Woodstock Elementary School is very fortunate to offer a Girls on the Run program each spring for girls in grades 3-6. Girls on the Run is recruiting coaches for the Spring 2020 season!

Stop by their table on the lawn of the Norman Williams Public Library this Wednesday, October 9th to learn more. Coach Davie will be there with a representative from GOTRVT from 3-6pm (during Market on the Green) to answer questions. Past participants are welcome to wear their GOTR t-shirts and hang out with us to spread the word! Contact Lauren Davie with questions - ldavie@wcsu.net

WES, along with other schools within the Windsor Central Supervisory Union, are utilizing a newsletter program called “Smore” to share their individual news with families of attending students. These newsletter can be viewed online and downloaded via the buttons below. WES sends the school’s newsletter directly via email; we will post these newsletters here as well.

The Woodstock Elementary School Faculty invites WES parents and guardians to a curriculum exploration night on Tuesday, September 24th, from 6-7pm at WES. Teachers will present in content area teams to engage you in activities that mirror the learning WES students do on a daily basis. The topic options are listed in the document linked via the button below. Each session will be presented three times, during an A, B, and C time block, so you may pick from three of the sessions on the menu. It is not important that you see your child’s teacher on this night because the whole faculty has planned these sessions together and each session fairly represents instruction across the school. If you need to speak to a teacher about your child, please email or call to check-in or arrange a conference. This is an adult-only event! Coffee, tea, and cookies will be served.

Dear WES Community,

We hope everyone's school year is off to a great start and that you are all enjoying our beautiful Vermont weather. Fall is almost upon us and with that comes crisp nights, vibrant foliage, and the Harvest Supper! October 5th is the day and planning has begun.

As some of you know, parents, children, school staff, and community members have been coming together for 45 years to organize, prepare, and serve a traditional turkey dinner at the Pomfret Town Hall. This year, there have been many changes to the structure of our combined school district, and so now more than ever, it’s important to continue to unite and support the children in our communities.

Though children and staff may not be inside of The Prosper Valley School building currently, WES faculty and students will be using its outdoor classroom, which includes the wonderful forest and fields, sugar shack, and observatory. The funds raised from this year’s Harvest Supper will go directly to the bridge project. The sturdy, new bridge will connect the fields to the forest, providing a safe and inviting gateway to the woods and to our children’s outdoor learning.

They say that it takes a village to raise a child and that couldn’t be more true when it comes to a great community event such as this. There are many opportunities to help out. You can sign up to make breads, pies, or turkey or you may want to join in the potato mashing party or the squash peeling party (both at Pomfret Town Hall). You can also help assemble flowers for decorations, help set up chairs and tables, or carve some of the birds. We also need a few workers on the night to wait tables and clean up dishes. If you have been blessed with an abundance of flowers, potatoes, cabbage, or butternut squash this year, we would really appreciate a donation of that as well. We try to keep our supper as locally sourced as possible.

Raffle baskets are also a big part of the supper. Families donate new items to fill the baskets, and the raffle basket committee assembles them. During each supper seating, 2 raffle baskets are given away to lucky ticket holders. Past basket themes include Family Fun Night, Sweets and Treats, and Kitchen and Garden Supplies. This week, students will be coming home with an envelope of raffle tickets to sell, if they choose. There will be a collection box in the school office for students to return ticket money, get more tickets if they wish, and also to place a donated basket item.

Don't forget to purchase your supper tickets! Three seatings are offered: 5:00, 6:15, and 7:30 pm. We serve 375 people and always sell out.

If you'd like to sign up for any jobs or tasks, you can do so here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0C48AEAE2BA7FE3-harvest

Purchase your supper tickets here:

http://www.pomfretharvestsupper.com or call Dana Kaye @ 802-3565863 to make your reservation.

Thank you for your support. We look forward to a fun and successful evening! Please feel free to contact either one of us with any questions.

2019 Harvest Supper Co-Chairs
Jody Eaton 802-369-9335 – soulshinetraining@gmail.com
Dana Kaye 802-356-5863 – 06dana.kaye10@gmail.com

WES, along with other schools within the Windsor Central Supervisory Union, are utilizing a newsletter program called “Smore” to share their individual news with families of attending students. These newsletter can be viewed online and downloaded via the buttons below. WES sends the school’s newsletter directly via email; we will post these newsletters here as well.

Please note that David Miles will be out of the office on:

• Thursday, September 12

• Friday, September 13

• Monday, September 16

Ali Gadapee, who has worked in the WES Cafe in the past, will be in the office in his place. However, she will not have easy access to his emails for that time.

If you need to make any changes to your child's schedule or pick-up plans or let us know of an absence, please do not send an email to David. You can either email Mrs. Towne in the library or the principal, Ms. Mills, or just call the office at 457-2522. Thank you!

The first PTO meeting of the school year will take place this Thursday night at 5:30pm. Everyone is welcome!

WES, along with other schools within the Windsor Central Supervisory Union, are utilizing a newsletter program called “Smore” to share their individual news with families of attending students. These newsletter can be viewed online and downloaded via the buttons below. WES sends the school’s newsletter directly via email; we will post these newsletters here as well.

