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Ms. Lubang, Advocacy, Kindergarten

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Advocacy Week of November 6th

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:

Our Class Journey with Blanche! 

Starting this week, students will have a chance to bring a laminated picture of our therapy dog, Blanche, to their homes on a weekend. Students will also add an entry in our journal with a picture of themselves or a drawing of themselves with the laminated picture! They will write a little blurb describing what they are doing with Blanche. We will share what they wrote each Monday. This is an awesome opportunity for your students to practice their writing skills. If they are struggling to write and you’d like to support them while writing, I would suggest writing it in highlighter first and then have them write it on their own. Please email me if you would like to be our first household to have a journey with Blanche! 

Advocacy Week of October 30th

Hi families! 


Halloween is almost here! Please check out some of the awesome events we have going on. Let us know if you have any comments or questions! We have a few more spaces on our sign-up genius if you’d like to donate something. Thank you! 


  • 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 Week of October 16th

Advocacy Week of October 16th 


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 19th: We are going on our first field trip! We will be going to Miller Farms. Students will explore how vegetables are grown, what they need to survive, and at the end of the trip, they get to pick their own vegetables to take home! We will need 3 chaperones for our field trip. Before you can join our classroom, you must have a background check. It will cost $20, but it is good for the entire school year. You can submit a background check here. Here is our electronic permission slip for our field trip. Please complete it by Tuesday, October 17th. We will be outdoors the entirety of the field trip, so please prepare for any weather changes (bring sunscreen, hats, close toed shoes, and jackets as needed). Please feel free to bring gloves or reusable bags. In the past, the plastic bags provided broke quickly. Also, students will need lunch to bring to the field trip. We will not be having lunch at school, so school lunches are not accessible. Students will have time for a snack before and after the field trip, so 2 snacks are encouraged to bring as usual. 
    • October 20th: Trunk or treat! Students will get to show off their Halloween costumes and check out some decorated car trunks as they get some candy. The event will be from 5:00pm - 7:00pm in the parking lots at Westgate. A huge thank you to the families who donated candy for this event! 
  • 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

Advocacy Week of September 25th

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!

Advocacy Week of September 18th

Hi families! 
 
Here are a few updates for the upcoming weeks: 
  • Our fun run is on it's way! On September 22nd, students will show off how they enjoy to move while also supporting our school! Our kindergarten students will design their shirts in class throughout this week during advocacy, while we also discuss the importance of staying active.
 
  • September 26th is Johnny Appleseed Day! We will be doing a lot of activities that are apple themed. We plan to taste different colored apples and graph them in math and make apple sauce while learning about the life of Johnny Appleseed! To help us, we ask that families donate 1 apple to our classroom. The color is up to you! If you'd like to donate more than 1 apple, the more the merrier!
 
  • Conferences will be held in-person on October 2nd and virtual on October 3rd. Please sign-up using this link. 
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! 

Advocacy Week of September 11th

Hi Kinder families!
 
Here are some of the upcoming events for September:
  • Sept. 15th: International Dot Day 

    • International Dot Day, a global celebration of creativity, courage, and collaboration, began when teacher Terry Shay introduced his classroom to Peter H. Reynolds’ book The Dot on September 15, 2009. The Dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a doubting student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to “make her mark”. What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, which has gone on to inspire countless children and adults around the globe.

  • Sept. 15: 
    • Students will create original creations in our classroom that will be available to purchase on mugs, t-shirts, and more! 
  • Sept. 22nd: Fun Run
    • How do you find your fitness? We will have a fun run in the school. Students will each have a t-shirt that they can decorate to show how they find their own fitness. 
  • Sept. 26th: Jonny Appleseed Day 
    • Feel free to have your students dress up in overalls because we will spend the day with Jonny Appleseed inspired content! (Overalls are completely optional! We're having fun with it!) We ask each family to donate one apple to the classroom by Friday, September 22nd so we can make applesauce. We'll send an update next week!

Advocacy Week of August 28th

Hi families!
 
