UPCOMING EVENTS: 

Half Day 2/13

No School 2/16

Kindness Week 2/9-2/13

Class Picture Day Feb 27

Kindness Week at Westgate: Feb 9–13 

 We’re excited to celebrate Kindness Week with this year’s theme, Planting the Seed: An Acorn of Kindness. Students will take part in daily activities that grow compassion, connection, and community.

Our 7th and 8th graders are also leading a schoolwide food drive benefiting A Precious Child. Our goal is 2,000 non‑perishable items, with themed donation days to guide contributions:

• Mon 2/9 – Protein Monday
• Tue 2/10 – Pasta Tuesday
• Wed 2/11 – Canned Veggies Wednesday
• Thu 2/12 – Toiletries Thursday
• Fri 2/13 – Canned Fruit Friday

Families are invited to support our Acts of Kindness for Teachers through donations and volunteer opportunities all week, including bathroom refresh items, hot chocolate cart supplies, carline volunteers, flower‑sale helpers, classroom readers, and more.

All sign‑ups and details can be found here: SignUpGenius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D45A8AE28A1FA7-61738675-kindness#/

Cash or check donations may be dropped off at the front office (note: Kindness Week), or contributed online through Westgate Events.

Thank you for helping us nurture a culture of kindness that grows far beyond our school walls.

MORE KINDNESS WEEK INFORMATION: 

Kindness Week

Westgate celebrates kindness week February 9th through February 13th. In kindergarten, we have the wonderful opportunity to visit the Bus Barn to share our thanks to our community helpers who drive, manage, and fix our school buses. Please complete this permission form to allow your student to join us on this field trip. This year we will be accepting chaperones, each classroom needs four chaperons. Please email your students’ teacher if you would like to volunteer.  

Kindness Week is a long-standing tradition at Westgate. Every year we celebrate and spread kindness throughout the week. Each day has a different theme where we will learn different ways to show kindness. This year 7th/8th Grade is also hosting our annual food drive for A Precious Child in your pods.

Monday, February 9th: Planting Our Acorns

(Words of Affirmation)

Tuesday, February 10th: Watering Our Seeds

(Acts of Service)

Wednesday, February 11th: Sprouting Kindness

(Gift Giving)

Thursday, February 12th: Growing Together

(Quality Time)

Friday, February 13th: Sharing Our Kindness Forest

The Kindness Week Food Drive Starts on Monday, February 9th! We have a school goal of 1,500 cans, and an individual class goal of 50 cans to hit during the week next week! Remember the themes of each day for the food drive are as follows:

Monday: Protein Monday (Pantry Protein)

Tuesday: Pasta Tuesday (Dried pasta in boxes) 

Wednesday: Veggie Wednesday (Canned Vegetables)

Thursday: Toiletry Thursday (Kleenex, Toilet Paper, Paper Towels)

Friday: Fruit Filled Friday (Canned Fruit) 

It is important to note: We will be accepting all types of non-perishable foods throughout the week, the themes are just ideas in case you need some inspiration! All non-perishable items will be donated to A Precious Child! If you have any further questions on the food drive, please do not hesitate to reach out! 

This week in Advocacy, we will be talking about the Little Spot of Respect! This spot is a great one to use here at school and at home, as it helps the students be respectful to their peers, and the things around them! 

If you would like to read the story with your child, there is a Youtube read aloud, linked right HERE.

📅 Upcoming Events

❄️ Winter Break -
Our last day of school before Winter Break will be Thursday, December 19th.
School will resume on Monday, January 12th.

🚂 Polar Express Party – December 19th

We are excited to celebrate the season with a Polar Express Party on Thursday, December 19th! We will be watching The Polar Express in class that afternoon.

• We will have two parent volunteer opportunities for this event.
  
  
• A donation sign-up with requested items will be sent out midweek this week.
  
  
• A permission slip for your student to watch the movie will also be sent out this week.
  
  

Thank you in advance for helping make this a magical and memorable day for our class!

💛 Hello Advocacy Families!

Last week, our class explored how to show kindness, take turns, and help others when things feel tricky. We practiced using our words and calm-down tools to solve problems and make sure everyone feels safe and heard. Our classroom community is really growing! 🌱

This week, we’re learning about empathy with the book:
📘 A Little Spot of Empathy by Diane Alber
[ Story Link 🎧📖]

Through this story, we’ll discover how to:
✨ Recognize how someone else is feeling
✨ Understand how our words and actions affect others
✨ “Step into someone else’s shoes” to show care and compassion

Students will act out empathy scenarios, draw faces with feelings, and create “Empathy Spots” to remind us to lead with kindness. 💕

🧠 At-Home Connection

Keep the empathy growing at home with these simple, heartwarming ideas:

• Feelings Detective: Look at faces in books or movies and ask, “How do you think they feel? How can you tell?”
  
