The Paw Print Press

Woodrow Wilson is excited to share that our first round of Student Lighthouse members have been selected! These students will take on important roles throughout the school year, leading assemblies, setting a positive example for their peers, and working together to support our school’s mission and goals. We can’t wait to see the impact this team will make! Mrs. Struzik and Mrs.Knaub are looking forward to working with this amazing group of young leaders!

Friday, October 4th - Emergency Dismissal Drill - Dismissal begins at 2:10 pm

Monday, October 6th - Friday, October 10th - Making Strides Fundraiser

Tuesdays, October 7th - Late bus begins - Bus runs for clubs on Tuesdays and Thursdays (must sign up with club leaders in advance)

Wednesday, October 8th - PTO Meeting at 6 pm in the cafeteria (childcare provided by YES in the gym)

Friday, October 10th - Making Strides Dress in Pink Day

Monday, October 13th - No School for Students or Staff - Columbus Day

Friday, October 17th - Trunk or Treat 5:30 - 7:30 in the TR Parking Lot

Tuesday, October 21st - BOE Meeting and Board Appreciation - 6:30 pm at Theodore Roosevelt

Friday, October 24th - School Picture Day

Friday, October 31st - Halloween - Trick or Treating and Costume Contest

Tuesday, November 4th - No School for Students - Superintendent's Conference Day

Friday, November 7th - Veterans Ceremony at Woodrow Wilson

Tuesday, November 11th - School Closed - Veterans Day

Greetings Woodrow Wilson Families,

This has been the best September yet. We came in and adjusted quickly to the school routines and expectations and we continue to come in each day and show our best selves. If you read last week's announcement you read about our 99.9% attendance. We work hard to have an environement that students want to come in for each day. Having your children with us each day allows us to spend more time teaching new material and deepening their learning. We were so proud of Friday's results with attendance that each child received a special glow stick wand. Many are leaving in school for celebrations such as assemblies and our walk-a-thon. Other students chose to bring theirs home. This was another great representation of how we glow.

If your child took NYS tests in ELA and math last year you should have received a report containing their score. This is only a small measure of where are students are; however, we are very proud of our overall scores from Spring of 2025. Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders increased between 10 and 13% overall in their proficiency. That is great growth for one year and we cannot wait to see how much further we can grow this year. This September, we were able to complete our reading and math screeners and our benchmark testing for Reveal math. This has allowed us to create groups for Response to Intervention, or RtI and to create small groups within our classrooms to support students in their reading and math skills. This will help us target, specifically, what each of your children need in order to grow.

New this year is an online software program that allows our students to complete their Reading logs online. This program, called Beanstack, is also available as an app that you can download to a phone or tablet to use at home. We have included the attachment for you to check this out. Students can join reading challenges, track their progress on our school leaderboard and race their friends to their reading goals. The best thing that you can do to support this reading program is to make sure your child reads each and every night. Beanstack has a timer built in to track the minutes, but your child can also log reading the next morning at school. Thanks for your help and reach out to Mrs. Zaccarine if you have questions about Beanstack.

Yesterday we had our GLOW walk-a-thon (Getting Laps Outside of Woodrow), and it was incredible. We joined together on the basketball court before walking 1/4 loop around the playground and field. Although students only pledged 5 laps or fewer, some did double digits and got lots of exercise. Thank you to all of our families for their generosity and thoughtfulness in asking for donations from others to support this healthy initiative and our Student Lighthouse. We raised over $1600 and this will go directly back into our activites and celebrations to keep making Woodrow Wilson a school that every child wants to attend, daily.

Next up is our Trunk or Treat event. We look forward to another safe trick or treating opportunity at Theodore Roosevelt. Thank you to those who signed up to do a trunk at the event and for those who already pre-registered to join in on the fun. New this year is pizza for those who get hungry between 5:30 and 7:30. Remember that this is pre-sale only so if you are planning on attending, sign up in advance to save money and reserve your slices.

Thank you for all you do to support Woodrow Wilson Elementary School and for trusting us with your child each and every day. Our school is better because of your support.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Zaccarine

Here are some pics of us GLOWing. Check our Website for all of our pictures - coming soon!

3rd Grade is Back at It in 2025!

The third graders are settling into third grade learning new rules and new routines!

This year the third graders started off very busy in math learning place value and how to regroup with adding and subtraction. We will be moving into multiplication soon. We need to remember to memorize our addition and subtraction facts in order for math to become easier. Keep studying nightly your facts.

