west manheim april 2014 newsletter
TRANSCRIPT
April 2014
South Western School District
Dear West Manheim Parents/Guardians,
I wanted to thank all of you who took the opportunity to participate in our
parent survey this past fall. Many of you may remember sitting down at a
computer station in our building last fall during your parent/teacher con-
ferences to complete a survey or you may have completed the survey on
our West Manheim blog. At West Manheim and throughout the South
Western School District we are committed to creating an exceptional edu-
cational environment for our students to learn, teachers to teach, staff to
work, and for parents to send their children. The input and suggestions
we receive from our parents and community members are essential as we
continuously work to improve. Your feedback is reviewed carefully and
will assist us in facilitating positive changes within our overall educational
program.
Listed on page two you will find the results from our survey questions.
Each question was scored on a range of 1- strongly disagree to 5 –
strongly agree. In addition, each parent had an opportunity to respond to
two questions: 1) What are the strengths of your child’s school? and 2)
What needs to be improved?
Only by working together and developing a positive school/parent partner-
ship can we best achieve our mission of providing all our students with the
knowledge and skills necessary to become well-informed, productive, and
responsible citizens.
Thanks again for your time in providing feedback to our school.
Sincerely,
Brian M. Cromer
Principal
Inside this issue:
School Counselor 3
Specialists Info. 4
Kindergarten Writing 6
Kindergarten Registra-tion
8
Got Star Cards? 10
A Family Science Night
15
Dates to Remember 16
West Manheim Newsletter
West Manheim Elementary School
2000 Baltimore Pike Hanover, PA 17331
Phone: 717-633-4890 Fax: 717-637-2011
Office hours: 7 AM-3:30 PM
“A Tradition of Excellence.”
We’re on the web at:
swsd.k12.pa.us
West Manheim Facebook
West Manheim Website
West Manheim Twitter
Page 2 West Manheim Newsletter
Page 3 April
Page 4 West Manheim Newsletter
Library Links By Mrs. Fisher
Many thanks to our WM music teacher, Mrs. Evelan, for her continual concert connections
to our annual library themes. These year’s theme was “Families That Read Together Suc-
ceed Together.” Mrs. Evelan chose concert songs that connected to books designated
as the 2013-2014 nominees in a state reading promotion program called the Pennsylvania
Young Readers’ Choice Award. Those connections truly do bring a unity to our program-
ming and make learning more meaningful for our students! Did your child bring home a
PA Young Reader book to share with you? J
West Manheim students are now anxiously awaiting the state results of this award! In the
Kindergarten through grade three category, West Manheim voted for Dog in Charge by
X. L. Going . The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate won our grade three
through grade five category. We should know in a few short weeks if our West Manheim
picks and/or our concert song connection will match the winning choices of students
across our state!
Dr. Seuss’ 110th birthday was celebrated on March 3 by students and staff clad in Seuss
character costumes and a wide variety of classroom activities! That was also the week
that students came to the red, white, and blue decorated library computer carrels to per-
form their civic duty and vote for their favorite nominated PA Young Reader’s Choice
Award book.
Second, third, fourth, and fifth graders have been busy learning how to be ethical users of
information through various research projects that coordinate with classroom curriculum.
Many first graders are gearing up to meet the Fairy Godmother for lunch and games in
the library if they read ten fairy tales, folk tales, or fables by Friday, April 4. The Fairy God-
mother is looking forward to hearing about all the wonderful stories and frolicking with our
young readers!
2013—2014 PSSA TESTING DATES
All South Western Elementary Students in grades 4, and 5 will participate in the Pennsylvania
System of School Assessment (PSSA) on the dates below. Thank you for your support in not
scheduling vacation, appointments or other absences from school on these dates.
Grade 5 Wring: April 8, 9 & 10, 2014
Grade 4 Science: April 29 & 30, 2014
Page 5 April
Mu
sic
“N
ote
s”
By M
rs. E
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lan
An
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ers
from
Art
By M
rs. S
ha
ub
Reminder!
West Manheim Art Fair
Wednesday, April 9th
6:30 to 8 p.m.
Think, Explore, Create!
Spend a few minutes or the whole
evening sharing a special moment
with your child.
