Wasco Families,

For the month of December I am visiting each classroom with the read aloud Night Tree. It’s one of my favorite stories to share with kids and is especially meaningful at this time of giving. At school, we identify opportunities for the children to practically apply the skills we are teaching. I was inspired by a teacher whose class extended kindness to a grieving classmate’s family. Here are ways within our school community that your family can work together to practically apply our Wasco Ways at home or in our community.

Wasco Ways: Be Safe, Be Kind Work Hard Do the Right Thing

- Toys For Tots, see information in the newsletter below

- Help at the PTO Holiday party, links in the newsletter below

- Write a letter to someone who isn’t able to join festivities

- Spend time visiting a neighbor

- As a family shop for someone special together, wrap, and present the gift

- Identify your family’s favorite way to volunteer as a group

Kind Regards,

Principal Brennan

The second i-Ready diagnostic assessment is scheduled for students starting Monday. All students will be tested between December 6th and the 10th in Math and Reading. This is a mid-year check on how students are progressing towards their growth goal. After the diagnostic assessments, your child will receive an update to their lessons assigned under the personalized pathway (MyPath).

What should I know and expect as a parent/guardian?

• Computer adaptive assessments are designed to determine what standards students know and don’t know yet.

• Remind your child they will see questions they might not know the answer to and some easier questions. We need to know what they do know and do not know yet. This is expected.

• The purpose of the i-Ready diagnostic is not to give your child a score or grade, but to determine how to best support their learning.

Please click the link below for more information about the i-Ready Assessment

Thank you to everyone who has been sending in materials to help us create amazing things in Empower. Kindergarten and first grade have recently finished their magnificent marble runs and are starting our next module, Make a Difference. Meanwhile, second and third graders are continuing to work together to complete their board games while fourth and fifth graders are creating projects using circuits.

Just a reminder to continue to check schoology each month for a new Empower Hero and Monthly Makers Challenge. If your family completes any of the challenges, please send a photo to the Empower teacher, Mrs. Kearse (Green) at rebecca.green@d303.org.

During the end of November and the month of December, students in Empower will be experiencing new modules! The fifth graders will get an introduction to World Languages with our FLEX module, and our K-4 students will address a need in their community with our Make a Difference Module.

December 10 PTO Winter Wonderland Event (see flyer below)

December 20-31 Winter Break

January 3 Institute Day (No School)

January 4 School Resumes

January 26 Early Release at 2:10pm

Arrival

Our front door closes at 8:00 so we can all start our day together with morning routines. If you are dropping off your student, please arrive between 7:45 and 7:55. When students are late they feel out of place and they are missing valuable connections with their whole school community.

Arrival and Dismissal

What makes a ‘good day’ at school?

Miss Anderson: A good day at school is any day with learning and students! My favorite part of the school day is seeing those “light-bulb” moments. Nothing makes me happier than seeing students excited about their learning.

If you could pass on any wisdom to your students, what would you share?

Miss Anderson: My biggest piece of advice to give my students is to learn to embrace challenges. Your brain is like a muscle, you need to challenge it to grow it!

What would the students be surprised to find out about you?

Miss Anderson: Something you may not know about me is I love riding horses. I grew up riding horses and going to competitions. My favorite thing to do outside of school is spend time with my horse. I also really enjoy working out, and spending time with family and friends.

Website- Please visit our brand-new website at the link below. We are working very hard to get this to be a great resource for all things PTO. This is going to be our main source of communication from here on out. We will be posting the most up to date information here.

https://sites.google.com/d303. org/wascopto/home

Email- We will still continue to send emails as needed

Freshschools- Please send an email to one of the following board members to get added to this communication platform. This is a great way to be able to get in touch with other student's parents.

Shannon or Scott Von Essen: WascoPTOPresident@gmail.com

Alison Sweet: WascoPTOVicepresident@gmail. com

Misti Floyd: WascoPTOSecretery@gmail.com

Heidi Hastert: WascoPTOTreasurer@gmail.com

Shannon Martin: sm3martin@gmail.com (Executive Fundraiser)

Please reach out with any questions you may have to any of the executive members above.

Thank You all for your continued support.

Wasco Elementary PTO