West Homer Elementary

Mission: The learning community of West Homer Elementary inspires and supports all students to be lifelong learners with the courage and confidence to make positive contributions to the world.

Vision: The mission of West Homer Elementary School is to build strong connections among community, families, staff, and students in a safe, healthy, nurturing environment that challenges each student

Orca Families,

I wanted to share my gratitude with all of you for your participation in our recent parent-teacher conferences. Your presence and engagement in your child's education mean a great deal to us and play a crucial role in their academic journey. And I really enjoy the opportunity to connect with you in person in the building.

We understand that your time is valuable, and your commitment to attending these conferences demonstrates your dedication to your child's success. Your active involvement not only shows your support for your child but also strengthens our school community as a whole.

If you have any feedback or suggestions regarding our school or the conferences, please don't hesitate to share them with us. QR codes are posted below as a convenient way to share your feedback with us, or you can always stop by my office. We are always eager to improve.

We have an exciting 2nd quarter ahead of us with lots of new learning opportunities!

Thank you for being an essential part of our school community.

Sincerely,

Students identified specific achievements from the first quarter and shared at the assembly. We also celebrated the tremendous number of students who participated in activities, and we were treated by a 6th grade musical performance! So much learning happening here!

Please welcome our new staff member to our Orca Pod!

Ms. Lauren Policastro - Success Advocate/Office

She is working hard to support all students in improving attendance and getting to school on time among many other things. We want you all here!

West Homer Mind-a-Mazes teams travelled up to Soldotna for the district-wide competition on Saturday. It was truly amazing to see the variety of student creations in meeting this year’s challenge: “As the Pendulum Swings”. Our West Homer teams placed 2nd and 3rd in the district!!

2nd place – Team “Deathly Hallows” - Max Fefelov, Evie Field, Grace Oliver, and Karleigh Laky

3rd place – Team “Chicken Firecrackers” - Riggs Harness, Rusty Baker, Jim Richardson (with assistance from Riley Scritchfield and Wylder Johnson)

Congratulations to these students and to all other teams who were able to construct a device to meet parts of this engineering challenge.

The Homer Foundation has awarded West Homer $5,000 through the Community Grants Committee, the May Benson Charitable Fund, the KELPS Fund, and the Opportunity Fund to upgrade our ski equipment for our cross country ski program.

Our program introduces countless students to the joys of cross country skiing in Homer, and this award will upgrade the aging equipment that has gone well beyond it's useful life. Thank you for this wonderful investment in a healthy outdoor activity for youth!

📆NOVEMBER IMPORTANT DATES

Nov 1 Picture Retakes

Nov 6 Site Council 4pm-5pm

Nov 9 Early Release 1:20pm.

Nov 10 No School

Nov 17 Basketball game vs McNeil 3:30pm.

Nov 21 PTO meeting in library 4:30pm.

Nov 22 PTO Parent Caregiver Lunch & Play 11:20am.

Nov 23 – Nov 24 No School

Mark Your Calendars:

Dec 13 Winter Holiday Concert Rehearsal 12:30 - 2:00p @ HHS Mariner Theater

Dec 14 Winter Holiday Concert 12:30 - 2:00p @ HHS Mariner Theater

Basketball

Basketball will begin on October 16 and go through December 7

3rd and 4th grade will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00-4:00pm. Kylie Shuneson will the coach

5th and 6th grade will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00-4:00pm. Sean Joslyn will be the coach.

Chess Club

Chess club is back again this year. Andy Haas will be teaching Chess Club in the Art Room on Mondays and Thursdays. Students can do one of both days. Chess Club will begin on Monday, October 2 and will run through Thursday April 11th. There will be no chess club on school vacation days, but there will be Chess Club on early release days from 1:30-2:30pm

D&D Club

Mr. Crowl, Ms. Ross, and Mr. Dave will be running another session of Dungeons and Dragons this Fall for 5th and 6th graders on Mondays and Wednesdays immediately after school. Starting October 16th and running until December 6th. Space is limited so pick up your permission slips at the front office.