Students have also been working on learning the different kinds of Genres in reading and the 7 continents and landforms in social studies.

October will bring more reading, and learning. We will be learning about Brazil and Mexico. Please remember to read, read, read!!!!!!!!

4th Grade Soars to Success in September

What an amazing first month it’s been in 4th grade! We have learned a lot about each other and about different topics in all of the content areas. In reading, we talked about the different types of genres there are in the world. When we looked briefly at nonfiction texts, we focused on the different text features that authors use to explain information. In writing, we began to discuss what a sentence looks like. We learned how we can expand a sentence to make it a stronger one and made sure to begin our sentences with a capital letter and end it with either a period, exclamation mark, or question mark. In math, we started out by learning about place value and rounding. Then, we learned about addition and subtraction of bigger numbers. In social studies, we began to learn about maps, New York State, and our neighboring states.

In October, we will continue to practice reading intensely throughout different texts. We will start to pay attention to the smaller details in a fiction story, and put them together to make a bigger interpretation. We will work on building summaries, look at how characters act, and think about how the setting in a text impacts the story. In writing, we will learn more about how sentences are built. We will work on double checking our writing to catch any errors we may have made. In math, we will continue to practice with addition and subtraction. We will also shift our learning to multiplication. In social studies, we will learn about some of the early European Explorers.

We thank each and every single one of you for getting your child off to a great start for the school year! Everything you do at home helps us in school. Please remind your child to read for at least 20 minutes every night and practice their multiplication facts. We look forward to an amazing school year!

Starting 5th Grade Off Right!

The 5th graders are off to a great start. They have enjoyed getting to know each other better over the last few weeks through a variety of getting to know you activities. They have all been refamiliarizing themselves and practicing the school-wide and classroom expectations.

Fifth graders have had a productive few weeks in class. In Reading, we have been working hard on an important reading skill: finding the central idea of a text and identifying key details that support it. This helps the students understand what a text is really about, and why certain information is important. As we continue to practice this skill, we are moving towards the next step, which is learning how to use that information to summarize what they’ve read. Summarizing helps students pull together the most important points from a text and express them clearly and concisely.

In the first unit of Math, the students learned about each other's personal math stories describing their math superpowers. Then we focused on the thinking habits within the classroom that are integral to problem solving and should help them communicate effectively about math. Unit One helps students understand that they are in charge of their own learning journey throughout the school year. We are finishing up Unit Two which focuses on understanding volume. The students have been using unit cubes and formulas to determine the volume of rectangular prisms. These strategies also are helping the students determine the volume of composite (irregular) figures and solving problems involving volume and being able to describe how they came up with their solutions. After we wrap up our volume unit, the 5th graders will put their focus on generalizing place value and working with decimals.

5th Graders are looking forward to starting their ”Toys Matter” Science Unit. Science is usually a favorite subject amongst most students due to all the hands-on activities involved.

Some suggestions of how you can help your child at home are:

Ask your child what a nonfiction article or chapter was mostly about, and have them explain which details helped them figure it out. Have them find objects in the house to point out the length, width, and height. They could use a ruler or tape measure to find the length, width, and height then multiply the dimensions to calculate the volume.

Make sure that your child is practicing their multiplication facts daily. It is very important to know those multiplication facts “by the snap of your fingers.” Multiplication is used for every aspect of math in the 5th grade curriculum. Also, remember that reading for 20 minutes at home every night is still an expectation for our students.

Notes from the Band Room

1st-Year Musicians

Lessons in the band room have begun! All musicians should be showing up to each lesson with their instrument and lesson book (Essential Elements Book 1 for their specific instrument). So far, we have learned how to put together our instruments and make an appropriate sound (tone). Next, we will be moving on to learning our first five notes! Please encourage your musician to practice at home --this is essential for their success!!

Advanced (2nd-Year) Musicians

Lessons and After-School Band have begun! In lessons, all groups have been reviewing how to produce a proper sound (tone) on their instruments as well as how to count/clap/play/read eighth notes!

In After-School band, we are reviewing expectations for playing as a whole ensemble (band), and are focused on our technical warm-ups. We will soon transition to spending lots of rehearsal time on our concert music that you will get to hear in December!

Please make sure your student knows how they are getting home from After-School Band! Dismissal is at 3:30pm on band days!

