Windermere Family Update

It’s been a fun filled, busy week at Windermere! There is MUCH excitement in the air. With one week to go until our long winter break, we will do our best to get outside as often as we can barring the weather. As a reminder, we go outside if it is 20 degrees or warmer (with the wind chill factored in the decision). We know how important it is to get our students outside for fresh air. Please make sure students have the appropriate clothing (coats, gloves, boots, etc) daily so that each may enjoy their play outdoors.

When it snows, I feel like we are inside a giant snow globe at Windermere. It’s magical watching and listening to our students sincerely treasure the beauty. As I have been visiting classrooms this past week, students are growing and learning so much! Thank you, again and again, for sharing your children with us. I hope you are seeing that growth at home as well.

Enjoy the weekend/season. See you on Monday morning.

Julie

Unfortunately, the Progress Report icon for students with IEPs in PowerSchool has been eliminated. This was out of Upper Arlington’s control. In order to access your child’s progress report, your child’s intervention specialist or speech language pathologist will share the report via an email from Same Goal after each reporting period. You should receive the 2nd quarter progress report by January 9th for students in grades 6-12 and by January 22nd for students in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

What's topping your kids' holiday wish lists this year? Chances are it has a screen, Internet access, and games. With a little planning -- and kids' assistance -- you can balance your family's tech activities with much-needed face time.

As an extension of the 2024 Digital Safety Week, Screenagers viewing, and Thanksgiving Digital Wellness Activities, we wanted to provide families with some Digital Wellness tips and strategies to consider during the Winter break. These two weeks are an opportunity to exhibit a healthy balance with device use.

Here are some ideas to try from CommonSense Media:

Be jolly -- but firm. Let your kids know that you'll be enforcing stricter time limits to create more quality family time. And tell them that the rules will apply to the grown-ups as well.

Make a list (and check it with your kids). Don't go cold turkey. Schedule some daily tech time for yourself and your kids. Get their input on which devices they absolutely can't live without, and allow some limited use.

Plan a device-free dinner. Put the phones and tablets in a basket and don't check 'em til the dishes are done.

Make setup fun, not frustrating. No matter how easy to use companies make new devices, there's always some (often frustrating) setup time. Truth be told, kids often figure out thorny tech glitches faster than parents, so involve your kids in the process. Use that time to discuss responsible use of the new device.

Try some tech togetherness. Unplugging for its own sake isn't the point. Family time is. Plan a night of video games, movies, or maybe preselected YouTube videos that you can all enjoy together.

Combine on- and offline activities. Document your family memories and consider compiling them into journals, cards, and scrapbooks. This is a perfect time to share your own holiday memories with your kids.

If no creatures are stirring … don't check your email. Remember, your kids learn their media habits partly from you.

By January 5th, discuss questions with your students related to this activity, such as:

• Did you feel more present with your family?

• What was the most challenging part of the break for you?

• What was the one offline activity we did that you enjoyed the most?

• Can you help our family create a plan to make this a more frequent practice?

If you do this with your family and feel comfortable to share, please share an anonymous feedback about the process. The Excellence and Engagement Office is committed to supporting families with exercises like these to help create a healthy digital balance for our students.

"3D Modeling within Tinkercad and Rube Goldberg Machines"

Students will...

- Continue to learn about the application Tinkercad.

- Create a Rube Goldberg style machine within Tinkercad through the development of 3D models.

Windermere’s Kindergarten Parent information night is February 6, 2025, 6:30pm

Schoolwide, we are seeing an uptick in illnesses. As a gentle reminder, students should remain home from school for 24 hours AFTER being free from vomiting, diarrhea, and/or a fever without medication. Thank you for partnering with us to ensure Windermere remains a healthy learning environment for all students and staff.

Upper Arlington Schools is proud to offer students the ability to travel abroad with their teachers and peers as part of our Global Education Program. As we begin to think about future opportunities within this program, we are inviting students and families currently in grades 5-10 to share some thoughts to inform our travel selections. Students in these grades will be eligible for school-sponsored global travel opportunities in the 2025-2026 school year. Parents/guardians may complete this survey. We invite parents/guardians to preview the student survey before asking your grade 5-10 student(s) to take it at home to share their feedback.

Below are links to both a parent/guardian survey and a student survey. The surveys will close on December 18 at 4 pm.

Please make sure you are checking your child’s lunch accounts. Many students have a low or negative balance. You can add money through the district EZ Pay site.

Please make sure your children are prepared for the colder temperatures we are starting to see. Coats, hats, gloves, etc. are very important. We go outside for recess as long as temperatures and/or wind chills are above 20*.

A medically excused absence occurs any time a student is out of school due to an illness or medical visit/appointment (physician, dentist, or therapy).

A student may have up to ten (10) medically excused absences WITHOUT a doctor’s note, as long as we receive an email or phone call from a parent or guardian. After 10 occurrences, a doctor’s note is required to be marked as an excused absence.

It is best to provide a doctor’s note anytime your child has a medical appointment.

This policy only applies to medical absences, not pre-planned absences. Please call or email Ms. Maria for further clarification.

Any prescription medication administered at school requires written authorization from the student’s physician as well as written parental permission. Per Ohio Revised Code, the Prescribed Medication must be received by the health office in the container in which it was dispensed by the provider or pharmacist (we cannot accept medication in baggies). Medication authorization forms and other health forms can be found on the district website at: UA Health Forms. Should you have any questions, please contact the Windermere Health Office at 614-487-5060.

Our health clinics track communicable illnesses and work with local public health agencies to mitigate potential outbreaks. If your student is diagnosed with or treated for a communicable illness/condition (strep, pinkeye, influenza, COVID-19, lice, etc.), please report those to the school nurse at windermerehealthclinic@uaschools.org, or windermereattendance@uaschools.org. Thank you for partnering with us to ensure Windermere is a healthy learning environment for all of our students!

Flyer Connection is our online “bulletin board” of opportunities for students and families in our schools from nonprofit organizations in our area.

Please refer to this arrival and dismissal doc for guidelines on keeping everyone safe during our drop off and pick up times.

Please email windermereattendance@uaschools.org along with your child’s teacher, any student absences. For extended absences (vacations, travel, etc.) please submit a pre-planned absence form. For more information on the district attendance policy, please visit the district's attendance web page. For all medical appointments, please provide a doctor’s note.