We are looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible at Meet Your Teacher Night tomorrow. If your family is new to WES and would like a small group tour or a less crowded environment to meet the teachers, please come at 4:30pm. If you are familiar with WES or are a returning family, we hope to see you at 5:30pm. The even t ends at 6:30pm so our teachers can get to bed early! 

Reminder that we are also having a penny drive for our charitable giving-themed positive behavior program (PBIS) this year. Donate your unwanted penny collections tomorrow night in the lobby! 

We look forward to seeing you very soon! The bus routes are now updated on the WCSU website and can be found here. If you would like to request that a stop be added to your route, please contact Admin Assistant David Miles in the WES office (457-2522, davidmiles@wcsu.net). We request that you do not call the bus company. David is the only person the bus company will accept requests from for our school. 

It is time to officially welcome all of you to the 2019-2020 School Year and update you on some news from WES. This is an exciting year for WES as our enrollment has grown from 210 to 280 students with this year’s merger of RES 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, TPVS, and WES. We extend a warm welcome to our new families from Bridgewater, Pomfret, and Reading, our new prekindergarten and kindergarten students, and those families who have moved to the area from other regions and states. For all families who were previously a part of RES, TPVS, or WES, this year represents quite a change to a larger, combined school. Our staff is optimistic and enthusiastic about the opportunities presented in this collaboration, and we look forward to building a vibrant, cohesive community with you all.

Teachers New to the District: Please help us welcome the following WES teachers who are new to Windsor Central: Eirene Mavodones, Art; Patrick McDonough, PE (Never fear, Mr. T will still be at WES, too); and Amanda Rank, Special Educator. As announced last spring, we have a group of talented teachers who have joined us from TPVS and RES. This summer, we hired several new paraeducators and support staff your children will get to know soon.

Here are some orientation dates to be aware of as the school year approaches:

• PreK Playground Social: Thursday, August 22nd: 4-5 PM

• Kindergarten Playground Social: Friday, August 23rd: 5-6 PM

• PreK Orientation for PreK students and families: Monday, August 26th: 3-4 PM

• K-6 Meet Your Teacher Night: Monday, August 26th:
  - 4:30 PM for new-to-WES students and families (school tours, smaller group introductions
  to teachers and new peers)
  - 5:30-6:30 PM for new and returning WES students and families to mingle

Information about the school and classrooms can be found in a variety of places. A link to the school district calendar PDF can be found here. We also have a WES Google events calendar you can add to your computer, tablet, or smartphone to follow school events, and a PTO Facebook page. Many class newsletters and blogs can be found here and will be updated soon by the teachers. Teachers will share information with you about how to access their class news online. For general school information, your best source is the WES Admin Assistant David Miles (davidmiles@wcsu.net, 457-2522).

The first day of school is Wednesday, August 28th with school starting at 7:55 AM and dismissal at 2:50 PM. Children may be dropped off starting at 7:30. The playground opens at 7:40. We will send bus route information out as soon as it becomes available to us.

Parking: Parking for drop-off and pick-up at WES is very limited and can be challenging. There is a drop-off zone in front of the school where no parking is permitted between 7:30-8:00am. Woodstock Police are working with us to create an additional drop-off zone if possible. The best way to ensure a smooth drop-off is to arrive early! The back-ups tend to happen from 7:50-8:05. Please read and follow the parking instructions found here.

PBIS Updates: The merger of students and staff from three schools presents the opportunity to revisit our school culture systems. WES is proceeding into our third year of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) but with some revamped procedures thanks to the input of our new staff. As always, the emphasis is on explicit teaching school expectations and recognizing students with verbal praise when expectations are met. In place of our previous paper paw prints to accompany student recognition, we will use a penny system. Pennies will not be given to individual students but will go into a communal class jar.

Classes will be working towards school-wide charitable donation goals. We hope that students will earn over $500 worth of pennies this year to be donated to charitable causes the students will select. We estimate that we will need over 70,000 pennies this year and will seek donations from local banks and families. If your family has a penny collection you would be willing to donate to this project, we will gladly take your pennies off your hands at Meet Your Teacher Night on 8/26.

Playground Updates: This summer, the WES PTO helped launch a fundraising effort for short-term and long-term improvements to the playground. Through the funds raised thus far and a grant from Vermont School Board Insurance Trust, we were able to fix the erosion under the treehouse, relocate some climbing boulders, build up the sandbox, create an auxiliary sandbox, and repair the swingset. This summer, we also anticipate relocating some trees that inhibit ball sports in the small playing field area.

Playground fundraising will continue this year with the hopes of implementing long-term projects such as addressing the hillside trails and purchasing a climbing structure. Information about how to donate can be found here. We are always eager to have volunteers help with the upkeep of our gardens and grounds if you can offer time with projects such as pulling weeds, sweeping sand, and raking mulch.

August 28th will be here before you know it! Enjoy your remaining family time before we kick off the school year. We look forward to seeing you soon. As always, if there are ways we can collaborate to best serve your child, we want to hear from you. Please be in touch if you have questions, concerns, or ideas for us.

Sincerely,

Maggie Mills

Principal