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J- HawkJournal

Webster Elementary/December 2015

Webster's Report Card...... " Look M a....A l l A 's!"Each and every year, the staff at Webster Elementary School engages in a process of reviewing our work towards our annual building goals. Think of it l ike the work a teacher does with his/her students where together they work to determine how a particular student is doing in mastering those key learning targets for the school year and then sharing that progress out with parents or other family members. It is a time to celebrate things that are going well and a time to identify opportunities for growth and/or improvement. Our f irst 60-day review process happened under the direction of my building leadership team last week and, together, we examined data from the f irst 60 days of the year. We also looked at last year?s data and made comparisons between our Fall 2014 and Fall 2015 scores for added insight. This data analysis is important for two reasons. First, it helps us to identify our progress towards our identif ied goals for the year and to understand the overall health and effectiveness of our system. Second, it helps us to identify patterns and trends within our system that may need our attention or further study. Ultimately, the result of this process is an identif ication of ?next steps? for our leadership team and our entire staff at Webster. At Webster Elementary, we are committed to ensuring open communication about our work and new learning. By clicking on the ?60 Day Building Goal Review? link (below) you can learn more about our data review process from last week and our next steps for the next 60 days of work. It is our goal to communicate clearly to students, staff and other stakeholders about the great work we are doing at our school. We have never been more clear about the

direction the building is heading and how we will know when we have met our goals. It is also my hope that you will take a few minutes to review this presentation to learn more about what work lies ahead for our school. As you might imagine, we will continue on with our focus on improving student motivation and engagement in the classroom and our study of ?The Leader In Me.?

More than in any other year before this, I am extremely excited for our new learning around the concept of student motivation and engagement. Learning more about these concepts will not be easy work as we must, as a staff , def ine what our classrooms look like when students are motivated and engaged. My building leadership team agrees, and the staff understands, that our student engagement will be crit ical to our continued success and high levels of learning. On a f inal note, I would like to take this time on behalf of the entire staff at Webster to wish each and every one of you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! The holidays are a good time for each of us to take a moment of ref lection and think about all those things for which we are thankful each day. I am thankful to be the principal of Webster Elementary School, where students, staff and our families are focused on high levels of learning. I also give thanks today for the teachers at Webster who work hard to bring our mission and vision to life. Thank you for making Webster such a great place to be!! I will see you all again when school resumes on Monday, November 30th.

60 Day Building Goal Review

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No student enrolled in the Urbandale Community School District shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in the District 's programs on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, religion, marital status, ethnic background, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic background. The policy of the District shall be to provide

educational programs and opportunities for students as needed on the basis of individual interests, values, abilit ies and potential.

J-Hawk Journal

Winter Break There wi l l be no school fr om

Thursday, Decem ber 24th, through Fr iday, January 1st, for W inter Break . Please

en joy th is t im e with fam i ly and fr iends! Classes wi l l

r esum e on M onday, January 4th.

H appy H ol idays to al l !

Late StartThere wi l l be two late star t

days at W ebster in Decem ber. On W ednesday,

Decem ber 2nd, and W ednesday, Decem ber

16th, classes wi l l begin at 10:00 a.m .

Students m ay begin enter ing the bui lding at 9:45 a.m . on those days.

PTO M eeting Due to the busy hol iday

season, there wi l l be no PTO M eeting in Decem ber. Please

join us for our January PTO M eeting on Tuesday, January 5th, at 6:30 pm in the W ebster M edia Center. Free chi ldcare

wi l l be avai lable.

Winter Classroom Parties!

Wednesday, December 23rd

2:45 p.m.

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Shop N Share Weekend

J-Hawk Journal

Calendar of Event s W ednesday, Decem ber 2n d - LATE START

Classes Begin at 10:00 a.m .

Saturday, Decem ber 5th - H ol iday Vendor Fair 9:00 a.m . to 2:00 p.m .

Tuesday, Decem ber 8th - Dram a Club begins 3:35 pm - 5:00 pm

W ednesday, Decem ber 16th - LATE START Classes Begin at 10:00 a.m .

W ednesday, Decem ber 23r d - W inter Classroom Par t ies - 2:45 p.m .

Thursday, Decem ber 24th through Fr iday, Jan uar y 1st - W inter Break /No School

M onday, Jan uar y 4th - School Resum es

Tuesday, Jan uar y 5th - PTO M eeting - 6:30 pm

Fr iday, Jan uar y 8th - J- H awk H uddles - 2:55 pm

W ednesday, Jan uar y 13th - LATE START Thursday, Jan uar y 14th - 5th Gr. Band Concer t

7:00 pm - PAC

M onday, Jan uar y 18th - M LK Day - No School

W ednesday, Jan uar y 27th - LATE START Classes Begin at 10:00 a.m

Our next Hy Vee Shop N Share weekend will be December 4th, 5th, and 6th!

Please click here for a printable form for you to take with you when you do your shopping that weekend at the Urbandale Hy-Vee (86th & Douglas). Give the bottom portion to your cashier as you check out and Hy-Vee will generously donate 5% of your purchase to Webster Elementary! Thanks for helping Hy-Vee help our kids! Follow Hy-Vee on Twitter at "UrbandaleHyVee" for notices on special deals and offers! Share these forms with friends, neighbors, co-workers and relatives!

