January 9th, 2018

1/18/2018

WIZARD WORDS

A newsletter from Washington Elementary and Washington PTA

January 9, 2018

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Dear Washington Families,

At Washington GT, learning about and honoring our different cultural backgrounds and perspectives is critical to creating a community where all families, students, and staff feel safe, valued, and respected. This Tuesday evening, January 9th, I will be meeting with the Parent Advisory and Support Team for Safe and Inclusive schools. This diverse group of parents plays a key role in providing parent feedback regarding the type of learning community we are building for our students.

Even if you are not a member of the team, but are interested in our work, I welcome you to our meeting this Tuesday from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. in our media center.

My next Virtual Principal Chat on our YouTube channel will be held from 11:00 - 12:00 p.m. on Monday, January 22nd. Julie Von Haefen, Washington GT parent, PTA member, and President of the Wake County PTA Council, will join me as we Live Stream our discussion about the impact of class size reductions on schools and specifically on Washington GT for the 2018-19 school year. I will tweet out and post on our website the link to the Live Stream so you can watch from home or work. I hope you can join us!

In December, WCPSS switched to a new email system. Staff email addresses are the same, but if you are sending an email and your “to” box pulls up the staff email from the old email system, the user will not receive it. Instead, type in the specific email address. For example, my email is bgrant@wcpss.net. When communicating with me, type in the actual email address, don’t let my name self populate if you have emailed me in the past. Otherwise, your email may go to the old email system and staff won’t receive it.

~Bob Grant

UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday, January 12th 9:30 a.m. - PTA Board Meeting (WES Conference room - all are welcome!)

Monday, January 15th - SCHOOL HOLIDAY

Friday, January 19th, 7:00 p.m. - "Giants in the Sky" Theater Production Performance

Thursday, January 25th - Science Fair, Math & Science Night, and General PTA Meeting

Mondays, January 22nd & February 19th - SNOW MAKE-UP DAYS

GIANTS IN THE SKY

A message from Ms. Eacret:

Because of the missed school days, our school production, Giants In The Sky, will take place the week of January 15th with the following schedule:

Tuesday, January 16th 3:50-6:00 p.m. Dress Rehearsal for students in the production
Wednesday, January 17th K-1st student production 2:20 p.m.
Thursday, January 18th 2nd-3rd student production 2:20 p.m.
Friday, January 19th 4th-5th student production 2:20 pm
Friday, January 19th 7:00 p.m. Family production

Immediate Volunteer Need: Is there a parent with a truck that could help us pick up and/or return stage lighting on 1/17 and 1/22? Some of the pieces are 10’ long and very heavy. This would safe us money, if you can help! Please email kpahl@wcpss.net if you can help!

Also, can you help backstage on the day of the performances? We still need parent help to make the play a success! Sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e094ca8ad2ea20-giants.

EVENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS

SAVE THE DATE

Washington’s annual Family Math & Science night will be Thursday, January 25.

Join us to participate in lots of hands on activities with White Deer Park, NC Museum of Natural Science, NCSU SUM Club, NCSU Astronomy, NCSU Goodnight Scholars LEGO Engineering, and many more! Plus, all of our students science fair projects will be on display in the cafeteria the night of the event. Mark your calendars so you don’t miss out on the fun. Also, in order to make this event a success the PTA needs your help. Please click the link below to help.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080f4bafab23a46-20181

SCIENCE FAIR:

All Wizard Scientists who registered for Science Fair should be busy working on their experiments! PLEASE REVIEW THE GUIDELINES so that your entry will not lose points or be disqualified. Remember to include your journal, and do NOT put your name on your journal or display (numbers will be assigned to your entry when you check in to keep judging anonymous). You can find the guidelines here: SCIENCE FAIR RULES & REGULATIONS Entries should be at school by 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25th, and winners will be announced durning Math & Science Night that night at 7:45. Do your best work and have fun!

MULTI-CULTURAL NIGHT:

SHARE YOUR CULTURE WITH WASHINGTON!

