Monthly Wildcat March
All of the news from Woodcrest Elementary!
Principal's Message
Welcome to our March edition of the Monthly Wildcat! I am excited to share all the latest news and updates from Woodcrest Elementary.
This month we are celebrating Women's History Month. Students will be learning about the contributions on notable women in the areas of science, civil rights, politics, and the arts. Some of the women students will be learning about are Mae Jemison, Amelia Earhart, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Rosa Parks, and more. Teachers will be teaching lessons, reading stories on important women, as well as there will be mini biographies in the morning announcements. Please ask your child who they are learning about.
The week of February 28 through March 4th, we will be celebrating Read Across America Week honoring a a nation of Diverse Readers. Each day we have challenges for students on topics such as activism, science, artists, athletes, and kids who do great things. On Thursday, March 3rd at 1:30 we are inviting our families to come on campus and read with our students. Please check in near the office. Temp checks and hand sanitizer are required and masks are preferred. Please bring a blanket to sit on as the event will be on the grass. We ask that you don't bring any food. In addition, school age children from other schools may not attend! Please return the RSVP at the bottom of the flyer that was sent home or call the office if you plan on attending. We are so excited to welcome families back on campus!
Students who will be five years of age on or before September 1, 2022 are eligible for kindergarten. Students who will be five years of age from September 2, 2022 through February 2, 2023 are eligible for Transitional Kindergarten. Registration for Kindergarten and Transitional Kindergarten will begin on Monday, February 28, 2022. If you have a child or know of a child who will be entering kindergarten or transitional kindergarten next school year, please come to our school office to obtain more information.
Please check out our Family Learning Den. The site has a variety of videos on a wide range of topics, such as letter names and sounds, sight words, fluency, active reading, counting, addition, and multiplication. You can access the Family Learning Den through our website under Parent Info our at this link:
https://sites.google.com/myfsd.org/wc-family-learning-den/home
This month all Woodcrest students will be participating in March Madness! Not the basketball version, but the book version. The theme this year is Turning Points. Students will read two books each week, vote on them, with students across the country. Over the month the brackets will get smaller until a winner is crowned! For more information and to see the book titles, please click here. https://marchbookmadness.weebly.com/
On Friday March 4th, we are having a fundraiser at Flame Broiler at 1000 W Commonwealth in Fullerton from 10-8. All proceeds raised will help this year's 5th graders go to science camp next year. Please share flyer (see below) with friends and family. 20% of the sales come back to the school. You must show a copy of the flyer when you order, either in paper form or on your phone.
For our English Language Learners, we will be starting ELPAC testing on march 7th through March 18th. Please make sure your children eat a good breakfast and come to school on time. The ELPAC tests their language proficiency in Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. This test is for students that English was not their first language. A letter was sent home for those who are testing. For more information on ELPAC testing, please click here: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ep/elpacparentresource.asp
Parent/Teacher conferences are coming up! For Spring, not all students require a conference. Your child's teacher should be reaching out to schedule a time. Conference week is March 14th- March 18th. We will be on a minimum day schedule that whole week. If you have any questions, please call the office.
Spring Break is March 21st through March 25th. There is no school on those days. Enjoy your time with your family!
On a side note, we have had a couple of instances where parents and families have had a conflict with another student or family where inappropriate behavior has occurred. Please remember when coming on campus, parents and families should never approach another family or student to confront them. Instead, please come to the office and report the problem. Please always use kind language. Our students are listening. Let's be the model for our Wildcats. Thank you!
Please remind your students about the importance of wearing their mask and keeping it on while in the classroom. We want to be able to make sure our students and staff are as safe as possible.
In order to keep students safe, morning temperature checks are done without physical contact. If a student has an elevated temperature, they will be given water and a few minutes to cool down and have their temperature rechecked. If the temperature remains elevated, you will be called to pick up your child. Please make sure to not send your student to school if they are sick. For more information on FSD’s safety protocols, please refer to the Fullerton School District website at https://www.fullertonsd.org/apps/pages/Covid19SafetyProtocols.
If you don't already, please check out our social media. We are very active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Follow us on Twitter @WoodcrestFSD
Like us on Facebook: Woodcrest Elementary School
Follow us on Instagram: woodcrestschool
Here are some upcoming dates to remember:
February 28-March 4th: Read Across America Week
February 28th: Kinder Registration Begins
March 3rd: Read Across America Day 1:30 pm
March 4th: End of Trimester 2
March 5th: Saturday School
March 8th: School Site Council
March 12th: Champions for Children Conference (see flyer below)
March 14- March 18th: Spring parent Teacher Conferences
March 15th: Trimester 2 Awards
March 16th: Second Harvest Mobile Pantry
March 18th: ELAC in MPR/Zoom
March 21st-March 25th: Spring Break/No classes
Thank you for choosing Woodcrest for your child's education.
