December 2022 Edition

 

The Holiday Season is Bustlin' Here at WSS!

Community Events

From sharing our talents at the WSS band & chorus holiday concerts to kindness countdowns, community ornaments and the shopping for others at Merry Moose shop, we continue to embrace the season of giving. 

 

 

Our 6th grade students also enjoyed a trip to Geva Theater to enjoy A Christmas Carol in Rochester, NY. 

                 

WSS Academic Updates

First marking period reports and parent/teacher conferences are now behind us! We hope that you enjoyed learning about your child's glows and grows during this special time of academic reflection amongst our partners in learning. 

Guided reading groups are well underway in all classrooms. These are where students read in a small group facilitated by their teacher at their instructional reading level. What is your child reading in group right now? Ask them to talk to you about the characters and problems that the characters are facing. Interested in increasing your child's love of reading? Take a look at this short article that shares 5 reading strategies to support reading skills. 

How about the writing that is happening across our building! The narrative writing and informational research writing is just exceptional! Here are a few examples from our 5th grade students: 

    

Math continues to stretch the problem-solving abilities of our learners. From shapes, to finding patterns within numbers to creative arrays, the mathematical discourse thrives within our classrooms. 

  

Special Area Updates

Thank you to Mrs. VanDerBeck for your creative facilitation in the ornament creations and displays for the LeRoy Town Hall. We hope that you enjoy your child's memorabilia for many years to come!

 

Thank you to the talented LeRoy Musical Department for all of their hard work and dedication in preparing our 4-6th grade students for the 2022 Holiday Band & Chorus Concerts. Enjoy the videos from our concert nights.

Beginner Band & 5th Grade Chorus

WSS Band & 6th Grade Chorus

The Mini Marching Knights are back! Rehearsals begin in the new year!

Character Education/SEL Updates

We continued our focus on the Pillar of Caring through the holiday season. Each classroom has nominated one student who embodies the definition of caring; including caring for oneself, for others and for our community. The nominated student will be recognized during our January Character Education Assembly on January 12th. Families will be notified by mail of their child's award prior to the assembly. We are excited to begin this new tradition!! We absolutely love seeing how act of kindness and caring are a natural part of our day across WSS; this was his first time tying a shoe and it was for someone else!

This is often a hectic - and exciting - time of year. Our children often benefit from a reset time, or a time to take a break from excitement. Instead of time out chairs or areas, consider designing a simple Calm/Cool Down Corner that has options to help your child learn how to calm their emotions and behaviors. Here are two great articles to learn more:

https://www.actionforhealthykids.org/activity/calm-down-corner/
https://www.weareteachers.com/calm-down-corner/

Counselor's Corner: Keeping Your Child Safe Online

From the Desk of Principal Messura

Welcome 2023! A few important dates to remember as we enter into a new month and new calendar year: 

• No School Monday, January 2nd
• PTSO Meeting Monday, January 9 at 6:15pm
• Character Education School Wide Assemblies January 12th
• No School Monday, January 16th for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• No School Monday, January 30th for Superintendent's Conference Day

Reminder that 2nd-6th grade students will continue to have additional outdoor recess at the end of lunch with Mr. Weinman; please dress accordingly!

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Carol Messura, WSS Principal

Ms. Christy Neu, WSS Assistant Principal

Help Keep WSS Healthy for the Holidays

Germs love to spread this time of year, as many hours are spent indoors. 

In an effort to keep everyone healthy, please remember these guidelines for school, thanks to Nurse Doty:

November 2022 Edition

Fall Highlights @ WSS

10/17-10/22  Character Education Kick-Off Week

Each day of the week, we reviewed a Pillar of Good Character: Respect, Responsibility, Caring, Trustworthiness, Fairness and Citizenship. The student and staff participation was exceptional - thank you for helping us connect with Character! 

10/28/22  WSS Great Pumpkin Patch is Back!

