Holiday Wishes

To the Wawaloam School Community,

Wishing all of you the joy and beauty that make the holiday season so incredible. I always enjoy seeing how excited all of the students are in these days leading up to the break.

We have lots of important curriculum to cover in such a short amount of time but this is the time of year when we really get to enjoy our students and make these exclusive school memories with them.

The weather does not suggest winter, snow or even cold at this point but the date on the calendar and the gingerbread houses and awesome holiday projects say otherwise. We thank you for sharing your children with us each day!

Kindergarten Friends rehearsing for the big holiday concert next week!

Grade 2 Students enjoying the Polar Express in their pajamas! 

We are so lucky to have Mrs. Hurst who leaves absolutely beautiful eye catching floral arrangements in our hallway. This is the treasure she created for us this week, thank you Mrs. Hurst! 

A reminder from a student in Grade 2 who understands what this season is really about.

Over the break, if you do any organizing we love to receive gently used book donations. We just received a donation and it has reached many recipients! Some of the "younger" books will go to Lineham School. We all know about the specific themes that some of our students are so excited to read about and we get those books right into their hands. Some of the books will be added to the prize box giveaway that we have for each grade each week and then we also replenish the books in our giveaway basket which is used for newly enrolled students or any children who have to wait patiently for a parent in a meeting or otherwise. In other words, we LOVE book donations and appreciate you thinking of us!!

Our last day of school before the break is Tuesday, December 22.  As is tradition at Wawaloam School we will have an assembly for our students with the young at heart Dixie Land Band who never fail to get us into the holiday spirit.  We will see everyone back on Monday, January 4 as we reflect and regroup for the second half of this fantastic school year.

Enjoy this enchanting time of the year with your family and friends. Wishing you all the
Hope, Wonder, and Joy that the Season can bring! 
Peace~
Melissa Marino

December News and Updates

As we approach the holiday season, I would like to thank everyone including the participants at Metcalf and Lineham who joined in last Tuesday when we made donations to wear hats or bring stuffed animals to school. Our goal was to help a family struggling with medical bills and together we raised $1600.00 in one single day. I know that this will make a big difference for Diane Silva, Ella and their beautiful family. As a community, we should feel very proud that we could pull together and make this happen! You are all so amazing! 

Holiday Photo Cards

We have a tradition of hanging up all of your beautiful holiday cards in our office, we would love if you start sending these in soon as the season always seems so short! We can't wait to see these! 

BAZAAR

This Saturday, Dec. 5, don't miss the annual EWG Holiday Bazaar, happening at Metcalf Elementary from 9 am to 3 pm. Nearly 70 vendors are on hand to sell their unique gift items, including some of our own EWG teachers, staff and students! Professional Santa photos are available, as well as a full kitchen café, baked goods, kids shopping area (all items $5 or less!), penny social, and a 50/50 raffle. This is a great community event that supports a lot of small businesses as well as our three elementary schools...please join us!

2015 Breakfast with Santa December 19th 9:00-11:00 
Click the link below for information about another holiday event in our district. 

http://s3.amazonaws.com/EWGRSDweb/contentweb/CommunityAnnouncements/Breakfast%20with%20Santa%20Class%20of%202019%20Fundraiser.pdf

SELAC 

The Special Education Local Advisory Committee (SELAC) meets once a month in the High School Library from 7:00-8:30 PM. This is a time to hear from parents, special educators, the director of special services and other invited guests about special education in our district. The next meeting will be held on December 14. For more information email:  ewglac@gmail.com

Enjoy the weekend everyone! Hope to see you at the bazaar!

Melissa Marino

Wawaloam Gives Thanks

As we approach the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, take the time to reflect on our good fortune. I want you all to know that I am thankful everyday that I have the privilege to lead a school in a district full of families that teach children the importance of giving and being kind to each other. We love seeing how happy the children are to add to our food collection.

Thank you to everyone for bringing in so many items for our food drive! We collected over 800 items! Be very proud! This will make a big difference for many local families.

Check out the writing that our Kindergarten friends are producing, every day these early learners are improving on these skills! Mrs. Petrarca's class created success criteria and are all trying their best! 

TEAM ELLA

Be on the lookout for a flyer about bringing a stuffed animal to school. We are happy to help our community friend, Miss Diane from the Exeter Library. Next week will be busy, as short as it it! For a $1.00 donation (optional) we are inviting everyone to help us help others. Her daughter Ella is putting in all of her effort to recover from an injury over the summer and the financial impact has been difficult. Of course, every little bit helps. 

We are also selling raffle tickets to support the basket fundraiser that the library has organized. They have over 35 gift baskets that have been donated to support our community friends. If you are interested, Karen or Claudette in the office can help you out. Please consider purchasing tickets. 

