Washington Woods Family Newsletter

Website: https://wwe.wws.k12.in.us

Location: 19750 Grassy Branch Road, Westfield, IN, USA
Phone: 317-867-7900
Facebook: Washington Woods Facebook

Welcome back from Fall Break! I hope everyone had a chance to rest, recharge, and enjoy some time together. We are ready for a great week back at The Woods! We have a few more weeks until the end of our first trimester on November 12, so let’s make the most of this time together as we continue learning and growing.

Here are a few important reminders and things to look forward to this week:

Fall Festival – Thursday Evening

We are looking forward to our Fall Festival on Thursday evening! A big thank-you to our PTO for organizing this fun event for our families. We appreciate all the time and effort that goes into creating opportunities for our Woods community to come together. We hope to see many of you there!

Transportation Reminders

Please take a moment to double-check your child’s transportation plans. Bus routes were adjusted over Fall Break, so we want to make sure everyone is familiar with any changes. As always, please be sure to communicate any transportation changes with the school.

Parent-Teacher Conferences & Trimester Dates

Parent-teacher conferences are coming up in November! Please be sure to sign up for a conference with your child’s classroom teacher if you haven’t already. Teachers will share additional details about scheduling and what to expect.

A couple of important dates to remember:

• November 12: Half day for students and the end of the first trimester

• November 13: No school for students as teachers meet with families for conferences

Picture Retake Day – October 27

Picture retake day is Monday, October 27. If your child needs a retake, please be sure they are ready for picture day!

Showing the Woods Way

Congratulations to the students who will be celebrated during our October Woods Way lunches! We are excited to recognize these students on Monday and Tuesday for the ways they demonstrate what it means to be Safe, Kind, Responsible, and Growing. We love seeing our students put the Woods Way into action each day!

Fifth Grade Field Trip – Thursday

Our fifth graders will be heading out for a field trip on Thursday. We hope they have a wonderful day of learning and making memories!

It’s going to be a busy and exciting week, and I’m so glad to have our students back at The Woods. Thank you for your continued partnership and support. Let’s make it a great week of learning, growing, and belonging!

Mrs. Baud

Thank you to the families that got the exceptions in through School Dismissal Manager. Please make sure you continue to put the changes in. This helps ensure they are dismissed to their club as planned.If an Exception is not entered, your child will be dismissed according to their usual dismissal plan. Thank you for helping us make dismissal run smoothly!

Attendance Procedure

Please use our new School Dismissal Manager app to enter absences, late arrivals, and early dismissals. When you use the SDM app to enter your absence, please include the reason. Once the absence is entered in the SDM app, you will not need to email or call the attendance line.

Monitoring Attendance

Please know, we have been monitoring attendance, and are noticing some are getting higher. Based on attendance procedures, we will be sending official letters to families that have 7 or more (excused/unexcused) so far this year. Please know, at this time, this is just to bring awareness. We will continue to work with families individually as needed if absences continue to increase.

We also monitor tardies, and will send letters to those who have had an excessive amount of tardies as well.

We want to partner proactively with families this year to assure our students are at school as much as possible! Please let us know if you need support in any way, and we are happy to work with you.

The holidays are quickly approaching!

The Westfield community would like to help Westfield families in need by providing gifts and assistance this holiday season. Gifts may be provided for any child in your home ages 0–18.

Please complete the following sign-up form. One form per family. Include all children ages 0–18 in your household.

Your Westfield School Counselor or Open Doors will contact you and share a pickup date at your school building. If you need pickup assistance, please contact your school counselor.

Please be as specific as possible about sizing and wish requests. Please keep gifts to $25 or less. No electronics, bikes, or large items.

Each child will receive 4 items:

• 2 items they NEED – for example, a hat, gloves, shoes, or socks

• 2 items they WANT – for example, a toy, game, skateboard, or basketball

Each tag represents approximately $25 in value, for an estimated total of $100 in gifts per child.

Please complete this form by October 25.

Unwrapped gifts will be ready for pickup the week of December 14. Your school counselor will send additional details.

Open Doors pickup will take place on December 12.

¡Las fiestas se acercan rápidamente!

La comunidad de Westfield desea ayudar a las familias de Westfield que lo necesiten proporcionando regalos para los niños durante esta temporada navideña. Se pueden proporcionar regalos para cualquier niño de su hogar de 0 a 18 años.

Por favor, complete el siguiente formulario de inscripción. Complete un formulario por familia e incluya a todos los niños de su hogar de 0 a 18 años.

Su consejero escolar de Westfield u Open Doors se comunicará con usted para informarle la fecha de recogida en su escuela. Si necesita ayuda con la recogida, comuníquese con su consejero escolar.

