November 8, 2011
TO: Michael Green, SuperintendentFROM: Mark Houk
Make a Difference Day
Last Friday, our school took the last hour of the day to participate in a variety of small school improvement/clean-up projects. Tulip bulbs were planted, playground lines were re-painted (yes, by 1st graders), safety lines outside doors striped, and garbage picked-up.
We had groups rake bark underneath our playground swings, take a "Trash Hike" all the way over to Hoffman Park and back, and library/computer lab/cafeteria chairs were given a thorough cleaning. We also had a strand of 3rd grade classes spend this time at the Community Center preparing the food storage area to receive items from the upcoming Rotary Community Food Drive.
A GREAT day we plan to do again with some adjustments next fall!
Family Movie Night
After an afternoon of cleaning up around our school, our first family night was attended by around 160 folks who came to view "Yogi Bear." This experience was enhanced by the new speaker/audio system our school recently purchased and installed.
Project Ready Highlights.............
Our school will be finishing off a series of Project Ready Workshops this coming week.
Focused on families with children ages 2-4, the experience provides lots of parent experience about children's development and capacity to learn and be ready for school.
From games, to resources (many of which are provided by the program), the families learn not only what they can do to engage their children in early learning, but what the typical child needs to know and be able to do upon beginning school.
This year we have reached out by offering an onsite strand of this program to families of the San Juan Apartments off Pekin Street. Partnering with a "Child's Place," we have hosted 16 families at that site. This next week, those families will attend WPS during the day for their final session, a tour of the school, and the opportunity to try school lunch.