Weirton Elementary School
August 2023
W.E.S. Families - September Newsletter
Dear WES Families,
Lil' Riders......Here we Go!
At the August 28th board meeting, the HCS board voted to change our mascot name from the STARS to the Lil' Riders. This creates continuity between Weir High, Weir Middle, and Weirton Elementary School and instills desire for school spirit at a young age and a sense of school pride. Below are some of our new logos we will be using.
Happy September, W.E.S. Families!
We had a wonderful first week of school!
Our W.E.S. team worked diligently over the summer to ensure a safe and engaging environment for our students, and that's exactly what we observed this week.
September is attendance awareness month. Attendance awareness drawing and coloring contest information coming soon. Look for more details posted on DOJO. We will continue with our school-wide attendance initiative "Going Bananas for Attendance". The class in each grade level with the best percentage of attendance will earn a banana on their grade level tree. The grade level with the most bananas at the end of the month will earn a banana split party.
"Coffee with Principals" started this week. Thank you - to all the families that were able to make it to the meeting and enjoy lunch with your child. Below is the schedule for CWP for the next 2 weeks. We will meet with every homeroom by the end of the month. If you missed your child's homeroom scheduled time and would like to join another homeroom, please email Ms. Miller.
Thank you for partnering with us. We cannot make the greatest impact on our children without your help and support. This is a collaborative effort, so we thank you!
Here's what is in the September newsletter:
- W.E.S. September Calendar
- Coffee with Principals Event flyer and schedule (next 2 weeks)
- P.T.A. Information
- Grade level information
- Spirit Gear fundraiser link
- W.E.S. Family Handbook 23-24 (If you would like a hard copy sent home, please email your child's teacher or Ms. Miller.)
- September Lunch Menu
New information and updates will be posted in the Family August Newsletter.
Read the entire newsletter. Lots of updates and information included as you scroll down the newsletter.
Lil' Riders
W.E.S. Spirit Gear
Thank you, Mrs. Basil for organizing our WES Spirit Gear Fundraiser. Below is the link to start shopping. All proceeds will benefit our school.
https://graphicsinprint.com/weirton_elementary_spirit_appar/shop/home
W.E.S. Information
We have tried to consolidate all the information you will need into 3 easy locations. Back to school updates and information can be found in the W.E.S. Family Newsletter. We will also be posting on W.E.S. Facebook page and W.E.S. website. Once school begins families will have access to Class Dojo where information will be shared daily in the "School Story". Below are the links to our W.E.S. Website and W.E.S. Facebook page.
W.E.S. August & September Calendar Dates
Mark Your Calendar
Friday, September 1:
- Weir Rider Day (wear red/black)
- No "Coffee with Principals: meeting scheduled.
Monday, September 4:
- No School, Labor Day
Tuesday, September 5:
- CWP 4th grade Bell 12-1
- CWP Hildreth 10:40-11:40
- PreK staggered start the week of September 5. PreK teachers will notify families.
Wednesday, September 6:
- CWP Boniti's 2nd. grade class 10:40-11:40
- CWP Cekinovich's 4th grade class 12-1
Thursday, September 7:
- September PTA meeting @ 6:00 W.E.S. cafeteria. 4H Club presentation.
- CWP Fair's class 10:00-11:00
- CWP Grimm's class 11:20-12:20
Friday, September 8:
- CWP Schey's class 10:00-11:00
- CWP Ziarko's class 11:20-12:20
- Summer reading challenge celebration
- Weir Rider Day (wear red/black)
- Kindergarten students wear your "K is for Kindergarten t-shirts".
- Kindergarten "clap-in" to welcome our Kindergarten students.
