EW Cougar News
Volume 11 Issue 4 December, 2022
Good afternoon Cougar Community!
I am so thankful for the support, flexibility, and efforts of everyone to make this school year the best it can be for everyone. Your involvement and support makes a big difference. Thank you for participating in our conferences. When home and school works together, good things happen with student learning.
Last week, East Ward musicians shared their skills during the Winter Concert. Our orchestra, chorus, and band students played a variety of music to get us in the holiday spirit! It is no easy task to perform in front of hundreds of people, but their hard work and preparation paid off. They sounded amazing. There was also a special performance during the day portion. A few EW faculty and staff sang to kick off the concert. I hope you all enjoy the upcoming winter break!
It is quite cold outside today, and will be getter colder. I want to let everyone know we have a few winter coats available for students who may need them. We also have many hats and gloves. If your child/ren need winter jackets hats, gloves, please let Mrs. Greider know!
All DASD devices, regardless of physical location (at home or school), shall have all internet activity filtered and monitored by the district. The Securly Home app for caregivers is a valuable tool to help keep students safer when on their school-issued devices. The parent app has the ability to block sites, like YouTube, and allows caregivers to create schedules when the device is inaccessible to the web, like dinner time and bedtime. The app also displays a real-time view of your child’s activity on their school-issued device. Caregivers also receive a weekly email from Securly with a snapshot report of the week’s activity. Please review the written directions or video directions to access the Parent Securly Home app. If you want to learn more about Securly’s online safety solutions, please visit www.securly.com. A list of Securly DASD Parent Frequently Asked Questions, as well as all other technology information can be found here. For additional information, please email homesupport@securly.com. While technology has many benefits, I recommend you watch the getting started guide video so you are able to see what your child is accessing online and set screen time limits to devices while at home.
The DASD Preschool Outreach Group will be holding a series of free events throughout the school year for preschool students who will be attending DASD kindergarten in the coming year. The goal of these events is to familiarize the children and their families with DASD and to help support the children's kindergarten readiness. Save the Date: On Tuesday, February 7 from 5-6 PM, Crystal Murphy Music will be at EW for DASD preschoolers. More info to come in the New Year.
At East Ward, we believe “Everyone Matters”. To better exemplify this message, we are going to have an Equity Advisory Board. The Board will be made of EW caregivers representative of our school’s population. The goal is to get specific feedback of how we are meeting the needs of our students and families and seek suggestions and support in carrying out initiatives that serve to support the inclusion of every member of our school community. Before winter break, I will send a Google Form to parents/guardians to gather interest. I am hopeful the group will reflect our school community.
The DASD Mobile Innovation Lab will be coming to East Ward the first two weeks of January (1/4- 1/12). Students in kindergarten through fifth grade will have the opportunity to participate in STEM based learning with Mrs. Schwab (former EW 3rd grade teacher). The students will be scheduled for a block with Mrs. Schwab where they will go on the bus and engage in some hands-on learning. I am sure they will be excited to tell you all about it when they have had their visit!
Thank you for your support, encouragement, and involvement of all things East Ward! For those who celebrate, I wish you happiness, peace, and all the best this Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. If I do not get the opportunity to see you before the end of next week, I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable winter break with your family!
Your Proud Principal,
Career Exploration in DASD- Grades 1-5 ~ SMART FUTURES
Career exploration is an important part of the student experience at DASD. This year, we are using a new career exploration program called Smart Futures. In iDesign, students will be asked to use this software to complete activities so they can find out more about careers that cater to their interests and aptitudes.
Please take 10 minutes to watch this video to find out more about Smart Futures: Smart Futures Student Tour
More questions or concerns about Smart Futures? Reach out to Dr. Troy Podell, Supervisor of Secondary ELA/Humanities, at tpodell@dasd.org
East Ward Winter Spirit Week Days!
Upcoming Events
12/19-12/23- Winter Spirit Week
12/24- 1/2 Winter Break Happy Holidays!
1/3 School Reopens
1/5- 2 Hour Early Dismissal
1/16- School Closed MLK Day
1/16- EW Day Of Service (More information to come soon)
1/27- Pizza Bingo 6:30 PM
After School Enrichment Classes
Citadel Heart of Learning Award- Nominate an East Ward Teacher
Each year, Citadel Bank gives the Heart of Learning Award to recognize teachers throughout Greater Philadelphia who make a difference in our community, support students beyond the call of duty, and encourage full potential. We know our teachers are amazing, but it is wonderful when they get recognized by others. If you would like to learn more or nominate one of our East Ward teachers, please click the link below.
Riding and Reading
Travel is just the thing to get young minds moving. Turn travel time during a family trip into a great bonding and learning adventure with activities that build language for literacy and boost kids’ brain development. Don’t forget to pack your imagination!
What to bring:
Music. Before your trip, take time to make a sing-along playlist of family favorites. (Remember to bring whatever you need to connect your mobile device to the car stereo and keep it charged.) On the road, get kids listening by asking them to keep an ear out for certain words or sounds and clapping when they hear them. Then get them singing along!
