February Events

January 27, 2010

Welcome to February! I wanted to make you aware of some unique events at West Side during the coming month. First, a reminder of the events on our regular calendar:

February 2 Workshop for Parents in Grades 3-5 on NYS Assessments
February 4 Parent Breakfast for Parents of Students in Grades 3-5
(Free for those attending the February 2 workshop)
February 7 Parent Volunteer Training followed by our monthly OPT meeting
(Results from the online surveys for parent involvement will be
shared at the OPT meeting. Childcare is provided for both these
activities.)
February 15-19 No School: President’s Day Observance and Mid-Winter Recess
February 26 PARP Begins(Parents as Reading Partners)
Academic Awards and Student of the Month Assembly
(Grade 2 Program on Trustworthiness)


We have a community service project taking place during the next two weeks of school. You should have received a letter home last week regarding Pennies for Peace. This program supports the Central Asia Institute, an organization that provides school supplies to schools in Afghanistan. For this month's schoolwide character education project, we are collecting pennies for the organization. The campaign is being coordinated by the Ft. Drum Officers' Spouses Club, and the project coordinator will visit Fort Drum as part of the campaign. Our donations will be given to him at that time. Pictures of the schools and the children are posted on our character education bulletin boards near the cafeteria.

We are aware of the great tragedy in Haiti and we are discussing the ways we will want to contribute to those efforts. The need for assistance in this country will be prolonged and the organizational means by which we can help will be easier to access if we wait a little while. Until then we can provide assistance to the organizations that we had previously committed to. Please help if you can.

You should also have received a letter last week about opportunities for outdoor recess. Our building safety committee has put together guidelines for safe outdoor recreation in the winter and ways each grade level will help provide that option for students. We will also accommodate students whose parents do not wish them to have outdoor recess.

Finally, I would like to make you aware of a very special project that is taking place at West Side this month. Our district cafeteria manager, Mrs. Christine Bristol, has worked with our wellness committee to develop a “healthy” menu for West Side for the month of February. Although the menu items are part of the regular items for selection each month, the menu has been arranged to use as many healthy ingredients and combinations of foods as possible. Since this is a West Side project, our menu will look different from those in the other elementary buildings and may not serve the same things on the same day. If you have children in more than one school, this is not a mistake. We are excited about the possibilities the menu may bring for more healthy food choices for all students in the future.


Please write me here, or call the school if you have any questions or comments. We love hearing from you. Have a great month.

January Events

January 11, 2010

Dear Families,

Dear Families, Happy New Year to everyone! We’re looking forward to continued success for our students and programs as we start the new year. Look for news about your child’s progress when report cards are sent home on January 29. That will also be the date of our monthly character education assembly. We’ll focus on Respect with a program by our 5th Grade classes.

Before that we have an important celebration. This Friday, January 15 is a red, white and blue day. We ask students to wear our country’s colors in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 18. We’ll celebrate on Friday since there will be no school on the national holiday.

I’d also like to remind everyone of our next volunteer training for parents, after school on January 21 at 1:30 p.m. Please note this change in the flyer that was sent home. The session will take place at 1:30 and will end by dismissal time. There will be no child care for this workshop. Childcare will be provided for training prior to our next OPT meeting on Thursday, February 4.

February 4 is also the date of our parent breakfast for parents of children in Grades 3-5. The breakfast is offered free of charge to all parents who attend our workshop session on February 2 regarding the new state assessments. This year the assessments have changed significantly. They will be held later in the year and there will be changes in the content students are responsible for.

If you're in attendance at the workshop you will receive a coupon to have breakfast with your children on Thursday, February 4. Although February 4 will be set aside as a parents’ breakfast day, you may use the coupon on any date for the remainder of the year. We hope you’ll start planning for these important and informational activities. Please call the office or send a response to my blog if you’d like more information.