Hi families! This week is Earth Week! (Wahoo!) We will be learning how we can celebrate Earth Week every week and find ways we can help the planet. The whole school will be celebrating Earth Week a bit later in the year, so look out for more news on that.

Some of the activities we will be completing will include making utensil bags! Plastic can take up to 500 years to fully decompose! Yikes! Feel free to give your students a reusable fork or a spoon on Tuesday to place into their utensil bag. 

As a fun treat, we will also be making Earth Week Pudding! If you’re unsure how to make it, it’s quite simple. You start with the gravel (crushed oreos), add some soil (chocolate pudding), add in a few worms (gummy worms), and finish with some more gravel (more crushed oreos). Voila! You have a tasty treat! 

If you would like to provide some of these ingredients for our class we would greatly appreciate it! Here is a sign-up genius. Please have your student bring in the item by Thursday, April 25th, so we can purchase any missing items if necessary. 

Also, a friendly reminder that our field trip is this Wednesday, April 24th! We are so excited to get ready to visit the zoo! Please have your student wear a purple or white shirt, bring a sack lunch, and be prepared for the weather (sunscreen on, hats if needed, a jacket, etc).

Welcome back families! I hope you had a restful break! Please check out our other classroom pages to see what we will be doing this week. We have some exciting events in store, including, watching the solar eclipse on Monday! Don’t worry, families! We will have eclipse glasses and will discuss the importance of wearing them while looking at the sun. Feel free to talk to your kindergartener about that at home as well! 

In addition to this, we will begin spelling tests based on spelling patterns. This week, we will be working on short a sounds and on Friday, students will be tested on 4 CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words and 1 CVCC (consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant) word. 

Lastly, next week for social studies, we will be discussing the life cycle of humans. How we are babies and then eventually grow to adults. To start the lesson off, we will begin by having a ‘guess the baby’ game, where students will guess which student matches the baby picture. Due to this fun game, we would love for parents to email us a baby picture of your kindergartener. Please send us pictures by April 11th. If you do not feel comfortable sharing a baby picture of your kindergartner, please have your student draw a picture of themselves as a baby instead. Thank you! 

Hi families! 

As you know, we will be having a field trip to the butterfly pavilion on Tuesday, March 19th. If you have not yet sent in a permission slip, please do so here. We will be reaching out to chaperones tomorrow afternoon.  

Send your students with a sack lunch, a water bottle for the day, and have your student wear a purple or white Westgate shirt. We will be participating in a Butterfly Buddies lesson to connect with our year-long service-learning curriculum.

Also, as we did not have school on Thursday or Friday, I did not get a chance to share with students that I will not be at school in the morning on Monday, March 18th. I will be returning in the afternoon. Feel free to share this information with your kindergartener so they are not surprised. 

Hello wonderful families! 

Kindergarten is going on a field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion on Tuesday, March 19th. Please complete the permission form here by Friday, March 15th. Send your students with a sack lunch, a water bottle for the day, and have your student wear a purple or white Westgate shirt. We will be participating in a Butterfly Buddies lesson to connect with our year-long service-learning curriculum.

I hope you all had a restful long weekend! 

I wanted to share with parents that we will be having another lockdown drill in the springtime. We will be reminding students what a lockdown drill is and what we do in a lockdown drill. We know this is a delicate subject and often difficult for kindergarteners, so we want to take our time discussing it with them so they feel the most comfortable. 

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns!

IMPORTANT! 

On Monday (February 12th), we will be exploring how the biscuit has been transformed through the ages through the work of Black chefs and inventors. To support student learning, we will eat biscuits and make butter as a class! Please let us know if you would not like your child to eat any of these items and bring a substitute for them to eat in place. If you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know as soon as possible. 

Kindness Week

Kindness week is here! For kindness week, the kindergarteners will walk to the bus barn on Wednesday, February 14th and hand deliver cards of appreciation to our bus drivers. You can submit your permission slip here for your child to attend our field trip. Please have your permission slip signed by Tuesday, February 13th. As we will be walking to the Bus Barn, please have your child bring a warm jacket, gloves, beanies, etc. Be prepared for weather if necessary!​

Donation Opportunity and Can Your Kiddo Eat Figs? 

In one of the stories, students will learn about figs and fig trees. If you would like to donate dried figs to our classroom for students to try a fig, please let me know. If you would not like your student to eat a dried fig, please also email me. 

Kindness Week and What About Valentine’s Day? 

Kindness Week is celebrated during the week of Valentine’s Day or the week of February 12th. It is a long-standing tradition at Westgate. We celebrate and spread kindness by doing different activities throughout the week. Each day has a different theme, aligned with the different love languages. ​

Monday – Words of Affirmation​

Tuesday – Quality Time​

Wednesday – Acts of Service​

Thursday – Gift Giving​

For kindness week, the kindergarteners will walk to the bus barn on Wednesday, February 14th and hand deliver cards of appreciation to our bus drivers. You can submit your permission slip here for your child to attend our field trip. Please have your permission slip signed by Tuesday, February 13th. As we will be walking to the Bus Barn, please have your child bring a warm jacket, gloves, beanies, etc. Be prepared for weather if necessary!​

We will be joined with a high school class to build community within our school as well! Sadly, we will not be having any chaperones joining us at this time, but please feel free to email me if you would like to attend our next field trip.

