PTA Weekly
Important Upcoming Dates
Monthly PTA Meeting: Monday, January 13th, 6:30-8:00pm
Martin Luther King Day (NO SCHOOL): Monday, January 20th
Potluck & Guest Speaker - Wednesday, January 22nd, Potluck 5:30-6:15, Guest Speaker 6:30-7:30 (childcare provided during speaker)
School Tours for Prospective Families: Thursday, January 23, 6:30-8:00 PM
Day Between Semesters (NO SCHOOL): Wednesday, January 29th
Wedgwood Cultural Festival: Friday, February 7th, 6-8pm
Speaker Series Kicks off with Michelle Warsing
Are your child’s worries and fears stopping them from doing the things they want to do? Can your child become resistant or shut down to new experiences or the unknown? Children struggle with anxiety and big feelings at times, and those big feelings can lead to some parents feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about how to help.
Mark your calendars for Wednesday, Jan 22nd following school potluck as we welcome back Michelle Warsing from Pacific Northwest Play Therapy. Michelle is a licensed family therapist as well as a registered play therapist. Michelle will help our Wedgwood community respond to our children’s feelings from a brain-based perspective and share tools to help them work through these big feelings in a healthy way.
Principal Liu will provide pizza; please bring a side dish to share if you can. Childcare will be available in the library during the guest speaker hour. Potluck: 5:30-6:15pm, Guest Speaker 6:30-7:30pm.
Open House & School Tours
Do you have friends or neighbors with little ones ready to start Kindergarten? Wedgwood will host its open house on Thursday, January 23rd from 6:30-8:00pm. Spread the word!
Volunteers Needed: here is your chance to welcome new families to Wedgwood by introducing them to the school with a tour! We are looking for a few more Wedgwood ambassadors to lead small group tours following a welcome message from Principal Liu. The tour will last 30-45 minutes, and will be an informal way for incoming-kindergarten families and new-to-the-neighborhood families to check out the school and learn more about our vibrant, active community. Please email Justin Day if you're interested in helping out.
Girls on the Run
Registration is now open for Wedgwood’s Girls On The Run team! This is a 10 week program for girls in 3rd-5th grade that encourages girls to recognize their individual strengths and celebrate connections with others. Physical activity is woven into the program to inspire an appreciation for fitness and healthy habits. Season starts March 3rd and practices are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30-4:00. Registration window is January 10-24th.
Click here to register. For more information visit https://www.gotrpugetsound.org/ or contact Chantel chantelanderson24@gmail.com.
Wedgwood Lost & Found Needs YOU!
The school lost and found needs a new volunteer manager. This role includes organizing and corralling the school's left behind jackets, sweatshirts, t-shirts, water bottles, glasses, shoes, and odds and ends. This is a great role to take on if you have limited time; it can mostly be done while you’re on the playground during pickup. The piles are easiest to manage if you go through them about once a month. Please contact Chantel Anderson if you're interested in helping out.
A HUGE thank you to Aki Carroll, who has been our fearless lost and found leader for many years. We’re lost without you, Aki!
Musical Tickets: James & the Giant Peach
James and The Giant Peach will be rolling through our Wedgwood cafeteria March 6-8. All tickets will be sold online through tututix.com for $6 each. Cast & Crew tickets go on sale January 27th at 9am. Cast & crew parents will receive instructions via email and must have registered on the musical website.
On February 10 at 9am, we will open any remaining ticket sales to the Wedgwood community. As in past years, we expect the shows to sell out – so please do not wait to buy tickets if you have your heart set on a certain evening! There will be an all-school performance on Monday, March 9 so that all Wedgwood elementary kids will have a chance to see the show for free. No additional audience members are allowed at this school performance.
After School Enrichment Classes Need Students
Ravenna-Eckstein's after-school enrichment classes start this week. There are a few classes with exceptional instructors that our coordinator, Spencer, is striving to get more students enrolled in so that they meet the enrollment minimum:
Messy Matter (Mondays, 3:45-4:45pm) - This class will introduce kids to fun and exciting science experiments using household items. Experiments will range from food based activities to natural chemical reactions found in nature.
Spanish Adventures (Thursdays, 2:35-3:35pm) - Learning Spanish is FUN! Not only by listening and speaking it, but experiencing it! Watch, smell, touch and taste the vocabulary lessons. Learn grammar with songs, typical Spanish games, projects and storytelling. All lessons will be taught in a recreational way, letting the child explore the Spanish Language to discover how useful it could be to learn it as kids, and develop it as they grow older.
Math & Engineering (Fridays, 2:35-4:05pm) - Hands-on activities explore and apply math and design concepts to both math puzzles and engineering problems. Sample activities include cryptography, tangrams, competition math, and building kid-designed towers, bridges, and machines out of every-day materials.
Gym Games (Fridays, 4:05-5:05pm) - Sprout ball, battleship, and color squad are a few of the games we will be using to teach the importance of physical activity and teamwork. This class will also provide your child with the opportunity to organize and lead a gym game of their own!
If you are interested in registering your child for the Winter 2020 session or any of these specific classes, feel free to reach out to Spencer Johndrew at spencer.johndrew@seattle.gov or to the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (206-684-7534) and they will be able to help you with anything you need! Online enrollment through SPARC is also available.
Ultimate Frisbee Registration Now Open
All third through fifth grade Wedgwood students are invited to join the Wedgwood Ultimate Frisbee teams! No experience is necessary. Ultimate Frisbee is a coed sport that emphasizes teamwork and spirit of the game. This year, we will most likely have two teams based on popularity. Practices will take place on Mondays from 4:30-5:30 p.m in the Wedgwood gym starting March 9th. Games take place at fields around the city, most often at Magnuson Park.
Because of the popularity of the sport, we will need additional coaches who can help with practices. DIscNW will provide a coaching clinic on Saturday, February 8th from 2-5 to help new coaches learn about the game and how to structure practices. Please contact Rina Geoghagan at wedgwoodlutimate@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to sign up for the teams. The cost of registering a team is $339. Once we know how many kids are interested, we will divide the cost between players. Last year the cost to play was about $35. Scholarships are available.
Dance Camp at Roosevelt
Roosevelt High School’s award-winning hiphop dance team is holding an elementary school camp at Roosevelt on Jan. 29, an SPS day off school. Kids will learn choreography, play games, make crafts and have the opportunity to perform at halftime at the Jan. 31 home basketball game in the high school gym. Camp runs from 1 to 4 pm and costs $50. For details and registration, please contact rhsdancecamp@gmail.com.