Wildcat Review

Wildcat Review

410-313-5014
http://wates.hcpss.org

October 14, 2011

Calendar
Oct. 14-20 Book Fair
Oct. 18 4 -7 PM Innisbrook Fundraiser pick up
Oct. 20 6:30 PM PTA Family Game Night
Oct. 21 MSEA Convention – Schools CLOSED for students
Oct. 24 7 PM PTA Executive Board meeting
Oct. 27 FluMist Clinic
Oct. 31 2:15 School-wide Fall Fun Parade and Celebration
(please see message regarding costumes below)
Nov. 2 Chick-fil-A Restaurant Night
Nov. 4 Professional Development Day – Schools CLOSED for students
Nov. 9 Wellness Committee Meeting 7 p.m.
Nov. 11 Quarter 1 report cards sent home
Nov. 14-18 American Education Week
Nov. 14 “Waterloo Welcome” Day – parents invited to visit classrooms-
more info to follow
Nov. 14 7 PM PTA Executive Board meeting
Nov. 16 Picture retakes
Nov. 18 Special Persons’ Day – Grades 1,3,5
Nov. 21 Parent/ Teacher conferences – no RECC or PreK
12:55 Dismissal for all students
Nov. 22 Parent/ Teacher conferences – no RECC or PreK
12:55 Dismissal for all students
Nov. 23 School closed for all students - Parent/Teacher conferences
Nov. 24, 25 Schools/offices closed – Thanksgiving
Nov. 28 8:30 School Improvement Team meeting
Nov. 29 Grade 1 field trip to Toby’s Dinner Theater
Dec. 1 FluMist Clinic – second dose
Dec. 12 7PM PTA Executive Board meeting
Dec. 14 Mid-quarter
7PM Advanced Band and Strings Winter Concert
(Snow date: Monday, December 19)
Dec. 21 Interim progress reports sent home
Principal’s Message
In recent discussions with staff members regarding the health needs of our students, we found that many students in all grades are coming to school without eating breakfast. As a result, they are quite hungry by the time they get to lunch. With such a large school, our first lunch shift begins at 11:10 and our last lunch shift begins at 1:45. We recognize that mornings can get quite busy and your child might resist eating breakfast. Anything you can do to ensure that your child eats something before coming to school could be of great benefit to their morning. Breakfast is offered at our school and is of no charge to eligible students or may be purchased by any student for $1.75. Knowing how important hydration is to effective functioning of the body, students may bring a water bottle to school to keep at their desk. Thanks for helping our students understand that they should have only water in their bottles and not other drinks.
Our car loop seems to be getting longer each day. If your child is eligible to ride the bus, please consider this option so that he or she can get here in a timely way each day. One day this week we had to give car loop late slips to over 25 students. Getting in after 9:25AM can put our students behind with their morning responsibilities. Thanks for your help!
Please be aware that the Howard County Police Department will begin using mobile speed cameras outside school zones beginning next week. It is important to take note of posted speed limits around our county schools. **Important from the Health Room: FLUMIST consent forms went home last week. If you would like your child to receive flu vaccine via nasal spray at school, please complete the consent form and return it to school as soon as possible. If you would be available to volunteer to assist with transferring students from the classroom to the clinic and back, please call the health room at 410-313-5018. Thank you!
School News
**Our Reading is Out of this World! Scholastic Book Fair begins today and we hope you are able to join us. The book fair will be open Oct. 14 - Oct. 24th from 9:15am - 4:30pm every day for students and parents to purchase. We have extended hours on Tuesday Oct. 18th until 7:30pm and we will be open Oct. 20th from 6:30pm - 8:00pm during the PTA game night. NEW THIS YEAR, we have a book fair website http://tinyurl.com/bookfairwes & online book fair http://tinyurl.com/wesbookfair make sure to check them out.

