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Ms. Lane, Advocacy, Kindergarten

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This week in Advocacy, we read A Little Spot of Anger by Diane Alber. We talked about how everyone feels angry sometimes, and that anger itself isn’t “bad”—it’s a signal that needs a peaceful spot. Students learned strategies for calming down when their “anger spot” starts to grow, such as taking deep breaths, counting to 10, or using calm-down tools.

📖 You can listen to the story with your child here: A Little Spot of Anger Read Aloud



🌟 Upcoming Events

  • Week of September 22nd – Please be on the look out for an email with sign-up links for parent teacher conferences. Conferences will be on Thursday, October 2nd and Friday, October 3rd. 
  • Thursday, September 25 – 🚜 Field Trip to Miller Farms
    1. [Westgate Permission Form – click here]

    2. [Miller Farms Permission Form – click here]

    • Pack a disposable sack lunch.

    • Dress for outdoor activities (closed-toe shoes recommended).

    • Permission Forms: Students must return two forms to attend:

    • All Chaperone spots are filled for this field trip. 

    • Chaperones must complete the district background check: [click here].

  • Friday, September 26 – 🍎 Johnny Appleseed Day

    • Please send one apple green or red with your student to contribute to our classroom activities.

  • Friday, September 26 – 🏃 Westgate Fun Run

    • The Fun Run raises funds for the Specials classes we all know and love: Art, iLab, Music, and PE.
  • Thursday, October 2nd – ‼️ Half-Day and Parent Teacher Conferences from 1:00PM to 5:00 PM. The sign-up link will be sent out to secure your slot.
  • Friday, October 3rd – ‼️Parent Teacher Conferences from 8:00PM to 8:00 PM. The sign-up link will be sent out to secure your slot.

Advocacy - Week of 9/15/25

 

This week, we will continue to talk about our little spots of feelings, this week focusing on The Little Peaceful Spot. This is a great book to talk about keeping our body safe and calm, and how we can come from different spots, like anger spot or sad spot, and come back to our peaceful spots. A great way to support this at home, is asking them to show you a way that they can get into their peaceful spot, and have them show you what it looks like for them to be in a peaceful spot! 


If you are interested, I have linked the story right here so you can watch at home! 


Little Peaceful Spot Link to Youtube Read aloud. 


🌟 Upcoming Events

  • Friday, September 19 – Half Day of School (early dismissal).

  • Thursday, September 25 – 🚜 Field Trip to Miller Farms

    • Pack a disposable sack lunch.

    • Dress for outdoor activities (closed-toe shoes recommended).

    • Permission Forms: Students must return two forms to attend:

      1. [Westgate Permission Form – click here]

      2. [Miller Farms Permission Form – click here]

    • We need four parent chaperones.

    • Chaperones must complete the district background check: [click here].

  • Friday, September 26 – 🍎 Johnny Appleseed Day

    • Please send one apple green or red with your student to contribute to our classroom activities.

  • Friday, September 26 – 🏃 Westgate Fun Run

    • The Fun Run raises funds for the Specials classes we all know and love: Art, iLab, Music, and PE.

Advocacy - Week of 9/8/25

Upcoming Events

🌟 Spirit Week: September 8–12 🌟

We are excited to celebrate Spirit Week! Here’s the schedule for each day:

  • Monday, 9/8 – Rainbow Day
     Wear bright rainbow colors to school! 🌈

  • Tuesday, 9/9 – Crazy Hat or Hair Day
     Show off your wildest hat or wackiest hairstyle. 🎩💇

  • Wednesday, 9/10 – Westgate Wednesday
     Wear your Westgate gear or school colors to show your pride! 💙

  • Thursday, 9/11 – Throwback Thursday
     Dress up from your favorite past decade. 🕺🎶

  • Friday, 9/12 – Pajama Day
     Roll out of bed and head to school in your comfiest PJs. 💤

🚜 Field Trip: Thursday, September 25

We will be heading to Miller Farms for our first field trip of the year!

  • Please pack your child a disposable sack lunch.

  • Dress for outdoor activities (closed-toe shoes recommended).

  • We are looking for four parent chaperones to join us—please let me know if you’re interested. Chaperones are required to fill out the background check as soon as possible. You can find that line here.
Please sign the field trip permission forms so your student can attend. There are two permission forms for this field trip. One for Westgate found here and one for Miller Farms found here.

