Reminders

I’d like to remind you that our first Willow Springs Spirit night is this Thursday, July 25 at Dairy Queen – any time.  With the heat, it would be a nice cool treat!  Come, see your friend and just mention Willow Springs Elementary and Dairy Queen will donate a portion back to the PTA.

Don’t forget the general PTA informational meeting is Monday night, July 22 at 7:00.  Please meet us in the cafeteria and find out how you can fit in and support our PTA!

We will be taking fall pictures for tracks 1 and 3 on Tuesday, July 23.

Weekly Message

July 12, 2013

What an amazing beginning! Your students have transitioned well to the next grade level and we are off and running to another super year!  If you haven’t followed us on twitter yet, remember that we are alerting bus parents to on-time dismissals and any delays via our tweets.  You can follow us @wsesbus!

We would like to remind you that we need to renew your volunteer registry prior to Oct. 1. For the next two weeks we will have the computer lab set up in the mornings to expedite your renewal, which should only take you about 3 minutes.  Please stop by between 8:45 and 9:15.  During other times, you are welcome to renew in our Media Center.  Remember you will need to have this completed in order to volunteer in any capacity on our site or on field trips.  It’s just one more way we are ensuring the safety of every child in our care.

Our fall PTA raffle is kicking off and we really hope you will help us out!  We are sending home 10 raffle tickets with each child and asking you to help us by selling these for our fall PTA expenditures.  Look for your child’s tickets and information in their folders.  Also, the PTA is having their annual kick-off meeting on July 22.  This is the perfect meeting to come and find out about all of the committees that help support our school.  It’s a great way to get involved in our Willow Springs family, and we could always use your help.  Opportunities range from a very limited time commitment to more significant involvement, but every role is important.  We will begin at 7:00 in the cafeteria, and we hope to see you there!

Welcome Back Letter

Dear Parents and Families,

Welcome back to another great year at Willow Springs!  We are excited as we continue to grow in our abilities to embrace the needs of every child.  This year, we are getting a new playground that is fully accessible to all and includes new and improved climbing structures.  While it is under construction, students will continue to have recess, but well removed from the building of the playground for safety.  We hope to unveil the new structures before the end of summer.

We are also excited about our partnership with Discovery Education, which helps us better integrate technology into our classrooms in meaningful ways.  We have a team of nine teachers that will serve as learning labs for our staff as we begin this journey, and with the support of our generous parents and PTA, we are on our way to a 3:1 device ratio.  Of course, this is a long-term goal, but one that we are very dedicated to.  We hope your child will enjoy these learning experiences and will talk about the technology experiences throughout the year.

We have added a few technology communication tools, as well.  For transportation information, we are going to add a twitter address for parents to follow.  We will post any late bus information as it happens, so parents can have better access to information regarding afternoon routes.  Keep in mind, we have to know about an issue before we can tweet about it, but we will tweet as soon as we are aware. For bus information, please follow us on twitter @WSESbus. 

Parent weekly messages will also now be posted on my blog at our new website, www.willowspringses.wcpss.net.   Each time I send out a phone message, I will copy that message onto my page, so you can keep up with all of our information.  I hope you will check out our new website – it looks great and is full of everything you ever wanted to know about WSES!

Thank you to our carpool parents for following our afternoon procedures for car-riders.  It will be very important to maintain the 3:35 line up time as we move into a new school year for safety on Dwight Rowland Road.  Please note that we will have new parents joining us, and I ask for everyone’s patience as they are learning the procedures.  We ask that you NOT arrive on campus for car-riders prior to 3:35.  For those of you who may arrive early, we do NOT line cars up until 3:35, so you must park in a parking space (not at the entrance.)  When the line begins at 3:35, we ask for your patience and civility for getting into line.  Your actions are representative of our school population and you are models for your children, so please be patient with one another.

Our first PTA meeting is scheduled for July 22, and it will be a great place for you to come to learn about how to get involved, the budget and expenditures and our fundraisers.  Please join us in the cafeteria at 7:00.

Remember to check your child’s folder regularly and ensure that your child reads every night!!!  We hope to have a great year!

Welcome Back!