But wait… What about Valentine’s Day? At Westgate, we do not exchange cards, candy, or treats. We instead focus this time on how we can show appreciation to members in the community. 

Here are a few friendly reminders of some exciting events to come: 

• November 17: On Friday, we will be having a whole-grade Thanksgiving feast! We will be doing this from 2:30pm - 3:00pm. Here is a sign-up genius if you’d like to donate food or time to our Thanksgiving celebration. If you do not want your student to eat any of the food on the list, please let me know before Thursday, November 16th. 
• November 20th-November 24th is fall break

As we step into the beautiful month of November, we are thrilled to share with you our social-emotional focus for the month: Gratitude. This month, our students will be taking part in a variety of activities designed to foster happiness and togetherness during their advocacy sessions. 

Gratitude is a wonderful and powerful emotion that reminds us to appreciate the small and big things in our lives. It has been shown to boost well-being, promote a positive outlook, and strengthen our connections with others. We believe that teaching our students the art of gratitude is an important part of their overall education. 

Throughout November, our students will engage in books, videos, and activities that encourage them to reflect on what they are thankful for and to express their appreciation. These activities will not only deepen their sense of gratitude but also help build a strong sense of community within our school. 

We invite you to join us in this month of gratitude by having conversations with your children about what they are thankful for. Encourage them to share their thoughts and feelings, both at home and at school. We look forward to witnessing the positive impact of this focus on happiness and togetherness throughout our school. 

Please start to bring a warm coat everyday. 

Students will go outside for recess (and occasional classes) if the temperature is higher than 20 degrees and if it is not actively snowing. With that in mind, please send your students to school on cold days with warm winter clothing items. A waterproof down jacket, layers, beanies, gloves, wool socks, and scarves are a great way to set your student up for success. We also recommend putting their name in the tag of their jackets to help prevent lost jackets. If your student needs affordable winter items, there are a few locations that sell them nearby:

• Precious Child
• Clothes to Kids of Denver
• Goodwill
• Arc Thrift Stores
• Costco
• Walmart

Hi families! 

I hope you had a restful fall break! Here are some upcoming events and what we will be discussing in advocacy during the month of October: 

• October 31st: 

• Halloween K-4 Carnival 1:30 – 2:30 PM -  It is a Westgate tradition that each year the 5/6 Team hosts a Halloween Carnival for the K-4 students. This is a student only event. 
• K-8 Halloween Party 2:30 – 3:15 PM - We will be having a Halloween party in our classroom. We will begin the party with Halloween Bingo, afterwards, students will have the option to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, create a monster, make witch hands (made with vinyl gloves, candy corn, and popcorn), play pumpkin tic-tac-toe, or do all three! While we are celebrating together, we have the option to have snacks and treats. We welcome you to donate items on the following Sign-Up Genius. A friendly reminder that all of the snacks should be individually packaged and brought to the front office if the student has difficulty bringing them to our classroom. We also have an opportunity for two volunteers to join our classroom. Each volunteer must have a background check before joining us. Thank you for your support, we truly appreciate it! 

• Halloween Costume Expectations: 

• No Masks 
• No Full Face Paint (except what a student can apply themselves in the time they have to get ready before class parties). 
• Face paint may not be worn to school. 
• No Weapons or anything that can be used as a weapon 
• No inappropriate or offensive costumes – all body parts must be covered 
• Students K-8 may NOT WEAR THEIR COSTUMES TO SCHOOL. All students will be given time to change into their Halloween costumes. Students will be in classes during the morning. 
• HS students can wear their costume to school, but all expectations must be followed 
• Advocacy: In the month of October, we are focusing on the empowering theme of 'Using Your Voice' in our school community. As a community, we play a crucial role in helping our students navigate the challenges they may face at school, including bullying. This month, we encourage you to engage in open conversations with your students about the importance of using their voices to stand up against bullying. By teaching them to speak up, report incidents, and support their peers, we can create a safe and inclusive environment where every child feels heard and valued. Together, let's empower our children to be advocates for kindness, empathy, and respect, ensuring that our schools are places where everyone can thrive.

Our advocacy will cover a range of topics around Bully Prevention and Using Your Voice, including: 

• Understanding Bullying
• Communication and Reporting
• Empathy and Inclusion
• Prevention

Hi Families!

Here are some updates: 

• Johnny Appleseed Day is coming up! On September 26th students will explore the life of Johnny Appleseed, graph apples they taste, and make some applesauce! Our applesauce will consist of apples, cinnamon, and water. If you can, please bring an apple to share with the class on Monday if you have not done so already. Please let us know if you have any concerns! 
• Conferences will be on October 2nd and 3rd. If you haven’t already signed-up, please check out our sign up sheet here. Our conference sign-up will close on Wednesday, September 27th.
• There will be no school from October 2nd to October 13th for Fall Break!