Monday, September 11:
- CWP Barrett's class 10:00-11:00
- CWP Ost's class 11:20-12:20
Tuesday, September 12:
- CWP Bartley's class 10:00-11:00
- CWP Smich's class 11:20-12:20
Wednesday, September 13:
- CWP Davis's class 10:00-11:00
- CWP Ferrell's class 11:20-12:20
Thursday, September 14:
- CWP Hall's class 10:00-11:00
- CWP DeCaria's class 11:20-12:20
- National Coloring Day
Friday, September 15:
- CWP Bell's class 10:00-11:00
- CWP Maine's class 11:20-12:20
- Weir Rider Day (wear red/black)
Monday, September 18:
Tuesday, September 19:
Wednesday, September 20:
Thursday, September 21:
Friday, September 22:
- Weir Rider Day (wear red/black)
- Farmer's Market
Monday, September 25:
Tuesday, September 26:
- Open House PreK, 1, 3 (5:00pm - 7:00pm)
Wednesday, September 27:
- Open House K, 2, 4 (5:00pm - 7:00pm)
Friday, September 29:
- Weir Rider Day (wear red/black)
*CWP (Coffee with Principals)
*Keep checking back to this newsletter for more updated dates as we receive them.
W.E.S. Family Handbook 23-24
September Menus
PreK News
Hello Pre-K Families!
We are so excited to begin our fun-filled year with our preschoolers! We will begin September 5th on a staggered start for the first week. Please contact your child's teacher if you have any questions. We look forward to learning together!
Kindergarten News
Kindergarten students and their families got to visit classrooms before school started. During their visit, students signed and committed to W.E.S. After orientation all the students left with a bunch of bananas thanks to our fruit and vegetable grant. We’re bananas over starting our educational journey at W.E.S.
First Grade News
Our fabulous first graders and their teachers are so happy to be back at WES for a new school year, learning and having fun! We have had an incredible start to the school year and are so excited to see our Firsties grow and learn this year!
We will be continuing to settle back into our school routines by learning about and practicing school wide expectations. We will be building our classroom families as we get to know new friends and learn new things about our old ones.
We will begin Module 1 of Wit and Wisdom where we learn about how books change lives all around the world. Has your family ever been to our local library? If not, now is a great time to stop by, browse through their awesome selection of books, and pick up a library card!
In Fundations, we will be reviewing all of our letters A-Z with a focus on letter sounds and proper handwriting techniques for both capital and lowercase letters.
In Math, we will be focusing on addition & subtraction concepts as well as using our math tools (like cubes and counters) to assist in our learning. We will also be building our number sense as we start daily activities like calendar and keeping track of how many days of school we've had!
Make sure to come see all of our hard work at Open House for grades PreK, 1, and 3 on Tuesday, September 26th from 5-7 pm. Here's to the beginning of a fantastic year in first grade!
Second Grade News
The 2nd grade teachers and staff welcome you all to September! It has been a great start to our 2023-2024 school year. The students are all learning and practicing their classroom rules and expectations here at WES.
In 2nd grade we are learning about many exciting things. For Math we are starting the year with Chapter 1 Number Concepts. The children will be working with place value of 2-digit numbers, writing numbers in expanded form, as well as working with even and odd.
2nd graders will explore "changes" in our Reading curriculum, “Wit and Wisdom”, we will be working in Module 1 A Season of Change, where we will discuss how changes in seasons impact people, plants, and animals. We will be reading our Geodes books which coincide with our Module 1 content.
In Foundations, students will be working on closed syllables, blends, digraphs, and glued sounds for Units 1 and 2.
This year in 2nd grade the students will continue working with Heggerty a quick and fun Phonemic awareness program.
We will also be exploring our world with Social Studies and learning about plants in science.
We look forward to working and learning together as a team!
Third Grade News
It is going to be a FABULOUS year in 3rd grade. This year will be filled with excitement, challenges, and lots of learning. Your child will be given the tools and the opportunities to really explore knowledge. The past few days students spent time getting familiar with school expectations, learning about each other, and making new friends.
This week, 3rd grade started the curriculum for Wit and Wisdom (reading), Fundations, and Math. Here is an outline on what students will be learning in the coming weeks.
Wit and Wisdom- In module one, students will “DIVE” into the sea. They will encounter the sea through an analysis of literature, informational texts, and art. The first lesson in module 1 introduces students to a study of the sea through a poem that expresses two conflicting ideas about the sea. They will learn basic annotations codes and refer explicitly to text when answering question. Finally, students examine the importance of writing in complete sentences.
