Wolverine News
January 24, 2011

Update from the Head of School

Dear Parents,

Our 4th – 8th grade geography bee was held last week. After some very challenging questions our champion was 5th grader Liam Elliott. We would like to congratulate all participants and thank Mr. DiGerlando for hosting the event and Ms. Harpel for organizing our bee.

International Day was celebrated last Friday, January 20th. Our 1st through 4th grade students did an amazing job introducing us to eight different countries. Songs, dances and attire from each country enhanced our knowledge of the other cultures and customs. For the first time our 5th through 12th grade students were given the chance to participate. Parents provided food from all over the world for our students and staff to enjoy. Since we are truly an international school with students and staff from over fifty different countries it was a wonderful day to celebrate different cultures and learn more about different countries. Thank you to our parents who volunteered their time, resources, and their excellent cooking, and to our lower school teachers and students for their hard work in making International Day a huge success.

Please notify the front office with any change in your home address, phone number, or e-mail address. Remember to use our school website, Renweb and the Wolverine News to keep updated on all our school activities.


Ken West                                                                        Head of School


Seat Belts

We understand the concern our parents have regarding their children using seat belts while traveling in our bus and charter busses. We are pleased to announce that seat belts are being installed in our Activity Bus during spring break. In addition, we are using charter busses that are equipped with seat belts whenever possible.

Counselor’s Corner

Congratulations to Ricky Weimer on his acceptance to Texas A&M University! Our future Petroleum Engineer is on his way to greatness!

The deadline for the March 10th SAT is February 10th! Space is always limited, so the earlier you register the better!

I am very proud of all our juniors for coming well prepared to their college meetings. Keep up the good work! If you need help with Naviance, our college planning program, please let me know as I would be happy to meet with you.

The National Honor Society will be having a Bake Sale on Valentine’s Day morning! The students are excited to make different types of treats in order to share the LOVE with their peers!


A note from Sean Murphy, Class of 2011, University of Pennsylvania:
I definitely felt prepared for college. The people at Penn are amazing and accepting just like in high school. It was definitely cool to come to a school where there are 10,000 undergraduate students! In general, I definitely felt socially and academically prepared!


2011-2012 Teacher Tutorial Times 
       5th-12th Grade
Angela Bailey Tu./Th., 7:20am-7:50am
Doug Begin Tu./Th., 7:35am-7:55am room 210, Wed. from 4:15pm-4:45pm
Steve Digerlando Tu./Th., 7:30am-7:50am Wed. 3:30pm-4:00pm
Justin Faust Tu./Th., 7:15am-7:45am
Lori Fryman Tu./Th., 3:00pm-3:30pm
Mia Harpel Tu./Th., 7:30am-7:50am and 3:00pm-3:30pm
Cathy Hayes Tu./ Th., 7:20am-7:50am in cafeteria A
Owen Howard M-F, 7:15am-7:45am and 2:00pm-3:00pm
Greg Koehnle Tu./Th., 3:00pm-3:30pm in room 205
Joyce Lovell Mon./Wed., 3:00pm-3:30pm
Rebeca Manjon Tu./Th., 7:20am-7:50am
Charles Mooney Mon./ Wed., 3:00pm-3:30pm in room 209
Lisa Murphy Tu./Weds., 3:00pm-3:45pm
David Roddy Tu./Th., 7:20am-7:50am
Jennifer Russell Tu./Th., 3:00pm-3:30pm in room 206
Heidi Saenz Tu./Th., 7:20am-7:50am
Deneen Shreve Tu./Th., 7:15am-7:45am
Maria Smidela Mondays and Wednesday 7:30-8
Justin Smith Tu.//Th., 7:15am-7:45am
Robin Sudberry Tu./Th., 7:15am-7:45am
Lauren Webb Tu./Th., 7:20am-7:50am
Lindsay West M 3:00-3:30, W 7:20-7:50

SPOTLIGHT ON THE PYP

 

Tacky Tourist

Third grader, Esa Hobbs, enjoyed teaching kindergartener, Lauren Pfaff, about China on International Day! The students all enjoyed visiting many different countries.



Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Ms. Postus’ first grade class had the pleasure of celebrating the Chinese New Year with Mrs. Godin. Thank you Mrs. Godin for sharing one of your life experiences with us. We loved it!!!


First Graders Having Fun With Word Search

First Graders, Sophie Burgess and Sophie Belohlavek, go on a word search around the school. They hunted for words that follow the same pattern as their weekly word sort. The students enjoyed finding words outside their classroom.