Here are some friendly reminders of the upcoming events this week!
  • This is our first spirit week! The days are as followed:
    • Monday (August 28th) - Pajama Day
    • Tuesday (August 29th) - Throwback Day
    • Wednesday (August 30th) - Crazy Hair Day
    • Thursday (August 31st) - Favorite Book or TV Character Day
  • There's no school on Friday (September 1st) and Monday (September 4th)
  • We will have a virtual curriculum night this Thursday on August 31st. It will begin at 5pm. If you're wondering what curriculum we use, what you can do to support your student learning at home, and ask some questions, this night is for you! A link will be sent to your email with a link to the meeting. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Advocacy Week of August 13th

Hi families! 

We just finished our first week of kindergarten! I hope it was a wonderful start to this year! For our second week of school, we will continue to learn our RISE (respect, integrity, safety, and empathy) values at Westgate. 
 
Here are a few reminders for this week. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Please remember to check out the rest of our pages here for information on what we will be learning this week. 
 
Snacks
Please provide two healthy snacks that our separately wrapped for your student. If they are getting a school lunch, they still need two snacks. Snacks are not provided with school lunches. 
 

ZERO WASTE WEDNESDAYS!

 

How It Works:

  • Every Wednesday is “Zero Waste Wednesday” here at Westgate. What this means is that if students have a lunch that doesn’t use any waste AT ALL (i.e. nothing to throw away, like baggies, cans, plastic cups, paper lunch bags, etc), then their name will be entered into a raffle. Ten raffle winners will receive recognition over the intercom on Fridays for being the Zero Heroes of the week.

*students who have school lunch will qualify if they accurately sort their lunch into the appropriate trash and recycling AND have a reusable water bottle for the day*

  • Bonus Recognition: If there is an entire classroom that has zero waste lunch one day, let me know and the entire class will receive recognition automatically. I will keep track of the number of days your entire class has done this.
  • Extra Bonus Recognition: The class with the most days with all Zero Heroes at the end of the year will be considered the Zero Hero champions of the year!

Why:

  • The goal is for families to start the conversation about alternatives to lunch waste, like glass or plastic lunch containers, reusable lunch bags and water bottles, and cloth napkins. If a student has any item that must be thrown away (at school or at home) their names will not be entered, and they can try again next week and every week after that. Hopefully, this will instill changes that will go far beyond Wednesdays during lunch time at Westgate.

https://www.westgateschool.org/apps/pages/waste

 
Westgate Community School is K-12 gifted education for the whole child and located in Thornton, CO.
www.westgateschool.org
 

Welcome!

Hello! 

I am Jenny Lubang and I am your child’s Advocacy Teacher/ Advocate. Please check out my personal page if you'd like to know a little more about me. Advocacy is more than a Homeroom. Advocacy classes are first and foremost a time for students to build supportive relationships with their peers and with an adult they can trust. It is a time for everyone to feel recognized and welcomed into the school community. As your child’s Advocate, I will be your primary point of communication, and I am committed to advocating for your child this year.

I have subscribed you to my Advocacy page and my classroom pages, so you will receive updates to your email automatically.  Please follow this link for weekly updates, academic information, upcoming events and other information:   

This first half of this quarter, your child will have PE with Mr. Wise. You are not pre-subscribed to his Edlio page, so please go to his page and subscribe!” The second half of the quarter will be PE with Mr. Wise.  

This month, our August Advocacy theme is RISE!  

At Westgate, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a part of our Whole Child Education program. PBIS is a system in which students, staff and community create a set of school-wide behavioral expectations/ core values, we teach those expectations in all of our various environments, and then we CELEBRATE when we see students doing those things! At Westgate, we RISE (Respect, Integrity, Safety, Empathy).  

Our kindergarteners will learn about each of these values the first week and then dive into them a little deeper the following weeks. 

 

R 

 

What does RESPECT mean? 

Being kind to people, property, and yourself. Being considerate of our community.  

 

I 

 

What does INTEGRITY mean? 

Telling the truth and doing the right thing even when nobody is looking. 

  

S 

 

What does it mean to be SAFE at school? 

Act in ways that won’t harm yourself or others. 

 

E 

 

What is EMPATHY? 

Understanding and caring about the feelings of others. 

 

We will be teaching students what these 4 words mean—focusing on a different part of RISE each week—and what it looks like to live these values out during school and at home. We will use RISE all year to celebrate positive behaviors.  

I am excited for the school year!