Students will begin working on their AR goal for the first nine weeks using books, Renaissance, or MyOn.
Fundations- Students will review some of the concepts previously taught in Fundations. They will review digraphs, blends, diagraph blend. Students will practice letter sounds, taping out words, and marking the words. They will also learn lower and uppercase cursive throughout the units.
Math- Students started with chapter 3 in math. In this chapter, they will learn to count equal groups, relate addition and multiplication, skip count on a number line, model multiplication, model with arrays, commutative property of multiplication, and multiply with 1 and 0. They will begin working on Reflex and Prodigy to help with math facts and other math concepts.
Fourth Grade News
Welcome Back!!!! Time to enjoy your last year of elementary school and what better way than to celebrate as the new Weirton Elementary School Lil' Riders! We are destined to do great things and it all starts here!
The first few days of school have been AWESOME!! Each class has read some sort of welcome back story that helps promote the understanding of our differences and how important building relationships and friendships are. We are also modeling the school-wide expectations for the younger grades, and we get to showcase our best selves on Wake up with WES, our very own news broadcast.
In Wit & Wisdom, we are previewing all of our Module 2 books where we get to write our very own story! Along with that we are reviewing nouns, verbs, and punctuation so our sentences can be out of this world!
GO Math is all about knowing place value and how to read and write larger numbers. Rounding and comparing larger numbers is just around the corner. We are continuing to work on multiplication fluency using Reflex.
Studies Weekly is helping us to understand the world around us with great newspapers and articles! We can't wait to hopefully get to do some science experiments this year!
Fourth grade is for sure the place to be, and we hope everyone has a WONDERFUL and AMAZING year!
Related Arts News
Hello from the Physical Education teachers. With the start of a new school year, we need to make sure that the students wear the proper shoes to PE class.
In PE, the students are going over the rules, routines, and expectations for PE class. Students are learning and reviewing how to work as a team through various games and activities while focusing on locomotor skills- galloping, skipping, jogging, walking, and leaping.
In the month of September, we will begin our scooter unit which includes hockey, basketball, soccer, and tag. During this unit we will focus on these skills as they are the lead up activities for the regular games of soccer, hockey, and basketball.
As always, our goal in the Weirton Elementary Physical Education department is to promote lifelong physical activity.
Mrs. Naughton, Mr. Cassiadoro, and Mr. Weltner
Music Class:
In the month of September Kindergarten students will learn how to play the percussion instruments to various Quaver songs. (Quaver is my music series.)
First Grades will be playing the percussion instruments, keyboards, boom whackers to various Quaver songs.
Second-Fourth Grades. We will be working on Quaver Lessons together with the students using their iPads and lessons on the Smart Board.
Ms. Turani
WES School Counselors
Back to school means going to be early and getting into a routine. It’s never too late to start a morning routine, after school routine and bedtime routine. Routines help children know expectations and feel safe. Routines and consistency help with school and home success. If you want a routine, but don’t know where to start, please reach out to your grade level counselor and we would be happy to help guide you.
Let’s start off strong and end strong! Let’s continue coming to school consistently and continue to provide encouragement to our children. Remember if you have concerns about your child’s academic progress or behaviors, please reach out to the school. We all work together to help WES exceed Success!
Ms. Mary Ann Petrelle: Grades PreK & K
Mrs. Stacy Cullinan: Grades 1 & 2
Mrs. Sarah Aspenleiter: Grades 3 & 4
WES Health Center offers Social Emotional/Behavioral Therapy
http://www.changeinc.org/health/weirton-elementary-health-center/
(304) 797-5299
WES PTA News
President: Allyson Taflan
Vice President: Arrissa Cochran
Vice President: Stephanie Baumgardner
Secretary: Maria Rhoads
Treasurer: Lindy Dunlap
Contact: weirtonelementarypta@yahoo.com
Electronic Link to sign-up for PTA Membership is below "Givebacks".
https://weirtonpta.memberhub.com/store?limit=21&live=true
Thursday, September 7: September PTA Meeting 6:00pm W.E.S. cafeteria
Notes from Nurse DeCaria
Please contact Mrs. DeCaria for any medical concerns.
