WildCat News
March 3, 2023
In this Issue...
- Friendly Drop Off and Pick Up Reminders
- 2023/24 Registration Window Open
- Specialist's Corner
- Students are invited to "My First Formal Dance" at Woodinville High School
- PTA News
Upcoming Dates
- March 8th - Leota MS Parent Preview Night for 5th graders going into 6th Grade, 6:30-8:00pm
- March 14th - Nifty Numbers Family Math Night - 5:30 - 7:00pm
Friendly Drop Off and Pick Up Reminders
Hi wonderful Woodin families! Hopefully everyone had a lovely Mid-Winter Break! Now that we are getting back to our regular routines we wanted to share some friendly reminders about student drop off in the mornings and pick-up in the afternoons.
In the Morning:
If you come through the car line, you can help us by pulling up as far along as you can. It is great if you can say a quick goodbye and let your student know it will be a great day. This lets us move as many cars through as possible to make sure everyone gets to class on time.
It is also important not to leave your car unattended if you are in the car line. But, if you need to get out with your student, or need some extra time saying goodbye, you are welcome to park in a designated parking spot. We appreciate it very much if you can limit your parking to an actual spot in the parking lot. When cars get parked in other spaces, it makes for a more dangerous drop off.
In the Afternoon:
Like in the morning, if you join the car line, please remember to pull all the way forward. It helps us so much once your student is in the car, if you can make bucking up a quick process. We know some of our younger students may still need some help doing this, and you are welcome to wait and gently pull all the way forward to take a little extra time. This lets us move as many cars through as possible so you can get on your way to any after school activities.
Please also remember to stay in your car. We are very happy to bring your student to your car. So if you don’t see them right away, we will go find them and bring them to you. If you need to talk with your student’s teacher, or need extra time for any reason, please always feel free to park in a parking spot. You are always welcome to do so.
Thank you so much for your help in getting all of our students safely to and from school each day!
2023/24 Registration Window Open
If you currently have a student here at Woodin, you do not need to re-register them. They will automatically roll up to the next grade.
If you are a family who will be moving at the end of the school year out of the Woodin Service area, please notify the office, 425.408.5400.
Specialist's Corner
PE: There has been a lot of huffing and puffing going on in our gym over the past few weeks! The 2nd Fastest Class Challenge (FCC) of 2023 has been taking place and our Wildcats have been posting amazing numbers! FCC has our students running grade-adjusted laps in our gym for 5 minutes. Laps are counted and divided by the number of runners giving us a laps per runner number. The class with the highest average takes ownership of our glorious gold-like FCC Trophy! We teach pacing and dedication to the team as our runs have occurred.
We have started to jump rope in PE. Learning to jump rope is a hard skill. For short ropes, beginners are given instruction on how to properly hold and turn their rope, time their jump, and gradually build skill and endurance. All students progress through many individual skills during open practice time. We provide opportunities for them to sign our jumping club posters in the gym as they reach benchmarks like 20 Jumps, or 1-Minute, 2-Minute, & 3-Minute continuous jumping challenges. We will also spend time practicing long rope teamwork skills that can be used for great activities during recess.
Students in 4th and 5th grades recently came up with their SMART fitness goal for the year. Based on our recent benchmarks in cardio (PACER), muscular endurance ( Plank or Wall Sit), muscular strength (push-ups) each student chose a reasonable fitness goal to reach by the end of school. We will conduct fitness assessments in late May/early June.
MUSIC: Music at Woodin has become even more exciting than ever, with performances coming up, and March Madness under way.
Our 1st graders have been working hard on their musical, “The Little Red Hen” which will be performed at the Northshore Performing Arts Center on March 16th at 7:00 P.M. Kindergarten, Second, and Third grade students will also have performances in the spring. We will let you know the details very soon. Our 3rd-5th grade choir will be joining other elementary, middle, and high school choirs at the Woodinville Pathways concert on February 28th at 7:00 P.M. They also have a final performance coming up on March 23rd. We are super excited for our eleven, 4th and 5th graders that signed up to be a part of the Northshore Sings event, where mainly 5th graders and some 4th graders from the east side of our district prepare a performance with the middle school choir teachers, to experience what choir is like in middle school.
Music March Madness is a tradition we started last year, where general music classes get to vote for their favorite songs. Like the NCAA March Madness, there is a bracket, and we will have rounds that end with one final winner. This year, with the help of our Woodin staff members, we have chosen 16 songs by influential women. We thought this would be an excellent way to celebrate Women’s History Month.
LIBRARY:
Kindergarteners have been learning about organization in the library - specifically how our books are arranged carefully on the shelves. We have talked about how the library is like a “city”, divided into sections (“neighborhoods”) and each book’s call number is like the book’s “address” and helps us know where it “lives” in the library.