The smiles were priceless as each and every WSS child went out to our very own pumpkin patch to choose the perfect pumpkin to take home with them. Many of those students wrapped up the festive day with the PTSO sponsored Halloween Dance - thank you PTSO!! Here is a link to a video of the event. 

10/31/22  The Joy of Halloween 

  

  

WSS Academic Updates:

One of our building goals is to increase Reading & Writing across all settings. The creativity, voice and clear messages that are students are including in their quick writes and formal writing pieces have been top notch. Listen to a few featured narrative writing pieces from our 6th grade students here.

Fun Fact: Do you know what is the most popular book in the WSS Library? Find out here! 

  

 

 
  

STEAM is up and running with Mr. Weaver, Mrs. Tran and many of our classroom teachers across the building! What is STEAM? STEAM Education is an approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.

Here, Mrs. Tran explains Coding to the students of Mrs. Overacker's 2nd Grade Class. We are so lucky to have her as she works with all K-6 students on computer coding! 

WSS Special Area Updates:

After several weeks of practices preparing for Seussical the Musical, many 6th grade students took the stage on Thursday, November 10th to show off their musicianship and artistry. A special THANK YOU to Ms. Dechant, Miss Pcionek and Mrs. Jermy for your dedication and creativity in bringing this musical to life for our students! Congratulations on a fabulous show! And thank you to the community for all of the food donations! If you missed here, here are some highlights. 

With all of the November beautiful weather, PE classes have been soaking up the sunshine! Thank you to our PE teachers, Mrs. Sherman, Mr. Humphrey, Mr. Herdlein & M. Weinman for giving our kiddos the wellness that they need to be their best in the classroom! Check out a video clip here. 

Character Ed & SEL (Social Emotional Learning) Corner:

November and December we are focusing on the character trait of Caring. We enjoy integrating building wide Character Education through our morning announcements, cafeteria activities, TV monitors throughout the school and of course, within the classrooms. To enjoy a little insight into cafeteria fun with Miss Laurie, here you go! It takes a village to support Character Education and SEL. 

World Kindness Day was on November 13, 2022 and celebrated here at WSS on November 14th. From making gifts for Veterans to express appreciation for their commitment to our country to Kindness ROCKs in the Cafe and extra smiles all around, we did our part to sprinkle a little extra kindness around WSS.  Interested in weaving more intentional kindness into your home? The Random Acts of Kindness Organization offers many incredible resources. 

As we approach the holiday of Thanksgiving, we are focusing on caring about the people and things in our lives. Check this out to link gratitude practices to home experiences, too. What is Gratitude and 4 Ways to Practice It - for Kids & Families! 

Thank you to the Women of the Moose (video) for Winter Clothing Donations - we appreciate you! Families, if you are in search of winter jackets, boots, gloves, etc, please reach out to your school counselor or teacher. 

From the Desk of Principal Carol Messura

 Have you found our integrated page on Twitter yet? Be sure to follow @LeRoy_CSD for all LCSD news! 

• Thanksgiving Recess in Wednesday 11/23-Sunday 11/27
• Our 1st Progress Report will be available at Parent/Teacher Conferences.  Mrs. Messura will be sending an email to all families on Monday, Nov. 28th about our grading procedures!
• Picture make up day is Thursday, December 1 (see the previous blog post for more information)
• Early Dismissal is on Friday, December 2nd @ 11:20am K-6, UPK @ 12pm
• WSS Parent Conferences are Friday, December 2nd and Monday, December 5th. Be sure to check in with your classroom teachers for your scheduled time. 
• No school for PreK-6 students on Monday, December 5th. 

Picture Make Up Day is Coming on Thursday, December 1st

A message from Clix Portrait Studios for Picture Re-Take Day at WSS on 12/1: 

Students that haven't had their pictures taken yet- The student just needs to go to camera with or without an order form.

Students that want retakes- They need to return their original package ON picture makeup day. If we receive the package late, there may be additional charges applied. Mainly because it may need to be shipped to their home instead of back to the school with the rest of the makeup day pictures. The parents can write on the front outside of the package what they would like to see differently. 

October 2022 Edition

 

October has been filled with 
Community Connections. 
Check out some of our highlights:

10/5/22 Walk to School Event sponsored by the PTSO - Here is the Video!

10/7/22 Homecoming School Spirit & Fire Prevention Day 

Thank you for the volunteers across the LeRoy Fire Department for teaching fire prevention for our PreK-6 students. You make a difference!

10/16/22 WSS Teachers Walked in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Event in Rochester, NY

LeRoy CSD staff collectively raised over $3100 for the American Cancer Society as we kicked off being Caring for the National Character Counts! Week - KUDOS!

10/17/22 Character Ed Kick Off!

The entire school came together in the Trigon Gym for a presentation on what "good character" means, the meaning of the Pillar of Citizenship both in the school and out in the community, and of course there was plenty of dancing! What a way to start out a Monday! It sure was an incredible feeling to have the whole school together once again. 

WSS Academic Updates:

New learning is underway across WSS! We continue to learn more about our students each day; through observations, assessments and diagnostic screenings. By now, students have completed their iReady diagnostic screenings for ELA & Math, Fountas & Pinnell reading assessments and 3-6 will be completing their computer based Social Emotional Learning (SEL) screening within the week. 

Our staff works collaboratively to create groups to target the needs of students in all academic areas. School-wide goals are developed to support grade level goals and then, most importantly, we work with the children on setting and monitoring their own learning goals. They feel empowered and worthy when they are in the driver's seat of their learning. To explore more about learning goals, check out this inspiring message from Kid President and how to set goals from BrainPop. 

Our teachers and students have now started reading/literacy groups and their first unit of study in writing. The work of our mathematicians continues to soar with incredible discourse and problem solving. Thank you to Mrs. Holman in 1st grade for opening up her classroom to our community for a video on approaches to being a reader and writer. Check it out here!

WSS Special Area Updates:

From celebrating International Dot Day with Primary artists, to creating a detailed LeRoy Knight using line art with our 6th grade students, Art with Mrs. VanDerBeck has been nothing short of exciting. To see more about the line art project, view this short interview with our incredible Art teacher. 

Character Ed & SEL (Social Emotional Learning) Corner:

This month, our Character Crew Committee met and planned the National Character Counts! Kick-Off Week, as well as began planning for upcoming events and learning opportunities connected to the 6 Pillars of Character. To learn more about Character Education here at WSS, tune into this interview with Ms. Neu. 

Each day throughout the week of 10/17-10/22, we focused on a specific Pillar of Character and students dressed to embrace that character trait. Thank you for your support with this! To learn more about the 6 Pillars of Character, visit this website. 

The months of November and December we will be focusing on the character trait of Caring. Be on the lookout for activities to support the Pillar of Caring, as well as your child being "Caught Being Caring." 

From the Desk of Principal Carol Messura

We are in the midst of a Social Media migration from @LeRoyWSS to @LeRoy_CSD with the hashtag, #ONECASTLE. @LeRoyWSS will no longer be active as of 10/24. Please follow us @LeRoy_CSD to stay connected. Families are also welcome to use the #ONECASTLE hashtag to highlight what is happening across the LeRoy CSD community.

Things to come through the end of October: 

• Thank you for doing your best to get your child to school each and every day. Their on-time attendance helps to create consistency and support routine developments.
• SMILE! Pictures Days are October 26th & 27th.
• Let's DANCE! Join us for the PTSO Sponsored Halloween Dance on Friday, October 28th. K-3 is 5:30-7pm and Grades 4-6 is from 7:30-9pm in the WSS cafeteria. Please enter through the main office doors (by the playground). Adult Photo ID is required to enter.   
• The WSS Pumpkin Patch is coming at the end of the month, thanks to the incredibly generous team at Pully's Farm Market! Stay tuned for more information!

Mark Your Calendar

Sincerely,

Mrs. Carol Messura, WSS Principal 

Ms. Christy Neu, WSS Assistant Principal