Thank you for sending back the health forms.
Attendance Reminders:
Going Bananas for Attendance:
Going Bananas for Attendance video:
Go Bananas for Attendance: https://youtu.be/bYiR6YPKCao
Please remember to call the office or email Ms. Stephanie for any missed days.
304-748-8370
or
Attendance Tracker
School Calendar 2023-2024
Arrival & Dismissal Procedures
CAR RIDER TRANSPORTATION
Arrival
Car rider door is located at the pre-k/kindergarten entrance.
Car rider door opens promptly at 7:50am. Tardy Bell 8:15am.
Cars should not line up before 7:00 and cars should not park in the drop-off area.
Students must remain in cars until a staff member opens the car door.
Cars that arrive after 8:15 must park car in a parking spot in front of the school. Guardian must walk child in the building to the main office to receive a tardy slip.
Parents/Guardians must remain in their vehicles at all times during drop off and pick up.
Please work with your child to learn to buckle/unbuckle themselves in their seatbelts/booster seats/car seats as this will help traffic to flow smoothly.
Dismissal
Car/Bus Dismissal is at 3:00.
All car riders must have a red car rider tag on their book bags. Bus riders must have a yellow car rider tag on their book bags.
Please do not line up before 2:55 as the area in front of the dismissal door is a fire lane.
iDismiss is utilized for car rider dismissal.
Each student is assigned an iDismiss number.
iDismiss number must be displayed in the front widow of the car.
Cars without the iDismiss numbers displayed or readily available will be asked to park until all cars and buses are dismissed.
Parents/Guardians must enter the front office and present identification before the child can be dismissed.
Replacement copies of iDismiss numbers may be obtained by presenting identification in the main office (ask for Ms. Stephanie).
Bus Safety
Please remind your child about good behaviors on the bus.
- Students are to stay seated the whole time.
- Students are not to walk in the aisles or jump seat to seat.
- Students are to refrain from touching each other.
- Students are not to yell or argue.
- Bottom to bottom, Back-to-Back, Bookbag on lap.
Students are to refrain from creating any type of safety issues for anybody on the bus.
Contact Mrs. Carinci-Bell if you have any bus concerns or questions.
Mrs. Martich (3rd & 4th) Mrs. Carinci-Bell (1st & 2nd) Ms. Miller (Head Principal) PreK & K Principal TBA
WES Title Services
Meet our WES Title Teachers:
Mrs. Orwasky
Ms. Paull
Mrs. Donna Carnes
Mrs. Davidson
WES Related Arts
WES HEALTH CENTER
WEIRTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HEALTH CENTER
Our licensed healthcare staff is on site in a safe, child-friendly environment. We closely work with the school nurse and faculty to provide convenient care to your child. We closely work with the school nurse and faculty to provide convenient care to your child.
We provide the following services:
Well check exams, sick visits, injury treatment, immunizations, allergy shots, ADHD evaluation and treatment, sports physicals, behavioral health, dental care, chronic health care maintenance - like being on site to assist with Diabetes, Seizures, and Asthma. Just think of us as a doctor's office inside the school.
Please contact the WES Health Center at 304-797-5299 if you have any questions or medical needs.
WES SPEECH THERAPISTS
WES Speech Therapists
If you questions regarding speech screenings or speech services, please contact one of our speech therapists.
Mrs. Lockerbie (Kindergarten)
Mrs. Gianvito (First Grade)
Mrs. Hinzman (PreK & 4th)
Mrs. Burdette (2nd & 3rd)
Mrs. Edie (Special Education Classes)
Special Education Staff
August Lunch/Breakfast menus coming soon.
Bank at School
Our Partners in Education, First Choice America, will be setting up a program called "Bank at School". Families were able to sign-up at Open House. Students will be able to do banking at school during breakfast once a week on Tuesdays. More details to come.