Go Wildcats!
Mrs. Rochelle Wolf
Principal
Staff Spotlight: Mrs. Joo
Mrs. Joo has been a teacher for 16 years. For the last eight years she has been our Woodcrest RTI teacher, supporting students in reading. She has a BA from UC Irvine, teaching credential from Cal State Fullerton (Go Titans) and a MA from Concordia.
Her favorite thing about being a teacher is seeing her students grow in their reading skills. She also loved connecting with her students and hearing about their interests and experiences.
In her free time Mrs. Joo loves drinking boba, organizing and spending time with her beautiful family. Mrs. Joo is also an excellent proofreader!
We are so grateful to have Mrs. Joo at Woodcrest!
Science Camp 2022
Catalina Island Marine Institute
The camp was located on Catalina Island. We boarded a boat in Long Beach. The boat ride over was fun, despite many of us getting sick on the boat. Once we arrived we were given an orientation, a yummy pizza lunch, time to unpack, then it was off to adventures!
Classroom Happenings
From Mrs. Alarcon, Preschool
From Ms. Scofield: SPED Preschool
Happy Spring! We will be learning about the color green, reviewing numbers 1-5, and learning about ovals. We will be learning about Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo, and Mary Golda Ross for Women’s History Month. We have been having a lot of fun exploring the outdoor toys and activities with Mrs. Alarcon’s class.
From Mrs. Michaels: Kinder/1st
Happy March! We are excited to welcome the new season of spring and maybe even catch some leprechauns! We can’t wait to begin the month by celebrating Read Across America. We will be celebrating by focusing on a nation of diverse readers which highlights scientists, artists, musicians, athletes, and activism. Also at the beginning of the month, we will complete our ELA and Math benchmarks. These focus on our foundational skills and Kindergarten goals. In ELA, we have been continuing to focus on two letters and two sight words each week. We are almost finished learning each letter of the alphabet! We are working on blending, segmenting, and decoding. Our theme for the next few weeks is the animal kingdom. We will review verbs. Last month, we completed our writing benchmark on informational writing where students wrote an opening sentence, details, and a closing sentence. At the end of the month, we will begin our opinion writing unit. In Math, we started our new unit on representing, counting, and writing numbers 20 and beyond. At the end of the month, we will start geometry and discuss 2D shapes. In Science, we will explore the themes of weather and shelter. In SEL, we are learning about problem solving, taking turns, apologizing, and sharing with our buddies from Mrs. Tran’s class. For Social Justice, we will focus on women in history with read-alouds and activities. This month we will also participate in the March Book Madness program where students vote on their favorite books. “Reading is a passport to countless adventures.”- Mary Pope Osborne
From Mr. Ledon
Hello Woodcrest Families and welcome the marvelous month of March! We are super excited to be wrapping up informational writing in both Kinder and 1st Grade. We will be focusing on opinion writing for the duration of March. In Kinder ELA, we will be learning 2 letters and 2 sight words each week. For 1st grade ELA, we will continue learning 6 sight words and a phonics focus. For Kinder mathematics, students will finish up counting/modeling to 100 and will be starting Geometry. For 1st Grade Math, students will focus on measurements and telling time. This month in Social Justice, students will be learning about the many female figures that paved the way in US History. Students will also be focusing on health/ nutrition during PE and in the classroom with fun hands-on activities. Our entire class will also be participating in the March madness read aloud challenge where students will vote for their favorite books! Lastly, we can’t wait to continue growing our students’ skill sets and knowledge during the month of March. Happy learning wildcats!
From Mrs. Spencer: 1st Grade
From Mrs. Tran: SPED Kinder/1st
I’m a lucky teacher to have such sweet students!
In March, we’ll be working on the following:
In ELA, we are reading interactive stories related to the Weather and our Letter of the Week. For science, we will have some fun experiments to learn about specific weather conditions, like tornadoes, storms, snow, and rainbows. In the area of math, we are learning about beginning addition. Our color of the month is Green. In Social Justice, we will learn about important women in history with our 1st grade buddies. We will learn about problem solving and model how to take turns, share, and apologize with our kindergarten buddies. Please help us celebrate World Down Syndrome Day on 3/21 by wearing crazy socks to celebrate and learn more about our unique friends with Down Syndrome. I’m so proud of all of the growth our students have made in Trimester 2 and wish you all a peaceful and safe spring break!
