Weekly PWA Family Email
Week 5
September 21st, 2018
We had another fun week here at PWA! The weather was lovely for much of it, and our students spent lots of time outside. Our first graders caught a butterfly and nurtured her all week with flowers from our garden; she went free today to much fanfare. And our kindergartners visited our neighbors on Commission Ct–the local fire station! There were more perfect scores on spelling tests, and our older students are prepping reports on geologists.
Our preschoolers had lots of outdoor time this week as well. They also continued to learn about the five senses, and talked about community helpers, such as police officers and firefighters.
The fledgling PTC met for the first time this week, and had a very constructive conversation about ways to raise money for technology-based initiatives at the school. If you’re interested in joining the PTC, we’d be delighted to have you! Look for more PTC info at back-to-school night….
Which has been rescheduled for this Tuesday, September 25th, from 5-7 pm. We look forward to seeing you there!
Back-to-School night will be held on Tuesday, September 25th from 5:00 until 7:00 pm. Be advised that your classroom teacher may ask that you arrive at a specific time for a presentation. Members of school admin will be available to speak with you, and our after school activities vendors will have information tables set up as well. We look forward to seeing you there!
School Picture Day is scheduled for Monday, October 29th! Students and staff members will have their pictures taken that day.
Makeups, retakes, class photos, sibling photos, and our school photo will be Tuesday, November 13th.
Note: Students who attend only on T/TH in the preschool may have their photo taken that day, or make arrangements to come in on the 29th of October. There will be no makeups possible after November 13th!
More information will come home soon in your child’s backpack.
Our first PTC meeting of the year was really productive. We discussed various fundraising initiatives, most focused on raising money for technology in our classrooms and throughout the school. We talked about doing restaurant nights, more parents’ nights out, and a raffle basket to be given out at the Fall Festival in October.
We are also seeking parents with marketing expertise. Would you like to help us make a promotional video for our school? Please get in touch with Dr. Nykwest if this is something you might be interested in doing.
Our students have really been enjoying PE, and those in K and up now have it twice per week! Angela Loreto Alvarado Rios (Ms. Loreto) has been teaching PE with us for the past 5 years, and we appreciate her energy and her commitment to fun and fitness.
We’ve had some parents ask about gym uniforms. Currently, we do not require them. However, PE is on Tuesday and Thursday for K – 8 and on Wednesdays for Jr K, and students should wear pants/shorts, and sneakers those days.
Our students in grades 5-8 may bring their PWA camp t-shirts to change into for PE, along with extra pants or shorts, and socks. If your student needs a camp t-shirt, we have them available for $5 at the front office.
Our first Principal’s Scholar Awards ceremony of the year will be held at 10:00 am on Wednesday, September 10th in the gym. This month’s theme is “Fairness,” and each class Jr K and up will choose a classmate to recognize for possessing this virtue. Parents of award recipients will be notified ahead of time so they can plan to attend the ceremony if they wish.
October’s theme is “Compassion.”
Weekly Class Updates
Our kindergartners had a fun visit to our local fire station this week, as they learned about community helpers!
Our first graders cared for a butterfly in their class, feeding it flowers from our garden.
Our second and third graders spent time together this week while Ms. Wiggins recovered from a nasty virus. Big thanks to Ms. Joanna for her help.
Our fourth graders all scored 100% on their vocab tests!
Our fifth through eighth graders worked on decimals and fractions, equations, slopes, and conditionals and biconditionals.
Our 3s and Jr K students learned about community helpers. They made firefighter hats, doctor’s kits, and had a visit from a police officer! Big thanks to Officer Haselton for coming in to tell the children about his work.
Our 2s students will pick up on the “community helpers” theme next week. If you would like to volunteer to give a short presentation about your role as a community helper (firefighter, law enforcement, medical field, teaching, etc) please let Ms. Angie know.
We had new babies start in our room this week, and will have another toddler starting next week! We will have new faces among our staff in the coming weeks as well, and we look forward to welcoming them to our center!
Dr. Nykwest spent some time with the babies this week and loved getting to know them all better. She even got to see some of the babies take their first real steps!
