Family News

January 27th, 2025

LOCKDOWN DRILL ON THURSDAY

NO SCHOOL ON WEDNESDAY January 29th - LUNAR NEW YEAR

What is Lunar New Year?

Lunar New Year, often called the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, is the most important holiday in China and Chinese communities around the world. It is not only celebrated in China. Vietnam, Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore also celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday. The two-week celebration includes family and friends, feasting and fireworks, parties and parades.

For more than 3,000 years, Lunar New Year was just what it sounds like—the beginning of a new year in the Chinese calendar. The historic Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, meaning dates are determined by both the moon (lunar) and the sun (solar). Months begin with every new moon, when the moon is not visible in the night sky. The new year starts on the new moon nearest the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, sometime between January 21 and February 20.

Some of the most common celebrations during the Lunar New Year festival include parties, firecrackers, beautiful Lantern Festival, and the famous lion dance familiar to Western audiences. During the first days of the Lunar New Year, younger family members may begin receiving bright red envelopes full of money. These envelopes, known as hong bao (Mandarin) or lai see (Cantonese), are traditionally given to unmarried adults and children.

What Makes Westminster Special

Buffalo Promise Neighborhoods' Two-Generation Program

Strong families. Strong students.

Success begins with strong families, and families thrive when parents and children have opportunities and resources to be their best. Our Two-Generation Program helps families achieve their goals.

What We Do

Our programming fosters healthy development and nurtures the potential of every child. We promote school success, and family involvement that reflect their cultural diversity. Our interventions focus on improving nutrition, stable housing, as well as seamless access to health care services while we continue to support families in achieving their financial and wellness goals.

Family Wellness
The Two-Generation whole-family approach is focused equally and intentionally on providing services and opportunities for our children and the adults in their lives. Our caring team of experts is here to help.
Family Learning Center
The Family Learning Center at Community Action Organization of WNY is a twelve-month program, serving children 0-4 years and provides a balance of early learning, health and parent supports. With our on-site Family Support Specialist, families receive a continuum of resources based on their individual goals.

Behind Our Approach

The Two-Generation Program is a whole family approach, focusing on family connections from birth to college. Our supports assist families in achieving financial and career goals as they work towards continuing education, and workplace success. Our family wellness component helps children and families receive needed social emotional supports through a trauma informed lens.

Parent Advisory Council News

Important Meeting on Thursday Jan. 31st to discuss Bussing for the 2025-2026 School Year

Items to Discuss:

1. Which student would qualify for a bus?

2. What would be the impact on start and end time?

3. What happens with afterschool clubs and activities?

4. Time to address other questions and/or concerns.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83767790799?pwd=HubNaVpejiBJU9EcAbiGzjQPtcO3zn.1

Meeting ID: 837 6779 0799
Passcode: 828121

Re--Enrollment Packets Coming Home

All students reenrollment packets will be coming home this week. The packets are coking in a manilla envelop so you know what to look for in your child's backpack. If you do not receive one before Thursday, please reach out to your child's teacher and we will make sure you get it at dismissal. We are asking that you return these by Friday February 28th. This holds your students space for next year. Please make sure you include any updated address, phone number of emergency contacts.

You do not need to complete an application for your students who are currently enrolled, just return this packet.

Applications for the 2025-2026 School Year are open

Please share the link with anyone looking for an excellent school for their students next year. Westminster is doing great in our Academics. When compared to the K-8 Buffalo Schools, Westminster scored 1st in Science, 2nd in ELA, and 3rd in Math. We also did better than many other Charter Schools, such as CSAT, Elmwood Village Hertel, Buffalo United, Reach Academy, Charter School of Inquiry, and King Center, to name a few. The application link is below. If you have a rising Kindergartener please apply for them to secure their spot. If your child is currently enrolled you do no need to complete an application.

For every family you recommend who applies for next year you will be entered in a drawing for a $100 gift card.

https://forms.gle/sYyTWP8FzSbLJYESA

How to help kids with math at home :

1. Maintain a positive attitude
A lot of kids (and adults) feel anxiety when presented with a math problem. But if your child is struggling with a concept, that doesn’t mean they’re bad at math. Math is a skill that takes practice, just like any other. Encourage your child to help them build their math confidence by saying you just don't understand it yet. . They can grow into math understanding, but it takes time.
2. Ask math questions that interest your child
Let’s face it — some math can be boring. If your kid doesn’t care much about trains, why should they care about how fast they’re going or where they’ll meet? Instead of pushing them to answer these standard questions, ask them about what they’re actually interested in.
Math is everywhere. Find places to use math around your house to help your child’s math abilities come to life. Count the slices of pizza the next time you order out, then determine the percentage of pizza everyone has eaten. Get your little ones to help you sort socks. Talk about the probability of rolling an even number during your family night board game session. Look around and you’ll find tons of opportunities!
3. Be patient and take it slow
Math builds on itself, but that means it can be tricky to keep up if your child is struggling with a new concept. When this happens, slow down and back up. Don’t keep pushing new ideas until they understand the old ones.
4. Get your child to teach you math
Math looks a little different now. If your kid’s homework is confusing, ask them to explain their process. This is a great connecting moment to share with your child.
5. Try game-based learning
If you find your child getting frustrated, ditch the textbooks and worksheets and try something different. Game-based learning is all the rage, and for good reason. Kids are naturally drawn to games, whether they’re cooperative board games or video games played on their tablets. Why? Because games are fun and exciting! Game-based learning can take the stress out of math instruction. Kids can practice their math with just the right mix of the familiar and the challenging.
Prodigy Math, for example, is a game-based learning platform where players explore fantasy worlds, build characters and battle friends — all while answering curriculum-aligned math questions!