EWG PTA

Holiday Bazaar

& Craft Show

More than 50 Vendors!

Jewelry, crafts, floral, candles, ornaments, wreaths, handmade soaps & more…many new crafters!

Olaf’s Kids Korner Shop

Do you wanna find a bargain? We shopped all year so kids can buy affordable gifts for mom, dad, siblings, pets, grandma and grandpa...all $5 and below!

Pictures with Santa!

A holiday tradition! Digital pictures printed onsite…wallet sizes available too.

Or take your own for just $5!

Holiday Café and Baked Goods Table

Stop by for breakfast, lunch or a homemade baked good…delicious!

Penny Social & 50/50!

Lots of great prizes at the Penny Social table, and enter our 50/50 raffle

Saturday, December 5th

9 am to 3 pm

Metcalf Elementary School

Wishing you all an amazing Thanksgiving holiday with your friends and family, 

Melissa Marino

Wawaloam School Events 11/6

Thank You Veterans

We thank you for your service and for protecting our country. 

We have come to the end of another great week at Wawaloam School. Our Grade 1 and 2 Read Challenge winners were announced today and the kindness mailbox was presented to students in Grades 1 and 2. 

All students are invited to write letters sharing examples of kindness that are happening at Wawaloam School. They can write about someone being kind to them or about an act of kindness that they have observed. These letters will be collected once a week and will be shared in weekly meetings or even over the intercom! We are lucky to have such a dedicated PBIS team coming up with ideas all the time to remind and reinforce the message to students about Respectful, Responsible and Safe choices. 

Mrs. Larkin and I met together this week with Kindergarten to talk about germs, washing hands and staying healthy. Mrs. Larkin showed the students her "stuffed animal" germs and then she had me sneeze out loud while I was holding little pom-poms in my hand. I released these during the sneeze so they could see how far germs can travel......if your child came home and told you I sneezed all over them......this will explain things! Thank you Mrs. Larkin for reinforcing such an important message! 

This week I also had a great visit with two students in Mrs. Corcoran's class. They came to tell me about the Mystery Skype's they have been participating in. This week they were able to talk LIVE to people at the North Carolina Aquarium.  Imagine that you can go on a field trip while you are in your own classroom! 

http://www.ncaquariums.com/

 Students were sharing all sorts of facts they had learned from the session and were quite excited about the topic. We are getting more and more creative in our classrooms about how we  go about learning! While this was taking place, the students had to record data and write fun facts that they had learned.  What a great way to make learning exciting for our students! 

A quick reminder that there is no school on Wednesday, November 11- enjoy the extra day with your family if you can! 

Also, the Proud Painter Fundraiser is SOLD OUT for tonight. 

Have a fantastic weekend! 

Melissa Marino

Parent Conference Week

BE KIND

Dear Wawaloam School Community,

One more reminder that tomorrow is Parent/Teacher Conference Day. Teachers have been preparing all week for these meetings to let you know how your child is doing in this first stretch of the 2015-16 school year.

I heard that the Halloween "Spooktacular" was a big success! Many students were still talking about it on Monday. We are fortunate to have a PTA that organizes fun, family friendly events that allow the children to have these social opportunities outside of the school day.

Thank you Exeter Rescue for another great Fire Safety demonstration for Grade 1! 

Last week we were able to get outside and use chalk to draw images that focus on being kind, respectful and accepting of each other. There are two examples on the top of this message today. While the month of October is "Anti-Bullying Month", we address this theme all year long with daily reminders about expected and unexpected behavior. Students in Grades 1 and 2  were very enthusiastic about this activity and hopefully, we will still have the weather to do this with Kindergarten soon!

We are always willing to take gently used books off of your hands for our READ program or for our front basket which is a source of great joy for children who have to wait in the office and for newly enrolled students. Simply label the donations "OFFICE" and we will make sure these books get into the hands of someone that is in need.

Thank you for sending in the pumpkins for our pumpkin parade! They will look beautiful in front of our school on Halloween night. We always get so many compliments from people who notice this unexpected display of happiness!

Have a safe and happy Halloween, enjoy the excitement as you watch your trick-or-treater go door to door! Make sure they have a flashlight or a glow stick and be careful.

Enjoy!
Melissa Marino

October Updates from Wawaloam

Dear Wawaloam Community,

Sometimes it feels as though every time we turn on the news or read the paper there is a story about violence and hatred. The reality is that it is more important than ever to teach our young learners about acceptance and diversity.  Young students are so eager to learn and soak in most of what is presented to them.

We have the power to give them opportunities time and time again to celebrate and discuss differences and how these make us special and unique.  Our art teachers are amazing and I told you about what they were working on a couple of weeks ago and I thought it would only be fair to share the finished product. What is important to think about when you look at this is that it is all of these projects on display together that really add to the beauty and purpose.