  
• Switch Shoes Challenge: Pretend to be each other for five minutes—what did you learn about how others feel?
  
  
• Kindness Chain: Add a new link every time someone shows empathy or kindness at home!
  
  

📅 Upcoming November Events

🕓 Thursday, Nov. 7 – Half Day
 

🎖️ Monday, Nov. 10 – No School (Veterans Day)
 

🍂 Thursday, Nov. 20 – Gratitude Grub
We’ll celebrate friendship and thankfulness with a cozy classroom meal! Look out for a sign-up sheet for snacks and sides. If you would like to donate items for this event, please sign up here. 

🚌 Friday, Nov. 21 – Field Trip to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
Please send a packed lunch and wear comfy shoes—it’s going to be an exciting day of discovery! We need chaperone’s for this field trip! Ms. Lane’s class has room for two more chaperone and Mr. Bakers class needs four chaperones. Please complete the permission slip here. 

🍁 Monday, Nov. 24–Friday, Nov. 28 – Thanksgiving Break
No school! Enjoy time with loved ones and share what you’re grateful for this season.

💬 Talk About It

Here are some great dinner-table questions to spark empathy conversations:
• “How can we show empathy to someone having a hard day?”
• “When was the last time someone showed empathy to you?”
• “What does it mean to ‘walk in someone else’s shoes’?”

Our class is learning that empathy makes our community stronger and our hearts a little bigger. 💛
Thank you for continuing to help your child practice kindness and understanding each day.

We will be talking about the Little Spot of Sadness this week, and how we can regulate our bodies when we are in this spot! Students will be able to recognize when they are feeling sad, as well as what to do when we need to make our sadness spot smaller! 

The story is linked here. 

Upcoming Events: 

On October 31st, we will have our Halloween Party!! Students will have their Halloween party in the afternoon and will be able to change into their costumes BEFORE the party. 

If you would like to donate an item or your time to our Halloween party (we are looking for 2 volunteers for each classroom), please check out our sign-up genius here. 

Lastly, it is that time of year where it gets pretty cold. Please send our kindergarteners with jackets, gloves, and/or hats when needed. 

Halloween Costume Expectations

Costume expectations for all Adults and students:

• No Masks or face coverings
• No Full Face Paint (partial face paint is allowed if a student can apply it 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. Students can bring their costumes and they should stay in their backpacks until they are allowed to change into them at 1:30, prior to the parties. Students will be in regular classes during the morning, and the costumes and their pieces and parts should not be a distraction.

We will also be continuing our work with the Little Spot Curriculum. This week, we will be taking a look at the Worry Spot and Anxiety Spot. Students will learn skills on how to shrink their spots of worry and anxiety. If you would like to read the books that we are reading to the students, you can find them on youtube right here! Anxiety Spot Book Read Aloud and Worry Spot Book Read Aloud

Upcoming Events: 

On October 31st, we will have our Halloween Party!! Students will have their Halloween party in the afternoon and will be able to change into their costumes BEFORE the party. 

We will be having a Halloween party on Friday the 31st! We will be sending out a sign up genius link that will have opportunities to donate items to the class party, as well as volunteering to help during the party! The link will be sent out by the end of the week! 

Lastly, it is that time of year where it gets pretty cold. Please send our kindergarteners with jackets, gloves, and/or hats when needed. 

Halloween Costume Expectations

Costume expectations for all Adults and students:

• No Masks or face coverings
• No Full Face Paint (partial face paint is allowed if a student can apply it 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. Students can bring their costumes and they should stay in their backpacks until they are allowed to change into them at 1:30, prior to the parties. Students will be in regular classes during the morning, and the costumes and their pieces and parts should not be a distraction.

This week in Advocacy, we will be learning about the little spot of Anxiety, and the little spot of worry. We like to do these right before the breaks because they can definitely cause some anxiety for our students! We will talk about what to do when that spot appears, and how we can help shrink those spots when they do appear

Here is the link to: The Little Spot of Worry and The Little Spot of Anxiety

🌟 Upcoming Events

• 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.

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
  
  
• 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.

• 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. 

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
  
  

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.

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. 

Mrs. Kahn will also be coming in this week to begin our Environmental Education, by taking our students out to the mud kitchen on the farm, and we will be having fun with that! Ms. Lane’s class will do this on Thursday, and Mr. Baker’s class will do it on Friday. Please wear clothes that are okay to be dirty. The plan is not to be too messy, but it is always better to be safe rather than sorry! 

• 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.