Celebrating Ancient Greece

Ms. Meeks’ second grade class worked very hard on Greece for International Day. They chose to learn about and present Ancient Greece. I was so pleased with the creative ideas and commitment from each student in order to get the job done. They liked the idea of showcasing their gods and goddesses in a wax museum (with fog machine!) and performing a skit. They were communicators as they presented confidently about their topics. The students showed respect while visiting the other countries. They were risk-takers as they tried new foods, and open-minded as they learned and became knowledgeable about other countries. Great job second graders!


BONJOUR, HOLA, G’DAY MATE…

During our current unit of inquiry third graders explored their past and found out “where we came from”, then set off on a trip around the world. Each child received a passport and a suitcase. They began in North America and traveled to all seven continents. Each student selected a country they wanted to learn more about and gave a presentation of that country wearing clothing representative of that culture for our “visit the world” day.


Chinese New Year

Ms. Blevins’ 3rd graders enjoyed International Day festivities! After researching China, their classroom was turned into a Chinese Village to welcome our “tourists”. Delicious food was served by our parents and the students performed “The Dragon Dance” for the Chinese New Year.


Ping and Pong Vacationed With The Staton Family

Over our winter break, Ms. Decker’s class rats, Ping and Pong vacationed with Jacob Staton and his family. Jacob took on the task of creating two mazes for Ping and Pong to run through. He planned out his designs and documented the results of their runs. Jacob said, “Sometimes they cheated and climbed over the walls”. He discovered they don’t prefer to go one direction (right or left) every time. “They were fast sometimes and slower other times. All of the experiments were completely random.” Jacob would love to make other mazes for Ping and Pong to run through and said he “probably would make some alterations to his design by making the walls taller, the runs longer and more challenging and he would provide the rats better treats.” Great Job, Jacob!


From The Art Studio

Greetings from the art department! Student artists and teachers are hard at work on compositions for the Bush Presidential Library and Museum Art Contest. This year’s topic is: Presidential Elections and Democracy: Caucuses, Candidates and Campaigns! Grades K-5 are working in groups for entries and grades 6-12 are creating individual competitions. All work must be completed by February 10th in order to be considered for submission. Please visit the George Bush Presidential Library website for additional information. Permission slips to participate in the competition will be sent home soon.
Currently our second floor houses several exhibits. On the large, free standing panels near the stairs, find work by advanced placement artists Tara Olayeye, Ashley Way, Emily Payne, and Mariana Mata and Pop Art compositions. Sixth grade geometric abstractions are exhibited on the bulletin board near the art room.

As you begin your spring cleaning, here are a few things the art department would be glad to have: baskets, unusual bottles, perfume bottles, ribbon, yarn, puzzle pieces, newspaper, corks, acrylic paints, nature magazines, hand held blow dryers (to help speed the drying process), silk flowers, living plants in nice containers, driftwood, pinecones, other natural objects and art supplies you no longer needed. We truly appreciate your donations!

Library News

Wall of Fame Readers

Blue Level - 25 points
• Nora Alizadeh – 2nd Grade
• Nathan Scott – 2nd Grade
• Paris Cruz - 2nd Grade

Red Level - 50 points
• Natalie Halaris – 2nd Grade
• Matt Jeffries – 2nd Grade
• Brian Simon-Eton – 2nd Grade
• Raj S. - 2nd Grade
• Michael Biagi - 3rd Grade
• Tori Osmond - 3rd Grade
• Isabella Kneen – 3rd Grade

Bronze Level - 100 points
• Rodrigo Brandao - 4th Grade

Congratulations to these students who have reached their next level in reading counts!


Geography Bee

Congratulations to our 2011 National Geographic Geography Bee winner, 5th grader, Liam Elliott. The following five students tied for runner-up: 6th grader, Paris Frere, 7th graders, Madeleine Frere and Hugo Siaudzionis and 8th graders, Andrew Ritchie and Chasen Whitson. Liam will be taking a written test to qualify for the state geography bee to be held in Arlington this spring. Good luck Liam and congratulations to all who participated in the bee!


Spelling Bee Winner

This year’s spelling bee was a success! Second grader, Natalie Halaris won the school competition with Logan Bailey as runner up. Please wish Natalie the best as she prepares for our county spelling bee in February.

(Correction on Natalie’s last name as it was listed incorrectly in our last newsletter)


Upper School Yearbook

Parents of seniors!

The yearbook class is in need of a baby picture of your senior! We would like to feature all seniors on a special “Guess Who” page in the yearbook. Please submit a picture to the front office no later than this Friday, January 27th! If you have an electronic picture, please e-mail directly to Mrs. West at lwest@woodlandsprep.org. It is our hope that we can include every senior on this page. Thank you for your help!