Principal Wheeler’s Weekly Update 3-22-24
Hello Viewlands Families!
Spring has sprung. The weather last weekend and the beginning of this week brought warmth, sunshine, and lots of blooming plants! This is also the time, where we often as a school community need to reset and review learning expectations and what safe, kind, and responsible looks like at school. It is often in the middle to end of March, where we see many students needing to reset, refocus, and review those expectations. We always appreciate the family partnerships around this and supporting conversations at home around safe, kind, and responsible!
A focus at the end of this week was on the lunchroom. In our K-2 lunch we were doing a lot of reminders about staying seated, talking but not yelling (voice volume 2 or 3, but not yelling), being safe with our bodies, not touching other people’s things, and cleaning up after ourselves.
A focus at some of our recesses this week have been on the tag and sports games (like soccer and flyers with the football) getting overly competitive and unsafe, requiring more reminders. As I share with students our job is to try and help students play safely. Any rules on the playground are to help everyone be safe, not just to impose rules. When we have large groups of students out there at one time, safety is important, and that often requires rules. In addition, some students are treating the games at recess are like their recreational or club sports teams, which is causing frustration, too much physicality, and not being kind to one another. We will use yellow card and red cards and penalties (like they do in soccer and football) during these recess games to refocus on recreational fun, inclusivity, and safety.
There are always highlights when listening and learning with and from our students. This week seeing the joy of students watching some of their peers on First Bell; reading with some 1st graders; doing a team building activity with 2nd graders; and talking with some 5th graders about their hopes, aspirations, and plans after they leave middle school were the highlights! Your children are bright, inquisitive, and creative thinkers. We will continue to seek ways to make every student feel known, valued, and empowered through the year.
In Partnership,
Carrie Wheeler | Viewlands Principal
Enrollment Update:
If you have a child that will be entering kindergarten or Seattle Public Schools in other grades next year, enroll now in Seattle Public Schools. If you know a neighborhood family or friend that have children that might be entering kindergarten or planning to attend Seattle Public Schools, encourage them to enroll their children now. While enrollment stays open, the more accurate our actual counts are, the better we can plan, and provides data to request an adjustment if the projection numbers are inaccurate. Please enroll your student now!
VEPTSA Update:
Message from VEPSTA Partners
Click the header for links and more details on each topic.
VEPTSA enrichment – Enroll today
Volunteer chaperones receive a 50% discount – email for more info.
Spring enrichment includes new options for Slime Club, Piano-Keyboard Club, and 1ON1 Basketball – we’re excited to welcome back Chess, Kong Academy, and Seattle Children’s Theater offering improv.
Viewlands Orca Cup Sunday, March 24, at 1:00 pm | Sandel Park
It’s Orca Cup Week! Come on out this Sunday for a family event including kid-friendly scrimmages, kids vs. adults matches, and snacks – no experience not required. We need your help – please sign up to volunteer.
Nutty Squirrel Fundraiser Tuesday March 26 3-6pm
Don’t miss the first Nutty Squirrel Gelato Tuesday of 2024! Viewlands receives 15% of all Phinney Ridge sales from 3-6pm.
Important School Calendar Dates
- Monday, April 8th – Friday April 12th –Spring break, no school