West Homer Elementary
September 2023 Newsletter
Mission: The learning community of West Homer Elementary inspires and supports all students to be lifelong learners with the courage and confidence to make positive contributions to the world.
Vision: The mission of West Homer Elementary School is to build strong connections among community, families, staff, and students in a safe, healthy, nurturing environment that challenges each student.
A NOTE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
We are off to an energetic start to the school year! I very much enjoyed our Open House event, meeting new families and reconnecting with returning members of our community. As we embark on this journey together, I wanted to highlight several ways to get involved.
First, our Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) held their first meeting on August 29th and they have many fantastic ideas for how to support the school this year. The next meeting will be September 19th 4:30 – 6:00pm to plan parent/caregiver lunch and play events, community coffee events, and discuss how to support the WHE Trails and outdoor classroom.
Our Site Council is still looking for 2 parent members. This is a dynamic group that has accomplished many projects over the years and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next. The first meeting will be Monday, September 25th at 4:00pm in the library. If you are interested in joining the Site Council, please reach out to me or Tiffany at 907-226-1200.
Finally, parent volunteers are essential to the quality of our educational community. There are many opportunities to volunteer in your child’s classroom from attending field trips, preparing materials, or helping out instructionally. Inquire with your child’s classroom teacher about opportunities. Don’t forget to fill out the Volunteer Application form so you are cleared to help. See the link below.
As always, my door is open and I look forward to opportunities to connect with each of you if you have questions, comments, concerns, or just want to stop by and chat.
SEPTEMBER IMPORTANT DATES
9/4 Labor Day - no school
9/8 Early release - 1:20pm Dismissal
9/14 Bookmobile on the playground
9/19 PTO meeting 4:30 - 6:00pm
9/22 Picture Day-Morning
11/1 Picture Retakes 8:15-9:30
9/25 Site Council Meeting 4:00 - 5:00pm
9/25 Morning Coffee 7:30 - 8:30am
9/29 Early release - 1:20pm Dismissal
9/29 PTO Lunch and Play 11:20-12:20pm
Please Help us Welcome our New Paraprofessional: Dave Ronchetto
He has been an outstanding help in our intensive needs department. He has a background in working with students of all ages and is patient, kind, funny, witty, and an all around joy to be around. We are very fortunate to have him here on our staff. Welcome to our Pod!
PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION
Meetings
Our PTO continues to work hard to support all children through a variety of exciting ways, and I would encourage you to join. Contact the office for more information. Our first meeting was Tuesday, August 29. We will be meeting again on Tuesday, Sept 19 from 4:30 to 6:00pm in the library.
Lunch and Play
SCHOOLWIDE PORTRAIT PROJECT
AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS
After school programs started August 28 and will continue through October 11.
- Soccer M/W 3:00-4:00pm
- Cross Country Running T/TH 3:00-4:00pm
- Japanese F 3:00-4:00pm
Parents Letter for Japanese Class
Welcome and welcome back to the Japanese class for this year. I am very excited to make an announcement that this is the second year for the Japanese class.
Last year, the students in the class learned to speak in Japanese and had a great opportunity for them to greet the City Council members in Japanese. I am very proud of some of the students’ leaders who introduced themselves in Japanese in the public.
They started to write a letter to their first pen pals from Taishi High School, Hyogo in Japan. They also received the cards from them. The students in the second semester last year wrote letters to Teshio Junior High School students who were writing Japanese poems, Haiku, to the students our Japanese class. I am very glad that the students in both countries started to write letters in their second languages to exchange the culture.
We also had our first mini concert as the Sakura band played at the spring concert at Mariner Theatre of Homer High School. The students sang ‘Sakura, Sakura’ which means ‘cherry blossoms’ in Japanese, and played the music with some students from Homer Youth String Orchestra Club. They had a wonderful performance. You can enjoy watching the video on West Homer Website.
At our Japanese tea party with Yunomi which is a tea cup without handles, we celebrated 6th graders who are in 7th grade now and some teachers who moved to some different schools and towns. Each student created his or her own Yunomi cups for the tea party to serve the tea to their special guests on the last day of the Japanese class.
Some of you might know that I introduced the friendship banners the students from Chapman, West Homer, both Fireweed, McNeil and kindergartens from Paul Banks Elementary School painted to represent our true friendships without boundaries to support peace. Now you can see one of the banners at Homer Public Library with my Japanese translation. Teshio Junior High School, Hokkaido in Japan received a banner with the letters from the students in the Japanese class last semester.
The students from those schools had a wonderful time with the students who joined some online class sessions at West Homer Elementary School to ask questions and have communication in both languages. They both found that they had some same interests even with different culture. Those special activities are published by The Teshio Magazine. You can check the article, which has letters from Mayor Ken Castner, the principal, Mr. Waltenbaugh and Downtown Rotary Club with my Japanese translations on the bulletin board at school. We are hoping that we can continue to have online class sessions with Teshio Junior High School or High School in Hokkaido and possibly a high school or an elementary school in Hyogo in Japan.
We will have Japanese language, arts and music this year as well. In 2024, we will have 40th Anniversary of the sister city relationship between the city of Teshio and City of Homer. We will practice one of the Japanese songs for this special event.
These are some ideas I would like to share with you. It will be helpful for the students to focus on these different activities during the class if we can provide the snacks during the snack time. I need some snacks for each class. Here are the dates when we have Japanese class during this semester.
Friday, September 1st, 15th, 22nd, October 6th, 20th, November 3rd, 17th, December 1st and 15th at 3pm.
Friday, September 8th, 29th, and December 15th -Early Release Days.
Please sign-up what date you can help us for snacks or being an assistant in each class.
Please feel free to contact me about any questions, concerns or thoughts to share. I appreciate your help and support.
I am very excited to see your children have a wonderful experience together in the Japanese class this school year!!
Sincerely,
Megumi Beams
907-699-2567
Sister City Liaison/ Interpreter
Japanese International Exchange Coordinator/ Instructor
FREE AND REDUCED MEALS
Please fill out the Free and Reduced Meal Application even if you don’t think you will qualify.
KPBSD Free and Reduced Meal application: http://mealapp.kpbsd.org
You can add money to your child's meal account here: