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.

Thank you to those who enjoyed the showing of Screenagers at the Porcupine Theater. This is a powerful film and sparked engaging discussion around how we as a community can best support our children in developing a healthy balance with use of technology in their lives.

Our next installment of the series is March 5th in the West Homer Elementary library at 5:30pm focusing on technology and physical health. Join us!

Monday March 3rd: School Board Meeting @ 6:00pm in the Mariner Theater

We will be presenting on the status of West Homer Elementary at the beginning of the school board meeting featuring a 5th grade musical performance and a presentation by myself and our 6th grade student council members. Come support WHE and stay to voice your opinion about potential cuts to our schools next year.

Tuesday March 4th: Budget discussion at 6:00pm in the WHE library with school board representatives Zen Kelly and Tim Daugherty. This is an informal opportunity to hear about legislative updates to education funding, ask questions, write postcards to our representatives.

Many thanks to the West Homer PTO for coordinating the discussion on Tuesday.

Alaska State testing begins at the end of this month. There are numerous benefits to your child, the school, and the state to doing their very best on these assessments.

• Individually, accurate scores track student progress, show areas of growth and areas of need, and help us know how well our instruction is working for each student.
• Schoolwide it helps us identify trends and plan for specific areas of need. It also gives us a feedback on our schoolwide programing.
• When students do their best, it shows accurately to the public and lawmakers how much growth our students are making. If students show little growth because they didn't put forth their best effort, it could affect our funding or status with the state.

Tests generally take about 2 hours each morning.

How can you help your child get ready for these tests?

• Make sure they get enough sleep the night before.
• Make sure they eat a quality breakfast to fuel their brains.
• Remind them that it is important to put out their best effort.

Don't forget to mark your calendars for these testing dates:

We are excited to announce Rober Ostrom will be our Artist in Residence February 17th - 28th. This clay workshop will include multiple sessions for each class over the 2 week time frame and result in a school installation.

We are closing in on our reading goal with 1 week left! Keep reading this week and be sure to take a quiz to contribute to the goal!

• March 3 - Last Day of Chess for the year
• March 4 - Last Day of D&D Tuesday Club
• March 4 - Last Math Club for all grades
• March 5 - Technology and Physical Health with Devry Garity at WHE library @ 5:30pm
• March 5 - Last Zumba
• March 5 - Last D&D Wednesday Club
• March 6 - Early Release @ 1:20pm
• March 7 - No School - Teacher In-Service
• March 10-14 - Spring Break
• March 17 - School is back in session!
• March 19 - Technology and Mental Health with Donna Duncan from SPBSH at WHE library @ 5:30pm
• March 27 - AK STAR ELA Testing
• March 28 - AK STAR ELA Testing

March is National Nutrition Month and in honor of that, I have included some information about healthy snacks.

Here are the ABC’s of healthy snacking (taken from the eatright.org website)

Plan Ahead. Keep healthy options in sight and junk or unhealthy foods out of sight and out of mind.

Be Portion Savvy. Snacks should be small and simple so that they do not replace a meal.

Make it a Combo. The ideal snack is nutritious and provides a combination of carbohydrates and protein.

Health Education class will be sometime this spring. The date is still to be decided. In health class, we discuss puberty and hygiene. If you do not want your child to learn about puberty and hygiene, there is an opt-out form online or the office will have a copy for you to complete.

The Mileage Club will start in April and will go for 4 weeks. The kids are encouraged to walk/run the “track” during morning and lunch recess times. A Toe Token is earned for every 5 miles they walk/run. If they walk/run 26.2 miles, they earn a Mileage Club marathon t-shirt! No permission slips are required to participate.

The flu and a variety of illnesses are going around. Cold and flu medication are flying off the shelves. Here are some tips about medication safety:

- Read and follow the labels of the multi-symptom medications. Many of them already have an over the counter pain reliever/fever reducer in them. Taking more than one medication with the same active ingredient could result in an overdose and cause harm. Tylenol (acetaminophen) comes to mind….

-Measure carefully. Use the measuring device that comes with the medication

-Ask a pharmacist if you have any medication questions

-Store medications “up and away” from children

-The Poison Control phone number is 1-800-222-1222. Store the number in your phone and put it inside your medicine cabinet. It isn’t easy to think about how to find information when we are worried or scared.

I hope you have a healthy and wonderful spring break with your family and can get outside and have some fun. Helmets are a lot cheaper than an ER visit.

And remember, the best way to avoid illness is to wash your hands frequently and thoroughly.

Nurse Laura

West Homer Elementary

Fireweed Academy 3-6

Family trips are important life events and don’t happen often. When your family chooses to be away from school, our goal is to support you and your child in keeping up with their academics so they don’t fall behind when they return. Our teachers are happy to put together meaningful activities to help them keep up with their learning. We ask that you follow our procedure well in advance (a week is good) so we can be well prepared.

• 5 -9 days – pre-arranged absence form completed
• 10 + days – pre- arranged absence form completed and meet with principal

Exciting news! We're launching a new Acts of Kindness drawing to celebrate the wonderful things our students do. If they are "caught" showing kindness, they get a nomination form filled out and will be entered to win a prize from the Homer Bookstore each month!

Our first winner is Timothy C.!

Even if you don't think you qualify, still apply as it may result in federal dollars for our school.

West Homer PTO is for everyone!

You are invited to join us in being part of the PTO. We spend the year building community here at West by celebrating staff and students, fundraising, and hosting community events. All these activities remind us how much we can invest in our schools and the people who make West Homer a place to learn and building connections. Please reach out if you would like to help organize the spring talent show, staff appreciation week, or the end of year BBQ. Email us at ptowesthomer@gmail.com.