Woodstock Elementary School News
24 Frog Pond Road
www.woodstockschools.net
928-0471~ 928-1220fax
April 2015
March 31
April 1
April
April
April
April
April
April
April
April
1
2
3
13-17
20
20
28
30
2:15-2:40
2:45-3:05
11:30-1:30
9:30-10:15
10:15-11:00
9:45-11:30
Walking Day
Grades 3 & 4 Trustworthy Assembly/Gym
PK-2 Trustworthy Assembly/Gym
Grades Close
3C’s Hyde School/Grades 2, 3, 4
No School/Good Friday
No School/Spring Break
NHSO/Grade 3
NHSO/Grade 3
NHSO Hyde School/Grade 3
No School/Parent Conferences
CT Student Writers “Ice Cold Bunny”, written by Abby Ditzel,
Mr. Corttis’ class, has been selected for the 27th issue of the CT
Student Writers magazine. CSW is a statewide magazine
established in 1988 recognizing excellence in student writing
from grades K-12. Congratulations Abby
National Walking Day Tuesday, March 31st
WES is going to celebrate National Walking Day on
Tuesday, March 31st! On that day, students and staff are
being asked to wear their workout clothes and
sneakers. At the end of the day, we will all walk together
as a school. (We have plans for either an outdoor or
indoor walk, depending on the weather.)
Due to the fact that we are all walking together, we do not specifically need parent
volunteers. However, parents are welcome to walk with their child’s class if they wish.
Speech and Language Frankie Rollinson, M.A., CAGS, CCC-SLP
April is Autism Awareness Month. According to the CDC, the prevalence rate for autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) is 1 in 68. Boys are 5 times more likely to be diagnosed with ASD,
but many experts believe that girls are under-identified. ASD is characterized by persistent
deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts along with
restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. According to Autism
Speaks, early signs of autism could include the following:
• No big smiles or other warm, joyful expressions by six months or thereafter
• No back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles or other facial expressions by nine months
• No babbling by 12 months
• No back-and-forth gestures such as pointing, showing, reaching or waving by 12 months
• No words by 16 months
• No meaningful, two-word phrases (not including imitating or repeating) by 24 months
• Any loss of speech, babbling or social skills at any age
For school-age students, those with ASD may have age appropriate language for vocabulary
and grammar, but using that language in social situations can be challenging. Interacting with
adults or older students tends to be easier than same age peers. Most have a need for
routine and may become anxious when the routine is not followed. Those with ASD may
become “experts” in an area of interest with an attention to details. Although talking about an
area of interest is typically not a problem, conversational turntaking can be a challenge. Those with ASD are often very literal
thinkers (don’t understand metaphors, idioms, jokes or sarcasm) and
visual learners (learn better using their eyes than their ears). More
information can be obtained on the Autism Speaks website.
PTO News submitted by M.Bard-Morse
With spring comes spring-cleaning and the PTO wants to help you dispose of unwanted
belongings that are still in decent condition. In honor of Earth Day (April 22) and to help
raise money for the great events and trips that PTO helps fund, the organization is asking for
your gently used and unwanted items.
We’ll be participating in the Bag2School program, which collects
unwanted clothes and other items to be donated to people in need
or recycled and used for other functions, such as stuffing for a
couch. Students will be coming home with a special blue bag that
can be filled with clean and dry clothing (adult and children),
belts, purses, backpacks, blankets, sheets, table cloths, curtains,
shoes, boots and stuffed animals (phew!). Have too much to fit in
one blue bag? You can use your own clean garbage bag for
additional donations.
Based on the donations collected, the PTO will be paid by the pound. Donations will be
accepted on April 22 (Earth Day) and 23 in the WES lobby.
Another important date to remember is April 7. The town will host a public hearing on the
proposed 2015-16 municipal budget (this includes town government and school). Check the
town’s website for more information, such as time and location.
Looking ahead, May is an exceptionally busy
month for the PTO and we really need your
help. The Annual Art Show will be held on
May 15 and Miss Budd will need help
setting up for this special event. In
addition, the spring Scholastic Book Fair
will open the night of May 15 and run
through the following week (May 18-22)
during the school day. The book fair is in
need of volunteers (1-2 hour shifts) if it is to remain open for the students, staff and
families. More information will be posted on the PTO’s Facebook page (Woodstock CT PTO)
and through email. Please consider volunteering for these wonderful events. Without volunteers
the PTO will not be able to raise the money needed to help offset the cost of several special
events (such as concerts and enrichment programs) and field trips.
As always, stay informed by following the PTO on Facebook (Woodstock CT PTO), on Twitter
(@WoodstockCTPTO)
or
sign
up
for
our
email
alerts
on
our
website
(http://woodstockpto.org/).
Woodstock Education Foundation News
Submitted by W. LeBoeuf
The Mission of the Woodstock Education Foundation is to broaden the
sphere of learning for Woodstock Students by fostering partnerships
that provide resources to expand the reach of the K-8 public school
experience.
The Woodstock Education Foundation is proud to have funded 27
enrichment grants at WPS this year. These are a few of the
outstanding programs and experiences that the WPS students are exposed to because of the
generous donations of our benefactors.
Twenty-six, third and fourth-grade students at Woodstock Elementary School participated in
the Odyssey of the Mind program. Teams of six to seven students were coached by WES
teachers Heather Frac, Noel Hayes, Chelsey Hood, and Kara LaMonica. Odyssey of the Mind
is an “international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities
for students from kindergarten through college. The teams spent six months from October to
March using creativity, problem-solving and cooperation skills to create a solution for their
long-term problem that was then shown in an 8-minute performance.
