Dolphin Digest

September 2022

DEAR WINTER PARK FAMILIES:

Hope you all enjoyed the extra hour on this beautiful fall day! This month's newsletter begins with sharing some information about our school-wide D.I.V.E. time, which happens each morning from 8:00-8:25. During this time, we are working to Differentiate, Intervene, Validate, and Enrich (DIVE) the learning for all students K-5. Fortunately, we are able to take an all-hands-on-deck approach, placing every student in a group that best meets their needs. We utilize classroom teachers, teacher assistants, Focus teachers, and all instructional support members to allow us to make groups even smaller for more targeted instruction. Some groups might focus on math and others on reading, while some students could be in an enrichment group to extend skills while others could be in an intervention group to improve lacking skills. Groups also change often based on updated data and skill acquisition. It's important your child is at school on time every day because these targeted groups begin promptly at 8:00. Reach out to your child's teacher if you'd like to know what specific skills your child is working on during this time.

In other news, we've got several things on the horizon for this week and next that I want to make sure you're aware of:

This week is a four-day week since Veterans Day is being recognized this Friday, November 10th.
Mrs. Kotz is hosting her first Coffee with the Counselor session this Wednesday at 8:30am, and we hope you'll all be able to join. It's not too late to RSVP by clicking HERE.
Our next PTA board meeting is this Thursday at 5:00pm at Brewer's Kettle. All families are invited to attend, even if you are not officially on the board. We would love to have your input and this is a great way to meet other families and staff members!
Mark your calendars for next Wednesday, when we'll have our next School Improvement team meeting. The more the merrier for these, and just like last time, we'll provide an option for you to attend virtually if you'd prefer.

This month's newsletter is full of information, so don't feel like you need to read it all at once. After you look through and process everything, don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued support! ~Mr. Hall

Attendance

zoom_out_map

Did You Know? Being just five minutes late for school each day adds up to 15 hours of lost instructional time over the course of the year.

Remember, the tardy bell rings each day at 7:40am and instruction begins immediately. Thank you for continuing to make sure your child arrives on time each day, maintaining a pattern of responsible attendance!

Holiday Meals:

zoom_out_map

We are excited to share that our cafeteria team will be offering a holiday meal once again during your child's regularly scheduled lunch time in November and December. You are welcome to join your child for lunch this day and purchase a meal for yourself if you'd like. Due to the large number of families that typically attend, and the confined space within our cafeteria, the meal will be offered for K-2 families in November and for 3-5 families in December.

K-2 Families: Thursday, November 16th
3-5 Families: Thursday, December 7th

If you are unsure what time your child's class eats lunch each day, reach out to their teacher via Class Dojo or email. As the date(s) get closer, we will send out a form to RSVP if you plan to attend so that the cafeteria staff can plan accordingly. We ask that if you plan to attend, you limit the guests per child to only 1-2.

Additionally, our cafeteria staff wanted to share THIS FOLDER of fun facts about the fresh fruits and veggies your child receives at school. This program exists across many schools in NHCS, and helps expose our students various fruits and vegetables they might not normally have the opportunity to try. Check out the information sheets along with the menu for November, which can all be found in the folder linked above.

Making a SPLASH

We continued making a SPLASH in November:

Spreading Kindness
Promoting Safety
Listening to Others
Aiming for Excellence
SHowing Respect

Check out the students that earned a shout-out from their teacher or another adult in the building this month:

Staff Shout-Outs

Winter Park is so lucky to have such dedicated staff members, and we want to give you the opportunity to recognize them for their hard work. If you would like to give a shout-out to ANY staff member that has done something impactful for you or your child, complete the form below (also linked HERE). All responses will be shared in next month's Dolphin Digest.

open_in_new

Speaking of shout-outs, we are thrilled to share that our very own music teacher, Ms. Stoddard, was recognized with an "Amazing Teacher" award in the local newspaper. If you missed it, take a look at the article below:

STRIDE Cereal Drive

zoom_out_map

Our boys running group (STRIDE) will be hosting a cereal drive to benefit our local food back - NourishNC. This will take place November 13th-November 17th. Check out the flyer with more details in either ENGLISH or SPANISH.

G2G Sustainability Challenge

zoom_out_map

This week's Garbage to Gardens sustainability challenge is to check out UNCW's recycling center for a place to drop off your old electronic items.

For more information about our Garbage to Gardens school composting efforts, click HERE.

Also, check out the video below to see what the process is like for all of our students each day as they think through sorting their foods for composting: