Windermere Mustang Monthly
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Windermere Families,
December is already here! We are excited for a festive and educational month ahead as we approach the winter break! December is a magical time at Windermere Elementary, filled with seasonal learning, special events, and opportunities to give back to our amazing community! This year we are participating in both a Toy Drive and our Angel Tree. These two community outreach activities help to ensure we spread the holiday Cheer with others families in our community. We appreciate the generosity of our school family and are grateful for the spirit of giving we see each year.
This month our students will be taking their Middle of the Year (MOY) FAST Assessments. These assessments help us to determine the growth that has been seen in each of our students in comparison to their Beginning of the Year (BOY) assessments taken in late August. The data we are able to pull from the MOY assessments helps teachers and grade levels set a plan for students learning and additional support, if needed. We hope to see a large amount of growth in each of our students as they work towards mastery of grade level standards. All of the content of the ELA FAST assessment has been taught to our students, so nothing on the ELA assessment will be unfamiliar to our students.
During our third quarter (January- March) the students will review each of the ELA areas for a final time prior to the End of Year FAST assessment in late April/ May. In Mathematics, students will have learned approximately 50% of the content for their grade level. These foundational content skills will support the remainder of the learning that they will see this school year. Parents will have quick access to their child’s scores by using our Skyward Parent Portal. Directions for access to this portal are posted each week in our “What’s Up Windermere” Parent newsletter.
As a quick reminder, as the weather cools, please ensure your child comes to school dressed appropriately for outdoor recess and PE. Please make sure to label any sweaters, sweatshirts, water bottles, and coats. We accumulate a significant amount of lost and found items this time of year. Our goal is to get lost items back to their owner. We are unable to reunite items with the students if they are not labeled.
From our school family to yours, we wish you a delightful holiday season and a wonderful and prosperous New Year!
With sincere gratitude,
Ms. Bittick
Principal, Windermere Elementary School
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Dear Families,
November has been a month full of excitement, learning, and celebration in our kindergarten classroom! Here are some highlights we’re excited to share:
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Our annual Turkey Parade was a huge success! The students proudly marched through the halls showing off their creative turkey projects. Feathers, glitter, paint, and big smiles were everywhere! Thank you to all the families who helped bring these imaginative creations to life at home. The children loved sharing their turkeys with classmates and older grades. |
We were also thrilled to participate in this year’s Teach-In! A special thank you to the wonderful family volunteers who came to speak to our class. Students learned about different careers, the tools people use at work, and how everyone helps make our community stronger. The children were so engaged and asked thoughtful questions—such curious little learners! |
Reading & Writing: Exploring nonfiction books, labeling pictures, and practicing blending sounds, and decoding nonsense words.
Math: Counting to 50, comparing numbers, and learning about addition and subtraction.
Science & Social Studies: Seasonal changes, community helpers, and holiday traditions.
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We appreciate all your support this month—from helping with the Turkey Parade projects to volunteering for Teach-In. Your involvement makes our classroom feel like a true community.
We hope you enjoy a restful and joyful holiday season!
Warmly,
The Kindergarten Team
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Dear Families,
This newsletter features Ms. Shreves’ class. November was a busy month filled with many fun activities. The children enjoyed displaying the balloons they made in the “Balloons Over Broadway” parade.
In reading, the students have finished studying prose and poetry. They learned how to identify the moral of the story, and use context clues to identify who is telling the story. In math, students have been working on counting on, counting backwards from a number, counting by 2’s and 5’s, and interpreting data with pictographs and tally marks. In science, we are focusing on Earth structures and water safety.
Thank you to our wonderful grandparents that came out for Grandparents' Night. A big thank you to everyone that helped with the Book Fair. Windermere Elementary would not be the amazing school it is without you-- our wonderful families!
