President's Letter

Happy New Year! Hopefully everyone is refreshed after the Winter Break and is looking forward to the New Year! WEP, Weaver Enrichment Program, will give our students something to look forward to this winter. WEP offers a variety of fun and educational classes for the students to participate in after school during the winter months. Class placements will be sent home shortly and classes begin on January 28th.

 

It is that time of year to begin thinking about next year's PTA Executive Board and we are looking for individuals to serve on the Nominating Committee. This committee is responsible for 

presenting a slate of PTA Officers for the 2014-2015 school year. A short-term commitment, the Nominating Committee is of great importance to ensure the future leadership of the PTA. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact any PTA Board member or me.  Open positions for the coming two terms include PTA Vice President and the VP of Finance.  If you are interested in either of these Executive Board positions, please contact me.

 

Please remember that Monday, January 20th is a staff and student holiday and that there is a student holiday/teacher workday on January 27th.  There is not a three hour early 

release day this month.

 

Finally, we are all Weaver Readers this month with the one-school book, Summer of the Woods. Enjoy these wonderful snuggle moments with your children as you share the love of reading. What a wonderful way to begin a new calendar year.

 

I wish you and your family all the best in the New Year!

 

Kristen Hebert, BWE PTA President 

khebert5@comcast.net

From the Principal's Desk...

Welcome back and happy New Year! We hope that you enjoyed a wonderful winter break and that our students are ready to jump back into the many activities that we have planned for the second semester. Before the winter break, we had a lot of fun recording a whole-school "lip dub" song, "Celebration," in preparation for our 20th anniversary celebration on March 21! Be sure to join us then and check it out: watch for details! This month we continue our "Weaver Reads" annual home reading program with a book by author/Weaver parent Steven Smith, "The Summer of the Woods." Although we typically select children's classics for "Weaver Reads," we opted this year to read a book that has a local setting and ties to our community due to our 20th anniversary celebration. We hope you enjoy this time reading with your children at home: what a great way to start the New Year and promote literacy skills! 

 

The Weaver Enrichment Program (WEP) gets underway on January 28, and offers students a wide variety of after-school recreational activities. Thanks to our hardworking PTA chairpersons and volunteers who have organized this program for our students! 

 

Additionally this month, we are planning a book drive in mid-January for another county school, J. G. Hening Elementary. We will be collecting new and gently used books for their students' use in classrooms: please save any children's books that you are not using and let's make this a big success! We frequently talk about helping others as part of the "Weaver Way" at school: another very meaningful way to donate would include having students earn money from doing household chores in January and using the money to buy a book for someone else. 

 

As we approach the end of the first semester at school and the beginning of winter, please be mindful of students wearing appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather. Unless the weather is unreasonably cold or inclement, students are expected to have a 30 minute period of outdoor recess and they need the fresh air and movement! 

 

This is also a great time to re-stock school supplies that may have been depleted or lost. As always, we are grateful for your support!

 

Dr. Holly Richard

Principal

 

 

  

Kiwanis Kids

Before the holiday break, the K-Kids were busy little elves! The children made dog and cat toys for the Richmond Animal League and also made lovely thank you banners for some of our staff members. 

 

In addition, they bundled small batches of crayons that will be distributed with coloring pages to children who are patients in local hospitals.

 

Thank you to Santa for stopping by to lend us a hand and for all of those who took time out of their busy holiday schedule to give to others!

 

The next K-Kids meeting will be held Wednesday, January 8th. We will work on cards for military families, make pillow cases and create posters for the Book Drive.

 

The K-Kids are still on the hunt for yarn for next month's project, so if you have any extra - of any type - please send it in to me.  

 

Thank you!

Liza Becker

 

 

 

January Book Nook

Happy New Year! Welcome back to The Book Nook! Time for some "summer" in January! Our 2013-2014 WEaver READs official kick-off date was January 6, 2014. Thanks to Mr. Steve Smith, our author, and PTA for working behind the scenes to prepare us for our school-wide read. Check the reading timeline below, and enjoy reading SUMMER OF THE WOODS by our own Weaver father, Steve Smith! 

 

***Timeline*** 

Please follow the below schedule, and do NOT read ahead. We want to anticipate together as a community of readers!

 

Monday, January 6 Kick-off Chapter 1

Tuesday, January 7 Chapter 2

Wed., January 8 Chapter 3

Thurs., January 9 Chapter 4

*Friday, January 10 Chapter 5

Monday, January 13 Chapter 6

Tuesday, January 14 Chapter 7

Wed., January 15 Chapter 8

Thurs., January 16 Chapter 9

*Friday, January 17 Chapter 10

Monday, January 20 (school closed) Chapter 11

Tuesday, January 21 discuss finished book with class

*Please use the weekends to catch up on your reading.

 

January 6: Weaver's Writer-in-residence Author Day! Thanks to Mr. Steve Smith for donating a full day to the students and teachers at Weaver. All classes met with Mr. Smith for a lesson about various aspects of writing: the writing process, the job of an author, revising vs. editing, publishing, how an author gets ideas and organizes thoughts. 

  

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!: Now that January is upon us, it is time to prepare for yummy hot chocolate, cozy PJ days and...lots of curl up and read time! Here are some great books that you need to "snow" about...

• SNOWBALLS Ehlert
• THE SNOWMAN Briggs
• SNOW Eastman
• SNOW DAY Plourde
• THE BIGGEST SNOWBALL EVER! Rogan
• GERALDINE'S BIG SNOW Keller
• SIX SNOWY SHEEP Enderle/Tessler
• SNOW DAY! Laminack
• WINTER EYES (poems) Florian
• THERE WAS A COLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED SOME SNOW! Colandro

  

See you next month for more school news, events and announcements.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bettie Weaver Elementary PTA