The Wildcat
Wamsley Elementary School Newsletter - March 2021
Important Dates
March 9th - 100th Day of School Celebration
March 22nd to March 26th - Spring Break (no school)April 6th 4:00pm - Virtual PTAC Meeting
From the Principal
Wamsley Families,
I hope this newsletter finds you and your family safe and healthy! Your kids had a great month in February and we enjoyed meeting with you during conferences!! Thank you for making time with us to hear about your amazing kids!
Well… we did it! By the time you get this newsletter we will be 9 days away from the 1 year anniversary of the COVID School Shutdown. Boy have we come a long way from a year ago and oh how things have been different! So many changes along the way and yet we are still here in person and celebrating everyday we get to spend together!
Next week we will be celebrating the 100th Day of School on Tuesday, March 9th. This celebration is extra special this year because of all we have been through this past year! Please look for flyers coming home with important information about how you can help your student be ready for this fun celebration.
Effort equals Achievement continues to be our focus here at school. Our Why Try lessons are having an impact and we are seeing your students apply their newly learned skills. We recently looked at data and your amazing kids are showing high growth in their math and reading performance on one of our in house assessments called iReady. As we grow, our achievement will begin to rise as well. We are proud of your student’s efforts. Please continue to watch the videos we share weekly so you can connect with what your children are learning. The lessons are on our weekly e-mail autodialer that comes out every Sunday night. Click on the links and you can start using the learning with your children at home.
Wamsley Zoo Update: The pets are doing well and we have some kids feeding and caring for the pets daily. Some pets are even being named by a few creative kids! We also recently began attempting to raise our own crickets so we have an endless food supply for our hungry pets. Lots of learning and researching is also happening as we learn to be responsible pet owners. As a part of Experiential Education or EE, our 3rd and 4th graders have researched the pets and created informational posters for all the pets!
As we begin March and covid restrictions are loosening in the county and state, I want to thank you all for continuing to monitor symptoms and keep your children home when needed. Remember keeping your children home if they have been exposed to covid or to someone who was exposed or if anyone in the family is being tested, will help keep our doors open for in person learning! Please keep your children home and call us if you have any questions about symptoms! “Better Safe Than Sorry” is our motto this year! I cannot thank you enough for your efforts! We are able to stay open and keep as many kids in person as possible with your support! Even with all of your efforts, I need to inform you that the Colorado Dept. of Public Health (CDPHE) has declared an outbreak of Covid-19 cases at Wamsley.
The definition of outbreak is
Two or more confirmed COVID-19 cases among students/teachers/staff from separate households with onset within 14 days in a single classroom or cohort.
Staff outbreak: Two or more teachers/staff with confirmed COVID-19 who are close contacts within the school setting with onset within 14 days
Once we hit this very low threshold we are required to report all COVID cases at Wamsley to the Colorado Department of Public Health for 28 days. Each time there is a new case of COVID with a student or staff member the 28 days starts over again.
Really all an outbreak means is that the case will be assigned an outbreak number with the state. Public health DOES NOT require us to change anything, or impose any extra restrictions. In fact, Colorado Dept of Public Health wants to make sure this is not punitive. They look at declaring an outbreak as, "OK! By tracking an outbreak we can make sure a new case is part of an outbreak and not a new concern." As a staff, we have reviewed our safety protocols to make sure they are being used with fidelity. Garfield County moved to blue on the COVID dial, we have vaccines in arms and we have started toward the herd immunity.
This past week, we hosted our monthly PTAC meeting and we again had live Spanish translation! Please tell your friends about this new option at PTAC and mark your calendars for our next meeting on Tuesday, April 6th! We have an amazing group of parents that support our efforts here and we always welcome anyone who would like to join us and help support your teachers and students. See you at 4pm on Tuesday, April 6, 2021! Call the office and we will share the meeting link with you. See you there!
Here’s to longer days and more signs of spring! Thank you for all your support!
Art
Hello Wamsley families!