We as The Japanese Club had an amazing fundraising activities in this Fall for our Taiko project at front entrance of West Homer Elementary School and Ulmer's for two days. Students in the Japanese class made so many variety of baked goods with their parents for our fundraising events. And we also had a lots of beautiful and delicious baked goods' donations, cash donations, cardboard, paper tubes', nylon ribbons' and ducktapes' donations from the parents from the Japanese Club, our friends, our neighbors, and our community such as Ulmer's, Nomar's, Homer Saw and Cycle, and Spenard Builders Supply in Homer.

The Japanese Club from West Homer and Paul Banks are making 50 cardboard Japanese Taiko drums and 50 pairs of Japanese drum sticks called bachi. Japanese Club students will perform for our sister city to celebrate the upcoming 40th anniversary of the relationship between Teshio, Hokkaido in Japan and Homer, Alaska in the United States.

We are more likely to purchase the materials to make Japanese drum sticks called bachi as well as the fees for two special instructors. One of them is Gary Lyon Sensei who will show us how to make drum sticks, bachi and the other is Sarah Sims Sensei who will lead the Japanese class in learning how to make Japanese chopstick holders. We appreciate that those two talented and local artists give us the opportunity to learn how to make those amazing Japanese items!

I also would like to share an another excited announcement with you. Last year, the Japanese Club were invited to the City Council meeting to introduce ourselves in Japanese and share the information about the Japanese Club with the City Council members and Mayor Ken Castor. The Japanese Club is invited to the City Council Meeting on Monday, November 13th this year as well. We will coordinate with Dave Berry who is a director of Homer Public Library this time. The students in the Japanese class will keep continuing to practice their names, grades and the name of school where they go to as well as a couple of phrases in Japanese for the Council Meeting.

We will also have wonderful oppotunities for students at West Homer to have online class sessions coming up in November and December with high school students from Taishi High School, Hyogo and possibly from Teshio Junior or High School, Hokkaido in Japan this year as well.

We appreciate how much the students in the Japanese class and their parents, the principals, teachers, staff from West Homer and Paul Banks and our community support the Japanese club to present Taiko performance in 2024 for the 40th anniversary and have amazing oppotunities for children to learn Japanese language, the culture and the music.

Thank you for your support!! 応援ありがとう！

Megumi

Megumi Beams

Sister City Liaison/ Interpreter

Japanese International Exchange Coordinator/ Instructor

Breakfast & Lunch Information:

Breakfast is $2.50 (free if your child is approved for free/reduced meals) and lunch is $3.50 (or $.40 for students who qualify for reduced meal pricing). If interested in free/reduced meals, please apply online (http://mealapp.kpbsd.org/ ). Families need to reapply every year. If you would like to add money to your child's lunch account, you can bring cash/check (made out to SNS), sign in and add money through PowerSchool SIS (Lunch Planner), or you can set up an account and pay online- https://kpbsd.revtrak.net/paul-banks-es/.

• School survey
• School district surveys (school, principal and teacher surveys available)
• Feel welcome to email, call or stop by too

Winter is coming!

Cold weather is coming. To stay safe and warm, children need to wear proper winter gear. The school policy is to have the students go outside for recess unless the temperature goes below -10 degrees F. Your student should be coming to school prepared to spend 30 minutes outside.

A reminder-if your student vomits, has diarrhea, an unrelenting cough, or a fever in the last 24 hours, the District protocol is that they should stay home from school and rest.

If your student wakes up with red eyes that are “glued shut” or yellow/green discharge, please keep them home and follow the conjunctivitis (pink eye) protocol. If you send them to school, I’ll end up calling you to pick them up. I love to visit with families-just trying to save you the trip!

Your School Nurse,

Nurse Laura

West Homer Elementary

Fireweed Academy 3rd-6th

907-226-1232

• We welcome family members to volunteer in their child's classroom. Please reach out to your child's teacher.
• We also welcome family members to join their child for lunch. Please check in with the office beforehand.
• School district volunteer application and substitute application.