Updates in Physical Education

This month, our students have been diving into different warm-up games and Four Square. These games not only promote physical activity but also encourage teamwork, strategy, and good sportsmanship. Our students have been enjoying Four Square, a classic playground game that fosters quick thinking and agility and can be played at recess or at home.

Greetings from the Mrs. Fitzner’s Music Room!

Students are already making music and starting to organize their singing and acting schools for choir and drama. Students in the General Music Room are reviewing musical concepts from previous years including steady beat, rhythm, and pitch reading. All of these concepts aid in reading music and performing in choir and in drama. If your child has not already done so…. Please have them bring their recorders back to school. These instruments will be used throughout the school year in the music room. We look forward to playing many instruments this year including those recorders, ukulele, drums, and xylophones. Along with our musical concepts, we will focus on connecting literature and other disciplines into the music room.

Choir & Drama:

Rehearsals are started and students are already preparing for our holiday concert. It is super important that every parent/guardian signs up into Remind. Weekly messages will be sent out pertaining to rehearsals, upcoming concerts, and more.

Performing Group

WW Grade 3 Choir

WW Drama

WW ⅘ Choir

Thank you for your continued support! As always, if you need Mrs. Fitzner, please feel to reach out via Remind or by email at afitzner@cheektowagasloan.org! Have a musical year!

Glowing for Peace!

The Art Room has been GLOWING! The beginning of the year has been full of talks about what a peaceful artroom, school and world looks like. We viewed symbols of peace in each grade and used our drawing and painting skills to create some pretty awesome art work to fancy up the WW hallways! Artists enjoyed working in the dark with flashlights to make our neon paint glow. We also took a tally of WW’s left handed and right handed artists. 37 left handed artists created on their first day of art while 232 used their right hand! Thanks to all the adults who stopped by the art room to create at Meet the Teacher Night. We had 9 left handed adults create and 31 right handed adults!

Happenings in the library

September has been an exciting month in the Library Media Center! Students have been busy learning important lessons to kick off the year.

We started by talking about digital etiquette- things like online safety, how to handle cyberbullying, and showing good manners when using technology. These conversations help make sure our students are smart, safe, and respectful online.

In addition, everyone has been introduced to the library rules and routines. These are in place so that all students can enjoy their time here, stay safe, and focus on learning.

Students also had a chance to explore some of the awesome digital tools we’ll be using this year, including Google Classroom, Destiny Discover, Typetastic, and Code.org. With these resources (and a few surprises along the way!), Mr. Wiesmore has lots of fun, hands-on activities planned.

We’re off to a great start, and we can’t wait for even more learning adventures in the library!

Can you believe it’s already cold and flu season??!!

With everyone gathering back again in schools, now is the time to schedule the flu vaccine for yourself and your family if you haven’t already! Did you know that once you have received a flu shot it takes about two weeks for our bodies to produce antibodies for protection against the flu virus? The CDC recommends getting the vaccine before November 1 st or soon thereafter. And be sure to

continue Covid precautions – it is still around us…

As a reminder, if your child has a fever over 100, has a wet, frequent cough and/or a continuously runny nose they should remain home until symptoms are improving. For mild cold symptoms with no fever, they may attend school. If your child tests positive for Covid, they should remain home until their fever has remained down without Tylenol or Ibuprofen for 24 hours and all symptoms are

improving (please call the Health Office for questions about when to return).

Continue to teach your child good healthy hygiene:

- Cough or sneeze into your elbow or a tissue, not into your hand

- Wash hands frequently, (*with good sudsing for 20 seconds with NO

water, THEN rinse hands*), especially after blowing nose

- Consider wearing a mask when returning from a Covid infection (NOT

mandatory)

Please contact Mrs. Sobota in the Health Office for any questions or concerns at

716-891-6420 or csobota@cheektowagasloan.org

Dismissal Changes - Thank you for sending in notes if your child is dismissing differently that day.

Absent from School? - If your child is going to be out from school, please call to let us know. Thank you for sending in the excuse (note) when your child returns.

Office Hours - The office closes at 3 pm each day. If your child is staying after, please reach out to a club leader for any communication.

Late Bus - Beginning 10/7, the late bus runs each Tuesday and Thursday. Your child must be signed up in advance as the routes are created through First Student. If you need a late bus, please let your child's club leader know so that this transportation can be arranged for future club dates.