We are fortunate that our Washington Family is so culturally diverse! For several years, the PTA and Washington families have organized a cultural night to highlight different groups represented at our school. We have learned about India by celebrating Holi, we experienced the vibrant music, food, and art of Latin America, and we celebrated the vast cultural and historical contributions of African Americans. This year, we want to host a Multi-cultural Fair in April to celebrate everyone! If your family has a particular cultural background, we hope you will teach us by bringing traditional dress, art, music, food to taste, etc. More information on how you can participate is coming soon, but we need your help to plan this event!

THE PTA IS LOOKING FOR INTERESTED PARENTS TO HELP COORDINATE THIS EVENT IN APRIL. Please contact Amy Jones at docteachjones@me.com by January 26 if you are interested, and/or click HERE to join the Cultural Night Hub in MemberHub!

JUMP ROPE FOR HEART

Are you interested in helping us collect donations for Jump Rope for Heart? We need a parent volunteer (or two) to help Ms. Kichefski collect money for this awesome event. If interested, please email Coach K. at skichefskil@wcpss.net. Learn more about Jump Rope for Heart here: http://american.heart.org/jump-hoops/

Thank you!

OTHER VOLUNTEER NEEDS

https://memberhub.com/HSR11083I7409

Thank you for giving your time to build our community!

ADVOCACY

NCPTA Class Size Resolution Statement

Whereas, North Carolina PTA believes that

every child must be provided with a well-rounded, high-quality education, which will ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential and become productive members of society.
specialized instruction in physical education and the arts, such as music, literature, dance, drama, and visual arts are central to learning. Infusion of the arts in elementary, secondary, and continuing education curricula is key to the development of students and an important element of a well-rounded, high quality education.
the teaching of the arts and physical education must be done by qualified teachers who are trained in these specialized fields.

Whereas, The North Carolina General Assembly established new class size limits for grades K-3. Unfortunately, the unintended consequences resulted in an un-funded mandate that would require hundreds of new K-3 teachers in public schools across the state, the creation of new classroom spaces and possible elimination of art, music and PE teachers and classrooms in order to comply with the mandate.

Whereas, PTA members, parents and teachers across North Carolina are deeply concerned about the effects of the new class size mandate. North Carolina PTA conducted a survey of 55,000 PTA members in NC, 80% of whom live in urban areas (Wake, Mecklenburg, Durham, Guilford, Forsyth and New Hanover counties) and 20% who live in more rural areas. The survey asked what types of effects their schools were seeing this year, and would potentially see next year as a result of the law.

The results of the survey were similar among urban and rural areas. School districts statewide will feel the following effects as reported by PTA members who responded to the survey:

larger class sizes in grades 4-12 (60%)
specials taught from mobile carts or outside their regular classrooms (56.2%)
inadequate funding for specials teachers or loss of specials teachers (71.6%)
paraprofessionals/teacher assistants or classroom teachers teaching specials classes that are normally taught by a licensed specialists (28.5%)
inadequate classroom space to accommodate additional classrooms in the school building (66.5%)
use of non-classroom space (i.e., gyms, cafeteria) to accommodate additional classrooms (36.2%)
more than one class in a shared classroom space (32.1%)

Whereas, the bylaws of the National PTA and North Carolina PTA both state that a core purpose of PTA is to secure adequate laws for the care and protection of children and youth. In keeping with that mission, the North Carolina PTA encourages and supports initiatives at all levels of government to assure that every school system has sufficient funding to provide every child with an opportunity for a sound basic education. That includes sufficient funding for qualified teachers in all classrooms.

Whereas, the aforementioned effects of the class size mandate are barriers to a well-rounded, high-quality education for our students. Larger classrooms in higher grades, inadequate classroom space and the potential elimination of specialized instruction in the arts, music and PE are unacceptable results of smaller class sizes in grades K-3. Although National PTA supports efforts at the federal, state, and local levels to reduce class size in the early grades for the purpose of improving children’s academic achievement, smaller class sizes can not justify the destructive and devastating effects of the class size mandate on our school districts across the state.