Page 6 West Manheim Newsletter
From Mrs. Rathell’s class:
Questioning Quinn had a dog and a cat. The dog barked at the cat. The cat hissed at the dog. Questioning Quinn loves his pets. ~Bridget Thornton One day I was swinging at the park. Suddenly, I saw a wolf. I jumped off the swing and ran away. Whew! That was a close one! ~Lleyton Reiner Kayleigh, Cole, and I went to the carnival. We went on the ferris wheel. We went fast. It was fun! ~Lucy Peltzer
From Mrs. Buffington’s class:
Colton Resetar I am mad. Why? We had nothing to eat on the bus so I had to eat take out Chinese food! Adler Stine On March 25, 2014, Grandpa Stine said, "Do you want to go somewhere?" "Ah, maybe." "OK, let's go! I'll tell you in the car. OK, we are going to get a tablet." "OK!" We drove to our Wal-Mart. They didn't have 7 inch tablets. So we drove past the hospital. Then we turned around. Then we went to the other Wal-Mart. They had 7 inch tablets! I was so ex-cited and after dinner I got to play it. Joshua Bryant Once upon a time there lived a dino named Sky. He was a triceratops. Sky was about to climb a mountain when he saw a T-Rex. He went back. He saw a spikatops, it was bursting in the mountain! The T-Rex roared. Sky had enough and he bumped the T-Rex.
Kindergarten Writing...
Fitness Forum By Miss Hull
I would like to thank North Hanover Bowling Center for providing us with their carpeted bowling
lanes and generously providing a free game for each student.
Our annual 4th & 5th grade Gym-O-Ree will be held on May 16th at the High School Track begin-
ning at 9 am. More information about the event will be coming soon.
Page 7 April
Kindergarten Writing...
From Mrs. Stetter’s class:
Page 8 West Manheim Newsletter
Page 9 April
Information Regarding E-mail Messages From Parents
Parents have found that e-mailing a teacher can be a very useful and timely tool. This method of
communication certainly expands the communication capabilities between parents and teachers.
Free e-mail addresses from Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, or any other free e-mail service are automati-
cally treated as SPAM by the district e-mail system. If you are e-mailing someone for the first
time, be sure to let them know by some other means of communication. Sending a handwritten
note with your child to the teacher can be helpful. When the teacher knows that an e-mail mes-
sage is coming in from a parent, the teacher is prompted to thoroughly check the list of SPAM
messages in order to retrieve the “good” e-mail message from the parent. This process only
needs to be done for the initial contact between parent and teacher. After the parent e-mail mes-
sage is opened by the teacher the path is clear for all future messages.
Page 10 West Manheim Newsletter
Page 11 April
Page 12 West Manheim Newsletter
KITCHEN TIDBITS
Back by popular demand, the visiting chef will be coming to your building for breakfast on April 17th. He will be cooking up the Mustang Slam (scrambled eggs, sausage, and French toast sticks). Please visit the cafeteria for breakfast that morning to enjoy a fresh, warm breakfast and see the chef in action.
Page 13 April
COMMUNITY FITNESS—SWSD Adult Education Classes
Zumba, Aqua Zumba, Community Swim, Open Volleyball. Get Moving, Get Exercising!
Visit www.swsd.k12.pa.us for more details about adult education classes at South Western
School District
CALENDAR CHANGE—SNOW/ICE MAKE UP DAYS
Thursday, April 17, 2014 will be our second School Make-up day. Mon-
day, March 31, 2014 will be our third School Make-up day. Monday,
April 21, 2014 will be our fourth School Make-up day. Friday, June 6,
2014 will be our final make up day with Wednesday, June 4, 2014 being
a full day for students and Thursday, June 5th & Friday, June 6th being
early dismissal days. School will be in session on these days. This is due to the
school closing on January 3, January 21, February 3, 5, 13, and 14 due to snow.
Please adjust your school calendars to reflect these changes. Thank you.
