Reminders:  

• Friday Folders - Your child should have a Friday folder that comes home each Friday. Please review the folder with your child and return it to school empty each Monday. 
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• Specials: Our Special is Music. 

• Spirit Week – More details to come. 

• Toys are strictly prohibited for all students. To ensure a safe and focused learning environment for all students, please make sure that your child is not bringing toys to school.  

• Fidgets: While toys are prohibited, students are welcome to use fidgets in the classroom as tools to help them focus and pay attention. We have reviewed our fidget expectations and discussed the difference between using a fidget as a tool and using it as a toy. Fidgets should stay in a student's hands or on their desk without distracting themselves or others. Students should continue listening, thinking about the lesson, and looking toward the teacher or group while using their fidget. Students may not touch another student's fidget or share fidgets with others. If a fidget becomes distracting or the expectations are not followed, it may be put away and tried again at another time. Acceptable fidgets should are quiet and handheld. Examples include: squishies, marble mesh fidgets, small pop-its, wacky tracks, snake cube, Tangle Jr, stress balls, Needoh Nice Cube, flippy chain, infinity cubes, etc. 

• Volunteers – Interested in volunteering? 

• Complete an online Volunteer Interest Form 

• Complete a background check.  Cost is $20.95 

• Complete a Volunteer Agreement Form 

• Volunteer Opportunities:  

• Tear out pages from Math Workbooks and staple into packets. 

• Repair damaged books from my classroom library. 

• Help with Friday Folders on Thursdays or Fridays. 

• Work one-on-one with students to complete unfinished classwork. 

• Advocacy:  

• Our September Advocacy theme is Self-Awareness. This month, our class will primarily concentrate on exploring feelings and emotions. 

• This week, we will begin using the “Spots” to help us identify feelings and emotions. Our September learning objectives are:  

• Students will learn new vocabulary that describes their feelings and emotions.  

• Students will learn to recognize feelings and emotions in themselves and others. 

• Students will learn the benefits of emotion check-ins. 

• Students will learn how to identify emotions when they are happening simultaneously. 

• Students will learn how to associate colors with feelings and emotions.  

Hello!

My name is Mrs. Koenig and I am your child’s Advocacy Teacher/ Advocate. Advocacy is more than just 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, as well as learn about social and emotional health. It is a time for everyone to feel recognized and welcomed into the classroom and school community. As your child’s Advocate, I will be your primary point of communication, so feel free to reach out to me at any time. I am committed to advocating for your child this year.

I am very excited to be teaching at Westgate this year. This will be my fourth year teaching at Westgate. I graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor Degree in Portuguese Arts in Brazil. In 2021, I graduated from University of Northern Colorado with a Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Education. In the last 15 years, I have worked as a preschool teacher, substitute teacher, second grade teacher and a first grade teacher. I am also a Westgate mom. 

When I am not in the classroom, I am hanging out with my husband and son, practicing yoga, hiking, biking, traveling or reading. 

I am excited to embark in this journey with you and your child this year! 

I have subscribed you to my Advocacy and Academic pages through Edlio. Edlio is our means of posting information to our class pages on the Westgate website.

This quarter, your child will have PE with Mr. Keaton , and Music with Mr. Hopson. You are not pre-subscribed to their Edlio pages, so please go to Mr. Keaton and Hopson’s  Edlio Pages on the Westgate Staff Pages website and subscribe.

• We have two snack times each day. Please send your child with a healthy snack. It also helps if your child knows which food is for snack and which is for lunch.
• Please do not send soda in your child's lunch. Students have a limited amount of time to eat, and many are not able to finish a soda during the lunch period. In addition, soda contains a lot of sugar, which can affect students' focus and energy for the rest of the school day. If soda spills, it creates a sticky mess that is difficult to clean during our short lunch time.
• Water is the only beverage allowed in the classroom. For lunch, water or milk are great choices.
• Please send your child with a light jacket. The mornings are getting cooler, and we spend time outside whenever the weather allows.
• Students are welcome to bring books from home for our daily Joy of Reading time. Please be sure to write your child's name inside each book so it can be returned if it gets misplaced in the classroom.

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 the community create a set of school-wide behavioral expectations/core values, we teach those expectations in all our various environments, and then we CELEBRATE when we see students doing those things! At Westgate, we RISE (Respect, Integrity, Safety, Empathy).

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 and am looking forward to working with you and your child to help them grow!