Resolved, North Carolina PTA

encourages the North Carolina General Assembly to fully fund the class size mandate and allow school districts adequate time over a period of years to implement the new limits.
alternatively requests that the General Assembly restore local flexibility over class size to the original House Bill 13, which allows local districts flexibility to change the Kindergarten to Third student ratio up to six additional students in an individual class or average ratio increase by three additional students per school;
and/or establish a hardship waiver for school districts whose quality of education will be diminished through the class size mandate.

Resolved, North Carolina PTA also asks the North Carolina General Assembly to resolve the class size issue quickly, as waiting until the short session in May will be too late for school districts as they plan budgets and make hiring decisions for the 2018-2019 school year.

Adopted by the North Carolina PTA Board of Directors
January 4, 2018

NATIONAL PTA REFLECTIONS 2017-2018

Art & Culture are an integral part of the WashinGTon Community. We would like to acknowledge our young creative leaders who stepped out of the box to create a magical world which is ‘WITHIN REACH," the theme for this year’s contest.

Primary K-2

Visual Art: 2D

1^st Place: Riott Vooris

2^nd Place: Shruthi Appani

3^rdPlace: Sydney Coltrane

Most creative idea: Gryphon Bush

Most inspiring idea: Keertana Sankar

Visual Art: 3D

1^st Amelie Porper

Photography:

1^st Place: Armaan khan

2^nd Place: Ahana Rajgopalan

Film Production:

1^st Place: Calvin Baeumler

Dance Choreography:

1^st Place: Hasrat Nohria

2^nd Place: Aarush Kadira

Literature:

1^st Place: Eliana Kumar

2^nd Place: Ahryck Thomas

Intermediate 3-5

Visual Art:2D

1^st place: Pravanya Gunturi

2^nd Place: Haroon Zafiruddin

3^rd Place: Shrivardan Shanmugaraj

Most creative idea: Musa Zafiruddin & Lucas Bui

Most inspiring idea: Esha Penmatsa & Prisha Bele

Visual Art 3D:

1^st Place: Musa Zafiruddin & Gisele Brisard

2^nd Place: Anvi Joshi

3^rd Place: Akhil Sompuram

Photography:

1^st Place: Aarnav Muddula

2^nd Place: Danica Stoltz & Haroon Zafiruddin

3^rd Place: Musa Zafiruddin

Film Production:

1^st Place: Lerah Carey

2^nd Place: Musa Zafiruddin

3^rd Place: Rianna Thomas

Music Production:

1^st Place: Catherine Tanner

Literature:

1^st Place: Ramya Pragada

2^nd Place: Riya pragada

3^rd Place: Sereena Kumar

Special Artist:

Visual Art 3D: Most Creative & inspiring ideas

Sanyah Baity

Carmelo Doby

Hayden McNeil

Tyrique Young

Samir Arouna

Bryson Chavis

Isaac Wilson

Year Book Cover Winner: (Winner chosen from submitted entries)

Akhil Sompuram

Wake County Winners:

Primary: K-2

Visual Art 2D: 1^st Place: Shruthi Appani

Visual Art 3D: 2^nd Place: Armaan Khan

Film Production:1^st Place: Calvin Baeumler

Literature: 2^nd Place: Eliana Kumar

Intermediate 3-5

Visual Art 3D: 1^st Place: Pravanya Gunturi

Film Production: 1^st Place: Musa Zafiruddin

Special Artist

Visual Art 3D:

Sanyah Baity

Carmelo Doby

Hayden McNeil

Tyrique Young

Samir Arouna

Bryson Chavis

Isaac Wilson

State level theme search Winner:

Musa Zafiruddin

Wake County winners in the 1^st Place & all Special artist winners will advance to the state level competition.

The 2018-2019 theme for Reflections PTA Art competition is “Heroes around me”

TAX LETTERS

You should have received a letter documenting your donation to the Washington GT Elementary PTA for your tax records. Let us know if there are any errors or if you do not receive one. THANK YOU!!

WIZARD PTA ON SOCIAL MEDIA!

Twitter