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WOODLAND HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY • NOVEMBER 2015
Principal’s Message
On a number of occasions I have been asked,
“What exactly do you do on Early Release Days?”
As families, you know that it means having to
make arrangements for the afternoon and setting
up various activities because you typically don’t
have your child at home at that time. But at the
school, these are some of the most intense and
useful days for our teachers. If you noticed, and
follow us on Facebook, I recently posted some
pictures of our teachers during our ERPD. Being
the principal, I would like to share with you why
these days are so important and how the afternoon is spent on your children.
• Curriculum Alignment – One aspect of teaching that
is sometimes difficult is to meet with other grade
levels to have discussions on curriculum. Though
we can look at the objectives and standards, it’s
surely not the same as sitting down with a colleague from another grade level and seeing how they
taught or what students mastered the previous
year. During our most recent ERPD, teachers were
able to look at baseline assessments and discuss
areas where our students performed well and also
areas where they showed need for improvement.
These discussions are critical to improving the
instruction that is happening in the classrooms and
ultimately making sure our students are prepared
for the next year. These discussions then go into
our PLC meetings where our Instructional Facilitator, leadership, and teachers come together to
discuss current and upcoming topics of instruction.
• Differentiation – Previously I wrote about the importance of personalizing our learning that takes place
at WHES. We continue these discussions on ERPD
and give hands-on ideas and activities for teachers
to use in their classrooms and in planning lessons.
We will have specialists, master teachers, and other
activities that will enable teachers to feel confident
in pushing our students to meet their potential.
Differentiation has nothing to do with students
being AIG or advanced; it means meeting the
needs of each student in our classrooms.
• Teacher Leaders – As educators, it’s important
for us to have ways of being leaders both in
and outside of our classrooms. ERPD sessions
enable our teachers to lead discussions and
professional development to share ideas and
coach other teachers on what happens in their
classroom why it works. As you all know, we
have amazing teachers here and the greatest
sign of knowledge is being able to teach others.
Empowering our teachers to be leaders among
their staff is a great way to improve instruction
throughout the entire building.
• School Improvement – Our new and updated
school improvement goals for the year are now
posted on our website. I encourage you to look
at them because I think it is important for you all
to see how we believe that 100% of our students
will show growth this year and our staff is
prepared to do everything they can to ensure
that happens. This goal is a reflection of the
belief that EVERY student in our school will be
successful. Our sessions and ultimately everything we do go into making sure our school
improvement goals are met.
I know that making arrangements for Early Release
Days is challenging, but I hope you can see how
valuable these days are for your child. The transformation of instruction and the coaching that takes
place on these days impacts your child’s learning
and their growth as students. Thank you for always
supporting us on these days and we know you will
see the impact it has on our school.
Jake Boula, Principal
Woodland Heights Elementary School
WOODLAND HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY • NOVEMBER 2015
Fundraiser Information
• Gobble, gobble! Enter to win a gift card just in
time for the holiday season! More information
coming soon!
• Thank you for submitting Box Tops and Labels
for Education! Winners to be announced soon!
• Please continue to collect “Cash for your
Class”!!
• NEW this year: Aluminum can & plastic bottle
recycling in the cafeteria! Look for the 2 blue
bins in the corner!
• With the holiday shopping season starting
don’t forget to support those retailers that
give back to WHE:
- Red Robin
- Harris Teeter
- Bella Pottery
- Lowes Foods
- Wicked Kustoms
- Target
Curriculum Updates!
Teachers have already received their 2nd session
of Apple Vanguard training! On November 2nd
4th and 5th grade teachers will attend session 4
of Math Foundations Training. The leveled bookroom has new shelves and has been organized
for teacher checkout!
WHES Teachers Enjoy the Soup and
Salad Luncheon!
The teachers and staff thoroughly enjoyed the
Soup & Salad lunch! Many remarked that it is an
extremely special event to them because of the
love that the WHE families put into the homemade
dishes and desserts. They truly feel supported
and cared for. Many thanks to those that contributed towards this special lunch. The next
teacher/staff appreciation will be the Holiday
lunch on Friday, December 11th from 11-1pm.
You can begin signing up to volunteer at
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4eafaf2ca5
fc1-20152016.