We are also given the chance every day to make our students exercise the Growth Mindset and instill in them a belief that if they put their minds to it they can improve and learn more about anything! This week in many Grade 2 classrooms students are building towers as part of the SOLIDS and LIQUIDS science kit! What I noticed in one of the classrooms is that the teacher continually referred to the students as "Engineers" while they were working to build the tallest tower possible using the materials they were provided with. There is no doubt that if we continue to call students Readers and Writers and Artists and Engineers and Mathematicians we will help to develop these qualities and provide them with the confidence building they need to not be afraid to try when tasks are challenging! 

Science Learning

Look at this tower! 

Book Fair and Halloween Spooktacular

The Scholastic Book Fair for all grades runs

Monday, October 19th- Friday, October 23^rd

during your child’s Library special.

Your child will be able to shop for books with their class.

Most books range from $5 to $8.  Please send your child

with cash or check payable to EWG-PTA.

Family Night is Friday, October 23^rd

In the Metcalf Cafeteria from 6:00-8:00pm.

Information about event at High School right before Spooktacular! 

EWG's chapter of National Art Honor Society presents the school's 10th annual Spooktacular!October 23rd from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, come on down to the Senior High for a fun night including a Fortune Teller, Musical Chairs, and Face Painting! There will be a large exhibit showing wonderful artwork done by high school students so bring quarters to vote for your favorite one. Other competitions will include a pumpkin pie bake off, a sculpture contest, and a costume contest! Show up in your favorite costume and get the chance to win best Sci-Fi costume, funniest costume, best kid costume, and so many more! We hope to see you there enjoying the live music, food, and drinks! 

Paint Night

Be on the lookout for Proud Painter Night coming up on November 6! You could paint this:

Read Program Kick-Off (Grades 1 and 2) 

Grade 1 and Grade 2 Families: Today you will find information about the READ program which is our way of motivating our students to read as much as possible. I would like to extend a big thank you to Mrs. Blake for a great Grade 1 and 2 assembly today. We talked about cozy reading spots, how students could earn "links" and took a readers oath! Most important is the question we will be trying to find an answer to this year: How many books will we need to read to earn enough links to go around our entire school?? Students will be earning 1 link for every 10 books they read! We are so excited!! 

Helping your child with Concepts About Print (Kindergarten)

Kindergarten families, look for a special bookmark in your child's folder that will be a great resource at home to supporting your early reader. If you could use this as a guide over and over again, it will make a big difference in the progress you will see! 

Pumpkin Parade!

Look for information about this event coming home soon!

Reminder : Parent Conferences October 30th

Have a wonderful weekend, sounds like we will need to pull out the fleece jackets! 

Melissa Marino

WALKATHON

Dear Wawaloam School Community, 

As you may have heard, the walkathon was a great time for everyone! We appreciate the efforts on behalf of our PTA volunteers for all of the time that went into this memorable, fun, fitness promotion that will benefit EVERYONE! 

Please see the following message from Jenn Spira, our PTA president:

Our walkathon events are over, but the walkathon fundraiser continues!  Please continue to share our GoFundMe address with your family and friends (gofundme.com/EWGSCHOOLS), and encourage them to mail donations and sneaker messages to our schools. We will continue to post the sneakers outside every classroom as they arrive throughout the month, and plan to announce our final fundraising total in late October or early November. 
 
Thanks to all of the families that participated, and to all of the volunteers, teachers and administrators who contributed to the walkathons this week to help us pull them off. A great team effort that shows the best of EWG!

Picture day has come and gone, the children were adorable and very patient when there was an issue with one of the cameras. We ended up extending recess time to make sure that everyone could get pictures taken BEFORE swinging, running, sliding and digging. 

Thank you all for sending in wipes that are safe for handwashing to our Art teachers! We really appreciate this support. This will be a big time-saver and will result in extra time for ART in art class. 

As a result of the extended recess and the Professional Development Day, the only grade that I met with this week was Kindergarten. I am always curious if they can communicate the time I spend with them to you at home. 

This week I read, The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. I told them that I call this book "an oldie but goodie" because it is a book you can read over and over again and enjoy the story each time (I actually got this phrase from my daughter who is in Grade 1).  

I picked this book to remind them to always believe in themselves and they also picked up on all of the other trains who were not willing to help, children actually said out loud, "that's not nice!"  These are the moments that allow us to connect the events in a story to how they can make a difference in school or at home. I am including a link to the reading of this book in case you want to share the story together at home. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMlcoTnLyvU

Reminder that there is no school on Monday, October 12- Columbus Day. There are lots of Fall Festivals happening out there! Have a fun long weekend with your family!

Melissa Marino