whispers february 2013

7/29/2019 Whispers February 2013

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Wekiva WhispersWekiva Elementary School Where Koality Education Happens Every Day!

1450 East Wekiva Trail

Longwood, Florida 32779

Phone: 746-3150 Fax: 746-3163February 2013

Principal: Marjorie Adamczyk Assistant Principal: Kyle Hughes

Seminole County Public Schoolswww.scps.k12.fl.us orwww.wekivaelementary.com

Principals MessageBig changes are happening at Wekiva!

The second computer lab is ready andavailable to students. The districttechnology team, area technologyspecialist, and Wekivas TechnologyFacilitator & Media Coordinator, Ms. Cookworked together to help make the new laba reality for Wekiva. The second bigchange will be coming at the end ofFebruary; Wekiva will be going wireless! Ithas been very frustrating without it. Many

SCPS programs need wireless access forteachers to work remotely.Another big adjustment taking place this

month is the Key Cards. Last May, Ishared with the district the need to securethe double access doors surrounding theMedia Center building. In October, ourrequest was approved by the SchoolBoard and Key Cards will be installed inthe near future.

Our Pre-K program is growing andgrowing. Parents of Pre-K students mustescort their children from the car to the

classroom waiting area. Due to this, wehave designated the car ramp circle by ourcafeteria for the Pre-K parents only.Parents who are not Pre-K must use themain parking lot.

FCAT Math for fifth grade will bechanging as well this year. Grade 5students will be taking it on the computer.Our new lab will help with theadministration of this test.

Speaking of FCAT, our FCAT Writes ison February 26th. Fourth grade teachersand students are busy preparing for it.

Cafeteria PlaygroundAfter school, the playground by the

Wekiva Cafeteria is for our extended daystudents only. This area is not for parentsand non-extended day students forsecurity reasons. Other students andparents using this playground afterdismissal will be asked to leave byextended day employees. Please useWekiva Hills Park instead.

Changes are not always easy but manytimes it is necessary for safety or to raisethe achievement level of our students.We are Catching the Ever ChangingWave!

Until next time,Ms. Adamczyk

Community Kudos!!!!McDonalds supported our Scholastic

Reading Inventory Reading GainsLuncheon!! Thank you!

Wells Fargo Community Support is alsoappreciated. Wekiva thanks you for yourgenerosity.

Kudos to Cadet Girl Scout Troup1113! True to their Girl Scout Promise;they dropped off well over 100 items forour food pantry!. To help people at alltimes and to live by the Girl Scout Law.

Pappa Johns Pizza generouslyprovided the Wekiva staff with food for ourrecent Faculty meeting! It was appreciatedby everyone.

Seminole County Rezoning InformationThe county has divided the district intozones. Wekiva is located in the West zone.The rezone suggestions were discussed ata work session on February 5. Thecommunity can review the plans atwww.rezoner.com The School Board willshare with the community on March 13th.Kindergarten Round-Up will not bescheduled until the district finalizes therezoning.

Student Council NewsStudent Council is working hard to collect

all the pop tabs we can for our AnnualRonald McDonald Charity event! There willbe a contest between the grade levelsfrom Feb. 11-15. Pop tabs will be collectedand turned in the first week in April so startsaving and bring in those tabs!

PTA

PTA Picnic in the ParkPTA is proud to announce the first annualPicnic in the Park. Come join us for anafternoon of family fun. Pack your picnic,bring your family, and join us at WekivaHills Park on February 9th from 1:00 pm-tilldusk. This is a day for families and friendsto come hang out and enjoy the park. Weare planning some fun with Coach Proseand Geo-Caching, and Kids vs. Parents

kick ball game. See you there!