Your First Grade Team,
Mrs. Beavin, Ms. Lipp, Ms.Knight, Mrs. Moore, and Ms. Shreves
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Day *67* of second grade is officially over! The students' biggest takeaway, though, was confusion as their teachers couldn't stop saying 'six-seven'. |
The second-grade team is excited to teach about holidays around the world in reading! They can't wait to explore the diverse traditions and celebrations with the students!
We’re thrilled to let you know that the second-grade classes will be going to see The Nutcracker Ballet on Tuesday, December 9!
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A sincere "Thank you" to all of the parent volunteers who visited our classrooms to share for Teach-In! This was such a special and fun experience for our students. Thank you for taking time out of your day to teach our students about all the fun things you do for work! |
This month, third graders will take their midyear FAST assessment. This month is also our long-awaited field trip to SeaWorld to learn more about ocean animals and their habitats.
For our upcoming learning to support reading, we will continue spiraling back to learn more about non-fiction texts including text features, central idea, author's purpose, summaries, and using context clues. For writing, we will continue our argumentative writing. In social studies, we will be learning about geography around the world including different ethnic groups in the U.S. In science, we will continue our unit on diversity and evolution of living organisms by classifying animals. For math, we will continue working on multiplication and division, including word problems. We are seeing so much growth in learning multiplication skills! Way to go!
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Hello Fourth Grade Families!
Teach-In was such a wonderful learning day! Thank you to all of the grown-ups who came to teach us about your careers!
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As we come to the end of the second quarter, it is important that students stay on top of their missing assignments and make-up work. Mid-year FAST testing will take place December 9 and December 11.
We are beginning our argumentative essays and our first Document-Based Question (DBQ) on why Spain settled in St. Augustine. We’re also beginning new units in ELA, Math, and Science! We’ll be digging deeper into non-fiction text features and text structures, learning how to generate equivalent fractions, and studying heat energy.
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Hello 5th Grade Families!
We can’t believe we are almost halfway done with the school year! We hope everyone had a restful break! We have three weeks left in the quarter and will be working diligently to finish up our last units of the quarter.
In math, we are working on adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers. In science, we are studying energy and energy transformations. In ELA, we moved on to our nonfiction unit. We are focusing on identifying the author's claims and central ideas, as well as finding relevant details that support those claims and central ideas. We continue to focus on morphology as well. Students have a morphology dictionary in their binders that we add to each week. They should be studying that sheet regularly.
Thanks for all of your support,
5th Grade Team
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Welcome to Music with Mrs. Frank!
🎵 Last Week’s Highlights
Hello, wonderful families! What a fantastic last few weeks we've had! The students have really stepped up their game, mastering their music skills and standards with confidence. Their enthusiasm and progress have been incredible, and it’s been such a joy to watch their skills soar this quarter. Keep encouraging them to practice and share their favorite songs and activities with you!
🎤 Looking Ahead: Winter Concert Alert!
Mark your calendars for December 16 at 5:30 PM! Our chorus and strings winter concert will be held in the school cafeteria, and it’s a free event for all families and community members. We can’t wait to showcase all the amazing music we’ve been working on. It’s going to be a magical evening filled with holiday cheer and beautiful performances!
📌 Things to Remember
Chorus and strings concert day is Tuesday, December 16 at 5:30 PM — don’t miss it!
Fourth and Fifth grade parents- please make sure your child brings their recorder to class each week. I do check for them each week and missing their recorder 4 or more times in a 9-week period will result in a music grade of "N".
Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. Have a wonderful December! – Mrs. Frank
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Who has the hardest job in the school? ZOO CREW THAT'S WHO.
The animals in Room 306 need daily love and attention. Our wonderful 5th grade Zoo Crew comes twice a day to feed, clean, enrich, and care for the animals that call WES home. Not a day goes by that they don't require extra attention to be healthy and clean. The responsibilities include: feeding, cleaning cages, giving baths, chopping diets, walking the critters and of course, loving on them endlessly. It is not a job for the faint of heart! So, when you see those wonderful Zoo Crew members, thank them for doing such a great job.
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