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Ms. Hansen, Advocacy, Kindergarten

Course Description

Advocacy is all about helping the children learn how to advocate for themselves as well as learn important social/emotional skills. Each month we will have a new learning topic for Advocacy time. This topic is shared by the school but tailored to each grade levels needs. Throughout the school year I will be your child's advocacy teacher, as well as their advocate, for academic needs and social/emotional needs, I am hoping that we can work together to let your child be their most authentic self while also learning so much this year! 

Posts

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 want 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 

Cold Weather Information:

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 on 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:

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, and 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 4 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 on 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 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. 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, afterward, 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 costumes 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 26th

Hi Kinder 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 for Fall Break from October 2nd to October 13th!

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. 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.

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 follows:
    • 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, August 31st. It will begin at 5 pm. If you're wondering what curriculum we use, what you can do to support your student learning at home, and want to ask some questions, this night is for you! An email will be sent with a link to the meeting. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Advocacy Week of August 14th

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

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Hello!


I am Jocelyn Hansen and I am your child’s Advocacy Teacher, which means that I am their Advocate. Please check out my personal page if you'd like to know a little more about me. Advocacy is our main time for social-emotional learning, but most importantly, is a special subject to build our supportive community. As your child’s Advocate, I am your primary point of communication, and I am committed to advocating for your child this year.


I am a 2nd year teacher and joined the Westgate community January 2023. I grew up surrounded by inspiring teachers, especially my grandmother, who constantly supported and encouraged my love of learning. My goal as your child’s teacher is to provide a safe and welcoming environment where they can grow.


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


For specials the first half of this quarter, your child will have Music with Mr. Hopson. The second half of the quarter will be Art with Ms. Houghton. You are not pre-subscribed to their Edlio pages, so please go to their pages and subscribe!


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).  

 

Week 1 

R 

 

What does RESPECT mean? 

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

Week 2 

I 

 

What does INTEGRITY mean? 

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

Week 3   

S 

 

What does it mean to be SAFE at school? 

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

Week 4 

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 so excited about this school year!