WildCat News
December 16, 2022
In this Issue...
- Staff Message
- My Stop App
- Message From NSD Student Services About School Safety
- Specialist's Corner
- Tang Math Challenge
- School Nurses Needed
- Weekly Covid Cast Update
- Frequently Used Links
- PTA News
Dear Woodin Community,
The winter season provides us with the special opportunity to give thanks for the many blessings that we have been provided. At Woodin, we are blessed beyond measure with students who warm our days with their smiles, enthusiasm and passion for learning. We are thankful for the parents, guardians, volunteers, and community supporters, who continually seek ways to enhance our school by giving of their time and talents in numerous areas, and for our teachers who give their very best daily to ensure that all our students reach their fullest potential. We really do have much to be thankful for. It takes a village.
Whatever is beautiful, whatever is meaningful, whatever brings happiness, may it be yours this holiday season and throughout the coming year.
With Gratitude,
The Woodin Staff
My Stop App
The My Stop application provides you with an estimated time of arrival for your student's school bus: https://www.nsd.org/our-district/departments/transportation/mystop
Message From NSD Student Services About School Safety
Dear Northshore Families:
We hope that you and your family were able to relax and enjoy the holiday break. In Northshore we have a lot to be thankful for during this season of gratitude and reflection. After multiple years of disruption, it has been wonderful to return to more normal school operations.
While we have a lot to celebrate, one area of growing concern is our students’ ability to appropriately and safely resolve conflict. In the past few weeks, across the nation and in our region, we have witnessed an increase in threats of gun violence or acts of violence associated with schools. This is very concerning, and we are doing everything we can to support our students and school communities.
While the District has distributed information about the serious nature of these incidents, and we require families to sign the Weapons Letter Acknowledgement Form (found under Gun Safety on the district website), this information does not seem to be reaching all of our students. So, we need to try a different approach. After consulting with school leaders, counselors, educators, and our labor partners, we are recommending a consistent message is delivered by trusted adults at each school. This is in addition to continuing to encourage families to talk with their students at home. This school-based messaging will begin in January.
How each school shares the message may look different, in response to the unique needs of individual school communities. The student message may be shared in a newsletter, school assembly, classrooms, advisory, or via video. Some schools may choose to phase communication, so timing will also be different across schools.
While the communication approach will be different, our schools’ goal is the same - to be explicit about the District’s expectations regarding threats of violence and or gun violence, the serious nature of these incidents, consequences, and how to report a concern. Our hope is that by addressing these topics directly with students, we will reduce the number of incidents our school communities are experiencing.
Schools have been provided with common messaging to share with 4th-12th grade students through a variety of channels. Staff will not share the message with preschool through 3rd grade students. You may review the common messaging by grade level below:
What can you do at home to help?
Please continue to have conversations with your children about these types of comments or threats. If a student is talking or posting about harming either a person or the school, using weapons or any other violent threats, it can lead to serious consequences. We must take all threats seriously and the District response will involve law enforcement. Just like at airports, schools must be places where weapons are not joked about, discussed, or brought.
If you or your student hears or sees something concerning, say something. We must all remain vigilant in the protection of our school communities. Northshore schools are overwhelmingly very safe places. One of the reasons is because students are often the eyes and ears of the school community and can help identify a potential issue before it happens. If at any time you or your student believe you have knowledge of a situation where danger is imminent, dial 911 immediately. Please continue to encourage your student to share any concerns with a trusted staff member. If they aren’t comfortable sharing directly with staff, concerns can always be anonymously submitted using our Safe Schools Alert System:
Call - 885-521-2665
Text - 885-521-2665
Email - 1414@alert1.us
Website - 1414.alert1.us
Please review the District’s Rights and Responsibilities Handbook and as appropriate share key information with your student.
Help reduce student access to firearms. We all play a role in keeping our children safe by storing firearms locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition. Visit King County Lock It Up for more information on safe storage. It’s important to ask about the presence of unsecured guns in any home your child visits. Make it part of your general safety conversation along with questions about pets, video games, adult supervision, etc. Visit Be SMART for Kids for more tips on how to approach this conversation.
For more information about Northshore’s proactive approach to school safety, please read Interim Superintendent Michael Tolley’s November 9 message.
We also know that conversations about school violence will result in a variety of emotions for students and families. Here are some resources you may find helpful:
Thank you for your continued support and partnership in these efforts. Together, we can provide all of our students the safe and supportive learning environment they need and deserve.
Student Services
Northshore School District
Additionally, please remind your students that jokes about weapons, threats, or violence is also not ok and could be misunderstood. Thank you!
