Weekend Wire

9/12--VAPA

9/20--Friday Flag

9/26--VAPA

9/30--District Professional Growth Day--Non Student Day

10/1-First Full Day of School for Kindergarten

10/4-Friday Flag

10/10--VAPA

10/11--Picture Day

10/25--Make Up picture day

Dear Westwood Families,

I hope this email finds you escaping the heat and staying cool!

We’re excited to share that we’ve had another wonderful week at Westwood Elementary. Our character chats have been a great success, and it’s been truly inspiring to see our students engage with and understand these important lessons.

We also want to extend a big thank you to our students for their responsibility and flexibility with the adjusted lunch recess due to the hot temperatures. Their positive attitudes and adaptability have been impressive and greatly appreciated.

To wrap up the week, our Friday Flag event was a highlight! The students had a blast playing a fun game, and we took a moment to recognize those who have been shining examples of our character traits. It is important for us to provide our Roadrunners with positive reinforcement at these events to promote these positive behaviors.

Looking ahead to this Thursday, our VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) lesson promises to be exciting! Primary students will explore beat and rhythm, learn how to use a metronome, and discover dynamics in music, such as soft and loud sounds, as well as high and low pitches. Upper-grade students will dive into the elements of music, basics of reading music, and even create their own simple RAP to convey a particular message. Through interactive theater games, students will explore essential music vocabulary including beat, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and pitch. As always, they will also enjoy a WongAvery Global Language and Culture lesson to deepen their understanding of languages and cultures from around the world.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership. Here’s to more great weeks ahead!

In Partnership,

Bill Egan - Principal, Westwood Elementary School

We will start the year introducing you to all of our amazing staff members! This week, we are showcasing our Kindergarten teachers, Katie Benander, Debbie Lackerdas, Lori Barton, Liz Clark and Lauren Chopak

Every amazing Ambassador has attended training and is ready to welcome Roadrunners to school next week. Parents of Ambassadors, please check for a neon-orange letter, and email mwilkinson@powayusd.com so that a contact list may be created for the year.

We are looking forward to serving our wonderful Westwood community!

Dear Families,

This week, our school community will focus on the character strength of Teamwork. Teamwork means you work well as a member of a group or team. You are loyal, reliable, and dedicated to helping your team achieve its goals.

Teamwork involves prioritizing group success. Those strong in teamwork help all group members succeed, committing time and resources to the group's goals. They often delay personal accomplishments to ensure the group's overall success, which fosters positive feelings and counters selfishness and egotism.

For individuals, teamwork often means deferring or delaying individual accomplishments in order to ensure that the group maintains a high level of success. Their commitment to the larger group effort makes them good teammates. The positive feelings associated with being part of a larger whole — can be highly beneficial and combat selfishness and egotism.

To practice and encourage the character strength of teamwork at home, please visit the Positivity Project’s mobile-friendly P2 for Families. There, you will watch a video clip together and discuss a quote and three questions related to teamwork.

Thank you for your continued support!

To ensure our students are set up for success on the playground, we will b teaching playground games during PE. Each week, the entire school will focus on one specific game.

1. Players stand on opposite sides. They may not step to the opponent's side or into the other pie shaped areas.

2. Players hit the ball with one or both hands.

3. Hands can be open or closed.

4. To start, the server can stand anywhere on his/ her side of the court to strike the ball.

5. The server is the new player on the court.

Fouls

When a foul is committed, the player leaves the game and goes to the end of the line.

1. Hitting the ball with any other part of your body. (This includes if the ball hits you!)

2. Catching or holding the ball.

3. Touching the pole.

4. Touching the rope.

5. Throwing the ball.

6. Stepping on the inner or outer boundaries.

What is the School Site Council?

The SSC is made up of five staff members and five parent/community members, each serving a two-year term. We currently have two openings for parent/community representatives for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. Members are expected to attend all meetings, with our first Zoom meeting scheduled for October.

If you are interested in nominating yourself or someone else for the SSC, please submit the nomination form by September 12, 2024.

Here are some good habits to reinforce in the classroom and at home:

• Make note of your library day. Books are due no later than your library day, and can be turned in earlier if you want.

• Please remember to put books in backpacks the night before your library visit. Books need to be returned to the teacher's library book spot upon arrival at school.

• Find a safe place at home to keep library books so they don't get lost or damaged.

• Use clean hands when reading a library book and turn the pages gently. Use a bookmark.

• Keep library books away from younger children who might know how to take care of a library book.

• It's strongly encouraged to keep library books in a large plastic bag to protect it against food and water spills in backpacks.

• Keep library books away from food, water and pets.

• Book Care Video: Don’t Let the Pigeon Touch the Books!

You might be interested in…

AASL Best digital tools for teaching and learning : AASL’s Best Digital Tools are recognized for fostering qualities of:

• Innovation/Creativity Encourages Exploration

• Active Participation Information/Reference

• Collaboration User-Friendly

Early childhood literacy Teachingbooks resources: Nourish connections to books, support the acquisition of literacy skills, and encourage the love of reading with this rich and ever-growing collection of resources and tools.

Top 5 reasons Teachingbooks is great for Back to school: Teachingbooks is designed to enrich each readers’ literacy experience. Whether you’re a teacher, parent or student, TeachingBooks has something for everyone! You’ll find: book guides, lesson plans, meet-the-author interviews, complete book readings and so much more!

What happens to our kids’ brains when they read?: Why should you read to your child? Read this article to find out!

The used book sale will be held every Thursday, unless it’s raining, just outside the library. Proceeds of the sale go to buying books that students are asking for. It’s a great way to support the library. Only 25 cents a book!

Support your child’s love of reading by donating new books to the library! Any new hardcover books that are purchased and donated are greatly appreciated! Here’s a link: Amazon Wish List. Donated books will have a book plate in the front of the book with your child’s name and they’ll have first check out privileges.

Another way to support the library is to donate gently used children’s books appropriate for TK-5th grade, Method Cleaner spray, kleenex. You can drop them off in the library with a note.

Happy Reading!

Nancy Whitelock, Librarian at Westwood

2024-2025 yearbooks will be amazing! Order them now so you don't have to worry about them at the end of the school year and receive 10% off!

https://www.treering.com/purchase?PassCode=1015978769242468

Bill Egan

Principal

Email: kholmes@powayusd.com
Website: https://westwood. powayusd.com
Location: 17449 Matinal Road, San Diego, CA, USA
Phone: 858-487-2026
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WWESRoadrunners
Twitter: @RoadrunnersWwes

Nondiscrimination Philosophy and Policy Statement

The Poway Unified School District (PUSD) is an equal opportunity employer/program and is committed to an active Nondiscrimination Program. PUSD prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, national origin, nationality, immigration status, ethnicity, ethnic group identification, age, religion, marital or parental status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression or association with a person or a group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics. For more information, please contact: Title IX/Equity Compliance Officer, James Jimenez, Associate Superintendent of Personnel support Services, Poway Unified School District, 15250 Avenue of Science, San Diego, CA 92128, 1-858-521-2800, extension 2121, jjimenez@powayusd.com. For students, you may contact Title IX Coordinator/504 Coordinator Jamie Dayhoff, Director of Attendance and Discipline, Poway Unified School District, 1-858-521-2840, jdayhoff@powayusd.com.