** Fall Fun Celebration Costumes – We are looking forward to our Fall Fun Day on Monday, October 31. As in previous years, there will be a school-wide parade outside around 2:15PM, weather permitting. Students are invited to bring a costume to school to wear during the parade. Classroom celebrations will take place after the parade. Families are invited to join us for either part of this activity. The PTA will have a “costume box” available to students who would like to wear a costume but are unable to bring one from home. Since this is a school-wide celebration, children are asked not to wear costumes specifically related to Halloween such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, devils, etc. For safety reasons, we request that students not wear masks during our parade. Accessories such as toy knives, swords, or guns should remain at home for use outside the school day. All members of our community do not celebrate Halloween so this consideration of costume selection will help make this an inclusive celebration for all students. Thanks for helping Waterloo to demonstrate HCPSS Goal 2: Each school will provide a safe and nurturing school environment that values diversity and commonality.
** Change to Remember -- Thank you for your generous contributions to the Change to Remember program which supports the National September 11th Memorial and Museum in New York City. We are pleased to announce that our students and staff have raised $535.23, which allows us to sponsor a Memorial Glade cobblestone in the name of Waterloo Elementary School. The Memorial Glade is a small clearing in a grove of trees that will be used for gatherings and ceremonies at the National September 11th Memorial. Generations of visitors will be able to locate our cobblestone using a kiosk at the Memorial site and our school's name will appear on their website, www.911memorial.org recognizing the generosity that makes the National September 11th Memorial and Museum a reality. Thanks again, Waterloo, for your caring spirit!!
**Supporting Our Students - Did you know? We have teams of professionals in our building who work with our teachers to ensure that all resources in the school are working together to provide the best instruction for our students. One of our teams is called the Instructional Intervention Team (IIT). When a teacher has a specific concern about a student's progress, he or she can request assistance from the Instructional Intervention Team (IIT). Often, a case manager from the IIT will work directly with a teacher to examine: 1) student strengths and skills, 2) the instruction being provided in the classroom, and 3) tasks the student is asked to complete. The case manager and the teacher work together to come up with ideas to adjust either the task or instruction so there is a match between student skills and instruction/task. Making the match is the key to student success!
** Carpool Reminder – All drivers using our carpool are reminded that it is a RIGHT TURN ONLY when leaving the parking lot during arrival and dismissal times. Please adhere to the posted sign so that all busses and cars can leave our parking lot in a safe, timely manner. Thanks for your help EACH day!
**Mix-It-Up Lunch Day is October 19th! On this day during lunchtime, students will be asked to sit at tables in the cafeteria according to the month in which they were born. This is a great opportunity for Waterloo students to make new friends, get to know people in other groups, appreciate diversity and differences, break out of routines and challenge social boundaries. A great home follow-up activity for that day is to ask your child if they met someone new or learned something new about someone else during lunch.
** News from P.E. -- Stay active this fall with our October Fitness Calendar. You can view or print a copy from our P.E. Website. Visit: http://web.hcpss.org/~julie_morgan/, also remember to sign your child's October P.E. homework, which went home in last week's Friday Folders.
**G/T Instructional Seminar Offerings - Permission slips for Safe Racer (3rd Grade) and Theme Park Challenge (4th and 5th Grades) are now available in Mr. West's room. Students need to register as teams and have an adult coach to participate. More information on the Engineering Challenges can be found at www.thebmi.org or you can contact Mr. West at gwest@hcpss.org. An informational meeting for parents will be held on Monday, October 17th at 6:00 in the Media Center.
** G/T Nomination - Fifth Grade Students for Middle School G/T Content Classes Next Year -- Howard County Public Schools are currently in the process of accepting nominations for fifth grade students for possible inclusion in the middle school G/T content classes (English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies). Students who are already participating in the above grade level mathematics or Language Arts classes and students who performed at the advanced level in mathematics or reading on the Maryland School Assessments have already been nominated for testing. If you have a child in grade five whom you wish to nominate for middle school G/T testing, please submit your nomination request in writing to the G/T ResourceTeacher by October 20th, 2011.
** New Daisy Troop Opportunity - If your child is interested in joining Girl Scouts, a new troop is forming at Waterloo. If you are interested, please contact first grade parent Debbie Frank at dcf_beth@verizon.net. THANK YOU!
PTA News
** Membership News- It is NOT TOO LATE to join us!! You should have received membership information during the first week of school. Membership dues are $10 per person or $15 per family (two adults in family). Envelopes can be returned to your child’s teacher or the front office. Questions? Contact Margie Sybert at margiesybert@gmail.com .
**Volunteer Information- giving a little bit of your time makes a huge difference for our students! If you are interested in helping out, please contact Darlene Cochrane at cochrane.darlene@yahoo.com .
**Family Game Night – will be held Thursday, October 20th, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Waterloo (schools are closed the following day). There will be plenty of challenge and tons of fun for the whole family, from preschoolers through adults. A flyer with additional information was sent home a few weeks ago and is available on the PTA website at www.waterloopta.org. If you have already returned the response form to let us know that you will be attending Game Night – thank-you! If you did not have a chance to return the response form, that’s ok.we encourage you to attend anyway. If you have any questions, please contact Tami McClatchey at mcclatchey@verizon.net or 410.480.1775.
**Store Rebate Programs - A simple and super easy way to earn money for our school is to make sure your Safeway, Giant and Target cards are registered or currently renewed within the store’s rebate program. YOU MUST RENEW SAFEWAY AND GIANT EVERY YEAR! The deadline to register or renew your Safeway card is November 1st. Please go to the links below to register or renew today! Please encourage your family and friends to enroll their cards and select Waterloo as their designation.
Giant: go to www.giantfood.com/aplus and click “register your card”. Waterloo’s ID number is 01030. Or, dial 1.877.275.2758 to register your card over the phone.
Safeway: go to www.escrip.com and select either “YES! RENEW” or “1-SIGN UP.” Enter group # 6583803 and make sure to have your 11-digit Safeway Club Card number available.
Target: go to www.Target.com/tcoe or call 1.800.316.6142 to designate our school. Waterloo’s ID number is 58059. You must have a Target REDcard to enroll.
Please remember to scan your store cards every time you shop so your purchases count toward our school! Thank-you!
**Shopping amazon.com? - Be sure to go to the Waterloo PTA website at www.waterloopta.org and click on the Amazon banner so you can help Waterloo PTA earn money while you shop at no additional cost to you! Amazon will donate a percentage of your purchase to the Waterloo PTA for any purchases you make when accessing Amazon.com through the PTA’swebsite. This is a year-round program. Thank you for your support!
**Waterloo Helping Hands Committee: Has your family experienced the birth of a child, a serious illness of an immediate family member, or the death of an immediate family member? Would you like assistance to help your family reduce the burden of meal preparation during this time? If so, the Waterloo Helping Hands Committee can provide your family with prepared/cooked meals. We are a parent organized committee and would love to help. Also, if you are interested in becoming a member of this committee, please contact Cathy Carr by email: cscarr@hotmail.com or by phone at410-480-4965.
**Costume Donations: Do you have old kids costumes that you can donate? Are they school appropriate, the right size, and in good shape? If so, please leave them in the donation box in the front lobby starting on Friday, October 14th. Thank you for your help!!

Waterloo Elementary PTA