The Puma Pride
February 22, 2021
Principal's Message
Hello, Willow Dale Families,
Hopefully, the snowy weather is behind us. We are looking forward to warmer temperatures this week.
Thank you to all of our awesome students who participated in our "Random Acts of Kindness" week. Since our week was cut short by the snowstorm, we will extend the Random Acts of Kindness Challenge this week. If you would like to submit a picture or video, click here or send it to your child's teacher. We will highlight them in the next newsletter.
Parents of students in grades 3-5 will be receiving the results of the MAP Assessments that were completed over the last few weeks. Dibels parent reports will be shared with parents of students in grades K-2 at the end of this week. Feel free to reach out to your child's teacher if you have questions regarding the information sent home.
The annual Jackpot Calendar CEF fundraiser is underway for March. See the information below to take a chance at great prizes while supporting the Centennial Education Foundation. One dollar will be donated to the Home & School of your choice. Don't forget to select Willow Dale H & S.
Have a Pawsome week!
~Dr. Perkins & Mr. Julius
Willow Dale Students Spread Kindness All Week!
Classroom Highlights
Kindergarten News
Mrs. Field’s Kindergarten students are enjoying learning at Willow Dale Elementary each day! The students have blossomed into beginning readers. They continue to hone their phonemic awareness and phonics skills. One activity that they especially enjoy is writing words on their whiteboards. They are then challenged to substitute one sound to make a new word. They begin by orally repeating the word selected by Mrs. Field. Next, the students tap the word using their fingers. Then, the students write the word on their board. After reading the word aloud, Mrs. Field will instruct them to substitute one of the sounds to make a new word. Please see the photographs for an example of their excellent work!
Additionally, the Kindergarten students have just started a new unit all about plants. The students are learning about plant parts and what plants need to survive! Students will soon be planting seeds to observe the life cycle of plants. Stay tuned for an update and pictures of these gardeners at work!
Photos From the Week
Tips for Helping Your Child Focus and Concentrate
Concentration is like a muscle that requires regular exercise to strengthen. Some kids are born “stronger” in this area than others, but all kids can learn strategies and engage in practices that help improve their ability to focus and sustain their attention. This is, after all, a very important skill for kids to acquire—school demands that students concentrate for long stretches of time, and as kids get older they have extracurricular activities after school that require even more concentration. Most children are able to concentrate on activities that are fun and intrinsically enjoyable. It’s the ones that are more boring, difficult or just less enjoyable that really challenge their focus. Yet this ability to concentrate and sustain attention on all kinds of tasks is crucially important, because it helps kids learn and improve, which leads to self-confidence and positive self-esteem.
Concentration is a lot like mindfulness, a concept that has been receiving quite a bit of attention lately in psychology and in popular culture. Mindfulness is basically the ability to pay attention to one thing in the moment, and it has been shown to have innumerable mental health benefits, from increased happiness and stress management to improved academic and test performance. For mindfulness to work, you have to focus.
Here are some tips to help your kids build their concentration muscles:
1. Set aside a reasonable amount of time for your child to practice focusing on a specific task.
Young children (age 4-5) can usually concentrate for somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes, depending on the task—less time with novel and challenging tasks, and more time with those intrinsically enjoyable activities.
2. Do one thing at a time.
We may praise the ability to multitask in our adult lives, but the research is clear: multitasking reduces concentration and diminishes our performance. In line with the concept of mindfulness, do one thing at a time in this one moment. For very young children, you might simply sing the alphabet together while looking at the letters. For children who are a little older, say 4th grade, you can complete one long division problem at a time together. Don’t look ahead at all the other problems, just focus on one at a time.
3. Set aside homework time and space.
Because multitasking impairs concentration, it’s important to reduce extraneous distractions. For example, do homework at a designated desk or table in a quiet room with the TV off, the phone in another room, and the laptop shut unless it’s needed to complete a homework assignment. Parental monitoring programs can automatically shut down Internet access after a set amount of use. As kids get older, parents can shift to using self-monitoring software so teens can independently manage their time. This way kids don’t get sucked into a time vortex on Instagram or Snapchat.