Advocacy - Week of 8/25/25

 

Hi Families! This week in advocacy, we will be focusing on reading books based around the Little Spot of Feelings. These books take time to help the students identify their feelings and emotions, and helps them spot feelings in others as well! We will also be continuing our show and share in the classroom. The schedule remains the same as previously shared. 

Advocacy - 8/18/25

Hi everyone! This week we will look at how our emotions impact our body, and how we act when we are feeling different emotions. For example, we will be looking at when we are angry, our body tends to be really tight, and our eyebrows may furrow. 


We will continue talking about our RISE values, and giving out RISE tickets to students who are showing us! If your student has not received one of these yet, encourage them to show us Respect, Integrity, Safety, and Empathy and they will earn one in no time! 


We will be continuing our show and share schedule this week, as a reminder: your student may bring one item that can fit in their backpack to share with the class. This item must remain in their backpack until it is their turn to show and share.  Please help students keep their toys at home unless it is their day for show and share.
 

Show and Share Schedule

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday
 
Essa
Willow
Corrie
Ubaldo
Finn
 
Edie
Lou
Vaughn
Sebastian
Givoni
Branson
Harlow
Ritu
Azalea
Grayson
Leon
Darya
Mateo
Dean
Chloe
 
 

Advocacy - 8/11/25

Hi Families! 


Welcome to our second week of kindergarten! We will continue to discuss what it means to show RISE behavior in and outside of the classroom. In addition to this, we will begin show and share! Please look at the following schedule and have your student bring one item that can fit in their backpack to share with the class. This item must remain in their backpack until it is their turn to show and share.  Please help students keep their toys at home unless it is their day for show and share. 


Show and Share Schedule

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday
 
Essa
Willow
Corrie
Ubaldo
Finn
 
Edie
Lou
Vaughn
Sebastian
Givoni
Branson
Harlow
Ritu
Azalea
Grayson
Leon
Darya
Mateo
Dean
Chloe
 


Mrs. Khan is our Environmental Education Coordinator at Westgate and she will be teaching our kinders about recycling! Speaking of recycling… For those of you who are new to Westgate, Wednesday is a day we celebrate Zero Waste in the classroom. Students can earn a stamp for bringing in lunches with no trash. This is celebrated every Wednesday, so if your student does not earn a stamp one week, they can earn it the next! Students who eat school lunches can also earn a stamp by explaining which items go in the trash or recycling! 


We need some help with snacks in our classroom. In case a student forgets a snack, we like to provide a few extras for our hungry kindergarteners. If you would like to donate a snack, please email me at ______. Snacks need to be individually wrapped and nut-free. Thank you!! 


Please be sure to check out your student’s Friday Folders and our other Edlio posts found here. Friday folders are for you to check out students' work they’ve completed in class or receive information from the school. Friday folders will not be used for homework or for incomplete work, unless there are specific circumstances, in which case I will reach out to those families. We will send Friday Folders home at the end of this week. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Advocacy Week of August 4th

Welcome to Kindergarten at Westgate! We are so excited to have you! This year we are going to hit the ground running and begin with kindergarten norms, which include sharing (but not germs), hands to ourselves, respect for classmates/material, and all of the engaging routines we have to make a safe classroom. You might have noticed this is an Advocacy page. I am your students' advocacy teacher, which means I am one of your students' advocates. It is my job to have your students back, always look for positive intent, and overall find ways to support their needs. On our advocacy page, I will share updates, important information, and what we will be doing during our social emotional block. For the month of August, we will be taking a closer look at our school wide RISE values (Respect, Integrity, Safety, Empathy). Your students have the opportunity to earn a RISE ticket by showing these values in our classroom. These tickets are intentionally given and when your student receives one please celebrate with them.  


Here are some important reminders for next week: 

  • Snack: Bring two healthy nut-free snacks (no candy please). We have a morning snack and an afternoon snack time. 
  • Lunch: If you have not ordered a school lunch, please provide a student with a lunch from home. If you would like to start signing up for lunches for the next month, here is the link. 
  • Water bottles: while we have a drinking fountain in our pod, it’s helpful for students to have water in the classroom. 
  • Show and Share: starting next week, we will begin Show and Share! Students will bring in one item from home that can fit in their backpack to share with our class. Show and Share items must remain in their backpacks throughout the day until it’s time to present. Students will have a specific designated day to bring in their show and share. The schedule will be shared with families on Friday. 
  • Extra Clothes: Please provide an extra set of clothes in their backpack in case of accidents. If your student has an accident, their clothes will be returned in their backpack in a plastic bag.