Mark your calendar....Wekiva PTA Family Dinner & Art Show

Tuesday, March 12th 5:00 to 8:00Plans are underway for another

fantastic Family Dinner Night.This evening will include the Wekiva ArtShow where each Wekiva student willdisplay their own masterpiece! Areyou ready for the challenge? Are yousmarter than a 5th grader? How about aMinute to Win It??!! These are just a few

of the family challenges we have in storefor this fun evening at Wekiva. Spaghettidinner tickets go on sale for $6 startingFebruary 12th. PTA would like parents tobe a part of this fun event. If you areinterested, please contact Trisha Tamm at(407) 383-8395. It's going to be a blast!

Lisa RomineWekiva PTA Presiden

Grade Level NewsKindergarten

During February, Kindergarten studentswill be exploring American symbols andcelebrations through literary andinformational texts. Our youngest studentswill also be learning about the importanceof asking questions to clarify the key ideasand details of a topic.

In math, the kindergarten students arelearning all about numbers to 20. By theend of chapter 6, all students should beable to represent, compare and order setsto 20.


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First GradeFirst grade celebrated our 100th day of

learning January 25th. We used manynumber patterns to skip count to 100 andwrote about 100 things we would like tohave 100 of and 100 things we would notlike 100 of. We had outstanding 100th dayprojects shared in our classrooms. We arevery proud of our hard workers.

Reading at home for 20 minutes eachday helps your child become a moreconfident and fluent reader. Make it fun.

The more they read, the more they willlearn.

Second GradeThe second grade teachers and students

have been working hard on learning oursecond grade standards. In reading, wehave been working on making inferencesand understanding cause and effect whilereading a variety of fiction and non-fictionbooks. We have also been reviewing,summarizing, and locating the main ideaand details. In writing, we have been

learning how to write both a narrative andexpository paragraph. Some of thestudents are having a hard time gettingtheir thoughts out on paper. To help this athome, encourage your child to write.Instead of them telling you about the TVshow or game they just played; have themwrite you a letter explaining it. They canalso write their request for dessert ordinner, and have them use completesentences. You can also write letters tothem to help model complete sentencesand correct grammar usage. Encouragingwriting any way you can at home wouldbenefit them in the classroom. In math, wehave learned how to add and subtractthree-digit whole numbers. Rememberwhen reviewing these skills at home to usethe words regrouping hundreds, tens, andones instead of borrowing and carrying.Next, we will be learning how to countmoney, tell time to the half hour, andmeasuring. In science, we have juststarted our unit on the human body, ask

your child about their heart rate andbones.

Just a little reminder to please makesure you are checking with your childabout supplies that may be needed. A lotof kids are out of glue sticks, whiteboardmarkers and pencils. Thank you for yourcontinued support in working at home withyour child and making sure they arereading and writing nightly.

ThirdGrade

It's hard to believe, but one-half of theschool year is over! Third graders havebeen busy working on their academicskills. In Math, we just finished learningabout fractions. Our third and last Big Ideafor the year is shapes, including lines,rays, line segments, angles, quadrilaterals,and triangles. In Reading, students arepracticing reading with fluency andcomprehension. We are teaching goodreading strategies that students shoulduse to comprehend various texts, includingnovels, Harcourt stories, and non-fiction

texts. We continue to focus on many skillsin Language Arts such as writing incomplete sentences, using correctcapitalization and punctuation, nouns,verbs, pronouns, adjectives, sentence-combining, as well as choosing goodwords and organizing a piece of writing. InSocial Studies, we finished the last tworegions of the United States and next wewill study Mexico and compare it to theUSA. In Science, we are learning aboutforms of energy and heat sources.

FourthGradeFourth grade is hard at work preparing forthe upcoming FCAT tests for reading,math and especially FCAT Writes! TheFCAT writing test will be on Tuesday,February 26th. All classrooms are doingextra morning practice in writing. We alsohave the added assistance of retiredteachers, Mrs. Shirley Decker and Mrs.Jenna Kennedy, who are working withsmall writing groups four days a week.

