Windermere Mustang Monthly I Welcome Back to School 2025-26

Posted Date: 8/24/25 (6:00 PM)

Windermere Mustang Monthly

A NEWSLETTER FOR THE WINDERMERE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Principal's Message

Dear Windermere Families, Students, and Staff,

It is amazing to have students back on campus! The energy of students and staff coming back from summer break is always a fun time of the school year. We are so excited to kick off the 2025-2026 school year! It has been a true joy to see so many familiar faces and welcome our new students and families into the Mustang Family.

The first few days have been filled with laughter, learning, and the excitement of new beginnings. Our teachers have been working tirelessly to prepare engaging classrooms and curriculum, and our staff has ensured that everything is in place for a smooth and successful year. We are confident that this will be a year of incredible growth, achievement, and memorable moments for every student.

This year we welcome a few new faces to our campus. This week we welcomed Mrs. Emily Rodriguez, our new PE teacher, and Ms. Emily Delia, our new Staffing Specialist, and this summer we welcomed Mrs. Jenene Kearney our curriculum resource teacher, Mrs. Jackie Laraquenta, School Counselor, Mr. David Frech Secretary/Bookkeeper, Ms. Trish Biondo, paraprofessional, Ms. Maria Aguiar, Mental Health Counselor, and Mr. Santo Laureano, our new Lead Custodian. While we were sad to see some of our Mustang staff go, we wish them well in their retirement or career advancement, and welcome our new staff to this amazing school family.

August is passing fast and as we end the month and move into September, we will work to assess all students’ current levels of performance and continue to build upon their successes and areas of need. Our parent partners in the PTO and Mustang Educational Fund will gear up for their fundraising activities that directly support all of the amazing activities, events, and resources provided to all of our students. We encourage you to get involved and help us celebrate the wonderful resources these groups provide to our students/school.

As we move through August we will continue to monitor class size and adjust as needed based on enrollment and budget. Our count on the tenth day helps us to have a picture of our enrollment and if we will need to make any shifts. Parents will be communicated with along the way.

Thank you for your continued support as we get this school year started and work toward achieving continued success!

Ms. Bittick

Principal, Windermere Elementary School

Visit Our Website

Start With Hello Week

Parent Square

As we move to our new Parent Square communication app. I wanted to make sure you are aware of two functions that are on the app. The first function is the school calendar. Look for the calendar icon and click on it. This icon will take you to our school calendar. I update this weekly and have all of the events until Thanksgiving already on the calendar. This is a very helpful tool to keep up to date with school activities and events.

The second feature is the ability for you to customize when you want to receive the posted information. You can choose to receive posts right when they are sent, or wait to receive all school and OCPS posts at 6:00 PM daily in the “Digest” format. How a post is sent out to individual families depends on the personalization you set on the app. The default is the 6:00 PM “Digest.” If you would like posts in real time please go in the app and look for that setting.

Please note any type of immediate or emergency post can override the default setting to get to parents immediately if needed. A recent question asked by a parent was, “If I respond, can everyone see it, or only the person that posted?”

At the bottom of the post, there is a button for you to reply and it shows you that you will be replying to the person that posted this information. Many parents have already found this feature and have been able to communicate or ask questions. Ms. Bittick has already received and responded to several parents that may have had a question about something that is posted. This serves as a great communication tool.

As a school, we are still working with all of the functions and hope to continue to get better and better with our use of this app as a strong communication tool.

Grade Level News

News from Kindergarten through Fifth Grade is attached to this newsletter as separate files from those grade levels. Click the Files button at the top of the newsletter or View Attachments button at the bottom of the newsletter.

Art News

The first weeks of art we are creating, learning, practicing skills, clean-up procedures, and how to use all of the different tools and media in the art room! We are looking at the Pop Art produced by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Kusama, Britto, and Haring.

Working with all of the bright colors makes us all smile. Please remember we get sticky, colorful and a little messy sometimes in art! Don’t wear your brand new, favorite outfit.

Cafeteria News

Counseling Corner

Media Center News

Music News

Welcome back to Music! We are having a great first week back to music! I am loving getting to see all of our returning Mustangs and getting to meet our newest Mustangs in class!

This week has been focused on getting-to-know-you music lessons and reviewing classroom procedures and rules so we can ensure that we have a successful, fun year in the music room!

Extra information for 4 th and 5th Grade:

● Recorders: All fourth and fifth grade students play recorder in their weekly music classes as one part of a comprehensive music curriculum. The students will learn music reading skills and instrumental playing techniques. Each student is responsible for bringing their recorder to music class every week so they are able to fully participate in the lessons. In each 9-week grading period, if a student does not bring their recorder to music class 4 or more times, it will result in a “Needs Improvement” (N) for their report card music grade. The recorders are available for sale throughout the year in the music room when your child comes to music class. The price is

$5.00** cash or check made out to Windermere Elementary.

**Windermere Elementary has a Guardian Angel Fund to support families that may need financial assistance for learning materials. If you are in need of this assistance, please contact me at

ninabeth.franceschinifrank@ocps.net.

● Chorus: Fourth and fifth grade students have the opportunity to join our before-school chorus. Membership in the chorus is a lot of fun and can help students feel more connected to their school and community as well as help them develop self-confidence and

self-esteem. They will be in an environment that fosters musical growth and will be trained to attain the highest level of performance according to their ability. This group meets before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and prepares for various performances throughout the year. We will begin rehearsals on Thursday, Sept. 4. If you and your child are interested in more information, please reach out to me or have your student pick up a form from me or their teacher.

I am looking forward to a fantastic year!

- Mrs. Frank

STEAM Class

The STEAM class is off to a great start. Fifth graders had to work together in order to save Fred the Worm! So much fun and laughter learning about problem-solving and not giving up!