WildCat News
October 29, 2021
In this Issue...
- Important Dates
- Fun Run Tonight 5:00-7:00
- Batch Testing Communication Update
- Hearing & Vision Screening - Nov. 5th
- Online Scholastic Book Fair - Nov. 1st-14th
- Veteran's Day
- Substitutes Needed
- Specialist Corner
- Lost & Found Clothing
- Covid-19 Protocols
- PTA News
Important Dates
- TONIGHT - FUN RUN 5:00-7:00 pm!
- Tuesday, Nov. 2nd - 4th grade ELA Smarter Balance State Testing
- Thursday, Nov. 4th - 4th grade Math Smarter Balance State Testing
- Friday, Nov. 5th - Health Screening Day
- Thursday, Nov. 18th - Nov. 24th-Parent/Teacher Conferences, Dismiss at 12:20
Come Join the Fun TONIGHT!
We are so excited to see you all for the festival TONIGHT! We have a lot of fun activities planned. Below is the fun run schedule for students to come and run. Times have been spread out by grade. If you cannot make the schedule time that's ok! Come and run when you can. :)
Donations can still be made tonight at the festival as we continue to push for our goals!!!
Batch Testing Communication Update
Starting this week, we will be sending an email and a text message notification out to families if your child is in a positive batch. If you receive this communication, please plan to come pick up your child from the Woodin office as soon as possible. If you have questions regarding batch testing or quarantine information, please email Assistant Principal Megan Lenz at mlenz@nsd.org or Nurse Deb at dmurphy@nsd.org. Thank you!
Hearing and Vision Screening - Nov. 5th
On Friday, November 5th, Woodin will conduct hearing and vision screenings for students. The screenings are free to families and are basic screenings designed to identify students who may require further testing.
The vision screening uses PlusOptix, an auto-refractor that takes a baseline measurement of the refraction of the eyes. The technique is totally harmless. If your child wears glasses or contact lenses for distance or near vision, please be sure they have them on the screening day.
If your child has a hearing loss and is being followed by a healthcare provider or specialist and you do not wish for them to participate in the screening, please let Nurse Deb know. If you have concerns about hearing loss and school accommodations, contact your student’s teacher or the school nurse.
If you would like to exempt your child from either of these health screenings, please contact Nurse Deb, dmurphy@nsd.org.
Volunteers Needed
Parent/Guardian volunteers are needed to guide students to and from the hearing and vision screenings, as well as keeping students quiet during hearing screenings. Volunteers must be registered with the district and have proof of COVID vaccination. (Links are available on the sign up form.) Shifts can be all day (9:00 am-2:00 pm) or half day or as suits your schedule! To sign up, please click here: https://forms.gle/4nLD4ENgciq8PYHE9
Online Scholastic Book Fair, November 1st - 14th!
https://www.scholastic.com/bf/woodinelementaryschool1
Orders ship to your home. Orders $25 and over will get FREE shipping. Books make great gifts! Order now to receive your books in time for the holidays. 100% of the proceeds earned at our book fair go to purchase new books and supplies for Woodin Library and Classrooms.
Thank you for your supportđź’šđź’›
Veteran's Day
In the month of November, we have the opportunity to pause & reflect on Veterans Day, November 11th. Veterans Day is in remembrance of all U.S. Military veterans- past & present.
Most years, Woodin has a special assembly to honor our Veterans that is hosted by our amazing music team.
This year, we will be having a virtual celebration which will include two musical performances by our Kindergarten through 5th grade students dedicated toward all our Woodin Community Veterans. This event will be shared within student classrooms and Schoology pages.
Substitutes Needed
Do you have a Bachelor's Degree (BA) and do you love our Woodin students and staff? Would you love to work at Woodin and help when we have unfilled substitute positions? We have a desperate need for substitute teachers, paraeducators, and school assistants! Even if you don’t feel comfortable substitute teaching in a classroom, you could help as a substitute school assistant to cover recesses, which then allows us to use our existing school assistants to teach in classrooms when needed. We can be flexible with scheduling substitute school assistants - recesses are between 10:15-2:45 daily. Substitute teachers can work full days or half days.
If you have a BA, even if that is not in education, we can talk together to see if you might be a great fit for an emergency substitute. Please reach out to Danielle Lewis, dlewis@nsd.org, if interested.