FifthGradeTriskaidekaphobia? Not in our fifth

grade! We are embracing the year 2013with a flurry of superior reading,descriptive writing, and precisecomputations. In our Language Artsclasses, we have begun to completeexercises in the Buckle Down FCATpractice book. The students are finetuning the fifth grade level reading skillsand improving their powers of deductivereasoning. Along with the regular reading

text stories, our students are engaged innovel studies. These are literature worksselected by the teachers and haveaccompanying activities to enhance theunderstanding of literary elements. Thefocus of AR this time is nonfiction. Checkwith your child and quiz them on theirselection for this assessment. The SocialStudies section of the day now centers ondiscussions of the Industrial Revolution.Our students are learning about the vastadvantages of mass production and theeffects war may have had on the look of

the factory worker. Math has entered theworld of fractions, decimals andmeasurement! Our students were amazedto learn only a few countries use thecustomary or standard units of measure.Can you name 2 other countries using oursystem? Science has taken us to infinityand beyond, so to speak! We have justfinished our space unit. We modeledeverything from the distances of the spaceobjects from each other to the sizes ofplanets and craters. The biggest questionwas, Are we alone out here? Our nextunit will take us into the study of weather,starting off with the water cycle. Speakingof weather, we are hoping for fineconditions as we take a walk in the mudlater this month! Can you believe thestudents really look forward to this day ofschool? As you can see, 2013 is already

jam packed with new challenges andsurprises.


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Exceptional Education and ESOLOur Exceptional Students Education and

ESOL teachers are working diligently withour ESE/ESOL students to make surelearning goals and IEP/LEP goals arebeing met. ESE/ESOL teachers arealways collaborating with our regulareducation teachers to make sure ultimatelearning is occurring. If you have aquestion about your childs IEP/LEP,please contact your childs ESE/ESOLteacher.

ArtWe have been working on a community

service project called Valentine's forVeterans. Students have been creatingValentine cards to send to Marines inCalifornia and a Veterans Hospital inTampa. Congratulations to Grades 2-5who have been working very hard on acover design for the yearbook. We have somany talented artists at Wekiva! It will be ahard decision for Ms. Adamczyk to select

just one! All students are busy creating art

for the Wekiva Annual Art Show which willbe on March 12, from 5-8. I hope you willbe able to come out and see the creativespirit alive at Wekiva Elementary.

MusicThe music room buzzes and sings with

activity. In December, Mrs. Kranz hosted apizza party for those students who haveattained the level of black belt in RecorderKarate, a sizable accomplishment. Thisyear, fourth graders, Lorenzo Martinez andNicholas Smith earned the honor duringthe first half of the year. Congratulationson a job well done! Students from previousyears were invited to this inaugural party -Ethan Hyuck, Dante Ardene, Beth Walls,

Alexis Staudenmeier, and Jared Anderson.Along with those honors, seven studentswill participate in Seminole County's AllCounty Elementary Music Festival onSaturday, February 16th at Lyman HighSchool. These students have worked hardto achieve this opportunity, most

participating in Koala MusicKidz for atleast two years, with some of themparticipating since third grade. Thosestudents are Ryleigh Graber, Amy Laurie,Serra Sowers and Claire Wisth in Chorus;Nathan Lach on Recorder, and Emma Vickand Sean Weathers in the Orff Ensemble.Congratulations to these wonderfulstudents for their hard work anddedication.

Mrs. Harrington and Mrs. Kranz will holdauditions for Once Upon a Time, the

spring musical, on Monday, February 11,from 3:15 - 4:15 p.m. in the music room.

Any child in grades four and five mayaudition. Please pick up the audition formincluding permission and teacher approvalfrom Mrs. Harrington. And finally, KoalaMusicKidz is invited to sing at DowntownDisney for Disney Magic Music Days onceagain! Our students will be performing atthe Waterside Stage at Downtown Disneyon Monday, May 20, at 11 a.m. If you havean opportunity to come out and hear them,please do! They always do a wonderful

job, after which, they will spend the day atEpcot for free! We appreciate Disney'sgenerosity in funding these opportunities.It's a busy spring, but we love it!

Science NewsScience Expo 2013 has been amazing!