Page 14 West Manheim Newsletter
Page 15 April
APRIL CALENDAR OF EVENTS
May—1 AG Lab
May—2 AG Lab
Grade 4 visits Utz Terrace
Family Science Night, 6-9 PM
May—3 West Manheim PTO Community Yard
Sale
May—5 Spirit Day—Wear Project Harmony t-
shirt or black and white
May—6 PAC Meeting, 2:30-3:30 PM
Grade 2 Portfolio Night, 6-7 PM
May 7 & 8 West Manheim Kindergarten
Registration, 8-3:30 PM
May—7 WM PTO Market Day Pick up, 7-8 PM
May—10 Grade 5 Washington, D.C. Trip
May 12-16 Children’s Book Week
May—12 Skateboard Science Assembly
May—13 WM PTO Meeting, 6:30 PM, WM
Troubadours to perform
May—14 WM PTO BOGO Book Fair
Jump Rope Assembly
School Board Planning Meeting, 7-9 PM,
at Admin.
May—15 WM PTO BOGO Book Fair
May—15 Grade 1 to Catactin Zoo
Grade 3 to Health Fair
May—16 WM PTO BOGO Book Fair
Spirit Day—Wear WM T-shirt or blue
and yellow
Page 16 West Manheim Newsletter
April—1 PSSA Reading for Grades 3, 4, 5
Spirit Day—Roll Reversal: Teachers
dress as students and students dress as teachers.
April—2 PSSA Math for Grades 3, 4, 5
WM PTO Market Day Pick up, 7-8 PM
April—3 PSSA Reading for Grades 3, 4, 5
Girls Night Out, 6-8:45 PM, at EHMIS
April—4 WM Grandparent’s Day
After School Bowling, 2:30-5:15 PM
April—8 Spirit Day—Wear Project Harmony t-shirt or black and white
PSSA Writing for Grade 5
WM PTO Meeting, 6:30-7:30 PM
April—9 PSSA Writing for Grade 5
Grade 2 trip to Whitaker Ctr.
PAC Meeting, 2:30 –3:30 PM
West Manheim Art Fair, 6:30-8 PM
School Board Mtg., 7-9 PM at Admin.
April—10 PSSA Writing for Grade 5
April—11 Star Day—Wear Yellow or clothing with stars on them.
After School Bowling, 2:30-5:15 PM
April—13 National Library Week
April—14 Open Library night, Grades K-2, 6-7:30 PM
April—15 Open Library night, Grades 3-5, 6-7:30 PM
April—16 Talent Show Rehearsal, 6-8:30 PM
April—17 Schools are Open—Second Snow Make Up Day
Project Harmony Assembly
April—18 Schools Closed
April—19 West Manheim PTO Skating Party, at Magic Elm, 4:30-6:30 PM
April—21 Schools are Open—Fourth Snow Make Up Day
April—22 Spirit Day—Wear Earth Tone Colors
Elementary Open House, 9 AM and 7 PM
April—23 School Board Mtg., 7-9 PM at Admin.
April—24 & 25 West Manheim PTO Talent Showcase, 6-8:30 PM
April—25 Spirit Day—Wear WM T-shirt or blue and yellow
After School Bowling, 2:30-5:15 PM
April—28 AG Lab
PSSA Science for Grade 4
April—29 AG Lab
PSSA Science for Grade 4
April—30 AG Lab
PSSA Science for Grade 4
LOOKING AHEAD - MAY/JUNE DATES TO REMEMBER
May—16 Gym-O-Ree
May—19 WM Music Fest, 7-8 PM
May—22 Grade 5 to Dutch Apple Dinner
Theatre
May—23 “Special” Spirit Day—Dress as Art,
Music, Phys. Ed., or Library teacher
May—26 Schools Closed
May—27 Spirit Day—Wear Red, White & Blue
No school for current Kindergarten
students
Kindergarten Visitation for Incoming
new students
May—28 School Board Meeting, 7 PM, at
Admin.
May—29 Kindergarten to East Woods
May—30 Spirit Day—Wear WM T-shirt or blue
and yellow
WM PTO Carnival, 6-9 PM
May—31 WM PTO Carnival Raindate
June—3 Spirit Day—Wear Project harmony T-
shirt
WM PTO Board Meeting, 6:30-7:30
PM
June—4 Full Day of School for Students
K-11 (Early Dismissal Canceled)
WM PTO Market Day Pick up, 7-8 PM
June—5 Early Dismissal for Elementary at
12:30 PM
June—6 Early Dismissal for Elementary at
12:30 PM