July 5, 2013

Monday is almost here and we are very excited about kicking off a new school year.  We would like to welcome all new parents and students to our Baby Bengal family and encourage you to get involved in all things Willow Springs.  Most importantly, we want to ensure the safety of your child at all times.  Along those lines, I’d like to remind all returning parents that we have two new bus routes this year, so please check your child’s bus route on our new website, www.willowspringses.wcpss.net and be sure to let your child’s teacher know how he or she should be going home.  We don’t want you to assume that they will still ride the same bus and have us place him or her on the wrong route on Monday afternoon.  Parents of kindergarten and first grade students must have a responsible adult at the bus stop to receive students or the bus driver will not drop the student off.  Also, as a reminder, our car-rider line does not begin until 3:35, so please do not arrive on campus early, and you must have a car-rider sign to pick up your child in the carpool line.  Kindergarten parents will pick these signs up when you bring your child in for their screening day next week.

Remember to check your teacher’s supply list on teacherlist.com. Please note that on this list you may see a student supply list and a teacher wish list – there is a difference!

Garden Club will not meet this Tuesday during the first week of school, but will resume again on July 16 for students currently involved.

Our PTA is very active and an amazing group of people that support our school and our students at every turn.  Please join our PTA by completing the membership information that will come home with your child this week and returning it to your child’s teacher.

Tracks 1,2,and 3 – we will see you on Monday!!  Let’s make it a fun year J

June 25, 2013

I am so excited to announce that in conjunction with Wake County Parks, WCPSS and our PTA, Willow Springs will be receiving a new playground for the 2013-14 school year!  They began removing our old equipment today and will embark on the construction, which will include removal of the wall, the sand and development of new structures.  We are very excited about the prospect of having the first installation of the latest and greatest equipment.  Of course, it does mean that the playground will be closed during this time, but we hope to have everything ready before the end of the summer. Recess will continue, safely away from the building of the new playground during this time.

We hope to see tracks 2, 3, and 4 at Meet the Teacher tonight for grades 1-5.

Friday is the last day of school for the 2012-13 school year, and we hope it held great memories for you and your child.  You should receive your child’s report card in their Friday folder, along with other important information.  A new adventure will begin soon as school will start for tracks 1, 2 and 3 on July 8.

Parents, on June 18 we held an unannounced lock-down drill for our staff and students.  They are all to be congratulated on a wonderful job.  Our students followed procedures and behaved very maturely, even though they were not expecting the drill.  We had several Wake County Deputies here, as well as Wake County school personnel to monitor our lockdown procedures, ensuring that we will be prepared, if ever we need to secure our building.  Please thank your child for their participation and cooperating with staff.

As a reminder, we will have meet the teacher next Tuesday, June 25 for tracks 2,3, and 4.  We do have 2 teachers who are meeting their students on different days, so please check the assignment letter that went home with your child on Friday.

We look forward to a great last week of school next week!  Please remember the last day for this school year is June 28.

Winter, 2012

Dear Parents,

Happy  Holidays!  We have had such a great beginning to our year, it is hard to believe that it is time to start the holiday season.  As our students venture into the second semester, you will note that increased demands are placed upon thinking, as the students are working hard to apply the basic skills that they have learned – especially in the area of mathematics and problem solving.  When helping your child with these types of higher order thinking problems, try leading them with questions so that they can determine the answers, instead of showing them how to do it…. We want them to learn to think, which can be tough for them as they look at problems from different points of view.  In the long run, it is the most powerful way for them to truly understand the concepts!

As the school board is in the process of approving a student assignment plan for 13-14, it looks like all K-4 students who are currently enrolled at Willow Springs will be able to stay here next year.  On January 8 at 6:30, we will be having an information session for you regarding details if you would like to request to go back to your base school, or choose a different school for your child for next year.  In addition, we will also be holding an information session about the transition to Middle school for 5^th grade parents on two dates:  December 13 at 8:00 and January 8 immediately following the assignment information session. 

If you would like to make a track change request for your child, please call the office by January 25^th at 557-2770 and we will send home a request form!

If you have a rising Kindergarten student, 5 years old by August 31,  please come to school to register him or her on Monday, Janaury 7 between 8:15 and 4:00.  This prompt registration will help us to ensure there is room on the same track as their siblings.  Remember to bring the birth certificate, your proof of residence, and your photo id..

Our second annual Boosterthon will be coming up soon – Feb. 25-March 8.  Based on parent feedback, we have extended it to two full weeks in order to ensure that all tracks have a chance to participate.  We are so excited about what the Boosterthon team has in store for us this year, so mark your calendars!

We look forward to seeing you around the Springs!

Sincerely,

      Camille Miller