August 30

Our annual raffle is winding down and we still have many tickets out. Please remember that this is one way our PTA provides supplemental funding for your child’s field trips, and all of the programs for our students during their town meetings. You can turn in the stubs and the money until Tuesday, Sept. 3, so please help us support Willow Springs!! Also, remember that we are out of school on Monday, Sept. 2 for Labor Day, but we will see you back here on Tuesday! Enjoy your holiday.

Transportation Update

Remember that traditional school will begin on Monday, so we expect that some delays with the buses may occur. Please be patient with any delays while the drivers take a little longer with routes that will occur for the school starting earlier than ours, at least for the first few days. The transportation website http://www.wcpss.net/transportation has been updated, and is an excellent source of information for parents and staff. It includes bus routes, bus updates, FAQs and transportation policy and guidelines. You can check online for any delays at this site, then click on "contact us" and click on Willow Springs. Of course, we will continue to note delays for the afternoon on our twitter site: @wsesbus Also, the new contact number for transportation is: 805-3030. Please call them with concerns about your child's transportation. Thanks for your patience!

August 22, 2013

If you have not already, then by Monday, you will be receiving a mCLASS Literacy Progress Report in your child’s folder. (Track 1 and 2 sent their letters a couple of weeks ago.) This progress report will let you know where your child is on important reading skills assessed over the last few weeks as indicated by the running person on the charts. You will also find activities that you can do at home to help support your child’s reading development. Your child’s teacher will also be reviewing this progress with you at your first quarter conference, but please contact your teacher if you have any questions. Thank you for your help in supporting your child’s reading growth!

August 11, 2013

• Please remember to come and register to be a volunteer. Remember, you must be approved each year so our database stays current. Our volunteer registry is available daily from 8:30-4:00 in our Media Center. • Please remember that when coming to our campus during car-rider times, you should not turn left into our parking lot. Any other time it’s fine, but please make a right turn only into our school lot between 8:45-9:15 and 3:35-4:15. This will help keep the lines moving in both directions. Thanks for your cooperation. • Our Back to School Raffle is in progress and you have the chance of winning cash and classroom prizes!! Twenty-five tickets were sent home in your child's folder. Please sell to friends, family, co-workers or neighbors and return ticket stubs and cash or check to school no later than September 3rd. • Buffaloe Lanes Spirit Weekend is August 16th-18th anytime! Just bring your 50/50 card (sent home last week) to Buffaloe Lanes South on 401 and our PTA will receive 50% of your sale! Extra cards are available in school office for family, friends and neighbors!

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!