Windermere Weekly Parent Update
11.21.21
Happy Sunday! This update will serve as the update for next week and the week after Thanksgiving, as well. Speaking of Thanksgiving, and being THANKFUL, I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to each of you. I love being the principal of Windermere. Getting to do what I do at school is challenging and different every day. Our students, staff and families make this work so rewarding. I feel so fortunate that I can say I have 533 children (and three of those are Nolan children) whom I adore and love seeing grow and learn every day.
Wednesday morning we had our second Hawk Huddle of the year. It was so great to be together with our Huddle. We learned about the mindset: Resiliency. Make sure you ask your Hawk what resiliency means! The students gave so many great examples of how they are resilient in their own lives. We are all superheroes! Our culminating activity focused on how we are each superheroes, and we listed our strengths, what we would like to improve upon, what we do when we get frustrated and how we can encourage others.
Above is our Intervention Team at Windermere. This group of professionals are so collaborative not only with each other, but also with their respective grade level teams as well. From left to right are: Mrs. Melissa Sylvester, Mrs. Karen Rygalski (OT), Mrs. Jen Whitt, Mrs. Nikki Bauers (SLP), Mrs. Cindy Brehmer, Dr. Dory Sisson (school psychologist), Mrs. Katie Yahn (OG), Mr. Andrew Gillespie (student service coordinator), Mrs. Anjali Das and Mrs. Sarah Wood. We are so fortunate to have these amazing people at our school.
See everyone tomorrow morning. And, Happy Thanksgiving, Thursday. Enjoy the time with your family!!!!
Julie
Important Dates:
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November 22 - Wear Scarlet and Gray! Go Bucks!
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November 24th-26th - Thanksgiving Vacation
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December 3 - UA Tree Lighting - 4th grade sings
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December 17 - Winter Parties 2:00
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December 20-31 - Winter Break
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January 3 - No School Students
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January 11 - Family Cultures and Traditions Night 6:30-7:30
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January 17 - N School - MLK Jr. Day
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January 27 - Early Dismissal - 11:05 am
What is a Windermere Way sticker? And, why did Ms. Maria get one from all of our students Friday?
As you know, we talk a lot about the Windermere Way throughout our school year so that students know and understand what it looks like, sounds like and feels like to be respectful, responsible and ready to learn. Each staff member at Windermere have Windermere Way stickers that they give each day to students they see/hear exhibiting the Windermere Way. Have you seen these on your child’s shirt? Well, guess who got one on Friday from ALL of the Windermere students? Ms. Maria received her very own oversized Windermere Way sticker! She is a problem solver! Since she can see/hear our students during the lunch hour each day, she took it upon herself to help out the last few days in the Eyrie (lunchroom). And, what a difference Ms. Nancy and Ms. Liz are seeing, who help us during lunch too! We are so thankful for all of these helpers who work hard to make sure lunch is a safe and enjoyable experience for all of our students. Thank you to each of you!
Frosty's Playground is BACK! Please take a moment to check out the Parent Volunteer Sign-up and see if you are able to help supervise a station. Masks will be required during the entire time slot. HERE is the Parent Sign up sheet! Thank you in advance for your help!
Jodi Palmer and Julie Meyer
Windermere Family Cultures and Traditions Night:
Dear Windermere Families,
Daily at Windermere we strive to celebrate every student. As a staff, we talked a lot about what our building focus should be this year. We want our students to be actively engaged in their learning and we want our students, staff and families to have a strong sense of belonging and well being within our classrooms, our schools, and in our community.
Our PTO Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee combined forces with our staff DEI committee. We want to continue our learning and work so that it becomes a ubiquitous part of our school community at Windermere.
Daily in our classrooms we work to create that sense of belonging for all students, staff and families through the literature we read, purposeful instruction and daily conversations. For the past few years our school and PTO have held an evening in the fall to celebrate Windermere families' cultures and traditions. This has been such an important, impactful, and anticipated evening. We would like to invite our families to participate! Our Windermere Cultures and Traditions Night will be held on Tuesday, January 11 this year from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in our Eyrie. If you are interested in participating, please email me at [email protected] by Thursday, December 16. Thank you!
As you prepare for your family’s table, please keep in mind that these should not include any political or religious messages. However, it is okay to include religious background in the context of your own family culture and traditions.
