A final runner rounds the corner on his way to the finish line and the crowd cheers causing his red cheeks to bend into a smile; 2 runners cross the finish line together in first place, shake hands and laugh; 5th and 6th graders cheer and high five 3rd and 4th grade runners as they labor through the course; parents, grandparents and caregivers show up to support all participants - the Orca Fun Run exemplifies our Vision and Mission at WHE, challenging each participant, developing courage and confidence to make positive contributions, and building connections with community. Thank you all for each of your individual efforts in making this event such a success!
We are looking forward to sharing student progress at this month’s Parent Teacher Conferences on October 26th and 27th. Teachers will be reaching out to you soon to schedule a time. When you are here, please take a moment to stop by and share your feedback with me on how the school year is going!
10/2 Chess Club begins
10/10 Last Day of Cross Country Running
10/11 Last Day of Soccer
10/12 Early Release Day and End of Quarter
10/13 No School, Inservice Day
10/16 Basketball starts (M/W for 3rd and 4th, T/TH for 5th and 6th)
10/16 D&D starts (M/W for 5th and 6th)
10/17 PTO Meeting 4:30pm in Library
10/20 thru 10/27 Book Fair 8-11am and 2:45-3:30pm
10/26 & 10/27 Parent Teacher Conferences-No School for Students
10/31 Halloween Parade at 2:00pm
11/1 Picture Retake Day 8:15-9:30am
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. Some of the things the PTO is involved with is The Penny Wars, Lunch and Play with Caregivers, Community Coffee once a quarter, the Talent Show, Staff Appreciation, End of Year BBQ, and much more
Next meeting: October 17 in the school library from 4:30-5:30pm
Chess Club
Chess club is back again this year. Andy Haas will be teaching Chess Club in the Art Room on Mondays and Thursdays. Students can do one of both days. Chess Club will begin on Monday, October 2 and will run through Thursday April 11th. There will be no chess club on school vacation days, but there will be Chess Club on early release days from 1:30-2:30pm
D&D Club
Mr. Crowl, Ms. Ross, and Mr. Dave will be running another session of Dungeons and Dragons this Fall for 5th and 6th graders on Mondays and Wednesdays immediately after school. Starting October 16th and running until December 6th. Space is limited so pick up your permission slips at the front office.
Japanese
2023-2024 Taiko Drums Project
Last school year, Japanese class from West Homer presented a wonderful greeting in Japanese to City Council members. We also did our first spring concert with Mrs. Tina Moore. Our Sakura band sung Sakura, Sakura, one of Japanese traditional songs in which Sakura means cherry blossoms. Students from Homer Youth String Orchestra Club played with the singers. Each student in the Sakura band played different instruments for the performance.
I appreciate that Mrs. Sara Sims gave the students a great opportunity to create their own amazing Yunomi teacups. At our tea party, we also celebrated 6th graders who moved to 7th grade and teachers who moved to other schools. Students served tea with their own Japanese Yunomi to their special guests with a variety of Japanese sweets and Japanese Yakisoba, Japanese fried noodles.
This school year, Mrs. Sara Sims will teach us how to make some Japanese chopstick holders in November. We will also create a total of 50 carboard Japanese Taiko drums with 50 pairs of Japanese drumsticks called bachi. Students in Japanese class from Paul Banks, Fireweed and West Homer school will perform with their own homemade Taiko drums with bachi in 2024 for the 40th anniversary of the friendship between City of Homer and Sister City, Teshio Hokkaido in Japan. Mr. Gary Lyon will help us make 50 pair of homemade bachi in Japanese class.
For this project, we need fundraising activities. I would like to have volunteers to help to share ideas, promote our projects, and participate in each activity. Our first activity will be making cardboard Taiko drums on Friday, October 6th at West Homer. Both Japanese classes will be combined for this project.
I am hoping that we can raise the funds for our project ($600.00 minimum) to cover the cost for the materials and special instructors starting in October. Our first fundraising activity will be on Monday, October 9th and 23rd at 7:30 am till 8am at the entrance of West Homer.
Bonus; We had 7 online class sessions with some Japanese students from Taishi High school, Hyogo Prefecture and Teshio Junior High School, Hokkaido Prefecture in Japan last school year. Students from 3rd grades to 6th grades will have wonderful and valuable learning experience to meet and greet in Japanese this school year as well.
Megumi Beams; Sister City Liaison/ Interpreter; Japanese International Exchange Coordinator/ Instructor
A Note from the Nurse
The Wake up and Walk Program will be starting in October. Students will have the option to walk in the gym for morning recess from 7:35-7:55. If it goes well, we will extend it thru the winter months.
The most challenging part to making this program successful is having an adult available to monitor the students in the gym. So, if you feel like walking in the morning with students, we would love to have you join us! We would need you to complete the volunteer process if you haven’t already. If you are on our list of volunteers for this year, come on in!
Pink eye is still around. Good hand washing and not touching your eyes is the best defense for all germs but especially important for preventing pink eye.
It is wonderful to see students walking and riding their bike to school. Winter is on its way and it is now dark in the morning. Please be sure your student is visible to drivers and is following the rules of the road. Bicyclists need to be wearing a helmet if riding to and from school.
I have been doing heights and weights for all the students. I have also been doing vision and hearing screens on 3rd and 5th graders.
If you would like your student’s results, please let me know.
Thank you,
Nurse Laura