Washington Word
by Carol Feuerbacher
December 01, 2007
NEWS FROM THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE
Thanks and Farewell Mrs. Naranjo
As you will read in the News Bulletin from Mrs. Naranjo below, we will soon be wishing Mrs. Kathy Naranjo farewell. As many of you know, Mrs. Naranjo has been a valued member of the Washington Elementary family for many years. Through that time, Kathy has not only had a tremendous impact on the lives and education of countless students, she has also assisted in the lives of all who she has come in contact with. Students, teachers, and parents alike have grown in their understanding of what it means not only to be a great teacher, but also what it means to have a generous and caring heart. Though we wish her and her husband well in this new chapter in their lives, we will truly miss their presence.
View Your Child’s Art Online
As an ongoing professional development project, Mrs. Ruzicka, the art teacher at Washington Elementary School, is developing web sites where student art is being displayed. Student art from each classroom is being photographed and links to those pictures are becoming available on the Washington Elementary School website. You can view the art at the following web link: http://www2.norfolkpublicschools.org/vnews/display.v/ART/4738ba039d271
Just click on the links below your child’s teacher’s name to view the art. New links will be added as they become available throughout the rest of the school year so please check back often!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
On behalf of all of the staff at Washington Elementary School, I want to extend to you our warmest holiday wishes!
NEWS BULLETIN FROM MRS. NARANJO
I have had the great privilege of teaching English Language Learners (ELL) at Washington Elementary School for the past 17 years. In 1991, the program had one teacher (me) and one paraprofessional (Jeanne Schmid) with qualified K-12 graders all taught at Washington. Now, ELL services, with eight teachers and several paras, are available in nearly all Norfolk Public School buildings. I truly appreciate how Norfolk Public Schools has sought to embrace and educate students from diverse cultural and linguistical backgrounds and I’m thankful to have been a part of the process. However, I will soon be playing the role of the “diverse” individual! My husband, Tino, has accepted a call to pastor a Hispanic Church Development in Anaheim, California. He has already relocated there. The Norfolk Public School Board has accepted my resignation at the end of first semester, if a suitable replacement can be hired. Will this Nebraska native survive in Orange County?!? Sad at moving far from family, friends, colleagues and rewarding relationships with students and their families at Washington, Tino and I are nevertheless trusting that God is opening a new chapter in our lives. Thanks to all of you for allowing me to be part of your school and your children’s education.
NEWS FROM THE GUIDANCE COUNSELOR
This month’s topic is a great follow-up for what I’m teaching in your child’s classrooms. We’re all about Study Skills in school, so I’m taking this opportunity to promote a home plan.
Here’s what your children need:
1. A regular place and time for homework. Have your child make a “Do Not Disturb” sign to post. A great cue for others (younger ones) to stay away. Homework is serious business.
2. Make a homework plan at the start of homework time. What does she have to do today? Are there tasks which need your help? (Library, any supplies?
3. Make a homework chart. Post it where your child can see it. Before homework is finished, your child should answer these questions:
*Name on paper
*Date on paper
*Were directions followed?
*Is it neat – can you read it?
*Do sentences start with a capital and end with punctuation?
*Is spelling correct?
*If it’s Math – are all the steps complete?
*Did you check your work over?
At school, we like to promote healthy study habits and build in responsibility. Remember this is your student’s homework – not yours! (You’ve been there!) If your child has a plan and sticks to it, they will succeed!
Questions or Comments? Please call. My Washington office hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!
Anita Theophilus, School Counselor
NOTES FROM THE GYM
I can’t believe it’s almost the end of 2007. With cool temperatures becoming more prevalent, what better way to get warm than with some exercise in P.E. class. We have an exciting schedule of events coming up for the year. As always, we will be learning sport skills such as basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, baseball & track. We completed the first round of the Presidential Physical Fitness test at the beginning of the year, and the kids did great. We had several new records to add to the “Wall of Fame” outside the gym. The students will again perform the tests in the spring so that I can evaluate their progress throughout the year.