We are so excited to learn and grow more, as BELONGING is the foundation to all that we do.
Many thanks and we are so excited and looking forward to these treasures! If you have any questions, please let me know.
Most sincerely,
Julie Nolan
Covid Vaccine Authorizes by the FDA
Now that the FDA has authorized the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 for the prevention of COVID-19, if you choose to have your child vaccinated, please consider helping us keep your child's vaccination records up to date by emailing the health clinic with the date your child receives their injection(s) at: windermerehealthclinic@uaschools.org.
Emergency Medical Authorization Form
All families will need to log into the PowerSchool Parent Portal to complete a quick update to the Emergency Medical Authorization Form. When families completed this form earlier this school year, it failed to capture the signature field, which is legally required. The form did, however, capture whether a family gives consent to, or does not give consent to, emergency medical treatment for their child. You can follow the steps below to access the Emergency Medical Authorization Form:
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Log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal.
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Click on “Forms” in the left navigation menu.
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Select the form labeled “1 Student Information.”
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Under Emergency Medical Authorization, please confirm your selection to give consent or not give consent for emergency medical treatment, and then complete the electronic signature and date.
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Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Submit. You must click submit for the signature and date to be saved.
You will need to complete these steps for each student you have in the school district. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]. If you have any difficulty accessing your PowerSchool account, please contact [email protected].
A note from Mrs. Palmer:
Dear Parents,
Winter weather is approaching fast and many students come to school dressed for the weather. While wearing boots are great for rain and snow, they are not very good for running around in P.E. class. Please make sure that on your P.E. days that your child has a pair of sneakers to wear in the gym. This helps keep them safe and free from falls and trips.
Thank you for your help with this!
Jodi Palmer
K-5 PE Teacher
Windermere Elementary School
Lost & Found: Please encourage your students to check for lost items. We will donate leftover items next week. Also, it is helpful if all sweatshirts/jackets/water bottles/coats/hats/gloves/etc. are labeled with your students name so we can easily return items.
Planned Absences: Please make sure you have a planned absence form on file in the office if your student will be out of town. District policy (below) does not excuse absences for vacation/travel/etc if a pre-planned absence form is not filled out in advance.
Pre-Planned absences -
In order for a pre-planned absence to be excused there must be a form turned in by the parents before the event and it must be reviewed by an administrator.
Excused absences must fall within the guidelines listed below.
Excused Absence Reasons:
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illness of the child
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appointment with a health care provider
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illness in the family necessitating the presence of the child
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quarantine of the home
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death of a relative
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medical or dental appointment
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observation or celebration of a bona fide religious holiday
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college visit - 3 excused
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absences due to the student’s homeless status
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absence due to a student's placement in foster care or change in foster care placement of any court
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proceeds related to the student's foster care status
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emergency or other set of circumstances in which the judgment of the Superintendent of Schools constitutes good and sufficient cause for absence from school
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service as a precinct officer at a primary, special or general election in accordance with the program set forth in Policy 5725
UPDATED INFO PowerSchool Offline Date Change
There has been a date change for the Oracle 19c upgrade to the weekend of December 10-12, 2021. It was originally scheduled for this coming weekend. PowerSchool will go off-line at 4pm on Friday, December 10, 2021. Due to the amount of time needed for the upgrades and miscellaneous server maintenance you should plan to NOT have access to PowerSchool for the duration of the weekend.
PTO Weekly Update
We have so much to be thankful for - our wonderful school and supportive staff, our amazing parent volunteers, and, of course, our AWESOME Hawks!
If you are interested in volunteering for the PTO, especially for our upcoming events like the Hawk Walk, Spring Flower Sale, or KidsFest, please let us know! You can email us at [email protected].
OUTREACH - If your family is experiencing financial hardship, the PTO outreach fund is available to assist. Just contact our school’s counselor, Katie O’Keefe, at [email protected]. ***All information will remain confidential*** Also, donations to this fund are ALWAYS welcome, especially this time of year if your family is looking to specifically help others in our Windermere community!
This is a great time of year to give back to our school community. If you would like to join the PTO in assisting members of our Windermere community through outreach, please visit http://uawindermerepto.org to donate, or email [email protected].
Wishing all of our Hawks and families a happy and safe Thanksgiving!
Stephanie Tozbikian & Jen Mascho
PTO Co-Presidents