Team members apply
their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting
their own interpretation of literary classics. They then
bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and
World level.” The four teams, along with 154 other teams
from across the state, performed their solutions at the
Connecticut Odyssey of the Mind tournament this past
Saturday, March 21st at Southern Connecticut State
University. The teams did an excellent job and each placed
fifth or sixth in their division. Ms. Frac’s Lose Your
Marbles team was honored by receiving the OMER award,
given to a team who demonstrates exceptional sportsmanship.
On January 23rd, ten students from grades 5-8 participated in the school-wide, WEF
funded,
National Geographic Bee. The students were: Grade 5: Eli Felt and Ainslee
Tschamler; Grade 6: Ethan Bove and Samuel Massey; Grade 7: Joseph Fleck, Tristan
Monahan, and Hallie Saracina; Grade 8: Dominic Bove, Adam Bradley, and Jack Hovestadt.
These students were selected due to their success in the preliminary rounds, which were held
in grade level Social Studies classes. Students in the school bee answered dozens of
questions in a double-elimination round until two students remained for the final round.
Finalists Dominic Bove and Samuel Massey faced off, each writing an answer to three
questions. In the end, Samuel Massey emerged the grand champion. Congratulations to all the
grade-level finalists, and especially to Dominic and Samuel, who showed outstanding
sportsmanship. Samuel took the National Geographic Qualifying Test
and we were delighted to hear that he is moving on to the state
competition. This competition will take place Friday, March 27 th at
Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.
We will hope
that Sam goes on to represent Connecticut in Washington, D.C.
History Day in Connecticut is a program for students in grades 6-12 that encourages
exploration of local, state, national, and world history. After selecting a historical topic that
relates to an annual theme, students conduct extensive research using libraries, archives,
museums, and oral history interviews. Students analyze and interpret their findings, draw
conclusions about their topic's significance in history, and create final projects that
demonstrate their work. These projects can be entered into a series of competitions, from
the local to the national level, where professional historians and educators evaluate them.
The following are WMS History Day Contest winners: Category: Group Website Third Place:
Nelson Mandela and F.W. De Klerk Students: Eric Preston, Nathan John Category: Group
Performance
First Place: Walt Disney Students: Katie Boshka, Hannah Wotton, Rachel
Durand, Samantha Orlowski Category: Junior Paper Second Place: Clara Barton: Changing the
Medical Field Student: Heather Converse Third Place: Prudence Crandall Student: Rebekah
Wesler
WEF is thrilled to fund the WMS Drama Club! The
musical, Into the Woods, Jr. debuted on Friday, March 20, 2015. Into the Woods tells the
story of how the evil witch placed a spell on one couple who now must go into the woods to
find four items she demands in order to break the spell. The middle school Drama Club
students did an excellent job delighting audience members.
The students embrace these programs and look forward to participating in them with great
enthusiasm!
WEF depends upon revenues raised through several initiatives to fund these enrichment
programs. WEF graciously accepts donations throughout the year. All of these donations go
directly to enrichment programs at the WPS. You may help support the enrichment programs
sponsored by the WEF by supporting the following fundraisers.
WEF Brick Pavers are available for sale year round. They make great graduation gifts!
Order
forms
are
available
in
the
school
office
or
on
our
website
at
www.woodstockeducationfoundation.org For more information, please contact Susan Fleck at
[email protected]
WEF has beautiful pewter Christmas ornaments available for sale year round.
Order forms
are available in the school office or on our website at www.woodstockeducationfoundation.org
For more information, please contact Wendy LeBoeuf at [email protected]
SAVE THE DATE
Please mark your calendars. WEF will hold its 5th Annual Family Fun Night on Friday, June 5,
2015 from 5:30 – 8:00 at Camp Woodstock. There will be great food and fun for kids and
the kid at heart! This is one event you won’t want to miss!
The Woodstock Education Foundation is an I.R.C. Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
10th Annual Jog with Judy 5K Road Race
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Race starts at 10: 00 A.M. sharp
at the
American Legion Post 111
22 Stonebridge Road
The Jog with Judy 5-K is not only a way to come together as a community and remember
Judy Nilan, but also a way to continue the program ideas that Judy brought to Woodstock
Middle School. Judy worked as a dedicated Social Worker at WMS before she was tragically
taken from us in December, 2005. She devoted her time focusing on character building,
social/emotional issues and drug/alcohol prevention programs. The programs that have been
and will be funded by the Jog with Judy event include: Responsive Classroom for WES, Drug
and Alcohol Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) for grade 5, Team building activities at Camp
Woodstock for grades 5 & 6, Girl Power for girls grades 4-8, Multiplying your Options through
the UCONN engineering programs for grade 8, various guest speakers.
Registration forms can be downloaded through the school website www.woodstockschools.net.
At the bottom of the page, under local events, you will find a link to the Jog with Judy
event.
On-line registration is also available at www.imathlete.com. Search for “Jog with Judy”
All registrations must be in by April 23rdth to receive a T-shirt.
Registration starts at 8:00 A.M.
*****If you have questions or know of a business that would like to sponsor this amazing
community event, please reach out to us at: [email protected].
Sponsorships are due in by April 10th to insure time to add a logo to the T-shirt.
Thank you for continuing to support this amazing event. We truly appreciate it!
Angela Stringer & Susan Rioux
Jog with Judy Co-organizers