WildCat News
November 4, 2022
Nov. 5th - Daylight Savings Time Starts - Fall Back!
In this Issue...
- Family Partnership Survey
- Parent/Teacher Conference Release Schedule
- Getting the Most out of Conferences
Let's Keep our Wildcats Dry!
Book Fair Week is Almost Here!!!
Picture Retakes - Date Change
- Native American Heritage Celebration Assembly
- Specialist's Corner
- NSD Volunteers - Covid Vaccination Update
- Notes from the Nurse
- PTA News
Upcoming Dates
Nov. 10 - Interim Superintendent Visit at Woodin
Nov. 10 - Veteran's Reception from 9:30-10:00 in Port. 29, Veterans Assembly from 10:00-10:30 in the Gym
Nov. 11 - Veterans Day, No School
Nov. 14-18 - Scholastic Book Fair
Nov. 17-23 - Parent/Teacher Conferences - Dismiss at 12:20pmNov. 21 - Picture Retakes 9:15-11:30am
Nov. 22 - Native American Heritage Celebration Assembly (K-2 9:30am & 3-5 10:10am)
Nov. 24-25 - Thanksgiving Holiday, No School
Family Partnership Survey
Please take a few minutes to fill out this family survey. Our staff will use the responses to guide our planning of family events throughout the year.
Parent/Teacher Conference Release Schedule
If you have not already scheduled your conference, please contact your child's teacher to schedule.
Getting the Most out of Conferences
Authentic family engagement is critical to student success. Families are children’s first and most important teachers. Together, parents and classroom teachers are partners in ensuring student’s academic and social-emotional strengths and needs are supported.
Parents have so much to share with teachers. You are the holder of additional information that is so valuable to teachers. You hear the “home” version of how they feel about school. They may mention what they like best, what is easy or hard for them and whether or not they have school worries. You know if your child is doing homework at night and how long it takes. You know what brings about the most excitement for your child and what gets the most airtime at the dinner table. Sharing these insights with your child's teacher is valuable.
Teachers have so much to share with parents too. Teachers watch how your child relates with others in a classroom. They see how your child performs academically in a variety of subject areas and what support is needed to make the most progress. They know whether your child is willing to take intellectual risks in the classroom. They know your child's reading level. They know whether your child is making friends in class and what behaviors help or hinder social progress. Teachers know if your child is on track to meet state academic standards. They also are working to see evidence of fixed or growth mindset tendencies, which is certainly a work in progress.
Here are tips to help families prepare for the meeting and conversation:
Prior to the Conference:
If you need accommodations during your conference, such as a translator or ADA access needs, please be sure to inform your school staff or teacher so they can take the necessary steps to assist.
Conferences in each classroom are run a little differently. In some classrooms students lead the conference and at others, students are not part of the conversation. Your child’s classroom teacher will you let you know the structure of the conference.
Spend a few minutes talking with your child before the conference to get ready. Some students are nervous about parent-teacher conferences. You can put your child at ease by ensuring they understand the goal is to help them be successful.
A couple questions to ask your child before the conference could include:
Is there anything specific you would like me to discuss with your teacher?
What do you especially like about your class or school? What is something you would change?
In what areas are you experiencing the most success?
Are you experiencing challenges in any areas?
In order to make your conference a productive one, here are some questions you might want to ask and some information you might consider sharing with the teacher. Preparing what you hope to ask and share will help make the most out of the conference time.
You might want to ask the teacher:
Does my child participate in classroom activities?
Does my child demonstrate the stamina required at this grade level?
Does my child seem happy at school?
What are the key concepts or skills my child is expected to learn this year?
How will I learn about my child’s progress?
Are there questions you would suggest I ask my child on a daily basis about school?
What are the best school or district resources that I could use to support academic progress?
How can I best support you as my child’s teacher?
You might want to discuss the following with your child’s teacher:
Classmates your child talks about/sees at home
Favorite activities in and out of school (Which activities your child discusses at home)
Your child’s strengths and challenges
Anything that has happened recently that might impact their time at school
Social/emotional concerns as a result of experiencing the pandemic/virtual learning (How are you feeling about their transition back to in person learning?)
Academic concerns (Did you have concerns for your child pre-pandemic? Have your concerns increased, decreased or stayed the same?)
Which mindset you see your child display most often and when that mindset occurs
In partnership,
Dawn Bowers
Let's Keep our Wildcats Dry!
Your child's teacher will show them their line up spot:
- K - Same spot in lower covered area (no change)
- 1st Grade - line up in the upper covered area
- 2nd Grade - line up in the upper covered area
- 3rd Grade - line up in front of your classroom door (under cover)
- 4th Grade - line up in front of your classroom (Spencer's class is still under covered area)
- 4/5 & 5th Grade - line up in the upper covered area
Book Fair Week is Almost Here!!!
The only book fair this school year is in-person from November 14th - 18th and online November 14th - 27th.
