A message from Willow Grove Elementary School

Hello Willow Grove Families! This is Mrs. Huff with your Willow Grove weekly update! 

“WHO’S MY TEACHER?” POSTING on August 19th
On Tuesday, August 19th, we will be posting classroom assignments. Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten classroom postings will be at 1:00 PM by our front gates. The teachers are hosting a “Meet & Greet” for parents and their children in their classrooms, so as soon as you know who your child’s teacher will be, you can go directly to his or her classroom to meet the teacher and see the classroom. From 1:15 – 1:30 PM, the teachers will be formally greeting their students and parents and sharing helpful information.

Also, on Tuesday, August 19th, classroom postings for grades 1st – 5th will be at 4:00 PM by our front gates. Students can come by and see who their teacher will be for the new school year! 

IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!
Wednesday, August 20th, is the first day of school! We are so excited to see all of our grizzlies! Students in Grades 1 – 5 will report to the playground and line up with their teacher at 8:55 a.m. at their designated classroom number spot. Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten students will report to the Kindergarten playground and line up with their teacher at 8:55 a.m. TK and K teachers will be on the playground to show students where to line up.

At 9:05 I will invite all parents to join me in the MPR for a “Meet and Greet” where we will celebrate the start of a great new school year and have refreshments together. Parent representatives from our Willow Grove PTA and Educational Foundation will be available to share upcoming events and parent involvement opportunities. 

An Important Note: All Kindergarten students will dismiss at 1:40 PM daily through Friday, September 26, 2014. Please make arrangements for your little one to be picked up, as there will not be adult supervision provided. The first full day of kindergarten will be Monday, September 29, 2014, with dismissal at 3:20 PM. 

PARENT COMMUNICATION IS KEY!
Please look for your first packet of school information coming home with your youngest Grizzly on Friday, August 22nd. This packet of information will be sent home with the youngest Grizzly in your family every Friday. 

GET INFORMED!
Like us on Facebook! Look for “Willow Grove Elementary School PTA” and the “Willow Grove Educational Foundation” for updates on upcoming events at our school.

Back-to-School Night on August 28th
Back-to-School Night will be on Thursday, August 28th. PTA will have its first PTA Association meeting that night where they will discuss many of the PTA provided events they already have planned for the new school year. The schedule for Back-to-School Night is:
5:30 – 6:00 PM Grades TK-2 classrooms open
6:05 – 6:35 PM PTA Association Meeting in MPR
6:40 – 7:10 PM Grades 3-5 classrooms open
Please plan to join us as our awesome teachers and PTA share important information for the school year!

CALENDAR THESE DATES
Sept. 11, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. - Love & Logic Parent Education Opportunity
Sept. 18 – Family Movie Night 

NEW AT WILLOW GROVE- EXPANDED PART-DAY PRESCHOOL FOR 4 YEAR OLDS
If you are interested in Willow Grove’s expanded part-day preschool from 8:45 – 1:45 for 4 year olds only, please contact Heather Smith athsmith@powayusd.com.


ATTENTION TRANSITIONAL KINDERGARTEN PARENTS
We at Willow Grove Elementary want to extend a great big welcome to our Transitional Kindergarten (TK) students and families! PUSD is very proud of its TK program based on feedback from families in our community who report positive experiences for their children in this first year of our two year kindergarten sequence. Our TK classes meet for a half day program from 9:00 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. PUSD believes it is in the best interest of TK students to attend school within the required number of instructional minutes for Kindergarten, which is 180 minutes a day. (Education Code 48911) Within this schedule, TK students participate in an intensive language arts and math curricula aligned to the California State Standards (2010) in ELA and Math. They also experience instruction in other core areas during this time, as well as support for behavioral, social and emotional development. This ensures that our TK students are fully prepared to meet the academic rigor in the second year of the Kindergarten sequence the following year, with K students participating in a full day program. The California Department of Education has approved this time schedule at its State Board Meeting in July of 2014 via Waiver # 31-4-2014-W-05. We look forward to a wonderful year of TK with your child!


It’s going to be a GRRRRRREAT Grizzly week! See everyone very soon!