Woods Lake Family Weekly

Vision: Woods Lake Elementary: A Magnet Center of the Arts will educate every child, every opportunity, every time!

Mission: Woods Lake Elementary: A Magnet Center of the Arts, is a place where academics and the arts create opportunies in a safe, collaborative environment.

Happy New Year, Woods Lake Families!

We are thrilled to welcome all our students back to school. As we start the new year, we are focusing on reviewing and reinforcing school-wide and classroom expectations. Your support in discussing the importance of these expectations with your child(ren) is greatly appreciated.

Some students still need to complete their winter benchmark assessment (Fastbridge). It's important for them to be assessed so we can celebrate their progress. Please ensure they attend school every day unless they are ill.

Our PTO is organizing a Hat Day fundraiser this Wednesday. To participate, students should bring one dollar by Wednesday to wear their hats or hoods. Your participation helps support our school.

Thank you for your continued support and involvement!

Warmly,

Ms. Prather
Principal
Woods Lake Elementary

It can be a challenge to establish and mantain effective routines at home with our kids. If you are in need of strategies/ideas/tips, please continue to read. As you may already know, creating consistent routines can significantly benefit students by providing structure and security. Start small by focusing on key areas such as mornings and bedtime. Involve children in the process of creating these routines to ensure better engagement and cooperation. Emphasizing connection over perfection is crucial, as it fosters a supportive environment where students feel valued.

Visual aids, like charts, can enhance consistency and help maintain routines. It's important to integrate flexibility and recognize efforts, which encourages positive behavior and persistence. Key elements of successful routines often include shared meals, designated times for chores, and structured homework sessions. These elements not only promote discipline but also reinforce family bonds.

Incorporating fun into routines allows everyone to enjoy the predictability of daily patterns while feeling secure and connected. By establishing clear and consistent routines, families create an environment that supports students' emotional and academic growth. This approach cultivates a sense of stability, enabling students to thrive both at home

Effective Visual Aids for Routines

1. Charts and Checklists: These provide a clear, step-by-step guide for daily tasks, helping children understand expectations and track progress.

2. Calendars: Monthly or weekly calendars can display important dates and activities, offering a visual overview of upcoming events.

3. Picture Schedules: Especially helpful for younger children, these use images to represent different parts of the routine, making them easy to follow.

4. Timers and Clocks: Using visual timers or clocks can help manage time effectively, ensuring that each task is completed within the allocated period.

5. Color-Coded Systems: Assigning colors to different tasks or times of day can make routines more engaging and easier to remember.

6. Reward Charts: These motivate children by allowing them to track their achievements and earn rewards for completing tasks consistently.

Consistent school attendance is vital for students' academic, social, and emotional growth. To motivate students to attend regularly, we organize monthly attendance competitions. Classes achieving a 90% attendance rate are eligible for a chance to win a popsicle or pizza party, encouraging students to be present in class.Each class at or above 90.0% attendance was also entered in a drawing for a pizza party, and the top 5 classes earned extra tickets in the drawing! This is how it works:

1st place - 5 entries for the party

2nd place - 4 entries

3rd place - 3 entries

4th place - 2 entries

5th place- 2 entries

90.0% or above - 1 entry

10 classes had attendance rates high enough to be entered in the drawing, and we had a staff member randomly draw two classroom tiicket entries . . . .

Congratulations to Ms. Almy's class for winning a pizza party!

You can check out the stats below.

Wilson-Bridges - 95.1%
Brown - 94.3%
Lockett - 94.0%
Chandler - 93.1%
Almy - 92.9%
Sasak - 91.7%
Brinkert - 91.6%
Hodge - 91.5%
Osborn - 90.9%
Williams - 90.7%
Huckendubler - 89.9%
McAllister - 89.7%
Hosler - 89.2%
Gougam - 88.6%
Puente - 88.3%
Bond - 88.3%
Warnsley - 88.1%
Okar - 86.3%
Curry - 83.1%

Who will win for January? It's anybody's game!

In second grade students receive 90 minutes of daily reading instruction. We begin with

UFLI, which provides the essential building blocks of reading—phonics, sound-symbol

relationships, and decoding strategies—so students develop strong, systematic reading

skills. Throughout reading lessons, students practice decoding, blending, and segmenting

sounds in whole-group, small-group, and independent activities. In math, students continue to learn how to add and subtract with 3 digit numbers, and also work on place value and skip counting.

In science, students learn about the needs of plants and animal relationships, properties of

materials, and changing landscapes. In social studies, students learn about rules,

communities, how to locate places on maps, and goods and services. In writing, students

write complete sentences. Students write a variety of genres, including personal narratives,

opinion, and nonfiction.

Teachers work together to align lesson plans, homework, and family newsletters so

students experience consistent expectations and instruction across classrooms. In each

classroom students have a self-created notebook that contains important information

from all the core concepts they have learned. This notebook is used as a reference guide

for classwork and homework. We meet regularly to coordinate which student work is

appropriate to display in the hallway and to ensure displays reflect current learning goals

and celebrate student growth.

Second Grade Team

Mrs. Wilson-Bridges, Ms. Puente, and Ms. Bond

Students with good behavior for the month of December, was rewarded by having Open Gym!

1/14: Hat Day (bring in $1.00 to wear a hat)

1/19: Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration with WMU students

1/23: No School

1/27: Family Engagement Opportunity for Parents at Milwood Magnet Middle School (see flyer below)

2/2: No School

Winter Gear Reminder

As we head into winter, please remember to send your child with their winter gear! 🧣🧤🥾⛄🧥

All students will go outside even if it's snowing, as long as the real feel temperature is above 10 degrees. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

- Winter Layers: It's best to send your child with winter layers and gear just in case!

- Labeling: Please label all of your child's winter wear with their name. This helps us return lost items to the correct students.

- Independence Practice: Encourage your child to practice getting ready independently for the winter weather.

-Families may not request an alternative recess plan unless they have a doctor's note identifying a medical reason a student cannot go outside.

Email: prathersm@kalamazoopublicschools.net
Website: https://woodslake.kalamazoopublicschools.com/
Location: 3215 Oakland Dr, Kalamazoo, MI 49008
Phone: (269) 337-0790
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoodsLakeElementary/