Westbrook Park News & Notes

Dear Westbrook Park Families,

Welcome back to school! I am so excited to begin another wonderful year with you and your children. I hope your summer was filled with fun and lots of memories.

As we step into September, our hallways are once again filled with bright smiles, eager learners, and the joyful energy that makes our school such a special place. Whether your child is just starting kindergarten or stepping into their final year with us in 5th grade, we are here to support them every step of the way.

Highlights for the Start of the Year:

🎒 Smooth Transitions: The first few weeks are all about helping students adjust to new routines and expectations. Our teachers and staff are doing a wonderful job creating warm, welcoming classrooms where every child feels safe and valued.

📚 Focus on Foundations: This Fall, we are once again focusing on building strong foundations in reading, math, and social-emotional learning. We are also working hard to establish and reinforce our Westbrook Ways: Being safe, respectful, and responsible.

✏️ New Faces: We’re excited to welcome a few new teachers and staff members to our school family! Welcome to Ms. Catherine Speers (Grade 3), Ms. Amy Taimanglo (Grade 5), Ms. Kezia Stevenson (Special Education).

📅 Mark Your Calendars:

• Picture Day – Thursday, September 18th.

Let’s Stay Connected
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or just want to check in. Open communication between home and school is key to student success. I’m looking forward to working with you and making this a positive and memorable school year for every student.

Thank you for being a part of our Westbrook Park community.

With appreciation,
Cameron Bush
Assistant Principal

We are so excited to start another school year! This year, as a whole school we are focusing on our Westbrook Ways, which are our school rules: Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Responsible! Students are learning about our new and improved royal tickets, classroom golden ticket and our attendance calendar raffle reward! Students have been practicing our expectations to earn all of these rewards! Some students even helped us practice and show the school how to follow our Westbrook Ways on the playground, in the cafeteria and in the hallways. Can't wait to see who our first assembly royal ticket winners will be, golden ticket classrooms and how our attendance is doing!

Mrs. Hahn (formally Ashworth) will be starting to get into classrooms for classroom guidance lessons and getting lunch bunches started, too! As mentioned above, we are working on our school attendance. Teachers have an attendance calendar to see which class has the best attendance each month, they will then be put into a raffle to win a classroom prize basket! We hope to see all students here at school everyday! If students are sick or have a family emergency or event, we understand, but please make sure you are letting school know, by sending in a note in/a phone call to our attendance line or email to:

wpes-attendance@upperdarbysd.org

We are excited to start the 2025-2026 school year with our new “Westbrook Ways”! The PBIS team is working hard to create new incentives to reward all those following our Westbrook Ways. Remember to be safe, be respectful, and be responsible!!!

As we begin the new year, kindergarten worked together to make bracelets and show they are one big family!

First grade is excited to start the new school year!

Second graders are excited for the new school year and to meet their new classmates.

Ms. Ellis's class is proud of earning class golden tickets!

As a back to school activity fourth grade wrote about their wishes for the school year.

Students in 5th grade read the book, "The Best Part of Me", by Wendy Ewald. They wrote their own writing piece about the best part of them to share.

Seminar Students started off the year with Hexagonal thinking: making deep and complex connections.

Riddle of the Month:

What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?

Riddle of the Month Answer Form

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Family STEM Activity

Sail the Seven Seas with Pirate Science

(go to sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/diy-toy-sailboat?from=Blog)

It's time to set sail! Even if you live nowhere near a lake or ocean, you will get to do some sailing in this science activity as you build your own toy sailboat. But first, you have to make sure your boat doesn't capsize! Are you up for the challenge?

Materials

Wine corks (3)

Rubber bands (2)

Toothpick

Several screws or nails

Craft foam, wax paper, or paper milk carton to make a sail

Aluminum foil

Sink, bathtub, or a large container you can fill with water. The container should be deeper than the length of your nails/screws.

Writing Contest Opportunity:

Spook Squad: Write your own Spooky Mini Saga

In the gym we kicked off the year with team building activities. These activities help our students connect with their new classmates and learn to work within their new enviornments in a fun problem solving atmosphere that promotes team work, communication, and sportsmanship. A reminder to please send your students to school and sneakers on days that have PE.

📚 Welcome Back to the Library!

Dear Westbrook Park Families,

We are excited to welcome your child back to school and to the library! This year, students will continue to explore new worlds, meet interesting characters, and discover amazing stories—all through the books they borrow from our library. To help our books last and stay in great condition for all students, we ask families to help students follow these simple book care tips:

Top Tips for Caring for Library Books:

1. Keep books clean and dry – no food, drinks, or sticky fingers near the pages.
   
   

2. Handle books gently – turn pages carefully to avoid tears.
   
   

3. Give books a safe home – store them in a backpack or a special spot at home.
   
   

4. Keep away from pets and little siblings – they love books too, but sometimes a little too much!
   
   

5. Return books on time – so other students can enjoy them too.
   
   

6. If a book gets damaged – bring it back to the library; we can help repair it.
   
   

Library Checkout Reminders:

• Checkout is weekly and return is weekly.
  
  

• Books can be renewed at the checkout counter on your library day.

By working together, we can keep our library full of books ready for curious readers. Thank you for helping your child take care of our library treasures!

Happy Reading,
Mrs. Farrell
Library Media Specialist

In art class we are working on wonderful art projects together. In First Grade we are working

on mixed media tree landscapes. In Second Grade we are working on mosaics. In Third Grade

we are working on warm and cool planets. In Fourth Grade we are working on illustrating real or

imaginary maps. In Fifth Grade we are working on stained glass letters or numbers.

We have gotten off to such an incredible start in the music world at Westbrook Park. All of the students enthusiastically entered the school year ready to sing and play instruments. First grade started off with learning about steady beat, which is the foundation of music that will set them up for everything else. Second grade is exploring various instruments they did not get to play as much in first grade, and third grade is already getting ready for recorders. Fourth and fifth grade have gotten off to a wonderful start in chorus, and I am looking forward to seeing where they end up by the time we get to the winter and spring concerts. I am looking forward to another awesome year here at Westbrook Park