195 students signed up to participate,making up 119 total projects! This was ourlargest EXPO ever!

ReadingStudents tracked their reading progress

with their teachers in grades 2 - 5 to findout how many points they earned fromtheir last Scholastic Reading Inventory testto their most recent SRI test. There will beanother SRI test in the future.

Students who made the most gainscelebrated lunch with the Principal, thanksto our business partner McDonalds.Wekiva is proud to announce the names oftop three students who made the mostgains.

Second GradeNathan NguyenDacari FitzgeraldMakaila Mercer

Third GradeAmelia FeinAnna ArdolinaLindsay Rosichan

Fourth GradeDavid Redick

Mariana RiveraJade Linscheid

Fifth GradeAlexis LeeRowan GlefkeMateo Ramunno

Cross Country Koala RunCongratulations to our Koala RunWinners.

BEAR LAKE Top 156 and Under Boys

Hudson Woods 2ndA.J. Eger 13thJonathan Fitzgerald 15th

6 and Under GirlsHannah Hill 1st

Anniston Bitner 3rdLily Chase 8th

7 Year old Boys

Connor Woods 2ndJacob Clifton 13thBrandon Mauger 14th

7 Year Old GirlsKiley Strott 1st

10 Year Old BoysAndrew Pikalow 7th

11 Year Old BoysBen Evelev 6th


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FOREST CITY Top 106 and Under Boys

Arnaud Babb 3 rd

6 and Under GirlsAniston Bitner 1st

Lily Chase 4thHannah Hill 7th

7 Year old GirlsKiley Strott 1st

8 Year Old GirlsSierra Higgins 9th

10 Year Old BoysAndrew Pikalow 8th

We have three remaining meets: LakeOrienta at Seminole State College onFebruary 9th, The All County Meet atWinter Springs High School on February23rd, and Hamilton Elementary on March2nd. We also have the opportunity to

participate in the Smile Mile for Kids; onMarch 9th in Baldwin Park. It supports theTrack Shack Foundation which grantedour program $2000.00 this year and manymore in the past. If we have the mostparticipants from Seminole County at theSmile Mile, we receive $500.00 more forour Cross Country Club. Look forinformation to come home with your childin the near future.

Saturday, February 9th the P.E.Department is teaming up with WekivaPTA for a Family Day in the Park. The P.E.Department is supplying our GPS units for

a fun Geocatching Scavenger Hunt in thearea. Bring your family out for a day of fun!

CalendarFebruary 9 FAMILY DAY IN THE PARK

Cross Country Meet atSeminole State College

February 11 Fifth Grade Field TripMud Walk (Hull/Lofton)

February 12 Fifth Grade Field TripDry Walk (Hull/Lofton)

February 14 Happy Valentines Day !February 18 NO SCHOOLFebruary 19 Fifth Grade Field Trip

Environmental CenterMud Walk (Soltren, Powers,Harrington) Dry WalkPerdomo)4th Gr Hewitt Project CreateField Trip

February 21 Fifth Grade Field TripEnvironmental Center

Dry Walk (Soltren, Powers,Harrington) Mud WalkPerdomo)

February 22 9:00am Martin Luther KingJr. Play Mr. Pierres Classroom

February 23 All County Cross Country

Meet at Winter Springs HighFebruary 25 End of the 2nd Quarter

February 26 FCAT WRITES SHH!!NO DIVIDENDS TODAY!

February 26 Kindergarten Field TripFebruary 27 FCAT WRITES

Make UpNO DIVIDENDS TODAY!

February 28 Dr. Seuss Day!

March 2 Cross Country Meet at

HamiltonMarch 6 REPORT CARDS GO HOMEMarch 9 Smile Mile in Baldwin ParkMarch 11 Spring Book FairMarch 12 PTA Family Dinner 5 8pm

Koality Education HappensEvery Day

K Kindness to OthersO Organized

A Always be HonestL Learning 1stA Achieving Goals

whispers february 2013

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