4. Build in planned breaks.
Kids need to get up, move around, and do something different and not too taxing after spending some time concentrating. They will benefit from taking some time to rest and recharge, especially during after-school homework time. Younger children can take a snack or play break, and teens can take the opportunity to check out their friends’ posts or text with peers.
5. Practice belly breathing.
Steady, diaphragmatic breathing slows our heart rate and clears our mind so we can concentrate. This is an important skill for kids to have when they’re confronted with challenging tasks, which can make them anxious and spike their heart rate. Anxiety leads to avoidance, the opposite of concentration. So finding ways to make tasks more approachable is important, and calming the body is one of those strategies.
6. Break big tasks down into smaller, more manageable pieces.
This is another strategy for helping children to approach a challenging task. If your child is learning to tie her shoes, make the first goal to master the initial knot, then move on to making two loops with the strings until she knows exactly how to do that, and so forth. Another “piecemeal” strategy for building concentration is to use a timer to help kids organize themselves, e.g., “Here’s a book about horses. I’m going to set this timer for 15 minutes, and I want you to write down as many facts about horses as you can in this time.”
7. Practice observing things in the moment.
Kids can be distracted by “internal stimuli,” like physical sensations or entertaining memories. While a child’s imagination is a wonderful thing, we also want them to be able to clear away distractions and build the ability to concentrate. You can play “I spy with my little eye…” and take turns making observations of various objects in the room, listen closely to the lyrics of a song together, or do some yoga poses and pay attention to how it feels in the body.
Author: Jamie M. Howard, PhD, is Child Mind Institute's Director of the Stress and Resilience Program; Clinical Psychologist, Anxiety and Mood Disorders Center.
Music Information for 5th-Grade Going to Middle School
Fifth Grade: Music Course information for Middle School
Last week our students saw a video from Mr. Regosch and Mr. Bauerle regarding 6th grade music classes. All 6th graders must select a music class to take next year. The video explained the details of the program and outlined each possible course selection, with the expectation the students would re-watch the video with parents and submit their course selection through the included Google Form link. Thank you to all who have submitted the form so far. If you have not registered your music course yet, Mr. Regosch has requested that you re-watch the video and submit the form as soon as possible. The form must be completed on a Student Chromebook as soon as possible. All links are below. Please email Mr. Regosch with any questions.
All links are below. Please email Mr. Regosch with any questions.
Win Prizes by Supporting the Centennial Education Foundation and the WIllow Dale Home & School!
Weekly drawings on Facebook live.
When making the purchase, enter the home and school of your choice. Don't forget to choose Willow Dale H & S.
It's easy to participate. Make your donation online or send a check.
Calling All Families for our Willow Dale Family Project
As part of our second No Place for Hate project, we would love for families and staff to create a collaborative cookbook with lots of family favorites and traditional recipes from your culture. This is optional but we would love as much participation as possible!!!
In classes, teachers read Everybody Cooks Rice and learned about how food is connected to cultural identity. Families often have food traditions and favorite recipes they love to make for meals or holidays. Please look in your child’s google classroom or Seesaw to find the recipe template for your family to use. Only one per family is necessary. Families will "turn in" a recipe slide with a recipe their family loves to make or something they traditionally make for holidays or family meals. There will be an example from the family of Mrs. Zemitis and a template you will use for your recipe. The slide has a space for inserting the name of your dish, your family name, ingredients, directions, and a picture of your dish. You can also get fancy with inserting a video or tik tok tutorial of you making your dish. Check out Mrs. Zemitis' TikToc of her family making chocolate covered pretzels on her sample slide. Click here to view!
The directions for how to complete the slide are in the notes section at the bottom of the slide. When it is all complete, please click the turn in button. Please let your child’s teacher or Mrs. Zemitis know if you need help or have any questions. You have until February 12th to complete your recipe slide. We will put it all together in a Willow Dale Family Favorites cookbook slides presentation and possibly printed to be shared with our school community!
Masks are required at Drop-off and Pick-up
Hello Willow Dale families!
As a reminder, for the safety of our students and staff, masks are required at drop-off and pick-up. Students should have their masks on before exiting the car. Please remain in your car unless absolutely necessary. Masks required if you exit. If you require help, please contact the front office.
