The Paw Print Press

Student Lighthouse at Work

Woodrow Wilson’s Student Lighthouse members have been hard at work at each of our meetings! Over the past couple of months, they have accomplished so much. First, they prepared materials and taught their classmates how to create a fun craft to share with someone they care about. They also assisted the PTO by helping distribute both Little Caesars and Fowler’s fundraiser orders, delivering them right to families’ cars.

Student Lighthouse members have also begun creating restorative posters to display throughout the school hallways each month. This month’s poster, “Celebrate Your Accomplishments,” connected with the trimester celebration they planned. Next month’s theme will be “Begin With the End in Mind.” We discussed how these posters can serve as reminders for students at Woodrow Wilson to take responsibility, build healthy relationships with their peers, and resolve conflicts in positive, constructive ways, helping to promote a respectful and supportive school environment.

In addition, the team created an interactive bulletin board titled “We ❤️ Our School Because…” where students can write why they love their school on cut-outs and add them to the display. The board has quickly filled up with thoughtful and meaningful responses, showing just how much students appreciate their Woodrow Wilson community.

To celebrate the end of the trimester, Student Lighthouse members used their ideas to help plan the assembly by incorporating music and ensuring every student was recognized for their accomplishments, with each student receiving a small token to celebrate the amazing things they have achieved.

Our student leaders are excited to continue their hard work and bring even more of their ideas to life in the months ahead.

4th Grade was Magnificent in March

Welcome to April! March has been such a productive month for the 4th graders at Woodrow Wilson Elementary. The students have been using what they have learned throughout the first part of the school year, and have set some new goals to reach by June. In reading, we continued to work on making strong summaries. We made sure to look for only the most important information and the supporting details that would explain the main idea. Another focus area in reading was on folktales. We reviewed what figurative language is and how authors use it in their work. Then, we worked on making inferences and made connections to a text to find the theme. In writing, we began to learn about how to write a structured paragraph that contains a topic sentence, supporting detail sentences that connect with the topic sentence, and a concluding sentence that wraps everything up nicely. We continued to work hard at rereading our writing to make sure that we had complete sentences that contained proper capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. In math, we continued our work with fractions. We learned how to add and subtract fractions with common denominators, add and subtract fractions with different denominators, add and subtract mixed numbers with a fraction, convert improper fractions to mixed numbers, and compare mixed numbers with improper fractions. In science, we continued our work with the “Riding the Waves of Information” science kit. We learned about sound waves and light waves. We also learned about how energy transfers through different pathways throughout our experiments.

In April, we will continue to work hard in each subject area. In reading, we will look at some poetry and begin our focus on historical fiction texts. We will think about the characters in our stories and the multiple themes that the author is trying to teach us about. In writing, we will continue our work with paragraphs. We will check our work for correct capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and complete sentences. In math, we will continue our work with fractions. In social studies, we will complete work in different units. These units include the topics of: Government, Westward Expansion, the Industrial Revolution, and Immigration.

We thank each of you for your ongoing support at home! Everything you do at home continues to help us here in school. Please remind your child to read for at least 20 minutes every night and practice their multiplication/division facts.

5th Grade Springs Into Learning

5th graders are thrilled that Spring has arrived, even if the weather doesn’t always agree. Just as it’s refreshing to see the sun shining and the days growing longer, it’s equally wonderful to see students walk into school each day ready to learn and grow.

In Reading, students have been exploring how to compare and contrast the overall structure of two or more texts. They especially enjoyed diving into science articles about eating and farming in space, as well as exploring Mars. Through these readings, students identified each article’s purpose, text structure, and supporting evidence. They’ve learned how recognizing text structures can deepen comprehension. We also began analyzing different accounts of the same topic, focusing on point of view, what an author thinks or feels, and strategies for identifying it. By comparing perspectives, students are building skills that help them better understand what they read and make thoughtful decisions in everyday life. In the coming weeks, we’ll shift our focus to figurative language and how it shapes meaning, tone, and mood.