HyVee Shop N Share Form

It 's that t ime of the year when students start wearing winter boots to school on occasion to keep their feet warm and dry. Please remember to send gym shoes for P.E. classes on those days as boots are not allowed during P.E. due to safety concerns. (Some students keep a spare pair of tennis shoes in their lockers so they are always available!) Thank you!

P.E. Reminder

Request for Earbuds W ith the expanded

opportunit ies to learn

using technology, we are in need

of earbuds for students' use. We are request ing that each family please supply one pair of inexpensive earbuds for each student they have at tending Webster. We would like each student to have access to a pair of earbuds by the f irst Monday back after Winter Break (January 4th). Thank you so much for your support !

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J-Hawk Journal PTO November 2015 Meet ing Minutes

November 3, 2015

Attendance Principal: Dr. Carenza PTO Board 2015-2016 in attendance: President: Heather Davison, VP Volunteers: Melissa Baker, Co-Secretaries: Katie Hoover and Amanda Henry, Co-Treasurers: Jamie Nelson and Amanda Brockman, VP Fundraising, Jenny Birchem Teachers: Keri Zimmerman, Pam Dick, Michelle Denneny, Kayla Hanson, Ehrin Kelly,

Dena Quick-Romig, and school nurse, Heidi York

Jodi Schrage: Urbandale Centennial Celebrat ion- Big Celebration July 2017, but celebrating the entire year long!- 52 weeks from July '16 - July '17 - Celebrate something each week - Think about if Webster

could participate and do something for one of the weeks.Tricia Fleagle: Webster Librarian

- Organization of the library- Creating a bookshelf for 2nd grade to help structure/help their book choices- Book Fair - Thank you for your help...The district gives $10 a student so the book fair helps

buy more books- Maker Spaces - Helps create brain activit ies around the library

Dr. Carenza: - 7 Habits: Student Leadership Model

- This year the staff is studying the book, The Leader In Me- 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens book: All staff in the building has a copy- Book Study with parents on the 7 Habits book...starting after the holiday break

- Odyssey of the Mind- Looking at the program for Webster - It is available for grades K-12

Amy Hensley: Race Around Webster Presentat ion- Shared a power point on an overview of the event- Thank you to the committee and volunteers to help pull off the event!- 60% participation this year....for a total raised of over $50,000!!! WOW!

PTO Updates: - Thank you for Box Tops!- Thank you for participating in BINGO for Books.- Thank you to staff appreciation committee.

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J-Hawk Journal

Four th Gr ade Goes To The PoolRecently, four th grade visi ted the Urbandale Pool w ith P.E. teacher, Jodi Schutt, to learn about water safety. In the picture below, students learn how to proper ly put on a l i fe jacket.

Students in the photograph below are learning how to safely extend an object out to someone in trouble.

Third Grade Performs at Wild GameThe third grade classes performed, "God Bless America" out on the ice at the recent "Wild About Education" Iowa Wild hockey game at the Wells Fargo Arena.

Second & Fi f th Grades Pai r Up at Assembly

Students in second grade and f i f th grade each presented one of the 7 habi ts at the recent Blue Ribbon Award Assembly and then teamed up to per form a song about the 7 Habi ts, exhibi t i ng great teamwork!

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J-Hawk Journal

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J-Hawk Journal

Kindergarten: Our learning target so far this month have been neat painting. We will be adding on evergreen trees later, as recognize shapes within form.

First Grade: Our learning target has been learning about form and three-dimensional shapes as we create and decorate pinch pots. Students reviewed the properties of clay as they learned the pinch pot making process. They added their own decorative designs and will paint them next.

Second Grade: Our learning targets have been connecting art to math and reviewing collage. Students have been reviewing symmetry and asymmetry as we look at and make our own African masks. They designed their own sketch of a mask and have been using colage to complete them.

Third Grade: Our learning target has been introduced to coil pot construction, Students learned how to manipulate clay into coils (snakes) and have been wrapping and blending them into pots with a lid. Next on deck: reviewing the glazing process to f inish them!

Fourth Grade: Our learning target has been an introduction to analogous color and review of space/ foreground, middle ground, and background. They have been drawing their own unique jungles based on the work of Henri Rousseau. They are just now learning about analogous colors (similar shades) as they start to mix and paint their jungles.

Fif th Grade: Our learning target has been an introduction to the f ine art printmaking process. Students drew their own Victorian style of house on a foam block. They learned how to "ink" their block with a "brayer" as they made an edition of prints!

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J-Hawk Journal Thank you to all who participated in our Fall Box Tops for Education contest! Our collective efforts brought in just over $1,400.00 for our Webster specials programs!Mr. Olson's class earned the grand prize pizza party and pajama party by bringing in 1307 Box Tops! Fourteen classes earned Crazy Hair Day and four classes earned hat days!Please continue to clip, save, and then send in your Box Tops in the Spring when we will have another contest! Thanks again for all you do for our Webster students and staff !

Mark your calendars and save the date!

Family Fun Night will be held on Saturday, February 20th, 2016 at

Webster. We are planning a fun night of games, inf latables and more! There will be a dance party for the kids and

a silent auction for the adults. If anyone has an item or service that

they would like to donate to the silent auction fundraiser, please contact

Heather Davison at chdavison@hotmail.com.

All proceeds from Family Fun Night will go towards the PTO's goals for

this year!

Drama Club is about to begin for this school year! Meetings will be held every Tuesday and Thursday starting December 8th and ending with their performance the evening of February 18th!

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J-Hawk Journal

We w ish you and yoursa happy, heal thy

New Year!