Attention ALL Car Riders!
Car tags with your child’s official PikMyKid dismissal ID numbers have been distributed to all current car riders. Please make sure that from now on the car tag is displayed on your dash on the passenger side while on school grounds and that you make note of this number. If you need a card or additional cars, please contact the main office.
Please select one of the following choices when you arrive to pick up your child(ren).
- Carline 1- Line closest to the school building
- Carline 2- Line closest to Norristown Road
Downloaded the PikMyKid app today! Anyone who will be picking up your child should also register themselves with the application. Their screen will be blank, and they will not have any authorization until you allow it within the app.
For more information and instructions, go to this link
If you do not think the school has your mobile number on file or if your child does not appear on your app’s home page, contact support@pikmykid.com mailto:support@pikmykid.com after registration, with your child’s name, school, grade, and updated contact information for you.
We appreciate your patience during the setup as we are working on making the process as safe and seamless as possible.
Hybrid Schedule
Inclement Weather Day Schedule
Reminders for Cold Weather Days
Guidelines for Recess
Below 60 degrees—Jacket or long sleeves
Below 50 degrees—Coat and long pants
Below 32 degrees—Gloves and hats to go outside
Below 20 degrees—Shortened recess (5-10 minutes)
Below 10 degrees—Indoor recess
All temperatures represent the “feels like” number. Sometimes the windchill or windspeed may necessitate an indoor recess.
*If you are in need of coats, hats, gloves- Contact the School Counselors:
Ms. Zemitis: zemile@centennialsd.org
Ms. LaRose: laroka@centennialsd.org
It's Time for Kindergarten Registration!
If you have a neighbor or family member who needs to enroll their child in kindergarten, please pass this information on to them.
Resources for Families
https://www.education.pa.gov/about/Resources/ResourcesFamilies/Pages/default.aspx
Tech Support for Families
- Featured Videos -CSD Online Learning Resources - CSD STUDENT & FAMILY VIDEO TUTORIALS site.
- CSD Online Learning Resources
- Site contains videos and tutorials for students and families
- 1:1 Initiative Resource Center
If you have a technology issue, please submit a help desk ticket (link below) for the fastest response.
CSD Community Technology Support Desk Options for Support
- CSD Community Technology Help Desk: http://helpdesk.centennialsd.org/support/login (this option allows you to create an account, create and submit new tickets, view the status of your ticket, and leave comments on the ticket).
Willow Dale Elementary School's Technology Support Desk Contact
Please call Ms. Kwasniuk (215) 441-6000 and enter the extension 17020.
Important COVID Reminders from the Nurse's Office
Parents, we need your help to keep our students safe and healthy.
Please remember to check your student for the COVID 5 every morning before they come to school.
If you answer yes to any of the following questions, please keep your student home.
- Do they have a temperature of greater than 100.3?
- Do they have an altered taste or smell?
- Have they been exposed to someone with a lab-confirmed case of COVID 19?
- Are they awaiting test results of a recent COVID 19 test?
- Do they have an unexplained cough or shortness of breath?
Thank you in advance for your support! We are all in this together!
- Mrs. Salita and Mrs. Kleinschmidt-Willow Dale Nurses
Attendance in Virtual Learning
Children who attend school regularly make the best academic progress, graduate, and go on to successful post-secondary education and/or careers. It is important, even on virtual days for students to join the classroom teacher for learning via Google Meet.
If your child is going to be absent, late, or leave early, please notify the homeroom teacher and the school to let us know. More details below.
The Centennial School District Policy can be found here.
Reporting Absences
SUBMITTING ABSENCE NOTES
Attendance Notes can be Submitted Electronically via email at WDAttendance@centennialsd.org. Please know you will still receive automated phone calls (to the primary phone listed in Skyward) if you have not submitted an absence note via email by 10:00 AM on the days your child is absent from school.
**Absence notes must be submitted within 3 days of the student's absence, otherwise, the absence will be recorded as unexcused.
