What Are We Thankful For?

Every other year our teachers take a survey to assess their “working conditions.” Each time they are asked, our teachers cite parents as one of the best things about working at Willow Springs. Having parents that stand behind us through volunteer support but also by being our cheerleaders contributes immensely to the greatness of our school. Parents support us in so many ways: Through the PTA, they have provided us the tools we need to deliver instruction in ways that are engaging and relevant, such as outfitting classrooms with SmartBoards, itouches and ipads, and also providing the little items like tissues, dry erase markers, box tops and even toilet paper rolls. Early Release Day luncheons make our teachers feel the support and appreciation of parents, contributing to the satisfaction they feel being a teacher here. Through the support of so many of our parents, our “Grow Zone” is possible, allowing our students to plant, care for, harvest and enjoy fresh vegetables, and a courtyard has been transformed into an outdoor classroom where our butterfly garden provides hands-on exposure to science-based concepts Parents help us keep our grounds looking beautiful and welcoming. Parents come to have lunch with their children, they volunteer in the classroom, they visit on special days and learning experiences, they help in the Media Center. Our parents come to conferences, they check homework folders, they contact their child’s teacher. Parents who support their children by insisting that homework comes first and ensuring that they read every single day are the Willow Springs parents that help our school stand so proudly among the rest. Make no mistake, we know that parents are not as supportive everywhere, and for your hard work, we take time to thank you today. We hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families. We look forward to seeing you after our holiday break – remember track 1 will track out on Wednesday of next week and Thursday, we will see track 2! We also want to invite you to a winter performance from our chorus and recorder ensemble on Thursday night, December 5 at 7:00 in our gym. Thank you again for being such remarkable parents!

Upcoming events

We are so excited for our annual Math and Science night tomorrow night – remember K-2 begins at 6:15 and 3-5 begins at 7:30. We hope to see you here! We have Early Release this Friday (we dismiss at 1:15) and school is closed for everyone in honor of Veteran’s Day on Monday, November 11. Tomorrow, the NC End of Grade test scores are going to be released. As you have probably heard, throughout the state, we expect all scores to be significantly lower due to the higher requirements for proficiency, but this does not mean that suddenly our students are not performing well. In fact, the growth data that has been released shows that Willow Springs has again exceeded expectations for student growth. We will be sending individual results and more information to you when we receive individual student scores, which we expect in December. For now, we are going to use this new proficiency score as a baseline for the new test and work hard to meet the new targets. We will gauge our success as we compare our scores to the state and the county, and I feel sure that we will measure up favorably when compared to both. I will be having a short informational meeting for any parents who are interested in finding out more about these test scores on Wednesday morning, November 13, at 9:15 in our cafeteria.

Math and Science Night

Parents, we are so excited for another great year at our Math and Science night, which will be this Thursday, November 7. This year, we will be beginning immediately in the classrooms, not in the gym and to keep us from being so crowded we are also starting at alternate times. K-2 will begin their evening at 6:15 and end at 7:30 and 3-5 will begin at 7:30 and finish up at 8:45. If you have siblings that cross the grade span feel free to come at either session, but everyone else be mindful that the presenters are targeting the grade level appropriate audience. Your students came home with the session offerings in their Friday folders this weekend, so please make a plan before you arrive. Track 3, we will have the session descriptions for you the evening of the event. If you have students involved in the science fair at 5th grade, the judging begins at 5:00. We would like to thank the PTA for funding this evening and our teachers for working so hard to develop and work the event. We hope to see you all there!

Friday message

Thank you all so much for a great turn-out at our Fall Festival – I hope you had as much fun as I did. Mrs. Wingler and her team did a fantastic job of putting together a really fun night. Thanks to her and all of the volunteers and our families that made every bit of it possible! I want to remind you to make sure to sign up for our volunteer registry if you want to volunteer this year (in classrooms, on field trips, for field day, etc.) If you reactivate your registration by Oct. 31, we are not charged a fee, but if you have to sign up after Oct. 31, then we are charged $4.95 per applicant. So, if you haven’t signed up yet, help us out by coming on in by Halloween and getting signed up for this year! Report cards for tracks 1,2 and 3 are coming home today. Thank you for your patience as the county has been revamping our new report card. It will look different to you, so look for the explanation that we have provided that explains a little about it. If you have other questions, your child’s teacher will be happy to schedule a conference with you. The more you know, the more you can support your child’s growth!

October 3, 2013 Do you have questions about the School Bond that will be voted on next week? We thought it would be a good idea to provide you some information about that and a venue where you could ask some questions, so we have some representatives coming out on Monday night at our next PTA meeting to help us better understand what this bond will and will not fund, how it will affect our school, our kids and our wallets. Please join us at 6:30 Monday night in our Media Center. Similarly, Willow Springs is a voting site on Tuesday, Oct. 8, so please be extra careful in our parking lot and watch for pedestrians. Remember to cast your vote for your school board member and the bond! We want to thank everyone who voted in the Moe’s Garden Grant… We won!!! Our garden will be awarded $500! Also, congratulations to Mrs. McClure and all of our students who helped us in our art project for the American Girl Grant… our art program was recognized nationally and we received an award of $2500 for the art program. We are so proud! Finally, the Fall Festival is here!! We look forward to seeing you tomorrow between 5:30-7:30. You can purchase armbands for $10 at the front of the school and in the bus loading zone. We hope to see you here!!

Hey everyone! We hope you have had a great week and are loving life at Willow Springs. We have so much going on and are looking forward to a fabulous fall. I wanted you to know about three ways you can help us raise some money for our school with just a click of your mouse. First of all, Target is running a contest and we will earn $1 with every vote up to $10,000.. just go to givewith.target.com (no www and remember the dot after with) and select Willow Springs Elementary. You can vote as many times as you want! The contest ends next Saturday, Sept. 21. Secondly, you can order your discounted fair tickets through our Willow Springs website portal, and we will get back $2 for every adult ticket and $1 for every student ticket at no extra cost to you. Finally, you can go to Moe’s Facebook page and vote for our garden, as we are a finalist in a grant for $500 to support our school garden. Each of these will take just a little time and could make a big difference. Take a moment if you will!

Sept. 9 Reminders

Great Job on the Raffle!! The results have exceeded the expectations of our PTA and helped us to provide great programs and field trips for our students this year. Remember, track 1 will be tracking out on Tuesday and will not come to school on Wednesday. Track 2 tracks back in on Wednesday!