MHS/WES Newsletter
Thursday, October 17, 2019
News from the Principal
It's Boosterthon Time!
It’s finally here!!! The Westminster PTO Boosterthon will begin on Monday, October 21st with a school-wide Pep Rally. Get your cowboy hats and boots ready, MHS and WES are about to be transformed into the Wild Wild West!This is the PTO's big fundraiser for the school year. Money raised will go towards field trips, cultural events, playground equipment/ games, and much more. All money raised is intended to support the student body that helped raise the funds. This money is not meant to be carried over from year to year. By moving the Boosterthon from March to October, we can thoughtfully budget and plan special events for this school year (19-20).
Our friends from Booster will be here all next week to cheer on students and offer class incentives. Each day they will host a "Booster Huddle" with each grade level. During their "Huddle" students will learn about the following character traits:
- 10/22 Honesty
- 10/23 Gratitude
- 10/24 Generosity
- 10/25 Kindness
- 10/28 Humility
The grand finale to our Boosterthon will take place on Wednesday, October 30th with our Fun/Glow Run during the school day. Students will be running, skipping, walking and dancing as they complete laps to earn pledges that they have collected. This exciting event will take place in the WES gymnasium. Families are welcome to attend and cheer on our kids!
Glow Fun Run Schedule:
Wednesday, October 30th
8:45 2nd Grade
9:45 1st Grade
10:45 Kindergarten
11:45 5th Grade
12:45 3rd Grade
1:45 4th Grade
Next week, students will be coming home with a Pledge Book that explains how YOU can help our school this year by logging onto FunRun.com. Pledging is open NOW!
Thank you for supporting our schools!
MHS/WES Fun/Glow Run
October 30th
Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, every child will receive one of these t-shirts on the day of our Fun/Glow Run.
MHS & WES
Westminster Wolves
Important Dates
October 21st - Boosterthon Pep Rally
October 22nd - MHS/WES Picture Retakes
Oct. 21-30 - PTO Boosterthon
October 30th - Fun Run Boosterthon Day
October 31st - MHS Costume Parade @ 9:00 a.m.
- November 5~No School~Staff Development Day
- November 11~No School~Veteran's Day
- November 21~1/2 day of school~Parent Conferences
- November 27~1/2 day~All Schools~Thanksgiving Holiday
- November 28 & 29~No School~Thanksgiving
- Jan. 6th ~ Math-A-thon Kick-off
Jan. 17th ~ Math-A-thon Permission slips due
Feb. 14th ~ Math-A-thon Donations/prize sheets due
First Grade News
Third Grade News
Third graders will be engaged in the writing process this year. As authors they will pre-write, draft, revise, edit, and publish. They will learn that all good writing has six ingredients— ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. They will learn about these 6 Traits of writing through class instruction, conferencing, and by studying real authors.
You can help your children by talking to them about their writing and asking sincere questions. Here are some comments and questions that help a young writer:
• I like the part about....
• Can you tell me more about...?
• What skills/traits were you trying to use in this piece?
• Tell me what happened with more detail.
• How does this piece compare to others you have written?
• What will your next writing be about?
You, their audience and readers, need to bear with them as they learn their craft. Editing standards will be established and the children will practice editing independently. Still, their finished work or published work will not always be perfect. But just as we can all enjoy a band’s performance with the occasional squeaking of a clarinet or a ball game where a ball was missed, so can we enjoy these young authors’ “performances” with the occasional misspellings or omitted period. Receive their writing in the same spirit and encourage them to become the best writers they can be.
PTO seeking volunteers for school wide events
There are so many ways to volunteer for the PTO to help with school wide events and giving back to the community. The first one coming up is our exciting Fun Run event. Please click the link below to read about our volunteer opportunities and complete the survey if you're interested in helping out.
https://forms.gle/K9p8jp7jdZ6C6yrv7COMING SOON: WES & MHS FUN RUN!
Westminster Elementary and Meetinghouse School are hosting a fundraiser, and our goal is to raise $15,000 for playground equipment/ improvements, school-wide cultural events, field trips, and much more.
Family and friends can support our school by giving pledges towards the number of laps your student will run on the day of the Fun Run.
We’ve asked the fundraising experts at Booster to power our program, making our fundraising simpler, more profitable, and more fun.
Click the link below to learn more about our upcoming program!
In the past our schools have profited $30,000 to fund a new kiln for the art room, playground equipment, a few AC units and two filtered water bottle filling stations (coming soon). Help us reach our goal this year by connecting with sponsors!
Log on to FUNRUN.COM
Pep Rally – 10/21
Event Day – 10/30 SAVE THE DATE! You’re Invited!
Thanks so much!
Westminster PTO
Sign-up for the WES Ski Program is limited to approximately 30 students and on a first come first serve basis and is open to grades 3, 4, & 5 only.
News from our Technology Room!
October is a wonderful time of year in the technology classroom. We are full steam ahead with our learning. You should see what the students have been doing!
5th Grade:
In 5th grade, we were learning about our national digital citizenship rules. After learning about these rules, the students used their imaginations on how these rules could be applied in real life. They use this information to create an active packed comic strip, embedding the different layers of backgrounds, characters, thought bubbles, text, etc. Look for the work that came home in their folders. We also printed an example to hang in the hallway for all the see.
4th Grade:
In 4th grade, we are learning about our acceptable use policy rules. After reviewing these rules, the students will create a digital citizenship poster that includes mostly hand drawn work, using themselves as the superheroes of the story. They should be bringing them home this week in their folders, so keep a lookout.
3rd Grade:
We are learning all about cloud-based computing and our Google accounts. We first learned about how to create a Google Slide and all the options we have in creating one.
We are now onto Google Docs. We are using a picture prompt to help us create a story about a mouse - have your child describe the photo that they have seen in class. After we are done with our document, we will learn about all the aspects of font, margins, insertion of pictures, spelling and grammar checking, and so much more.
2nd Grade:
In 2nd grade, we have all learned how to log onto the computer. Ask your child what “give me peace and we are number one” means in technology.
We have spent the last month learning about where the keys are on the keyboard, correct typing posture, and finger placement.
Also, your child may ask to use my website at home. To do so, you only need to visit our Westminster Elementary School website, click on student links & resources, and click on my avatar to hyperlink to my website.
1st Grade:
We are learning about 2D and 3D shapes in technology. After expanding our knowledge, we will be using a few apps to gain a better understanding. One of the apps is Draw & Tell. With this app the students get to draw their 2D & 3D shapes, then explain which is which. We will then take pictures of things around the school that are 2D and 3D, and place them in a picture collage and label them by their names.
Kindergarten:
Kindergarten has been having the best time learning about the alphabet and using the many apps for alphabetic understanding and handwriting. Their faces come alive when we sing our A is for apple song. Try to see if they can sing the song to you at home.