Principal Wheeler’s Weekly Update 9-27-24

Hello Viewlands Families!

This week we had our welcome back event, Bring Your Family to School Night. It was wonderful to see so many of you all at the event. We hope your children were great tour guides and you were able to see the different spaces they visit as part of their learning throughout the school day. In addition, to seeing so many of our current students and families, a true highlight was welcoming back so many Viewlands alumni Viewlands students from middle and high school joining family members at Bring Your Family to School Night. It is amazing how much they change in such short periods of time, but their joy and excitement to greet Viewlands staff filled my heart!

Today, we had our first practice fire drill. We did this without the full alarm as our first practice. During our practice we evacuated the whole school. During drills we coach into safely walking in line quietly with the adult out of the building. We talk about the importance of being quiet and walking safely as the adults need to be able to give directions and we need to be able to safely get all students and adults out of the building. During the school year we will do fire drills, earthquake drills, shelter in-place drills, and lock down drills. We do at least one drill a month. We had a successful first fire drill today.

A few highlights from my visits in classrooms and with students this week: talking about shapes and their characteristics, learning new vocabulary to describe them with 1st graders; talking with some kindergarteners about their favorite school and home activities while playing games; introducing 4th and 5th graders to the new Instrumental Music teacher, who is starting at Viewlands on Friday mornings in the next few weeks to lead the optional instrumental music classes for 5th graders (and hopefully 4th graders if spots allow); and listening to some 2nd graders describe their favorite part of me project.

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

Important Safety Reminders

The crosswalk lights on 3rd Avenue NW and 105th are currently not working. The school has reported this to the Find It Fix It and a work order has been created. We are hopeful this will be fixed quickly.

If your child rides a bus home from school, please follow all safety rules when you are meeting the bus and model this for students. Students need to cross safely in front of the bus following all crosswalk safety, families should be meeting the bus on the corner where drop is located, and please do not encourage students to run across the street. Students should never ne crossing behind the bus. This is not safe.

School Picture Day is next Friday

School picture day is next Friday, October 4th! The school pictures are used for the Viewlands yearbook unless a parent has opted out of a picture being in the yearbook. Families can also order photos if they want for purchase. The purchasing is directly through the photo vendor, not the school.

Picture Day is Right Around the Corner…

Students will be photographed by O’Connor Photography Studio for their school record on 10/4/2024.

Pre-order their portraits today!

You can also purchase photos by visiting the O’Connor Photography Studio website

If you have any questions or need assistance, please give our studio a call at 1-800-993-4929

Viewlands Move-a-Thon

We are excited to bring back the Move-a-Thon. We last had the Move-a-Thon before remote learning, the transition to a temporary space, and then transition back to the our new building. The Move-A-Thon is a fun activity that focuses on moving our body for health and fitness and is the fall VEPTSA fundraiser. This happens during the school day. VEPTSA fundraising supports important educational and social experiences at Viewlands, as well as supervision supports. VEPTSA fundraising helps support fieldtrips, reading supplemental digital curriculum for 1st and 2nd grade, enrichment learning and assembly activities, like the Double Dutch Divas assembly we have on Monday, as well as hourly support for playground and lunch supervision with Mr. Lenny.

During the move-a-thon students will be outside jogging and walking on the playground, setting goals for themselves about how many laps they think they can accomplish. During the event, we will be encouraging students to keep moving. At lunch, we will provide students popsicles as an after move-a-thon treat. Please see more information from VEPTSA on Konstella.

VEPTSA

Updates and Messages from our VEPTSA Partners:

Fall Enrichment – Register for classes now through Friday, October 4

We are thrilled to announce the fall after-school enrichment program running Tuesdays and Thursdays (10/15-12/12). Details on Fall Enrichment classes and pricing.

Move-A-Thon Monday October 7, 9-10am,

Students are jogging on the playground to raise money for Viewlands programs that enrich their educational and social experience. Please pledge and spread the word to extended family, friends, neighbors, and businesses to help us raise support. Family Pledge as a Konstella member, Supporter Pledge (non Konstella member), Volunteers 

Viewlands Bike Bus

Want to ride the bike bus to school? Join the Viewlands Orca Bike Pod every Wednesday. This year we have a north and south route riding to school. Also, save the date for Walk, Bike, & Roll to school day on October 9. Event information is in Konstella.

SPS Volunteer Application – Apply Now

The SPS Volunteer Application process takes 1-2 weeks – start now to ensure you’re ready for the exciting volunteer events that start in a few weeks. Returning volunteers – receive email notifications every 2 years to complete the renewal process.

Upcoming volunteer opportunities:

• Oct 4: Picture Day
• Oct 7: Move-A-Thon
• Oct 9: Walk, Bike & Roll to school
• Oct 31: All School Halloween Field Trip – coming soon

Important Upcoming School Calendar Dates

• Friday, October 4th – School Picture Day
• Monday, October 7th – Viewlands Move-a-Thon
• Wednesday, October 9th – Walk, Bike, & Roll to School Day
• Thursday, October 10th – Multilingual and Latinx Family Night – an event specifically for our Latinx families AND all families with students that are part of our multilingual program. Information will be sent to those families individually.
• Friday October 11th – No School, Staff Professional Development Day
• Thursday, October 31st – All School Zoo Fieldtrip, lots of approved SPS family volunteers needed during the school day to support this field trip

Neighborhood Information: Piper’s Orchard Harvest Festival

Piper’s Orchard is bringing back the annual “Festival of Fruit” on Saturday, October 5, from 11am – 2pm at Piper’s Orchard in Carkeek Park! Come celebrate the harvest with cider pressing, apple sampling, an Apple Identification Expert (folks should plan to bring their own apples!), a mason bee demonstration, live dance performance, cake walk (“Pie Walk!”), and more! Folks are encouraged to take public transportation, but limited parking is also available at Viewlands Elementary and QFC. Additional Piper’s Orchard Harvest Festival information is available.