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Singapore Math - Parent Workshop
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Special Guest Speaker - Bill Davidson
Thursday, February 16 (6:30-7:30pm)
IN PERSON with option to join via Zoom
RSVP NOW
(Must RSVP for childcare, we will provide the Zoom link along with a reminder the week of the event)
 Bill Davidson is known in the education community as one of the top Singapore Math gurus. He trained the WHPS staff as we prepared to launch Singapore Math in 2019 and has worked with over 60 other schools on implementing the program effectively. He will be hosting this month's parent workshop to provide a practical overview of the program. Families can also submit any special questions you have about Singapore Math for Bill Davidson or the WHPS team to address. We hope to see you there!
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Harper's parent, Gus, new climbing wall for the toddler play yard. The children LOVE it!
Elin’s parent, Mojgan, helping prepare Collins Rm. 8 to reopen after some recent flooding. We appreciate your time and effort!
Black History Month - Thank you to the following people for special contributions and work:
- Graham's parents, Leila & Kendall, generous book donation!
- Zaire's parent, Jennifur, special treats for everyone!
- Mila and Kainoa's parent, Brittany, classroom door displays (come check them out)!
- Shay and Melina's parent, Rupa, WHPS library display
The Entire PAWS & PAG Team for Snow Day and a lot of hard work this month!
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Ticket Sales End March 17
BUY TICKETS NOW
This event is not to be missed and is the biggest fun-raiser for PAWS!
PAWS is seeking AMAZING AUCTION ITEMS and has great sponsorship opportunities (promote your business while supporting a great cause)!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
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Special Edition | Seth Pozzi - Head of School
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Accreditation
MID-CYCLE VISIT - March 13, 2023
 As part of our WASC accreditation, we will be having a mid-cycle visit this year and would love to invite families to get involved during the visit on March 13. This is generally a time to show off all the wonderful parts of our school, but it’s also an opportunity for parents to share any feedback directly with the committee chair, which can help shape future plans for the school. After the visit, the committee validates and formalizes the report, along with their own feedback. When they return for the full visit at the end of this six-year term, they will be looking to review our progress and achievements toward our defined school action plans. The real crux of the school accreditation process is showing how we identify areas for further improvement, in line with our mission and philosophy, and laying out a plan for these areas. Even if something is good, the goal isn’t just to stop there, it’s to continuously improve.
MID-CYCLE REPORT
The report includes every possible piece of qualitative and quantitative data from the past three years, from student achievement to parent satisfaction to campus improvements to teacher professional development since the last visit three years ago.
Student Achievement
While I don’t think any school could argue that student growth wasn’t affected by the last three years, when we look at longitudinal achievement data, it paints a reassuring picture that our students are on track. We can see this with objective measures, such as reading levels, math scores, and standardized testing showing how our graduates compared to other children in independent schools.
WHAT ARE SOME OF OUR GOALS?
One area that we identified to further refine is opportunities for family engagement. Even if the kids are doing well, parent survey data showed, not surprisingly, that parents didn’t feel as strongly connected to the school community as they did three years ago. We believe some of that connection will naturally return as all the normal programming and events are back in full force. But we’re also taking steps to make sure we’re capturing parents' hopes, goals, and feedback in real-time.
January Parent Forum (CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT)
In January, we held an informal parent forum where we heard a lot of wonderful feedback and questions. If you weren't able to join us, and even if you were, I encourage families to take a look at what was discussed and to take advantage of our open-door policy with me and the rest of our team.
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RESPONSIVENESS TO FAMILIES
Please don't wait for the next parent coffee!
Come to me or our team in real time with other suggestions, desires, or concerns.
We know you are choosing to invest in a WHPS education, and we are here to help make the most of it!
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION (DEI)
Another thing that came out of the mid-cycle report/process was taking a closer look at the diversity within our community. We’ve noted over the years that WHPS tends to attract a more diverse student and family population compared to the local community we are in. One of the things we are working on is the further development of our intentional focus on DEI. This includes everything from the way we talk to children, to the humanities curriculum, to the formal events and programming we bring in. One of our goals in the remainder of this accreditation cycle is to further stratify our approach to DEI. PAWS has been instrumental in helping us plan and launch a wide variety of DEI programming and initiatives.
Did you know our DEI Committee meets every month on Zoom, and it's open to everyone? The next meeting is February 2 (link in WHPS calendar). Join us if you can!
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Elementary News | Cynthia Baroudi
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Full STEAM Ahead
So much to celebrate and so much learning
We have been very busy around campus as we kicked off the new year and also celebrated Lunar New Year (sponsored by PAWS), now an official CA state holiday, with a special assembly. There was a renewed sense of vigor as students dove right into the most learning-intensive part of the year. We also slid back into school with Snow Day (also sponsored by PAWS). We held our annual Spelling Bee in 1st-5th grade, where the grade-level champions competed in the most nail-biting all-school competition we've ever had, lasting 25 rounds! The entire student body was there to cheer them on. Our winner was Ein from 5th grade who will represent WHPS at the Regional Competition on March 11. Our runner-up was Jordan from 1st grade (competing with the same words as a 5th grader!)
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Lunar New Year
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Spelling Bee
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EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
January was filled with exciting field trips. Our kindergarten classes went to Art Trek. Other classes saw Shrek at Calabasas High School with some fellow WHPS students in the cast! This month, 4th-5th grade will be off campus for three days on their overnight trip to AstroCamp up in Idyllwild. They will explore physics and astronomy, take part in exciting team-building and thrills on a sky coaster, and foster their sense of wonder. 2nd-3rd grade classes will visit the Chumash Indian Museum as part of their deep dive into Native Peoples. This will include a docent-led museum tour, a nature hike to the replica village, and some culturally relevant crafting the students get to take home.
