Windsor Oaks Warriors
Quarterly Newsletter
IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS
APEX Fun Run School Fundraiser
March 6 - 16
Tuesday, March 20th
Fine Arts Night
Thursday, March 22nd
Family Literacy Night
5:30 - 8PM
Friday, March 30
Staff Work Day (No school for students)
April 2 - 6
Spring Break
Breakout Box fun!
Breakout Boxes are wonderful collaborative problem solving experiences that take the appeal of the “escape room,” a recreational team sport in which a group of people use their wits to break out of a locked room, and turn it inside out. Instead of a locked room, teams must figure out how to get inside a tightly locked box. Students work together solving puzzles to unlock each new clue until they solve the box. During the month of November WOES students were introduced to Breakout Boxes with a fun Thanksgiving themed box where teams needed to "free" some turkeys. In January and February 4th and 5th grade students participated in math and language arts Breakout boxes, using their knowledge to breakout!
MAKERSPACE AT WOES
Welcome to the WOES Makerspace. Thanks to a generous grant WOES has a Makerspace in our Library Media Center. A Makerspace is an area where students can come to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering, art, and tinkering. Readily-available materials, as well as modern technology and art supplies, act as a provocation for inquiry and invention. Some of the items in our Makerspace include Snap Circuits, Dot and Dash, Ozobots, Origami supplies, open-ended art experiences, Legos, and Keva Blocks to name a few. Prior to winter break students in grades 2-5 were introduced to our Makerspace and have since been able to come and explore Makerspace throughout the day, at their teacher's discretion.
WOES BOOK FAIR AT BARNES & NOBLE TOWN CENTER
Windsor Oaks partnered with the Town Center Barnes & Noble in December for a book fair to help raise money for our new Makerspace. Our chorus performed holiday tunes, we had a special story time with Dr. Archer and Ms. Noriega, and PTO provided holiday themed crafts for everyone to do. A portion of all sales purchased that night came back to WOES. We thank everyone for coming out to support this event and we look forward to partnering more with Barnes & Noble in the future!
Mrs. Goodman’s Class Skyped with a Scientist!!
Mrs. Goodman’s first graders used modern technology to speak with and learn from a real life Scientist. The class Skyped with a marine biologist named Kerry Nichols, that lives and works in California. She focuses on climate change in the ocean and marine conservation. Prior to the Skype session, Ms. Goodman showed her students Dr. Nichols' website and they learned a little bit about her, talked about what climate change is and why a scientist might need to be a part of marine conservation (animals, plants, and habitats). They looked at a map of the United States so they could see how far away they were from Dr. Nichols in California. The first grade students thought of questions based on what they learned, the scientists job, or personal questions they had. Ms. Goodman printed the questions so the students could go up to the computer, introduce themselves, and ask their questions. They were able to watch her answers on the Smartboard. She answered all their questions and was kid friendly with her answers. The session ended with giving thanks and taking a picture. It was a cool experience and one the students are certain to remember for a long time!
Virginia Beach SPCA visits WOES' Second Grade
The Virginia Beach SPCA came to WOES for an in-school field trip with second grade. Connecting to the second grade social studies curriculum, they talked about Native Americans and their important relationships with animals. The highlight was that they brought in a rabbit for all the students to pet!
Kudos & Congratulations Congratulations to Mrs. Hazell our Reading Teacher of the Year!
KUDOS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO MS. NORIEGA, OUR TEACHER OF THE YEAR!
WOES IS PROUD OF ITS BATTLE OF THE BOOKS TEAM
Eight of our fifth grade students worked hard this year to represent WOES at the Virginia Beach Public Library's 2018 Battle of the Books competition on February 7th. The students were responsible for reading 10 books, meeting several times during their lunch period to review and discuss the books, and then battle it out against 10 other fifth grade teams from other Va Beach schools. Our students represented WOES well and we are very proud of them!
SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR WAS A SUCCESS!
Thank you to everyone who came out and purchased books and other items from our Scholastic Bookfair. We had so much fun and earned lots of money for our library program!