Worthington Park Shark Sentinel

Happy Friday WoPark Families! It is hard to believe that we are already transitioning to our fourth week of school. As the summer weather turns to fall- we are so proud of our students' growth and effort here at school. We look forward to more excitement throughout the school year and to continue to celebrate the amazing students who call Worthington Park their home each and every week.

Additionally, I would like to thank all of the families who were able to attend our Curriculum Night presentations on Thursday evening. It is always special to have our community come together in person at Park and to work collaboratively with all of you to provide the best possible educational experience for our Park Sharks! For those who were unable to attend, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child's teacher to review the slide presentations from that evening.

Below are a few quick messages and reminders for the coming week. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out to our main office or me directly. Have a great weekend and Go Sharks!

-Principal Garrity

(pgarrity@wscloud.org)

(614) 450-5500

Just a quick reminder for all Worthington Families, all school buildings will be closed on Monday, September 5th in observance of Labor Day. We look forward to welcoming all families back on Tuesday, September 6th as scheduled.

Please check out the full school year calendar located here!

The safety of our staff, students, and community is always a priority in Worthington Schools

Statistics show that when staff and students within a school are prepared with knowledge and practice, they respond to emergency situations with positive results. For that reason, schools have always engaged in routines, drills and learning that support everyone’s safety.

Historically, our schools have participated in the following safety drills:

A. Fire Drills that provide knowledge about reporting fire hazards, and experience with a safe evacuation of the building using multiple exits.

B. Weather Drills that provide knowledge about how to be calm and safe in the event of weather-related events (such as a tornado), and experience with locating sheltered space within the building in which safety is maximized.

C. Lock-Down Drills that provide knowledge about circumstances in which free movement in and around the building is curtailed (such as neighborhood disturbances or unruly school visitors), and experience with locking down the school perimeter, classrooms, and common areas to keep students safe in a secure area until the circumstance passes.

This coming week, our students will be conducting a lock-down drill with our building staff who will be walking students through the safety protocols we have in place. Each classroom will be participating and we will ensure students feel comfortable throughout the process our team has put in place. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me directly at pgarrity@wscloud.org

In order to offset costs of consumable textbooks, we do ask parents to pay a fee. While we will send reminders for unpaid fees, it is appreciated if you could take care of the fee at the beginning of the school year. Fees may be paid through My Payments Plus account. Thank you to everyone who has already submitted these.

Fees:

• Kindergarten $24.00

• Grades 1-3 $42.00

• Grades 4-6 $36.00

This year, as part of our PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports), we are focusing on these key attributes that make each of our 400+ PARK SHARKS what they are. We will be sharing more about these lessons and our Fin Family Groups we are starting later this fall!

What is a Park Shark? A Park Shark is somebody who is safe, honest, an active learner in the classroom, responsible, and kind to their peers!

Worthington Park Parents and Families-One thing we are very proud of at Worthington Park is our diversity! For the purposes of this survey, we are particularly interested in the linguistic diversity of our school.

We are really excited to learn about all of the languages spoken by our students and families. We would appreciate it if you could fill out this survey even if English is the only language spoken in your home. We want to get a complete picture of all the languages spoken at Worthington Park! The last question gives you the opportunity to share about celebrations and traditions you share within your family. We look forward to learning about these too.

Please consider taking a few minutes to answer this short survey--you can click on the link below until Thursday, September 1. We look forward to sharing your answers (in graph format--no names will be mentioned) with all of you soon! https://forms.gle/jVdGyJDBbLCtSN45A

Our Worthington Park PTA invites your family to join us on Friday, September 9th at 6pm, in the Worthington Park Gym for a special screening of the movie "Sing!"

This is a free event for families and snacks will be provided by the PTA. All student must be accompanied by an adult to be admitted! Thank you and see you there.

The Worthington Park PTA supports the work of the teachers and enhances the learning experience of our students. I would encourage you to join the Worthington Park PTA at the Membership Hub.

I thank the following individuals for their PTA leadership:

Jeff Rutter, Co President

Carrie Sevin, Co President

Katie Coen, Vice President

Lindsay Yeh, Secretary

Nicole Coldiron, Treasurer

Mark your calendar for the following PTA Meeting dates:

• September 14th - 7 p.m.
• October 12th - 7 p.m.
• November 9th - 7 p.m.
• December 14th - 7 p.m.
• January 11th - 7 p.m.
• February 15th - 7 p.m.
• March 8th - 7 p.m.
• April 12th - 7 p.m.
• May 10th - 7 p.m.

Hi all! We have our Fall book fair coming up the week of October 17-20 which is parent/teacher conference week. I am looking for volunteers to help me out with set up/tear down, running the register, and assisting students during class time. If you would be willing to help, please follow the link for the Sign Up Genius to choose a time slot! Your help is greatly appreciated!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4FA4A72AA1FDC16-fall

Worthington Park Elementary is looking for volunteers to build reading skills with kindergarten students. Even if you only have 30 minutes a week, our kindergarten students would love to welcome you! Read below for more information and click HERE or on the flyer to register. Following registration, a program coordinator from our school will be in touch with more information.

Worthington Park Elementary will join other Worthington elementary schools with participation in "Start With Hello" week. Start With Hello is an initiative started by the Sandy Hook Promise Organization aimed at creating connection and community among students with a goal of ending social isolation. Throughout the week of September 19th, Start With Hello programming in our school will promote student leadership in decreasing social isolation and increasing empathy, working toward a culture of inclusion and connectedness in our school. Below is an overview of themes for each day.

September 5th- No School (Labor Day)

September 9th- PTA Movie Night at Park 6pm in the Gym-Free for families!) "Sing"

September 12th- Board of Education Meeting 7:30 pm

September 14th- PTA Meeting here at Park 7 pm

September 22nd- Bridging Buildings Event

September 30th- PTA Walk-a-Thon Fundraiser during the School Day

October 17th-20th- Parent Teacher Conference and Fall Book Fair

Email: pgarrity@wscloud.org
Website: https://www.worthington.k12.oh.us/domain/25
Location: 500 Park Road, Westerville, OH, USA
Phone: (614) 450-5500
Twitter: @WoParkSharks