With the car stereo off, try teaching each other classic kids’ songs, folk songs, Sesame Street and Disney tunes, the national anthem, or Broadway hits. You’ll find lyrics online or you can show kids how they can make their own music by inventing new verses to songs like “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”
Books. Invest some time before your trip in choosing some audio books the whole family can listen to. Search for recommendations in Reading Rockets list of Favorite Audio Books (http://www.readingrockets.org/articles/books/audiobooks) or ask your librarian for ideas. Your public library may have books on CD that you can borrow or lend electronic audio books you can download to your device. Choose audio books that will stimulate discussion, like classics or books on topics of interest to everyone in your family.
Look too for audio books of stories you’ve shared with your child, and plan to talk about how the reader’s interpretation is similar or different from yours, especially if the audio book reader is the author! If you are listening to picture books, bring along a copy so kids can look at the illustrations while listening.
Let kids pack some favorite titles to look at, to read to you, or have read aloud to them while you’re on the road. And bring along some new books, too. A new release by a favorite author or a new book in a beloved series will add excitement to your trip.
Stories. Family stories, tales of road trips past, adventures of your youth stories, and stories and facts about your destination do more than pass the time on the road. As kids hear and learn from the successes, mistakes, values, and ideas in your stories, their understanding of how to have their own adventures — and their own stories — will grow.
As you share stories, give your child a chance to ask questions and offer his perspective. Storytelling is more fun if everyone gets a chance to tell a story! Try telling a memorable family story with everyone taking turns or turn family photos into family stories. Have photos on your mobile device or bring along copies of pictures and share stories about the people and the places important to your family.
Counselor's Corner
Counselor Lessons for December
This December, Counselor lessons will focus on the following topics:
· 1st: Conflict Resolution
· 2nd: I-Messages and Conflict Resolution
· 3rd: Intensity of Feelings
· 4th: I-Messages
· 5th: Identity
What is my school counselor up to this month?
- Running Fall small groups including:
- Social Skills
- Zones of Regulation
- Worry Group
- Girls’ and Guys’ Group
- Teaching monthly counseling lessons in the iDesign classroom. See topics above.
- Meeting individually with students.
- Collaborating with teachers and parents.
- Organizing our holiday Helping Hands program to help families in our community.
Katie Rastetter, School Counselor
610-269-8282 ex 23040
From the Health Room
From the Health Room
Wash, Wash, Wash your Hands
As we approach cold and flu season the number one thing you can do for your students is to teach them to properly wash their hands. According to the CDC here is the best way: Wet your hands with warm water Lather up with enough soap. You do not have to use antibacterial soap. Fun colors or containers make it more fun for young ones. Scrub for 20 seconds. The amount of time it takes to sing Happy Birthday 2 times or sing the Alphabet. Remember fingernails and in between fingers. Rinse well. Let those bugs go down the drain. Dry well with a clean towel, paper towel, or try the new Kleenex hand towels. They work great.
When Should my Child Stay Home?
We know that it is difficult to have a sick child, but please keep your children home if they are not feeling well. It benefits your child as well as all the other students and staff in our East Ward community.
- If your child has a fever of over 100.0 F. Students should stay home with a fever and be fever free for 24 hours before returning.
- Vomiting and Diarrhea: student should wait a full 24 hours after their last bout of vomiting or diarrhea before returning to school.
- If in doubt sit it out: You know your child best. If you are on the fence on whether to send them, keep them home. It may make their recovery faster and get them back to school sooner.
Other Helpful Information
School Attendance
School attendance is very important (even while online), and our Cougars want to be in attendance as much as possible! There is a strong correlation between a student’s attendance and learning. We encourage students at East Ward to come to classes, on time, each and every day, unless there is a health related reason for their absence. The DASD carefully tracks each student’s attendance daily, and is required to notify parents once their child has reached 3 illegal absences. An illegal absence is defined as an absence with no note received within three days. An attendance improvement plan will be developed if a student reaches 6 illegal absences. The plan will include interventions that will be put in place to improve school attendance.
As you can see, attendance is very important, so if your child is absent from school, please email our attendance line at ew_attendance @dasd.org prior to 9AM. Doing this will serve as your absent note rather than having to send in a written note. If you do not have email, we will need a written excuse. Please know that the email or written note serves as written documentation for your child’s absence from school and is filed accordingly. If you know your child will be late to school due to an appointment, an email will also help to eliminate your written note upon arrival.
Student/Parent Handbook
Our 2022-2023 Parent Handbook is posted on the East Ward Elementary School website. When visiting our homepage, please scroll down to the lower left portion of the page. In the “Backpack” you will find the Parent Handbook posted. It is very important that each parent/guardian read through the handbook. Important information such as attendance regulations, communication protocols, health and medical guidelines, activity fees, student expectations, calendar, instruction and assessment is included. Also featured is a section about our Home and School Association; officers, committees, and events are included.
East Ward Elementary School
Email: ewinfo@dasd.org
Website: https://ew.dasd.org/
Location: 435 Washington Ave, Downingtown, PA, USA
Phone: 610-269-8282
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dasdew
Twitter: @dasd_ew