West Middleton Update
~A Compassionate, Collaborative Community of Learners~
A few quick updates from Mrs. Krych for February 2019
We're you all as ready as we were to get back to school and work last Friday? I don't know about you, but I felt like all I did during those cold/snow days was keep my kids from fighting with each other and try to keep them off of electronics. It was exhausting and definitely made me appreciate my job and this fabulous community of learners that much more. Next week is going to be a shock to all of our systems, having five days of school in a row. It will be especially important to make sure your kids get to bed on time and are well rested. We will be reviewing our Wolverine Way expectations again throughout the week until we get back into the full swing of things.
February is going to be a busy month for us. We are finishing up our winter assessments and will be reviewing data and making instructional decisions at our staff meetings, during our weekly Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings and at our February 22nd Professional Development (PD) day. We will also be sharing this information with you at our Parent/Teacher Conferences on February 19th and 21st. If you haven't signed up for a conference yet, please contact your child's teacher. February is Black History Month, our Family Movie Night is this Friday (2/8), Kindness Week is the week of February 11th, and Valentine's Day is coming up too. It's going to be a great month of learning and community building.
Please let me or your child's teacher know if you have any questions or feedback on how we're doing. One of our collective commitments is that parents are partners in their child's education and we value your voice and perspective greatly.
Take care of yourselves and each other and don't forget that we are #bettertogether at West Middleton.
Mrs. Krych
Save the Dates - Mark Your Calendar for These Fun Upcoming Parent and Family Events
February 8th - Friday - 6:30 - 8:00 - Family Movie Night
February 12th - Tuesday - 5:15 - 5:45 - STAR Parent Information Night
March 1st - Friday 6:00 - 8:00 - PTO Sponsored Neon Night Dance and Art Show
April 12th - Friday 5:00 - 7:00 - Cultural Family Night
May 30st - Thursday - Hot Dog Picnic during Lunch
June 6th - Thursday - Field Day
February is Black History Month
Kindness Week - Week of February 11th
In an effort to create a culture of kindness, our school, along with hundreds of other schools across the nation will be participating in a Kindness Challenge during the week of February 11th-15th. The week is devoted to doing as many acts of kindness as possible in and out of school. The purpose of this week long event is to foster an environment that values the importance of being kind all year round. This week's activities will include daily kindness morning announcements and music, kindness themed morning meetings, spirit wear days promoting kindness (see below for days), kindness book readings by 4th grade members of Pride Pack and a Mix-It Up lunch. Classrooms will also receive a checklist with acts of kindness to complete during the week. We look forward to an exciting week and can't wait to see how many acts of kindness we complete!
Dress Up Days:
Monday February 11th: Let Kindness Shine: Wear sunglasses, or bright clothes/sparkly attire
Tuesday February 12th: Being Kind is Magical: Dress as a Mythical Creature (unicorn, dragons, mermaids, Phoenix, Harry Potter, etc)
Wednesday February 13th: Crazy for Kindness: Crazy hair or crazy clothes
Thursday February 14th: We Love Kindness: Wear Pink or Red
Friday February 15th: Kindness Predicts Your Future: Dress as favorite career
Updates from the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) Team
STAR Parent Information Night - Tuesday, February 12th - 5:14 - 5:45 in the LMC
In the meantime, please feel free to access A Parent Guide to STAR Assessments.
You can access parent resources from Renaissance here.
Information on Fountas & Pinnell (F&P) Reading Levels
After School Club and Program Opportunities - Coming Soon
West Middleton has been given funding to create an after school program for our students for the remainder of the 18-19 school year. For those of you who were here last year, you may remember a pilot after school program that we offered in the Spring, in partnership with the Middleton Park and Rec department in the spring. We were able to offer arts & crafts and soccer/basketball. In addition, we were able to offer wraparound care for students who did not have supervision after the clubs, as well as transportation to students in the Elver Park Neighborhood Center. We are hoping to use this as a model for our program that will be starting soon. Please keep your eyes out for information about what clubs will be offered and how families can access the after school program.
On that note, we are thrilled to introduce our newly hired After School Program Coordinator, Jada Thompson.
Hello West Middleton Family and Staff! My name is Jada Thompson, and I’m super excited to be a part your community as the After School Program Coordinator. I am originally from Memphis, Tennessee; BBQ, Blues/Jazz, Civil Rights Movement History, and Elvis Presley are some important things/people who are attached to the city (people mostly go there for the BBQ). I have spent most of my school years between Madison and Middleton school districts; Jefferson Middle school, Kromrey Middle school, and Middleton High school. I’m a 2017 graduate of Middleton high school, and while attending MHS I joined BSU (Black Student Union) and started doing mentoring for incoming freshmen at MHS and Elm Lawn Elementary students. I have a passion for the arts and activism! I was able to combine my passion for both, and delivered the commencement speech at my graduation, which pushed me to make the decision to go into education and to return to the district. When I am not at school I am focused on my projects as an artist, spending time with family and friends, playing basketball/video games, and being active. My passion, as a student, for equity work has driven me to come back as a staff member and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to join your community to continue our work.