• Monday, November 11th: No School - Veterans Day
• Tuesday November 12th-Friday November 15th -Visiting Author Marty Kelley
• Tuesday, November 12th: School Board Meeting at WUHSMS library, 6pm
• Thursday, November 14th: Parent/Guardian/Teacher Conferences (contact your child's teacher to schedule a conference)
• Friday, November 15th: Harvest Hoedown
• Monday, November 25th: WCUD Board Meeting at Killington Elementary, 6pm
• November 27-29: No School - Thanksgiving Break
• Thursday, December 5-Tues December 10th: Book Fair
• Monday, December 9th: WCUD Board Meeting at WUHSMS 6pm
• Monday, December 16th: WCUD Board Meeting at RES
• December 23-January 5 Holiday Break

For the complete WES events calendar, click here.

For individual classroom news and events, click here.

As you know, our school district will have no school on Monday in observance of Veterans Day. Mrs. Stockwell and Mrs. Towne have been organizing a display of WES community veterans in the trophy case in our lobby. The display will be up through the Harvest Hoedown, and we invite you to send in photos of your veterans or visit the display to learn about veterans from our community.

This coming week, we will have a week-long artist in residence with a highly engaging, New Hampshire-based children’s book author and illustrator named Marty Kelley. We were fortunate to receive very generous donations from the Woodstock Inn, The WES PTO, and the Woodstock Endowment Grant to make this possible. Marty will present to the whole school on 11/12 and then lead workshops in each classroom throughout the week of 11/12-11/15. Here is a link to a list of his books.

The Vermont Agency of Education conducts Integrated Field Reviews in all Vermont school districts once every three years. A team of educators from other districts and the AOE will visit our district on December 2nd and conduct observations, document reviews, and interviews to help WCSU determine what we are doing well and in what areas we could improve. The visiting team looks at the five areas of the Vermont Education Quality Standards: Academic Proficiency, Personalization, Safe and Healthy Schools, High Quality Staffing, and Investment Priorities. The team provides the district with recommendations based on their findings.

There will be a parent interview at WES on 12/2/19 at 2pm with a group from the field review team. We are looking for 4-8 parents who would be willing to be part of the interviews to share what is working and what is not working about our school and district. Please let Ms. Mills know as soon as possible if you can participate. We always welcome your feedback!

Friday, 11/15 from 5:30-7pm is our fourth annual Harvest Hoedown! It is a school community-wide event for WES families to enjoy. The PTO and Student Council have been working hard to prepare for the event, but it cannot happen without some additional adult hands to keep things moving smoothly. We need grownups to help with sending in desserts, serving food, helping set up, or cleaning up.

If you can help on Friday, please sign up! Many teachers and staff also volunteer and attend, and it is a great opportunity to get to know WES community members in a relaxed environment. Here is the link to sign up.

From time to time, parents and guardians ask good questions about PBIS. One question is, "Why do you need to use pennies for recognizing students for doing the right thing? Shouldn't kids just be good all the time?" The answer is that frequent, specific praise contributes to a positive classroom culture. You may find this is true in your workplace or home as well. Saying something simple like, "Thanks for emptying the dishwasher," contributes to a more harmonious home, even though emptying the dishwasher isn't special, it is just something that needs to be done. The pennies are a tool to remind us to use praise and a way to measure the amount of positivity in the classroom. We aim for 5 positive pieces of feedback for every 1 redirection that students might receive. Below is a graphic about the reasons behind the use of frequent praise in the classroom. (We can always use more pennies if you would like to donate from your collection!)

Mini -After School STEM Club

Dec 2 - Dec 18, 2019

Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:50 to 3:50

Cardboard Creations

for grades 3-6

$ 5 per student to cover materials.

Please go to this link to sign up.

Over the past three years, WCSU has been working to shift teaching and learning in our classrooms so that students are doing deeper learning. Three years ago, teachers visited schools across the country to observe deeper learning practices. Others helped draft the Portrait of a Graduate which in turn informed the district's strategic plan for student outcomes. (Both of these documents were adopted by the school board last year and can be found here.)

As part of this work, Dr. Scott McLeod came to the district two years ago to speak to school leaders and community members about shifts happening in education and how deeper learning looks in the classroom. Dr. McLeod discussed deeper learning as students working on complex tasks requiring problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork, learning experiences that are relevant to real life, learning where students have more control over how they learn, and meaningful use of technology in learning. (To learn more about deeper learning from Dr. McLeod, click here.)

Examples of deeper learning can be found across WES. The Dia de los Moretes retablo in the lobby is an example of deeper learning. Students learned about the cultural reasons for this tradition. They applied their research about endangered species such as Monarch butterflies to the tradition to raise awareness about a real world issue. Last year, second graders studied erosion on the playground, researched erosion prevention, and came up with solutions that informed a grant we are in the process of submitting to improve the playground.

What: Introduction to mindfulness. What is it and how can we cultivate it?

When: Wednesday, November 20th, 3:15-4:15pm

Where: Windsor Central Supervisory Union’s Conference room on the campus of the Woodstock Union High School

Cost: FREE and open to the public

Mindfulness is a quality the all humans naturally possess. By cultivating our mindfulness, we learn to use our mind’s natural ability to place itself and remain focused to help us achieve our goals. Meditation teaches us to stop looking outside of ourselves for solutions to challenges and discomfort. Instead, we begin to cultivate our inner strength and wisdom in this very moment. We discover that we each have a natural confidence and resiliency that can be harnessed when we synchronize our mind and body with the present moment. These qualities can help us to cut through old assumptions and outmoded thought patterns and can help us tap into fresh and creative ideas.

About Bruce McClelland

Bruce has been a student of mindfulness meditation for almost four decades. He founded the Tuck Mindfulness Society at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business where he has taught mindfulness training for the last four years. He also teaches at Dartmouth’s department of Information, Technology and Consulting (ITC). He has served as director of practice and education at the White River Shambhala Center in White River Junction, Vermont and has participated as both a student and a teacher in hundreds of meditation classes, retreats and training sessions in Washington D.C., Boston, and Montreal.

This presentation is presented by the Ottauquechee Health Foundation (OHF) in partnership with the Windsor Central Supervisory Union as part of OHF’s Windsor Central Wellness Initiative. To learn more about this initiative or OHF, please visit our website: www.ohfvt.org or email info@ohfvt.org.

Email: mmills@wcsu.net
Website: www.wes.wcsu.net
Location: Woodstock Elementary School, 15 South Street, Woodstock, VT, USA
Phone: 802-457-2522
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wesvt/?ref=bookmarks