Monthly Wildcat December
All of the news from Woodcrest Elementary!
Principal's Message
Welcome to our December edition of the Monthly Wildcat! I am excited to share all the latest news and updates from Woodcrest Elementary.
Last month we were able to have our Trimester 1 Awards Assembly in person. Thank you to all of our families who came out to support our Wildcats!
Last month Mrs. Somoza's class started up our Mad Hatter Cafe. The cafe sells coffee and tea to staff every Friday for $1. Students prepare the coffee (with supervision), deliver to staff and collect the money. Back in class they count the money and calculate their profits. They are learning life skills, math, and working on communication. It is honestly the highlight of my week having these students bring my standing coffee order. All of the money raised goes towards activities for the class. This is such an amazing learning experience for kids!
This month our Student Council is collecting items for the Women's Transitional Living Center. They are taking and new or gently used Books, clothing, shoed. New personal hygiene products are also being accepted. Any donations can be sent with your students or dropped off in the office. We will be taking collections until December 10th. Thank you for supporting our student council's philanthropic endeavors!
On November 3rd we had various FSD Cabinet & District office personnel her on campus to shadow and learn about some of our classified jobs. Our Superintendent, Dr. Pletka, Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Coghlan, and Purchasing Manager, Mr. McAdams worked with three members of our amazing Special Education staff, Ms. Francine, Ms. Yvonne, and Ms. Tonya. Assistant Superintendent, Dr Lee, learned from our awesome Office Manager Diana. All of them noted how great our staff is and how well we work with students. It is not just the kids who learn from our amazing Woodcrest staff!
In late November we created a quiet recess option for students. In the quiet recess location, students can play a variety of games, such as Uno, Connect Four, and Guess Who. Students LOVE it and have asked to go over and over. Our school counselor, Mrs. Conley, runs this daily and it is so popular. Student love a choice for how to spend their free time.
In order to keep students safe, morning temperature checks are done without physical contact. If a student has an elevated temperature, they will be given water and a few minutes to cool down and have their temperature rechecked. If the temperature remains elevated, you will be called to pick up your child. Please make sure to not send your student to school if they are sick. For more information on FSD’s safety protocols, please refer to the Fullerton School District website at https://www.fullertonsd.org/apps/pages/Covid19SafetyProtocols.
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:
--December 8th- Second Harvest Mobile Pantry
-December 10th- DELAC
-December 11th- Saturday School
-December 15th- Full Student Day - PJ Day
-December 16th-Minimum Day Schedule- Stuffed animal day
-December 16- STAGE! performance of The Jungle Book
-December 17th-January 3rd- Winter Break
-January 4th First Day Back to School
Thank you for choosing Woodcrest for your child's education. Looking ahead, I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season, filled with love, family, and friends!
Go Wildcats!
Mrs. Rochelle Wolf
Principal
Staff Spotlight: Mrs. Conley
Mrs. Carolyn Conley is our new school counselor. She is so excited to be working as a part of the Wildcat family.
She received her Bachelors degree in Human Services from Cal State Fullerton University and a Masters degree in Education Counseling with a Pupil Personnel Service Credential at Chapman University. She has a variety of experiences in education, from being a room mom, PTA member, substitute teacher, student support specialist, and now a school counselor.
What she loves most about the elementary level is student’s ability to learn more about themselves. Children are so resilient and forgiving. She is so excited to meet with students individually, in small groups, and in classrooms. As a school counselor, she feels her primary responsibility is to promote the academic and social/emotional development of all students.
Some fun facts about her are; She has been married for twenty years and has two children Carson (18) and Camden (15). She also has two cats and a dog. She was in the Army for eight years straight out of high school. She loves to hike, hang out with friends, and watch movies.
We are so excited to have Mrs. Conley in the Wildcat Family!
Classroom Happenings
From Mrs. Alarcon, Preschool
Happy December Families! This month, we are exploring the story elements of the Gingerbread Man and learning about sequencing. Our school Elf will be making a magical appearance to remind us about kindness, respect and friendship.
From Ms. Scofield: SPED Preschool
Happy December we are learning about rectangles and the color red. We are doing a lot of fun art activities. We are reading books about the different holidays in December.
From Mrs. Michaels: Kinder/1st
Happy December! We are so excited for a fun month of winter learning and crafts. In ELA, we are continuing to learn letters, letter sounds, and sight words. We will focus on adjectives in grammar and move to informational writing in Writer’s Workshop. We will also be performing a reader’s theater script about the story of the gingerbread man. For Math, we are continuing with addition, counting to 100 by ones and tens, and writing numbers 0-20. For Science, we will begin our new unit on living things and the environment. For Social Justice, we will focus on the various holidays that are celebrated in December and the traditions we have in our families. In All the Arts, we will have our final music classes and we will be starting dance classes. We are excited to be performing at the Winter Concert where we will be singing and dancing. “Kindness is like snow-it beautifies everything it covers.”-Gibran
From Mr. Ledon
Let’s welcome winter! This month, we will be focusing on refining our foundational reading skills in ELA for both Kindergarten and 1st grade. In mathematics, students will be working on reading, writing, and solving subtraction problems within their standard ranges(1-10 & 1-20). For our Social Justice portion of instruction, students will be exploring and learning about the different holidays that are celebrated in the month of December. In All the Arts, students will be finishing up music and starting to learn about various Latin dances. Lastly, students will be working diligently to memorize holiday songs for our Winter Holiday Program. We are very excited to share music and movement with our families during this very special event. Happy Holidays to all of our Wildcat Families from K1!
From Mrs. Spencer: 1st Grade
From Mrs. Tran: SPED Kinder/1st
Happy December! Our classroom Elf is back and playing fun games with our students!
This is what we’re working on for this month:
In ELA, we are reading interactive stories related to Snow and our Letter of the Week. In the area of math, we are comparing numbers and quantities and knowing the difference between more and less. Our color of the month is White and we will be making lots of snow-related crafts. In Social Justice, we will learn about the different holidays that are celebrated in the world with our 1st grade buddies with fun crafts and games. We will also be continuing our mainstreaming with our 2nd-3rd grade buddies and more playground, music, and library fun with our Kindergarten friends. We’ve truly enjoyed our music lessons with Mr. Adamson and his cello...we look forward to our upcoming dance lessons! We have had an awesome 2021 with our sweet Wildkittens. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a healthy, peaceful, and joyous New Year!
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
Hello Wildcat Families! In December we will be focusing on writing strategies to improve our fluency. This will help us prepare for opinion writing. We are finishing up visual arts with our All the Arts teacher, Ms. Cuevas and the students are having a great time. In 4th grade math, we will be continuing working division strategies. They have been doing a great job with the first few division lessons! In 5th grade, we are working on comparing, rounding, and adding and subtracting decimals. The students seem to enjoy the new topic! Lastly, we will all be focusing on identity through gender stereotypes.
From Mrs. Merrihue: 5th Grade
From Ms. Somoza: 4th/5th/6th SPED
Happy December! In Room 1 we will be working on our monthly lessons from our curriculum Unique Learning system for ELA and Math. For science we will be exposed to physical science concepts, in Social Studies students will be exposed to ancient Mayan Civilization. For Life Skills students have job experience with the Mad Hatter Cafe. In Social Justice we are learning about identity, disabilities and winter holidays. For all the arts, we are learning art techniques with blending watercolors and oil based colors.
From Mrs. Bergen: 5th/6th Grade
Happy December Wildcats! This month we will be working on our opinion writing pieces. In math, 5th grade will be adding and subtracting decimals and 6th grade will be multiplying and dividing fractions. For All the Arts we will be working with Ms. Cuevas to create art pieces using different mediums. In Social Justice we are learning about identity, disabilities and winter holidays.
From Mr. Nunez: 6th Grade
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
Hello Woodcrest Families! During the month of December students will continue to practice striking skills including the introduction to tennis. We will also be participating in fun holiday themed activities such as Grinch Tag and a throwing game called the snowball battle. We will also be discussing how to keep our bodies healthy and active over Winter break!
From Mrs. Adams: Speech
Our Speech and Language Pathologists Mrs Adams is on maternity leave. Her caseload is being handled by a sub until she returns.
Ms. Neri- Speech Teacher
Happy December, Wildcat Families! This month we are continuing to work on our speech and language goals. We are working on building our vocabulary and listening to social stories to help us navigate social situations in our environment.
Mrs. Hernandez: RSP Teacher
From Mrs. Conley, School Counselor
Hello Wildcat Families! Happy December! My focus this month is to continue making connections with the students and staff at Woodcrest. I will be starting small social skills groups, one on one counseling and continue to introduce myself to classrooms. This month I would like to help students see the greatest gifts we can give as educators is to help students become free thinkers with the courage and commitment to reflect on their own experiences and beliefs, and question whether the consequences of doing things a certain way benefits others as well as themselves.
Reminders from the Office Staff
Diana Venegas
Patty Sandoval
Diana Arreolla
From Ms. Diana- Office Manager
Hello Woodcrest Families!
Attendance is very important for your child's academic success; however, we understand there are times when students can’t attend school. If your child is sick or you have a family emergency, please call the office at 714-447-7760 as soon as possible to let us know about your child’s absence. If you have any doctor’s note or test results, you can email them to us at diana_arreola@myfsd.org or diana_venegas@myfsd.org.
Mrs. Reese
Ms. Cherie Hayes
Susan Cravello
From Nurse Susan and Ms. Patty
Hello Wildcat Families! We continue to be vigilant with the protocols we have in place at school for health and wellness. Thank you for all of your support in encouraging your child in proper hand-washing, mask-wearing and staying home when sick. We appreciate all of your efforts and will do the same at school. Here’s to a healthy December!
From Mrs. Reese- Tech/Media
There are new books on Sora by Overdrive on the Fullerton School District website including California Young Reader Medal books (CYRM). There is a Sora app on the iPad too!
Students can read CYRM books and submit their vote for their favorite book to their teacher or librarian!
Sora information here: https://www.fullertonsd.org/apps/pages/sora
CYRM information here: http://www.californiayoungreadermedal.org/
Research Companion is also a great tool for students. https://www.fullertonsd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=2034047&type=d&pREC_ID=1660413
There is a weblink on all students' devices for Research Companion.
Please encourage your child to read!
Have a Wonderful Holiday!