Upcoming Dates:

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

• Spelling Bee – Del Paso Cafeteria – 6:00 PM

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

• Walking Wednesday – Del Paso

Thursday, December 10, 2015

• WCS Board Meeting – Pebblewood Room P11 – 6:30 PM

Friday, December 11, 2015

• Pebblewood Winter Dance (6th – 8th Grades) 3:00-4:00 PM

• Barnes and Noble Family Night – 5:00 PM

• Footloose Friday – Del Paso

• Field Lessons:
  • 7th Grade In-House Field Lesson – Knight In History
  • 1st Grade In-House Field Lesson – Explorit Science – 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
  • 3rd Grade Fish Hatchery Field Lesson – 11:00 AM – 2:30 PM

SAVE THE DATE:

Thursday, December 18 – Early Dismissal – All Grades 

Christmas Break – December 18 – January 1

Celebrations:

Watch this video to learn about this month’s Core Value: Gratitude!

	This week, 20 legislative staff from the state Capital visited Westlake Charter School to observe our Gold Ribbon Program in action. Our students lead the visitors through several classrooms, fielded questions and presented our program with #Explorer Pride!
This week our amazing 3rd-grade team launched a Project Based Learning Gallery Walk for the rest of our school. These third graders collected observational and survey data about our playground and made safety recommendations to their playground peers! This is Project Based Learning at work!
	2nd Grade kicked off their Travel Around the World PBL unit with a flight simulation!  Safe travels 2nd grade.
In 7th grade Humanities classes, students recently studied the Crusades. Students worked in groups of four to create an online newspaper consisting of various articles about the Crusades and how it impacted those involved!
	6th Grade Students traveled the globe and back in time this week all without leaving the classroom! Westlake sixth grade students participated in an in-house field lesson when museum staff brought the magic of the museum into our classrooms!
The air is filled with the smell of gingerbread at Del Paso.  The kindergarten team is busy on the hunt for a missing Gingerbread man and they will travel to all ends of the Earth to find him.  These students are getting a great introduction to our Global Perspective.
	Students in Mrs. Haley’s 6th Grade Math class are playing Battleship with coordinate graphing!

Announcements:

For the Whole School

Barnes and Noble Family Night: Join us for Westlake Charter School’s Annual Barnes and Noble Family Night Out on Friday, December 11th from 5:30 – 7:30 PM.  Come participate in crafts, games and storytelling with the WCS Staff!  Up to 25% of the proceeds from the whole weekend will go to WCS to purchase books for our school!  Whether you buy a book, movie, CD, or some coffee and cheesecake, anything you shop for will be supporting our school.  WCS volunteers will be staffing the gift wrap table. You can have your purchases wrapped before you leave the store!  What a great way to spend a weekend.  Come join us and mention Westlake Charter at checkout!  We are looking for Parent Volunteers to help with the gift-wrapping table on Saturday and Sunday.  Please sign up to volunteer HERE. Click HERE for a detailed flyer.

Spelling Bee:  This Tuesday at 6 PM, come out and enjoy an evening of focus and engagement as our school participates in the National Spelling Bee competition. Students have each had an opportunity to compete in their own classroom. Each finalist from the classroom has been elevated to the school competition being held this week. Next stop: the Sacramento County Spelling Bee! Good luck Explorers!  Access the Spelling Bee Word List HERE.

Outreach:  Now that December has arrived, applications for next year are open to any family who is interested in joining Westlake Charter. You may see posters, flyers, and signs around Natomas advertising our school. Please, if you know of a family interested in applying to our school, send them to www.JoinWestlake.com.

For Del Paso

Explorers of Excellence Celebration: Each month students are celebrated for their exemplary demonstration of the Core Values. Students have been recognized by teacher and staff nominations.  In addition to the celebration of students through “Watch it Wednesday” videos, these students will also receive an award at Morning Lineup next week.  We will celebrate students on the following days next week.

Kindergarten- Monday

1st Grade- Tuesday

2nd Grade- Wednesday

3rd Grade- Thursday

4th Grade- Friday

For Pebblewood

Middle School Dance: Our middle school students will have a Winter Dance on Friday, December 11th from 3:00-4:00 PM in the multipurpose room.