Specialist Corner
PE:
Our primary students in grades K-2 have continued to incorporate locomotor skills into large group games involving strategy. In addition to these movement concepts, students have practiced the proper form for rolling, throwing, and catching during large group games. Secondary students have been learning about and practicing offensive and defensive strategies and recently completed our first fitness assessment - the PACER test - which measures cardio-respiratory endurance. All grades enjoyed a round of fall-themed stations this week to wrap up the month of October.
Mileage Club continues to be a big hit with students in grades 1-5. As the laps have accumulated during PE and recess, many students have earned their first foot token for passing the five mile mark. For every five miles a student completes throughout the school year, they will earn an additional token to add to their collection. We have been so impressed with our Wildcats’ effort and enthusiasm during this fun, active club offering.
Music:
Wildcat Choir will be starting soon!
- Forms have been sent home with students to sign up for this year’s Wildcat Singers choir.
- This year we will have a choir for 4th and 5th grade together and separate 3rd grade choir.
- Choir students commit to a weekly rehearsal during their lunch recess.
- 4th/5th grade choir will hold rehearsals Tuesdays from 12:40-1:10
- 3rd grade choir will hold rehearsals Wednesdays from 11:00-11:30
If your student is interested in choir, please have them turn in their permission form by Monday! Please contact us with questions.
4th-5th Grade Choir: Isabelle Umpleby iumpleby@nsd.org 425-408-5409
3rd Grade Choir: Katie Marquez kmarquez@nsd.org 425-408-5442
Library:
K-2: During the month of October, students in the younger grades were introduced to the new nominees for the 2022 Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award (celebrating its 40th year!!). 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: Boxitects by Kim Smith and Codzilla by David Zeltser. Are you interested in learning more about this year’s nominees? You can visit the Washington Library Association’s website at https://www.wla.org/wccpba-award to see which books we will be reading and voting on this year.
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. To find out more about the Otter Award and the 2022 nominees, please visit https://www.wla.org/otter-award. In addition, third graders have been learning about the Dewey Decimal system which is the way that our nonfiction books are categorized on the shelves. Understanding this system is important for students to know where to find different topics in our library. Our 4th and 5th graders have continued to learn about and practice using our online library catalog, Destiny. 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!
A note about Library in Schoology...Some of our Wildcats have noticed they have a new course that has recently been added to Schoology: LIBRARY! Throughout the year, I will be adding important information and resources for students in their Library course (for all students K-5). Please encourage your students to check it out. To start, I have already added some helpful links and information related to the catalog, accessing eBooks, plus everything they may want to know about this year’s Washington State nominees. Please be sure to reach out if you have any questions @ lchmiel@nsd.org.
Counseling:
Happy fall! I hope everyone is finding ways to enjoy the change in season. During the month of October students in grades K-2 have been learning about kindness. They have all done an amazing job of thinking about and showing what kindness looks like. We talked about how all of our individual smaller acts of kindness can go together with others’ acts of kindness to spread all around our school and beyond. We got to demonstrate this by creating kindness chains to see how our kind acts all add up together, and to give us reminders of ways we can be kind to one another.
In grades 3-5 we have spent this month talking about solving our problems. Problems come up with the people we love and care about and that’s a normal part of life, but we want to have tools to help us solve those problems so we can get back to having fun with our friends. Students have learned the difference between smaller problems they can try to solve on their own first (and some of the tools or strategies to do that) and bigger problems that require an adult’s help right away. I have been so impressed with the great ideas students have had for how to solve many different problems they might encounter.
As always, my hope is that students feel safe, enjoy being here at school, and always know they can come talk with me about anything. If parents or other family members are interested in meeting with me, you can reach me at (425) 408-5454 or janderson3@nsd.org.
Lost & Found Clothing
PTA News
PTA Reflections Contest
Students will create their work of art AND write a short artist statement. Judging is based on both the artwork and artist statement.
Our PTA can send 20 Reflections art pieces to Northshore Council PTSA in December. Those students' works of art will be celebrated at a district open house in January. Council will judge the pieces in each category and some pieces will continue onto State PTA and National PTA for further judging. Regardless of where a student places, our PTA will celebrate any student artist who submits a piece of art for Reflections.
Pieces are due to our PTA by November 30th. For any questions, please ask Crystal Affolter, caffolter@nsd.org
For more information and students' packets (rules and forms) go to http://www.northshorecouncilptsa.org/reflections.html (make sure you scroll down the page to see the student packet links in each category).
Woodin Elementary
Email: tcussac@nsd.org
Website: www.woodin.nsd.org
Location: 12950 Northeast 195th Street, Bothell, WA, USA
Phone: (425)-408-5400