Specialist's Corner
PE: We are ending our calendar year in kindergarten by continuing to teach and reinforce locomotor skills through many different games of tag. Tagging games also provide opportunities to teach our Woodin Good Sport Code which is our cornerstone to developing our physical and teamwork skills. We also continued to introduce new equipment. Recently all kindergartners got the opportunity to manipulate our enormous parachute! We learned to work as a team to play several different games including Waves and Circus Tent.
For all grades during December we worked on throwing and catching skills. Overhand and underhand tossing, as well as throwing and catching a football were some of the skills we practiced.
For our 4th and 5th graders we are ending the calendar year with a baseline cardio assessment - the Pacer. When we return in January we will get baselines for push-ups and pull-ups, as well as a fresh baseline for the Pacer (cardio). Each student will then choose one fitness component (from cardio, muscle strength, muscle endurance) to set a SMART goal to reach by June 2023.
Mileage Club continues to be an important part of our PE program for everyone. When the weather is cooperative we are often heading out to the lower field to run/walk laps. Students receive a toe token of their choice for every 5 miles (25 laps) around the field.
Students are always better prepared for PE when they have the right footwear. It definitely is tricky during snowy weather to come with athletic shoes however, if possible, please have your child bring appropriate PE shoes on days when they have PE. Thanks!!
MUSIC: We spent December looking at music and activities from different holidays and the Nutcracker ballet. We are looking forward to some live performances coming up in the new year including our Martin Luther King assembly, Woodinville High School pathways choir concert (February 28th,) first grade performance (March 16th) and choir concert (date TBD). Kindergarten, second and third grades will have performances as well at dates still to be determined.
LIBRARY:
Students in all grades have continued to preview and/or read the Washington book nominees in the Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book, Otter and Young Reader’s Choice categories. Our primary students have read three additional stories from our list of 20: Amara and the Bats, The First Blade of Sweetgrass, and The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess. We have now read 5 total and are excited to hear more! Just a reminder: If your kinder, first or second grader ever misses library and would like to hear the nominee for the week (or they didn’t miss library but just want to hear a story again), be sure to check out our Woodin WCCPBA site - each time we read a new nominee, I will post a video read aloud of that book here. Be sure to bookmark it and check back often: WCCPBA 2023
Third graders have now previewed all 6 of the Otter nominees and each class has had a chance to vote on which one they would like to read together in library. Our hope is to read several of them together in preparation for voting in the spring. Students in 4th and 5th grade have wrapped up previewing the YRCA nominees and will start on the Sasquatch list after Winter break. All students are encouraged to read as many titles as they can throughout the year in preparation for spring voting.
HOUR OF CODE - December 5-9, 2022
Last week, all Woodin students participated in the global event known as Hour of Code, which takes place in December each year. This awareness event started in 2013 as a way to introduce computer science to children of all ages and teach them the basics of computer coding. This is always an exciting event for our students and they may have come home sharing all the cool coding skills they learned and practiced. If they are interested in doing more coding activities, they can visit our Woodin Hour of Code site (grade level activities are just suggestions - students can try any game that interests them!) If you are interested in learning more about Hour of Code, please visit www.code.org
And finally…I would like to give a HUGE shout out and thank you to our amazing book fair co-chairs, Victoria Kramer and Katie Nicoara, all the wonderful volunteers and YOU, our fabulous Woodin community for helping us raise money for lots of new classroom and library books! Our fall fair was a big success and we couldn’t have done it without all the help and support from our incredible community. THANK YOU!!
COUNSELING:
Happy winter! It’s hard to believe the calendar year is wrapping up! We have had a great November and December as we have continued to learn about bullying prevention, friendship and conflict resolution.
In kindergarten classrooms we have been learning about the difference between big problems (ones we need to get an adult to help right away) and small problems (ones we can try to solve on our own first). We have also been introduced to Kelso’s Choices, the 9 different ways we can try to solve those small problems.
Our 1st and 2nd grade students have been learning about being good friends to one another and understanding the difference between what we can control or be in charge of, like the words we use and how we treat our friends, and the things that we don’t get to control, like what our friends chose to do.
In 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades we focused especially on how to refuse bullying. We talked about the importance of being a helpful and supportive bystander. And while this can include standing up to a bully directly, there are also other ways if that doesn’t feel safe, such as reporting the bullying, being kind to someone being bullied, and making sure to include everyone. We talked about ways that we all can participate in creating a school environment where everyone knows and believes they belong.
I hope everyone has a wonderful winter break. Though, this time of year can often feel hectic and overwhelming. Here is a fun list of different ways to help combat extra stress. If you need any support or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out via email, janderson3@nsd.org or phone, (425) 408-5454.
Tang Math Challenge
School Nurses Needed!
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 1 confirmed case 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 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