Just like last year, I took the fifth grade class to Skyview Lake to have an afternoon of Frisbee golf, or as I like to call it, “folf.” The kids just loved going and playing the course and seeing who could throw it the farthest. We only had a couple frisbees go into the lake. Ha ha.
As for upcoming events, we have our annual Jump Rope for Heart in the middle of March. This is through the American Heart Association, and is a good fund raiser for a terrific organization, along with great exercise for the students. More information will be coming home at the beginning of March.
The month of May brings two big events. The fifth graders participate in the fifth grade track meet, and we have the annual Washington Field Day for all of the students, which is always a fun day for students and teachers alike. Be sure to check upcoming newsletters for the exact date of each event.
I have been busy over the summer creating my own website. It has tons of information for kids and parents alike. You can find out what you child is doing in P.E, order equipment that we use in class, and even learn some new games on the many links to other Physical Education sites. I hope that you take the opportunity to sit down with your child and explore all of the sites and games. You can find a link to my website on the Norfolk Public Schools home page, http://www2.norfolkpublicschools.org/, or just type in http://www.npsne.org/wa/staff/jlong/homepage.htm
Happy Holidays to you and yours,
Mr. Long
NOTES FROM CHALLENGE
Challenge Corner
Greetings from the Challenge Department at Washington School! The following is an overview of what has been happening in our Challenge classroom!
The 2nd graders have just finished making “animal habitat dioramas.” The dioramas are made from shoe boxes, and each student designs their dioramas depicting an animal’s habitat. Following this unit, we will embark on a web quest pertaining to bats!
Our 3rd graders are continuing to learn algebra concepts and we progress through the unit called “Into the Unknown.” It is so exciting for the students to realize that they are actually learning the basics of algebra principles!
The 3rd graders just attended a special day called “Challenge Your Creative Mind.” This seminar brought all Challenge students in 3rd grade to the Central Office for a day of activities ranging from building bridges out of newspapers, solving Chinese puzzles, pitching pennies, and constructing boats.
“Athenian Secrets” is the unit that the 4th graders are currently working on in Challenge. This unit consists of many different mathematical & logical puzzles. It also familiarizes the students with Greek gods, goddesses, mathematicians, and some background of ancient Greece. Ultimately, the students are in a race to see who can earn the most Greek “drachmas.”
Finally, the 5th graders just finished building aliens from recyclable trash! Students worked in groups and had to design an alien from exactly 15 recyclable items. The alien had to measure exactly 2 feet in height. It was exciting to see the different aliens the students created!
As always, it is a pleasure to work with your student. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact me at school or home.
Sincerely,
Nancy Boche (home phone – 371-0284; school phone – 644-2557) nboche@npsne.org
GREETINGS FROM FIRST GRADE!
The students have been extremely busy. We are continuing to work on reading skills. A new component has been added this year. In the afternoons we are doing Connections. Activities in Connections focus on skills related to reading fluently. It also reinforces recognizing story elements such as characters, settings, problems and their solutions.
During writing time we have learned to write complete sentences, use capital letters at the beginning of sentences, and use periods and question marks at the end. We are writing multiple sentences and have experimented with different types of writing like lists, sequencing, and letters. We learned that adjectives are describing words and are trying hard to make our sentences more interesting by including them when we write.
Addition and subtraction has been a major emphasis in math so far. It’s hard to remember when to add and when to subtract and which strategy to use, but it’s getting easier. We’ll be starting addition timed tests soon! We have just begun a unit on geometry in which we’ll be learning about solids and shapes, symmetry, and fractions.
We’ve had some interesting units for social studies. Recent units were about Christopher Columbus, fire safety, our country, and an introduction to maps. We will be finding out about what the first Thanksgiving was like before starting a unit on families.
As you can tell, we haven’t had time to be bored! If you see one of the first graders, be sure to ask them about something they’ve learned. They’ll be able to fill you in on all the details!
Miss Rookaird