From Mrs. Kollmansberger, 2nd Grade
From Ms. Pionke: 2nd/3rd Grade
From Ms. Guardamondo, 3rd Grade
From Mrs. Guzman: 2nd/3rd Grade SPED
From Mrs. Wren: 4th Grade
From Mrs. Rangel: 4th/5th Grade
Hello Spring!
During the month of March, we will begin to work on our personal expert pieces for writing. In math, fourth grade will begin multiplying fractions with like denominators. In math, fifth grade begins adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. For Women’s History Month, we will be learning about influential women in California history. Additionally, class will be joining Mrs. Wren’s class on a field trip to the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Students will continue their study of local ecosystems on this trip.
From Mrs. Merrihue: 5th Grade
From Ms. Somoza: 4th/5th/6th SPED
From Mrs. Bergen: 5th/6th Grade
Happy March Wildcat Families! This month is Women’s History Month. In Writers Workshop we will be starting our informational writing pieces that will focus on teen activism. In math, fifth graders will be adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, and sixth graders will be converting fractions, decimals and percents. This month we will also be having spring conferences so you can see how much growth your child has made this year.
From Mr. Nunez: 6th Grade
Hello Wildcat Families!
This month is Women’s History Month. In Writers Workshop we will be starting our informational writing pieces that will focus on teen activism. In math we will be converting fractions, decimals and percents. This month we will also be having spring conferences so you can see how much growth your child has made this year
From Mrs. Joo: Response to Intervention/ELA
From Mrs. Alcaraz, Response to Intervention/ELA
From Mrs. Graza, Response to Intervention/Math
From Coach Martinez: PE
From Mrs. Adams: Speech
In Speech we will be continuing to work on our individual goals in the area(s) of language, fluency, social skills, and articulation/phonology. We will be using Spring & March thematic material. Parents, speech and language progress reports will be sent home with the report cards.
Ms. Neri- Speech Teacher
Hello March! This month we will continue on improving our speech and language skills by working on our individual goals. We will work on our comprehension and vocabulary, as well as using different modalities to express ourselves (AAC, sign, etc). We will also work on our social skills, such as greetings, following game rules, turn taking and playing with others, commenting, etc. March/ spring themed materials and activities will be used throughout the month.
Mrs. Hernandez: RSP Teacher
From Mrs. Conley, School Counselor
March is a busy month with testing and spring break. I will continue with my 1:1 and group counseling sessions. We will focus on topics such as friendships, perseverance and test anxiety.
Books for Read Across America:
Grades K-2; Long Shot Never too Small or too Big by Chris Paul
and
for grades 3-5;The Anti-Test Anxiety by Julia Cook
Reminders from the Office Staff
Diana Venegas
Patty Sandoval
Diana Arreolla
From Ms. Diana- Office Manager
We are very excited to see you all coming to register your students for the new school year 2022-2023. Remember we will have Transitional Kindergarten (TK) next year at Woodcrest as well as Kinder. If you have any questions about the minimum age requirements for these grade levels or the required documents, please call the office.
Also, if your student is not feeling well or is not coming to school for a different reason, please call the office to notify them about their absence.
From Ms. Gisel - Social Services Assistant
We have events coming up this month that you don't want to miss out on! On Friday March 4th, join us at Flame Broiler for a fundraiser 10AM-8 PM. The Children Family Conference will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2022, from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Ladera Vista Junior High School of the Arts at 1700 East Wilshire Ave in Fullerton. For more information on how to register you can come to the office for assistance. On March 18, the ELAC meeting will be held in the MPR at 8:15 AM. We hope to see you there!
Mrs. Reese
Ms. Cherie Hayes
Susan Cravello
From Nurse Susan and Ms. Patty
Hello Wildcat Families! We continue to be vigilant with the protocols we have in place at school for health and wellness. Thank you for all of your support in encouraging your child in proper hand-washing, mask-wearing and staying home when sick. We appreciate all of your efforts and will do the same at school.
From Mrs. Reese- Tech/Media
March 2, 2022 Read Across America Day!
March Book Madness starts this month!
https://www.fullertonsd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=2034047&type=d&pREC_ID=2270581
More reading resources for you:
CYRM information here: http://www.californiayoungreadermedal.org/
Sora information here: https://www.fullertonsd.org/apps/pages/sora
“Learning to read comes before reading to learn”