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Astrocamp - Yes, it snows there!
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Astrocamp Sky Coaster
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TEAM SPORTS
 Bears Basketball season is in full swing! We will be hosting our first home game on Wednesday, February 8. The league is back after a (virus-that-must-not-be-named hiatus), and we are excited to again host other independent schools here at WHPS for home games and travel to other schools too. If you would like to show your school spirit, home games are 2/8, 3/8, and 3/29. GO BEARS!
OTHER FEBRUARY EVENTS
In February, we look forward to many other exciting events, such as Jump for Heart and our second round of Student-Led Conferences on February 21-22. As we head into the third trimester of the school year, please know that we continue to encourage open communication between home and school. It is important that you check your child’s folder regularly and watch for weekly classroom newsletters. We sincerely appreciate your continued support and are working toward a new year filled with achievement and success for everyone!
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Collins Campus
Robin & Joette
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Oxnard Campus
Christine & Roxana
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Validating Children's Emotions
Why it matters and some dos and don'ts
 Validation is a way of letting your child know that you understand them and recognize their feelings or needs. Feeling understood has a direct relation to feeling connected and supported. When people who are close to them, such as teachers or parents, listen to the children’s emotions, it helps them tune into themselves and accept their emotions as real and meaningful. This support system empowers their growth of self-compassion and the capacity to be empathetic with others.
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At WHPS, our teachers use this intentional approach to validation as part of our focus on developing the whole child. This means that we focus on each child’s social and emotional growth as well as their academic growth. We always strive to validate the way the children are feeling and empower their ability to process and understand their emotions. This promotes confidence and will guide these lifelong learners through the world around them.
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DOs
Active listening - Show your child that you are listening by using phrases that summarize what they are saying. For example: “I see. You got angry at Bob for knocking over your tower. That must have been very frustrating, I know you worked hard on it.”
Remember that your child’s problems are as real to them as ours are to us - Something that might seem small to us as adults can be a very big deal to your child.
Be genuine - Children can often tell when adults mean what they say, versus when they're just saying the "right words." You may not actually understand why a misplaced sweatshirt deserves a huge meltdown. But you probably do understand the frustration of losing something that's important to you. Bear that in mind.
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DON'Ts
Don't forget emotional self-control - Being able to place our emotions aside for a moment to help children regulate is crucial (help your child co-regulate).
Negotiate - We want to help children through big emotions without negotiating or power struggles. Big emotions should not change a basic expectation to join their class in the morning, take a bath, be done at a playdate, etc. Even adding two more minutes in response to a big emotion can turn it into a negotiation.
Suppress the feeling or directly say it's wrong - It's hard when a child says, "I hate you!" to a parent or about another child." Here are a few tips for validating the emotion and helping children have more accurate and constructive ways to work through it (It sounds like you are VERY angry, frustrated, disappointed, etc.). This is a great way to help children build Emotional Granularity.
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"Our Barnyard" News | WHPS Science & Nature Center
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Hi Barnyard Friends!
You may have noticed those heavy rains at the beginning of the new year. As a result, some of our January classes were brought indoors, and our small animal friends got to join our students in their classrooms. Luckily, the rain let up in the past couple of weeks, and regular classes have resumed in Our Barnyard.
ELEMENTARY
 Genetics & Evolution - 4th-5th graders are learning how animals developed one of the greatest abilities of all, flight. It's fascinating how many different animals developed flight completely separate from one another and at separate times! We will then dive into mutations, how they happen, and why they are the reason animals can be so different from each other.
Ecology - 2nd-3rd grade and kindergarten are all investigating similarities and differences in care for mammals, reptiles, and birds. We will explore animals that are native to our area; we will take a special look at which ones to try to avoid.
Husbandry - 1st grade will learn about the different parts of plants. We will even grow some of our own plants to feed the animals.
PRESCHOOL
 This month, we will continue some of our favorite games, Chicken Scratch and Nest building. We will learn about the different foods we feed the animals in Our Barnyard. We will get a chance to touch, feel, smell, and in some cases taste the food the animals get to eat every day! Then, classes will take turns feeding breakfast to each animal. Each class will get to feed different enclosures, so each day will be unique.
Mr. Matthew and Ms. Mackenzie
The WHPS Science & Nature Center is on Instagram @whpschool_barnyard
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Check out our Google Calendar for all upcoming events!
| Feb. |
Collins |
Oxnard |
| 1 |
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PAWS Meeting @ 6:30pm |
| 2 |
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DEI Committee Meeting @ 12pm |
| 6 |
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Tara Nicole Whitaker Book Readings & Q/A, Sponsored by PAWS |
| 8 |
Farmer's Market, Hosted by Rm. 6 |
Farmer's Market hosted by Rm. 6 & 7 |
| 9 |
Permanent Impressions |
| 13 |
PAG Meeting @ 5pm |
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| 13-14 |
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Val-E-Grams Deliveries, Sponsored by PAWS |
| 14 |
Valentine's Day |
| 15 |
Dentist Visit w/Dr. Mo from Starry Skies Dental |
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| 15-17 |
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4th & 5th Grade Astrocamp Trip |
| 16 |
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Singapore Math - Parent Workshop @ 6:30pm |
| 16 |
TK-5th Grade Virtual Tour |
| 20 |
President's Day - NO SCHOOL |
| 21-22 |
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Elementary Student-Led Conferences - NO TK-5th GRADE CLASSES |
| 24 |
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Special Snack for Black History Month, Sponsored by PAWS |
| 27 |
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Drum Circle w/Norm Jones, Sponsored by PAWS |
| 28 |
TK-5th Grade Small Group Tours |
| 28 |
Farmer's Market, Hosted by Rm. 8 |
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