In Math, fifth graders continue working through our fraction unit. They’ve been practicing adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, both with and without regrouping, including mixed numbers. Along the way, they’ve strengthened their skills in simplifying fractions and converting between mixed numbers and improper fractions. Currently, students are learning a variety of strategies to multiply fractions, including multiplying fractions by whole numbers and by other fractions. Next, they will explore division with fractions, using different models and strategies to interpret quotients and solve real-world problems.

In Science, the students have been busy as Earth & Space Explorer Trainees! They’ve taken on exciting missions such as gathering evidence to determine whether the Sun is a star, exploring why other stars appear dimmer, modeling shadow patterns, and explaining the causes of day and night on Earth. They will be continuing to analyze patterns in the moon cycle and compare gravity on Earth with microgravity and weightlessness in space.

Over Spring Break, please encourage your child to practice their math facts and to continue reading each night for at least 25 minutes as they work toward their goals.”

News from the Art Room

Fifth Grade Artists have been looking at art by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Kusama is famous for her use of polka dots. She creates paintings, sculptures and even entire rooms filled with dots. The process of creating hundreds of dots becomes meditative for her. Her art work has been displayed at the Buffalo AKG this winter season. Many of the fifth grade artists have shared photos of their families visiting the AKG to see Kusama's pieces. As artists we created sculptures using wire, nylon and wood to look like Kusama’s abstract pieces. Some artists chose to paint their sculpture with her meditative polka dot pattern while others created their own patterns.

Updates in Physical Education

This month in Physical Education, our students have been working on their basketball skills such as dribbling, passing, shooting and teamwork skills leading up to small-sided games. We've explored various activities to improve our dribbling, passing, shooting and communication skills. During our basketball unit, students have had the opportunity to practice their skills while developing both offensive and defensive strategies. They have also been introduced to different basketball games and activities that they could do within the community to remain active. It’s been great to see the students grow in their sportsmanship and collaboration, as they support one another and work together.

News from our Library

March was an inspiring and meaningful month in our school library as we celebrated Women’s History Month through engaging read-alouds, discussions, and activities that highlighted the achievements of remarkable women throughout history.

Our students explored powerful stories that sparked thoughtful conversations and curiosity. We read The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai, where students learned about using their voices to make a difference in the world. Another favorite was Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist, which inspired students with a story of determination and a love of science.

In addition to our read-alouds, students participated in activities that introduced them to other influential women such as Sonia Sotomayor and Sandra Day O’Connor. Through these lessons, students discovered how these trailblazers made history in the Supreme Court and paved the way for future generations.

It was a fantastic month of learning, discussion, and inspiration in the library!

General Music Updates

The General Music Room saw many wonderful things throughout the month of March. We all were able to enjoy the music of Brett Schurtliffe and Anna Mattix from the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. They shared their love of music and connected with reading and writing. One of the favorite pieces they played was from “Mission Impossible.” Thank you to Brett and Anna for sharing your music. Students in many classes began drumming using all sorts of drums and percussive instruments.

Save the Date:

All District Concert: May 19, 2026 5:45pm JFK HS Auditorium

Woodrow Wilson Spring Concert: May 21, 2026 6:00pm WW Auditorium

Darien Lake Music Festival: June 6, 2026 10:00am Darien Lake

WW Drama Presentation: June 9, 2026 1:15pm WW Auditorium

Update from the Band Room

Attention 3rd Grade Families — Your student(s) will have an opportunity to try out instruments at our annual Instrument Fittings on April 27th during the school day in preparation for next year! Prior to the fittings, they will get to attend an Instrument Demonstration Concert where they will hear all of the instruments played individually!

4th/5th Grade Band — We are working hard to prepare a few different selections for our upcoming concerts! Please check out the district calendar and save the dates!! If you have any questions, please reach out to Mr. Prutsman!