From Mrs. Kollmansberger, 2nd Grade
From Ms. Pionke: 2nd/3rd Grade
From Ms. Guardamondo, 3rd Grade
From Mrs. Guzman: 2nd/3rd Grade SPED
From Mrs. Wren: 4th Grade
From Mrs. Rangel: 4th/5th Grade
This month we will be focusing on informational writing. Students will choose their own topics and work to include text features in their essays. In math, 4th grade will work on relating fractions and decimals while 5th grade works on multiplying and dividing fractions. We just began a new genre with All the Arts and are now focusing on theater. We are loving it so far! During the month of April we will also be preparing for the state test that students will be taking in May.
From Mrs. Merrihue: 5th Grade
From Ms. Somoza: 4th/5th/6th SPED
From Mrs. Bergen: 5th/6th Grade
Hello Wildcats! This month we will be writing our informative pieces. In math, 5th grade will be multiplying and dividing fractions, and 6th grade will be reading, writing and solving one-step variable equations. For All The Arts we will be learning about theater. During the month of April we will also be preparing for the state test that students will be taking in May.
From Mr. Nunez: 6th Grade
Hello Wildcats! In math, we are starting with order of operations. We are also starting our informative writing focusing on activism. We also started All the Arts: Theater. We will be learning about improv and acting techniques. We are also starting our novel study of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. This will also tie into our social studies unit of learning about Ancient Greece.
From Mrs. Joo: Response to Intervention/ELA
From Mrs. Alcaraz, Response to Intervention/ELA
From Mrs. Graza, Response to Intervention/Math
From Coach Martinez: PE
From Mrs. Adams: Speech
In speech we will continue to work on our individual goals in the area(s) of articulation/phonology, vocabulary, grammar, social skills, and speech fluency. We will be using books, boomcards, short videos for visuals, and games to enhance learning and make it engaging. Students are setting goals for themselves and monitoring their progress!
Ms. Neri- Speech Teacher
Hello April! We will be celebrating National Autism Awareness for the entire month. We will focus on highlighting our uniqueness and gifts through social stories, exposing other peers to AAC use by fostering interactions with our nonverbal students, and having our students share their skills during daily routines. We will also continue to work on our individual goals in the areas of articulation/phonology, receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language.
Mrs. Hernandez: RSP Teacher
From Mrs. Conley, School Counselor
Welcome Spring!!!! This month I will continue to see my small groups and individual students working on SEL and social skills. I will start pushing into the 6th grade classrooms and discussing school success and academic achievement (getting ready for the next grade level). We will discuss the relationship between hard work and school success.
Reminders from the Office Staff
Diana Venegas
Patty Sandoval
Diana Arreola
From Ms. Diana- Office Manager
Hello Woodcrest Families!
If your child's date of birth is between 9/2/2016 and 9/4/2017, please come and pick up the enrollment packet for Kindergarten in our office.
Here are some things you need to get ready to enroll your child with us:
Birth Certificate
Vaccination Records
Two Proof of Residence (please check with the office what documents are valid)
Physical examination
Dental examination
Remember next school year, we will also have Transitional Kindergarten (TK) for children born between 9/2/2017 and 2/2/2018.
The documents will need for TK are the following:
Birth Certificate
Vaccination Records
Two Proof of Residence (please check with the office what documents are valid)
For more information, please call the office at 714-447-7760
From Ms. Gisel - Social Services Assistant
We have events coming up this month that you don't want to miss out on!
April 21, 2022, Open house at 5PM
April 27, 2022, food distribution at 1PM
Mrs. Reese
Ms. Cherie Hayes
Susan Cravello
From Nurse Susan and Ms. Patty
Hello Wildcats! Happy Spring!! Even though masks are now optional, we still need to continue the healthy habits that we have all learned. Washing hands, getting good sleep, and eating healthy food. Most importantly, if you are not feeling well, please stay home and rest until you feel better. Healthy people are happy people!!
From Mrs. Reese- Tech/Media
Happy Spring Wildcats! April is school library month!
Sora information here: https://www.fullertonsd.org/apps/pages/sora
Research Companion information here: https://www.fullertonsd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=2034047&type=d&pREC_ID=1660413
“Learning to read comes before reading to learn”