Through our read-alouds, students in grades 1 and 2 are continuing to discuss character and setting as well as other important elements of a story including conflict/problem, events (what does the character DO to solve the problem?), and solution (or how does the story end?).
In third grade, we have started reading this year’s Towner nominees. The ten nominees in this category focus on engaging and interesting nonfiction topics such as animals, space, inspirational people, and nature. They are also learning about the Dewey Decimal system which is the way that our nonfiction books are categorized on the shelves. Understanding this system is important for students to know where to find different topics of interest in our library.
Every year, students in grades K through 5 engage in conversations around the concept of Digital Citizenship which, simply stated, means knowing how to be safe and respectful when online. All Northshore librarians teach specific lessons by grade level using Common Sense Media as the main resource. In grades 4 and 5, this has been our focus for the month of February and we have had some excellent and extremely valuable discussions on some very important and relevant topics. See below for topics that were covered by grade level:
Grade 4 - The Power of Words (intro to cyberbullying), Personal vs. Private (sharing safely online) & Whose is it Anyway? (copyright)
Grade 5 - What is Cyberbullying? (how to deal with cyberbullying when it happens), A Creator’s Rights & Responsibilities (copyright) & Finding My Media Balance (reflecting on the amount of media we use daily and beginning to think about creating a healthy balance)
Students in the primary grades (as well as grade 3) will explore digital citizenship a little later in the spring. Stay tuned for more information!
COUNSELING:
Happy February! We have had a lot of fun this month, students have either been learning more about healthy friendships or focusing on ways to help ourselves calm down when we’re having really big emotions that might get in our way at school.
Our Kindergarten learners have been introduced to The Very Hungry Worry Monster. This is such a fun story about feeding our worries to a worry monster so they go away, instead of thinking more and more about the worry which usually makes it grow and get bigger. Students got to color and decorate their own personal worry monster to help them when they feel worried.
First grade has been having a lot of fun thinking about what makes a sweet friend and what makes a sour friend. We got to play a game deciding whether different situations were examples of being a sweet friend or a sour friend with the use of candy!
In second and third grade we’ve focused on what to do when we feel worried. And learned that sometimes we might be so worried we make choices that can cause our big feelings to get bigger. We also spent time learning about different strategies and ideas of what things help us calm down and feel better.
Fourth and fifth grade has been discussing friendship, especially what to do when our friends do or say things that hurt our feelings. We have talked about what it looks like to give second chances and how to earn back someone’s trust. Our students have done such a great job having thoughtful conversations around being good, trustworthy friends to one another.
If your student (or your family) is feeling stronger feelings of worry or stress and needs any support around coping tools and strategies, please always feel free to reach out! You can connect via email, janderson3@nsd.org or phone, (425) 408-5454.
Students are invited to "My First Formal Dance" at Woodinville High School
“Life, what is it but a dream?” - Through the Looking-Glass: Alice in Wonderland.
You are invited to Woodinville High School's My First Formal Dance: “Through the Looking- Glass: Alice in Wonderland”.
Date: Saturday, March 25, 2023
Time: 6:00-8:00pm
Place: Woodinville High School, 19819 136th Ave NE, Woodinville, WA 98072
The My First Formal dance will feature live music (provided by the WHS jazz band), games, activities, food, and dancing! We will also feature a silent auction, photo booths and face painting!
Tickets: We recommend pre-registering HERE to save money and guarantee your tickets. All proceeds from the event will support Woodinville High School's Class of 2024 and help subsidize important programming associated with graduation, like Senior Prom and the Senior Graduation Breakfast.
Dance Attire: We love to see outfits that are on theme but feel free to dress however! This is a formal dance so feel free to dress up!
We can’t wait to host our Northshore Elementary School students and look forward to a fun filled evening! Please email myfirstformal@gmail.com with any questions. Thank you!
Woodin Expansion Community Meeting
Weekly Covid Case Update
The Department of Health (DOH) requires schools to inform families and students about COVID-19 case numbers and potential outbreaks. This week, there were a total of 0 confirmed cases at our school. The accuracy of our data depends on self-reporting. Thank you for continuing to let the school know if your child tests positive for COVID-19. To view additional information, including school and district trends visit the District’s COVID-19 data dashboard. The dashboard is updated weekly on Monday evenings.
If your child is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 keep them home and test for COVID-19. Families can order free COVID-19 tests from the state. Together, we can keep our schools healthy and safe.
If your child is home sick or in isolation, they can access zoom classes here: Isolation Learning Support
PTA News
Woodin PTA Needs You!
Looking to get involved in a bigger way next year? PTA has so many opportunities to be involved!
Support our Woodin community with volunteering for a position or being a member of a committee!
Please check out the genius for the available opportunities.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F49A5AD2FA6F94-committee
Woodin Elementary
Email: tcussac@nsd.org
Website: www.woodin.nsd.org
Location: 12950 Northeast 195th Street, Bothell, WA, USA
Phone: (425)-408-5400