To volunteer for the fair please sign up here. Make sure your background check is up-to-date with the office. You can fill out a level-1 background check here.
Here's how students can shop at the book fair:
Students will be able to come to the fair (set up in the library) during the lunch recess assigned to their grade. There will be adult volunteers at every recess shopping time to help students shop. (If we do not have enough volunteers, we will have to cancel the recess shopping, so please sign up for a shift if you can.)
You are welcome to send money with your child, and they can shop at their lunch recess. The adult volunteers will help with tax, change, etc. If comfortable, you can send a blank check, signed, and addressed to Woodin PTA. Please attach a note with an amount in mind and adult volunteers at the fair can help your student pick out a book in that budget and fill in check amount. A receipt will go home inside the book for parent's records.
If families aren't comfortable sending money with their child to school, students can come to the fair with their family to shop before or after school.
Book fair flyers with the days and times the fair will be open will go home with all students during their library day next week.
Prefer to shop online, go to: https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/woodinelementary from November 14th to November 27th. All online orders will ship for free with book only orders over $25.
All proceeds from the book fair go to purchase books for the school library, as well as classroom libraries.
Questions, please contact book fair chairs Victoria Kramer (vkramer@nsd.org) or Katie Nicoara (sunshinekatieangel@hotmail.com).
Picture Retakes - Date Change
Specialist's Corner
PE: During the month of October, our Wildcats have been working on their rolling and throwing skills during partner and small-group work. They have then applied that learning in large-group games to practice their skills. Primary students are developing their form by spotting their target, stepping with opposition, and following through toward their target. Older students are working on rotating their upper body, adjusting their force, and honing their release point for accuracy.
October also gave us the chance for our first “Fastest Class” challenge of the year. This friendly competition for students in grades 1-5 challenges students to jog/walk as many laps around the gym as they can during a 5-minute period. We keep track of laps completed over two weeks (four PE classes) then divide by the total number of runners to arrive at an average laps per student score for each class. Congratulations to Mrs. Maxwell’s 5th Grade class who won our fall challenge, averaging more than 12.5 laps per student!
MUSIC: Wildcat musicians in all grade levels have been working on songs to sing at our upcoming Veterans Day assembly on November 10th. We have also been spending time learning about music from other holidays and celebrations that are commonly observed by our school community such as Halloween, Diwali, and Dia De Los Muertos. Connecting music to culture is a vital part of our Washington State Music Standards. We do not encourage students to celebrate or believe in these observances if they do not already, but we do find that it is important for them to learn about their surrounding cultures in order to connect music to celebration. As music teachers, we do our best to showcase as many celebrations and holidays as possible with the repertoire that we have available, but we have had a difficult time finding music for some of those important days. If your family celebrates a holiday or celebration any time in the year, and you have a favorite song that could be used to celebrate or learn about that time, we would love to hear about it. Please feel free to reach out via email.
Our Woodin Choir rehearsals have been so much fun so far. We are preparing for a performance at Inglemoor High School which is on November 30th. We would love it if students could wear plain black shirts to give us a uniform appearance. If your student doesn’t already have one, then a dark color or the best you have will be fine. We will send out reminder emails as we get closer to the performance with more details.
LIBRARY:
K-2: This month, students in the younger grades were introduced to the new nominees for the 2023 Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award. Throughout the year, we will be reading these 20 special books together and in the spring, students in grades K-2 at Woodin (and all across the state of Washington) will get to vote for their favorite and one book will be crowned the winner! So far, we have read two of the nominees: Norman Didn’t Do It! (Yes, He Did) by Ryan T. Higgins and The Mysterious Sea Bunny by Peter Raymundo. If your students miss hearing these special stories or just want to enjoy them again, they can visit our Woodin WCCPBA page. Each week we read another nominee, I will post a video read-aloud of that story there so be sure to bookmark this site and check back often for new read-alouds!
3-5: Students in 3rd grade have also been introduced to a special category of Washington State nominees: the Otter Award. These six nominees include easy-to-read chapter books that appeal to students who are transitioning to longer books. In addition to exploring this year’s YRCA (Young Reader’s Choice Award) nominees, our 4th and 5th graders have continued to learn about and practice using our online library catalog, Destiny Discover and our eBook/Audiobook library in SORA. The goal is for students to be independent users of the library and know how and where to find the books and information they are looking for when they visit the library each week. It’s definitely a super power that will come in handy as they move on to middle and high school!
Fall Scholastic Book Fair: Mark your calendars! The Fall Scholastic Book Fair is coming to the Woodin Library the week of November 14-18! This is a wonderful way to add great books to your home libraries, gift your child’s teacher with new books, and purchase early holiday gifts all at great prices! Proceeds from the fair go toward purchasing new books and supplies for classrooms and the Woodin library. Be on the lookout for more information coming soon!
