News from WES 9/29/18

UPCOMING WES EVENTS

• Wednesday-Thursday October 3 & 4 - PTO Bake sale at Norman Williams Public Library 
• Wednesday, October 3, WCSU Community Engagement Event @WUMHS gym, 6pm
• Monday, October 8 - No School, In-service Day for Teachers
• Tuesday, October 9 - 2nd grade to Marsh Billings National Park
• Wednesday, October 10, WCSU Community Engagement Event @Bridgewater Grange, 6pm
• October 9-12 - 6th grade Web of Life at the National Park
• Thursday, October 18 -  Sculpture Fest 
• October 22-26 - Health Center Tile Art Project at WES
• Wednesday, October 31 Halloween Parade starting ~1:45-2:00pm
• Wednesday, October 31  - end of first quarter 

COME TO THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS!

All WES parents and guardians are cordially invited to attend one of the WCSU Family and Community Engagement Sessions to share input and ideas related to the Profile of a Graduate. Ms. Mills hopes to see many parents at Bridgewater Grange October 10th at 6pm. Mr. Hansen, the TPVS principal, will attend the October 3rd event at the middle school.

FALL ASSESSMENTS 

At all WCSU schools, students participate in fall, winter, and spring assessments to help teachers determine their skills and needs as learners in math and reading. In the fall, these assessments include the Fountas and Pinnell Running Records for literacy skills in grades K-6, the Primary Math Assessment for grades K-2, and, new this year, the STAR assessment for reading and math in grades 3-6. Completing these assessments helps teachers determine how to target and tailor instruction for the whole class and in small groups for individual student needs. Follow this link to learn more about the STAR assessment. 

WIN AT WES

In our August welcome letter, we shared that Woodstock Elementary School is starting a WIN block from 8:15-8:45 four mornings per week. WIN stands for “What I Need” and is a model used in schools across Vermont and the U.S. WIN is a time of individualized teaching such as targeted intervention for math and reading support, enrichment opportunities, and extra practice for students based on needs or interests. Grade level teams have met to review student assessments and discuss needs and have broken students into groups for our first WIN cycle which begins this week. This round of WIN will run for five weeks, and then teaching teams will meet again to review student progress and student needs, and they will reassign students to WIN groups for the next cycle beginning in early November. (There will be five WIN cycles this year.) If your child is receiving a targeted intervention due to needing extra support in math, reading, or socio-emotional development, the teacher leading the intervention will get in touch with you and let you know what your child is working on. All the grade level teams will share on their blogs what the WIN options are for this first cycle. We are excited to try this new approach to small group instruction here at WES as a whole school and welcome your feedback as always.

5,000 PAW PRINTS! 

This past week, we had our first school-wide celebration of reaching our paw print goal. As a school community, students earned 5,000 paw prints when they were recognized by a teacher for being safe, respectful, and ready to learn. All students had the opportunity to make a bead bracelet or keychain during recess on Wednesday. Check out some awesome first grade bracelets! 

BAKE SALE THIS WEEK! 

Please help make our Fall Foliage Bake Sale a success! Volunteers are still needed to help out at our bake sale. Please consider signing up for a 2 hour shift and/or donating baked goods! Here is a link to our sign up page: http://signup.com/go/zFMBDjF Join the PTO Team and help support our WES kids.

Thanks so much! 

FROM THE ART ROOM

Mt. Ascutney Hospital and the Ottauquechee Health Center has invited local artist Robert Rossel to facilitate a collaborative tile project including Woodstock Elementary School, The Prosper Valley School, and Community Members.  This project is at no cost to students and is funded by community members with fundraising done by the Mt. Ascutney Hospital and the Health Center.  

Students will be working closely with Robert and Ms. Piana during their regularly scheduled art classes October 23-26th to create a tile mural of Mt. Ascutney.  This mural is intended to brighten up the outer brick wall of the Ottauquechee Health Center.  Each students' name  will be represented along side of their tile.  

Community members who are interested in participating can purchase a tile and join Robert Saturday the 27th in the Woodstock Elementary School Art Room.  The Woodstock Elementary School and the Hospital hope to offer parents in need of financial assistance a chance to make a tile at no cost.  Please let Principal Maggie Mills know if you would like to participate in the sponsored tile opportunity. Those wishing to donate funds to sponsor the project should contact Charles Clement, director of development at MAHHC 802.674.7321  charles.clement@mahhc.org

Sculpture Fest 2018

It is time again to adventure to Sculpture Fest at King Farm!  We are seeking volunteers to chaperone for 1.5 hrs. Thursday October 18th.  If you are interested please contact your child's classroom teacher or e-mail art teacher Brooke Piana for more details. 

Herb Ferris sculpture

SCENES FROM THE WES MUSIC PROGRAM 

Instrument rental pick-up night!

Kindergarten musicians ready to learn!

Drum lessons

Drum lessons