WHE Opens Up School Store, “Hawk’s Nest”
Woodland Heights PTO is
happy to introduce the “Hawk’s
Nest”; a WHE School Store that
will be open every Tuesday
morning 7:10am-7:30am beginning November 10th. Located in
the atrium near the Media
Center, the Hawk’s Nest will sell WHE pencils,
notebooks, fun pencil toppers, WHE shirts, and
more! Cash/check only. See you there!
visit us at our new website http://whepto.org/ or on facebookwww.facebook.com/whepto
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WOODLAND HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY • NOVEMBER 2015
Nurses Corner
November is vision
screenings at WHE.
I annually screen all
first graders, third
graders and fifth
graders’ vision.
You may be asking:
why is school vision
screening necessary?
80% of learning is visual.
25% of children have vision problems.
Vision problems often go undiagnosed and
uncorrected due to the child being unaware of
their own vision problems and the issue not
being picked up by the parent or the teacher.
Social Media, On-Line Behavior Seminar
Comes to WHE!
Does your child have access to a tablet, smart
phone or computer? Do you wish you had more
information to help keep your children safe as
they use technology? Do you worry about usage
of social media and wonder what you can do to
protect your children?
Attend an important “parents only” seminar by
cyber security expert, Susan Wind, who will
provide you with the tools and information you
need to kNOwMORE! The seminar will be held
on Tuesday, November 17th from 7PM-8:30PM
in the Media Center.
Discovery Place at WHES
Uncorrected vision problems create barriers to
learning.
Children whose vision problems are corrected
usually show marked improvement in classroom
achievement.
Mass vision screenings means testing all children,
even those who do not seem to have a problem.
Screening is not meant to diagnose a specific
problem but rather to raise a “red flag” on those
children who need to see an eye doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
Vision screenings raise everyone’s awareness of
vision problems; students, parents, and school
staff become more aware of potential problems.
Trout in the Classroom Project Comes to
WHE!
WHE 4th grade students will be working with the
‘Trout in the Classroom’ project for the first time
this year. For more information, please visit:
http://www.troutintheclassroom.org/
visit us at our new website http://whepto.org/ or on facebookwww.facebook.com/whepto
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WOODLAND HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY • NOVEMBER 2015
Upcoming Events
11/2-11/20:
11/3:
11/11:
11/17:
11/18:
11/25-11/27:
11/30-12/11:
12/1:
Gobble, Gobble Gift Card
Giveaway
PTO Board Meeting– 9:30am
(Science Lab)
Veteran’s Day No School
Parent Seminar – 7pm-8:30pm
On-line Behaviors, Social
Media, Cyber Bullying
WHE Community Spirit Night at
Moe’s – 5pm-8pm
No School Thanksgiving Break
Gift Card Give Back Order
PTO Board Meeting – 9:30am
Science Lab
12/9:
12/9:
12/11:
12/21-12/31:
Early Release Day
WHE Winter Concert
(Chorus and Drumming Hawks)
at WHE – 7pm
WHE Parent’s Night Out at
KPAC 2
Winter Break
(12/21: Possible snow make-up)
2015-2016
PTO Board
President
Jennifer Christian
704-999-3398
jenniferschristian@gmail.com
Vice President
Angela Yeh
704-799-2866
amyeh.angela@yahoo.com
Parent Communications
Director
Theresa Busa
617-543-2283
theresabusa@gmail.com
School District/
Legislative Liaison
Stef Storm
704-519-7025
stefaniestorm@windstream.net
Staff Liaison
Amy Metzgar
704-881-3884
amymetzgar13@gmail.com
Treasurer
Shawna Knutson
612-220-4739
swbknutson@gmail.com
Teacher Representative
Diana Mullen
diana_mullen@iss.k12.nc.us
Recording Secretary
Emily Gilligan
704-799-9746
elg20@windstream.net
Fund Raising Directors
Kisten Hunter
704-363-4852
khhunter@me.com
Family Events
Jessica Johnson
704-491-0224
jessyjheart@gmail.com
Shannon Stanley
704-450-1826
sgbs99@gmail.com
Community Relations
Krista Perrine
704-779-9918
perrinekrista@gmail.com
visit us at our new website http://whepto.org/ or on facebookwww.facebook.com/whepto
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