We are continuing to learn about Printmakers in Art! All grades are working on collograph prints. We are cutting our "blocks" out of cardboard and then printing them in different colors. In the process, we are learning about symmetry and radial design. Once we are finished printing, we are not throwing our blocks away! We are repurposing them into a chalk pastel grade-level mural. The results are fabulous and decorating our school hallway!
Music
We are hard at work learning instrument technique and care! It was so fun banging the drums to the beat of “A Sailor Went to Sea!”
3-5th graders are just about done with ukuleles and are starting to write their own songs! We have been putting beats together, writing verses, and telling stories through music! We can’t wait for you to hear them!!
Physical Education
Preschool
Kindergarten
First Grade
Thanks to everyone who met with us on Google Meet in February to discuss your child’s progress. We appreciate all of your support. This month in reading, first graders will continue to work on decoding skills, fluency, retelling, and memorizing sight words. You can help at home by encouraging your child to complete the weekly homework packet. In social studies, first graders are learning about civic holidays. They will study why civic holidays are important reminders of our nation's history and leaders. In math, we are learning about balancing equations. We will be focusing on true and false statements and problems with unknown change in the coming weeks. Ask your child about the Ute Indian activities that we’ve been completing on Thursdays. We’ve learned a lot about their lives!
Second Grade
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
February was a wonderful month filled with celebrations like Valentine’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and, of course, Fabulous February. We continue to prepare for the upcoming state test, CMAS, by participating in and implementing our “Why Try” lessons that give students the skills and motivation to put effort into their work. In reading, we started learning about Native Americans by reading narratives and informational texts that help us understand Native American culture. For writing, we are beginning to write opinion essays by including facts that support and develop our opinion. In math, we are wrapping up our fraction and decimal unit. Students have learned how to model fractions and decimals, how to create equivalent fractions and decimals, how to add and subtract fractions and decimals, and how to multiply fractions by whole numbers. In social studies we are beginning our government and economics unit. Students will learn about the branches of government and what drives our economy. In science we are learning about the different types of energy and why these different types of energy are so important for every aspect of life. Just a reminder that students should be bringing school supplies in their backpacks home every night. These supplies need to stay in backpacks, but Chromebooks should be getting charged at home every night. Thank you for all you are doing to support your child’s education.
Fifth Grade
Math: The students are learning all about decimals and fractions. So far we have learned how to add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals and fractions. For fun, take your child to the grocery store, give them your budget and allow them to help you shop by adding, subtracting, and multiplying decimals! Another fun activity to do with your child you be to bake! This allows them to practice their skills with fractions.
Science: The students have finished their unit on Earth Systems! We have learned what each system is, how they function and what can be found there. Students have also learned about human impacts and how we affect our Earth. For fun, go on a walk, wear some gloves and pick up some trash to help make a difference in your community!
Social Studies: The students completed their work on the American Revolutionary War! They learned about important events leading up to the war, who was involved, how the war ended, and why it is such an important war in our history. Ask your child about the Declaration of Independence and see if they can explain why that document is so special!
Reading and Writing: Students are learning all about social injustices and how people have worked to escape poverty in their lives. We have had many amazing conversations around this topic and the students have shown great compassion. Ask your child about some Real-life Superheroes they have learned about. The Great Migration or even what occurred on Angel Island in San Francisco, California. The students are very passionate about learning how these people fought for their freedoms!
Experiential Education
Digital Citizenship
Digital Citizenship Topic of the Month: Cyberbullying
Click the link below for some more information on Cyberbullying that you can filter by age level.
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/cyberbullying/age/all
Sent from https://www.commonsensemedia.org
Common Sense is the nation's leading independent non-profit organization dedicated to empowering kids to thrive in a world of media and technology.
From the Health Room...
Wamsley Elementary School
Office Hours: 7:30am-4:00pm
Email: wamsley@garfieldre2.net
Website: wamsleywildcats.net
Location: 225 East 30th Street, Rifle, CO, USA
Phone: 970-665-7950
Facebook: facebook.com/WamsleyWildcats