Sea lo más específico posible con las tallas y las solicitudes de regalos. Tenga en cuenta que los regalos deben costar $25 o menos. No se permiten artículos electrónicos, bicicletas ni artículos grandes.

Cada niño recibirá 4 artículos:

• 2 artículos que NECESITA – por ejemplo, gorro, guantes, zapatos o calcetines

• 2 artículos que QUIERE – por ejemplo, juguete, juego, patineta o pelota de baloncesto

Cada etiqueta representa aproximadamente $25 en valor, para un total estimado de $100 en regalos por niño.

Complete este formulario antes del 25 de octubre.

Los regalos sin envolver estarán listos para recoger durante la semana del 14 de diciembre. Su consejero escolar le enviará más detalles.

La recogida de Open Doors será el 12 de diciembre.

We are now welcoming Lunch Visitors!

Please sign up for only ONE visit per month and only one family member may visit at a time. *If you have a special need to have multiple visitors, please reach out to the office so we can check available space. Visitors MUST have a SafeVisitor registration on file.

Please do not bring outside food to share with anyone other than your child. We do not allow sharing food in the cafeteria.

We allow 4 visitors per grade level, per day for lunch. Due to limited space and some overlapping lunch times, visitors might be sitting at their child's table. All visitors must enter through Door 1 and check in and check out at the main office prior to going to the cafeteria. Visitors must stay in the cafeteria during their visit; they are not allowed to go back to the classroom or recess with the student. Use the link below to make your lunch reservation.

Sign Up on the Sign Up Genius below:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0545A9AA28A5F4C34-65506711-wwes

Lunch time portal is the place you can manage your child's lunch account, including putting money in the account and marking restrictions to your child's lunch choices. Please make sure you also check your child's transactions. If they take two entrees, they will be charged for both.

You can find the monthly lunch menus on our school website.

Important New in this week's Shamrock Blast includes:

• Maple Park Village will be having a Trunk or Treat on October 27th!
• Spooky STEM Night for grades 1-8 on 10/28!
• City of Westfield is accepting entries for its Veterans Day Poster, Poem & Essay Contest!
• Parents are welcome to bookmark Rocks Media House for photos of many district-wide events
• Updated the referendum webpage

The Powerschool Parent Portal is an essential part of every WWS student's journey. Please visit and bookmark the link below for easy access. New families should have received a Parent Portal Letter via email, so please check for that (check Spam too!). You can alwaus email our Secretary at garverr@wws.k12.in.us for help. Also, you can now find your student's ID number in the upper right hand corner of Powerschool!

Log into Your PowerSchool Parent Portal Here

Athletic Shoes in PE and Music

Students experience a ton of movement in both Physical Education and Music classes! As such, it's important that kids wear athletic shoes that can tie and remain securely on their feet. Both Ms. Michaelsen and Mr. Brinkman are seeing a fair amount of flip flops, sandals, crocs, slippers, and dress shoes that are a safety concern to both the child wearing the footwear as well as others that may trip and fall from shoes that have been accidentally kicked off. Please make sure that your child wears athletic shoes on PE and Music Day for the remainder of the year! Thank you!

Follow the WWES Music Room on Facebook to see what kids are doing in class!

Save the Date!

There are many music events on the calendar for this school year! Save the date for your child's event listed below. Contact Mr. Brinkman on TalkingPoints or through email with any questions!

Mark those calendars and join us for Fall Fest on Thursday, October 29th from 6-8pm! We’ll have food trucks, cookie decorating, face painting, trunk or treat, and MORE! This is a CASHLESS event!

Contest for best trunk: Top-voted Family and Staff trunk will each win a $50 gift card! Sign up at the link below

https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10C0A4EAFAF23A2F9CF8-66161754-trunk?useFullSite=false

We will be collecting candy donations again this year for our trunks to pass out. Be on the lookout for Dexter, ready to start taking donations, on October 5th!

The Fall Scholastic Book Fair is coming up November 9th - 12th! The PTO would love to have your help to make this a successful event for our students. Check out the volunteer sign up below if you are interested in helping during shopping hours. (Teachers are listed so you'll be able to see when your student is shopping.)

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4EAFAF23A2F9CF8-67018502-scholastic

Stay in the know and up-to-date on school events and activities without ever lifting a finger. You can now subscribe to the PTO calendar on either Google or Apple! Just click the link for the format you want, and you'll always see what's ahead! Don't want to subscribe? The calendar is always viewable from the PTO website under the Calendar tab.

Subscribe to Google Calendar

Subscribe to iCal for Apple

Help local children stay warm! From September through October 15, families can donate new or gently used coats by sending them with their children to any WWS school and placing them in the collection boxes. Families can also register for the Westfield Coat Giveaway on October 31 at Crossroads Church. Registration ends October 8. Every coat helps a local child in need!

Register for Coats