Dolphin Weekly Waves

From the Principal

We had a great second week of school! Our students are settling in and we are all developing good routines.

Weather - Wow! Arrival last Thursday morning was one for the books. We don't remember a morning more difficult! While it is rare that we have super bad weather at arrival and dismissal, we wanted to mention a few things in the event it does happen.

• We have a healthy respect for lightening! Last Thursday, we moved our arrival folks down to the area with the covered awning and just in front of the building. Should there not be duty folks along the benches and near the flag pole, please wait to let your children out of the car until safely closer to the building.
• If there is the case of severe weather, we may delay accepting students or dismissing schools. In those cases, parents will be invited into the building to shelter with us.

Our goal at West End is to provide a safe environment coupled with an outstanding instructional program in order for each of our students to be the BEST they can be. We are excited to be on this

We are continuing our journey to be the BEST each of us can be! Have a wonderful week!

Angie Garrison, EdD

Principal

West End's Mission: Our West End Community maximizes students’ potential by providing instruction that builds our students’ knowledge, strengthens their skills, and develops in them career-ready characteristics for success in an ever-changing world.

Each month, you have the opportunity to honor a teacher of your choosing as the "West End Teacher of the Month!" Simply complete this form telling us why the teacher you chose is deserving. You may nominate as many times as you wish. Thank you for supporting our teachers and recognizing the hard work they put in to teaching your child each day. 😍

Our teachers and staff have worked to create Be Your Best Behavior Matrix to share with our students so that everyone understands what behaviors are expected throughout the building. These are being discussed with your child during the school day. We would like to share this matrix with our families.

*Click here to watch a video that was shared with students this week from Mrs. Simpson explaining how the brag tags work.

West End students will have the opportunity to earn "brag tags" this year for meeting and exceeding expectations in different categories. We will be tracking attendance, being to school on time and staying all day, noting exceptional behavior in all areas of the school building, being their B.E.S.T, checking to see if students are meeting challenges like our summer bingo challenge, and more! Our first opportunity to earn a brag tag this year was for completing the summer reading and math bingo challenge. Students that turned this in on time received these this week! Ask them all about it!

We are working on improving our overall attendance at West End this school year. We realize there are times when your child is sick and unable to attend school, but we want parents to be aware of how important being at school on time and staying the whole day matters. At West End, we want to build strong relationships with our students AND their families. Something to think about:

"Building strong, trusting relationships that promote a feeling of belonging is fundamental to improving student attendance & engagement."

http://bit.ly/1oqfID7
#SchoolEveryDay

• MySchoolBucks - Sign up for a MySchoolBucks account for online payments for tech fees, field trip fees, t-shirt sales, etc.

• All students K5-5 will be assigned a device for classroom and home use. Before sending the device home, a $25 Tech it Home user fee to cover accidental damage to the device, charging device, and carrying case should be paid. More information about the Tech It Home Fee.
• Schoology is a learning platform that allows parents to communicate with teachers, stay on top of student assignments, and monitor student progress (grades 3-5). Access Codes will come home soon. Please let us know if you need help getting connected.
• Securly is a powerful tool designed to help parents monitor and set limits on their child's school-issued device. Please let us know if we can help with the program.

If you would like to volunteer, you will need to attend a 30 minute training session. Volunteer training sessions are included in the Family Events Calendar. Our first Volunteer Training of the Year will be Thursday, August 24, at 4:00 p.m. Please remember all field trip chaperones must be volunteer trained yearly and have an updated background check ($25) through the district. If you wish to chaperone a field trip, please complete this process well in advance of the field trip. (Note - The number of chaperones needed for a trip varies by trip. Teachers will work with trained volunteers to fill needed spots.)

Our first family engagement event is scheduled for Thursday, September 7! This will be our annual Open House and Title 1 Meeting. We will have dinner together along with a lot of fun! Please be on the lookout for a flier to reserve your spot for dinner.

Be sure to follow West End on Facebook!

West End Website

Twitter- @westendelem

Instagram- @westendelem

Phone (864)397-2500

Dr. Angie Garrison, Principal Email: angiegarrison@pickens.k12.sc.us