COUNSELING:
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. This is an important opportunity to learn how to recognize bullying and how to stand up and prevent it safely. So, this month in our classroom counseling lessons we have really focused on problem solving and conflict resolution.
In kindergarten we have learned about the difference between big problems, such as bullying, which are ones you need to get an adult right away to help you, and small problems, ones that students are capable of trying to solve on their own first. Our first and second graders have revisited the Kelso’s Choices Wheel. This wheel is made up of 9 different choices or ideas for ways to solve small problems. Some examples are, tell someone to stop, go to another game, wait and cool off, and share and take turns. We talk a lot about how these choices can help us solve problems both at school and at home with our siblings. If you are interested in learning more about Kelso, feel free to reach out to me, or you can check out their website.
For third, fourth and fifth graders, we have gotten a chance to really look at what bullying is, how to report it if it’s happening, and how to refuse it. Students got to practice looking at different situations and identifying if it was bullying or a different kind of problem. Bullying is something that keeps happening, is unfair and one-sided. We also got to talk about how all of us can play a part in creating a school community where bullying is not accepted. If you have any questions or concerns about bullying, please don’t hesitate to contact me. For additional information or resources check out Stopbullying.gov
Please always feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns, or need support in any way. My email is janderson3@nsd.org or you can reach me by phone at (425) 408-5454.
NSD Volunteers - Covid Vaccination Update
Starting November 1, 2022, proof of COVID-19 vaccination will no longer be required for Northshore School District volunteers, contractors, or staff. This District change is in response to Governor Inslee’s repeal of the COVID-19 emergency proclamations and state of emergency by Oct. 31, 2022.
We will be updating our volunteer page on the NSD website to reflect these updates and will also be removing the vaccine card upload page on the Safe Visitor application. Please share this information with others who use the Safe Visitor application system.
However, proof of vaccination will be required up until close of business on Monday, October 31, 2022, so if volunteers plan on completing an application before October 31 for an event that occurs after November 1, they would still need to upload their proof of vaccination as the vaccine requirement upload page will still be active.
Volunteers can also choose to wait until after November 1 to complete their volunteer application after the vaccination requirement has been removed.
If you have any questions regarding volunteer vaccination , please contact me directly. Thank you.
Marco Garcia - mgarcia@nsd.org
Community Partnership & Volunteer Coordinator
Northshore School District
425.408.7673
Notes from the Nurse
Fall is here and unfortunately so is cold and flu season. If your child is sick, PLEASE keep them home! Keep your child home and test for Covid if they have any of these symptoms:
❑ Fever (≥100.4°F) or chills
❑ Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
❑ Muscle or body aches
❑ New loss of taste or smell
❑ Cough (new, changed, or worsening)
❑ Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
❑ Fatigue
❑ Sore throat
❑ Congestion or runny nose
See the current isolation and return to school guidelines: https://doh.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/820-229-SymptomExposureFlowchartK12SchoolsChildCare.pdf
Weekly Covid Case Update
The Department of Health (DOH) requires schools to inform families and students about COVID-19 case numbers and potential outbreaks. This week, there were a total of 8 confirmed cases at our school. The accuracy of our data depends on self-reporting. Thank you for continuing to let the school know if your child tests positive for COVID-19. To view additional information, including school and district trends visit the District’s COVID-19 data dashboard. The dashboard is updated weekly on Monday evenings.
If your child is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 keep them home and test for COVID-19. Families can order free COVID-19 tests from the state. Together, we can keep our schools healthy and safe.
If your child is home sick or in isolation, they can access zoom classes here: Isolation Learning Support
PTA News
PTA Volunteers Needed
There are volunteer opportunities to help the PTA plan upcoming events. You can volunteer in any capacity.
Here is the sign up genius.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F49A5AD2FA6F94-ptavolunteers
PTA Memberships
Have you been thinking about joining the PTA to get involved and have your voice heard? Now is the time! Oct 26th is national PTA sign up day-Can you help us reach our goal of 200 members by this day?
Join here! --https://woodinpta.ourschoolpages.com/Packet/Join/FamilyInfoPacketPage/0
What does the PTA do?
● Classroom and school grants for books, supplies, etc.
● Curriculum Enhancement for Science and Arts
● Books for Library and Book Room
● Provides Emergency Prep and Food Bank
● Family Events, Staff Appreciation
● Scholarship for Field Trips, Sports, After School Programs, etc.
● Assemblies
● Art programs
Costs:
● Two memberships: $25 (save $5!)
● Individual membership: $15
Membership Includes:
● Access to Woodin School Directory
● National PTA discounts such as Great Wolf Lodge.
Our membership goal this year is 200 members. Scan the QR code to join!
Woodin Elementary
Email: tcussac@nsd.org
Website: www.woodin.nsd.org
Location: 12950 Northeast 195th Street, Bothell, WA, USA
Phone: (425)-408-5400