E-Mailing Attendance Notes
- Parents with children in Willow Dale may e-mail attendance notifications/notes to the following address: WDAttendance@centennialsd.org
- E-mail notifications are encouraged on the morning of the absence day. However, e-mailed absence notes may be sent on the day following the absence.
- When sending an absence notification please include the following information:
- Child's Name
- Child's Grade
- Child's Homeroom Teacher
- Date(s) of Absence
- Reason for Absence
- Contact Phone # for Parent/Guardian
- Other Pertinent Information
Email: WDAttendance@centennialsd.org
Phone: 215-441-6093
Nutrition Services Information
All Students are Eligible for a FREE Breakfast & Lunch Daily
The USDA has extended the waiver to continue feeding under the Summer Programs which entitles all children 18 and under to eat for free. These programs have been extended throughout the entire school year.
Parents, please continue to apply for free and reduced programs, as this helps fund other programs in the district which could benefit families. Now more than ever, we need families to complete the Free and Reduced meal application even though all meals are currently free. Please complete the application today.
We Need your Help!
Free and Reduced Lunch Application
Willow Dale depends on funding based on the number of free and reduced applications approved. Please help us maintain our funding that directly assists our students.
This year, our numbers are lower due to the free meals provided. If you already receive SNAP benefits and have not applied this year, please take a minute to apply.
If your financial situation has changed, please visit schoolcafe.com to apply today!
Applications can be submitted at any time during the school year. All information submitted to the school is kept confidential. Since meal transactions are computerized, there is no discrimination or identification of free or reduced paying students, so all families are urged to consider this program.
For questions or assistance, please reach out to:
Mrs. Shannon Stone - Supervisor of Food & Nutrition Services
StonSh@centennialsd.org 215-441-6000 x11015
Read Across America week
Wear bright or rainbow colors
Monday, Mar 1, 2021, 08:45 AM
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Wear a crazy hat, drop everything and read to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday!
Wednesday, Mar 3, 2021, 08:45 AM
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Wear clothes backwards, inside out or mismatched.
Wednesday, Mar 3, 2021, 01:30 PM
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Crazy sock and sneaker day
Thursday, Mar 4, 2021, 08:45 AM
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Cozy up to a Good Book
Friday, Mar 5, 2021, 08:45 AM
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Help the Home & School Raise Extra Funds!
Child Care Arrangement Form
School Safety Drills
We will practice fire, lock-in, lock-out, and weather emergency drills. These drills may or may not be announced. Unannounced drills more accurately indicate the preparedness of the school and the effectiveness of safety procedures. Your child's teacher will review the exercises and procedures with their classes. Please make the teacher aware of any concerns regarding your child's participation in the safety drills.
The Warminster Director of Emergency Management Services and the Warminster Police Department will be invited to observe our drills and provided feedback for improvement.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Dr. Perkins or Mr. Julius.
Family Trips Scheduled During the School Year
Dear Centennial Families;
The Centennial School District Board of School Directors approved Policy 204.1, Family Trips Scheduled During School Year.
Although the scheduling of family trips during the instructional year is not encouraged, the Centennial School Board recognizes that students may benefit educationally by accompanying their parent(s)/guardian(s) on trips. The revision to the policy will allow the schools to approve up to five (5) days instead of three (3). Any trip beyond five (5) days will need the approval of the Superintendent.
Parent(s)/Guardian(s) who are requesting approval for a family trip need to complete and submit the attached form to their building principal at least 3 days before the trip.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Dr. Perkins or Mr. Julius.
Buses and Bus Schedule Information
CENTENNIAL 2020-2021 BUS SCHEDULE INFORMATION
***You can access your child's busing information in SKYWARD
Information can also be accessed by clicking on the below link.
- Type in your address to access your child's busing information.
- Addresses with east, west, north, or south use the abbreviation E, W, N, or S with no punctuation. If that does not work, omit using it in your address.
If you have any questions, please contact us at 215-441-6000.
Willow Dale Elementary School
Email: perkca@centennialsd.org
Website: www.centennialsd.org/Domain/692
Location: 720 North Norristown Road, Warminster, PA, USA
Phone: 215-441-6093
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Education/Willow-Dale-Elementary-School-331460017756772/
Twitter: @Willow_Dale_ES